I believe that never before has there been a day or a culture in which fathers have faced greater challenges than in our day. I believe that it's never been harder to be a good father than it is now, and I think you can just look at our culture and see evidence of this all over the place.
There is a tendency to under-estimate the importance of fatherhood in today's world. So I thought it would be appropriate for us together to take a moment and to recognize and acknowledge every person who seeks to raise and nurture our children and young people in God-honoring ways. Your perseverance and faithfulness and determination are an inspiration. And it's honorable in the sight of God - you are heroes in God's eyes. And if anything, it just makes it that much more important for all of us to affirm that fatherhood was never intended by God to be optional.
What you do, what you say, who you are, your values and beliefs are part of the legacy you will leave to your children. Passing a blessing on to those who come after you means passing on a part of yourself to them here and now. So why not strive to impart the best part of who you are, and in so doing, allow your children the opportunity to become all that God intended them to be. Leaving a legacy later means living the legacy now.
My six year old son, Benjamin, loves to play hockey and so like many parents who have children in hockey or figure skating, I tend to hang out in arenas. Well, early last season, Ben had a game scheduled for 7 a.m. Saturday morning. So that means setting the alarm for at least 6 a.m. - what a way to start the weekend. I know many of you start it the very same way with your children.
So Friday night, I'm busy setting the alarm, making sure the radio is tuned into a station and not just static fuzz, the volume is set just right, so on and so on. Now, fast forward to the next morning and my wife, Dawn, waking up her husband, and guess what time it is - 7 a.m.! I hadn't clicked the alarm button over far enough. There is no way Ben and I can get his equipment on and drive to the arena in time for him to get to even part of his game - not a chance.
Ben wakes up and when he hears the news, well, he's upset, of course. And Dad is pretty upset with himself - I mean I just felt terrible. The rest of the morning I'm busy trying to make it up to Ben, you know, breakfast at McDonalds, hockey in the basement for a couple of hours, then off to the park to play - you get the picture - and it seemed to work, sort of. I'll come back to that story a little bit later. You'll see why.
Fathers don't often make it on to magazine covers or receive accolades because of their achievements on the home front or in the playground. Last time I checked, Fortune 500 wasn't listing the top 500 fathers of the year. The video we saw today of that father and his children, now, that's inspiring stuff. That would make it to the top of God's Fortune 500 list every time. Wouldn't it be great to head up the evening newscast with that story? That's prime time material as far as I'm concerned. That's a preview or glimpse of heaven in my books.
If I were to ask you, "What is heaven like," what would you say? Have you ever had a heavenly kind of vision? Maybe you haven't given it much thought before. Who has time to think about heaven, anyway, when there are bills to pay, and deadlines to meet, and meals to prepare, and baskets of laundry to do, and meetings to attend, and golf games to be played? There is so much to do and so little time to do it. Who has time to think about heavenly matters?
When I returned from a brief holiday recently, a member of my church, his name is Ray, a retired police officer, told me that while I was away, he had managed to roll his car end over end four times. He showed me a picture of the car and it was a write off. Ray, on the other hand, looked quite good, and apart from one broken tooth and a sore arm, he seemed none the worse for the ordeal. Ex-cops tend to be tough, you know. He told me, however, that in the few moments immediately following the accident, when he was half way between consciousness and unconsciousness, he saw a man approaching him dressed in a tuxedo.
And Ray says to me that he thought to himself, "Oh no, I must be dead, the undertaker is here to measure me up." Remember this guy is probably in la-la land at the time mentally, state of shock, concussion, confusion, disoriented to say the least.
Then, he sees a woman dressed in a beautiful white gown, and he perks up a bit, "Thank goodness, an angel, at least I must be heading in the right direction." At which point the angel says to the man in the tuxedo, "Go ahead and help him, but for heaven's sake, Dad, don't make me late for my wedding."
Apparently, the first people to the scene of the accident were a bride and her father on the way to the church for her wedding. I know this sounds unbelievable, but I pass on the story as it was told to me by Ray himself, his arm still in a sling at the time.
Now, imagine for a moment that you are suspended half way between consciousness and unconsciousness, and in that split second, you were to catch a glimpse of heaven, what would it look like? Pearly gates? Golden highways? Fluffy clouds? A man with a long white beard? George Burns? Morgan Freeman? These are all popular ways of picturing heaven, some definitely more Biblically-based than others, but all certainly popular.
In a membership class that I conducted a while ago, I asked the participants to draw a picture of what they thought heaven might look like. One woman drew a wonderful picture of her cat. It sparked my curiosity so I asked her to explain.
"Just think about it," she said, "I pamper my cat, I feed my cat, I brush its fur, I change the litter box, and I buy it cat toys and treats. And what does my cat do in return? It purrs a little bit to spur me on in my efforts, and then it pretty much takes cat naps all day in my favourite chair."
There is more theology in that description than you first might think. This woman is picturing God as the great provider and benevolent caregiver, and we humans are like her cat because we too can be fickle and aloof, from time to time if we are not careful, to God's generosity and goodness.
And I know I don't need to tell any of you that the scriptures often compare God's care of His people to that of a shepherd tending sheep. The good shepherd, we are told, tends to the needs of the sheep, and in return, the sheep know the shepherd's voice. (Jn. 10:4)
The disciple John makes reference to this special type of relationship between God and His people in Revelation, chapter 7, verses 15-17. John writes, "God will shelter His people with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. God will be their shepherd and He will guide them to springs of living water, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes." In this passage of scripture, John is also drawing a picture of heaven and a God who is our great protector and benevolent caregiver.
And if we take his words to heart and allow them to really sink in, our understanding of God will grow larger and deeper and wider. Imagine, God sees our every tear and feels it as if it were His own. God draws so near to us that He can wipe a tear from our cheek.
In fact, John's revelation describes a multitude of people, like you and like me, with tear-filled eyes, coming into God's presence to find a place of rest and refuge. We are told that there are so many of them, they cannot be numbered. They come from every nation. They speak every language. And in this heavenly scene, God is taking the time to wipe each and every tear from each and every eye. (Rv. 7: 9,14,17)
According to John, heaven can best be described as a place where people of all tribes and tongues can be found. Heaven is not simply a place for people just like us, who dress like us and talk like us and act like us. Heaven is filled with God's people from every nation, from every culture, from every walk of life. You know what pastors with the gift of vision do when they read texts like this? They get excited and they say things like, "I don't know if I can wait for eternity on this one.
You know, I want to experience a little bit of heaven right here, right now. Maybe I'm being selfish, but sometime in the near future, I envision this church being a place where people of all colours and cultures may find a home."
You see, the church of Jesus Christ needs to be an open and inviting place where all people can come to find a warm welcome into God's kingdom. Everyone may not accept the invitation, but it's extended nonetheless. And to everyone who does accept, a warm welcome awaits them.
John Newton experienced this kind of warm welcome during his lifetime, although this ex-slave trader would be the first to admit he didn't deserve it. Newton captured the wonder of this unconditional welcome, when he said, "When I get to heaven, I shall see two great wonders there. The first will be to see many people there I did not expect to see; and the second will be to find myself there by the grace of God." John Newton wrote the words to the classic hymn, Amazing Grace, "how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I was once lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see."
Wouldn't it be wonderful to adopt this as a motto for the church? Here we stand, you and I, different as we may appear to be on the outside, yet one on the inside and in the Spirit, all accomplished by the amazing grace of God. Male and female, yet sister and brother. Young and old, yet born of water and the word. Black and white and red and yellow, yet all a part of God's rainbow of creation.
The apostle John's heavenly revelation not only stimulates our spiritual imagination, it not only causes our perspective of God to grow larger, it also serves to remind us that when God is truly present, when God opens our eyes to heavenly happenings, then our understanding of God's grace will also grow.
We will see God in places we never saw God before, and in faces we never saw God before. Our eyes will be opened to see the world as God sees the world. "I once was blind but now I see."
Mother Theresa was once asked how she could bear to live in the slums of Calcutta amidst the poverty and disease. And she responded, "I don't see the poverty and the disease, I only see people who are infinitely loved by God." Mother Theresa possessed a powerful vision, not only of the greatness of God, but also of the special-ness and importance of every human life to God. Hers was a ministry of tending to tear-filled eyes. John's revelation also included a multitude of people, not unlike those to be found on the streets of Calcutta, or I'm sure on certain streets in Saskatoon too.
John asks one of the heavenly elders in his vision, "Where have all these people come from?" And the elder responds by saying, "They have come out of the great tribulation." (Rv. 7:14) The elder's response is teaching us that God never promised anyone a perfectly peaceful and problem-free existence here on earth. God feels our pain and enters into our afflictions and makes them His own. God can even wipe the tears from our eyes, but He cannot prevent them.
Where have all the people come from? Where have all the tears come from? They have come out of the time of great tribulation. They have come out of the depth of life experience. They are part and parcel of what it means to be human. Believe me, you don't have to wait until the end of time to experience tribulation in this world of ours. Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
Jesus wept for his friend Lazarus. Tears are born out of great love. And great love is born out of great hearts. Tears are part and parcel of great love and great hearts. And Jesus wept tears of great love.
There is a certain kind of thinking, however, in some Christian circles which goes something like this, "If you are a Christian and really believe in God, then God will bless you by sparing you from times of trial or trouble or tribulation. Don't you know that God is all about blessings, blessings and more blessings?"
You know the lines. You've heard them all before. They play like a Tony Robbins infomercial. "If you're a Christian and really believe in God, God will bless you by making you successful, or by giving you financial freedom, or by taking all your difficulties away."
But don't believe it. As good as it may sound, it's simply not true. Do you remember what Jesus had to say about God's blessings? You can read all about it in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel. It's part of the greatest sermon ever preached in the history of the world because Jesus himself preached it, and we would do well to hear Him out.
Jesus begins his sermon by saying, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, blessed are the persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt. 5:1-12). Blessings, blessings and more blessings, but blessings on God's terms, not the world's terms.
Jesus talked about God's blessings on many different occasions, and when He did, He certainly wasn't afraid to say that God's understanding of blessing and the world's understanding of blessing are not always the same thing.
Worldly wisdom tells us the rich and the powerful, the bold and the beautiful, are the ones that are blessed. 'Look out for number one' is the motto on the marquis. Second place is another name for loser. It's a survival-of-the-fittest kind of world out there.
Worldly wisdom says, "The meek are mice. We climbed over them long ago on our way up the corporate ladder." Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it unto one of the least of these, you did it unto me." (Mt. 25:40)
The world says, "The pure in heart, you've got to be kidding. That's just another way of saying naïve." Jesus said, "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall never enter it." (Mk. 10:15)
The world says, "The merciful - who can afford the luxury of mercy - it's a dog eat dog world out there and I'm nobody's chewing bone." Jesus said, "Forgive us our trespasses as we have forgiven those who have trespassed against us." (Mt. 6:12)
The world says, "Peacemakers - how quaint - but we know who the movers and shakers really are." Jesus, although not born in a palace with the rest of the movers and shakers, but in a lowly stable along with a few sheep and goats and cattle, this very same Jesus was to become known as the Prince of peace.
Jesus said, "Foxes have dens, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." (Lk. 9:58) Imagine - the hope of the world resting on the shoulders of a homeless person.
Jesus didn't fit the world's mould for a Messiah, but Jesus didn't mind because He was more interested in following God's design for His life, and so should we. Don't spend your time and energy, or money for that matter, trying to measure up to the world's standards of superficiality. If you do, you'll be setting your sights far too low. You'll end up selling yourself far too short.
Instead, opt for seeing yourself the way Jesus sees you, not as the world sees you because it never really sees you at all. But Jesus does. You know Jesus once looked up into a sycamore tree, of all places, and He saw a little man named Zacchaeus there, who was despised as a tax collector, but loved of God.
Jesus stopped to draw water at a well with a Samaritan woman. The disciples only saw someone of questionable reputation, but Jesus saw a human being thirsting after spiritual life. Jesus healed those afflicted with leprosy or troubled by demons, while others regarded them as unclean at best and crazy at worst."
Jesus sees the good in life when good cannot be found," as Amy Grant once put it. Jesus' eyes are "eyes full of compassion." The principle here is simple: God's eyes are not the world's eyes. Jesus revealed this to us. God's ways are not the world's ways. And God's blessings and the world's blessings are not the same. Blessings, blessings, and more blessings, yes, but on God's terms, not the world's.
And you know there really is only one way, God's way, that in the end, will liberate you and truly bless you. 1 Corinthians 1:27 sums it up beautifully when it says, "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong."
God chose a manger in a lowly stable and a wooden cross on a lonely hill to unveil his plan of redemption for all humankind. For this little baby born in obscure Bethlehem was to become the Saviour of the world. From the cradle to the cross, Jesus not only showed us God's way, He became for us "the way and the truth and the life" (Jn. 14:6).
So turn your eyes upon Jesus, even in your moments of tribulation, especially in your moments of tribulation. Turn your eyes upon Him, when you are feeling weak, in the times you can only trust in Him, because there is no strength left within you, except His strength.
And look full in his wonderful face. Your eyes filled with tears, His eyes filled with love. His hand extended in gentleness, wiping each and every tear from your cheek, holding you close and safely by His side, in the shepherd's strong and tender arms.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. And as you fix your eyes on Jesus, in that moment, I assure you that if someone was to look into your eyes, they would, for sure, see reflections of heaven. Why? Because they would see a reflection of Jesus in you. Dads, that's my hope and my prayer for you today. That when your children look into your eyes, they would see a reflection of Jesus in you.
And being a Dad doesn't mean you're going to be perfect. It doesn't mean you're going to get all of it right all of the time. God wants us to try our best, learn, grow, not make excuses, but we all make mistakes from time to time, we really do. Sometimes, alarm clocks don't always get set properly, and little hockey players get disappointed, and life doesn't work out perfectly as planned.
But this same little hockey player on the very next Wednesday afternoon, chooses to sit out in front of our house for over an hour, just waiting for his father to come home from work to play with him, and somehow, the world is put back into proper perspective. We can never adequately make up for past mistakes, no matter how hard we try, no matter how many McPancakes we buy.
But we can certainly wake up to the dawn of a new day, when past mistakes are forgiven and relationships are restored, where grace is given and received, and God is glorified even in a less than perfect world. And you know what? When everything is said and done, it's not all the gifts that you receive over the years that will be remembered, the tacky ties or the Aqua Velva or the car chrome cleaner; but the time you spend together, the relationships that you build, the life lessons that are learned together, the blessings which you pass on.
Leaving a legacy later means living the legacy now, a legacy that will last a lifetime and stand the test of time. That's what really matters in this world of ours, not only to our children, but to our heavenly Father.
Think of the legacy which God has given us, that through the redemptive work of his Son upon the cross, our sins can be forgiven and our past mistakes wiped clean. They really can. You know how I know? My son sitting in our front yard tells me so. The Bible tells me so. This family of faith gathered here by the grace of God tells me so. God is love. God gave his Son in love. His Son laid His life down in love. Believe in Him and not only will God adopt you into His family, He will call you His daughters and sons and love you as a Father should. And if that isn't enough, He will throw in eternity too. What a legacy. What a gift. What a blessing. |
