Dear Congregation,
This morning I heard a question I’ve never heard asked before, which is probably saying a lot about the finiteness of my experience. It was introduced as a bonding type question: ‘Does anyone here come from a family?’
Now I’ll let you in on the context, it was asked by Fred Klett. He’s a comedian in the USA, and he asked it mid-performance. It generated lots of laughs and applause. Then he noticed someone near the front and looking at him said ‘Seriously, you raised your hand? … Usually people just laugh, but you, you knew you came from a family.’
Ah well, it got a few laughs from me. But you know sometimes – and this is the genius of good comedy – sometimes you have to state the absurdly obvious in such a way that you realise the obvious instead of just taking it for granted. We may not mean to take family and the wondrous interplay of relationships that occur within family life for granted, but it is easy to do. And it is good to be pulled up, to pause – and to praise.
Yep, you can see where I am going with this: tomorrow is Father’s Day. Time to be pulled up, to pause and ponder, and to praise and to pray.
Not wanting to dampen the nostalgic spirit Father’s Day often generates, but here’s a sobering reality: no human father is perfect, but then neither are any of their children. That’s why we are cautious in quickly condemning them – or should be – but also in unquestioningly imitating them.
And yet if ever there is a couple of words that should be deliberately yet thoughtfully on every father’s lips, it is ‘Watch me’ – for one thing is certain Dads, your kids are watching you – for good or ill. If we want our children to develop godly habits we need to be saying, “Watch me.”
What is true of the natural family is true also of the church family. Paul understood this as shown in how he approached the church family which he describes as “my beloved children” – saying,
Pau is saying that though there were many exercising a spiritual and moral influence over them, no one cared for them like he did. Yet Paul is not saying that he was perfect, that they should do everything like he did. No, the imitation is limited to how Paul was imitating Christ. This is what made him watch-worthy? Are we watch-worthy?
Joe Carter observes: ‘Every day we are becoming either more like Jesus or less like Him. Which direction are you headed in today? Because your children are watching you, that is also the direction you are leading them.’
Are we dedicating ourselves to developing a broad range of godly habits in our own lives as well as in the home? Do your children actually see you actively engaged in them, taking the Bible, prayer and worship seriously in and across your own life, in your relationships – personally and not just in family times? This is not just about Dads, it is about Mums also, together or even if one is absent.
So thanks Fred Klett for asking and reminding me of the obvious, and I’m sure you too can add a word of thanks to all the members of our family for being family to us and with us even if it is not always easy and often not without difficulties and hurts.
But above all can we not thank the Lord our God that He has taken us into His family love at great cost, with continuing patience, tenderly shaping our lives to bring us into the maturity of being conformed into the image of the only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?
God is our Father, infinitely more wonderfully a father than even the best have been blessed to have experienced, and thankfully infinitely opposite to the worst examples of fatherhood that some have had to endure.
Our travels so far through the letter to the Ephesians continues to drive home that reality of God the Father’s love which is set before us in its opening verses. There we read how ultimately, God the Father stands behind and above all our blessing and all our peace, joy, hope, and love. He is the source of it all. There is so much to praise God the Father for, to love Him for. There is so much in thinking about what He has done for us and given to us that ought to inspire us and make us determined to live for Him and to love Him in return.
Together in Christ’s love and service,
John
Your Pastor