How Should A Daddy Lead? (AM Sermon Notes)
Father’s Day 2019
Thank you dad, for being this kind of example for me!
GIST: Have a Jesus-driven perspective, trust wholeheartedly in His love, desire to see sin destroyed, and praise aloud.
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 21
Happy Father’s Day! Let me start by just saying thank you to the Godly dads here today. You make a difference. Like I said on Mother’s day, being a dad isn’t limited to biological function either. If you are standing in that gap for young people—influencing them, sacrificing for them, pointing them to Jesus—then you’re being used as a Godly dad. Thank you.
This morning, in what has become standard fashion for me, we’re coming to the 21st psalm as our Father’s Day message. I know I don’t typically go off the path we’re already on for special holidays, and Melissa lovingly gives me a hard time about it ☺️. After Mother’s Day, I asked her if the service at least felt like a Mother’s Day service. She replied, “It felt like how you’d do a Mother’s Day service…” Which, of course, I took as a polite, “no”☺️. So, I guess you can consider this an Upchurchian Father’s Day message, as well. Like with the passage we came to on Mother’s day, what we’re going to address speaks directly to Father’s. However, it does not speak exclusively to them. There is something here for all of us.
Psalm 21 is really a response to the prayer in Psalm 20. There, we saw the people asking for the king to be blessed as he faithfully served the Lord in times of trouble. Here, we see the praise of the king who has been helped. However, like with Psalm 20, this psalm is not one dimensional. It can be read in reference to David specifically, but more broadly it is prophetic. We’re in the middle of several prophetic psalms here which point forward to the true king, the Messiah who had been long awaited —Jesus. Therefore, this points to the success that comes only from following Him.
It’s there I see a very real and timely connection to Father’s Day. In Scripture, we’re told that men are meant to be spiritual leaders. This is not to say women aren’t to have a spiritual influence. We’ve talked about this numerous times: we’re all to live lives devoted to Christ that strive to serve those around us, so they can see Jesus and be changed. Period. Why then are men directed to take on this role of spiritual leadership within their homes? I like what Al Mohler said in connection to men leading spiritually. To paraphrase, he remarked that he thinks if men weren’t told by God to step up and take their spiritual lives seriously, they probably wouldn’t step up as spiritual leaders. And frankly, we’ve all seen that happen. Often, much of the burden of Christian service is taken up my Godly women, and I have met many families where the wife brings her children to church, but the husband, and even the older male children, stay home. This isn’t how it should be. We need Godly men to step up and lead their families not with an iron fist, but with an open Bible. That’s why our gist this morning addresses this question. How should a daddy lead? → Have a Jesus-driven perspective, trust wholeheartedly in His love, desire to see sin destroyed, and praise aloud. Man, there’s a lot to cover there, so let’s pray and dive in! →
I. HAVE A JESUS-DRIVEN PERSPECTIVE
If I could summarize the first six verses of this psalm as an admonition, I’d say: realize who Jesus is and what He’s done for you personally. Let me say this here, as well. I’m not saying I have “arrived” and am a perfect Christian father. I’m far from it. This is a lesson for me as much as anyone else. Nonetheless, one key to living a Godly life is keeping this perspective about Jesus→ He is good and has been good to you.
Let’s break this down from each verse. First, we see→
Our joy comes from His strength and His salvation (1). “1… O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults!” Talk about perspective! This isn’t how the world normally sees life. We’re not to take joy in our victories, but rather to rejoice in the one who makes victory possible and has secured ultimate victory through His salvation! Anything good that happens in our life is His grace, and more than any life circumstance, being saved by Him should be our greatest source of joy— knowing that He died and rose again to bring true, eternal life for all who believe and give Him control of their lives should make us rejoice! Next, we see→
He answers prayers that seek His face (2). “2 You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah” Like we addressed last Sunday evening, this is not saying we can expect to just get whatever we want. As we’ve addressed on a number of occasions, God is not a genie who’s just there to do our bidding. Rather, He’s the God who loves us and knows what is best for us, and as we come in line with His will—as we’re conformed to His image, as we spend more time with Him and trying to be like Him as He designed us to be—we’ll find ourselves seeking His face instead of seeking our benefit. And when we seek His face, we can be confident that we will be answered! I love Jeremiah 29:13, “13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” This is the kind of praying that comes from a heart that remembers→
He pours out amazing grace (3). “3 For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.” Crowns are for kings. This crown is for a king who was victorious over his enemies. What have we done to earn any such reward? We’ve been adopted as children of the One True King. He covers us in His forgiveness and gives us the benefits of children. That’s grace! We were sinners and enemies, and His sacrifice pours out blessings for those who call upon His name. This thought is continued in the next verse where we’re told→
He provides us with eternal, abundant life (4). “4 He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever.” This is where we see that this psalm could not have just been about physical victory. David died physically. However, what is being pointed to here is eternity! You guys know 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 is one of my favorite passages, “16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” And we have this hope of wonderful, eternal life because→
We can experience a glorious transformation (5). “5 His glory is great through your salvation; splendor and majesty you bestow on him.” God’s glory is His character fully revealed because He’s ALL good. We’re not. Therefore, glory and splendor both point to goodness in us...and a goodness that is not indigenous to us ☺️. This goodness is because of the change He makes. It is because of His salvation that He bestow. It’s a gift and it completely changes us! Man, we need this perspective. Any goodness in me is evidence of His gracious gift! It’s because of this, again, that→
We can have true and lasting joy (6)! “6 For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.” You were made by Him. You were made for Him. And you can experience real blessing and true joy when you’re with Him!
This is the perspective we’re supposed to have as we live this life. We’ve been richly blessed by the King of Kings. Wouldn’t it be awesome if not only our fathers, but if we all lived like this? Imagine the difference it would make in your life if you kept this understanding constantly before you. We can...and we should.
I know that was a longer point, so I’ll try to move efficiently through these next few ☺️. As Godly fathers, and those who desire to live like Him, we need to have a Jesus-driven perspective, we also need to→
II. TRUST WHOLEHEARTEDLY IN HIS LOVE
Let’s look just at one verse here. “7 For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.” This is a short verse packed with meaning. We’re called first to→
Trust. This also echoes Psalm 20. “7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God”(Psalm 20:7). We put so much stock in our abilities. But our strengths, great as they may be, will fail. I’m reminded of this more and more. I know many of you look at me like a puppy still, but even I can feel the effects of age on my physical body. I’m typing these notes with one of my thumbs wrapped up because I’m pretty sure I sprained it playing basketball with a bunch of teenagers Friday ☺️. Our physical strength, our mental capacities, our whatever we feel is getting us through...will fail us. Jesus won’t. Our trust, therefore, must be in Him and based on →
His Love. This is beautiful. It’s Father’s Day, and dad’s tend to get a bad rap for not being as outwardly affectionate as mothers. Nine times out of ten, this is probably the case. Dads, we can do better. See, we can place our full confidence in Jesus because we’re fully confident not only in His power and strength and control, but in His unfailing, unearned love! It is remembering this love that gives us strength to face each day. Let’s exude that. My kids might have a lot of questions about me— I’m weird; I get it (so do they) ☺️. However, I NEVER want them to question how much I love them, so I’ll tell them every day, and try my best to show them too. Remember, the greatly loved, love greatly! We need to be these kinds of fathers because we’re all called to be these kinds of people! AND—it’s because of this love that we can→
Be Unshaken. This world will try to shake you. Your own sinful heart will be at war within you. But His love is an unshakeable foundation. Trust it!
And, then we come to what might seem like the “darker” side of this psalm. However, what we’re looking at is a→
III. DESIRE TO SEE SIN DESTROYED
Let’s read 8-12. “8 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9 You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man. 11 Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed. 12 For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.” This is a picture of complete annihilation of the enemies of God. Sound harsh? It’s not. It’s just. God cannot look at evil and allow it to run rampant without recourse. There is an end to suffering and pain and evil. There is justice for those who face the heartache of this broken world. This comes in two forms: grace or judgment. For those who turn to Jesus, there is the amazing forgiveness we’ve been describing above. For those who choose not to, those who do not desire God, there is judgment.
Since this is Father’s day, let me just say this: a Godly father should desire to see sin destroyed in his own life, in the life of his family, and in the world. This won’t be pleasant. I love C.S. Lewis’ book called The Great Divorce and highly recommend it. It’s an allegory of sorts that points to the nature of sin in all our lives. The story itself is a fictional account of people from Hell taking a short vacation to Heaven. At one point, an angel is talking to a man who has what appears to be a red lizard on his shoulder, symbolizing his sin. He asks if the man wants to get rid of it, and after some convincing, he agrees. The angel proceeds to burn it off, and the man starts complaining that it hurts terribly. The angel’s response is awesome. He says, “I never said it wouldn’t hurt you. I said it wouldn’t kill you.”
Like we addressed last Sunday morning, sin is a detestable evil that wants to destroy you. We shouldn’t want it in our lives, so we should make every effort to cling to Jesus and flee sin. We should stay away from things that draw us into sin, and we should hold tightly to the things that draw us closer to Jesus (reading His Word, fellowshiping with His people, speaking to Him in prayer). This desire should then extend to our families as we teach our children the truth of God’s Word and pray fervently that they be saved by Jesus and protected from the enslaving sins of this world. As dads, protecting is something we try to do naturally. However, no matter how much you try to protect your family from physical or emotional harm, if you’re not trying to protect them from sin by pointing them always to Jesus and bringing them always before Him in prayer, you’re failing to provide the protection that really matters.
Furthermore, a Godly dad shouldn’t be content to see sin anywhere. Therefore, we should stand firm for His truth wherever we go, and pray even for those who hate us in this world—praying they be rescued from the devastation of sin, as well.
So, here’s what our lives should look like: have a Jesus-driven perspective, trust wholeheartedly in His love, desire to see sin destroyed→
IV. AND PRAISE ALOUD
Look at this last verse real quick. “13 Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.” I just want to make two quick observations here before we close. First, we should praise. Thanksgiving should constantly be on our lips. Praise to Him should just flow from our attitudes and our actions. And we should praise so they can see it! This says we will sing. Songs can be heard. Again, let me just talk to dads for a second, but really this applies to all of us. Dads, do your kids know how much you love Jesus? They shouldn’t have to wait until they inherent your prayer journal when your gone to know how much of a difference He makes daily in your life. Be a true follower of Jesus, and show them that!
TAKEAWAYS
I know we covered a lot this morning, and I want to be mindful of that in our takeaways. Let’s just recap those points.
1. Have a Jesus-driven perspective.
2. Trust wholeheartedly in His love.
3. Desire to see sin destroyed.
4. And praise aloud.
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