Lessons

Father’s Day. The lesson on June 17, 2007 takes a break from the Timothy Series and gives a lesson on Father’s Day. Billy Graham once was quoted as saying “A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” And yet fatherhood today is being assailed, maligned, and marginalized. Perhaps this started in America 45 years ago when we allowed prayer to be removed from our schools. The de -masculinization of men was one of the reasons listed in the fall of the Roman Empire. The feminization of the male has been destructive in our society today. In the media, whether it be in the movies, television, and radio, most men are portrayed as boars. We’ve changed the definition of a macho man to be one that’s a brawler instead of one that loves his wife, love his family, does his job, does it well, in honor to God in all that he does. The lesson covers an editorial by Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post Writers Group entitled “Happy Father’s Day, jerk”. This editiorial says “… Men and fathers have been on the receiving end of a male-bashing trend for the past 20 years or so, and they’ve had enough. … On television, men are depicted as boors or buffoons, while in the broader culture, they’re deadbeats or wife beaters. In a 1999 study of how fathers were presented in 102 prime-time shows, the National Fatherhood Initiative found only four in which a father was portrayed as present and involved in his children’s lives.” There are statistics that show the impact on society to the fatherless homes. 63% of the youths that commit suicide come from fatherless homes. 70% of juveniles that are in state institutions come from a fatherless home. 71% of pregnant teenagers are from a fatherless home. 71% of all high school dropouts come from a fatherless home. There are plenty of other statistics that show there is no doubt, the father is very important in raising youth properly. There is a warfare against Fathers today. Male bashing is very popular but it is not new. In Ephesians 6:4, we learn of instructions given by God to fathers “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” The first part is “don’t provoke” and the second is to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”. Men were created to be leaders and in the headship placed over the woman but under Christ. When he becomes a father and follows what God wants him to do in raising a family he can trust in what God says in Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” The lesson covered the story of Jarius, who was a father of a sick daughter who sought out Jesus so the he might heal her. In Mark 5:22-23 it says “And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.” This story show the great love that a father has for his daughter. Jesus followed him to his home and raised his daughter from the dead. You may want to review other lessons celebrating Fatherhood.