FATHER'S DAY MESSAGE

Sermon Notes, June 21, 2015

Rev. Lonnie Wilkerson

Rev. Wilkerson supplied our pulpit on Father’s Day.  His message related the challenges of the early church in answer to the question “Who is Jesus?” to our own challenges of fatherhood.  He asked us to share remembrances of our fathers: do we have some of his physical traits? What are some of his catch phrases?  What’s one story about him?

Pastor Lonnie reminded us of a story Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 25:31-46, of how we will be judged when the Son of Man comes in his glory.  They asked, “When did we see you….?” And he told them that whatever they did for others, they did for him.

What is the image we’re projecting?  Jesus told the disciples “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9)  As parents, do we practice some of the philosophies of our fathers when it comes to child rearing?  As Christians, are we practicing our understanding of God by the way we live?  Is our theology our faith lived in wisdom?

The early church dealt with 5 challenges of who Jesus was:

·         1. Creator.  Was Jesus God, as our creator?  John 1:1 would say he is.  Just as our children (our creations) reflect our actions as parents, part of God is in us as Christians and we should reflect Him in our actions. 

·         2. Incarnation.  John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh...”  There’s a relationship of son to father.  When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are incarnated into a new family.   When we marry, we become “one flesh,” establishing a new family, a new relationship.

·         3.  Divine Initiative, or prevenient grace.  There’s a possibility within you; Jesus had a choice he could have made, whether or not to do his Father’s will.  We have the same choice.  Our children also have a choice: whether or not to do our will.  (They don’t always do what we’d like them to do!)

·         4.  Union of God and man.  Jesus was fully man and fully God; the concept is a mystery to us and beyond our understanding.  Young men ask, How do I become my own man? It’s an absorption issue, and a choice. 

·         5. Jesus’ will and God’s will.  Mark 14 shows us how Jesus struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane, but he finally submitted, and was willing to let God’s plan work.  We, too, participate with God by submitting our will to His will.

The challenges of what the church went through 2,000 years ago are still challenges for the church today.  And the challenges of fatherhood are still challenges for fathers today.