It is a wonderful blessing and privilege to be a father. One of the most amazing things about being a father is knowing what sort of influence you have on those around you, especially your children. Children observe and learn from their fathers. They want to follow their dad, wear his boots, try on his hat, and they often play in a way that matches what they see their father doing.
In a similar way, fathers are to do the very same thing when they look at their heavenly father. Notice the parallels in Ephesians 5:
Ephesians 5:1–2 –1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
We are to imitate God as His Children. If you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, you have been adopted into God’s forever family and He is your father, and you are to view yourself as loved, and as His child. And as His child, we are to imitate Him. We are to follow Him and do as He does, value what He values, and prioritize what He prioritizes.
Children are to imitate their good father.
The text goes on in more specificity and says, ‘walk in love’. And then just to make it even more clear, the text points to Christ as the example of what it looks like to walk in love.
In love, Jesus gave Himself for us. He sacrificed His desires and sacrificed Himself for us so we could be adopted. And it was not simply for us. It was not simply a horizontal situation; it was an offering to God the Father. It was a fragrant aroma with vertical focus.
When an earthly father imitates his heavenly father, that is a fragrant aroma. Our earthly children get a picture of what our heavenly father is like. When an earthy father gives himself up and gives his time, energy, and focus to his kids in a Christ centered way it can have a powerful impact. When a father denies himself: denying his hobbies, denying making sure he looks good at all costs, and denying his comfort, it points powerfully to Christ. When a father proactively puts the spiritual and physical well-being of others, particularly his wife and children above his own desires, he points to the sacrifice of Christ and he walks in love.
This is not to simply be a father’s duty, but this is an act of worship.
When a father does this as an act of worship, it is an offering. He views it not as a burden, but as something sweet and fragrant, something beautiful to be a part of, something special and something he is thankful to offer to the Lord. Our view of the Lord impacts how we view the offering we present to Him.
We must pray and help each other not see fatherhood as a burden, but as an act of worship where we get to show our kids what God is like and how we want to honor Him above everything else. We need community to remind us of our purpose individually and as fathers.
Genesis 1:26-28 indicates that our purpose as humans is to bear God’s image and to mimic and display His value system and rule in a way where we represent Him. We were not able to do that on our own and we sinned and rebelled against our purpose. And so, we needed a savior, someone to do it in our place, and take the punishment for our sin. In Christ, we can be forgiven and adopted such that we are able to fulfill our purpose in all our relationships, including fatherhood. So that now we not only are able to bear His image, but in Christ we are His children and we are able to walk in love and imitate God in a loving and secure relationship.
I pray that on Father’s Day we see the high calling and the high honor it is to be a dad. May we recognize how our kids imitate us and may they follow us as we follow Christ.
We want to celebrate Christ centered fathers, and so I hope you will join us for Father’s Day at Faith Church as we study the goodness of God from Psalm 145.
We will also have some fun things for dads, and we hope this is a time of encouragement and celebration of fathers. We will be giving out some work gloves and sharpies to encourage dads to do a fun activity with their kids. Draw something fun on your work gloves with your kids. This reminds us that our kids are watching us, so decorate some work gloves with your child’s favorite animal, insect, or something else that reminds you of your kids. And as we wear those work gloves, we are reminded that the way we live, work, and worship can point our kids to the goodness of our heavenly father.
May we imitate the Lord and may our kids do the same.
