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The Good Father

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• I. A good father is present

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Why some fathers are not present

• Career/work• Extra marital affairs• Some abandon their family• “without natural affection”

4Eph. 6:4 – fathers must be present to do this

• [4] And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

5God our Father promises to be present with His family – 1 Cor. 8:6

• [6] But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

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•II. A good father protects his

family

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• Today many fathers are not a protection but a threat• Some fathers allow their children

to do anything they want anytime they want

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• Some father fail to provide the basic necessities • Some fathers are abusive instead

of protective

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Eph. 6:4

• “Provoke not your children to wrath” = by unreasonable commands; by being too harsh; by discipline that is too severe; by neglecting them;

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What kind of protection is needed?

• Protection from evil things (TV – pornography – immodesty – drugs – alcohol – sex outside of marriage etc.)• Protection from harm

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How is this protection to done?

• By proper spiritual training• By limiting where they go and

who they go with• By providing proper recreational

activities

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Eph. 6:4

• “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”• Bring them up = put them under

the proper discipline and training that will lead them to become acquainted with God

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• Nurture = (ASV has “chastening”; ESV has “discipline”; NKJV has “training”) • A. preventive discipline – refers to the

teaching and training a child is given• B. corrective discipline = chastening

given when the child does wrong

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1 Sam. 3:13 – Eli’s failure

• [13] For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.

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• Admonition (ESV has “instruction”) = literally means “a putting in mind” (Vine’s Exp. Dictionary)

• Put them in mind of the Lord

16Proverbs 30:5 – God the Father is our great protector

• [5] Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

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•III. A good father provides

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• Some fathers fail to provide for their family• Some work but waste the money on

drinking, gambling, etc. • “Some even rob their children using

them as gain through the welfare system.” Kevin Cauley

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• Love• Security • Training in spiritual needs• Time• Food• Clothing• Shelter

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1 Tim. 5:8

• [8] But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

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• In the book of Proverbs we find that a good father provides not only physically, but spiritually as well

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Acts 14:17 – God provides for us

• [17] Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

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•IV. A good father is patient

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Col. 3:21

• [21] Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

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• “Being too stern and overly demanding and hard to please will drive a child into resentment and fill him with discouragement; it will cultivate an inferiority complex, making him less valuable to himself, to the community, and to the Lord.” (Bob Winton)

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2 Pet. 1:5-7

• [5] And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;• [6] And to knowledge temperance; and to

temperance patience; and to patience godliness;• [7] And to godliness brotherly kindness;

and to brotherly kindness charity.