I. A Father’s Day baptism meditation from Prov.14:4 “Where there are no oxen, the stall is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.”
A. People here know that this is one of my favorite verses.
1. “An empty barn stays clean. But there is much profit from the strength of an ox.” or...
2. He sure makes a mess of the stable, but you can get a lot of productive plowing done with an ox.
B. Now this wasn’t written for the sake of oxen, but for us. As it says in 1Cor.9:9–10 “Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake.”
C. The best, most productive activities you can devote your time and effort to include mess, inconvenience and effort. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. It is well worth it!
D. And there’s no sphere of life where this proverb is more true than in raising children.
1. The mess here is real: it’s dirty, it stinks. We’re talking about long-term, tear-your-hair-out, never-goes-away messiness.
2. And you don’t have to have a lot of kids for that to be the case.
3. The sacrifice, the hassle, the burden, the toil, the cost: incalculable.
4. And yet the benefit and blessing of raising children: priceless.
E. Most of us will impact this world more through the lives of our children than through anything else we do in our lives.
F. And yet, it’s possible for all the sacrifice, hassle, burden, toil, and cost to be in vain.
1. For “unless the Lord builds the house, our labor is in vain.” (Ps.127:1)
2. In baptism you bring your child to the right place. You bring your child to the Lord who builds the house.
3. In baptism you say to the Lord, “Everything I have is a gift from you, Lord, including this precious child. Thank you that you love our child even more than we do. Here he is, Lord. Take him and make him your own. We will not raise him for ourselves. By your grace we will raise him for You. For him only hope is in You. Please place Your mercy upon our child.”
II. Father’s Day Sermon
A. Read Proverbs 4:1-13, 20-22
B. Surveys show that “listening to parents” isn’t young people’s favorite sermon topic, though I do believe it has a high ranking among parents.
C. There are many reasons people don’t listen to a sermon, some of which are legitimate, some of which are unfortunate, some of which are evil.
1. It might be over their heads.
2. It might be something they already know.
3. It might be something they’re not interested in.
4. It might be that there’s something else on their mind.
5. But sometimes people don’t listen to a sermon because they don’t think they need wisdom from above. I pray this is not true for any of us this morning.
D. Earlier this year we talked from Proverbs about the importance of desiring and striving for wisdom. But this morning we are focusing on how often God gives young people wisdom through their fathers and mothers.
E. Young people, the Bible makes it clear that God wants to speak to you through your parents.
1. There’s no one else in the world who loves you more.
2. There’s no one else in the world who knows you better.
3. There’s no one else in the world who cares more about your future.
F. And yet they’re also messed up. And so easy to ignore.
1. It’s understandable you see their faults. You see them more close up than you see other adults.
2. And hopefully your parents understand this. They’ve been there and done that.
3. But remember three things:
a. All parents are to be honored, even those who aren’t so wise and godly. The fifth commandment says this with no qualification (Exod.20:12). And one of the first ways of honoring your father and mother is to listen to them.
b. You’ve been given the father and mother God, in His wisdom, knows is best for you.
c. Even a dirty window lets a lot of light through. But it’s not the window that gives light. It’s the sun which shines through the window.
G. Three times this passage calls the young person to listen to his father:
1. 1 Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
2. 10 Hear, my son, and accept my words,
3. 20 My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
H. And this theme resounds throughout the book of Proverbs. E.g.:
1. Prov.1:8 “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.”
2. Prov.13:1 “A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.”
3. Prov.15:5 “A fool despises his father’s instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.”
I. How many times does God have to tell us? If you don’t listen to your parents, you’re not listening to God.
J. Proverbs makes such a point of young people listening to parental wisdom not only because it’s important but because so many of them aren’t very good at it.
K. You know, if God says to do something, we ought to listen carefully. If God says it over and over again, we ought to listen even more carefully. And if God says that doing something will bring us protection, exaltation, honor, long life, bodily healing, and life itself, then we’d be awfully stupid to ignore it, wouldn’t we?
L. Is listening to parents a command? I guess so. But that’s not the point. It’s a plea, an urging born of love.
1. Sometimes we think of commands as things we’re told to do on the basis of the commander’s authority. But when it comes the God, we ought to think of commands more as things we told to you on the basis of His love for us. E.g. don’t go in the street without looking both ways, don’t walk into the poison ivy, make sure to put suntan lotion on in the sun.
2. Listening to your parents is way of learning from other people’s experiences so you don’t have to learn the hard way.
3. Listen to your father, not so much for his sake, or even for God’s sake. Listen for your own sake.
M. Do your parents’ past failures disqualify them from giving you guidance and direction?
1. Did Paul’s earlier failures disqualify him from teaching and exhorting? The Lord didn’t seem to think so.
N. Listen to your parents! Assume that God has something to say to you through them. Assume you have something to learn from them and to seek to learn it.
O. Rom.1:22 tells us that one of the most fatal aspects of foolishness is the perception of wisdom.
1. In other words, real fools think they’re wise.
2. Proverbs 26:12 “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
P. Three final thoughts
1. Make the most of the parents God has given you. Do you know how many people have wept tears of regret over their parent’s grave?
2. If you’ve been given a godly father and/or mother, you’ve been given a treasure. Appreciate it. There’s nothing worse than someone who is rich feeling sorry for himself. If you have a wise father, if you have a good father, thank the Lord. That is a gift given only to a few.
3. I know most of your parents fairly well. And I don’t believe your fathers and mothers really care that much about whether you’re thankful for them or not. What they really care about is whether you listen to God’s wisdom or not.
a. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate parents appreciate their kids’ appreciation very much. But the thing which really matters to us is that our children know the Lord, that they seek Him and listen to Him and know His love and grace.
b. I would rather my children die an early death or move to the other side of the world and never see them again — and know the Lord Jesus, than spend the rest of their lives close by, helping me and giving me grandchildren — and not fear the Lord, which is the first part of wisdom. I think your parents feel the same way.