Sermon Prepared by James McCullen
Email Preach Him with Dr. Jim

Disciplined Fathers
2 Tim 2:3-7

Introduction
At the Annual Southern Baptist Pastor's Conference last week Dr. James Merridith our new President brought this to our minds. He posed this question by asking "have you ever stopped to consider what the last verse in the Old Testament says"? Now I want to remind you that most evangelical scholars agree that Malachi is the last written Prophecy in the Old Testament and the last written word from God until 400 years later and the Birth of Christ. The last word for 400 years has to do with Fathers and their children. Listen as I read.
 

Mal 4:6  6"And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse." NAS

Mal 4:6  6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. KJV

Mal 4:6  6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." NIV

That is an interesting thought. I believe one of the most important things I can do is be a good Father and Grand Father. It is my opinion this is a God given privilege and responsibility.

My daughter Tami and her husband belong to the First Baptist Church of Melbourne Fla. This church owns a radio station. One night as we were traveling back from the convention we heard Zig Ziglar quote this statistic as he said "there are 40,000 male prisoners in the Texas prisons. Then he said very few of them had a good relationship with their father. In fact I want to say none of them had a good relationship with their father, I have been told Hallmark Cards offered to give free Father's Day Cards to prisoners to send to their Fathers and no one took them.

I want to share with you; we father's need to discipline ourselves in the art of being good fathers. In the text Paul gives fatherly advice to Timothy and all of us. He talks about some examples of discipline.

    Paul tells Timothy and all of us to discipline as A Solder.

            Paul tells Timothy and all of us to discipline as An Athlete.

                    Paul tells Timothy and all of us to discipline as A Farmer.
 
 

A.    Disciplined for . . Difficulty. v 3
            "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

           1.    Solders may have difficulty In . . Time Commitments.
                    a.    Some times we have to make the time.

            2.    Solders may have difficulty In Talent Commitments.
                    a.    .Some times we have to make the talent.

Illustration
Jack Stanton's story "FIX IT DADDY"

Jack Stanton and his wife adopted a daughter. After several years Jack came home for a quick lunch. He really needed to run back to the church but his daughter placed her broken dolly in his hands and said "fix it daddy." He gave her every excuse but she continued to place the dolly in his hands and say "fix it daddy." Do you know what Jack did? He fixed the dolly.

My two girls were with me when I heard that and they picked up on it and several time said to me fix it daddy.

Some times it hard to be a daddy BE ONE ANYWAY.
 

B.    Disciplined for . . Detachment. v 4 a
            " No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, . . . "

        1.    Solders are detachment from some personal . . Priorities.

        2.    Solders are detachment from some personal . . Pleasures.

Illustration        Think about Uriah 2 Sam 11:6-12
6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. 8 Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 Now when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" 11 And Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing." NAS

C.    Disciplined for . . Delighting. v 4 b
            ". . . so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

        1.    Delight In . . Enlistment. Who Enlisted you as a Father?
        2.    Delight In . . Endearment. Who Do You Want To Please?
 

Application

Heb 12:1-2 1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
 
 

A. Disciplined as an Athlete. .Considering the Rewards. v 5 a
            ". . . And also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize

        1.    You can see "T" Shirts that say "No Pain No Gain"
        2.    You can see "T" Shirts that say "NO FEAR".

Illustration        A young 16 year old and his dads 1958 Cadillac Coupe Deville.
When this lad got his drivers license his dad gave him the keys to his car and said go get some gas son. The boy could not believe it. He knew how much his dad thought about that car. Well the lad proudly drove down to the station,

When he left he turned to sharply and scratched the entire side. He thought maybe I can just leave home. He wondered how far he could go with the gas he just put in the car. He finally decided to go home and face his dad. His dad came out and looked for a long time without saying a word. He then said "son you better take the car back and get some more gas."

That day this lad learned how much he was worth to his dad. The father made some gain through the pain.

B. Disciplined as an Athlete. .Considering the Rules. v 5 b
            ". . . unless he competes according to the rules. "

Illustration
Then Zig gave this astounding statistic as he shared that of the 40,000 prisoners only 13 were Jewish. Then he related some of the basics a good Jewish father gives to his son. Mike Shemaria confirmed the Father or a male relative leads the boy through the Bar Mitzvah.

Application

A.    Disciplined as a Farmer Considering the . . Work v 6 a
           "The hard-working farmer. . . "

        1.    Fathers Ought to work hard at being a Father just like the farmer works hard at farming..
                a.    Do You work hard at being a good Father?
 

B.    Disciplined as a Farmer Considering the . . Wages. v 6 b
            ". . . ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops."

        1.    Do You Realize there will be a pay back for the kind of Father you have been?
        2.    Some men will wake up one day and realize their occupational goals cost them too much.

Illustration
Have you ever planted a shade tree and stay long enough to sit in the shade of that tree?

Being a good father is something like that. Our children become the peaceful shade we planted.
 
 

A Pastor taught a children's Sunday school class one day. He ask each student why they believed in and worshiped the Lord.    The last boy to answer said "preacher I don't really know why but I think it just runs in our family."