A Father's Scorecard

Dr. Earl Pierce

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God our Father as we remember all of our fathers on this Father's Day.

After I got the phone call on Tuesday asking me to preach today, I received an e-mail from Steve about the theme. He said Pastor Burcham was doing a series of sermons taking off from the Discovery Channel show Myth Busters and today the myth was going to be men are not spiritual.

Well, I'm not sure at all how Pastor Burcham was going to address that or what he was going to say but it got me thinking about that myth. Of course, men are spiritual. To say they're not would put them in the category of any other animal in creation, and we know that's not the case. Unless some may wish to put them there. And while some men, by their behaviors, may seem to belong there, we know God Himself has made men and women unique, higher than the animals, higher than even the angels, created as human beings, flesh and blood, but instilled with the breath of the very spirit of God. And yet, that myth still exists.

Modern science is coming to the conclusion that mankind is, men and women are all spiritual beings. Recent books, such as Why God Won't Go Away , explore brain chemistry to explore that spiritual reality is part of our very being, so much a part of the very being that science in the past refused to acknowledge that but now we see very clearly we are indeed spirit as well as flesh and blood.

Men aren't spiritual. Hum. Is that meant to imply women are? Or they are to a greater extent than men? Perhaps the issue is more along the lines of how spirituality is expressed. We could probably imagine the author, John Gray, who wrote Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus , doing an entire chapter on spirituality.

If that is the case, how spirituality is expressed, could we develop a scorecard to measure it? If so, who could we use as a standard for a father's spirituality. It can't be God the Father. Who could possibly begin to measure up to that? It can't be Jesus. Jesus never had the experience of marriage and children. No, it has to be somebody more like us. As we go back to the bible, probably the best known example of spirituality and fatherhood would be Abraham, our father in faith. Just like the children sing, “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. You are one of them and so am I.” And it goes on and on. Yes, I think we need to turn to Father Abraham for an example of spirituality as a solid gold standard for spirituality and fatherhood. Now how shall we score him? What are the elements of spirituality? If it were a report card, what subjects would we need to give him a grade on? The first category I think would be faith. As a writer to the Hebrew says, “My faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Any discussion of spirituality would have to start with the assumption that there is indeed a spiritual life, something beyond ourselves. Even Alcoholics Anonymous acknowledged that with their first step, acknowledging a higher power, acknowledging something outside of ourselves.

And then we might want to include, as a category, as a subject, piety. Piety are those expressions of faith, how we demonstrate our faith, how we live out our faith. Piety is about going to church, prayer, family devotions, and the like. Those would be signs of spirituality as well.

Taking that same thought a little deeper, we might want to include obedience. After all, that's the task of a disciple. Obedience. That's the root of being a disciple, a follower of someone, to take the instructions of the master and take them to heart and move them out in obedience.

And then our final category, our fourth category, would be relationship. Our relationship with God and how that relationship expresses itself in our relationship with others and especially fathers with our children.

Faith, piety, obedience, and relationship. That would be a pretty good scorecard, wouldn't it, to measure spirituality? That would give us a pretty good indicator of how Abraham measures up as a spiritual father. So how do we score him? Our passage we read earlier is what the Hebrews scholars called “the tenth and final test for Abraham.” It comes near the end of the 13 chapters that are devoted to the story of Abraham. Nearly 25% of the Book of Genesis is about Abraham. And how did Abraham do on that test? And how did he do with the other tests he had to go through? As we look at those and we score him, we need those scoring pads. Don't we have those here? We have everything else here. Do we have scoring pads we can hand out? It will help us understand a father's spirituality.

Let's start with faith. We go back to Chapter 12 in Genesis and we see God calling Abraham seemingly out of the blue and He says to him, “Leave your country. Leave your people. Leave your father's household and go to a land that I'm going to show you. And there I will make you a great nation and I will bless you.” And so Abraham, who was fairly well to do, he was not a poor man by any stretch of the imagination, packs up everything. House, wife, flocks, servants, relatives. Packs them all, not in a U-Haul but on donkeys and on camels, and picks up and moves. Keep in mind, Abraham was 75 years old at this time. And God is asking him not to move to Florida but to somewhere more like Arizona before there was irrigation and desert.

By what we've heard so far, we'd probably be ready to give Abraham a high score, maybe an A or at least a B+ for his faith. But there are some other parts of the story we need to hear before we give that final grade in the area of faith. Because faith, after all, includes trust. Trusting in God above all things, trusting in God for guidance, trusting in God to lead him. And there's where we might have to reconsider. Because, you see, a couple of times, during these journeys, during these travels, Abraham runs into some situations with some other tribes and he tries to pass his wife, Sarah, off as his sister. Now, in reality, they were probably half brother and sister so, technically, he wasn't lying. But still he's trying to pass her off as his sister so he doesn't end up getting killed because, who would want him, she was so beautiful in her late 60's. And she was afraid these other men would kill him to have her. So much for trusting in the Lord.

Then we have the story of Ishmael, the story of the son of Abraham and Hagar, Sarah's maid. Since God had promised a son to Abraham and Sarah, a child, and it seemed like God was taking His time, they took matters into their own hands. So much for trust.

Now what kind of score would we give Abraham in the area of faith? Maybe a C, C+, C-? Press 1 or 2 on your keypads.

Let's move on to piety. Piety are those actions that demonstrate your faith. Many people confuse piety with spirituality, which is probably where the myth comes in, that men don't seem as spiritual as women because they don't do those things that we think, in our own minds, are demonstrations of spirituality but are really more demonstrations of piety. Can we see piety in Abraham? You betcha. Four times in the earlier chapters, before we reach this section, Abraham builds an altar. God fulfills a promise or moves Abraham along toward the promise, and he builds an altar. However, we can't give him full credit here because, until the word of our Lord for today comes, each and every time Abraham built an altar, the bible never mentions him sacrificing anything on it. It's kind of as if God blesses, Abraham builds, but no offering. More symbol than substance. However, when God does call him to offer substance in the coming of the circumcision, Abraham does demonstrate a high degree of piety, not only for himself but his whole household.

So what score do we give him in piety? I think we're probably up in the B category, maybe a B+. So now we have a C and a B. How are we doing?

This brings us to our story of the sacrifice of Isaac, and our last two categories of obedience and relationship. The ten chapters before this one could almost be seen as a simple prologue up to this exact event. Most religious scholars agree that this is the defining moment proving the faith of Abraham, establishing his position as the most recognized father of the three great monotheistic religions of the world. However, I'd like you to think about it a little bit differently this morning. How would we score Abraham here in terms of obedience? I think we all agree that's an A, probably an A+. How many men would take their one and only son up on that mountain to sacrifice him? Very few. Very few I'm sure. And how many would have the kid carry the wood that he'd be laid on? And then bind him to the altar and raise that knife. We hear God, God the Father, God the Savior, God the Protector, making it very, very clear to Abraham what He's asking him to do. “Take your son. Take your only son, the one you love, Isaac, take him to the region of Moriah.” An A+ for Abraham in obedience.

But what about the relationship aspect? What in the world happened to the relationship between Abraham and God? The bible really doesn't tell us but, before the birth of Isaac, we had the story of God appearing to Abraham under the oaks at Mamre, on his way to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and because of the strength of the relationship, God decides to tell Abraham exactly what He's going to do to those wicked cities and Abraham goes to bat for them. He goes to bat for total strangers. He starts arguing with God. He is willing to take on the creator of the universe for people he doesn't even know. And in the end, God concedes through that whole debate as Abraham continues to move the numbers down and down until he gets to ten. Finally, God agrees that not even for ten would He destroy those towns. Now some might say God knew exactly He wasn't going to find even the ten and so the whole debate with Abraham is nothing more than an exercise in futility, but it seems the discussion says more about the relationship, the power of the relationship between Abraham and God, then it says anything about Sodom and Gomorrah. And what happened to that relationship when it comes to defending his only son? From the word, we have no idea. But Abraham doesn't raise a finger, doesn't ask a single question, doesn't challenge God in any way, shape, or form. And, from the text, only does exactly what God demands.

Now it seems odd that a man whose faith led him to leave family, friends, and country to go to a place he had no idea where he was going, it seems odd that a man who trusted God enough to believe the promises to thousands and thousands of descendants and build altars in response, it seems odd that a man who had such a close relationship with God that he was willing to feed God a meal and then enter into a debate on politics with him would now be so obedient as to offer no real response for the request God makes of him. It's a mystery and it's a mystery that will remain.

Scripture hails Abraham as a great man of faith. God says He'll bless all because of Abraham's obedience, but we can see here in the bible a major change in the relationship after this event. As we look on in scripture, we don't see Abraham and God having any further conversation. Neither do we see Abraham and Isaac talking again. As I mentioned earlier, our spirituality is expressed in our relationship with God and extends through this to our relationship with others, fathers, especially to your children. What would have been the effect on Isaac? “Here's Dad who's waited 100 years for my birth, for me his only son, tying me up, putting me on the altar. What's he doing with that knife over my head?” Could the relationship between them ever go back to the way it was before that walk up the mountain? I don't think so. And what about Isaac's relationship with God? When we get to the section in scripture about Isaac, we only have one example of Isaac praying to God and we have only one instance of God talking directly to Isaac, unlike the relationship between Abraham and God or the relationship with Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, whose name becomes Israel which means the one who wrestled with God. There is more unusual passage that helps us see the disquiet here caused by this event. More often than not, God is referred to in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But once when Jacob was working for Laban in another story, Jacob refers to God this way, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac.

So what kind of score do we give Abraham in relationship? Would a D be too generous? Let's go with that. So we have a C in faith, a B in piety, an A in obedience, and a D in relationship. Okay, kids, you just got out of school. What kind of average is that? You just got all your grades, so you know what your average is, right? Maybe a C, maybe a C+? Well at least Abraham's not failing in spirituality. But what is it then that sets Abraham apart as a great spiritual leader? Paul tells us, “What shall we say of Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. What does scripture say? Abraham believed God and God credited to him righteousness. What makes him a great spiritual example is not his C+ in spirituality but the fact that God credited, God gave him that gift of faith, and God took that C+ and made it into an A+.

And He does that with our scorecards as well. Dads, how would you score your fathers in spirituality? Faith, piety, obedience, and relationship. Kids, how would you score your dads? Probably not too many of us would give our dads straight A's, but that doesn't mean they're not spiritual nor does it mean the scores can't improve and the relationships get better. Paul goes on to say, it was credited to him, it was written not for him alone, but also for us with whom God will credit righteousness, for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Here is where Abraham found the power, found his power, and here's where we can find our power as well.

Having righteousness credited to us, we can have the faith to face tomorrow knowing that all is secure in God's hands. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to do things like Abraham did while God is still holding onto us. Having righteousness credited to us, we can set an example for our families and our coworkers in piety, showing that we indeed have a God that we serve daily. Having righteousness credited to us, we can joyfully obey, not because we're going to get something out of it but because we already have everything there is to have in Jesus. And having righteousness credited to us, we can admit our failures, our shortcomings to our spouse, to our children, to our parents, knowing that through Jesus our relationships can be better as they grow in our relationship with Him.

And there's our message for this Father's Day. The heavenly Father has provided His Son, Jesus, for all of His sons and daughters for a spiritual adventure that will last a lifetime. The question has been asked, “Are we human beings having a spiritual experience or spiritual beings having a human experience?” The answer, of course, is both. And it is as spiritual human beings, we can know the peace that passes all understanding, through Jesus Christ whose Father and ours is always there to raise our score, always there to come along side, always there to give us the faith, the piety, the obedience to grow in our relationship with Him. Amen and Amen.

. Copyright 2005 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church