Greeting card manufacturers tell us that there are fifty million fewer cards sent on Father s Day

Transcription

1 Under His Wings + Sermon No Sunday, June 17, 2001 Father s Day +++ Peachtree Presbyterian Church, 3434 Roswell Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30327, 404/ Dr. Victor D. Pentz Senior Minister Scripture: Psalm 91 Greeting card manufacturers tell us that there are fifty million fewer cards sent on Father s Day than on Mother s Day. I think we re probably tied with Groundhog Day. But there is one area where Father s Day holds the record: there are more collect calls today than any other day of the year! Perhaps the most tragic trend of our time is the decline of the role of fathers. One statistic over the years shows the percentage of United States children who are living without their biological father has more than doubled from 17% to 36%. Today there is even a higher percentage of children who will go to bed tonight without saying Goodnight! to their dad. Along with this societal trend, there has also been a tendency to say, Who needs dad, anyway? Father is just a social role that can be filled by anybody an aunt, an uncle, a live-in boyfriend or grandparents. They could probably step in and pinch hit and do better than dad would have anyway.

2 There are studies being done that show the distinct role of the father, particularly in the area of play, interestingly enough. They have discovered that mothers in their play with children tend to emphasize caretaking, and mothers tend to enter into the world of the child and play by the rules that the child establishes in the games. But the father, in play, draws the child out of the world of the child and teaches the child adventure and risk-taking and says, Come on, I ll show you how. It has been found that that is a very important part of the developmental life of the child. At a time where in many places you are being told, The most important thing a dad can do is become more like a mom, we are finding that there is a distinctive role of the father in the life of a child. Psalm 91 is about that distinctive role of a father, and it is the perfect psalm for Father s Day. It is a guy psalm. It has arrows, fortresses, snakes... it s a boy psalm: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the fowler s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, -2-

3 and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you make the Most High your dwelling Even the Lord, who is my refuge then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. -3-

4 Because he loves me, says the LORD, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Would you join me in a moment of prayer? Our gracious and loving God, we pray that you would illumine for us your face, the face of our Heavenly Father. We pray that as we listen to You, our ears would hear your word, our hearts would receive your truth, your very character would enter into us as we behold your majesty, your faithfulness, your kindness, and your love. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Back in the early days of civilization, people had a tribal law. If a member of your family was killed by someone else s hand, there would be a gathering of your clan, and the members of the family would discuss what had happened. Out of that meeting, someone from your family would be appointed to represent the family, and that person would be known as the blood avenger. The blood avenger would go out (in the style of Charles Bronson movies) and track down the -4-

5 perpetrator of the heinous deed seeking vengeance upon the person and kill him. The blood avenger would go back to the family and all would celebrate because justice had been done. There was one flaw in this system. There was no provision for accidental killing. If someone had accidentally died at your hands with no intention on your part, it was here that God stepped in and gave a gift to Israel. He gave them cities of refuge. Let me read to you from Numbers 35:11:...select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee. They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that a person accused of murder may not die before he stands trial before the assembly. There were six cities that were scattered around Israel that were one day s journey. I think they were not one day s walk; they were probably one day s sprint! The person would be running for his or her life when they went to those cities. What a security to know that, God forbid, in the tragic event you were responsible for the death of another person, you could run to these places to hide, to prepare your defense, and if your defense held up in court, you would be free to go. It was a city of refuge. The psalmist says: The Lord is my refuge. In other words, God desires that he be the place to which his children run in times of trouble. Beyond that, God has created the human father to be a -5-

6 mini-incarnation of his own fierce protective love. If you are a father, you have that protective love for your children. Now, some fathers go a little far in this direction, especially those of us who have daughters. I have three lovely daughters, and for a time, I actually had a form that I required boys to fill out. It was called an Application for Permission to Date My Daughter. It begins: Note: This Application rejected unless accompanied by a complete financial statement, job history, and current medical report including height, weight, IQ, Boy Scout rank. Do you own a van? Do you have a tattoo? In 50 words or less, what does late mean to you? In 50 words or less, what does Don t touch my daughter! mean to you? What do you want to be if you grow up? In fine print at the bottom: Thank you for your interest. Please allow four to six years for processing. I actually had a stack of these on our entry hall table so that when boys would come in, they would see it. Oh, the ferocious, protective love of parents for their children! Yet, parents, we cannot truly -6-

7 protect our kids. No matter how vigilant we are, no matter how well-connected we are, how intelligent we are the world is too wild and complex, and we cannot protect the children as we wish we could. The poet Allan Payton writes: I see my son is wearing long trousers. I tremble at this. I see he goes forward confidently. He does not know so fully his own gentleness. Go forward, eager child. See, I here begin to take my hands away from you. I shall see you walk careless on the edges of precipices, but if you wish, you shall hear no word come out from me. My whole soul will be sick with apprehension. Life sees you coming. She lies in wait for you. She cannot but hurt you. Go forward. I hold the bandages and ointment ready. I have a dear pastor friend who, in the 1980's, lost his twelve-year-old son to cancer. They tried everything. They took their son to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; they went to Europe and tried some experimental medicines; and still, their son died. About a year later, my friend and his wife were vacationing on the island of Aruba in the Caribbean. My friend said he was lying in bed at night, unable to sleep, still grieving for the loss of his boy. As he lay there in the darkness of his condo room on the sixth floor of a building, he said he heard a voice. The voice said, Jump! He knew the voice was not outside of him. It was within him, and it was very distinct. The voice went on: The air is thicker here in the Caribbean. It ll hold you up. Jump! Then the -7-

8 voice said, If you jump really hard, you ll make it to the swimming pool! Then the voice said this: If you jump, you ll see your son. My friend got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to throw water on his face. He sat down in the bathroom. The voice said, Why don t you go sit on the balcony? At that, he went back into the bedroom and woke his wife. He said, Honey, I just need you to hold me! Fathers need a place of refuge. Parents need a place where they can hide away. Parents, it is so wonderful because in verse 4, here is the promise God gives to us: He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. This wonderful image is of baby chickens in a barnyard pecking and scratching and doing all the things baby chicks do. Suddenly, the mama hen sounds the alarm: There is a predator nearby! She lifts her wings, and all the chicks scramble to get under her wings. In the safety of that dark place, one of the chicks says to another: Boy, did you see the teeth on that wolf? But they are safe under those wings The word for this room in which we worship every Sunday is sanctuary. A sanctuary is a place of safety, a place set apart from the frustrations and hassles of the world. It is a place where we can be safe. -8-

9 One of the things I can do as the new pastor is brag about this church, because I had nothing whatsoever to do with building it. This sanctuary is the most wonderful place to worship God in which I have ever worshiped in twenty-seven years of ministry. It is helpful when you walk into a church and you don t have to depend upon the words of the preacher, where the architecture proclaims who God is. You walk in here, and there is the majestic vaulted ceiling that speaks to us of the majesty and transcendence of God! The width and breadth of the sanctuary speaks of the wonderful community of faith and the warmth and the love of God that is proclaimed here. You may think this strange, but sometimes, when I am singing hymns, I envision a forty-five foot tall Jesus Christ standing in the midst of this sanctuary. I envision him with infinite compassion in his face, with his arms outstretched, saying, Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I envision that he says, All you harried soccer moms, all you stressed-out dads who can t sleep at night, all you people who are worried about your children or your grandchildren, all of you single folks looking for a place to connect to find real friendship in this crazy world Come to me: hide under my wings in my sanctuary! Do you wonder what drew people to the early church? In the 1 st and 2 nd centuries, people who joined the church instantly became outcasts and risked severe physical persecution. But people came to the church anyway. They wanted to be a part of this community of faith. What drew -9-

10 people like bugs to a floodlight to join that early church? Often when you see some television evangelists today, you imagine the early Christians must have been so zealous that they went to their neighbors and said, You re going to burn in hell if you don t come and join the church! That was not it, at all. As a matter of fact, in the book of Philippians, Paul tells us the strategy for bringing people into the early church, what drew people to become part of the community of faith. Philippians 4:4 tells what it was that made people want to become Christians: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The word gentleness here is a California word. It means your laidback-ness. It means your peacefulness of spirit, your unflappability. Let your peacefulness of spirit be known to all. Where does it come from? In the same passage, Paul says: The Lord is near. You are surrounded by the fortress of God s love all around you so that you can have peace in your heart. Then he says: And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your -10-

11 minds in Christ Jesus. The word guard is a technical term for a guard, a sentry, a security force that surrounds you moment by moment, day by day, to secure the peace of your heart as you live under the mighty wings of your God. So, people would run and press their noses against the window of the church and say, Where do you get peace like that in a world like this? A year ago, I came here from a church in Houston. I have recently been in touch with my former church because of all the flooding taking place. I am happy to report that there has been minimal damage to the sanctuary and the buildings of the church in Houston. But one person I know is very busy because of all the flooding. He is a friend, a member of the church, and a city councilman named Joe Roach. Joe is a remarkable young man and a dwarf. Several years ago, he wrote a tribute in the Houston Chronicle to his dad. I d like to share it with you. Thirty-five years ago, he stood by my bedside. Moments earlier, I had been born a dwarf with water on the brain. My head was growing rapidly, filling with water. My father stood by my bedside as doctors told him that they were unable to stop the rapid swelling of my head. They told him I would have to be institutionalized. For two straight days, he stood vigil. My mom was recovering from the difficult delivery. My father prayed that somehow the swelling would stop. Then it happened. The doctors couldn t explain it, -11-

12 but the swelling and the water disappeared. My brain started to work. I was still a dwarf, but I could think! My dad was there to welcome me to my first real day of life. Even though I ll never grow to be 6'3" like my dad, my father s love has made me feel like a giant. He went on to say that when he was a little boy, his father looked all over Texas for cowboy boots that wouldn t cover his knees. His father wanted him to be like other kids, so when he got older, his NASA engineer father used his skills to create a pulley system so Joe could drive the family car. When Joe was a senior in high school, his dad arranged a blind date with a dwarf young lady for Joe, and his dad flew her in to be Joe s date for the senior prom. Joe s friends fathers would brag about their kid s baseball scores; Joe s dad bragged about his book reports. Joe Roach went on to college, and today, Joe is one of only two lawyers in the world who are dwarfs. He is the only public office holder who is a dwarf in any major city of the United States. He says, My success has the word dad written all over it. Some years later, he wrote: In 1990, my dad found himself standing at a bedside. My wife, Becky [also a dwarf], had given birth to a son, my dad s first grandson. But, the child was born with a lethal form of dwarfism. The baby died in the neo-natal unit at Texas Children s Hospital. My dad stood beside me the whole time. He was the strongest man I had ever known. They tried to have another child, but the same thing happened. But, another time, that father and son were standing next to one another waiting for a child. This time it was at the airport. They -12-

13 flew in an adopted child from another country. Ross was brought into the Roach family. They adopted Sherry and then William. I had the privilege of baptizing each one of those three children. You and I are dwarfed by the struggles and the difficulties of life, but there is the massive unseen presence of our Heavenly Father who is beside us all the time. He ll never leave us or forsake us. He is our refuge! He is our fortress, our God, in whom we can trust! Would you join with me in a moment of prayer? Our gracious and loving Father, thank you for the marvelous images of this psalm that emphasize our security in You, that You are our refuge; You are our strength; You are our fortress; You are the God in whom we can trust. We can live our lives in the shadow of the Almighty. We can be under your wings. You will give the angels command concerning us. We pray that you would allow all of that strength and security that you surround us with to come into our hearts and give us that peacefulness of spirit that would cause others to want to come and also be with us under your wings. Thank you for this hour of sanctuary. We pray that that sanctuary would enter into our hearts and go with us this day and every day throughout this week. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. -13-