MISSIONAL DAD'S
Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!""Here I am," he replied. 2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied."The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."NIV
The greatest test of Abraham was whether he would sacrifice Isaac. The greatest test of Abraham’s vision was whether Isaac would buy in or not. For Abraham’s call to be fulfilled, would rest not upon him, but upon his son and future sons. Abraham had a dream and vision that lived beyond his years, but what good would that be if it didn’t live beyond himself? This “test” would have a profound impact upon Isaac his entire life. This would become Jacob’s narrative. Have you ever noticed how that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph – all had powerful narratives. The impact of four successive generations was enough to catapult the birth of a nation and God’s work through a nation in the Old Testament. You're not just passing down faith - you have to see it become their narrative. How do we do this with our children?
Most of us simply want to be good Dad’s. But how do we define good Dad’s? To be a good Dad means we love our kids, they love us, we provide for them, they’re moral and religious and we all get along. To be a “Father” Abraham involves much more than that. It is a vision beyond our nuclear family to future successive generations throughout the entire world. What kind of Dad is this? How does this Dad teach and live in such a way that not only he, but his children will engage a comprehensive global incarnational response to humanity? Abraham was the ultimate picture of a “missional dad.” Faith had to begin at home.
What does it mean to be a missional dad? It’s more than just being moral, religious, and everyone getting along. Any religion and/or faith does that. The question is how do we raise our children so that their faith is powerful enough and strong enough not just to change them, but their world as well? Abraham did it.
A missional dad lives the Gospel first and foremost in front of his children. It’s real. It works. It’s alive. It’s happening. It’s ongoing. It’s not just a man reading the Bible and praying in the morning and then going about his life the rest of the day. It’s him reading his Bible, praying, and then getting up and fulfilling God’s will and living the faith all throughout the day in the midst of tough circumstances. It’s living beyond yourself. Everything about Abraham was a “beyond this world” kind of life. He lived beyond his nation, beyond his Father, beyond his years, beyond his ability to produce an heir, it truly was an “other world” kind of story.
A missional dad lives a pilgrim’s life with his children. Take them outside their country. Take them outside their context. Take them outside their comfort zone. They are all on the journey together. When God called Abraham – the whole family went. The children were on the journey with him and it would be part of their story. This creates a story they’ll never forget.
A missional dad lives beyond his years by passing down to his children all that God has taught and promised them. Our faith is too short-lived. I used to say if your vision doesn’t require your entire life, then it’s just a day-dream. If it requires your life – then it’s a mission. But as I look at Abraham and Hebrews 11 – he lived beyond his life. Abraham was a finisher – he completed God’s will for his life – but not God’s entire mission for the world. He recognized he was a link, and he was a faithful link in that chain.
OK so Father's Day is here - I believe this is the Proverbs 31 of Fatherhood. What kind of Dad are you? What kind of Dad do you want to be?
by Bob Roberts, Jr.
Senior Pastor of Northwood Church, Keller, TX
