June 20, 2010 Father's Day

"Change"

Roman 12:1-2

Today is of course Father's Day and while it is not a religious holiday it certainly is a day to be remembered.  This is a day we set aside to remember the important father figures in our lives. I was blessed to have many men who played mentoring father figures in my life. I know I learned more from them than I did my own father but as the years have passed I have grown to love my dad even more than I did when he was living.

I can still remember when Jill told me I was going to be a Father. We were living in Freemont, CA where she was the music director and I was the youth director of Thornton Ave. Baptist Church. Both our positions were considered part-time but making it equal to one full time salary allowing me to continue my college education.  I was for a short while attending two colleges because the one I started in was on the semester system and the other was on the quarter system. For about 4 weeks I would balance which class I would not attend so I could attend the other school because I didn't want to lose any credits.

I came home for lunch and that is when Jill told me she was pregnant. Before I rejoiced in the anticipation of being a father let me tell you what happened. It wasn't totally unexpected it just wasn't on my radar at that time. I became speechless. My life flashed before me. I needed to get my life together, I was going to be a parent and everything in life was going to change. I was going to be a Dad.

Here is the interesting thing about all this. Jill and I had worked with kids for the past 6-7 years. I had counseled families on what to do with their kids. I had directed numerous youth events in Northern California.  I was a paid professional youth director. All that meant absolutely nothing. Becoming a father meant my life was going to change in ways I simply couldn't understand before that moment.

When the pilot of a giant airline is speeding down the runway, there is a certain point where staying on the ground is no longer an option. When he crosses that line, he is committed to the air, he will take off or a disastrous crash is imminent. At the moment the pilot can no longer change his mind he is committed. When Jill told me she was pregnant it was fly or crash and I chose to fly. To the men here this morning who have chosen to fly as fathers and mentors to children and young people, Happy Father's Day.

There are certain life changing events that require us to make a commitment in that event. Some of the obvious ones are becoming an adult, marriage, changing a job, becoming a parent, retirement and the death of a loved one to name a few. Change doesn't come easy to any of us, does it? When it does come we can accept it, reject it, deny it, be overwhelmed by it, and more but it still comes. The longer we do the same thing over and over the harder it is to let go and change. That is why children are so resilient; they don't have a history of what was. For some children the act of change is the norm rather than stability.

The Apostle Paul is writing to his Jewish brothers and sisters about a life changing event in their faith. They have been practicing their religion the same way for over a thousand years. I think that is a long time of doing the same thing. Worship was about obedience to the law and bringing sacrifices to the temple. The people to whom he is writing have accepted Jesus as the Messiah and as their Savior but they are having a hard time letting go of certain religious traditions. Paul tells them they need to change the way they understand their relationship with God. As a friend of mine often reminds me, "It is easier said than done." And I would agree.

In vs.1 he writes, "I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is true worship."

For Paul true worship was not simply practicing rituals and bringing sacrifice it was the offering of ones body as a living sacrifice. To offer one's body is Paul calling us to make a commitment to God. Paul is saying it is time to fly or crash and burn. True worship is that we are the same person at work, home, at play or in the public as we are in church. When you offer your body you are making a commitment not simply an offering. I would remind you for a breakfast of bacon and eggs the chicken makes and offering but the pig makes a commitment.

Paul is calling us to make a commitment to Jesus, a living sacrifice for God. God wants all of us, not just our money but our blood, sweat and tears. In this context what Paul is sharing is appropriate for Father's Day. What our children want from us is all of us.

Paul goes on to offer some practical suggestions on how we can do this. He tells us, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Perhaps I can best illustrate an understanding of this with a story. Since today is Father's Day let me share a certain story about a father and his two boys.

"There is an interesting story about a Baptist preacher taking in a stray dog that his two boys had become very fond of. It seems that the dog was black as coal except for three very distinctive white hairs in his tail. One day they saw an advertisement in their local newspaper about a lost dog that fit the description of the stray perfectly, including the three white hairs. With the help of his two young boys, the preacher carefully separated the three white hairs and pulled them out. The real owner, hearing that a dog fitting the description of his lost dog had wandered to the preacher's small farm, went looking for his dog. When he arrived the dog showed every sign of recognizing his former owner, so the man wanted to take him home.

Quickly the minister spoke up, "Didn't you say the dog had three white hairs on is tail?" The owner, unable to find the identifying hairs, was forced to leave. Later the preacher would write, "I kept the dog, but lost my boys." Oh, the names of the two boys--Frank and Jesse James; notorious and ruthless outlaws from Missouri in the days of the Wild West.

Paul said we are not to be conformed to the ways of this world. Rev. James allowed himself to be conformed to the ways of the world and it cost him his boys. The interesting thing about parenting, mentoring or even living is that someone is always watching. Frank and Jesse were watching Dad as he compromised himself, his faith and his principles. What they learned from dad was not what he wanted them to learn but the principles of life are more often caught than taught.

Listen carefully, we are always teaching children something because they are always watching to see if we are who we say we are. Pastor Jerry L. Steen writes, "At the first church that I pastored, I had the job of mixing feed to supplement my income. For a period of about two weeks, each day that I came home from work, my two boys, ages 2 and 3 would look at me, smile, and would say, "Boy, dad, you sure are dusty!" I would reply, "Yes, I sure am dusty." Then I would get cleaned up.

I didn't think too much of this until I was washing my car and saw my oldest son doing something very strange. He was picking up the gravel and stones that were in our drive and rubbing them into his pants. I asked him, "What are you doing?" He replied, "I want to be dusty like you dad!" I realized that if a child would look up to his father for being dusty and want to copy his father, a child could look up to his father and follow him for anything. Conforming to the world while compromising ourselves does not bring glory to God or to self.

When life changing events come upon us, like parenthood, it requires us to change the way we think and do things. This is what Paul calls being transformed by the renewing of our mind. To be transformed is to be changed on the inside. It is a change in the heart. This happens when we look upon things and think of things differently. When this happens we become better fathers, mothers, parents, mentors, children and better people.  We begin to fly rather than crash and burn.

Tony Campolo tells about a friend of his who encountered a little girl carrying a huge mass of cotton candy on a paper cone. He asked, "How can a little girl like you eat all of that cotton candy? The little girl answered, "Well, you see Mister I am really much bigger on the inside than I am on the outside." I have just given you a visual understanding of what it means to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. God is looking for people like that—bigger on the inside than on the outside.

On this Father's Day I pray that all fathers and mentors, as they make a commitment to children and young people in their world, would not conform to the ways of the world but be transformed by renewing of their mind. May they become bigger on the inside than on the outside.

Let us pray!