In Monday's post, I expressed a sincere appreciation for the concerns which President Obama's fatherhood initiative (which differs from the National Fatherhood Initiative, but has informal ties to it - info on the president's initiative may be found at www.fatherhood.gov) seeks to address. Any time a nation is encouraging fathers to care more deeply and substantively for their children, it is a good thing. Dads should be playing catch with their sons, reading bedtime stories to their daughters, and showing all of their children open and clear affection. Those are all noble goals and worthy admonitions. But they are not enough.
For evangelical Christians, law - exposing our sinfulness and weakness - must drive us to the Gospel, else our good news really isn't good news at all. Without the Gospel, our message is merely a platitudinous "give it all you've got," with no accompanying power to accomplish the task, whether it is salvation, obedience to the laws of the land, or fatherhood. President Obama well said that government cannot make good fathers. There is far more substance in those words than perhaps the president realizes.
Authentic fatherhood is not bound up merely in clever aphorisms and slogans with sound bite value. It is, rather, bound up in the holy kingship of God the Father as filtered through the others-centered love of Christ, the suffering Son. It is bound up in Paul's call in Eph. 6:4: "Fathers, bring your children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." The church, which wields the powerful Sword of the Spirit, and not the state, which merely possesses the sword of steel, must drive Scripture's fatherhood initiative. The very existence of the National Fatherhood Initiative evidences the church's abject failure at this crucial juncture. The church must not unwittingly outsource this vital calling to the rulers and authorities of this age.
The church must equip and encourage fathers to be hard about the task of devoting the majority of their non-work time to fulfilling the command of Eph. 6:4, to the study of God's Word so dads can arm themselves with the proper tools to teach their families of the great war that began in Gen. 3 and of the Great Warrior who came to rescue His people from that destruction. Teaching our children the great storyline of Scripture - creation, fall, redemption, new creation - alone will equip them to understand the world in which they live. This alone will teach them how they must live as citizens of another kingdom while sojourning through a kingdom whose citizens (and often their own hearts) are at war with their true King.
President Obama said being a good father is "not hard at all." I respectfully disagree. Being a father in the biblical sense is impossible unless God in His mercy equips one for the task. It is a glorious task, but one that requires time and tireless, intentional work, hour upon hour, day upon day, week upon week, month upon month, decade upon decade. A father is a father until death. In God's gracious economy, self-sacrifice, a Christ-like laying down of the life is Fatherhood 101. What, more specifically, does this look like in the press of day-to-day life? I will take up that subject in my final post in this three-part series tomorrow.