A Father's Legacy of Faith: Honoring Dads on Father’s Day

This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Faith of Our Fathers.

If you are a father, you have an awesome and a fearful assignment.

Look at the world around us. You will see the wrecks of families—the wounded, the maimed, the destroyed. Destroyed by financial pressure, immorality, adultery, substance abuse.

Fathers, you have to lead your children through this. There is a job to be done in the home, and it all begins with Dad. America will not change until our homes change, and our homes will not change until the fathers repent of dereliction of duty.

Are you a father? What better time than Father’s Day to meditate again on what God has called you to.

Are you a wife, a son, or a daughter? Celebrating Father’s Day should include thanking your husband and father for standing up faithfully in his role and encouraging him to hold even tighter to the responsibilities God has given to a man who fears Him.

A Man of God Makes a Good Earthly Father

Decades ago, Pastor Adrian Rogers preached on Psalm 128, which pictures how God blesses a father who walks in the faith of the fathers before him.

God does not fail to bless obedience.

Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD. The LORD bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel! (Psalm 128).

What makes a good father? Examine the verses above.

He is a man of God. You cannot obey God or please Him if you are not living a godly life. He is hard-working. He is a devoted husband. His wife is like a vine—lovely, but fragile; she needs the support he gives. This man’s wife is thriving and fruitful because of his love. He is a nurturing father. Psalm 128 likens children to olive plants; this is because olive plants do not mature unless you cultivate them. He leaves a godly legacy. Show me a generation of God-fearing, hard-working fathers who love their wives and lead their children, and I will show you a strong nation.

And because godly fathers leave a godly legacy, those after them get the downstream benefit of their blessings and example. As you seek to become (or to encourage) a good father, consider the legacy of faith left by these fathers in the Bible.

Abraham’s Legacy of Faith: Obedience

When we read Abraham mentioned in the New Testament, we read about his faith.

“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3b).

If faith is real, it will lead to obedience. Our English word “believe” comes from the old English “by-live.” Works are the proof, and the product, of faith.

Fathers, God has given you the responsibility of teaching children the Word of God and passing the legacy of Christian faith to the next generation. Raising children in faith and building a Christian home requires work. You must cultivate, and God will give the increase. (See 1 Corinthians 3:6.)

Do your children see you obeying Christ, day by day? Or do they only hear sermons about it on Sunday?

I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:5-6).

God’s mercy. That is the legacy your obedience will have for your children.

Isaac’s Legacy of Faith: Patience

If the family is wrong, most likely the father is wrong. This is what happened to Isaac’s household. But when God got Isaac’s attention about this, Isaac trembled—and repented.

God had promised Abraham, Isaac’s father, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 22:18a). God gave the blessing to Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob. Jacob gave it to his son, Judah. From Judah came the house of Jesse, and David. This was the lineage of Joseph and Mary, and from there came the Lord Jesus Christ.

Almighty God is over all; even our mistakes. In the end, Isaac simply trusted God to fulfill His promise to his father Abraham.

Man may rule, but God will overrule. This is the sovereignty of God. Isaac patiently submitted himself to it, and he looked ahead with expectancy and confidence in God. “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come” (Hebrews 11:20).

Fathers, patience is a steadiness in life. Patience will enable you to stand upright in the storms, and be steady through the everyday work of discipling your children, while you wait to see God’s work revealed in your family.

Joseph’s Legacy of Faith: Purity

In the pagan world of the Egyptians, Joseph, Abraham’s great-grandson, could have easily fallen into impurity.

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me” (Genesis 39:6b-7).

But Joseph knew the Lord. He had the right answer ready.

But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her (Genesis 39:8-10).

Joseph’s unwavering commitment to moral purity cost him his job, but it protected his soul. In the end, God rewarded his faithfulness.

If a father does not maintain his moral integrity, his purity, the foundation of his home will crumble. When a man fails to keep himself pure, he suffers his own sin—but so does his family.

Just as a husband must see his marriage to his wife as something lovely and precious, he must realize that his purity to that relationship is sacred. Marriage, as God created it, is to be honored and protected. Value purity. Treasure it as a rare diamond. Let that purity be the legacy you leave to your children.

Honoring Fatherhood

The best earthly fathers are those who pattern themselves after our heavenly Father. Godly men will bless their children during their lives, and leave a legacy of God’s blessing even after they are gone.

If you are a father who needs to repent, do so now.

If you are walking obediently in your calling to disciple your family, do not grow weary in the good work! God’s promises His Word will not return void.

And for all of us, Father’s Day is a day to stop and take notice of good fathers. Do not fail to thank your father, your husband, your grandfather for their love, devotion, and provision.

To all the good fathers, Happy Father’s Day!

List of Scriptures Referenced in This Article

Psalm 128; Romans 4:3; 1 Corinthians 3:6; Exodus 20:5-6; Genesis 22:18; Hebrews 11:20; Genesis 39:6-10

More Bible Verses About Honoring Fathers

The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness (Proverbs 16:31).

For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do” (Mark 7:1-13).

Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity (1 Timothy 5:1-2).