The Lutheran Hour
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"Guardians at the Gate"
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Text: Mark 6:30-32
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! The empty tomb tells us our Savior is victorious, Satan is conquered, death is defeated, and sin no longer has a stranglehold upon our souls. God’s plan is complete: faith in the risen Redeemer makes us part of the Father’s family.
It had seemed like the negotiations would never end. Both sides had come to the bargaining table convinced that they were absolutely, morally, ethically, right. Because both sides believed in their position so completely, neither had been ready to concede a point, or give an inch. Still, right from the beginning, there had been little doubt about the outcome of the discussion. One side, the side which was stronger, richer, and could call upon some pretty influential backing, eventually had won the discussion. The end result was Dad finally managed to get Junior into bed. “And that is that,” Dad, with a certain smugness, thought to himself. But that wasn’t that. Dad didn’t know his son as well as he thought he did, and Junior was not entirely convinced that his cause had been lost. From the boy’s bedroom came the plaintive plea, “Da-ad. Da-ad.” “Da-ad, will you read me a story?” “No, I’ve already read you a story.” “Da-ad, I forgot to get my GI-Joe Action Figure.” “He’ll be where you put him in the morning.” “Da-ad, I forgot to tell you I love you.” “You just did. I love you, too. Go to sleep.” The straw that broke the camel’s back was, “Da-ad, I’m thirsty. Will you bring me a drink of water?” Dad called back, “You’ve had your chance for a drink. Now be quiet. I don’t want to hear another peep out of you. If I have to come in there, I’m going to be comin’ to give you a spankin’.” Finally, there was silence; a long silence. Then, from his son’s room came the tentative, “Da-ad.” “What?” “Dad, when you come in to give me a spankin’, will you bring me a drink of water?”
Now, please, don’t write to me and tell me that my story is advocating child abuse. It isn’t. The story neither advocates nor discourages corporal punishment. Take it for what it is: a simple story that is meant to introduce Father’s Day. You see, although the religious world has designated this Lord’s Day as the Second Sunday in Pentecost, much of the rest of the world call it “Father’s Day.” Well, that may be stretching the facts, just a little. You see, most of the rest of the world doesn’t remember that today has been set aside to remember Dads. If you forget Mother’s Day, it’s a big deal. If you forget Mother’s Day, you’re in the doghouse until you can redeem your guilty conscience with an especially nice gift, or card, or flowers, or candy on a birthday or Christmas. But when you forget Father’s Day, well that’s sort of like forgetting to rotate your tires or not flossing after every meal. You know you ought to do it, but you forget.
That’s the way it is in our personal lives; that’s the way it is in churches, too. When Mother’s Day rolls around, churches encourage family worship; they give corsages to Moms as premiums for having been so good, loving, caring, gentle, nurturing, compassionate, forgiving, faithful, and every positive virtue that that the dictionary contains. On Mother’s Day, quite rightly, most pastors passionately and powerfully, praise those ladies who had been, and continue to be, for their children, the greatest and best reflection of Christ’s love. But that’s hardly the way it is when Dad’s Day rolls round. When Dad’s Day comes up on the calendar, the tone of many pastors gets a little harder, the look in their eyes a little sterner, the messages they preach a little harsher. Most men of the cloth find it easy to pound on the pulpit and spit out statistics like:
* Twenty-five percent of children have no father waiting for them at home when they’re born.
* One million children a year are the victims of divorce and 90 percent of those children will live with their mother;
* Thirty-seven seconds is the average amount of time a middle-class father spends with his small child every day.
Nobody can argue it. Those are staggering statistics. Maybe that’s why nobody seems to mind when clergy start sharing stories about dad’s spiritual shortcomings.
Too many of us have come to believe that a father is a fellow whose sentence structure is confined to things no more profound than: “Ask your mom,” or “This is going to hurt me more that it is going to hurt you.” Things like: “You kids, be quiet, I’m trying to watch the game.” The end result is that our western culture has demoted fathers to being little more than a human appendix; that is a person who doesn’t do much and who can be removed from the body of the family without any noticeable loss or scarring.
This Father’s Day, I want to go on record as saying that what western culture thinks about fathers is not what Scripture thinks; it’s certainly not what God thinks. The Lord, knowing that neither mother nor father are handed an owner’s manual or a quick-start guide when they first become parents, provides us with divine help in being parents. He gives us priorities as to what we are to say and what we are to do. In the Old Testament, He instructed his people to: “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that your LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.” With those words, God was letting His fathers and mothers know, no matter what else they do or don’t do; no matter what else they say or don’t say; no matter what else they may give their children; they must always, first and foremost, give them His Word. They must point their little ones to the Savior. As verification of that command, in the New Testament God encourages, “Fathers… bring your children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
In contrast to what the world thinks, God thinks that Christian fathers ought to be the prime protectors, the first line of defense for the children that have been placed into their care. It’s true, fathers may not cocoon their children with the same enveloping care as do many mothers; but God has still designed fathers to leave their children a legacy of love received from, and reflected in, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. By God’s plan and direction, fathers are given the charge to provide their little ones a safe haven, a spiritual home where the greatness of the Savior’s sacrifice, the power of His suffering, the sacrifice of His death, and the victory of His resurrection may permeate every room and brighten every corner. God has willed earthly fathers to be His personal representatives, His powerful hands-on protectors in the lives of their children. That is what God wishes for fathers. He wants them to be guardians at the gates of their homes.
God wants Christian fathers to stand faithful watch as guardians at the gates of their homes. The Lord has entrusted them with the duty of welcoming the Savior and encouraging children to love their Redeemer, while at the same time they do their best to exclude Satan and keep out the world. The Lord knows that much rests on the Christian father’s faithful fulfillment of his duty to guard Jesus’ little lambs. He knows the importance of the work He has given to the guardians of the gate – and so does Satan. Which is why the devil so often makes Christian fathers his first and foremost targets. A short study of Scripture will show many of God’s great heroes of faith, successful in so many great endeavors for the Lord, fail and fall when it comes to their own families and children. One patriarch doubted God would provide him with an heir and took the matter into his own hands; another created family frustration by showing favoritism between his children. The prophet Samuel could organize worship of God in the tabernacle, stand up against the Philistines, but he could not do the same for his own sons. King David had difficulty keeping his marriage vows and brought rebellion to his home and revolution to his country.
Gleefully, the forces of darkness bring to bear their best and most effective weapons on Christian fathers, God’s appointed guardians of the gates. Seduction and sin, corruption, complacency, and self-contentment all lead to discord, disharmony, and destruction. Satan knows that if he is able to turn a father’s eyes from Jesus to a host of insignificant projects; if he can force a father to forget the one thing, the one person who is really needful for salvation; if he can stop a father from giving his children a living, livelong witness to Jesus, he has accomplished much. Satan knows that when a father no longer stands as guardian at the gate of his home; when dad is no longer a buffer between the world and the sickness, the sin and sadness of the earth; when his words have lost their import and his person has been stripped of its authority, the devil’s desire to kidnap Christ’s children and steal their souls into the eternal pains of hell has been made infinitely easier.
Which is why you, my father-friends, must stand guard at the gate. You know the neighborhood drug peddler is willing to go wherever, say whatever, do whatever is necessary so he can make a sale to your children. You know that pornographers are relentless in using the latest and best Internet technology to try and pervert your children’s sexuality, to distort your young ones’ spirituality. You know your children’s ill-meaning friends are trying to use social pressure to steamroller your sons and daughters in a faith-flattening onslaught. You know every aspect of society has more than its share of fakes and frauds, charlatans and counterfeits who are continuously searching, constantly striving to find your children’s personal flaws, special weaknesses, individual needs, which will woo them away from their Savior and the salvation which Jesus so graciously gives.
Christian fathers, you are God’s appointed guardians at the gate. I give thanks for you. I encourage you, even as I remind you that there are things which the most devoted father, the most dependable and dedicated guardian cannot successfully oppose. No matter what you do, you cannot stop Satan from putting roadblocks in the path of your children; you cannot prevent the world from laying stumbling blocks in the road your young ones must walk. Even the most powerful father is powerless to save his children from sin, death, and Satan. Against these things, only Jesus, the sinless Son of God, has proven to be victorious.
Jesus, the only one who loves your children more than you; came into this world so that your children might, no matter what evil surrounds them, no matter what tragedy strikes them, no matter what sadness is in store for them, might be given salvation. Saved by Jesus’ sacrifice, held in His nail-pierced hands, your children are assured that they are not just contenders in this world’s struggles; by the Spirit’s power, they are conquerors and more than conquerors. Today God’s people rejoice that Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose for our children, so all children might be saved.
For all children, and fathers, you are included in that category, Jesus lived His life; keeping the commandments that humanity’s sons and daughters break so regularly. For all children, which means all of us, Jesus kept God’s Law so the heavenly Father might be able to declare them forgiven of transgression and free of all spiritual debt. It was to open the door to heaven for all who would be led to Him in faith that Jesus carried the cross to Calvary and gave up His life here on earth. Now, with the Savior’s great and glorious resurrection, we have the Father’s guarantee of grace – a guarantee that is freely given to all who confess their sins and declare Christ to be their Savior and Lord.
This Father’s Day, this Lord’s Day, we give thanks for Jesus who alone can guard our children against their ultimate enemies of sin, death, and Satan. We give thanks for what He has done and we, the guardians at the gates, redeemed by the Savior and empowered by the Holy Spirit, pledge ourselves in the way we live, the way we walk, the way we work, the example we set to be His servants in His soul-saving work. True, in their mother, our children may see the love and gentleness of God; but in Christian fathers, we pray those same children will see a humble reflection of the constancy, the commitment, and the caring of the Christ. We pray in us they will see the Savior… but do they?
It is my belief that every man who is listening to The Lutheran Hour would gladly stand guard against any physical threat to his children’s life, health, or safety. If a kidnapper were to break into your house, you know, and I know, that to reach your children, they would have to go through you. You would fight; yes, it is not an exaggeration to say that you would die rather than allow anyone to terrorize your children. I know you would gladly die to keep your little ones safe. I know that you would willingly, if your children were to become sick, gladly take that illness into yourself; that you would gladly carry their pains and make them your own.
“But,” you reply, “Pastor, a kidnapper is somebody I can see, someone I can fight. How can I serve the Savior and help my children survive the onslaught of sin, Satan, and death? How can I, a physical man, be the guard at the gate against these sinister forces which have so often proven to be fatal in the lives of others?” To your question, I point to the words of Jesus quoted by the Lord’s disciple, Mark. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a small mustard seed, which, when it is sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds of the earth; yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches.” The Savior was saying that God can bring great things out small beginnings. The story of our salvation and deliverance from sin began with a heaven-sent baby who was born in a stable and had an animal’s feeding trough for His cradle. Still, out of that humble virgin birth, and out of a borrowed, empty tomb, God has managed to bring salvation to hundreds of millions and established His church, the greatest spiritual movement the world has ever seen.
To you guardians of the gate, may I suggest that almighty God has the power to use small, sinful men. God can use you to point children to His Son; He can use you to bring about great things. Do you wonder how? I could give you many answers, good answers, but this Father’s Day I confine myself to one: be men of integrity. Christian fathers should be men of integrity. Your children are growing up in a world where everything is relative and all morality is problematic. The attitude “take what you can, whenever you can, from whomever you can, in whatever way you can,” has become for many the name of the game. But for Christian fathers, watching out for number one is not number one in their list of priorities. They are soldiers of the Savior; they are guardians at the gate. In such a world, an unbelieving man of integrity will stand out; but a Christian man of integrity will appear as a beacon.
My friends, you may not be able to prevent your children from hearing foul language on television, but Christian fathers of integrity – they strive to make sure young ears will never hear such words spew from their mouths. You may not be able to shield your children from immorality at the movies, but you can make sure at home the children know that you take your marriage vows seriously. Christian fathers may not be able to keep their children from being bruised and battered by cruel comments made by classmates, but they can be there to hold a wounded child in their arms and assure him that Jesus always loves him, and they do, too. You may not be able to make sure that your children will succeed, but Christian men of integrity make it a high priority that their children know the Savior.
Not so long ago a Sunday-go-to-meeting kind of Christian invited his boss to dinner. Knowing his boss showed his faith all week long, the father started bragging about his religion. To verify all that he had been saying, the father turned to his young son and put him on the spot by asking: “Son, tell my boss why people call me a Christian.” The son replied, “Well, dad, maybe that’s because they don’t know you very well.” Well, the boy has integrity, even if the dad does not. Far better I think, for the whole family to have it: integrity in faithfully following the Savior. If that is your goal, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for June 18, 2006
TOPIC: Seeing Is Maybe BelievingANNOUNCER: And now Pastor Ken Klaus responds to a listener’s comment. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Hi, Mark, and before us today, we have … ?
ANNOUNCER: Well, it’s not so much a question as it is a statement, or maybe more of a challenge.
KLAUS: Good! Good! It sounds interesting.
ANNOUNCER: It comes to us from a listener’s e-mail. He writes, “I’m an educated, rational person. I need to see things for myself. And that’s why I find it difficult to believe anything taught by religion.” Would you care to respond?
KLAUS: I’d love to respond. It’s just that there are so many ways I could go. It’s really quite a challenge. To the person who says, “I won’t believe unless I see,” the first thing I would say would be: “How about your memory… have you ever seen your memory… or your brain… have you seen that? Maybe they don’t exist. Or, how do you know you have internal organs… have you seen them? Or maybe they don’t exist, either? Have you ever seen electricity… or the air… or wind. Of course, you see the results of these things. Or how about anything in history? Have you ever seen Abraham Lincoln? I doubt it. Sure, you saw a picture of somebody that someone else said was Lincoln, but we all know that pictures can be faked. I guess he’d have to say he can’t believe in Abraham Lincoln.
ANNOUNCER: Well, what else could you say to a person who will only believe in things that can be seen?
KLAUS: I’d say, what about love? I’ve never seen love. Or hatred, prejudice, honor, integrity, hatred, ignorance. I’ve never seen the actual things themselves. Still, I have to believe these things exist because I’ve seen people who demonstrated all of them.
ANNOUNCER: Now how would you relate all of this to what the church teaches?
KLAUS: Mark, the person we’re talking about is making excuses. Whether he knows it or not, he’s being inconsistent. I’m sure he believes all the rest of these things that I’ve mentioned exist. It’s only when it comes to religion where he seems to have a problem.
ANNOUNCER: Why might that be?
KLAUS: Saint Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians , he said: “Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom, we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (I Corinthians 1:22-23)
Nineteen hundred years ago the world’s intelligentsia challenged the Lord, they’re still doing the same thing with the same results.
ANNOUNCER: And in that passage you quoted it goes on to say those who are called to Christ will find in Christ both power and wisdom.
KLAUS: Exactly, “For those who are called…” It strikes me as unusual, Mark, that a fellow who says he won’t believe in anything he can’t see is contacting us, a religious program.
ANNOUNCER: And why would that strike you as unusual?
KLAUS: Well, he knows I can’t say, “Come on down to The Lutheran Hour studios on Thursday at 1:00 and I’ll set up a face-to-face meeting between you and God in His office. I can’t say, “Here, put your finger in the nail wounds in Jesus’ hands. See, here is where the Roman spear went into His side.”
ANNOUNCER: But there was a man who had his doubts, and he did have the opportunity to do just that.
KLAUS: And what did Jesus say to Thomas that day?
ANNOUNCER: He said, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.”
KLAUS: Exactly. Now here’s the point. Why is this fellow writing to us? Here’s what I think. I think the Holy Spirit is getting to him. I think the Holy Spirit is calling this man. I don’t think this guy is as sure and as confident as he claims to be. By the way, there’s another one … have you ever seen confidence? If not, then how can you believe it exists? I think this fellow needs to stop putting up barriers in front of the Lord’s call. Far better to be led to see the Savior.
ANNOUNCER: And how does that happen?
KLAUS: The Holy Spirit does that through the message of the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus died to redeem sinners and rose again from the dead. The Spirit has used that message to create faith in the hearts of millions. He can do it for this fellow as well. He can see God’s plan of salvation for sinners in Holy Scripture. Maybe that’s where he’ll see what he needs. Maybe he should talk to a Christian pastor or friend who can visit with him and put his questions to rest. And one more thing…
ANNOUNCER: Yes?
KLAUS: He hasn’t seen you – or me. Does that mean we don’t exist?
ANNOUNCER: Well, he can’t see us, but he can hear us.
KLAUS: Exactly. And in the words of Holy Scripture, he can hear the voice of the living Christ who has taken away the sins of the world.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Our Father, by Whose Name” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr” by Jan Sweelinck. From A Year of Grace by Craig Cramer (© 2003 Dulcian Productions)
“Toccata on Old One Hundredth” arranged by Charles Callahan. From Charles Callahan Plays the Organ of the Church of the Holy Family (© 1997 Charles Callahan) Concordia Publishing House/SESAC