“The Blessed Father”
Psalm 112:1-8
INTRO. Today is Father’s Day. This is a special day we set aside a month after
Mother’s day to recognize the important role that Fathers have in families. In
1972, this was made a national holiday by then President Nixon. Even though
fathers play a major role in the lives of their children, we dads in America are
suffering from an image problem. Many do not know this, but the official
flower for Father’s Day is the dandelion. Why? Some have supposed it is be-
cause the more it is trampled upon, it grows. Today’s dads are very often
“trampled” upon: To many young people, dad has become “the old man”
who had outlived his time. To the comedian he is often the brunt of jokes.
To the government he is a taxpayer, no more, no less. (Along with everyone
else).
One of the main reasons America is suffering morally and domestically is be-
cause although DADS HAVE A MAJOR ROLE IN THE FAMILY many dads are
not fulfilling that role. Anyone who reads the Bible has discovered a long time
ago that dads were intended to have a major role in the family from the
beginning of time. But many adult males today have come to the conclusion
that the only reason God has placed them here on earth is to get some girl
pregnant. The nation that allows its fathers, and men in general, to be beat-
en down, as has happened in America, will have major problems it would not
have otherwise. In China, John Stuart Mill so appropriately said, “A state
which dwarfs its men will soon find that with small men no great thing can
really be accomplished!” It is the same in a marriage. If a wife is always put-
ting down here husband to him and others she should not be surprised that
he lives up to her expectations. The same goes for a Church. Let’s stop
squelching our men. Men have a UNIQUE ROLE to play in this life. If men do
not function in that capacity, the nation, family, and church suffer greatly.
Psalm 112 brings out the blessings of a man of God! It is my prayer that
every day in this congregation today will strive to become A MAN OF GOD-A
MAN THAT GOD CAN BLESS! Let us look at three things as we consider this
subject, “The Blessed Father.”
(1) THE SERVITUDE OF THE BLESSED MAN
Psalm 112:1—“Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the
LORD, that delighteth greatly in His commandments.”
*In this chapter God is speaking to the man. He says, “…..Blessed (happy) is the
man that feareth the LORD…” God wants to bless the men of this congregation,
but there is something men have to offer Him before He can bless them. Let’s
look at …
A. His Offering. The word, “Blessed” means “happy.” It is the will of
God that every dad in this congregation have a blessed—happy—life.
But when we say it is the will of God that every man be happy, we
need to define the kind of happiness God has in mind. Many folks
today consider being rich with happiness. But sad to say, some of
the wealthiest people in America are very miserable. The things we
want the most can sometimes be the worst for us. This principle
often applies to material possessions. God wants every man here to
be happy, but the happinesss that God has in mind for you may not
necessarily be in what you have in mind.
The Psalmist shows us how we, as dads, can be happy. Notice he
said, “…Blessed (happy) is the man that (what?) feareth the LORD..”
ILLUS. In the Old Testament we read about a father named
Solomon. He was like most dads today. That is, he sought
after happiness. But, unlike most Christian dads today, he
sought for it in the wrong places. There was not one rock he
did not turn over in his search for happiness. Yet throughout
the book of Ecclesiastes, at least nine times he talked about
how his spirit was VEXED or TROUBLED!
Did you ever hear the expression, “He is a troubled man!” Perhaps
this expression began in reference to Solomon. He was surely a
troubled man. He had many things that one might think it would
take to make one happy:
-He had wisdom.
-He had material things.
-He had many children.
-He had much fame.
-He had power.
-He had prestige.
-He had many wives.
Yet he was a man who cried out constantly, “I am miserable!” He had
everything imaginable, yet he was absolutely miserable. The Bible
states many times that he was “vexed.” But at the close of the Book of
Ecclesiastes, we see what this wise man said concerning the pursuit of
of happiness (Ecclesiastes 12:13). The man Solomon finally dis-
covered that true happiness is not found in THINGS, but is found in
THE LORD!
It seems that Solomon had lived much of his life IN FEAR THAT HE
WOULD NOT FIND HAPPINESS, but then he discovered that happiness
is found IN FEARING THE LORD. When we talk about fearing the
LORD, we are talking about having a reverence for Him. This is not
as a slave might fear an evil master. This is fear born of AWE, FOR WE
RECOGNIZE GOD IS AWESOME. Dad, if you ever hope to find any de-
gree of happiness in this life you have to come to know the AWESOME-
NESS of GOD!
Look at this chain of events. When you, dad, come to know the great-
ness of your HEAVENLY FATHER, then will your children come to know
the greatness of their EARTHLY FATHER. This results in true happi-
ness.
B. His offspring (Psalm 112:2-3). Notice not only will his children
blest to have a dad like him, so will grandchildren. Look at verse 2,
“His see shall be mighty upon the earth: the generation of the up-
right shall be blessed.” This verse could be paraphrased, “A gener-
ation of upright men shall be blessed. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
ILLUS. There is a commercial on TV advertising “Bush Baked Beans.”
The Bush family claims they have a secret recipe for making
their beans so delightful. Then it shows a man pretending to
wash windows outside the office on a scaffold. He is really
trying to peak in the window to see if he can find out the
secret recipe for those delicious Bush beans. But, the mem-
ber of the Bush family inside that is doing the talking is vow-
ing that no one will ever know what the secret recipe is ex-
cept the Bush family. And it will be passed down from one
generation to the next.
Here is the point I am trying to make. A family has been richly blessed of God. The little boy turns to his dad and says, “Dad,
why is it our family is so blessed of God. I notice friends that I go
to school with do not seem to have the blessings on their families that we have. The dad says, “Son, I am glad you asked me that because I have been meaning to talk to you about. You want to know why our family is so blessed of God. The reason is because your great, great grandfather came to know the Lord. God blessed his family and his son came to know God in the same fashion. And then later, when he got married, his son (my dad) came to know the Lord in that same
fashion. And my dad wanted me to know the Lord in the same
fashion. And he wanted God to bless me so he taught me the
AWESOMENESS OF GOD and God has blessed my life also. Now son, I want God to bless you the same way he blessed my great, great grandfather, my great grandfather, my father and me.
In Chuck Swindoll’s book, Growing Wise In Family Life, he asks these
questions that concern men;
-Remember when men were men?
-Remember when you could tell by looking?
-Remember When men knew who they were, like how they
were, and didn’t want to be anything except what they were.
-Remember when it was the men who boxed and wrestled
and bragged about how much they could bench press?
-Remember when it was the women who wore the makeup,
the earrings, and bikinis?
-Remember when it was the men who initiated the contact
and took the lead in a relationship, made lifelong commit-
ments, treated women like ladies, ad modeled masculinity
that displayed security and stability?
He then went on to say something even more profound, “We need few-
er spineless wimps who’ve never disentangled themselves from mama’s
apron strings, and more clearly, hard-working, straight-talking men
who, while tender, thoughtful and loving, don’t feel the need to ask
permission for taking charge. I’m convinced that most single ladies
would love to have men like that to spend time with..and most wives
long to have men like that to share their life with..children especially
like having dads like that.”
Did you catch that last life? “Children especially like having dads like
that.” I believe that is absolutely true, but I will go a step farther and
say, “I believe GOD LIKES FATHERS LIKE THIS ALSO!” We have
looked at THE SERVITUDE OF THE MAN OF GOD, but let us look at two
more things.
(2) THE STRAIGHTFORWARDNESS OF THE BLESSED MAN
Psalm 112:4—“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is
gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.”
*Notice in this verse the blessed man has light in darkness. That is, the world in
which we live is filled with the darkness of sin. This is why we have people who
do not have the slightest idea what life is all about. They do not know:
-How they got here.
-What they are supposed to be doing here.
-Where they are going.
They are walking in darkness. But look at the contrast between the lost man and
the man of God. The Bible says of Him, “unto the upright there ariseth light in
the darkness…” God makes a ckear distinction between the MAN OF GOD AND
THE EVIL MAN. We see that distinctiion in Psalm 1:1-6. God makes the distinct-
ion the godly and the ungodly because they serve different gods. But the man of
God that God can bless recognizes that the most important thing in life is God.
Life is not complicated to him because he does not walk in darkness. He has his
priorities STRAIGHT. Look at what his life produces. Look are verse 4 again.
(3) THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE BLESSED MAN
Psalm 112:6-8
*These are wonderful verses that deal with the blessed man, speaking about a
number of things that surround his life. In verse 6, we read “Surely he shall not
be moved for ever…” That is, while others are running around like a chicken with
its head cut off, jumping all over the place, the man of God is established.
*Look at verse 7. BAD NEWS DOES NOT SHAKE HIM. “He shall not be afraid of
evil tidings..” Many times you cannot tell what a people are like until they are
stricken with bad news. They might appear to be men and women of God, but
let some bad news come their way and you will learn something about them you
never knew before. But a man of God can hear bad news and it will not shatter
his faith. Why? Because he has come to recognize that God is on His throne and
nothing crosses his path that God does not have a purpose in for our good. For
example:
ILLUS. One day Job was sitting in his home, enjoying the blessings of God on his
life when someone came to his door and began to tell him he has lost
his…
-Livestock.
-Most of his servants.
-Children.
But that man of God knew the God of this Bible and said, “Though He
slay me, yet will I trust in HIM..” (Job 13:15).
The man of God is not shaken by bad news. Also look at verses 7b-8a. GOOD
NEWS DOES NOT SHAKE HIM. “…His heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His
heart is established, he shall not be afraid..” Some people cannot handle good
news. But the man of God that God speaks of in Psalm 112 can because he has
come to recognize the only important thing in life is God. These words in verse
7 describe the father that God can bless, “…his heart is fixed, trusting in the
LORD.” This man’s heart is established! This man is not up and down on a
spiritual roller coaster. The Bible says his heart is FIXED, his heart is ESTAB-
LISHED.
CLOSING: In 1924, the summer Olympics were held in Paris. One of the athletes
heading to Paris that year was an American named Bill Havens. Everyone
knew he was a sure winner for the gold medal in the canoeing event, for
he was far superior to all his competition. But, Bill Havens found out his
wife was going to have a baby at the same exact time he was scheduled to
compete for his gold medal. He had to make a decision: to miss the op-
portunity of a lifetime, or to miss the opportunity of a lifetime. He chose to
stay home with his wife when she gave birth to a son named Frank.
Twenty-six years later Bill knew he had done the right thing. In 1950, the
Olympics were held in Helsinki, and competing the canoeing event was
Bill’s son, Frank Havens. Bill received a telegram that said, “Dear Dad,
thank you for being there for me when I was born. I want you to be the
first to know that I’m bringing home the gold medal for you that should
have been yours in 1924. I love you, Frank. Dad, we just have to keep
making the right decisions for our families. There may not be praise in it