Perhaps not all men should be passing along their genes.

According to a June 1 Reuters story, a 43-year-old German man was airlifted to the hospital after he fell off a second-story balcony during a spitting contest with his 12-year-old son.

A spokesman for the police said the man in the east German town of Forst had apparently lost his balance after leaning too far forward in his attempt to outspit his son.

He tumbled over the ledge and landed on a balcony of the ground floor apartment.

Can fatherhood ever be carried too far?

              Throughout the Bible, God’s people are known for their faith.

              Hebrews 11 is the faith hall of fame.  Listed in this passage are many Biblical people.  Abel, Enoch, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephtithah, David, Samuel and others.  These men and women are singled out as being representative of people who trusted God in difficult times. 

              I would add names such as Job, Esther,  Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezra, Nehemiah and others as well.

              But the man that the Bible speaks most about when it illustrates the principle of faith is Abraham.  Abraham is used by Paul, the writer of Hebrews and others as an illustration of a man of faith.

              When the earth is placed over our bodies and the gravestone is put in place.  When family and friends gather around and pass on stories about our lives, will we be known as people of faith?

              When Martin Luther discovered those precious words of scripture in Romans that say, “The just shall live by faith…”  it started a revolution called the reformation.   He learned that faith is what pleases God, that our works spring out of our faith, that it is our faith that grips the heart of God.

              The greatest test of our faith usually comes in the home.

              That is true for Abraham. 

              Every saint has feet of clay.  That is, when we look at any saint in the Bible, any Christian who is living today, any person of faith, we will find that people of faith are not perfect and that they have real struggles.

              Abraham is a case in point.  God made an agreement with Abraham.  He told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations.   He told him that Sarah would have a child.

              Isaac, the child that Abraham and Sarah would have together, was not Abraham’s first child.  Sarah had told him to have relations with her servant, Hagar.  We spoke of her on Mother’s Day.  Hagar became pregnant and had a child, Ishamel.

              I want to tell you that Sarah did not like Hagar and Ishmael.  Hagar had an attitude.  She was able to bear children and Sarah was not.  The two women did not get along.

              We pick up the text in Genesis 17:15-18.

 “15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” 17 Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”” Genesis 17:15-18, NIV.

Here is a father who loves his child.  You can almost hear him say to God, “Isn’t my child good enough?”

I will tell you that God’s answer is, “No, he is not.”  This was not because Isaac was any better a person than Ishmael.  The reason that Ishmael did not measure up was because God had made it clear to both Abraham and Sarah that they would have children and that God would bless their children.

Ishmael is the victim of Sarah and Abraham’s blunder.

Notice that God goes on in this passage and tells Abraham that Ishmael will be blessed.  He will be successful in life.  But in God’s plan, Isaac is the child of promise, the child through whom Jesus Christ will enter the world.

I wanted to establish in this passage that Abraham really cared for Ishmael.  He loved his son.  He didn’t really want a second son, he was happy with the one he had.

But God had other plans for him.  A second event took place that created a problem for Abraham.  We find this recorded in Genesis 29:11.  Sarah had a son and his name was Isaac.  A big event took place in the life of Isaac.  He went off breast milk.  This day was such a transition that Abraham holds a feast to celebrate this day.

But Ishmael ruins the day for Sarah. “9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”

Did it sound strange to you to hold a feast to celebrate the move from breast milk to regular food?  One can see the potential for a lot of jokes in that situation.  But Sarah was not a woman that you crossed.  Abraham found that out.  And Hagar and Ishmael found it out as well. 

Sarah wants Hagar and Ishmael kicked out of the house.  I don’t know about you, but this seems to me to be a bit of an over reaction.  I am sure that Sarah was fed up with Hagar.  Every time she saw Ishmael, he would be a living reminder of the contact between Hagar and Abraham.  And I would question whether or not Abraham would be able or would even try to hide his affection for his son.  Notice that I say, “His son” and not “their son.”  Originally Sarah planned that Ishamael would be “their son…”  but that plan fell apart.

Notice how the news affected Abraham.

11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
              There are men here who can identify with Abraham.  You have been caught in the middle between your wife and your kids, your wife and your parents, your wife and someone else.  “If you don’t take care if this…”  fill in the blank. 

If Abraham had come to me, I would have said to him, “Abraham, don’t do it.  Don’t give in to Sarah’s demands.  You  have a responsibility to Hagar and Ishmael.

But here is where the test of faith is seen in the home.  God tells him something different.

12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”

God tells him to kick to woman and her child out.  He tells Abraham that he will watch over them and protect them, but do what Sarah said.

I don’t know how God communicated this to Abraham, but in the text it is clear that this was God speaking.

I believe that Abraham must have face a crisis of faith.  Do I do what God says or do I do what I think is right? 
              It is at this point that many Christians stand today. 

Why is it that sociologists who study culture find little difference between how people in the church live and how people in society live?  There are as many abortions, as many divorces, as many problems among people who go to church as among those who don’t.

One reason is that the study of “Christians” includes many who do not believe the Bible is the Word of God, who have never had a born again experience, and are not really Christians in the Biblical sense of the Word.  They may be church-goers, but they may not be Christians.

A second reason is that I am not sure if these studies describe what has happened to people in life, or if they describe what has happened after they became Christians.  I believe that if the church is doing its job, then people who have sinned, people who are wounded, people who have had real struggles will end up in church and become Christians because they will find that in Christ there is grace and forgiveness and healing. 

But there are still a significant number of people who face this struggle.  Am I going to do what feels right to me or what God says is right?  My relationship with this person just feels so right.  Why wait until marriage, why wait until the divorce is through, why tell my spouse.   We love each other and it is just right.  When you find these thoughts floating in your head, you are having a crisis of faith.

You are working hard at your job.  If you do not lie about your income on your tax return, if you do not pull some strings, if you do not fudge the numbers or give a quiet kickback on the side your business might not make it.  I will tell you that when you struggle in this area, you have a crisis of faith.

When you kids come to you and complain about how boring church is, how they don’t like youth group, how they don’t want to take part in family devotions or get involved in spiritual activity, how they do not want to go, you may face a crisis of faith.  Will you raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, or leave them to try to find God without raising them in a spiritual environment.

Abraham faces this crisis of faith.  Do I keep this son that I love and his mother in the house and go against both Sarah and God’s command, or do I let them go and go against my own heart.

              Abraham, as a man of faith, obeyed God.

14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.” Genesis 21:9-14, NIV.

I cannot believe that this was easy.  I am not going to try to justify what God did.  By faith I believe that the way of the Lord is right.  I believe that life does not center around us, around our happiness, around our own pleasure, but around the will of God.  Abraham put his faith in God and did what God said, even though it may have gone against his heart.

              Faith is what pleases God!

              Some of you here may be stunned by God’s command.  You may not understand how Abraham could obey such a request. 

              Underlying that kind of emotion is a real issue.  Is our faith in God? 

              Hebrews tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please God…” 

              Time shows that in God’s view, his way worked out best.  Isaac was the son of promise.  He is also mentioned in the faith chapter.  God also blessed Ishmael.  We even see him and Isaac together burying Abraham when he died. 

              Was life rosy?  No.  Both Ishmael and Isaac have problems growing up.  Why?  They were both born into a sinful world to sinful parents and they did enough bad to hurt their own lives.

              But what does last is the fact that Abraham was a man who pleased God.  When the crisis of faith came up, he obeyed God.

              Men, live by faith!

              It is the only way that you will ever please God.  If you think that you will please God my providing for all the wants and whims of your family, that hard work on your part is all that God requires, you are missing the boat.  God wants you to be a man of faith, an husband of faith, a father of faith.  He wants you to open your Bible, find all that the Bible has to say about God, about self, about life and then purpose to live it.  Joshua was the father who said, “Choose you this day whom you will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

              Do you trust God?  If so, then you will be convinced that God’s way is the best way for your family as well.   We live in a day in which educated people are saying, “I believe that abortion is the killing of a child, but I don’t want to impose that belief on anyone else…”  We live in a day in which people will express personal convictions and then act as though those convictions are only good enough for themselves, not for others.  

              I will say that your convictions are only good enough for you.  Don’t impose your convictions on everyone else, that doesn’t make sense.

              But when it comes to what God has said in the Bible, we are not talking about our convictions, we are talking about the Word of God.  We are talking about God describing to us how he made us, why he made us, and how best for us to live. 

              If you believe that God has it right, then you will live godly and encourage your family to live for the Lord as well.

              I am concerned about Christian parents who believe that sports training is more important than Biblical training.  I am not against sports at all, but isn’t Sunday school more important in the long run for what they will learn then the lessons of sports?  But many fathers will insist that their children not miss a practice, but will not be concerned when their children miss an opportunity to learn God’s word.

              We need men of faith.  We need men like Abraham who have such faith in God that they will purpose in their hearts to obey and follow God.  We need men who by their lives are showing their children what faith is all about.

              Some of you know men of faith.  You would think through the church or in your own history and can identify men of faith.  Some of these men are under the ground and the tombstone is in place.  But in your memories, you remember…this was a man of faith.

              Will you be that man?   I don’t know what would need to change in your life for you to be that man, but I am sure that you know.  The Holy Spirit reveals these things to people who are open to do God’s will.

              If you identify what the Spirit of God is pointing out to you right now and you make those changes, the people in your home will notice them first.   They may have their own crisis of faith and resist those changes.  Or you may find that when you make the changes you will find tears of joy coming down their cheeks as they see you become the husband and father that God wanted all along.

              But either way, trust God.  Do what you do for Him.  Trust him to lead you, trust him to guide you.  Trust him to help you.  Trust him to bless you.

              For he will.