Today is Father’s Day.  During Mother’s Day, Children’s Day and now Father’s Day, we are looking at a Biblical family.  In this case it is the first family in the Bible.

                    The first father was Adam.   God was not the first father, as some might put it.  God is clearly our creator.  A father aids God through natural processes to produce a child.  God made an adult out of the dust of the ground.   The Old Testament portrays God as our creator, not as our father.

                    There are some who believe that God is the father of us all.  But the Bible teaches that God becomes our father when we are adopted into his family through faith in Jesus Christ.

                    As Adam is the first father, there are some general comment I want to make about him.

                    First, we find no record of any interaction between Adam and his sons.  I am not saying that there was none, but none is recorded.  In other words, nothing Adam did with his children was considered of such significance by God as to be recorded for eternity.

                    Did Adam train up Cain, Abel and Seth?  We don’t know.  Did he express joy when Abel’s sacrifice was accepted?  We don’t know.  Did he step in and try to help Cain when his was not?  We don’t know.  Did Adam comfort Eve?  We don’t know.  Did he get involved with raising Seth, and if so, to what extent?  We don’t know.

                    Why not?  Because Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, did not try to convey lessons of child rearing,  he is trying to give a brief history of the origins of the human race.

                    A second comment I would make as we look at Adam is that he is not mentioned as a man of faith.  Listen to what Hebrews 11 says,  3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. (Heb 11:3-4).

                    Notice that Abel gets three marks.  By faith he offers a better sacrifice, by faith he is commended as a righteous man, by faith he speaks...  And what does the writer say about Adam?  Nothing.

                    That is not to say that Adam did not have faith.  But Adam did have a special advantage.  He literally walked and talked with God.  He walked by sight. 

                    The third comment I will make is that Adam had no experience in raising children.  We made this point earlier with Eve.  Adam had no parents, no grandparents, no next door neighbor, aunts, uncles or anyone else to model parenting.  He was not brought up in a home, he and Eve had the first home.

                    So what does the Bible say about Adam? 

                    First, Adam will forever be known as the one who brought sin into the world.  Eve does not bear that responsibility, Adam does.  The Genesis account talks about how Eve took the fruit and gave some to Adam.  But we are indebted to the apostle Paul for highlighting this fact.  In Romans 5:12 he says, 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-- This one man was Adam.  The Bible gives him the responsibility for starting all the evil, all the death, we face today.

                    I know that many of us resent the negative view given to men and fathers.  They are mocked on TV.  It is hard to find a positive role model given in society.  It upsets us.

                    But one reason men are mocked is because there is some truth to the issue.  Men are not taking responsibility for their sin.  Many of our problems we face come because of the one parent home.  I quote from a book of statistic put out by the State of Maine dealing with domestic violence as one example. “Although domestic violence may be perpetrated by men or

women, and exists in both heterosexual and same-sex relationships,

crime statistics demonstrate that in most cases the perpetrator is male

and the victim female. In 1998, according to the National Crime Victim

Survey, approximately 85% of violent intimate partner incidents

(which include homicide, rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated

assault, and simple assault) were committed by men against their

female partners.

                    Some researchers contest these statistics and claim that there

are relatively equal numbers of male and female perpetrators.

However, their studies primarily count incidences of abuse and do not

consider severity. When the degree of harm and motivation are taken

into account, (a) male perpetrators tend to cause more severe injuries

and (b) women are more likely to use violence in self-defense than

they are to employ it as a means of coercion (Johnson, 2000; Kimmel,

2002).”  Now if you are in a good home, you will resent any remarks against men.  But outside the walls of this church are women who are physically and emotionally hurt every day by men who claim to love them.

                    This is one reason, dads, that you need to show your sons how to treat women by treating your wife with dignity and respect.  The words you use, the actions you take, will most likely be repeated by your sons to their wives.  We need to step up to the plate and be responsible.

                    The second area in which Adam is known is in fathering children.   We don’t know how many children Eve had, but we suspect quite a few.

                    With Cain and Abel, it just tells us that Adam was the father.  But when we come to Genesis 5, we find an interesting verse nestled in this genealogy of Adam. 1 This is the written account of Adam’s line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man”. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. (Genesis 5:1-5).

                    Notice the phrase, “in his own likeness, in his own image.”  We have this same phrase earlier in the book of Genesis. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Ge 1:26 -27).

                    Notice in this passage that he is not refering to just Adam as created in God’s image, but Adam and Eve, i.e. people.  The word “man” here could be translated “people”. 

                    Some people will try to take the words “image” and “likeness” and make separate points on these.  But in verse 27 where God says he will make people in his image and likeness, in verse 27, he makes people in his own image.  This word “image” covers both “image” and “likeness.”

                    Why use two words when one will do?  The Hebrews used repetition for emphasis.  God is said to be “holy, holy, holy.”  Jesus said, “Verily, verily...”  All of this is for emphasis.

                    What does it mean, “We are made in God’s image and likeness?” Because whatever it means for us, the same applies for Adam and Seth, for Seth was made in Adam’s likeness, in his image.

                    One interesting thought has come, because the Bible does not spell out in any place the exact meaning of this phrase, that we are created in the image of God in that we are created in a relationship.  As the “us” and “our” of Genesis 1:26 indicate the trinity of God, so it is “male and female” that are created in the image of God. 

                    We are relational people.  God said it was not good for man to be alone, so he created woman.  But both are created in the image of God.

                    But it has to be more than this, because the animals are created male and female and they are not in God’s image.

                    So a second though is that people are created in God’s image in their ability to rule or have dominion.  That certainly was what God is like.  The major thought we have of God is that he rules.  Jesus is called “the Lord Jesus Christ.”  The word “Lord” signifies “ruler.”

                    In order to rule, we were also given the same tools that God has to be able to rule.

                    For example, we are not rocks.  We have intellect.  As God is all-wise, so we also have the ability to think and work things out.

                    In order to rule, we not only have intellect, but we have moral attributes.  To rule well, as God created us to do, would imply that just as God is just, so we also have a sense of Justice.  Or, just as God so loved the world, so we are given the capacity to love.  Or, just as God is angry at sin, so we also are made as people who become upset at sin.  I could go on, but we get the point.  Furthermore, as God is triune in nature, so we have a body to relate to the environment, a soul to relate to other people and a spirit to connect with God.

                    So when we come back to Seth, we might make this assumption.  If Adam is created in God’s image and Seth is created in Adam’s image, then Seth is created in God’s image.

                    We would be close to the truth, but not quite there.  After the flood during Noah’s day, God promoted capital punishment.  He said that when we will a person, we are killing someone made in the image of God.  The one who kills someone made in the image of God should be put to death.

                    But the reason that the Bible states that Seth is made in Adam’s image is clear.  First, Seth was the spitting image of Adam.  Like Father, like Son.  Isn’t it amazing how much our children look like us?  My sister tells me that I look a lot like my grandfather who I never met.

                    But also Seth was like Adam in that he was made in God’s image.  He was able to rule, to make moral choices, to show justice and mercy and grace.  All of these were evident in Seth.

                    But Seth was made in Adam’s image because Seth, like his father Adam, was not perfect.  He sinned.  He not only picked up the image of God, he picked up the image of his father, who sinned.

                    This image-passing has continued to the present day.  The presence or absence of a father creates children made in the image of their fathers. 

                    I want to stress this to the fathers.

                    First, you cannot be perfect.  No matter how hard you try, no matter how good you are, you cannot be perfect.  Adam was not perfect and neither are we.  Unfortunately we pass on our imperfections to the next generation.

                    But, second, though we will never be perfect, we can take responsibility for doing the best we can.  What does this best look like?

                    First,  the best is God’s best.  A commitment to follow God from the heart is essential for being the best we can be.  We do not want to remake ourselves, we want God to remake us in the image of Jesus Christ.  We will never in this lifetime be fully conformed to the image of Christ, but the closer we get, the better we will be as a parent.

                    Second,  the best we can be is loving.  I know that this word seems rather weak in our world.  But Jesus, when asked what the most important commandment was,  replied,  Love God and love your neighbor.  The word love is used both times. 

                    Some of us men need to learn how to love.  We know how to compete, how to gain an advantage, how to get ahead in life.  But this is not important to God.  He wants us to learn how to love.  Love includes sacrifice.  It implies action.  It demands courage. 

                    Jesus didn’t give this charge directly to women, though it includes them.  But it was a man who asked the question, a man who received the answer and a man who wrote it down.

                    Real love is kind and firm.  Real love is generous and responsible.  Real love cares for people.  Real love involves being a giver and a receiver.  Real love is involved with people, making a difference in people’s lives.

                    We will never love perfectly, but we can love better.  If your children were to write you a letter, would they give you high marks as a follower of Jesus Christ?  Would that letter tell you how much they appreciate your love for them?  These two qualities, following Christ and loving others, will make us the best dads we can be.

                    Dad, is there anything you need to do or change to be a better dad?  Today is the day to make that change for the glory of God and the good of your children.