• "Every mother generally hopes that her daughter will snag a better husband than she managed to do...but she's certain that her boy will never get as great a wife as his father did." -- Anonymous

• "If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right." -- Bill Cosby

• "A king, realizing his incompetence, can either delegate or abdicate his duties. A father can do neither. If only sons could see the paradox, they would understand the dilemma." -- Marlene Dietrich

• "A father is a banker provided by nature." -- French Proverb

• "Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad." -- Anne Geddes

• "When Charles first saw our child Mary, he said all the proper things for a new father. He looked upon the poor little red thing and blurted, 'She's more beautiful than the Brooklyn Bridge.'" -- Helen Hayes

• "The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, 'Daddy, I need to ask you something,' he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan." -- Garrison Keillor

• "When I was a kid, I said to my father one afternoon, 'Daddy, will you take me to the zoo?' He answered, 'If the zoo wants you, let them come and get you.'" -- Jerry Lewis

"Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance." -- Ruth E. Renkel

• "A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty." -- Unknown

• "A father is a guy who has snapshots in his wallet where his money used to be." -- Unknown

• "Small boy's definition of Father's Day: It's just like Mother's Day only you don't spend so much." -- Unknown

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This morning I want to tell fathers one thing. Be a good example to your children.
I know you have heard this pitch before, but I want to give it again. It’s not what we have heard, but what we do that matters. That is why we need things repeated, we don’t always get them the first or second time.
The world gives us a good idea of their role model. They will tell you to attend the kids baseball games, ballet, and school plays. They will encourage you to give them a good education, to teach them to be good to others, and to be a person that your children can be proud of. They would want you to be honest, to tell the truth, to take responsibility for your actions and to love your family. And all of this would be good.
Even at that level, there are many fathers that don’t measure up. They are mean to their children, are absent from the family, and have no concern for anyone other than themselves.
The Christian role model adds to what the world gives. The Christian adds the model of a man who is walking with the Lord.
Let me level with you this morning by asking you a question: Are your children going to be followers of Jesus? Will they be engaged in spiritual work in their adult lives? Do you see them as workers in the kingdom of God? And do you care?
If you care, your children need to see your Christianity in action. In most situations, children end up with a slightly lesser commitment than their parents. If you prayed, read your Bible and attended all the services at church, it is not unusual to see your children as adults take on a lesser commitment. And if your commitment to Christ and to his church is low, don’t be surprised if your children show little or no commitment when they grow up.
Noah was a good example to his children. The one blemish on his record happened when his children were adults. We saw that last week when his children stumbled on their drunken father.
But Noah models for us three traits of a good Christian father.
Ge 6:9 “9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”
Noah teaches us to
…show our religion by our righteousness
…enhance our reputation by being blameless
…develop our relationship by walking with God
When we do, we will serve as good role models to our children.
Let’s look at these one at a time.

1. First, show your religion by your righteousness.
The literal picture of the word “righteous” was of something “stiff or straight.” This idea can be a negative one when people think you are too strict in your lifestyle. They can call you stiff or straight-laced. But if your stiffness lines up with God’s stiffness, then you are righteous. Noah was a man with spiritual backbone.
In the New Testament, we have two different pictures of righteousness. The first is being right before God. This picture of being right before God is called being justified. This is the blessing of knowing that all of our sins are forgiven at the cross. We have been pardoned. We are legally free from the penalty of our sins. This is a wonderful truth, but this is not what Moses is telling us here.
The second kind of righteousness is the life that is lived right. This is not the perfect life, but it is the life that is characterized by right living.
God saved us so that we would do good works. The person whose life changes, they tell the truth, they help their neighbor, they take care of the poor and the widows, they lift up the downtrodden and strengthen the weary, these are people who not only are declared righteous, but are living right as well. It is this second kind of righteousness that Moses attributes to Noah. Noah lived by God’s standards, by God’s rules. He is saved by his faith, and his faith works. It leads him to the righteous life.
What did this look like for Noah’s boys? They saw him build an ark. His love for God was so strong that he did what looked like foolishness to those around because God said it needed to be done. If God said, “Build an ark” then Noah would build an ark.
You will make a big impression on others when you stand up for what is right and do not waver. Jesus, Paul and the other disciples faced great opposition. But they proclaimed the kingdom of God against great persecution. The result? Some hated them, but many came to Christ because they were drawn to people of deep conviction who did what was right.

2. Second, enhance your reputation by being blameless.
Noah was not like the rest of the people. Their life is described in Genesis 6:5 “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Noah was not like that. His thoughts were not on evil. He did not practice evil all the time. He was not perfect, but he was not like the world around him.
Blameless is not perfect. Blameless means that when a person sees you, they will not put a negative label on you. They will not say, there goes a drunkard, an adulterer, a thief or a liar. To be blameless means that you are not controlled by sin, though there may be times that you sin. Noah was blameless.
Whatever you might say about the conditions of people in the world at the time of Noah, Noah did not fit in with them. He rose above the rankness and lived right. The only stones that people could throw at Noah was that he followed God. They could accuse him of being too religious, but not of cheating on his wife, abusing his children, of stealing from his neighbor or of lying to his friend.
And his children saw that in their dad. When other men were headed to the bar or were out chasing women, Noah was home with his wife. When other men were trying to take things from people that were weaker than them, Noah was content with what he had. Noah set a good example before the community and before his children.

3. Third, show your relationship by walking with God.
I don’t know if this was physical or spiritual. Enoch walked with God the Bible tells us. We hear of other people walking before God. But only Enoch and Noah walked with God. Was this a physical thing as it was with Adam and Eve when they saw God walking in the garden? Or is this spiritual, that Noah was a spiritual man who walked close to God?
What would your children see if they were to see a man who walked with God?
First, they would see a man who prays. Not just at meals, but a man who prays throughout the day. I remember listening to my parents pray and the impact that had on me.
Second, they would see a man who loves the Bible. God is revealed in nature and in our conscience. But those who walk with God come to know him through his revelation of himself in Jesus Christ and through the record of Jesus, the Bible.
Noah didn’t have a Bible. But he was known as someone who walked with God.

Today is a great day to follow Christ. Today is a great day for fathers to say to God, “I want to be a godly father. I want to be a godly example for my children.” It’s got to start somewhere. It might be that you stay for Sunday School. It might be that you put your Bible on the night stand to open in the morning. It might be that you pray for more than your meal at lunch time today.
But when your children see you walking with the Lord, it impacts them. Make a difference. Be a role model for Christ.