"FATHER OF LIGHTS"
“FATHER OF LIGHTS”
James 1:17
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Father’s Day, June 19, 2011
James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will he begat us with the word of Truth…”
Thank you to all of the Fathers who accepted the responsibility and made the commitment to provide for their families. Thank you to all of the Fathers who further extended this care and love to the Fatherless. Thank you to all of the Fathers who have given of the love of the Father to their communities as a Civil Servant, in the role of Pastor, or as a mentor.
Also, I want to thank all of you Stepfather’s who stepped up to the plate in the absence of biological fathers. Before beginning the sermon on “Father of Lights”, I would like to share an amusing “tale” written by a stepfather in the June edition of
Southern Living by: Rick Bragg:----
“He has none of me in him. But the son I inherited taught me more about fatherhood than I ever thought I would know.---I think the boy might turn out all right. Next year he goes to college, far from me and any bad habits I have left to teach. His name is Jake. When he was 11, I taught him how to cheat at cards. “You didn’t teach me”, he said. “I just caught you.” I taught him how to throw a punch at 12. He drew a peace sign on his shirt. I taught him how to shoot a jump shot at 13, and throw an elbow. He quit the team and joined the drama club. One day he was a small forward. The next he was Bassano in The Merchant of Venice. I taught him the words Hank Williams wrote. He took up the guitar, and played John Lennon.
I tried after his second or third girlfriend, to tell him that pretty women come and go, and variety---when you are young---makes an old man rich in memories.
He picked love songs on his Epiphone
Now it is too late to improve him anymore. But, in a way, that is what I have done. It is as if the boy studied me as he grew, and decided I would be the template for what he would not be. How odd to be so proud to fail.
I guess a man deserves that, when he plays in the fields of the Lord and decides at 46, that being a father is the one thing he never tried. Maybe that is why there is no such thing as Stepfather’s Day.
My own heart has always broken on the third Sunday in June. I was almost all my life, a fatherless boy. On Father’s Day I call my mother, to thank her for shouldering the weight alone.
The boy I figured might be a remedy. I got him when he was 10. He came in the package with his mom, like an extra biscuit or that ninth piece of chicken. I immediately begin teaching him bad habits because I did not have any good ones. I bought him a .22 rifle and a go-kart that would run with traffic on the interstate. Every time his mother, Dianne---whom we shall hence refer to as “The Warden”---was out of town, we ate pancakes at IHOP, or chicken in a box.
“Life is an adventure,” I told him. “Have some.”
He had his own definition of adventure. Like me, he wants to see the world. I tell him about Africa, about camel trains on the horizon…I lived to chase stories. He craves adventure, too, but says he might pursue it through the Peace Corps.
You get the picture as the tale continues with Jake turning 16. The Warden insisted he get a safe, slow, boxy car, as ugly as possible.
When my boy leaves, he will leave in a Mustang.”
I especially like
this story. It brought back good
memories of the Father of our children.
I was a straight-laced, proper, warden when it came to raising our
girls. I was very particular with them
and tried to raise them to be well brought up ladies. Through Don’s wisdom, he gave them another
dimension of life with his humor and bad-boy antics. When the girls were 12-15 years old, he began
telling them his 12- year-old bad-boy stories at a time when he was dubbed
“Donbo” by his buddy, “Jimbo” who joined him in his mischief making antics.
“Jimbo” later became an Episcopalian pastor.
Both girls loved his stories of which I seem to have forgotten. They would demand more stories. I am sure he made up some as he went along
just for their amusement. However, too
many of them were true.
I thought their first car should be functional and dependable. He bought a red, M.G.B convertible roadster. Yes, he added “spice” to all of our lives and through the years between the three of them and the Lord’s grace, I am no longer so straight-laced. All the starch has fallen off my collar. He taught us all not to take ourselves too seriously or any one else for that matter.
Mt. 7:11: “If you then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
John the Baptist was preaching in Jerusalem, Judea and all the region round about Jordan…when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees (straight-laced folks with religious spirits full of pride and self-righteousness)….John said. (Mt. 3:9) “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham”.
Matthew 6:26: “”Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?
Luke 11:11: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Father – Strong #3962 – Patar – The word Father is used 1126 times in the K.J.B. Until Psalms and Isaiah it was used primarily in reference to a male ancestor, natural fathers, the founder of a family or tribe, progenitor of a people, forefather, ancestor, founders of a nation or one advanced in years. It is also used as a title of honor, one who stands in a father’s place and looks after another in a paternal way. It is used for teachers and one who has infused into others.
God is called the Father of the stars, and the heavenly luminaries, because he is their creator, upholder, ruler and sustainer. He is called the Father of all rational and intelligent beings, whether angels or men, because He is their creator, preserver, guardian and protector. He is the Father of all spiritual beings and of all men. He is the Father of Christians, as those who though Christ have been exalted to a specially close and intimate relationship with God, and who no longer dread him as a stern judge, but love, revere and fear Him as their reconciled and loving Father. He is the Father of Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father. (John 1:14)
1 Cor. 4:15: “For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel”.
In James 1:17, the Word states that the Father of lights begat all of us. This word begotten means to be born; to engender, cause to arise, excite, or to convert. It is used of God making Christ His Son; and of God making men His sons through faith in Christ’s work.
Light #5457 –brightness ---emitted by a lamp; a heavenly light such as surrounds angels when they appear on earth; anything emitting light as a star, fire, lamp or torch; God is light because light has an extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality. Truth and its knowledge are light together with the spiritual purity associated with it. Light is also that which is exposed to the view of all, as well as the power of understanding moral and spiritual truth. Matthew Henry, “He gives the light of reason, of learning, and divine revelation.” T. Carson, “God is the fountain of all light in the physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual spheres.” He does not change.
He chose to give us birth through the word of Truth. The Word of Truth is Jesus Christ. John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God…In him was the life; and the life was the light of men…(9) That was the true light which lighteth every man that comes into the world…(12) As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Mt. 4:16: “The people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and the shadow of death light is sprung up.”
John 5:35: “He was a burning and a shining light and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
John 8:12: “Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Mt. 6:8: “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him.”
Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V.