CBC Classes

CBC Classes

May 18, 2024

Role: Father to Young Children

Speaker: Patrick Carmichael Series: Men's Breakfast: Godly Excellence in a Man's Roles

Patrick Carmichael, lead teaching pastor of Christ Bible Church in North Hills, California, taught us about men’s role as “Father to Young Children,” part of our 2024 series, “Godly Excellence in a Man’s Roles.”

Even those of us not currently fathers of young children need to know what it takes to be excellent in the role, so we can help mentor fathers in our lives and so we can assist in fulfilling that role with children in our extended family or church.

Children need all of the following from us:

  • Authority – Our authority over our children should reflect the Lord’s authority over us. The Lord sets forth rules to guide us and keep us safe and joyful, and the rules and boundaries that we set for our children need to have the same motive of protecting and seeking their ultimate joy. (Hebrews 12:5-11, Ephesians 6:4)
  • Affection – We need love, compassion, and tenderness (1 Thess 2:7-8, Luke 1:78, Psalm 103:13, Coll 3:12, Matthew 23:37) towards our children, and our children need to know our love by being physical in the way we show our love and affection as Christ did to children (Mark 10:14, 10:16)
  • Attention – We need to be intentional with our children, giving them our undivided attention by turning off phones, televisions and other distractions when we are with them, and look them in the face and listen to what they are saying.

Being a parent can be physically and emotionally exhausting.  However, we can be encouraged because:

  • God sees your work when no one else does (Psalm 139, Heb 13:5, Coll 3:23), and we can hear “well done, good and faithful servant” for our parenting.
  • God is working when it seems like nothing else is, and we should not be paralyzed with fear and regret even if our children are like Jacob and seeming to run away from God
  • God is the “work” of parenting.  Salvation isn’t the appropriate goal of parenting, because that is not in our control and the Holy Spirit draws our children to be saved.  Instead, we should make sure we are modeling a reality that Christ is most important in our lives.  Our kids should see that we find Christ as most important to us. 

other Messages in this series