A Gospel Focussed Response

Yesterday, Sunday, June 16th, I was given the privilege of preaching at Prestonwood Baptist Church North. The title of my sermon was “The Gospel Focussed Father.” Because Sunday was Father’s Day, I directed the talk to fathers, but I also reminded everyone who was listening, that the main focus of the talk was the Gospel and the Gospel is for everybody (fathers, mother, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandparents, friends, neighbors - you get the idea)!

One of the three take-aways of from the passage Ephesians 6:1-4 is below:

The very best thing a father can do to raise Godly children is to respond to their failures with a Gospel response always pointing them to Jesus. 

Say, “I’m sorry.” -> Confess failures -> Ask for forgiveness.

Then I quoted a verse that should be very familiar to every believer - 1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

I encouraged parents and spouses to model a Gospel focussed response with every failure. The simplest definition of the Gospel that I can come up with is this: The Gospel is the Good News that God has defeated sin and death through Jesus’ atoning work - death and resurrection.

The means that the only way we can become righteous before God is Jesus (John 14:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21). There is no more important task for a family leader than to model total dependence on Jesus Christ for forgiveness and redemption.

Prayers of confession are required to restore our fellowship with Jesus. Our relationship doesn’t change. Jesus has secured our relationship with Himself perfectly and permanently (Romans 8:1; John 10:28-29). But our fellowship can be broken by our disobedience. We can grieve and quench the Holy Spirit by our selfish rebellion and that is a dangerous place to exist for a believer.

Confessing and repenting of sin must be a regular reaction to mistakes and failures (Acts 3:19). It should be the goal of every spouse and parent to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ!