Songs for Sunday, June 20 – Father’s Day 2021

I have been blessed to be a father for a little over eleven years now and to be around the church my entire life. You would think the two would go hand-in-hand, but often the church clashes with fathers.

This Sunday around the country, churches will be trying to exhort and encourage fathers, but it will come across as more of a rebuke and a bashing of fatherhood. That’s not what we’re going for this Sunday at Christ Community Church. We are going to worship our heavenly Father for the work of His Son in the power of His Spirit – and, hopefully, encourage some earthly dads to learn from Him as we do.

One of the things that has changed my perspective from rebuking/bashing in the name of statistics/warnings to encouraging/exhorting in the name of discipleship is my own experience as a father. You see, I do not need statistics to tell me of fatherly failures – I have been one many times and, unfortunately, will fail again. I want to look briefly at two passages today that show me that there is hope in the Father to make me (and anyone who knows and follow Him) a godly father.

Galatians 4:4-7 tells us,

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

No matter how much of a failure I am as a father, I am a child of the King and He is not a failure. The fact that His Fatherly love sent His Son to redeem me is a gift sufficient enough to account for my continued failings. After all, if He can bring me from life to death, if He is willing – in love – to adopt His enemy as His Son, is redeeming my care, parenting, and discipleship of my children too big for Him to accomplish? No! He has not just redeemed me but given me His Spirit to know when to cry out to Him like a child to a Father. And that same Spirit works in my heart toward my own children.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 says,

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Being a godly father begins when, because we have been adopted/born again/saved, we worship God and love Him. This is not a Sunday-only deal. When we look at Moses’ declaration to fathers in Deuteronomy 6, he illustrates that one loves “the LORD [their] God” while they are talking to their children, while they are going about their day-to-day, while they are laying down to bed, and when they get up in the mornings. Worship is a lifestyle, and the lifestyle of a dad is a classroom for our kids. God is calling us to love Him in such a way that even our failures (and necessary repentance) point to Him!

That’s good news because I have plenty of failures but the Father has plenty of grace! And the more time I spend with my Father the better my kids’ father will be because the time spent with one’s father forms their future – for good or for bad.

So, that’s what we’ll be singing about and to this Sunday morning. We’ll lift high the name of our King Jesus by looking at the glorious love of the Father. Amen.

Here are our Scriptures & Songs:

Praying Scripture | Matthew 6:9-13 (KJV for familiarity) —

Our Father which art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.

Scripture Reading | John 14:1-6 —

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Song | The Father’s House —
Scripture References/Inspiration for the Song:
John 21:15-19, Isaiah 57:10, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Matthew 11:28-30, Ephesians 5:27, Hebrews 12:2, John 14:6, Hebrews 9:15, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 64:8, John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, Genesis 50:20, 1 John 4:8

Scripture Reading | 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 —

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

Song | How Deep the Father’s Love for Us —
Scripture References / Inspiration for the Song:
John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, Matthew 27:46, Ephesians 1:7, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Romans 8:17, Isaiah 53, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 3:13, Colossians 2:14, 1 Peter 2:24, John 19:30, Galatians 2:19-20, Galatians 6:14, Psalm 8:4, 1 Timothy 1:15-16

Song | Graves Into Gardens —
Scripture References / Inspiration for the Song:
Psalm 34:10, Isaiah 55:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, Luke 15:11-24, Romans 6:23, John 6:26-35, Revelation 7:13-17, Matthew 11:28-30, 1 John 4:8, Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 24:7, Ezekiel 36:26, Romans 12:2, Psalm 37:4, Exodus 8:10, Deuteronomy 3:24, Jeremiah 10:6, 1 Samuel 2:2, Isaiah 40:18, Romans 5:6-8, Psalm 138:8-9, 1 Kings 8:39, 1 John 3:20, John 15:15, Psalm 139:7-12, Hebrews 4:13, Psalm 30:11, Isaiah 62:2, Galatians 2:19-20, John 14:6, 1 Corinthians 15:20-49, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Exodus 14:1-31

Scripture Reading | Galatians 4:4-7 —

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.