1 Thessalonians 2:1-3:5

As a Father Deals With His Children

Our Church has a theatre. One of the productions we have mounted is called The Boys Next Door. It is a very powerful (and very funny) play about four adult mentally handicapped men who share a group apartment. 

One of the two scenes that isn’t funny, but is quite powerful, concerns the occasion  where one of the guys’ father comes to visit. It doesn’t go very well. Through out the play this character (Barry) has these grandiose notions of his dad. You start to get some idea that these notions might not be true and when Barry’s dad shows up they are proven not true in spades. By the time the four page scene is over you understand a lot about perhaps how Barry came to be in the condition he is in. You also feel both anger and extreme pity for his dad. What a bitter miserable man it takes to treat his son that way. He has virtually no capacity for meaningful human interaction.

Unfortunately, Barry’s dad really exist in too many cases and in our culture many dads reflect this man far too closely. 

Contrast this with what Paul says here about his relationship with the church at Thessalonica. “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”

This is what a godly father does. He encourages his children. Regardless of anything else in our lives, regardless of what we may try to portray on the outside, inside we all crave the approval of our father. To hear dad say, “You did well,” or “You can do, I believe in you,” is more valuable than... Just about anything.

He comforts his children. I’m not talking about being over protective. There are times when only dad can really bring the comfort. Moms certainly do their share of comforting, and there are certain cases where mom is most certainly the one needed. But the idea that comfort is mom’s job and dads don’t that sort of thing is a lie from hell. A child who has a mom and dad who will both give comfort is a blessed child, indeed.

He urges his children to live a life worthy of God. He cannot force his children to live such a life anymore than you can force someone to love you. When you try to force someone to live for God at best they do the outward stuff, but for the wrong reasons. At worst, as soon as they are able they resist such forcing and often spend the rest of their lives associating manipulation with God. That is why he urges them to live a life worthy of God. 

A father like this is a godly father. Would that Barry had grown up with such a dad.