Leaving a Godly Legacy (Part 3)

The third key to leaving a Godly legacy is the father’s identity.

15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.[g] And by him we cry, "Abba,[h] Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Romans 8:15-16

In the fullness of time, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to earth to reveal to us what He ultimately wanted the world to know about Himself. The greatest revelation of God is not one of a judge. The greatest revelation of God is not one of a lawgiver. The greatest revelation of God is not one of a King.

Yes it is true; God is every single one of these depictions. However, in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.(Hebrews 1:2-3).

God’s greatest revelation of Himself was disclosed to us through His Son. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, and the essence of God’s nature is that of a Father. In John 17:4, 6a Jesus says, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. (6) I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.”

Jesus revealed to us the fact that God is our Eternal Father.

1 John 3:1-3 says, “1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,[a]we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

J. I. Packer in Knowing God said, "You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one's holy Father.

"If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all."

Deep in the heart of every child is the desire to please their father. Without a father’s affection and affirmation, a child will not be secure. Children find purpose and significance when they live to please God the Father. Dr. Ross Campbell, associate professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the University of Tennesee College of Medicine, said, “In all my reading and experience, I have never known of one sexually-disoriented person who had a warm, loving and affectionate father."

Jamie Foxx, the actor portraying Ray Charles in the movie Ray, never had the relationship with his father that he wanted. His biological parents lived 28 miles away in Dallas, Texas, but rarely visited or noted his achievements.

“I passed for more than 1,000 yards, the first quarterback at my high school to do that,” says Foxx. “I was making the Dallas Morning News, and my father never came down. That’s weird. Even to this day—nothing…but that absence made me angry. It made me want to be something. I said, I’m going to make you look up one day and say, ‘That’s my son’.”

A child is not likely to find a father in God unless he finds something of God in his father. When a father spends time with their children, and when a father disciplines their children, the end result should be kids that live like Jesus as children of God.

If a child is neglected by the father, they will inevitably bear the image of the one who had the most influence on their life. When the role of the father breaks down the norms of that society break down because people lack the security that is found in a Godly identity.

The TV show "60 Minutes" ran a segment that tells us something important about fatherlessness.

The park rangers at a South African wildlife preserve were concerned about the slaughter of 39 rare white rhinos in their park. It turned out that the rhinos were killed not by poachers but rather by juvenile delinquents—teen elephants.

The story began a decade ago when the park could no longer sustain the increasing population of elephants. They decided to kill many of the adult elephants whose young were old enough to survive without them. And so, the young elephants grew up fatherless.

As time went on, many of these young elephants roamed together in gangs and began to do things elephants normally don't do. They threw sticks and water at rhinos and acted like neighborhood bullies. Without dominant males, the young bulls became sexually active, producing excessive testosterone and exhibiting aggressive behavior. A few young males grew especially violent, knocking down rhinos and stepping or kneeling on them, crushing the life out of them. Mafuto the gang leader eventually had to be killed.

The park rangers theorized that these young teen-aged elephants were acting badly because they lacked role models. The solution was to bring in a large male to lead them and to counteract their bully behaviors. Soon the new male established dominance and put the young bulls in their places. The killing stopped. The young males were mentored—and saved.