November 02nd, 2022

Daddy Issues (Reverse the Curse)

Sermon by: Pastor Harrison Chokka
Summarized by: Kelsey Bodnar

The Oxford dictionary defines a father as “a man in relation to his child or children.” Fathers can take many different shapes and sizes throughout our lives. Regardless of where your father may be, your father has shaped you into the person you are today.

We’re in week 5 of our series, Untangling Emotions and we’ve had a central theme throughout this series: We cannot be spiritually healthy while remaining emotionally unhealthy.
One of the coolest things about God is that we have the ability to know him. We can’t know him extensively, but we can know him accurately through his word. What’s central to his character is that he is a God of order. God didn’t create us for a world that’s out of order, yet our world fell out of order and was disrupted when sin entered the world because of the Fall. Disordered lives will lead us to disordered emotions. Because our world is out of order, our emotions will be as well.
 

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.

This focus of this message is on the family unit that was thrown out of order with the Fall. Although we have our own unique identities, we cannot run away from our family origins. Why are we the way we are? It all boils down to our family. This message is specifically centered on the fatherly figures in our lives (hence the title, Daddy Issues). Mothers, you’re off the hook this week BUT don’t leave just yet. You will still take something away from this message through the lens of a daughter.

Genesis 3:6-7
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

The lineage of fathers all trace back to Adam, our first father. When we look at the Fall in Genesis 3, we tend to place the blame with Eve. In reality, Adam is to blame. Wouldn’t the one who tempted Adam to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree be in the wrong? Not necessarily. Adam was passive in this situation, where God had called him to be active. Adam was given a level of responsibility that was not given to Eve. All fathers have a call on their lives to lead, in the same right, all fathers are marred by sin.

Genesis 2:15-17
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.

No matter who our father was growing up (and now), he still has a divine calling on his life. Fathers have a massive impact on our life. No one shapes us like a father can; yet no one hurts us like a father can. How can our father’s hurt us?

It’s twofold:
1.     A father can hurt us by their presence
2.     A father can hurt us by their absence

Let’s break this down a bit. How can a father hurt us by his presence? He can hurt you by being physically present, but not being attentive. A good example is that he is home after work, but is distracted by the TV instead of focusing on what his son or daughter is talking about. It’s more simple to understand how a father can hurt us by their absence.

Ephesians 6:4
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in training and admonition of the Lord.

Every man feels and asks this question: Do I have what it takes? This question is a heart-cry for every single man out there. For my ladies out there, we long for the answer to the question: Do you see me? We long for affirmations from our father, and this is regardless of if we are a son or a daughter. We cannot answer these questions ourselves; we have to turn to our heavenly father to help answer them.

If a father in our life has hurt us, only a father can restore us. And we have a perfect father in God. God’s role is bigger and his blessing is better than any father wound. Everything that we are looking for is found in Jesus. The father in heaven is proud of us for existing and doing our best every day. We all have what it takes because God says he is well pleased.

Romans 5:15-16
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grade and the gift that came by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin

We have two options: we can either be reconciled by our earthly father OR look to our heavenly father. Pastor Harrison closed off the message with this:
1.     Forgive our fathers
2.     Point our kids towards to their heavenly father
​3.     Be humble (Apologize)

Thank you for being here! If this message resonates with you and you want to see more, here’s our YouTube channel, where we post live sermons every Sunday.  
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