Sunday, June 21, 2026, Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Father’s Day)

“Men of God and What They Do”

Scripture Readings… Psalm 91:1-10; Malachi 3:1-4; 1 John 2:7-14; Luke 12:1-12

Service Order… Divine Service IV with Holy Communion, Lutheran Service Book

Hymns: “Fight the Good Fight” #664; “O God, My Faithful God” #696; “Oh, That the Lord Would Guide My Ways” #707

Dear Friends in Christ,

     Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

     Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there, and to all you good Christian men. The question I’d like to begin with on this Father’s Day is, “What is a ‘real man’?” By the world’s definition, in most places and cultures, a real man is strong and tough - like Mr. Clean, or the Brawny Guy, or the Marlboro Man (remember him?”) Or like Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast.” (There was a real man for ya!) You get the picture: square jaw, chiseled chin, barrel chested, crushing a beer can on his forehead. He-man. Popeye. Hulk Hogan.

     A real man, so they say, doesn’t take any stuff from anyone and never backs down from a fight. A real man walks with pride and makes his own way in the world and doesn’t need help from anyone. But St. Paul says to young Timothy, in 1 Timothy 6, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” So there must be a difference between what the world calls a “real man,” and what Scripture says a real “man of God” is. 

     When it comes to that phrase “man of God,” what kind of man are we talking about? What does a man of God look like? And more to the point, what does a man of God do? What Jesus seems to be looking for in our Gospel reading is men who are willing to be servant leaders; that is, men who will be obedient to God, and willing to give of themselves to be servants to their families, and to their churches, and to the world around them. On this Father’s Day, may God grant all our fathers the grace to be true men of God.

     Men, I’m talking directly to you today, but ladies, this if for you, too, because it will give you a standard to hold your menfolk to. Here are some things a man of God ought to look like: 

     To begin with, a man of God ought to be willing to work. I don’t care what you’re working at doing, whether you’re a construction worker or a farmer or a cook or working at a computer screen or behind a desk; the point is that you’re out there doing it. St. Paul says in 1 Timothy 5: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” And he says in Colossians 6: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as one working for the Lord and not for men.”

     A man of God – a “real man” - does everything he can to care for his wife, children, and family, because man, that’s what we do. Being a man of God means busting your tail every day, whether you like it or not, because the people you love matter more than you do, and because nothing means more than feeding those babies. Being a man of God means doing what you have to do, with nothing but care for your loved ones as your motivator for getting up in the morning and doing it all again. St. Paul says in Ephesians 5, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.” Your wife and children should know that you’d jump in front of a bus or take a bullet for them.

     Next, you’ll find a man of God here in worship. Real men go to church! Gentlemen, as hard as you work on those other six days of the week, that blessed seventh day needs to find you and your family here. “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy,” God’s good commandment says. Our reading in Malachi says God is looking for “men who will bring offerings in righteousness.” 

     I can’t say enough about men who bring their families to Church. God bless you if you’re doing that. Moms, God bless you if it’s you bringing your little ones to worship, and please don’t stop. But especially when it comes to our little boys, if it’s mom who’s bringing them to church and dad stays home, soon enough that boy will get the idea that church is a “girl thing,” and when he gets older, he’ll want to stay home like dad. It’s men who bring their families to worship who raise worshiping children, and it’s the dad in the family who sets the example that needs to be set. Call me a sexist or a misogynist or whatever name you want to call me, but what’s always been true is still true. 

     And third, a man of God, to be a man of God, also has to be a faithful witness to God. Have you read the opening words of Luther’s Small Catechism? “As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household.” The Small Catechism was intended by Luther not to be so much a Church book, as a family book, with the “man of the house” having the primary responsibility of teaching his family members and children the Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, and whatever else they need to know to grow up to be faithful. Your kids should know the Catechism before I get them in Confirmation class. 

     Being a faithful witness, men of God, means being willing to openly acknowledge your faith in Christ, before your Church, before your family, and before the world around you. Jesus says in our Gospel today, “Whoever acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns Me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.” Where did the stupid idea come from that men were supposed to hide their emotions and not share their feelings? I worry about a man who’s too shy or embarrassed to stand up and say, “I love Jesus.” 

      Men of God, according to our reading from 1st John, let their love – for God and for others – be evident. “Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.” If the Word of God, and the love of God, is living in you – tell the world, tell your family, and tell your children. Speak it out, man, let it show! That, men, is how we’ll “overcome the evil one,” and everything the devil is trying to do to us and to our families. In the end it’s only love that will overcome evil. “Overcome evil with good,” God’s Word says. 

     So, men, you don’t have to act tough, or be some kind of macho man, to be a man of God; you just have to be faithful. “But you, man of God,” says St. Paul, “flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” Doesn’t quite fit the normal definition of what a “real man” is, does it? But as we said, being a man of God is quite a different thing from what the world says a real man is supposed to be.

     “Flee from all this,” Paul tells Timothy. Men, what are we fleeing from? From the love of money and “mammon” and the things of the world, and from anything that might come ahead of us and the people we love loving God. This is just First Commandment stuff. Fathers, you can teach your little ones lots of “life hacks” and useful things. You can teach them about getting by, and the value of hard work, and how to make a living, and about what it takes to be a “success” the way this world defines it. You can teach them about finances and bank accounts, and getting a good education. You can teach them what it takes to have nice houses and cars and boats and toys, like all your neighbors do. It’s nice to have things, and there’s nothing wrong with doing well. But for God’s sake, that can’t be all there is.

      Men of God, a Christian father teaches his children to put God first, if he cares about his little ones at all. “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well,” Jesus said. I know that here in America we’ve been promised “life, liberty, and the freedom to pursue happiness;” but what can you spend your life pursuing that will make you truly happy? There’s not a material thing on the list! The things worth pursuing, Paul says, are “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness” – all things you can’t put in a bank vault or stuff in your wallet or hold in your hand.

     “Fight the good fight of the faith,” Paul says. “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” We all have to fight the world to make a living. (It’s been that way since Adam). Do well for yourself if you can, and maybe leave something behind for your children; and God will honor and bless you for that, if you’ve come by it honestly. But the real fight in this world is the fight for faith, both for yourself and for the children who will follow after you.

     St. Paul tells Timothy, and us, to fight, struggle, labor - literally “agonize” - to lay hold of our precious faith and keep it, in a world that always wants to pull us in a thousand other directions. The goal, men of God, is to make the good confession; that is, to openly acknowledge your faith in your Savior, and to never let go of your faith no matter what the world may do. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “Pick up your cross and follow Me.” He didn’t say it would be easy; He only said that it was right. And where we choose to walk, may our children see and follow.

     So, men of God, we confess and openly acknowledge God in our lives; and we make it our goal to be of service, to God and our Church and our families; and we love both God and one another with everything that’s in us to do it. We baptize our children, we show up in worship, and we come to the Sacrament; and we encourage others to do the same.

     If you know a man of God like that, as a husband or father or uncle or brother or friend, you are truly blessed, and don’t forget to thank them today. If you want to be more of a man like that, but you’re finding the going tough, pray for strength, ask God for help, and rest in His forgiving grace. I myself am not nearly everything I want to be as a father and a Christian man on this day; but then again, aren’t all of us “works in progress?” Have you ever heard “The Men’s Prayer” from the Red Greene Show? “I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess…” The truth is, we all need a regular dose of the “refiner’s fire and launderer’s soap” that prophet Malachi wrote to us about. “Confession is good for the soul,” so the old saying goes. And tomorrow, precious gift that it us, will be just another day to try with God’s help to do better.

     Jesus our Lord set the pattern for us of what a man of God should be, and what we Christian men ought to look like. He was truthful and honest and giving and loving, and as self-sacrificing as a man of God could ever be. Men, we aren’t Him – but we can pray for the strength and courage we need to be more and more like Him. And God will bless us for doing our best, and our families and loved ones will be blessed for it. In Jesus’ name; Amen.

Rev. Larry Sheppard, M.Div.

Trinity Lutheran Church, LCMS, Packwaukee, WI

St. John’s Lutheran Church, LCMS, Oxford, WI

pastorshepp@gmail.com