On July 5, 1908, a church in West Virginia held the first event explicitly paying tribute to fathers, a sermon dedicated to the 362 men who perished in the Fairmont Coal Company mines explosions from the previous December. At the time, this was a single event and not an ongoing tradition. The following year, Sonora Dodd, inspired by her experience of being brought up by a single father, sought to create an official day for recognizing fathers, similar to Mother's Day. She rallied support from local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers, and government officials. She succeeded, resulting in the first statewide Father’s Day in Washington State on June 19, 1910. Gradually, the celebration gained national acceptance. Eight years later, President Coolidge encouraged states to recognize Father’s Day.
Father’s Day shockingly did not come about without controversy… One historian wrote, they “scoffed at the holiday’s sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products–often paid for by the father himself.” This was more true back then as opposed to now. A dad could say: “You are buying me a gift with the money that I made, is it really a gift?!?!?”
God’s Good Design
Certainly, Father’s Day is not a biblical holiday, nor is it a requirement to celebrate it outside of American life and culture. However, the celebration of fathers and the family unit is a Biblical outlook due to God’s good and perfect design. From Genesis to Revelation, God celebrates the nuclear family. The Bible clearly reveals that both men and women are created in the image of God and stand equal in terms of human worth, equal in sinfulness, and are equally in need of a Savior. Men and women alike can find redemption through the same gospel—the gospel of salvation through the atoning work of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. This is the real meaning of Galatians 3:28, where the context is the common ground of our salvation. Christians, both men and women are gifted and called to serve in unique ways in their families and the local church. The Bible calls for dads to serve in a unique leadership position that can provide life to a family, local community, and church.
Humble Leadership
Not every dad is celebrated on Father’s Day. Some fathers choose not to work, while others pour their life into their jobs at the expense of their families. Some dads are ungodly and controlling, while others seem detached. Unfortunately, a few dads will cross into abuse. Potentially worse, there are also fathers who, choose to abandon their families completely. Some might wonder, “Where do good dads come from?” Good dads come from the perfect sanctifying work of Jesus Christ. They are devoted to following Jesus and seek to serve and please Him. Fathers lead their families through their devotion to Christ and His church.
So how do we as fathers lead well? We follow the biblical directives and allow God’s grace to lead us in various areas of personal and corporate growth.
Our Family
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. - Ephesians 5:25-28
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. - Ephesians 6:4
Our Singing
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. - Colossians 3:16
Our Worship
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. - 1 Chronicles 16:29
Our Giving
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. - 1 Corinthians 16:1
Our Involvement
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. - Hebrews 10:25
Our Care for One Another
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; - Romans 12:10
Our Witness
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. - Mark 16:15
Our Care for the Vulnerable
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. - James 1:27
While not all fathers are celebrated on Father's Day due to their varying attitudes and behaviors, good fathers embody Christ's sanctifying work, leading their families with dedication to Him and His church. Following biblical teachings and seeking God's grace is the simple yet effective means of godly fatherhood.