A Hard Act to Follow

It’s not easy to follow in the footsteps of a legend—especially when that legend is Mom or Dad. Can you imagine what life must be like for the two sons of NBA legend Michael Jordan? With the last name of Jordan, many would expect his boys to be able to dunk a basketball from half court and score 50 points every game. Although his sons played college basketball, neither one enjoyed their dad’s success.

For some kids, the shadow that their famous parent casts upon them is enormous. On the one hand, some children embrace their parent’s success and good name. On the other hand, others resent their notoriety and in turn spend the rest of their lives living in reaction to it.

Sadly, we see this in the lives of far too many adult children of Christian leaders. Frank Schaeffer, the son of Francis and Edith Schaeffer, appears to be a prime example. For many Christians, especially those under the age of 50, Francis Schaeffer is widely unknown to them. Yet, few men had more influence on Evangelical Christian thinking in the second half of the 20^th century than this Swiss missionary. People throughout the world found their way to Schaeffer’s mission known as L’Abri. Believers and unbelievers alike found a place in the Swiss Alps where the doors were open to people seeking honest and intelligent answers to soul-searching questions.

Over the last few years, Frank Schaeffer has published several memoirs that not only casts doubt on his own faith, but on his parents’ character and integrity. Although nobody ever knows what anybody is truly like behind closed doors, Frank Schaeffer’s unsteady behavior, sweeping generalizations and blatant dishonoring of his parents, despite his claims to the contrary, make many people like me question his claims. As a result, one of his friends, Os Guinness, has written a rebuttal. Here is a portion of it:

“Frank Schaeffer unquestionably adored his father, just as his father passionately adored him. Having lived in their home for more than three years, I have countless memories of this…Yet no critic or enemy of Francis Schaeffer has done more damage to his life's work than his son Frank…The problem is not so much that Frank exposes and trumpets his parents' flaws and frailties, or that he skewers them with his characteristic mockery. It is more than that…the portrait he paints amounts to a death-dealing charge of hypocrisy and insincerity at the very heart of their life and work.

With such a son, who needs enemies?...Yet there is no way round it. Francis Schaeffer, in his son's portrait, lacked intellectual integrity. There was a lie at the very heart of the work of L'Abri, and the thousands of people who over the decades came to L'Abri and came to faith or deepened in faith, were obviously conned too.

I challenge this central charge of Frank's with everything in me…For six years I was as close to Frank as anyone outside his own family, and probably closer than many in his family. I was his best man at his wedding. Life has taken us in different directions over the past thirty years, but I counted him my dear friend and went through many of the escapades he recounts and many more that would not bear rehearsing in print. It pains me to say, then, that his portrait is cruel, distorted, and self-serving, but I cannot let it pass unchallenged without a strong insistence on a different way of seeing the story. There is all the difference in the world between flaws and hypocrisy. Francis and Edith Schaeffer were lions for truth. No one could be further from con artists, even unwitting con artists, than the Francis and Edith Schaeffer I knew, lived with, and loved.”

There’s no doubt that Frank Schaeffer has both struggled and profited from his parents’ notoriety. Although his mother and especially his father cast a big shadow on his life, it’s nothing compared to what Isaac had to go through being the son of Abraham. In my opinion, no son has ever had a bigger act to follow than the Bible’s hero Abraham. The legacy Abraham left for Isaac was not fame and fortune, though he certainly achieved both. If we could have looked into the deep desires of Abraham’s heart, I believe the only footsteps that he hoped his son would follow him in were that of his remarkable faith in the LORD God of heaven.

Today, we’ll look at the totality of Isaac’s life to see how well he followed in his father’s footsteps. In doing so, I pray that we will examine how well we’re following in our father Abraham’s footsteps of faith as well. For as the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3:6-7:

“Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.”

This article is an excerpt from my sermon series in Genesis. All are welcome to join us for worship this Sunday at 10:30 am. Lighthouse Community Baptist Church is located at 22 Pequot Trail in Pawcatuck.