God the Father-Does He Love You?

2/14/10 | Jeff Williams | Ephesians 1:4-5 | Listen
Series: Back to Basics

As we begin this morning, I would like to play a game of word association. I’ll say a word and then you think of the first word that comes to your mind.

Are you ready? Here we go:

The word is “Father.”

[Write responses on the white board]

Father Hunger

The police found Hayden Wright wandering the streets in his Chattanooga, Tn neighborhood at 1:45 am. He was wearing a brown dress that he had stolen from his neighbor’s house and was carrying a half empty beer can. His mother could not explain how he got out of the house, or how he got the beer, or why he had on a dress. When the police officer asked Hayden what he was doing he said that he just wanted to see his daddy. It turns out his father was in jail and he was trying to get arrested so he could see him for Christmas.

Hayden is four years old!

This story just proves something that I’ve known after years of counseling students - you can not underestimate the power of a father to effect a child’s life for good or for bad.

God the Father

Over the next three weeks, Pastor Dick and I will be continuing our series called, “Back to the Basics.” Today, we will be looking at God the Father. Next week, Pastor Dick will be teaching on Jesus, God the Son. Two weeks from today, I will be teaching on God the Holy Spirit, or as Francis Chan calls Him. the “forgotten God.”

At Pontiac Bible Church, we affirm that God is a “triunity of community.” Our statement of belief reads,

“We believe that there is one God, Creator and preserver of all things, who is infinite and eternally self-existent in three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—the same in essence, though distinct in personality (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, II Corinthians 13:14).”

The fact that God is one is affirmed throughout the Scriptures. The “Shema” that every good little Jewish child would recite twice a day, begins,

“Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” (Deut 6:4).

James, the brother of Jesus, affirms there is but one God and even the demons believe that:

“You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and they shudder.” (James 2:19)

While it is true that the word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible, it is absolutely certain that the concept is there.

It is implied in the Old Testament, starting in Genesis where God is spoken of in plural terms:

“Let us make man in our image.” (Gen 1:26)

It is explicit in the New Testament:

Paul finished his second letter to the Corinthian church by saying:

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Cor 13:14)

Perhaps the most obvious illusion to the Triune nature of God is Matthew 28:19:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

Notice the three “Whos” (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) but only one “What” (name is singular).

In the Bible, The Father is God:

Peter began his first letter by affirming this:

“To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:” (I Peter 1:2)

Jesus, the Son, claimed equality with God, and it almost got him stoned:

“I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30)

When Thomas finally meets the resurrected Jesus, his response was,

“My Lord and My God.” (John 20:28)

The Scriptures also teach that the Holy Spirit is God:

“Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." (Acts 5:3-4)

So, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equally God in power and authority. They are a “triunity of community” and, and such, being created in God’s image, we are were created for community as well.

There are analogies that we use to teach children about the Trinity:

Water - one chemical compound (H20) but can exist in three different states - water, ice, steam. But this falls short because they can only exist in one state at a time.

Patrick, who evangelized much of Ireland, used a three leaf clover.

Some have used an egg - one egg but has a shell, egg white, and a yolk.

Or a coin: head, tails, and rim.

Perhaps the best analogy was proposed by C.S. Lewis:

The three dimensions of space: length, width, and height. All coincide in the same place, yet are distinct.

As helpful as some of these are, they all fall far short.

The true answer is that the Trinity is a profound mystery.

Charles Wesley said,

“bring me a worm that can comprehend a man and I will show you a man who can comprehend the Triune God.”

This doctrine should not lead us to scratch our heads trying to comprehend the incomprehensible. It should lead us to raise our hands in worship of our incredible, totally- other-than-us, amazing, awesome God!

If you have any questions, save them for Pastor Dick next week!

This morning we are going turn our attention toward God the Father.

Prayer.

Your View of God

When you hear me call God “Father,” what comes to your mind? A lot of what we think about God comes directly from what we think about our earthly fathers.

I read a story about a seminary professor who began his class by handing out a questionnaire that asked the students to describe their relationship with their fathers. They handed the papers back in and forgot about them.

At the end of the semester, he handed out another questionnaire. This one asked them about their relationship with God. What the students didn’t notice was it was exactly the same questionnaire as the first one.

When the two papers were returned, the students were astounded that even though they had spent an entire semester studying the nature and attributes of God, they still had trouble differentiating Him relationally from their earthly dads.

Maxine’s parent’s were divorced and her dad lived in another state. He called, without fail, on Friday afternoons and she went to stay with him two weeks in the summer. Growing up, she knew, even though her dad wasn’t close by, he still loved her.

But, it wasn’t until she was much older, that she realized that she had a distorted view of God. She knew God loved her. She had no doubt about that. But, he wasn’t very close. In fact, He was somewhere out there. He wasn’t interested in her day to day life. He was far too busy with the bigger problems of the universe. She didn’t want to bother Him with her petty problems.

Do you see how her view of her father colored her view of God? It took her years to learn that God is close and God does care about the most mundane things. She had to unlearn what she had learned.

I wonder if you have the same problem?

Perhaps your dad was very critical and now you think that God is always mad at you and you never measure up.

Or maybe your dad was distant and distracted and you think that God doesn’t care much for you?

Or your dad was angry all the time so you sit and wait for God to throw the lightening bolt at your head?

Or your dad just split and you have a hard time trusting, or even believing in, God?

Or your dad was abusive and you avoid God because “fathers” cause pain?

I am a father and I am keenly aware of my power to represent or misrepresent God. It is daunting to me that my boys would think something wrong about God because of my short comings.

Sometimes though dads get it right.

Milt and I recently visited Olivet Nazarene University and ate lunch with some of our former students. I’ll never forget something Kelli Murphy said to me about her desire to date in college. She said, “My love tank is so full from my dad that I don’t need to try to fill in it up with guys right now.” She went on to say that her dad has set the bar so high that there are very few guys who can make the grade with her. I thought, way to go Kevin!!!

How do we correct these wrong perceptions? With the truth of His Word. This morning, it is my pray that as we explore what it means for God to be “Father” that God would reveal His true nature to you and set you free to love and serve Him.

Child of God?

From time to time, I hear someone say, “We are all children of God.” While that sounds good and Dr. Phil could make a show out of it, it’s not Biblical.

The Bible is very clear that while all humans are created by God, not all humans are children of God.

In fact, Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers that without a relationship with Jesus, we were children of disobedience and wrath:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” (Ephesians 2:2-3)

Jesus pulled no punches when he told the Pharisees:

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire.” (John 8:44)

Remember, He was talking to the religious leaders!

Jesus divided up the human race between children of the devil and children of God.

Through Jesus, you can become a member of God’s household (Ephesians 2:19).

So, the question that is before us today is:

are you a child of God? Do you know God as Father? Or even better, do you know Him as “Abba?”

Adopted!

Turn with me to Ephesians 1:4-5. [I’m in debt to Rick Gramache for some of these thoughts.]

“For he chose us in him [in Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will...”(Ephesians 1:4-5)

I want us to spend a few minutes unpacking these two verses together.

Paul is beginning his introduction to his letter to the believers at Ephesus with deep doctrinal truth.

Verse four points to our justification. We talked about this last week.

He chose us. Let that sink in. God chose us.

Do you remember the feeling of picking teams in school? Do you remember desperately wanting to be picked first, being picked at all?

God chose you. For Himself. For His own purposes.

You could not chose Him. Remember from last week:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5)

He chose us in Christ...

Did you watch the opening ceremonies of the Winter Games Friday night? What an amazing honor to be chosen to represent your country by carrying the flag into the stadium!

He did not choose you based on anything you have done or could do for Him. He chose you in Christ. Most people think you get to heaven by the word “Do.” This is completely false. We are in a relationship with God because of what He has DONE!

He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world.

Paul wrote the same thing to the believers at Thessalonica:

“But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.” (2 Thes 2:13)

He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.

“But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation...” (Col 1:22)

This is our justification.

We stand before the judge guilty as sin deserving our just punishment. But then Jesus says, “Dad, I’ll take their punishment for them.” So the Judge declares us “not guilty” and we receive the righteousness of Christ while Christ took on our sin and died our death in our place.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” (Eph 1:7)

This is incredible. He didn’t have to do this. But wait, it gets better!

Look at verse five.

In love...

It’s Valentine’s Day so it’s right to talk about love. But not the sappy, mushy, little fat baby angels shooting arrows at people kind of love.

We know that “God is love” (I John 4:7). Let’s look at God’s Hallmark card to you and I:

* “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

* “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (I John 4:9-10)

* “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall never perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Philip Rykin puts it this way:

“The Father does not love us because the Son died for us. The Son died for us because the Father loves us.”

In love! God loves you. He’s absolutely crazy about you. I heard a preacher once say that if God had a refrigerator in heaven, your picture would be on it!

He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ:

Please don’t get caught up with the term predestination. It just means “chosen.” I want us to focus on the word adoption.

Adoption is a beautiful picture of what God for us. By the way, there is an adoption and awareness conference called “Connecting Hearts with the Forgotten” in Bloomington on February 20th. There is more information in our bulletin.

In the Roman world, when a child was adopted, he had all the legal rights of his new family. Even his debts and obligations were erased as though they never existed.

The judge not only declared us not guilty, but then He got down from the bench and wrapped His arms around us and called us son/daughter.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (I John 3:1)

The word great here means big or expansive. Do you understand how incredible it is to be called a son or daughter of God?

J. I. Packer says that adoption is the highest privilege that the Gospel offers:

Justification is a forensic idea, conceived in terms of law, and viewing God as judge…Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into His family and fellowship, and establishes us as His children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the father is a greater. (J.I. Packer, Knowing God, pp. 186-188)

To be justified was amazing but it didn’t imply any relationship with the Judge. Verse 5 tells us that God’s intent was to make us part of His forever family! God chose us so we could choose Him.

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...” (John 1:12)

If you truly understand this, it will change your whole identity.

A female child of the King is called a...princess. Princesses don’t have time to go kissing a bunch of frogs. A male child of the King is a prince. Princes have battles to fight and people to protect.

in accordance with His pleasure and will...

The better translation is “according to the good pleasure of His will.” In other words, why did God chose you? Because it brought Him great joy!

Turn with me to the Old Testament book of Zephaniah.

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zeph 3:17)

When you think of God, do you ever get the picture of Him “taking great delight in you?” Simply for who you are? Or, how about Him rejoicing over you with singing?

Or how about running?

A Prodigal Father?

Jesus told the story of a son who asked his father for his share of inheritance and then went off into a far country and wasted it all on wild living.

It’s known as the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). It’s the text that was preached the night I first really understood the Gospel as a college senior.

In this parable, we are given a picture of God that you may not have ever thought about before.

To ask for his inheritance would be as good as saying, “I wish you were dead.” The normal thing for a father in that time to do with such a request is to disown the disrespectful son. But this father quietly liquidates his wealth and gives to the son what is his.

He doesn’t stand in his way. He watches his son walk away from their house and His heart aches.

The son spends all the money and ends up in a pig pen hungry and humiliated. He then devises a plan.

He will go back to his dad and work as a hired hand. That’s all he deserved. In fact, he was probably suspicious that the father would have nothing to do with him as a son. He rehearsed his speech and started back home.

“So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son" But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:20-24)

His father was scanning the horizon, as he had done every day since the boy had left. On that day, he saw him, back hunched over with guilt and shame and he was filled with compassion and he...

ran.

In near eastern culture, children run, women run, young guys run. The patriarch of the family did not, under any circumstances, lift up his robes, bare his legs, and run.

But he ran and threw His arms around him and kissed him.

The son tried his prepared speech but the father would have none of it. He interrupts him and starts barking orders to the servants:

* Best robe. Whose robe would that be? That would the Father’s robe - an very expensive floor length robe. He puts it on the son who smelled like pigs.

* Ring on his finger - sign of authority and had the family crest signifying his place in the family.

* Sandals on his feet - only slaves went barefoot. Sons wore shoes.

* kill the fattened calf. Meat was not had at every meal but was saved for special occasions. This is an extravagant gesture and all the town would have been invited.

After hearing this story, I went to a New Year’s Eve party and sat by myself on the couch. I just kept thinking about how the Father reacted. This was not how I pictured God at all. If that’s how God really reacts when sinners come home, then I felt like I would be an idiot not to take Him up on it. I just whispered to God, “I want to come home.”

Over the last few years, much to the amusement of my children, I have become a fan of some country music. There is a song on the radio right now that is a modern day telling of this parable. Instead of a son, it’s a daughter and the dad leaves a song as an answering machine message just in case she calls. Watch the end of this video.

[“Hurry Home” by Jason Michael Carroll]

God is scanning the horizon for you. He’s standing on tip toe looking for you. He loves you and is waiting for you to come home.

Abba Daddy

Let’s end this morning by looking at three benefits of being adopted into God’s family from Galatians 4:4-7:

“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” (Gal 4:4-7)

1. As sons and daughters, we receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Notice it is into our hearts that the Holy Spirit comes to reside - our inner most being. I will be preaching on God the Holy Spirit in two weeks. When you become a Christian, a son or daughter of the King, the Holy Spirit is sent into our lives in order to change us from the inside out and start making us more like Jesus (Romans 8:29; I John 3:2).

We get the Spirit simply because we are sons/daughters, not because of anything we have done or will do.

"In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:13)

2. That leads us into the second benefit. As sons and daughters, we are joint heirs with Jesus. The writer of Hebrews tells us that:

“...but 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.” (Hebrews 1:2)

If we are God’s children then we are heirs with our brother Jesus. All that the Father has is ours.

3. The third benefit is, as sons and daughters, we get to call God “Abba.”

This is not an early reference to the Swedish singing group that was popular in the 1970s. The word “Abba” is an Aramaic term that means “daddy.”

In most religious systems, the deity is cold, aloof, and remote. Even in Judaism, a rabbi would call God “father” but would never call him “my father” because this would be disrespectful.

Then came a young rabbi from Galilee who taught his disciples to pray to Abba. This would have been such a shock to their Jewish ears.

It is a term of intimacy, tenderness, and love. It is actually closer to the “da da” of a toddler.

Did you see Drew Brees interviewed after the Super Bowl last Sunday? As the reporters were trying to talk to him, Drew was much more interested in Baylen, his little boy.

By the way dads, this is what our children need - Tender Warriors. Guys that are tough enough to lead but tender enough to cry.

That is what some of you need to know this morning. God is not like your dad. He is ready and willing for you to crawl up in his lap and cry out to Him as Abba.

Paul puts it all together in Romans:

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:15-17)

Do you notice this happens to illustrate the Trinity?

God the Father sent God the Son to redeem us, to buy us back. He sent God the Holy Spirit to seal our hearts and help us understand our standing as children.

We are going to end this morning by watching a video called “God’s Love Letter.” There are more than fifty Bible verses referenced in this video. May you come to understand how much God the Father loves you.

Video: God’s Love Letter

Come to Jesus

We began our service with the children singing a song by Chris Rice called “Come to Jesus.”

Will you respond to His love?

“Weak and wounded sinner

Lost and left to die

O, raise your head, for love is passing by

Come to Jesus

Come to Jesus

Come to Jesus and live!”

- Untitled Hymn by Chris Rice