Pictures Of Our Father

Happy Father’s Day, dads! Did you all get pounced on in bed this morning? My boys each made me a card (that was very special); but Bethwyn went all out! She gave me my own rock. She painted it green, and she drew a smiley face on it, and gave it to me with a card. It couldn’t be more precious to me if it was a gold watch. What a sweetheart.

She’s three years old, and I’m already dreading the day she brings home a boy. I’m collecting one-liners that fathers have used to greet dates to try and get rid of them.

* One father said to a boy at the door, “So, you like my daughter?” To which he replied, “Oh yeah, she’s a real dreamboat!” So the father called out upstairs: “Dreamboat, your barnacle is here!”

* Another father opened the door and told the boy, “She won’t be moment, she’s just finishing her Tae Kwon Do lesson.”

* Another father said: “ I’m sorry, she’s not quite ready yet. She’s just trying on her wedding dress for the third time today.”

* My favourite ... A father answered the door and said to the young man: “I’m glad to meet you, Johnny, but I somehow pictured you with a telephone attached to your head!”

So, if any of you have any good one-liners for boys at the door, I only have about 14 or 15 years left to get those ready.

Let me tell you my favourite joke about fathers ... One day a woman made the mistake of leaving her baby daughter in her husband’s care while she was busy doing some work in another room. He immediately buried himself in his newspaper, and forgot all about the baby until he heard a series of thumps, followed by a horrendous cry. Instantly he knew that the baby had fallen down the stairs. He called out to his wife, “Honey! Come quick! Our little girl just took her first 24 steps!”

Dads! You’ve gotta love us, don’t you ladies?

TEXT: Matthew 6:9

These are some of the best known words in the Bible. If you asked the average person on the street to say the Lord’s Prayer, most could at least start it. “Our Father which art in heaven.” Many people can quote that, but they don’t really appear to appreciate the full import of the words they are saying ... “OUR FATHER in heaven”. What a tremendous thought. What an untold privilege to be able to address the mighty Maker of all things this way ... our FATHER.

There are scores of other places in the Bible also where God is described, and indeed describes Himself, in the terms of fatherhood.

Psalm 68:5 - “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God...”

Psalm 103:13 - “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;”

Isaiah 63:16 - “You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.”

Matthew 7:9-11 - Jesus said: “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

John 20:17 - After He rose from the dead, Jesus told Mary to go to His disciples and tell them he was alive and he said, “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

The FATHERHOOD of God.

This is a picture of my dad. I have it framed and sat in my office and underneath it I have inscribed the words of Proverbs 17:6, which say: “... the glory of sons is their father.” I cherish this picture of my father; it reminds me of him constantly, and the wonderful person he is.

Likewise, there are pictures in the Bible that reveal something of God’s character.

This morning I’d like us to look at three pictures of fatherhood from the Bible which each show us an aspect of the great father heart of God. The first is found in Genesis chapter 22, the picture of ...

1. A WILLING Father

It’s the story of Abraham and his son Isaac.

Genesis 22:1-3.

Abraham was WILLING, in his love and devotion to God, to be obedient even in sacrificing his own son. This was the boy God had promised him, and he had waited years for his wife Sarah to conceive him. And yet, at the word from God, he took his son up Mount Moriah with Isaac carrying the wood for the fire of his own sacrifice.