Our Father Which Art in Heaven
Matthew 6:9
Intro
It is difficult for some people to love God because they have been deprived of an earthly father whom they could love sincerely and steadfastly.
The right kind of father can be a child’s best teacher about God. A good father is a happy combination of strength and tenderness, righteousness and mercy. The wrong kind of father can cripple a child’s emotional and spiritual well-being. Today I want to lead you to a better understanding and a deeper appreciation of the heavenly Father.
Jesus came to reveal God to man. “Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? o you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me…”
In the Gospels God is spoken of as “Father” more than 150 times. This name was in the first recorded boyhood utterance of Jesus: “Did you not know that I had to be in my father’s house?” This name was in His last dying cry: “Father into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
People had thought of god and his followers in a umber of different ways: a Shepherd and his sheep, a Potter and his clay, a Creator and his creatures, a King and his subjects, a Judge and violators of the law.
Jesus came to give us new truth about God so that we might walk lovingly in his way and so that we might have abundant life here and now.
Jesus taught his disciples – and all believers – to think of God as a heavenly Father.
Jesus did not consider all people to be the children of God. He taught that in the miracle of the new birth, the spiritual birth, the birth from above, a new relationship was established with God that was much closer than that which exists between a Creator and the creatures of his world. This new relationship is tender, affectionate, and glorious.
Today as we celebrate Father’s day I want us to look at God the Father’s character and see how we as earthly father’s , differ from the heavenly father.
I. God is a perfectly wise and consistent heavenly Father
a. In contrast to even the best of earthly fathers, the heavenly Father perfectly knows our deepest needs even before we could request his blessings in prayer.
i. He looks upon our needs with purposes of love and compassion
ii. He is more eager to meet these deep needs than we are to have them met.
iii. Matthew 7:11
“If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
b. In contrast to even the best of natural father, the heavenly Father always acts toward us in a manner consistent with our highest good.
i. In the very beginning, the Evil One put doubt in the mind of Eve, the mother of us all, concerning the goodness of god
ii. The heavenly Father prohibits only that which is destructive
iii. The heavenly Father challenges us to do that which is truly constructive and beneficial.
iv. The heavenly Father disciplines us for our good.
v. The heavenly Father punishes only when he is forced to do so.
1. He dare not condone that which is destructive.
2. When we continue toward moral perversity or disobedience, he will manifest his displeasure in a manner that may cause us to think that he is angry with us.
II. God is a gracious and providing Father.
a. God is gracious and loving
i. He does not need to be bribed.
ii. We cannot merit his grace and love.
b. The heavenly Father provides the necessities for moral and spiritual health and happiness.
i. He is more interested in the fruits of life than he is with mere leaves and roots.
c. We need to trust implicity in the provifing Father who feeds the sparrows and clothes the lilies.
i. H has given us the Bible for nourishment.
ii. He has given us prayer for communion and fellowship
iii. He has given us the Holy Spirit for guidance.
iv. He has given us a needy world in which to work.
d. At the end of the road, he has provided a house with many rooms for us.
III. God is a restrained and suffering heavenly Father
a. God has placed some restraints on his own power by giving people the privilege of choice.
i. He did not desire the worship of robots.
b. The heavenly Father suffers as only infinite love can suffer when his children persist in way that will bring tragedy.
IV. God is merciful and forgiving heavenly Father.
a. The parable of the prodigal son presents an indescribably beautiful picture of the waiting Father.
b. The psalmist grasped this truth in Psalm 103:13-14
“Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.
i. Without money and without price
ii. Without pomp, ceremony, or ritual, the wayward son returned to the merciful and forgiving father.
V. God is a saving and keeping heavenly Father.
a. John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
b. John 10:27-30
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
c. Romans 5:8
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
d. 1 John 3:1
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Closing
On this Father’s Day, it would be wise for every father to have a genuine faith in and a loving relationship to the heavenly Father. If you are still outside that family of God, then let today be the day you receive Jesus Christ that you might become a child of God by faith.
