Matthew 10: 28-33
Sermon: Father's love.
Today is "Fathers' Day", when we should all be grateful for our dads,
and if they are still alive, we should let them know how much we appreciate them,
but from a Christian point of view,
today is the day when we rejoice that the Creator and eternal God,
the King of kings and lord of lords,
is not a remote "Force" at the other end of the Universe,
but is our Heavenly Father,
and He loves us much more than any human father, or mother, could.
I recently read an article by a minister
who had been invited to preach to a church Congregation in Holland.
His visit coincided with the Dutch Day of Remembrance,
held each year on the anniversary of Holland’s liberation from the Nazis.
His talk was preceded by several readings by members of the congregation.
One reading, by a teenage girl. was unforgettable.
She had chosen to read a piece written by someone who had found a diary
kept by their father during the war.
Here it is (quote):
22 February 1943, tonight, eight o’clock - a Jew hunt.
Together with G and D, I arrested 24 Jews in Weesperstraat in Amsterdam.
12 March 1943, tonight, Jew hunt; very successful night I have arrested around 100 Jews in three weeks This morning got home at 3.30am.
This is what my father wrote in a small diary during World War 2.
I was a baby in 1943.
My father was a Nazi and received extra rations, like bread and cheese,
for helping the Germans to find Jews who were hiding from them.
For every Jew he arrested, he received 7.50 Guilders - three silver coins.
People like him were called "Jew catchers".
I don't know whether my father knew that every Jew he handed over to the Germans
would be gassed.
He probably did.
I have wondered a thousand times why he did that; betrayed Jews;
I know my family was poor and we had no money.
So my mother really needed the money he got from the Germans.
My mother told me that my father believed in Hitler,
because he promised the common people work, money and power.
And when you are poor and have no work you believe words like these.
After the war, my father was arrested,
and put in prison for five years.
I was nine when he was released.
I have never been able to talk about the war with him.
l am still ashamed of my father, and I had better not tell you my surname.
I wish I had a father I could be proud of.
I only hope people don’t judge me because of what my father did.’
(unquote).
She was obviously, and rightfully, ashamed of her father.
On the other hand, there is a children's story about two boys
talking at school about the clubs they went to at night.
One said he was frightened when he went out, if it was dark;
but the other one said he was never afraid to go out at night,
no matter how dark it was.
The first boy asked why that was;
the second said, it was because his father went with him.
The presence of his father, gave the boy courage, strength and peace.
One thing I remember about my dad
was that he bought me a second hand Viking racing bike
for my 13th birthday.
I found out later that it cost him £13
and his weekly wage as a coal miner at that time was £12.
I am sure we could all tell stories about our dads,
but no matter what kind of human father we have or had,
as Christians we have a heavenly Father who no-one could ever better.
Some people think Christianity is a cheeky religion,
a presumptuous religion.
‘Fancy calling Almighty God, Father!’
‘Fancy calling the creator of the Universe, Father!’
And not only ‘Father’, but ‘Abba’, ‘Daddy’!
But Jesus called Him Father, e.g. in Luke 23 verse 34
when he was dying on the cross;
he cried out ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’.
But that was something he COULD DO, our critics say, because God WAS his Father.
So we must direct them to Matthew 5 verse 16, in the early part of the Sermon on the Mount,
where Jesus said:
‘Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and praise YOUR FATHER who is in heaven’.
And in Matthew 6 when he was teaching his followers how to pray, he said:
This is how you should pray:
‘OUR Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name’ etc.,
as we say often in our worship services and private prayers.
Jesus could validly and accurately have told them:
This is how you should pray:
‘Father of Jesus, hallowed be Thy name’ but he didn’t.
Jesus said his followers could also call God Father, as he did,
making us his spiritual brothers and sisters.
We are creations of God, but more than that.
We are not just subjects of God or servants of God,
but children of God.
This is not just ‘the good news’; it is wonderful news;
so wonderful that we must spread it as much as we can.
Few Jews would presume to call God Father,
and no Muslims
(refer to the book/testimony ‘I dared to call Him Father’ by a saved Muslim woman),
and no Hindus and no Sikhs,
but through the blood of Jesus saved sinners can,
just as the Prodigal Son could call his forgiving dad, father..
We should thank God our heavenly Father
that He chose us even before we were conceived,
and has known us since our bones were being knitted together
in our mothers' wombs.
I don't know about you, but this gives me great comfort.
There is another story, this time about a policeman who was walking his beat.
He spotted a man perched on a girder of a bridge,
preparing to leap to his death.
“Come down!” the policeman cried,
but the man on the bridge refused.
The policeman asked, “Are you having problems at home? Financial difficulties?”
The man said “No, I’m troubled by the world situation.”
The policeman convinced the man to let him come up so they could talk about it.
He agreed, and they sat and discussed the world’s problems,
the cost of petrol, taxes, crime, young peoples’ behaviour, etc.,
then an hour later they both jumped off the bridge!
Life without faith in a Heavenly Father, a compassionate, loving Father,
can bring people to despair and hopelessness.
Have we saving, strengthening faith in our Heavenly Father?
Can we tell of the kindnesses of the Lord
that Isaiah spoke of in Isaiah 63 verse 7?
Do we have the assurance of His zeal and His might,
His tenderness and His compassion,
that Isaiah spoke of in Isaiah 63 verse 15?
I hope we can and we do.
Where does our peace, our confidence come from?
It comes from the God of peace and confidence,
for as Jesus tells us, in Matthew 10:29,
that nothing happens "apart from the will of our Father".
This means we should have peace in all circumstances
because just as we trusted our human dads to look after us,
we trust in our heavenly Father’s love and protection.
In Hebrew the word which is translated as "peace" is "shalom".
Jews greet each other by saying: “Shalom Aleichem”, “Peace be with you” ,
and the response is: "Aleichem Shalom", "With you peace also".
Shalom refers to the state of peace, harmony, serenity and completeness
within a person's life.
It can also be translated as ‘wholeness’;
which gives us the message that no one can be completely ‘whole’ without God.
No matter how well off they are in physical or financial terms,
there will always be something missing;
what someone called ‘a God-shaped hole’.
Shalom is not merely the absence of war or violence
but the abiding presence of calm and inner peace.
When we trust in God, as our Heavenly Father,
the Holy Spirit places in us a sense of peace and confidence,
which Paul describes as a “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22.
Christians have inner peace, because God has forgiven our sins,
and, as Paul put it in Romans 5,
we are no longer under the curse of the Law and death.
Jesus told His followers,
“Peace I leave with you;
My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
He knew that he would go through rejection, torture, crucifixion and death,
but he knew his Heavenly father would bring him through.
He wants us to have the same peace, the same confidence,
that God, Who is our Heavenly Father also,
will bring us through whatever we are suffering from.
True peace comes from knowing God as Father,
and this is why David was able to write Psalm 4:8
which says, “I will lie down in peace and sleep,
for You alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.”
I read somewhere that about 30 years ago
a married couple who were concerned about the threat of war,
decided to carefully research the safest place on earth to which they could retire.
They studied and travelled, and finally they found THE PLACE.
After moving there they sent their friends cards from their new home,
–in the Falkland Islands–
just a few months before war broke out between Argentina and Britain
in the early 1980’s!
Where can we go to find peace?
There is no place on earth where the United Nations or President Obama
or any Prime Minister or General
can guarantee there will always be peace,
but even in a war zone, Jesus says,
“Come unto Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.”
This peace comes as a result or effect of our standing on Jesus’ words in John 6 verses 39 and 40:
‘it is the will of the Father that all who look to the Son, will have eternal life’.
And Paul writes, “Since we have been declared righteous through faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).
A Christian called Horatio Spafford Bliss composed a hymn
after the death by drowning of his wife and children
who had been crossing the Atlantic by ship;
and during a raging storm the ship capsized and all its passengers perished.
After hearing the awful news, though crushed by grief, Horatio Spafford wrote:
“When peace like a river attends all my way;
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
‘It is well, it is well, with my soul’.”
(Mission Praise no.757).
The prophet Isaiah offered praise to God, saying:
“Thou will keep in perfect peace all who trust in Thee,
whose thoughts are fixed on Thee”. (26:3).
No one can have true, lasting peace if they do not belong to God.
Just as our human fathers must have hoped and prayed that we would not experience war and trouble, peace is what God our Heavenly Father wants for us,
today and every day;
no matter what is happening around us.
I hope no one leaves here today without that peace,
that confidence that you have a Heavenly Father,
a Father who forgives you and accepts you,
and wants you to be the apple of His eye.
In spite of your sins and failings He loves you so much
that He sent His only-begotten Son to die on the cross for you.
I hope you can all say this prayer:
Thank You God for my father and mother;
thank You God for being MY heavenly Father,
and for giving ME the peace that passes all understanding
and for keeping MY heart and mind
safe and secure,
through Jesus Christ,
Amen.
