Best Father Ever!
Matthew 6:6-13
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - June 20, 2010
*I miss my Dad. He’s been gone for 36 years now, and I want to see him more than ever. My dad was kind, patient hard-working, smart and funny. He loved to tease and kid around with people. And like my wife, Dad never met a stranger. He was a talker. My dad could have had a good conversation with a telephone pole. Dad liked golf, and he loved the Braves, even back when all they ever did was lose.
*During World War II, Dad went off to help save us from the Nazis. And when he got home he was the Prince Charming who rescued my mother from a horrible home. It was so bad that the only time we ever went there was for my grandparents’ funerals.
*My dad surely wasn’t perfect, but he was full of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was a wonderful father to his kids.
*If you have a good dad, thank God! Appreciate your dad, and get to know him while you can.
-Ask him what it was like when he was a kid.
-Ask him how he met your mom.
-Get to know your dad.
*Now you may not have had a good daddy like mine. My own father didn’t. My grandmother divorced my unfaithful grandfather in 1928, and my Dad became the man of the house at age 8.
*Lot’s of kids today don’t have good fathers.
40% of children living in single-parent homes haven’t seen their father at all during the past year.
85% of youths in prison today grew up in fatherless homes.
90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. (1)
*You may not have had a good earthly father, but you can have the best Father of all!
-If you trust in Jesus Christ, you will have the best Father of all.
-His Heavenly Father will become your Heavenly Father, as you are born again into the Family of God.
*But how is our Heavenly Father the best father of all?
1. First: He has the best head.
*Nobody is smarter than our Heavenly Father. In vs. 6, Jesus tells us that our Heavenly Father “sees in secret.” Our Heavenly Father sees everything, everywhere. He sees me. He sees you.
*Our Heavenly Father sees everything, and He knows everything. As Jesus said in vs. 7-8:
7. “When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
*Our Heavenly Father knows everything about everything. There are almost 7 billion people in the world today, but that doesn’t strain God a bit. He is able to keep up with every person every moment of every day. He knows everything that’s going on in your life. Jesus said that He even knows the number of hairs on your head.
-I can’t see the blood coursing through your veins this morning. -- But God can.
-I can’t see the hurt you brought to church today. -- But God can.
-I don’t know the ugly way you were treated last week. -- But God does.
*He sees every tear, every fear, every problem, every pain, every hope and dream, every success, every failure. God fully knows and understands you. He knows you infinitely better than you know yourself. He knows every need. He knows what you need, even before you ask him.
*Our Heavenly Father has the best head.
2. And He has the best heart.
*God is good all the time! In vs. 6, Jesus said: “When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
*Our Heavenly Father is sitting up in Heaven greatly desiring to do good things for His people, if we will only ask. Billy Graham once said, “Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to ask.” (2)
*Why? -- Because God is good! Our Heavenly Father wants to reward His children. And in vs. 6, He promises to reward you “openly.” The word picture in the original language means something shining and clear to see. God is so good that He wants you to see His rewards in your life.
*And we see more of God’s goodness in vs. 9, where Jesus said to pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. “Hallowed” means “holy” and there is much more depth to this word, but it certainly means that God is pure and good.
*How good is God? -- James 1:13 tells us that God cannot even be tempted by evil.
*How good is God? So good that He was willing suffer the loss of His beloved Son to die on the cross for our sins.
*I didn’t realize it at the time, but my dad suffered a lot for me. When he took early retirement from Sears, he had a good bit of money. And Dad tried to start several new businesses, but he hit a brick wall every time. And he lost it all.
*One time he told me he used to lay awake all night, worrying about how he hadn’t provided for his children. It helped put him in an early grave at the age of 55. But if my dad hadn’t gone through that, I never would have applied for the Teacher Corps. I never would have come out here. And I don’t think I ever would have gotten saved. But I did get saved 10 months before my dad died!
*In an indirect way, my dad suffered for me. But our Heavenly Father suffered infinitely more when He sent Jesus into the world to die for our sins. That’s how good He is.
*How good is God? -- So good that in vs. 10 that we can always pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We can always pray, “What ever you want, Father! -- That’s just fine with me.” We can always trust in our Heavenly Father to do the right thing.
*Gene Appel tells one of my favorite Dad stories. It’s about a family who went to the lake for vacation one summer. Dad was fiddling around by the boat house while his 12-year-old and 3-year-old sons played on the dock.
*Older brother was supposed to be watching little brother. But he got distracted just when little Billy decided to check out the fishing boat at the end of the dock.
*Billy put his foot in the boat, but it shifted and he fell in. Older brother screamed and Dad came running. But when he jumped in, he couldn’t find Billy. Sick with panic, Dad took another gulp of air and went back down in the murky water, feeling around everywhere.
*Finally, on his way back up the second time, Dad felt Billy’s arms locked in a death grip around one of the posts under the dock. He was about 4 feet under the water. Dad pried the boy’s fingers loose and they popped up together for a breath of air.
*When everybody calmed down a little bit, Dad asked his son: “What on earth were you doing down there hanging onto the post so far under the water?”
-Billy answered, “I was just waiting for you dad, -- just waiting for you.” (3)
*That little boy trusted His dad! And that’s the way we should trust our Heavenly Father, because He is good all the time.
-Our Heavenly Father has the best heart.
3. And He has the best home.
*As Jesus said in vs. 9: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.”
*Heaven is His home, and what a home! -- It’s palatial. Heaven is a home fit for a king, because it is the home of a king. It’s the home of the King of all Kings!
*What a home! -- It’s palatial. And it’s perfect. Listen to the Apostle John speaking in Rev 21:1-5:
1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
4. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’’
5. Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new.’’ And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful.’’
*What a home! -- It’s perfect. And it’s permanent. In vs. 13, Jesus taught us to pray, Father, “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever!”
*What a home! -- It’s permanent. And it’s being prepared for you, if you have trusted in Jesus. The Heavenly Father wants His home to be your home. And through Jesus Christ, Heaven can be your home. On the night before He died on the cross, Jesus told His followers:
1. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
2. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
*Then in vs. 4-6 Jesus said: “
4. "Where I go you know, and the way you know.’’
5. (But) Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’’
6. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
*When we trust Jesus as Savior and Lord His Father’s home in Heaven becomes our personal home too. Leith Anderson once explained it this way: “My family and I have lived in the same house for 17 years. We’ve lived there more than twice as long as I have lived at any other address in my entire life. I’ll sometimes refer to it as ‘our house,’ but more often I refer to it as ‘home.’
*What makes it our home isn’t the address or the lot or the garage or the architecture. What makes it home is the people. You may live in a bigger or newer or better house than we live in, but as nice as your house may be, I would never refer to your house as home because the people who are most important to me don’t live there.
*So what makes home ‘home’ is the people in the relationships. And what makes Heaven ‘Heaven’ is not streets made out of gold, great fountains, lots of fun, and no smog. . . Actually I think heaven is far greater than our wildest imagination. The same God who designed the best of everything in this world also designed heaven. Only he took it to a far greater extent than anything we’ve ever seen.
*Yet that’s still not what makes Heaven ‘Heaven.’ What makes Heaven ‘Heaven’ is God. It is being there with Him.” (4)
-Our Heavenly Father has the best home.
4. And He gives the best help.
*Vs. 11 reminds us that our food comes from the Father, because Jesus said to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” You may think your food comes from Super One. But you have never had a bite that didn’t come from God.
*The Heavenly Father gives us food, but much more important, He gives forgiveness. So in vs. 12 Jesus taught us to pray: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Forgive our moral and spiritual debts to You, God. Forgive our faults, our offenses, our sins.)
*We all need forgiveness from God, and the only way to get it is through the cross of Jesus Christ. Believing that God loves us, believing that Jesus paid the price for all of our sins and rose again from the dead, we trust Him to forgive us.
*Our Heavenly Father gives food and forgiveness, but He also gives us the right way forward in life. So in vs. 13, Jesus told us to ask the Father: “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” We need our Heavenly Father to guide and guard us every day of our lives. He is the only one who can safely lead us forward.
*Christians the best Father ever is our Heavenly Father who provides for us and protects us. Think of a little baby just learning to walk. He staggers and stumbles around all over the place. And there’s Dad, following right behind to catch him when he falls. That’s the way I see our Heavenly Father. We’re not always paying attention to Him. But He is always paying attention to us.
*I remember going to Cracker Barrel one time. It was packed. We were sitting in the rockers on the front porch, waiting for a table. Suddenly I saw a toddler start to scoot across the front porch toward the parking lot. Dad had to take off after him, because he was definitely headed for danger.
*How many times has our Heavenly Father had to take off after me and you? -- More than we know. Think how much our Heavenly Father loves you and is watching over you. Psalm 103:13-14 tells us that:
13. As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
*That is our Heavenly Father. He is the best Father ever! But is He your Father?
*Tom Rothhaar asks: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how would you describe your relationship with God?
0 -- If God exists, I haven’t met Him.
5 -- We’re on speaking terms, at least sometimes.
Or 10 -- I am a child of God. He is my Heavenly Father.” (5)
*You may not have had a good earthly father, but you can have the best Father of all!
-God wants to be your Heavenly Father.
-And He will be, if you will receive His Son Jesus as Savior and Lord.
*Trust in Jesus Christ, you will have the best Father of all!
1. Church Leadership Intelligence Report 06/09/10 -- Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Nat’l Fatherhood Initiative, Urban Inst.
2. SermonCentral illustration contributed by D. Greg Ebie
3. SermonCentral illustration submitted by Dennis Murphy - SOURCE: Story told by Gene Appel
4. SermonCentral illustration contributed by Tony Miano - Source: Leith Anderson in “Preaching Today,” as quoted in Larson, p. 120
5. Adapted from online sermon “Daddy God” by Tom Rothhaar - Light of the Canyon UMC - 09/05/04
