OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN
Luke 3:21-22
INTRODUCTION
Our attention is drawn this Father’s Day to the 3rd Chapter of the Gospel of LUKE.
There are some today who would like to make the Bible gender neutral...They would like to remove all the references God as Father...God, in their edited version, would become our divine parent instead of our heavenly Father...
Do you think that it an accident that God has been revealed to us as Father?... Could it be that God actually wants to be known as Father?
There is no doubt in my mind that He does... God intentionally revealed Himself as Father because He is Father... Father reveals something of His nature and character, something He wants us to understand.
We live in an age where fatherhood has been depreciated... Robert Griswold, associate professor of history and women’s studies at the University of Oklahoma, says in his book Fatherhood in America: A History, "There is a debate in society today over father’s roles. Fatherhood has lost its cultural coherence. It’s no longer clear what we want, what we expect from fathers."
Into this culture God as Father still speaks... He declares the vital importance
of being a father and honoring fatherhood.
And in the words which He speaks to His Only Begotten Son in LUKE 3, we learn much about God’s relationship with His children and we see a wonderful example of how earthly fathers should deal interact with their children:
LUKE 3:21-22
I think that as parents, and particularly as fathers, we sometimes fail to realize the impact our words have on our children...Words of praise or statements of criticism can linger in the minds of a child and forever change the way they view themselves...And in our text today, we find words spoken by a Father to His Son that serve as a wonderful pattern for us today in encouraging and exhorting our children.
First of all, we find words of IDENTIFICATION.
I. WORDS OF IDENTIFICATION
v. 22 You are my son…
The baptism of Jesus is commonly accepted as the event that launched His public ministry...From this point forward, there is no turning back...On this day, Jesus begins a journey that will lead Him through doubt, ridicule, praise, adulation, betrayal, disloyalty and death...And He begins this adventure with God the Father openly and proudly declaring--You are My Son.
Dad, do you remember?...Your son’s ballgame...Your daughter’s dance recital... Your child’s spelling bee...As they stand front and center, you look around and you declare That’s my kid... And as proud as the dad may be to be identified with their child, I assure you, your son or daughter is pleased to hear those words---for they identify the child as belonging to the father.
My Dad and I didn’t do a lot together as I was growing up, and he died when I was just 14, but I do remember a few times when he took me to the shop where he worked, and he’d introduce me--Butch, I want you to meet my son...Tears still swell up as I recall how proud I was to be the son of Ray Sterrett
There are two key lessons we can learn from this.
FIRST--Dads, we need to frequently and vocally show identification with our children...Not just when they are young...Not just when they do things that please us...BUT we need to let people know that we identify with our children--with their strengths and with their weaknesses...With their successes and with their failures... Let your children hear words of IDENTIFICATION come from your lips.
SECONDLY--we need to take pride in being identified as the children of God... If it’s easy for us to be proud of earthly relationships, how much more proud should we be that we have a Heavenly Father who is willing to identify with us...Maybe your here today and you can’t say what a good feeling it is to be identified with a father--maybe you didn’t know your father, or you didn’t have a very good relationship with him...Perhaps your sitting there wistfully thinking that you would love to have heard, just once, your earthly father say That’s my boy/girl....
Well friend, listen---God is proud to identify with you today as your Father...To God, you’re not a stranger...To God, you’re not just a servant--But in JOHN 1:12 we are told Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—.
That ought to send chills up your spine, to realize that the God of Heaven and Earth--the creator and sustainer of the universe, doesn’t just want to save you from a devil’s hell--BUT HE wants to have a relationship with you---HE WANTS TO BE YOUR FATHER.
Whether your childhood remembrances of your father are pleasant or not, hear this: Through faith in Jesus, you can become the child of God, and God will become your Father...He wants to identify with you today.
A second statement that the Father makes here contains
WORDS OF AFFECTION.
II. WORDS OF AFFECTION
YOU ARE MY SON, WHOM I LOVE…
Or, as the KJV say: This is my beloved son…
It’s not just that the Father identified with the Son, but He demonstrated His affection for His Son as well.
Experts in child development say in order to develop a healthy self-esteem a child must sense an unconditional level of love coming from his or her parents...
Love that exceeds all expectations... Love that makes the child feel treasured and
not just tolerated... If they don't feel that type of unconditional love, there's an uneasy sense of absence that causes a lot of confusion and pain.
Some here in this room are feeling that pain intensely right now because you
never heard those words from your Dad!...How tragic...I can’t imagine a day going by without my sharing those words of affection with Kacie...Even when she makes me mad as a hornet, I love her--and I want her to know that.
Too often, perhaps, we think that our children should just know that we love them...After all, you work 10 hour days to put a roof over their head, shoes on their feet, food in their bellies--doesn’t that tell them that you love them?...You go without so that they can have the best--doesn’t that tell them?...You scrimp and save so that their needs are met?...Doesn’t that tell them?...MAYBE IT SHOULD, but you know, they still need to hear it...There was no doubt that the God the Father loved God the Son--But the Father still wanted to express His affection openly and proudly.
Of course, our children need more than to hear the words--they need to see the reality of that love expressed in genuine ways...And the most authentic way of expressing love for your children is to express love to their mother... God’s Word makes it clear that there is no more special human relationship than that of a husband and wife...And our children need to know that we love, respect and appreciate their moms.
A couple of years ago the cartoon strip, “For Better or for Worse,” showed Dad coming into the room where his teenage daughter was sitting on the couch watching television & munching popcorn. He sat down next to her. As he was sitting there, a little thought balloon appears over his head. He’s thinking, “I remember when she was so young. I held her in my arms & loved her, & it was wonderful. Now look at her. She’s all grown up, & such a beautiful girl, too. I wonder what she would think if I held her like I used to & told her again that I love her?” He finally concludes that she would be uncomfortable if he did that.
While he’s thinking that, his daughter is thinking, “I wonder why Dad never hugs me anymore?”
So the Heavenly Father expresses words of Affection for the Heavenly Son... Again, though, we see that the same love God has for Jesus, He has for us... Over and over throughout His Word, He makes it clear that we, too, are the objects of Fatherly Affection:
1 John 4:19 We love ecause he first loved us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
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 we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16)
THE link between IDENTIFICATION and AFFECTION:
1 John 3:1 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!
There is an unconditional love that the Father possesses for His children...You don’t deserve that love...You don’t merit it--haven’t earned it--BUT you have it any way...Even if you never knew that kind of unconditional love from an earthly father or from any other person, you can know it in God...Because Jesus Loves You is more than just a children’s Sunday School song...It is the expresses the very heart of God almighty.
The third part of the Father’s statement contains: WORDS OF AFFIRMATION.
III. WORDS OF AFFIRMATION
...WITH YOU I AM WELL PLEASED...
As Jesus enters into what will prove to be the most difficult three years of His earthly existence, the Father offers words of affirmation...No matter what trials or triumphs...No matter what joys or tears...No matter what heartache or hardship Jesus experienced, I am sure He frequently heard that voice: WITH YOU I AM WELL PLEASED.
One commentator noted that in these words, God the Father expressed to God the Son--I believe in you....I don’t think that’s stretching the text...For that is the essence of what the Father says...No matter who else doubts you, I believe in you...No matter who else walks away, I believe in you...No matter who betrays you, no matter who disappoints you, no matter who lets you down, Son, I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!!
Man, dads, do you let your kids know that you believe in them?...Even if they don’t bat .500...Even if they don’t’ make the team...Even if they don’t make straight As...Do they know that you have confidence in their abilities--in their character?
It is so easy to point out their faults...To show them their mistakes...To lecture them about their flaws...BUT DO WE AFFIRM THEM FOR WHO THEY ARE.
This is not just saying I love you, but saying I LOVE WHO YOU ARE...Even if they aren’t just like you...Even if they aren’t who you thought they’d be...YOU LOVE WHO THEY ARE BECAUSE THEY ARE WHO GOD MADE THEM.
I was reading an article written by a woman whose father passed away 10 years ago...In that article she said she missed many things about her dad, including the smell of his Old Spice aftershave, but the one thing she missed the most, she wrote “is that I lost the one person who always believed in me. He believed I could succeed when no one else thought I could. He believed I could go on, when even I doubted it myself. He was constantly and consistently affirming my worth--not just based on my abilities and my talents, but because I was his child, and because I am a child of God.”
What struck me was that despite the passing of a decade, that woman could still play over in her mind those words of affirmation spoken throughout her lifetime by a dad who believed in her.
I came across a website that posted the winning entries in a contest that invited children and youth to write on the topic: “What I really want that money cannot buy.”
The winning essay was written by fourteen year-old Erika Conant of Johnson City, Tennessee. Here it is:
“What I really want that money can’t buy is unconditional love. As a kid, I need to know that no matter what happens, no matter what grades I get--I will be loved. So many of my friends have parents that work all the time. They are not sure their parents love them, I guess because they are not there. I want to know that I am loved, because my parents are there. Just by their presence, I feel that I am loved. My dog, Casanova, loves me. Sometimes I yell at him, and sometimes I hug him. But no matter what I do, he always wags his tail and comes running up to me. He has unconditional love.
My parents love me and buy me many things. But what tells me they love me the most is when they listen to me. Things are great, but what I really want is their time. What my friends really want is their parents’ time. Maybe go for a walk, and talk. Maybe a bike ride and a lecture talk about money. If you just
do stuff together and smile, I will know you love me. I do things with my mom a lot, but my dad works and sleeps. I know we need the money, but I wish he would do more things with me. What I really want is for all parents to just spend time with their kids. America would be a happier country.”
And while it may be easy for you to affirm your child’s academic, social or athletic achievements, don’t forget to also affirm their spiritual growth...Do you ever tell your children that you can see that they are maturing in Christ?...Do you commend their spiritual progress...THIS IS SOMETHING KIM DOES MORE OFTEN AND BETTER THAN I--to compliment Kacie on things she is doing that show she is becoming more like Jesus.
As Dads, it may not come natural to us to express such affirmation, but it came natural to the Heavenly Father...At a critical juncture in the life of the Son, the Father expresses words of Affirmation: WITH YOU I AM WELL PLEASED.
CONCLUSION
There are many ways we can apply this message today:
FATHERS--Our Heavenly Father sets a perfect example for us of how we should shower our children with words of IDENTIFICATION, AFFECTION and AFFIRMATION...We’re tempted to say that’s not manly...or maybe, well, that’s just not me...Well, if it’s not, it should be...It is good enough for God the Father, why not you?
And keep in mind, these words weren’t spoken to infant Jesus, or toddler Jesus, or adolescent Jesus--He was thirty years old...Don’t think just because your children are grown or out of the house that they stop needing you to be their dad.
TO ALL OF US--We need to express to one another words of IDENTIFICATION, AFFECTION and AFFIRMATION...If somebody doesn’t hear them from a dad or mom, maybe they could stand to hear them from you.
ALSO TO ALL OF US--We need to keep in mind that just as the Father identified with Jesus, and expressed His affection and affirmation, so He does with us... There may be some today who don’t have the slightest idea what we’re talking about because their earthly father doesn’t bear any resemblance to the type of Father we’re talking about.
As I was preparing this message, I came across the story of a young father whose son had become very ill…The Doctors told the family that the boy had only a short while to live… The father didn’t know how to break the news to his son, and he prayed earnestly about it… He went to the boy’s bedside, and read a passage of Scripture…Then he told his son that he likely would live only a few more days…."Are you afraid to meet Jesus, my boy?" asked his father…Blinking away a few tears, the boy said bravely, "No, not if He’s like you, Dad!"
I have no doubt that this was a father who throughout his son’s brief life, spoke:
Words of IDENTIFICATION
Words of AFFECTION
Words of AFFIRMATION
Words that would make a difference in ETERNITY.
