HOW JESUS TALKED ABOUT HIS FATHER
DORN RIDGE CHURCH OF CHRIST
JUNE 15, 2014
INTRODUCTION:
1.) Today is that special day we mark on the calendars to pay tribute to our fathers and grandfathers.
A.) There are many ways we like to honour and/or remember our fathers and grandfathers.
B.) Some of us here are on Facebook. If you have been on in the last couple of days you will have seen many pictures and memories being shared with the world of fathers and grandfathers.
C.) Today if your father is living many will be buying gifts, giving cards, going for special dinners, or other such actions to honour your fathers and grandfathers.
D.) There are also many who no longer have their fathers living, but honour them with memories, visits to grave yards, memorial gifts, and just the sharing of happy and wonderful memories.
E.) Today as we look at Jesus, we see another way of honouring our father which he did, and many here also do, and that is to talk about our fathers with great love.
ea.) Today I want us to look at four aspects of conversation that Jesus gave to honour his heavenly Father:
I. JESUS SPOKE ABOUT HIS FATHER'S HOUSE.
1.) Jesus spoke of the temple as God’s House.
A.) Luke 2:48-50
aa.) I expect that Jesus’ mother and stepfather Joseph had no idea immediately what Jesus was speaking of.
aaa.) In fact even the Scriptures themselves verify that.
aab.) At that time their only thought was to find their son and get home safe and sound..
aac.) Certainly any of us as parents can imagine the panic and fear that Mary and Joseph must have had that day.
.01) At one time or another each of us like Joseph and Mary have lost our children in a mall or some other place for a few minutes.
.02) As you recall the anxiety and fear in just that short period of time, imagine what these parents felt when their son disappeared and went missing and somewhere in the big city alone for three days.
.03.) Mary and Joseph had done right though in their raising of Jesus, and he felt perfectly at home in the temple of God, and described that as his Father’s House.
ab.) Certainly I do not want to cheapen this account or the very unique and special relationship that Jesus had with the Father.
aba.) But as parents it is a great blessing to have our own children raised in such a way that they will look at the time in Church and with God’s people as a special place, and a special time with their
Father in Heaven as well.
B.) Jesus later used this same term at the beginning and end of his ministry when he cleansed the temple.
ba.) John 2: 13-17
C.) I imagine that at the beginning and end of Jesus’ ministry as he spoke of the temple as his father’s house, that many of those religious leaders were not altogether sure of the words Jesus gave.
ca.) Many of them may have had confusion at his words.
cb.) I am sure some had great anger at the very nerve of speaking of God as His heavenly Father.
cc.) There were some who would have missed the importance of the event, and had anger that he would show authority in the temple though he was not of the tribe of Levi.
D.) But if we can look past all of those things we also see something very dear that any father wants to have.
da.) Jesus showed great love, honour, and respect for his Father in heaven.
db.) That kind of an attitude for God can often not be seen if it is not also there for one’s earthly father as well.
dba.) The relationship we have with our earthly father, often gives us a perspective and vision of the relationship with our heavenly father.
dbb.) Sometimes we do not always realize the role we have as a Father, in the molding of our children for spiritual matters.
dbc.) yet more and more new studies point to the power of the influence that the Father has in the family, and also in spiritual matters as well.
2.) Jesus spoke of heaven as his Father’s house.
A.) John 14:1-3
B.) Up to this point the concept of heaven was very vague.
ba.) In fact, even today though Scripture reveals a few glimpses of heaven, the beauty, and greatness of it is mostly unrevealed to us.
bb.) But one of the truths that is revealed of heaven is that Jesus pictured it as home.
bba.) That is an image that strikes the heart of most of us with emotion.
.01) Home to most people is a place where you are loved, and comfortable, and able to rejoice in your family.
bbb.) When Jesus spoke of heaven as His Father’s house he certainly gave us a most beautiful picture with warmth, love and a specialness we can relate to.
II. JESUS SPOKE ABOUT HIS FATHER'S HANDS.
1.) Each of us probably have pictures that comes to our minds of our fathers, and also of their hands.
A) For many of you the memories you have may go back several decades.
aa.) Most of you in this congregation grew up in homes, where the main work was that of farming or other manual labour jobs.
ab.) If I was to ask each of you to describe your father’s hands, it is quite possible that your mind will go back to something etched into your brain even from several decades back.
B.) Probably for many of you there is the picture of a hand that was hard, and calloused, very rough like an unplanned board of lumber.
ba.) A few years ago Holly Dunn wrote a country song titled “Daddy’s Hands”.
bb.) The words of that song may well reflect the view you also have of your father and of his hands.
bc.) Daddy’s Hands
Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.
I remember Daddy´s hands, working 'til they bled.
Sacrificed unselfishly, just to keep us all fed.
If I could do things over, I´d live my life again.
And never take for granted the love in Daddy´s hands.
Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.
Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love .....
In Daddy´s hands.
C.) That is much like the picture that Jesus gives us of His Father, our Spiritual Father if we will trust in Him.
2.) Jesus spoke of His Father’s hand as a place of refuge.
A.) John 10:28-30
B.) Just as our earthly fathers would do anything to protect us, so also our heavenly Father, will protect us from outside forces that would destroy our walk with Christ.
III. JESUS SPOKE ABOUT HIS FATHER'S WILL
1.) The highest goal for Jesus was to do the will of His Father in heaven.
A.) John 6:38
B.) A few weeks ago for the time of Mother’s Day, I spoke on the theme of Honour to Whom Honour is Due.
ba.) Every one of us know that we have never been completely consistent in honouring our parents and their
will for us, just as our own children have not perfectly done that with us.
bb.) But when Jesus came into this world, his goal was to do the will of his father in heaven.
bba.) Unlike any of us and the times we may have failed in this regard, Jesus perfectly honoured is father in heaven at all times.
2.) It is the Father’s will that none should perish.
A.) Jesus came into this world to accomplish the will of the Father.
aa.) It has always been the will of God that none would ever perish, but that all would come to eternal life.
ab.) John 6:39-40
ac.) It was only through Jesus perfectly completing the will of God even to the cross that made it possible that
none should perish, but all would come to eternal life.
ad.) Jesus himself accomplished the will of God in this regard.
ada.) I would like to stand here today and say that because Jesus has paid the penalty, and perfectly kept
the will of God that since that day none have perished, but all have come to life.
adb.) As much as I would love to stand here today and proclaim that it would not be a truth.
.01) I will cover this more under my next point, but Scripture tells us that though God’s love
is freely given, that it is received conditionally.
.02.) Even now, the Apostle Peter tells us that God’s reason for not bringing this world to an end sooner is that
He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to life.
.002.) Yet even there, the Bible tells us there will come an end to the patience of God.
IV. JESUS SPOKE ABOUT HIS FATHER'S LOVE.
1.) The Father’s love is freely given in Jesus Christ.
A.) There are exceptions to the rule, but generally a good father would do anything for his family, and sacrifice as much as he needed to for their good.
aa.) When this type of love is present, there is just about nothing that a father would not do for his children.
B.) Jesus tells us that God loves the entire human race with that same love.
ba.) John 3:16
C.) Actually the love of God that Jesus describes for us is greater than the love we would have for our
own children.
ca.) That is something that is very hard for us to comprehend.
cb.) We find it hard to believe this love could be greater than our own love.
cba.) Yet Scripture reveals that it is so strong that he was willing to even put his own son in second
place so that you and I who had rebelled against Him could receive the full rights as Sons and daughters of God.
2.) The Father’s love though freely given is conditional.
A.) John 15:9-11
B.) It is completely true that God loves us with a love so deep that He sent his own son to take the
penalty of our guilt and sin.
C.) It is also true that the payment Jesus made on that cross more than paid the debt or every sin
and every sinner that will live on this planet.
D.) Yet as much as this is true, it is also true that the blessings of God through the blood of Jesus
Christ are not automatically given to every sinner on this planet.
da.) The blessings of God are conditional on the basis of God’s Word, and what has been given by Jesus Christ
and His apostles for the forgiveness of sin.
db.) We looked at this more last week, but the conditions of God are faith, Repentance,
confession of Christ, immersion into Christ, and faithfulness to Christ.
CONCLUSION:
1.) Jesus talked quite a bit about his heavenly Father.
A.) He us spoke about his father's house.
B.) He spoke about his father's hands.
C.) He spoke about his father's will
D.) He spoke about his father's love.
2.) As we leave here today, let us remember and honour our fathers and grandfathers.
3.) Perhaps the greatest way of honouring your father or mother today is through a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
