GOD OUR FATHER
A Sermon for Father’s Day 2003
John 14:1-9
The challenge for fathers has never been greater; but we have the greatest role model – God our Father.
A. Father – a Term of Personal Love
[Read Romans 8:14-17]
1. The term “Father” does not mean primarily “male.” It says God relates to us personally in love. Genesis 1:27 says “man” (“adam” = male and female together) is made in the image of God which includes both male and female. God includes within Himself, in His image, both male and female.
It was historically appropriate for God to reveal Himself to humanity in His authority and power as “Father.” But the primary emphasis of the term, especially to Jesus, is of personal love. God is “Abba”, Dad.
2. God Is Love [Read 1 John 4:8-10]
3. God Is Personal (“Abba” = “Dad”). God is not remote, far removed from us; unavailable and uncaring. This was and is a radical view of God.
Illust.: Christian Fathers need to reflect God our Father’s love and character. “When Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf was interviewed by Barbara Walters, she asked him for his definition of leadership. He reflected for a moment and said, “It’s competence. More important, it’s character. It’s taking action. It’s doing the right [ethical] thing.”
Later Barbara asked him what he wanted on his tombstone. For a moment he grew very quiet. Then, with just a hint of a tear in his eye, he said, “I want it to say, ‘He loved his family and loved his troops – and they loved him.’” 1
If God is personal, then we must face the implications of that fact:
* He is no teddy bear; we can’t project our dreams upon God. We can’t control Him; we do not earn His friendship any more than we earn the friendship of another human being.
* On the other hand, He wants fellowship with us. He won’t compel our loyalty; He wants our trust and love, freely given.
B. God the Father Seeks His Children
1. God Desires to Relate to Us Personally Forever. [Read John 14:1-9]
If God is personal, then the deepest meaning of our lives lies in His personal purpose for us. The most significant question for us is, “what does He want of us?”
2. This Is Unlike Any Other Religion (John 14:6, 9)
After 9/11 Americans have begun to wake up to the fact that different religions have different world views, leading to different actions. It is an axiom of logic that nothing can be true if its exact opposite is also true. Truth is singular and therefore intolerant. This is not to say that we must be intolerant, but that some things in the world are not settled by majority vote.
There is an old story of a school teacher who brought a baby rabbit to show the students at school.
They asked, “Is it a boy rabbit or a girl rabbit?”
The teacher was hesitant to reply, not being quite sure herself, when suddenly a hand shot up in the back of the classroom, “We could vote on it!”
Well, some things are either one thing or another; they cannot be both, and the truth is not always settled by a show of hands. 2
a. Religions may look the same on the surface of their ethical teaching, but basically they are different.
Illust.:
Hinduism – the divine is plural and impersonal
Islam – God is singular and personal
Christianity – God is Triune, personal, and Creator
Buddhism – the divine is neither personal nor creative
Christianity – teaches God both forgives and helps us
Buddhism – there is no possibility of forgiveness and no hope of supernatural aid
The goal of all existence in Buddhism is nirvana (attained by the Buddha after no less than 547 reincarnations).
The goal of Christianity is to know God and enjoy Him forever.
Islam allows a man four wives;
Christianity strongly suggests one is more than enough.
The greatest difference lies between the Bible which says we can never save ourselves - that salvation is the gift of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:8-9); and all the other religions which say a person will be saved, reborn, made whole, or achieve fulfillment by keeping teachings or living according to laws.
Compare a Buddhist story with the similar Parable of the Prodigal Son. In both, a boy comes home and is met by his father. But where the Prodigal Son is met with quite undeserved forgiveness and welcome, the Buddhist son has to work off the penalty for his past misdeeds by years of servitude. 3
The contrasts between religions are irreconcilable; they are not superficial. They lead to radically different goals: extinction or the personal presence of God; pardon or paying it off; salvation by grace or by works.
b. Pluralism and a need for tolerance in society do not negate the truth of the uniqueness of Christ. Social and racial and religious pluralism in a democratic society is a fact that requires tolerance.
* But our need of social tolerance doesn’t mean that what God has revealed in the Bible about Christ being the only way, truth and life is false. It is not.
* Freedom to believe what you want doesn’t mean all beliefs are equally valid. They are not.
* Nor does it mean that faith itself is what matters. Faith is like a rope; it matters enormously what you attach it to.
* We all ultimately will have to make a choice. [Read John 14:6 and 9]
c. Christ is unique. Christ alone was a man ...
worshipped as God (Acts 3:14-20),
regarded as Savior (Acts 4:12), and
claimed to be alive (Acts 4:10) and coming back again.
No other religious leader or founder has made any such claim, and would indeed reject such a claim. Jesus is the only way to God (John 14:6), and the perfect revelation of God (John 14:9).
If Jesus is the only way, then what can say about other religions?
d. Other religions are not simply all wrong throughout, but where Christianity differs Christians do believe they are wrong and biblical Christianity is right.
“I am the truth,” said Jesus. Ultimate truth is in Him and He is the standard by which all truth claims are tested.
But parts of the truth can be found in other religions, because:
* God revealed Himself in creation (Psalm 19:1; and Romans 1:20), and truth about God’s existence and power and glory can be found there.
* Human beings are made in the image of God and are given a conscience to distinguish right from wrong (Romans 2:14-15). So it is not surprising the essence of the golden rule (Matthew 7:12) is found in most religions.
* Every heart hungers for God. A God-shaped vacuum exists in all of us (Ecclesiastes 3:11), which drives the search for God.
God has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus – who is the truth. Christians are not infallible; our understanding of the truth is not infallible; but God’s revelation in Jesus Christ is infallible.
This is not arrogant or narrow-minded. As C.S. Lewis wrote:
"If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth. When I was an atheist I had to try to persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered to them the most; when I became a Christian I was able to take a more liberal view. But, of course, being a Christian does mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong. As in arithmetic – there is only one right answer to a sum, and all the other answers are wrong; but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others." 4
C. The Father Is Seen in Christ (John 14:9)
1. The foundational truth of Christianity is the person of Christ. God the Father provided the way to Himself through Jesus Christ, “the way, the truth and the life.” Through Jesus you see and know the Father (John 14:9).
Illust.: Sadhu Sundar Singh, a convert from Sikhism to Christianity, was one of India’s greatest Christians. One day a European professor of comparative religions—an agnostic—interviewed the Sadhu, with the intention of showing him his mistake in changing religions. He asked, “What have you found in Christianity that you did not have in your old religion?” The Sadhu answered, “I have found Christ.” “Yes, I know,” the professor replied impatiently, “but what particulor principle or doctrine have you found that you did not have before?” Singh replied, “The particular thing I have found is Christ!” Try as he might, the professor could not budge him from that position. 5
Furthermore, the unique fact about Christ is His resurrection. He went down into death for our sake, but then came up on the other side and said in triumph, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes on me shall never die."
A Muslim in Africa became a Christian and some of his friends asked him, “Why have you done such a thing?” He answered, “Well, its like this: Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions. You didn’t know which way to go; and there at the fork were two men—one dead, and one alive—which one would you ask to show you the way?”6
2. Before Jesus’ called God “Abba” and taught us pray to “Our Father”, most people thought of God as impersonal, or perhaps as King, Ruler, Majesty, or just maybe Parent of a certain small segment of humanity. Jesus relationship to God was and is revolutionary. And through Christ we can have that same relationship.
Come to the Father through Jesus the Son. You can simply pray:
“I’m sorry” … for all my sin.
“Yes” … I believe that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life; and the only way to the Father. And yes, I yield myself to Christ as Lord and Savior.
And “Thank You” … for coming into my life forever, Father God. Amen.
Sources:
1 Zig Ziglar, Over the Top (Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994)
2 from a sermon by Dr. Donald B. Strobe, Are All Religions Alike?
3 Michael Green and Gordon Carkner, Ten Myths About Christianity (Lion Publishing Corp., 1988), p. 70-71
4 Nicky Gumbel, Searching Issues, (David C. Cook Publishing Co., 1994, 1996) p. 30-33, quoting from Mere Christianity.
5 from a sermon by Bruce Howell, The Gospel Vs. Religion.
6 Ibid.
