GOD ASKS, ’WHOSE YO’ DADDY?’
ISAIAH 64:1-12
INTRODUCTION... What Makes a Good Effective Father?
[Ask Congregation and Reflect on their Answers]... Some suggestions just in case...
* Listens to their kids * Shows them love * Active in their life
* Spends time with kids * Provides food and shelter * ____________________
* Disciplines them when needed * Love their mother *____________________
We are going to begin to look this week at some of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. I hope and pray that we look at this passages and doctrines with freshness and that they encourage us in our faith and walk with God.
We begin this week by looking at the Fatherhood of God. That means several things and encompasses a lot of thoughts about God. Many of our thoughts about God can be traced back to His Fatherhood. Jesus, in Matthew 6, teaches us to pray “Our Father in Heaven.” It is a title that we give God and that He accepts for Himself; and is one that gives respect to God.
READ ISAIAH 64:1-12
This passage in Isaiah is very interesting. It is divided into three parts, at least I think so. We have verses 1-7 that describe God and our relationship with Him. Then we have verse 8 that defines and describes God matter-of-factly as our Father. Verses 9-12 then complete the chapter and is sort of a prayer and conversation with God the Father.
I. THE RELATIONSHIP DESCRIBED (VERSES 1-7)
These first verses in Isaiah 64 describe for us who God is and our relationship with Him. We have as our God the Almighty Creator of the Universe. Verse 1 describes God tearing the sky open and coming down to earth. Isaiah makes sort of a wish that God would make Himself totally physically seen in this world. He asks/wishes that God would do this and step onto the earth. Isaiah is saying, “God I want all people everywhere to see You and your Mighty Power!” Isaiah imagines that the mountains would quake and the trees would ignite and the water of the earth would boil because of His powerful presence. This makes sense does it not? We find many of these things associated with the presence of God when it is described in Scripture. We find fire when God is present, such as Moses and then Burning Bush or the Pillar of Fire that led and protected the nation of Israel. We find the earth trembling when God is present, such as Elijah on the mountain facing God. It makes sense to me that we might find heat and a change in the world when God is present. God is awesome power. His very presence would change the world we live in.
Do you know what I thought of when I read verse 1? I find this to be very interesting and meaningful: when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Right? God tore open the Holy of Holies as a statement that all may access God. Isaiah 64:1 tells us that this was Isaiah’s wish. He wanted a clear relationship with God. He wanted to see God on the earth. But there was a barrier to the relationship. You and I know that the barrier in the relationship with God and man is not the sky, but sin in our lives. Isaiah longed for all the barriers to be broken down between he and God.
Verses 1-7 describe for us who this Mighty and Awesome Creator God is:
* He acts in the world and does awesome things we did not expect (64:3) = Parting of the Red Sea
* He acts on behalf of those who wait for Him and remember His ways (64:5) = Plagues in Egypt, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, 3 Men and the fiery furnace, manna in the desert, Jericho wall collapse
* He is angered with continual sin (64:5) = God cast Adam and Eve from the Garden, Flood of the Earth, handing over of Israel in Judges to foreign powers because of sin
* He is a holy God that must turn away from sin (64:7) = Jesus on the cross and the darkness
The overall picture that we get from 64:1-7 is tow-fold.
First, we get the picture that we have messed up. We do not call on His name. We don’t even try to seek God or His will. We simply waste our lives away in sin. That is what verses 6-7 tells us so completely. We are like withered leaves that blow us wherever life wants us to go. We have no root or will of our own. We yield to whatever comes our way. The picture we get is one of a broken relationship between God and man. Do you see it in these verses? We continually sin against God and we think nothing about it! The question Isaiah poses is so very appropriate: How then can we be saved? He knows that he and his people are lost... the relationship is broken.
Second, we get the picture that the God of Heaven that created this world and is still active in it. He did not just create it and then abandon it. He acts mercifully and awesomely in the lives of those who “gladly do right” and “wait on Him.” But we know that we rarely do that. We, like verse 7 says, do not call on the name of God and we do not try to lay hold of Him or understand or worship or live like He commands. We know that God still acts in our world and is still in control and still actively seeks relationships with us!
II. FATHER IN HEAVEN
Yet in all of this mess that is our sinful lives, we have a Father in Heaven. This fact does not change. That is why I love that world ’yet.’ Isaiah has just described for us that more often than not we ignore God and go our own way. Isaiah has just described that we sin and do not seek after God. “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.” That is a truth that will not change. That is a truth that will not change no matter the circumstances or mistakes we make... God will still be our Father. More than that, we need Him in our lives.
ILLUSTRATION... The Seven Secrets of Effective Fathers by Ken Canfield, quoted in Lifeline, Summer 1997
Earlier we talked about what makes a good effective father. There of course is no official list of what makes a good father, but there are seven suggestions that I would like to relate to you:
Effective Fathers are:
1) Committed to their children. 5) Love their children’s mother
2) Know their children. 6) Are active listeners of their children
3) Are consistent in their attitudes and behavior. 7) Spiritually equip their children
4) Protect and Provide for their children.
Fathers are so extremely important. Fathers are one of the building blocks of society. I say that because the family truly is the building block of society and fathers are one of the components of family. Of course, you can have families without fathers, but it is not the same. You can have families without mothers, but it is not the same. Fathers in the family play a vital role just as mothers do.
ILLUSTRATION... Stats about fatherhood (http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/stats.htm)
Let me relate some sobering statistics for you:
63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes --U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census
85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes --Center for Disease Control
80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes --Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 14, p. 403-26
71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes --National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools
70% of juveniles in state operated institutions come from fatherless homes --U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report Sept., 1988
85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home --Fulton County Georgia jail populations & Texas Dept. of Corrections, 1992
Translated, this means that children from a fatherless home are:
* 5 times more likely to commit suicide
* 32 times more likely to run away
* 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders
* 14 times more likely to commit rape
* 9 times more likely to drop out of school
* 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances
* 9 times more likely to end up in a state operated institution
* 20 times more likely to end up in prison
What am I saying? I am saying that the breakdown of the family in America is being shown in our youth. I think we would all agree to that. I am also showing you and trying to communicate with you that what is true here on earth is also true in Heaven. We need the Heavenly Father in our lives. But He is not an absentee Father, we are absentee children. Many times we tell God that we want nothing to do with Him, except when we’re in trouble. Someone is sick, call dad. Need a job, call dad. Feeling blue, call dad. The rest of the time, forget dad.
III. GOD IS A HEAVENLY FATHER (VERSES 9-12)
We are given a picture of God in verses 9-12 that should give us comfort and hopefully will inspire us to seek after God with all our hearts, souls, and minds. Isaiah prays to his Heavenly Father and asks for mercy for his people (verse 9).
The picture we have of God is a merciful Father who waits upon His children.
I say that God is a merciful God because Jerusalem lies in ruin and the treasures of Israel lie in ruin, yet the people have an opportunity to repent! Verse 12 asks God if He will punish them beyond measure. He will not. God is a gracious and merciful God who will discipline His children. A Father disciplines those He loves. A Father has expectations of His children that mean only the best for them. And when the children turn away, the father must get their attention and turn them back... that’s what Fathers do. God does that and did do it for the nation of Israel. Isaiah asks for forgiveness.
I say that God is a God who waits upon us because in verse 8 God is described as a potter. Pots are not made instantly, but take time and effort to mold and shape. Mistakes can be made, but mistakes can also be corrected. God is so very patient with us and we thank Him for it. Isaiah thanked God for it and asked for even more patience on behalf of Israel.
CONCLUSION
Our God is a merciful patient Father who disciplines those He loves. He seeks us out and wants to have a relationship with us. We should take note that Jesus stated that those who know Him know the Father as well. Jesus can also be described as merciful and patient and disciplines those He loves.
The Bible reveals God as the Lord of the universe and calls Him "Father" in both Old and New Testaments. He is the Father and Lord of creation. James describes Him as "the Father of the lights." He created the stars as well as the angels. Paul says that every family under heaven is named or set aside for Him (Ephesians 3:15). We all need a caring human father (or an equivalent) as early as possible in our lives to help us understand what God the Father is like as a Person. Remote, indifferent, unavailable human fathers can lead us to believe that God also is detached, unconcerned, and uninvolved in the daily cares of our world. However, the Psalmist (10:14) praises God as a loving Father: "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation." Hosea writes (14:3) that the fatherless find mercy in Him. God is described in Psalm 10:14 as the one who helps the fatherless. King David says, "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up." (Psalm 27:10).
The Lord God is more than willing to help make up for absent fathers. Surely the most wonderful aspect of being a Christian is that we all have a unique relationship with the Creator of the universe, the God and Father of Jesus, the Living Spirit who is Lord of all history. Through faith in Jesus each one us may call God "Abba Father.”
