Summary: I. A FATHER’S LOVE … 1. A father’s love chooses to create, know and value each individual. 2. A father’s love creates a special environment and sustains it. 3. A father’s love communicates, counsels, and listens. 4. A father’s love protects.

… While I can’t share in the honors of full fatherhood today …

 I want us to consider the honor we give to our DIVINE FATHER,

 In 2 Cor 6:18, the apostle Paul applies God’s heart, first spoken to David the prophet Nathan, to all of us:

“I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty.

 Those words never cease to bring life to our souls

 Medeator … God is the grand epitome of all that we recognize as ideal in fatherhood.

 I’ve been reflecting on this quality of relationship God wants with each … considering all that a father implies … and how even more deeply this is true of God, as our Father.

Consider your worth to Him, in the type of love He has for you.

I. A FATHER’S LOVE …

1. A father’s love chooses to create, know and value each individual.

2. A father’s love creates a special environment and sustains it.

3. A father’s love communicates, counsels, and listens.

4. A father’s love protects.

5. A father’s love disciplines in order to redirect us from destruction.

6. A father’s love sacrificially pursues reconciliation when turned from.

7. A father’s love imparts participation in life.

8. A father’s love looks out for our future (i.e., inheritance).

 Going to being a series soon in which each week we focus on one of the qualities of love God has for you

… that you might really know how much you’re worth to God

… that our lives might be lived out in response to that love

 But today, I simply want us to consider the place we give to our divine Father, especially in light of the tenderness of our day

 Jesus spoke of the reciprocation of love and honor

-- human parents … and of God

-- God affirms proper authority … proper authority to serves

a need and, in turn, is honored

II. A FATHER’S LOVE IS ONLY AS POWERFUL AS THE PLACE HE IS GIVEN.

Allow me to consider our position today, not to distract us from God’s word, but that it might bear

Experience of Authority

 devoid / detached

-- relinquished

 destructive

-- conscious or unconscious

-- not serves (?)

 dishonest

-- parents’ hypocrisy…but

political identities…

church

-- result: ambivalence

towards authority…for a

good reason

-- long for it…refuse it

------> CRISIS <-----

OF

--> AUTHORITY <--

Effects of “new” philosophy

 Existentialism

-- breeze through room

 self-actualization

-- no duty / only desire

 new spirituality

-- New Age

 I believe what is often referred to as the New Age is broader than a simple religious movement

 I believe it reflects a more pervasive new approach to spirituality that is uniquely reaching a particular general of people

 Let me try to sum up what many are recognizing in the phenomena

 Baby boomers were initially religious in roots, but left the church … in time, despite all the anti-establishment era, became predominantly materialistic … producers  consumers … more individual … (“me generation”).

 A new spirituality is offering transcendency on our terms … spirituality without affecting materialism, or, more importantly, the self as the center of all.

• Narcissus – Greek myth

• Shirley McLaine said it most clearly: when I pray, I pray to myself … in one “church” mirror: “Behold, God”

• Nothing particularly new … the very fall of humanity

 I believe we’re at a great spiritual crossroads … both as a culture – in light of this “new spirituality” – and as Christians who, ourselves, share many of the same cultural influences.

Christ’s life epitomized a different approach in relationship to God … He taught us about:

III. SETTLING OUR CENTER

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submissions. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Hebrews 5:7-0

 Jesus’ submission perfected his humanity, he became what we were always meant to be

 Knowing how to related to his divine Father, he taught us

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’” Matthew 6:9-10

 This is the first half of the great model prayer he offered

• First half gives God his supreme place, then turns to raising one’s needs

• It’s only when God is given his proper place that our pursuits can fall into their proper place

 Here Christ offers 4 key words or statements … I want us to see how they lift our eyes from the tendencies of today’s spirituality

1. “OUR FATHER” … personal

-- Here is where the “new spirituality” cheats

-- Jesus, by using “Father,” implies not only personal, but

approachable

 doesn’t use often (only 6x in Mark’s gospel, and only with his disciples; those who saw what it meant).

2. “IN HEAVEN”

-- The spiritual trend of today is to reduce God as merely a

parallel and alternate plane of reality … all part of a divine

force, but being refined as we continually pass through

this world

-- An appealing idea, but I ask you …

 Are we evolving into a better people? More harmonious?

 If the East has held such principles the longest … go take a good look.

 The greatest revolution of charity has come from the influence of Christians, such as William Casey

 Why? Because they understand Christ calls to lift our eyes to see that our hope comes from outside ourselves … God and the heavens are pre-existant

3. “HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME”

-- “Hallow” or “holy” = separate / different (i.e., a “holy

place” … “people”)

-- “Name” in Hebrew culture referred not to a proper name,

but all that was revealed of that person’s nature /

character, i.e., a reputable name

Those who know thy name, put their trust in thee. Psalms 9:10

= “Let your revelation of yourself be set apart to us”

-- How this crushes our freedom to place ourselves at the

center and project our ideas onto a notion of God.

4. “YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE ON

EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN”

-- Here Christ answers the question of who’s at center

… for the “kingdom” could be summed up as God’s reign

and Christ showed how personal it was as he bore that

reign. The kingdom was primarily relating to nations, but

was highly personal.

-- For Christ it meant mornings … ministry … Garden

-- Often, the simple image of a circle representing your

life…

x x x

x x

x h x

x x

x x x

-- Illustration: Bob LaFramenta

 “I’m not an attorney … I’m a follower of Jesus”

 It wasn’t a new spirituality … but the place Christ gave to the Father …

 It wasn’t just the power of our divine Father’s love, but the place given to that Father.

-- Father’s Day card – usually express all he’s done … but

also want to express who he is, otherwise I reduce him to

a slave and don’t honor him

-- I thank him for what he does, honor him for who he is

 So it is with God

-- Our Father has a lap to crawl up on, a hand to bring a

healing touch, a heart to forgive

-- But all of this eliminates from a personal, pre-existent,

wholly other authority

PRAYER

 Thank God for His love … individual

 We bring our experience of authority to you

We bring our self-centered, narcissism …

Series: Living In Response to God’s Love (Pre-Message)

A DIVINE FATHER’S PLACE

Brad Bailey

I will be a Father to you, and you will be my

sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty

2 Corinthians 6:18

I. A FATHER’S LOVE …

1. A father’s love chooses to create, know and value each individual.

2. A father’s love creates a special environment and sustains it.

3. A father’s love communicates, counsels, and listens.

4. A father’s love protects.

5. A father’s love disciplines in order to redirect us from destruction.

6. A father’s love sacrificially pursues reconciliation when turned from.

7. A father’s love imparts participation in life.

8. A father’s love looks out for our future (i.e., inheritance).

II. A FATHER’S LOVE IS ONLY AS POWERFUL AS THE PLACE HE IS GIVEN.

Experience of Authority

 devoid / detached

 destructive

 dishonest  CRISIS 

OF

 AUTHORITY  Effects of “new” philosophy

 Existentialism

 self-actualization

 new spirituality

III. SETTLING OUR CENTER

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submissions. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Hebrews 5:7-0

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’” Matthew 6:9-10