God: Father

Welcome! Today we continue our series “Sing and Tremble” on worship. For the past several weeks we have focused on the object of our worship, on God. The reason we worship God is because He is worthy of worship. Over the past several weeks we have looked at God as Creator, as Savior, and as Shepherd; this week we will explore the role and nature of God as Father. In the coming weeks we will shift our focus to some of the different ways we can worship God – but I just want to say that, obviously, we are only scratching the surface when it comes to exploring who God is and why He is worthy of worship. We could spend a lifetime talking about this – and I expect that, in Heaven, we will – God’s accomplishments, and even more, His character, His vary nature, is beyond our ability to grasp. We understand less about God than a two-year old knows about quantum physics. And it is in part because of this that our series isn’t just entitled “Sing,” but “Sing and Tremble.” The goodness and greatness of God, in the little glimpse of understanding that we have, should overwhelm us with a sense of awe.

I don’t know about you, but as I look back on my life I see a progression in understanding people, and almost invariably, people I once thought were “great” or “amazing” I have now come to see as just people. We all have both strengths and weaknesses. We all sin. At the end of the day we are all just human. I don’t say this as someone depressed by or even disappointed in humanity – we are all made in the image of God, and indeed, the more people I meet, the more I am impressed by how each person is unique, with unique gifts, unique perspectives, with complexities and intricacies that are amazing – each of us is a wondrously alive miraculous work of God, and I am speaking of our essence, our “who we are” rather than our bodies which are amazing in and of themselves. But still, we all fall short, we all fail to live up to what we might have been if we did not entangle ourselves with sin.    

But God is not like this. Whether you reflect on God as a whole, or on the various Persons of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, that is, Jesus, or God the Holy Spirit, the more you gaze, the more goodness and love and grandness and greatness you see. The more we come to know Him, the more we will love Him and want to worship Him, because that is who He is.

And so let us spend some time talking about God as Father. It has been an interesting study for me, as I feel like that when I became a Christian I had to overcome some baggage in my understanding to become really able to read the Bible and accept what it said without applying filters. I think because I grew up Jewish, my first filter was that the New Testament was entirely different than the Old, that in fact, they were describing completely different Gods. You may have heard something like this: the Old Testament God was angry, unforgiving, setting seemingly impossibly high standards, etc., whereas the God of the New Testament was all about grace, love, and forgiveness. This kind of thinking is dead wrong – God has not changed – He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but it is true that in Jesus Christ certain truths about God were brought out far more clearly, into the light, so to speak, than they were explained in the Old Testament. It is a New Testament, a new body of God-breathed words about who God is.

Some of this new revelation, this new perspective, new understanding, can be found in the very way that Jesus talked about God. Jesus knew God in an entirely different way than any people up to that time had known Him. Before Jesus was born, He was with God. He was with Him in the beginning. The mystery of three-in-one is beyond us, but one thing that stands out sharply when reading the gospels, something that had to shock Jesus’ listeners, was that again and again and again Jesus called God Father. Now there are verses in the Old Testament that use this terminology, but not all that often, and many are only by way of analogy rather than as a direct term. Here is an example:

“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be My treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. – Mal. 3:17

So yes, this is an encouraging verse because it says God’s people will be His treasured possession and that He will have compassion on them and spare them. But it says that He will do this as or like how a father would do the same for his son. It doesn’t come out and say that God’s people are His children. Do you see the difference? Here is another example:

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son he delights in. – Prov. 3:11-12

This verse might not seem quite as encouraging at first glance – none of us naturally like to be disciplined! But it really is an encouraging verse because it says He does this because He loves us with the love like that a father has towards his son. It even adds “the son he delights in.” This doesn’t quite come out and say that He delights in us, but the implication is there in the comparison. Certainly this verse tells us that just because we experience His discipline, we should not conclude from that that He doesn’t love us or even that He doesn’t delight in us.

Here is a third instance. It is more “direct” about God as Father than the others, but there is still some degree of comparison:

“I myself said, ‘How gladly would I treat you like My children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following Me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to Me,” declares the Lord. – Jer. 3:19-20

This is a profound verse. God says, “I thought you would call Me ‘Father.’” That was His expectation. God desired this! He was eager to treat them like His children. (There’s that comparison word again.) But they were unfaithful. They rejected Him as Father.

Here is a more direct reference to God as Father in the Old Testament.

This is what the Lord says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations.

Make your praises heard, and say, ‘Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son. – Jer. 31:7-9

Note that this is direct – I am Israel’s father; Ephraim is my firstborn son. But it is also future-looking. These phrases are used a few other times – but only a few – in the Old Testament.

I also want to highlight how this passage is a passage about worship. There is singing with joy, praising with a loud voice, shouting – but there is also weeping, praying. I think we can say this is a weeping with joy, but there is a bittersweet nature to it. These people needed saving, saving from the consequences of their own sins. They are glad God has brought them back, but it is bittersweet because they were gone. What does God the Father do in this passage? He leads them. I picture a dad leading a small child by holding his hand, and in this way, directing each of his steps.

So I am not saying that the Old Testament never refers to God as Father. But compare this with what Jesus does, for example, in Matthew. Let’s take the Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. – Matt. 5:9   

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. – Matt. 5:16b

Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. – Matt. 5:44b-45a

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Matt. 5:48

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. – Matt. 6:1

When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. – Matt. 6:3b-4

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. – Matt. 6:6a

Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. – Matt. 6:6b

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. – Matt. 6:7-8

“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. – Matt. 6:9-10

Jesus also calls God Father in Matthew 6:14, 6:15, 6:18 (twice), 6:26, 6:32, 7:11, and 7:21. And that’s just the Sermon on the Mount!

What a shock this had to be to Jesus’ listeners! There is so much going on in the Sermon on the Mount – Jesus’ teachings themselves were shocking enough – the idea that sin ran much deeper than they thought, that it was not only actions but also attitudes, that good actions should be anonymous, that they needed to forgive to fully experience forgiveness, and so much more – that it is easy for us to miss the fact that Jesus again and again and again called God Father. And note that He said “your Father” – it wasn’t that Jesus wasn’t just saying, “Let me tell you about My Dad.” He was saying, “Hey, this is your Dad! Let me tell you how to relate to Him, to your Dad!”

Now, just as in English, there are multiple words for father. Some words are more formal, whereas others are more, well, personal, more intimate. Dad is much more personal than Father in modern English. Some words are more typically used by younger people, such as Daddy. Then there’s Pop and Poppa but I’ve never quite figured these out because nobody I knew used them where I grew up (in California). I do know that in the Midwest they call both Cokes and male parents Pop. I’m not sure how they tell them apart.

In Hebrew there are also multiple words for father. In Hebrew the shorter word is more formal, rather than the longer word. Av can be translated father, but abba is better translated as Dad or Daddy. Little Hebrew babies learn abba and eema (Daddy and Mommy) very quickly. Now the Sermon on the Mount is in Greek in the gospels, but it probably was given in Aramaic or Hebrew. In the Greek the word used is Pater, which is at least somewhat formal. But three times in the New Testament the word Abba is used, and if Jesus’ listeners were shocked by the Sermon on the Mount (and I am sure they were), I cannot imagine what they were thinking when Jesus used Abba!

One occurrence of Abba is at the garden of Gethsemane, shortly before Jesus was arrested. Here is the passage:

“Abba, Father,” He said, “everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” – Mark 14:36

Wow! Here Jesus allows us to hear His quite intimate prayer to God about what was soon to come. He reminded Himself that His Dad could do anything. He then asked His Dad to make it so that He wouldn’t have to go to the cross. And then He told His Dad that, nevertheless, if this is what He (Dad) really wanted, He (Son) would completely and totally follow Dad’s instructions.  This of course was every bit as hard for the Father as it was for the Son. He (Dad) completely loved His Son and didn’t want His Son to have to go through this. Father and Son here were doing what God stopped Abraham from doing with Isaac. This sacrifice was only for God to make. And why did God (Dad) will this to happen? Because it was the only way to rescue the rest of His children, including you and me. Dad let His “natural” Son, a Son closer to a Father than any other – they had spent eternity together in unimaginable closeness and unity in the Trinity – Dad let Him die so that His other children, those who hated Him, who rejected Him, could be brought back, or more literally, bought back to Him.

Listen – if our Father was willing to do this, how do you think He wants us to relate to Him? At a distance, or with the intimacy of a family relationship, where He is “Daddy” to us? Absolutely the latter! Here is another verse that speaks of God as “Abba”:

What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are His sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”  So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are His child, God has made you also an heir. – Gal. 4:1-7

We are His children, fully adopted, fully treated like natural born sons. We are loved! And yes, it is hard to figure out how to relate to the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-mighty eternal God of the universe as Dad, but we are not alone in this. God has placed His Spirit into us to help us in this relationship. And the Spirit helps us to pray and to relate to God. And He does this by calling Him “Abba, Father.” He helps us to relate to Him as Daddy!

In American culture, once you cross the line by having more than three kids, there are people who raise an eyebrow at your family, who think you have too many children. Here in the South they are usually too polite to say anything, but it is there. And sometimes questions are asked, such as “How do you make sure each child gets to spend enough time with you?” And it is true, that the more children you have, it is necessary that there be less one-on-one parent-child time with each child. I don’t know how many people will be in Heaven, but let’s say 1 billion, just to have a round number. I don’t know what Heaven will be like, but somehow Dad will be able to spend time with all billion of us. Now yes, Heaven is eternity, but I am sure it won’t feel like we have to wait an eternity to spend time with Dad. We will be totally satisfied in Him and with Him.

I should comment here that many people have at best OK relationships with their earthly fathers. Many have no relationships with them. Many have never met them. Many, due to divorce and remarriage, have multiple fathers. For the many, many people  in these kinds of situations, it can be harder to relate to God as Father, because they very idea of fathers is associated with disappointment or pain. If this is your situation, I strongly encourage you to work at it! Relating to God as a “good, good Father” will bring healing into your life. Worship God as Father! Allow Him to be in your life what you wished you had growing up but didn’t. Ask Him to heal what has been broken in you. It may take time and persistent prayer, but I promise you that He will bring healing! Here is another verse about God as Father and as Abba:

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. – Rom. 8:14-17

This verse says many of the same things, in almost the same way, as the passage we just read from Galatians 4. But there is one important addition, and that is the last part of the last sentence. We are heirs “if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” Wait – what’s this about suffering?

Today is one of two consecutive Sundays that are known as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. I just finished reading a book called The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken. I cannot remember the last time a book moved me as deeply. I will be processing what I have read for quite some time. The book, and a movie of the same title that came out recently, goes into the life of the author who served as a missionary in relatively middle-class Africa before getting involved in some completely devastated areas affected both by civil war and drought, Muslim-dominated areas in which nearly everyone had died or was starving.

The author was completely overwhelmed by the experience – eventually he was able to help direct food and medicine donations by the UN and other aid organizations, but these organizations eventually moved on, the area became more dangerous, and after the sudden death of his own son to natural causes, Nik was essentially broken. He had huge questions about why God allowed these things to happen, about why he was unable to help in a significant way (other than delaying hunger and starvation for a small portion of the country for a while). He tells many heartbreaking stories. For example, there were a small number of Christian believers in the area where he was, and once, near the end of his time there, they secretly got together in the middle of the night to take communion together. This might have been the only group communion that country had seen for many years. Tragically, Muslim extremists tracked down the people of their country who went to that communion and shot them all at the same time a few days later (even though they were completely separated), killing them all.

After simply spending time grieving and beginning to heal with a local church in the US, Nik decided to explore how other Christian groups had managed to grow and even thrive despite persecution. He went to many closed-access countries and met with Christians living secretly, and the book emphasizes his experiences in the former Soviet countries as well as China. One thing he mentions is that people in these countries are amazed and so thankful when they hear that people around the world pray for them, so we will do this today at the end of our service.

But first I want to ask a hard question. If God is our good, good Father, why is there so much persecution around the world against Christians? Shouldn’t a good father protect his children?

It’s certainly not because God is too weak to protect us, or because He doesn’t know what is going on. Heaven forbid that we even think such things for a second! But this leaves us with the awkward conclusion that God knows and chooses to send His children into harm’s way. Can that be right? Well, listen to another passage from Matthew. The context is that He is sending His disciples out two-by-two to share the good news, the gospel, but it also seems to be intended for us, for all time, as some of the things that He talks about did not happen at the time He sent out the 70. Here is part of that passage:

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On My account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. – Matt. 10:16-20

Many who have experienced persecution can attest that Dad really did give them the words to say. This was not just something experienced in the Book of Acts; it probably happens every single day. Notice the first sentence – it is easy to gloss over this. “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” That doesn’t sound good, does it? I would rather He said, “I am sending you out like wolves among sheep.” Or at least “like wolves among wolves” so we had a fighting chance. But no, it is “like sheep among wolves.” He tells us to be shrewd, which can also be translated as careful – yes, sheep certainly need to be careful if they go out among wolves! And He tells us to be innocent. That doesn’t seem to help our chances much, does it?

I do want to remind you that He sent them out not just to live as quiet believers in their towns, minding their own business. He sent them out to tell people about the gospel. Although depending where you are in the world, you may or may not be persecuted for simply being a Christian, it is true that everywhere there is significant persecution in the world, you will be persecuted for telling others about Christ. But that is exactly what Jesus tells them (and us) to do! The Great Commission was not a new commandment to the disciples. It was a restatement, a reminder, of what they had already done and been taught. It was an absolutely non-optional part of following the Father. I believe this is just as true today. I’m not saying God won’t love or accept you if you don’t share your faith, but if we really love God, if we really want to follow Him, we will want to follow Him in this way in addition to the other things He asks of us.

So back to the hard question – why does God send us out as sheep among wolves? Why is so much persecution against believers allowed to happen?

First of all, God sends His beloved children into harm’s way for the same reason He sent Jesus into the world to die on the cross – to reach a lost world with the gospel, to cause many to turn from their lives of sin and rebellion to Christ, so that they accept the gift of salvation through faith.  God sends us throughout the world to proclaim the message so that as many as possible can be saved.

In a world with free will, people can respond to the gospel message freely. People’s love of their own sin and power as well as Satan’s work behind the scenes leads many people to respond very negatively to the gospel. Some see it as a threat to their power – this applies to individuals and it applies to entire nations – and for others it simply instills hatred because it reminds them of their own sin and rebellion. But I think there is more we can say. Let’s go back to the Romans 8 passage.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. – Rom. 8:14-17

Look at that last phrase. Sharing in His sufferings causes us to share in His glory. It reminds me of Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after Me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” In our land of minimal persecution, we tend to “spiritualize” this verse in the sense of making it only about resisting temptation. But I am sure it also (and maybe especially) applies to persecution, for under persecution, the greatest temptation is to stop reaching out to others and even to stop following Jesus altogether.

The church, the body of Christ, as a whole receives glory by the persecution it endures. This sounds harsh to us, maybe not worth it, but Paul in the very next verse says, “For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

What exactly is this glory? We don’t know, not yet. But I have an analogy. Unfortunately this is not true for all Americans, but most Americans deeply appreciate those who have served in the military, those who were willing to die to protect our country and our freedoms. Veterans are (and in my opinion, should be) personally honored year after year after year. A 90-year old is honored for his service 70 years ago. I am not claiming that the glory that results from suffering for one’s faith is exactly like this, or even remotely like this, but what I do know is that those who have gone through persecution for their faith will be honored for eternity.

So, fellow children of God, God is our wonderful Father! He loves us so much that He gave His “true” Son for us so that we could be adopted sons forever with Him! He desires to lead us as a good, good father, although that does not mean that He promises to shield us from all harm. Quite the contrary, He says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Does each one of us have to personally suffer? Is this God’s will? I believe the answer is “No.” Consider what Paul writes in Ephesians 3. He explains how in tremendous grace God had called him to share the gospel to the Gentiles, even though he considered himself “less than the least of all the Lord’s people.” He saw this as an incredible privilege, and then he wrote:

I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. – Eph. 3:13

Dare we say that those who suffer for their faith throughout the world do so not only for their glory but for ours? It certainly seems that way. I don’t know about you, but it motivates me very strongly to pray for our brothers and sisters who experience persecution. Paul writes what I think is an excellent beginning to any prayer for another. (I have changed the word “you” to “them.”)

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen [them] with power through His Spirit in [their] inner being, so that Christ may dwell in [their] hearts through faith. And I pray that [they], being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that [they] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. – Eph. 3:14-19

We are going to pray for the persecuted church now. I am going to ask you to kneel with me as we do so.  If you are physically unable to kneel, bow your heart with us as we lift our brothers and sisters in Christ up before the Lord.