Sermon Illustrations on God The Father

God the Father, in Luke 15

Luke 15:20

The father in the prodigal son parable models patience, love, and forgiveness for fathers.

In Luke 15 Christ related to the people one of the most poignant stories in all literature, that of the prodigal son. Nearly everyone can relate to one of the characters, the prodigal son, the elder brother, or the father. Each of the characters teaches important lessons for Christians to learn. In verses Luke 15:20-24 we learn some things about the father that Christian fathers need to imitate as they try to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He was patient-Although the son had been gone a long time (long enough for a famine to ravage the land), the father was still looking. He "saw him a great way off." His eyes never tired of looking for his wayward son. Fathers, how patient are you with your children when they falter on life's pathway? He was loving-When he saw his son coming, he ran to him. He could not wait for his son to come to him. He immediately hugged and kissed his son. The father did not even ask for an explanation of where he had been or what he had been doing. He did not give him a lecture on "you should have known better," or "I hope you have learned your lesson." Fathers, how loving are you toward your children when they make mistakes? He was forgiving-We know he was forgiving because his actions demonstrated it. So anxious was he to forgive his son that he did not let him finish his plea. (In Luke 15:18-19 the son plans to ask his father to make him a servant. But the father cuts him off before he gets that far, Luke 15:21-22). The father restored his wayward son to his original place and treated him with the highest honor. Fathers, how forgiving are you of your children when they do wrong? He had his priorities in the right place-The most important thing was not that his son had sinned, not that he had taken advantage of his father, not that he had caused his father untold grief; the most important thing was that his son was alive and had come home. The Relationship We Really Need A little boy sat frustrated and near tears. He was trying to build a toy wagon, but he just could not get the wheels to go on. His dad came along, took the wagon and the four wheels and, in no time at all, had it rolling smoothly along. The boy was grateful for the loving and helpful touch his father added to his life. Though he is no longer a child, he still remembers his father's help that day. It has been said that any man can be a father but that it takes a special kind of man to be a Dad! The ideal father does more than simply have a part in the procreation of the child, he helps to mold the child throughout his growing years through generous amounts of love, guidance, correction, forgiveness and praise. Fortunate are those who have had a father with whom they had such a personal relationship. Whether or not this has been the case for you, this much is for certain: we can all experience the ultimate father-child relationship when we experience God as our heavenly Father.

God Gave a Son

God's giving of His Son is likened to families sacrificing sons in war.

One time during World War II, a mother and her small son were walking down a street in the evening. The little boy noticed the little flags in the windows with stars on them and asked what they were. His mother explained that the people in those homes had given a son in the war. He saw two and even three in some windows. He suddenly noticed the first evening star and said, "Mommy, God must have given a son, too."

God: Father When God Is Our Father

Knowing God as Father removes all fear and brings peace to the heart.

A missionary was teaching a Hindu woman the Lord's Prayer. When he got to the end of the first clause, "Our Father which art in heaven," she stopped him. "If God is our Father," she said, "that is enough. There is nothing now to fear." All questioning about God ceases when He becomes our Father.

Father Is There

A child’s trust in his earthly father reflects our trust in God’s constant presence.

Many years ago a little boy lay on his small bed, having just retired for the night. Before going to sleep, he moved in the direction of the large bed on which his father lay, and said, "Father, are you there?" "Yes, my son," was the answer. The little boy turned over and went to sleep, without a thought of harm. Tonight the little boy is an old man of seventy, and every night before going to sleep, he looks up into the face of the heavenly Father, and says, "Father, are you there?" And the answer comes back, clear and strong, "Yes, my son."

Seeing and Believing

Experiencing God’s love personally reveals His tender care and presence to us.

A blind girl, whose eyes had been opened by a surgical operation, delighted in the sight of her father who had a noble appearance and presence. His every look and motion were watched by his daughter with the keenest delight. For the first time his constant tenderness and care seemed real to her. If he caressed her or even looked upon her kindly, it brought tears of gladness to her eyes. "To think," she said, holding his hand closely in her own, "that I have had you for a father all these years, and never really knew you.

God, Attractive Presentation of

A dying child longs to go to the God of George Whitefield, showing God's attractiveness.

A little child was taken by her father to see and hear the famous George Whitefield. A deep impression was made upon her heart. She was taken ill the next day, and, when she was dying, said, "Let me go to Mr. Whitefield's God!"

God, a Father

God is revealed as a loving Father who cares, protects, and provides for His children.

Christ revealed God as a Father. In his first and last words, Christ calls him "Father." As a Father, God thinks of us, loves us, works for us, cares for us, protects us, provides for us in the future. "Father" is the most endearing appellation in which he is made known unto us. "I should have been a French atheist," said Randolph, "had it not been for one recollection; and that was when my departed mother used to take my little hands in hers, and cause me on my knees to say, 'Our Father which art in heaven.'" "This little word 'Father,' says Gurnall, "lished by faith in prayer, by a real Christian, exceeds the eloquence of Demosthenes, Cicero, and all the famous speakers in the world." "I never fear," said a little child, "when my Father is with me."

GOD—Acting as a Father

God's fatherly care includes concern for even the smallest troubles of His children.

A king is sitting with his council deliberating on high affairs of state involving the destiny of nations, when suddenly he hears the sorrowful cry of his little child who has fallen down, or been frightened by a wasp; he rises and runs to his relief, assuages his sorrows and relieves his fears. Is there anything unkingly here? Is it not most natural? Does it not even elevate the monarch in your esteem? Why then do we think it dishonourable to the King of kings, our heavenly Father, to consider the small matters of his children? It is infinitely condescending, but is it not also superlatively natural that being a Father he should act as such?

God

God is the first person; we come last, emphasizing His primacy and our humility.

“=God Claims Me=”--See CLAIM, GOD’S.

GOD FIRST

Here is a lesson on pronouns in Christian grammar according to the Bishop of Cambridge:

We have learned to say, “First person, I; second, thou; third, he.” But to put it right, we must turn it upside down: “First person, He; second, thou; third, I.” “He,” means God, the first person in the first place; “thou,” my fellow man; and “I,” myself, comes last.

Hallowed Be Thy Name

John 3:35

God the Father doesn't get much respect any more. Evangelicals focus on the Son, Pentecostals on the Spirit, Catholics on Mary and liberals erase maleness everywhere. Jesus taught about his Father but the New Testament is largely written from the Son's perspective. Most religious figures (Abraham, etc.) were not good fathers. "Few theologians these days seem to want a God who takes charge, assumes responsibility, fights for his children, makes demands, risks rebuffs, punishes as well as forgives. In a word, a Father."

Do You Know Your Father?

How much of your image of God is built around your dad - for better or worse? Take a look at this true picture of our heavenly Father.

Father Is Most Significant Name For God In the Bible

The eternal Fatherhood of God should be a balm to Christians who have a negative relationship with their earthly father, said Mary Kassian, popular women's author. Kassian is a critic of the feminist movement within the church and has written several books outlining the danger of feminist theology. She has a reputation as a defender of the biblical view of manhood and womanhood.

Young people are part of a largely "fatherless generation," Kassian said, and the inability of men to perform the duties of fatherhood have contributed to the contemporary attacks on the image of God as Father -- a view that some see as patriarchal and demeaning.

While relationships with earthly fathers are important to the identity of both men and women, Kassian said, poor outcomes of those relationships do not diminish the perfection of God.

"It's astonishing that the God of the universe would have us call him Father," she said. "Father is not an abstract term. Father indicates a personal being."

God the Father functions as a standard-bearer and a point of stability. But he is also a comforter. Father, Kassian said, is the most significant name of God in the Bible.

"Father is the Christian name for God," she said. "God is not merely like a Father; he is Father. We glean out meaning of fatherhood from him."

The relationship of God as Father was most perfectly realized and reflected in the life of Jesus Christ, who constantly referred to God as Father and made it his specific mission to share that relationship with others -- a mission that culminated in his death on the cross to make a personal relationship with God the Father possible for sinful humans.

"Jesus' relationship with God demonstrates the power and love of God," Kassian said. "When Jesus was on earth, his whole message was this: Come and meet my dad. Through me, he can be your dad, too."

To that end, God has put a "Father-longing" into the heart of each person, Kassian said. That longing takes the form of a need for security, comfort, support and love. Unfortunately, that feeling is only a dream for many because their earthly fathers have marred the relationship.

"When we become Christians, that dream becomes reality," she said. "Your heart longing will only be satisfied in loving relationship with him."

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Mary Kassian is the president of Alabaster Flask Ministries in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #4619]

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Meet Your New Father

John 1:12

Who is God? And who is God for me? There are many ways, many theologies, many systems-of-words which have tried to answer these, the most important questions humans have ever asked.

Some of these theologies concentrate on God’s essence (who he is); others on his activity (what he does); others still on his relationship with his human creatures (who he is for us). All fail to capture adequately the grandeur, the creativity, and the love of the God who has revealed himself in history to his people, through the Scriptures, in nature, in our consciences, in the events of the world, in our own lives, but ultimately in the life of Jesus Christ. Here we will simply look at three attributes of God: his greatness, his goodness, and his generosity.

1. God is great. All of the Christian saints affirm, with so many of the Psalmists, ‘Great is the Lord’. He is the sovereign ruler of the universe. All power and authority belong to him. He is not a passive spectator.

He is great in his ‘being’, beyond our comprehension or definition (any definition claiming to be adequate would be an idol of the mind).

He is great in wisdom. He is the one unto whom ‘all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden’.

So our prayer to him must begin with worship, with adoration. Some of the great hymns can help us: ‘Great God of wonders...’; ‘Jesus thou joy of loving hearts...’.

As one person lay dying of cancer he wrote: ‘All too often our faith is earth-bound and we find it hard to believe that God can do anything that our minds cannot explain. It is only as we spend time worshipping God, concentrating on the nature of his person, especially his greatness and his love, that our faith begins to rise’. (David Watson, Fear No Evil, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1984, p.59).

So adoration and worship are therapeutic!

But we must add an important footnote here. The God who is incarnated in Jesus is the kind of God who, when he wants to show himself in our world, does so in weakness and poverty.

2. God is good. He is ‘for us’. When we call on him in the day of trouble, he will care for us (Psalm 50:15). As we read the biblical drama we find that he either delivers us from trouble, or in trouble. He is always there for us. He will never leave us or forsake us.

However, we are not to treat God as a lawyer or doctor, only going to him when we’ve got a problem. Some of us want our adolescent independence too soon! God is our father, and like little children we ought to learn to enjoy our father’s company in all the events of our lives. When a little girl said ‘God’s my best friend!’ she was uttering something that is at the heart of true spirituality.

He should become everything to us (‘What could be greedier’, remarks St. Augustine, ‘than a person for whom God is not enough?’) and everything we do should be done for his glory. We should want him to accomplish in our lives ‘all things according to the counsel of his will’ (Ephesians 1:11). When we really believe God is good it is easier to pray ‘not my will but yours... ‘

3. God delights to give gifts. There are thirty texts in the New Testament describing prayer as asking. Our Father delights to give gifts to us. Indeed, he is the ‘God of surprises’, who delights to give before we ask. Christian thought calls this aspect of God’s character ‘prevenient grace’ (Grace – God’s giving freely out of his love for us; prevenient – from the Latin ‘to go before’). We will notice these gifts all the time if we have developed the habit of living gratefully. True lovers think in terms of giving gifts to one another.

In a very real sense, of course, God’s best gift to us is himself. Our response? As the great commandment puts it, we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. This is not the same as ‘getting religion’ – even the Christian religion; it is actively seeking and loving God himself.

Brother Lawrence was a lame, clumsy man who went to a monastery to atone somehow for his disabilities. He was put to work washing floors and kitchen pots and pans. In the midst of all this he ‘practised the presence of God.’ When he was dying his friends asked what he was thinking about. He replied, ‘I am doing what I shall do through all eternity – blessing God, praising God, adoring God, giving him the love of my whole heart.’

Charity, says the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, ‘is nought else but love of God for himself above all creatures.’

I love you, Lord,

not doubtingly but with absolute certainty.

Your Word beat upon my heart

until I fell in love with you

and now the universe

and everything in it

tells me to love you... (Augustine).

...

The Masai called their god Engai. Well, that is no more strange- sounding than our gods. The god invoked by the pope to bless the troops of Mussolini about to embark on the plunder of Ethiopia, and the god invoked by an American cardinal to bless the ‘soldiers of Christ’ in Vietnam, and the god of French glory, and the German god of Hitler were no more the High God of Scripture than is ‘Diana of the Ephesians’ or Engai of the Masai of Eastern Africa. [Vincent J Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered, London, SCM, 1985, p.46.]

I have always been ‘surprised’ by life.

And as I believe that God is life, just as he is light and love, I have come to the conclusion that it is God himself who has ‘surprised’ me on my journey.

God is surprise. God is novelty. God is creativity...

I don’t know how it happened to you, but I know how it happened to me.

God arrived in my heart like a huge parable. Everything around me spoke to me of him.

The sky spoke to me of him,

the earth spoke to me of him,

the sea spoke to me of him.

He was like a secret hidden in all things,

visible and invisible.

He was like the solution to all problems.

He was like the most important person who had ever entered my

life and with whom I should have lived for ever...

The Good News is this: that God is God, that God is the God of the Impossible, he is the God who can make Sarah’s barren womb fruitful and separate the waters of the Red Sea.

He is a living God.

He is a God who guides.

He is a God who raises from the dead.

He is an Eternal God.

He is a God who wants me in his Kingdom for ever.

[Carlo Carretto, The Desert in the City, London, Fount Paperbacks, 1983, pp. 9, 25-26, 58.]

Something in us wants to insist on having [both] – God and health, God and riches, God and honour, God and long life... But God is so infinitely much more than these other things that in the end the ‘and’ bit does not add anything. All that is good and that belongs to our eternal joy is included in God, for God is all in all. [Margaret Hebblethwaite, Finding God in All Things, London, Fountain Paperbacks, 1987, p.39]

Perceiving, as other mortals have not perceived, the burning love of God, the saint gives God love for love. He cannot help it. Certainly, it is not the fruit of labour. Having seen the love of God, his own love leaps in response. His heart is drawn out of him and lost in God’s immensity.

No mortal can love as God loves, but the saint loves with all that there is of him... It is by love that the saint becomes free – free of that awful self-centredness which is the mark of most mortals... It is by love that we come to freedom, and there is no other way.

[W.E. Sangster, The Pure in Heart, Epworth, 1954, pp. 242-243.]

He had always been governed by love, without selfish views; and having resolved to make the love of God the end of all his actions, he had found reasons to be well satisfied with his method. He was pleased when he could take up a straw from the ground for the love of God, seeking him only, and nothing else, not even his gifts...

‘I did not engage in a religious life but for the love of God, and I have endeavoured to act only for him; whatever becomes of me, whether I be lost or saved, I will always continue to act purely for the love of God. I shall have this good at least, that till death I shall have done all that is in me to love him.’

[Brother Lawrence, THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD: THE BEST RULE OF A HOLY LIFE, BEING CONVERSATIONS AND LETTERS OF BROTHER LAWRENCE, Epworth, nd., pp. 6-7.]

O God, I love thee, I love thee -

Not out of hope of heaven for me

Not fearing not to love and be

In the everlasting burning.

Thou, thou, my Jesus, after me

Didst reach thine arms out dying,

For my sake sufferedst nails and lance,

Mocked and marred countenance,

Sorrows passing number,

Sweat and care and cumber,

Yea and death, and this for me,

And thou couldst see me sinning:

Then I, why should not I love thee,

Jesus, so much in love with me?

Not for heaven’s sake; not to be

Out of hell by loving thee;

Not for any gains I see;

But just the way that thou didst me

I do love and I will love thee:

What must I love thee, Lord, for then?

For being my king and God. Amen.

[Translated from the Latin by Gerard Manley Hopkins]

[A fearful person said ‘I fear lest I should be cast into hell.’ Another anxious person said ‘I dread lest I should be deprived of the joy of heaven... ] A third was very happy and contented. [He was asked] ‘What is the secret of your joy and peace?’ He said, ‘My constant prayer to God is that he may grant me to love him with heart and soul, and may serve and worship him by love alone. Should I worship him from fear of hell, may I be cast into it. Should I serve him from desire of gaining heaven, may he keep me out. But should I worship him from love alone, may he reveal himself to me, that my whole heart may be filled with his love and presence.’

[Sadhu Sundar Singh, The Spiritual Life, Christian Literature Society, 1926/1986, pp. 13-14. Sadhu Sundar Singh, The Spiritual Life]

‘... When thoughts come, welcome them, and when they do not flow freely simply rest back and love, and grant Me the shared joy of being loved by you. For I, too, by my very nature, am hungry with an insatiable hunger for the love of all of you, just as your love reaches out at your highest moments to all the people about you. So child, I, even I, God, whom people have foolishly feared and flattered for my gifts, I want love and friendship more than I want grovelling subjects. So while we love each other, child, My share is as keen as yours.’

[Frank Laubach, Letters by a Modern Mystic Frank Laubach, Letters by a Modern Mystic, Lutterworth, 1957, p.30.]

Thou knowest not what, saving that thou feelest in thy will a naked intent unto God... this darkness and this cloud... hindereth thee, so that thou mayest neither see him clearly by light of understanding in thy reason, nor feel him in sweetness of love in thy affection. And therefore shape thee to bide in this darkness as long as thou mayest, evermore crying after him whom thou lovest. For if ever thou shalt see him or feel him as it may be here, it must always be in this cloud and in this darkness... Smite upon that thick cloud of unknowing with a sharp dart of longing love.

[The Cloud of Unknowing: The Cloud of Unknowing, quoted in Michael Cox, Handbook of Christian Spirituality, Harper & Row, 1985, p.139.]

When the next step comes, you do not take the step, you do not know the transition, you do not fall into anything. You do not go anywhere, and so you do not know the way by which you got there or the way by which you come back afterward. You are certainly not lost. You do not fly. There is no space, or there is all space: it makes no difference.

The next step is not a step... And here all adjectives fall to pieces. Words become stupid. Everything you say is misleading – unless you list every possible experience and say: ‘That is not what it is.’ ‘That is not what I am talking about.’

What it is is freedom. It is perfect love. It is pure renunciation. It is the fruition of God... It is freedom living and circulating in God, who is Freedom. It is love loving in Love. It is the purity of God rejoicing in his own liberty.

[Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation: Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, New Directions Books, 1961, pp. 282-284.]

To the few who are converted, goodness is pleasant, and needs no sanctions. It needs no authority, for it has been verified by experience. But when people have to be coerced into goodness it is plain that they do not care for it.

[Walter Lippmann: Walter Lippmann, ‘A Preface to Morals’, Time, 1964, p.188.]

The gravest question any of us face is whether we do or do not love the Lord... Our Lord told his disciples that love and obedience were organically united, that the keeping of his sayings would prove that we loved him, and the failure or refusal to keep them would prove that we did not. This is the true test of love... Not sweet emotions, not willingness to sacrifice, not zeal, but obedience to the commandments of Christ. Love for Christ is a love of willing as well as a love of feeling...

If we would turn from fine-spun theological speculations about grace and faith, and humbly read the New Testament with a mind to obey what we see there, we would easily find ourselves, and know for certain the answer to the question that troubled our fathers and should trouble us: Do we love the Lord or no?

[A.W. Tozer, ‘Love’s Final Test’, The Life of Faith, October 20, 1960.]

‘Marvelously close, God, help me to keep thinking of You all day today, as love crowding gently as the ether, watm as the sunlight, into every nook and cranny of my thoughts, words, looks, acts – love pressing in, and oozing out, floating like perfume out to others.

O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in Thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,

That in thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.’

‘My child, this makes Me happy. Now let love flow out to My world of needy people all about you. Despise not one of the least. Do not see colour or clothes, just souls and My children. Do not hear titles or languages, just hear Me speak through them. I call from behind every eye, I float upon every wave of speech and song and sigh. See Me in people, for I seek to make them grow in Christlike love.’

[Frank Laubach, Learning the Vocabulary of God: A Spiritual Diary, Lutterworth, 1956, pp. 59-60.]

In Graham Greene’s novel, The Heart of the Matter, Scobie is torn between love for his wife and his mistress, and decides to commit suicide. Sitting in his car he holds a very moving conversation with God, acknowledging that he is guilty before God and that he can no longer face the altar. ‘You’ll be better off when you lose me once and for all. You’ll be at peace when I’m out of your reach,’ he tells God.

God replies... ‘You say you love me, yet you’ll do this to Me – rob Me of you for ever. I made you with love. I’ve wept your tears... and now you push me away, put me out of your reach. I am as humble as any other beggar. Can’t you trust me as you’d trust a faithful dog? I’ve been faithful to you for 2000 years... Can’t you trust me to see that the suffering isn’t too great?’

[Ivor Bailey, ‘Live and Let Love’, a sermon preached from Maughan Church, Adelaide, July 9, 1972. ... ]

I no longer want to build empires,

to ascend thrones,

or to be number one in my little kingdom.

I want to love you,

and to respond to your love for me

by communicating such love to others.

This is what I want, O Lord,

but you know my soft spots, my hang-ups.

May the victory be yours today, O Lord.

In Jesus’ name. Amen

[Leslie F. Brandt, A Book of Christian Prayer: Leslie F. Brandt, A Book of Christian Prayer, Kingsway, 1978 p.10. ]

O merciful God, grant that I may always do your will perfectly in all things.

May it be my wish to work only for your honour and glory.

May I rejoice in nothing except what leads to you.

May I wish nothing that leads away from you.

May all passing things be as nothing in my eyes.

May all that is yours be dear to me and may you, my God, be dear to me above all things.

May I wish for nothing apart from you.

May all joys have no importance for me apart from you.

May all effort and work delight me when it is for you.

[Thomas Aquinas, cited in Praying with the Saints Dublin, Veritas Publications, 1989, p.65.]

No soul can have rest until it finds created things are empty. When the soul gives up all for love, so that it can have him that is all, then it finds true rest.

For he is endless and has made us for his own self only, and has restored us by his blessed Passion, and keeps us in his blessed love. And he does all this through his goodness.

God of goodness give me yourself, for you are enough for me and I may ask nothing that is less, that may be full worship to you. And if I ask anything that is less, I am always wanting – but only in you I have all.

[Julian of Norwich, Showings, Chapter 5. cited in Margaret Hebblethwaite, Finding God in All Things, London, Fountain Paperbacks, 1987, p.48]

O you Omnipotent goodness, you care for us all as if each of us were your only concern, and you look after each of us as if we were all one person...!

Eternal truth, truth of love, love of eternity! That’s what you are, my God, and that’s why day and night you form the breath of my being. When I first knew you, you lifted me up and I realised there was something to see, but I wasn’t quite capable of seeing it. My vision was too weak to stand the radiance of your glory, and I trembled with a combination of love and dread. I seemed to be a long way from you, in a far country, listening to your voice as it spoke to me from above, ‘I am the real food. Grow up and feed on me. But you will never change me into yourself as your digestion changes its food; rather you will be changed into my likeness’.

[Sherwood E Wirt, The Confessions of Augustine in Modern English Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1977, pp.46, 95-96.]

Lord, I am your child. In some mysterious sense, my Father, you are hungry for my love. Your love is mediated through words and the Word, through sunsets and rain and the whispering trees, soft shadows on the water. I was created for friendship with you, my Creator. I was redeemed for friendship with you, my Saviour. I am cared for for friendship with you, my ever-present Friend. Lord it’s not a self-improvement course I want, but you.

We taste thee, O thou living Bread,

And long to feast upon thee still.

We drink of thee the fountainhead,

And thirst our souls from thee to fill.

I have tasted a little of your goodness, Lord, and it has both satisfied me and made me hunger for more. My desire is to desire you more. Give me a gift of love – for you and for others. And to journey towards the final self- forgetfulness – to be absorbed into you forever.

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Ah Lord GOD! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. — Jeremiah 32:17

You know no God but me,

and besides me there is no saviour.

I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. — Isaiah 44:6

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory. — Isaiah 6:3

He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. — 1 Timothy 6:16

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. — James 1:17

The beloved of the LORD rests in safety. — Deuteronomy 33:12

Happy are you, O Israel!

Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD,

the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph! — Deuteronomy 33:29

I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love.

I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks.

I bent down to them and fed them. — Hosea 11:4

It is I who answer and look after you.

I am like an evergreen cypress;

your faithfulness comes from me. — Hosea 14:8

The LORD, your God, is in your midst...

he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing. — Zephaniah 3:17

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them. — 1 John 4:16

Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy. — 1 Peter 1:8

Love the Lord, all you his saints.

The Lord preserves the faithful,

but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily

Be strong, and let your heart take courage,

all you who wait for the Lord. — Psalm 31:23–24

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. — John 1:12-13

Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone. Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! — Matthew 7:7-11

And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:19

He will feed his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms,

and carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead the mother sheep. — Isaiah 40:11

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. ... For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Romans 8:14-17, 38-39

May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. — 2 Thessalonians 3:5

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A Benediction: Keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life. May God’s grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love. Benediction: Jude 21, Ephesians 6:24 (both GNB).

Baptist Faith and Message Article 2a: God the Father

John 1:1

It almost seems too obvious to say that at the heart and center of Christian faith and practice is the great and glorious Triune God of Scripture. But sadly, I am afraid, we too often forget this "obvious" fact.

Living in a secular and pluralistic age has had more of an impact on us than we would like to believe. As David Wells has reminded us in his important work, No Place for Truth, what a secular and postmodern age often does to "God" is not to eliminate him, but rather to relocate him from the center of our lives to that which is periphery and inconsequential. Unfortunately, as Wells also demonstrates, this effect of living in a secular age is often true of the church as well.

But as Article 2 of the Baptist Faith and Message reminds us, this is something the God of the Bible will not allow. For when we turn to Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, we are presented with "the only one living and true God," our Creator and Lord.

On every page, the God of majesty and glory confronts us as the one who will have no rivals, and as such, he rightly demands and deserves our "highest love, reverence and obedience."

In this context, what a privilege it is to confess and affirm Article 2a of the BF&M -- "God the Father." For as the statement reminds us, the God of Scripture is a Triune God -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- who may be distinguished by their personal properties.

But it is also a beautiful reminder that because of God's gracious work of redemption in Christ, we may now "become children of God" and have the supreme joy of calling God our Father.

Think of it! We who were ruined by the Fall and we who rightly stood under God's just condemnation are now, by grace "through faith in Jesus Christ," able to address God as Father.

Of course, this incredible truth must be understood and appreciated within the context of a biblical understanding of God the Father. For if we make him less than he truly is and if we attempt to domesticate him in such a way that his authority, sovereign rule, knowledge and holiness are not what Scripture says they are, then I dare say that the truth that we are "children of God through faith in Jesus Christ" will ring hollow with us.

But if we keep before us the glorious God of Scripture, then the thought of being his children will move us today as it moved the Apostle John of old -- "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are" (1 John 3:1a).

But it must be quickly added that this great privilege of knowing God as our Father is only found "through faith in Jesus Christ."

The BF&M correctly notes that God, as providential Lord, is "fatherly in his attitude toward all men" (Matthew 5:43-48; Acts 14:15-17; Romans 2:1-4). For in God's work of providence, he sustains and keeps the world that he has made, sending both rain and sunshine alike upon believer and unbeliever.

However, the great privilege of adoption is reserved only for those who have been joined to Jesus Christ by faith. Galatians 4:1-7 is very clear about this. For it is only when God the Son comes into the world and redeems us by his substitutionary work that we receive the blessing of adoption into the family of God as full sons and daughters of the King. On any other basis, there is no adoption into the family of God.

How should we live in light of this biblical teaching? I think there should be at least two responses. First, we need to recommit ourselves to knowing our great God and making him central in all of our thought and life. Our God deserves and demands nothing less. Second, we need to recommit ourselves to the faithful proclamation of the gospel, for it is only in Christ alone that people come to know God as Father.

What a privilege as well as an awesome task. May the Lord find us faithful in both.

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Wellum is assistant professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

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Article 2: God

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

A. God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.

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The Father Who Runs

Luke 15:20

The massive Rembrandt measures over eight and a half feet tall and six and a half feet wide, compelling viewers with a larger than life scene. THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON hangs on the walls of the St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum depicting Christian mercy, according to one curator, as if it were Rembrandt’s last “spiritual testament to the world.” Fittingly, it is one of the last paintings the artist ever completed and remains one of his most loved works.

The painting depicts the reunion of the wayward son and the waiting father as told in the Gospel of Luke. The elderly father is shown leaning in an embrace of his kneeling son in ragged shoes and torn clothes. With his back toward us, the son faces the father, his head bowed in regret. Clearly, it is the father Rembrandt wants us most to see. The aged man reaches out with both hands, his eyes on the son, his entire body inclining toward him.

It is understandable that viewers have spent hours looking at this solemn reflection of mercy and homecoming. The artist slows our restless minds to a scene where the parable’s characters are powerfully at rest. The kneeling son leans silently toward the father; the father calmly and tenderly leans toward the son. But in fact, this is far from the scene Jesus portrays in the parable itself.

The parable of the prodigal son is far from restful, and the father within it is anything but calm in his embrace of the wayward son. Jesus tells us that while the son was “still a long way off,” the father saw him and “was filled with compassion for him” (Luke 15:20). Literally, this father was moved by his compassion. The Greek word conveys an inward movement of concern and mercy, but this man was also clearly moved outwardly. The text is full of dramatic action. The father runs to the son, embraces him (literally, “falls upon his neck”), and kisses him. Unlike the depiction of Rembrandt, Jesus describes a scene far more abrupt and shocking. It is not the son who we find kneeling in this picture, but the father. The characters are not at rest but in radical motion. The father who runs to his wayward son runs without any assurance of repentance; he runs without any promise that the son is even home to stay.

There is a line in Jewish tradition that would likely have entered the minds of the first hearers of this parable. According to ancient thought, the manner of a man’s walk “shows what he is.”(1) Dignified men in this ancient culture simply did not run. In order to do so, long robes would have had to be lifted up, exposing the legs, which was inherently shameful. And yet, this father runs to the son who blatantly disrespected him, and hurriedly embraces the one who once disowned him. This man’s “walk” shows a substance that is nothing less than staggering. All measures of decorum, all levels of expectation are simply shattered by this father’s love. It would no doubt have been a disruptive picture for the audience who first heard the parable; it remains a disruptive picture today.

The portrait Jesus offers of our Father in heaven is one of action and immediacy. The image of any father running to meet the child who had made a mess of her life is compelling. But that it was so outlandish in this ancient context makes this depiction of his love all the more stirring. It brings to the forefront an image of God as one who is willing to embrace shame on our account. It brings to mind the image of a Son who endured the cross, scorning its shame, that we would not grow weary and lose heart.

God is moving toward us with a walk that thoroughly counters any thought of a distant and absent Father and boldly confronts any move away from Him. In his radical approach of our hearts, the Father reveals who He is. However far we wander, the God who laments even one lost soul is waiting and ready for our return. More than this, He is the Father who runs to close the distance.

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1. Arland Hultgren, THE PARABLES OF JESUS (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2000), 78.

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Their Father Joined Them In Prison

Ezra 8:31

Jeris Bragan knows firsthand that prison is a dreadful place to be – he was sentenced to life in a Tennessee prison for first-degree murder (later overturned). Prison is especially hard for young men who are small in physical stature. They’re easily victimized by the predatory bullies who roam every prison like a pack of wild animals in search of fresh prey.

Bragan was surprised one day when he saw two young brothers, both small in stature, fearlessly walking the prison yard. When he asked another prisoner why nobody ever bothered them, the man laughed: “Have you ever seen their father?”

Their father was a tough mountain man from East Tennessee who intentionally got himself arrested and sent to prison so he could look after his sons. He didn’t baby them; he expected them to conduct themselves like men. But he also let it be known that anybody who attacked his sons would have to deal with him -- “up close and personal!”

After three years, the father was paroled and left his sons behind. But they were safe: Nobody doubted the father would come back -– in a hurry! -– if his sons needed him.

The remarkable, self-sacrificing father reminds Bragan of God. We’re all “prisoners,” trapped in a world of powerful, threatening opponents. But in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God the Father has joined us in our “prison” to help us fight and defeat those opponents.

What Is God Like?

In the popular Christian novel “The Shack,” God the Father presents himself to a suffering man in the form of a kindly black woman named “Papa.” When the man seems befuddled about this, God responds:

“The problem is that many folks try to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the best version of themselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness that they can perceive, which often isn’t much, and then call that ‘God’. And while it seems like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I really am. I’m not merely the best version of you that you can think of, I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think”