The tale of two Dad's
Summer Stories • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 viewsAdvice my dad gave me. This series is a all about lessons we learned when we were kids, that we might’ve forgotten as adults. You’ll revisit classic Sunday School Bible stories and lessons, which is great for those nostalgic summer months.
Notes
Transcript
We can choose our friends, but we do not choose our parents.
Some of us hit the lottery when it came to our Dad’s. Especially those of you that were raised in a God honoring and God fearing home. Some of us hit bankruptcy in the Dad category. And some of us fall somewhere in between the two.
Trusting and seeing God as Father is a stumbling block for some people because they did not have the ideal earthly father figure or example. So they superimpose that on God. Or look through the broken lens unhealthy fathers leave us with.
'What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.' - A.W. Tozer
We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God. - A.W. Tozer
How about God as father?
Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah 700 years before Jesus was born.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Everlasting Father
Everlasting Father” does not suggest that the Son is also the Father, for each Person in the Godhead is distinct. “Father of Eternity” is a better translation. Among the Jews, the word “father” means “originator” or “source.” For example, Satan is the “father [originator] of lies” (John 8:44). If you want anything eternal, you must get it from Jesus; He is the “Father of eternity.”
Warren W. Wiersbe, Commentary
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
To know Him is to know God. This constant emphasis on Jesus as God incarnate is unmistakably clear in this Gospel.
What comes into your mind when you think about God as Father?
The 6 types of fathers: Louie Giglio’s book - Not Forsaken.
The ABSENT father / Not there physically or emotionally.
The ABUSIVE father / mentally, verbally and physically.
The PASSIVE father / Purposefully letting you get away with wrong doing / That is not love
The PERFORMANCE-BASED father / I will love you if you get good grades / make the team
The ANTAGONISTIC father / a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary. They don’t want you to succeed.
The EMPOWERING father / He loved you and you knew it.
The performance-based father.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
This is not from yourselves
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Demonstrates his own love for us / While we were still sinners
God loves you the way a good father should. You don’t have to do anything more for Him to love you more. He has chosen to love you.
The absent father.
8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
The antagonistic father
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Plans to prosper you / Plans to give you hope and a future.
The abusive father.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
not to harm you
I have had two step dad’s. One was physically abusive and the other verbally.
“Abusive fathers are a distortion of God’s design. But the twisted copy does not and cannot destroy the original.”
The passive father
5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Vs. 9. You will thank me for this later. Ah no I won’t. Then later when we become parents we are then doing the same thing with our children.
Do you see your heavenly father like a father that is disciplining you for your good?
C. S. Lewis, in “The Weight of Glory” wrote a rebuttal to A.W. Tozer’s “how we think of God”.
I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us. —C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory” (1941)
The empowering father
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
See what great love the Father has lavished on us
Lavished love, what is it? It is his Son, gashed on the cross for you and for me that have put our faith and trust in Jesus.
God help us see you as loving Father.
That we should be called the children of God
God if you are really that great of a father then show me.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2022), 18.4 million children under 18 years old, 1 in 4,
live without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home.
That’s enough children to fill Los Angeles four times over.
There is another kind of fatherlessness. A spiritual fatherlessness.
4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the Lord. 5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
Vs. 5: A father to the fatherless / Vs. 6: God sets the lonely in families
No one has to live fatherless.
15 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 you received / Adoption to sonship / And by him we cry “Abba Father”
I know I have a father. The spirit inside of me testifies “Abba Father”
Has that ever happened to you? Have you ask Jesus to come into your life as your Lord and Saviour and receive his Holy Spirit?
“Abba” means “papa”—a term of endearment
Receive / return to Christ - When a little child reaches up with hands lifted high. What are they saying to you? I want you to pick me up in your arms.