God the Father

Baptist Faith and Message

God the Father

Article 2 A Reads this:

“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.”

Memory Verse: Matthew 6:26 – “Look at the birds of the sky: they do not sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?”

Psalm 103:13 – “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.”

God reveals Himself and wants us to know Him, and to relate to Him as Father. He wants us to know and grow in this relational image and truth. God demonstrates the true character of fatherhood in and through His Person.

He does not ask us to call Him “mother,” even though there are plenty of nurturing texts throughout the Bible that would draw you to mothering qualities. For example:

Isaiah 66:13 – As one who his mother comforts, so I will comfort you… Isaiah 49:15 – Can a woman forget her nursing child… even if these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Matthew 23:37 – How often how I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

Yet when we pray, we are to say, “Our Father who is in heaven… hallowed be your name…”

God has opened our eyes and hearts to a fatherly love, and fatherhood finds its meaning, purpose, and example in the Heavenly Father.

1. What is a father to look like? What is the father to be? Are we to only reflect the fathers and grandfathers that have gone before us? Do we look to God for the answers?

Providential Care

The Bible describes God’s love and care for His creation in terms of providence. Providence means that God provides for His own, giving us everything we need (Matthew 6:26). It means that God is intimately involved in His creation and with His creatures (Read Psalm 104).

How is God’s providence seen and or experienced?

1. God’s providence is seen in His care and protection. Look at the care of the world and the natural laws that are in place to care for and provide for His creatures. The location of sun and moon, water, food, supplies, bodies that adapt to environments, blood that clots, bodies that heal, gravity that holds us down.

Personally, God the Father provides work, ability, resources, defenses from enemies, protection from the evil one, grace to stand firm under tribulation or distress.

2. God’s providence is seen in His provision: The miraculous feeding of Elijah shows us the Fathers supernatural ability to provide for His servants. He knows where we are, when we are, and He knows our needs in those moments.

The Father really knows you and loves you with a true eternal Fatherly love.

My dad taught me, and it may just be an ingrained attribute form God inside of men… to provide, to want to provide, to be good providers for his family. We show love by providing, and we feel that it is our duty, our responsibility to make sure we all have our daily bread… and then some left over…

And Jesus lays out this picture in Matthew 6:25-34… as if to either make you repent, laugh, or both. “Consider the lilies… consider the flowers… Look at the birds… look at the grass… look around you… God feeds them. God takes care of them. God clothes them. Do you really think that He cares for them more than you. Are you not worth more than they?

Therefore, do not worry. Look to your Heavenly Father and trust Him.

3. Your Heavenly Father is all-powerful (omnipotent). His power is not restricted in any way. He is El Shaddai (God Almighty). He is the source of everything. He owns everything.

This may not be comfortable to you, unless you know Him as your Father, and you know Him as being good. But now, this is comforting. Now we have security and assurances in Him because we know Him.

We used to play the game: My daddy is the toughest, the strongest… My daddy can beat up your daddy. My daddy is the biggest, richest… and so on. That’s my daddy!

This is your Daddy, your Abba, Father.

4. God is all-knowing: When I was younger, dad would know what I was thinking, and he knew what I was going to do… How? Because dad could read me, and dad used to be me. With God it is different.

God knows all things – past, present, and future. Nothing is hidden from His sight, and He saw it before anything was. God does not learn; He does not need to learn. He is omniscient and His knowledge is perfect. He knows everything there is not know about you.

He knows the future perfectly and He knows your perfect decisions perfectly. He knows our minds better than we do. He knows our hearts better than we do.

Read Psalm 139:1-4 – Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; you are aware of my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know all about it, Lord.

And he still chooses to love, care and provide for you.

5. God the Father is all-loving: 1 John 4:8 – God is love. God is self-giving. God is compassionate and merciful. Human love is a reflection, and often times a poor reflection of the real love that God has and gives.

His love is consistent and constant. His love will never be manipulated or changed. His love will never fail. God’s love is our final security. It is pure, perfect, with no mixed motives, no hesitations, and no uncertainties.

God’s love is not conditional upon us. God chose to love us while we still hated Him. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God’s love is not sentimental or feelings. His love is active and giving… We see a costly love.

It costs God to make us His children. It costs God to forgive us and to love us without restraints. He made loving us possible through the work of Christ. Without Christ, He would not love us as His children, and we would not be able to love Him in a manner that is pleasing.

His wrath is upon the sinner until the Blood of Christ is applied… and then the Father’s love can be shed abroad in our hearts… Then He calls us His on… then His loved is poured out… then we can love Him without fear… then we can experience communion, and be part of the Holy Family.

God is truly the father only to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The children of God go and tell others about their Father until they to come into the family of God. Then they too can know and experience the relationship and blessing of our Heavenly Father.

1 John 3:1-3 – What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God… Everyone who has this hope purifies himself…

Psalm 86:15 – You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abundant in faithful love and truth.