The Father’s Relationship

Intro

Happy Father’s Day friends! Just like with Mother’s Day, I understand the emotions around this day for many of us. It brings many joy and peace and many grief and sorrow.

No matter how you feel about Father’s Day, I have good news. No matter where your father is or how you have been treated by him, there is Someone better.

You may be thinking, there is no way someone is better than my father! Oh how mistaken you are.

For you have a Father in heaven who loves you more dearly than anyone ever has or will. He has the capacity and ability to care for you far deeper than your earthly Father, and for each of us this morning, this is good news.

More than this, He is accessible. Some have Fathers who have passed on, some don’t have good relationships with their fathers, and as hard as that is, it is okay. Why? Because the Heavenly Father is the most accessible person you will ever meet. He is near. He is with you. He cares for you. And, Jesus gives us the best example of a relationship with the Father by accessing Him in the best way possible.

Look with me at Matthew 26:39 “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

Context

Let’s see the context very quickly.

Here, the night of Jesus’ eventual arrest, He comes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with the disciples.

The disciples fell asleep time and time again. They could not sacrifice the flesh for just a few moments.

But, let’s not focus on that. Let’s not focus on the arrest. Let’s not focus on the garden. Focus with me on the relationship that Jesus models with the Father. Here we see three aspects of His relationship with the Father that we are called to model.

Respect

Before Jesus utters a word, He falls on His face? Why?

Well, it is unlikely that He tripped on a vine and wound up on the ground. Rather, Jesus fell prostrate before the Father in total respect and awe of who He is and what He does. This is what we are called to do.

We are called to fall before the Lord of all with a total sense of awe and respect of who He is!

Do we realize with whom we are communicating when we pray?

We aren’t just talking to some guy on the street! We are talking to God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, to whom we cry “holy, holy, holy.”

This is the relationship we are called to have with Him, one of respect (and many other things that we will discuss).

Respect has become a dirty word in American society, we don’t want to respect our authority, especially our father figures!

But, once we realize that all things and relationships on earth are (sinful) copies of what resides in (sinless) heaven, then we will begin to understand.

Respect, too, isn’t driven by scare tactics! Father’s your children will never respect you if you don’t respect them and you try to drive them by fear.

You may say “well, why should I respect my kids?” Because God respects His children.

1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

God loves you. God respects you. So, your respect for God must be driven by His love for you and your love for Him, not out of some rule that you have heard.

Jesus falls on His face in respectful awe of the Father. You should too.

Personability

Once Christ fell on His face, prostrate before God Almighty, He simply cried out.

Wow! What an amazing thing we see Christ tap into, the personability of the Father.

He is able, willing, and striving to be a personal God with us. Yes, we respect the Father, but we can also cry out with our deepest and most painful burdens in life.

Jesus cries, “Father, if it be possible, let this [crucifixion, beating, separation from You] pass from me!”

What did Jesus do here? He cried out with deep emotions what His core desires were. Friends, it is okay when we do the same!

We get caught up on the wonderful next line “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” while skipping the fact that just prior to this, Christ asked for His desires to be fulfilled.

God wants to fill you with the desires of your heart … when they are in line with His beautiful will.

The more that we pray and see answered prayers, the more that we cry out our desires and see them fulfilled, the more that we will begin to see God’s will and pray for those things to come to pass.

Our relationship with God and our prayer life will be like a ten lane interstate that has merged into a one lane backroad. What once felt so far away now feels so close and accessible as your will merges with the Fathers and you take His on.

Hebrews 4:16 reminds us of this truth, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Isn’t this what Jesus did? He didn’t come with a shy spirit, but with a bold request! “Father, if there be any other way, let it be!” He trusted that His Father would be a personal God and would hear Him.

This is the relationship we are called to have with the Father. One where we live and know that our Father, though He be divine, loves us so dearly that we can boldly come before the throne of grace with our deepest and most earnest needs.

Do you trust that this morning? Do you trust that God has your best interests in mind and wants you to come to Him?

God is personal with His children.

Fathers, are you personal with your children? Do you allow them to come to you with their deepest and most earnest needs? Now, note I didn’t ask “do you say yes to every one of your children’s requests.” For, we will see that the Father did not say “yes” to Jesus’ request for His desires. But, He did say yes to “Thy will be done.”

We are called to model this behavior with our families. But, more than that we are called to have this relationship with God, our Abba Father.

Romans 8:15 “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”

Submission

Ultimately, we see Christ submit to the Father’s perfect will for His sake and our good. This is what it is all about, your relationship with the Father has to end with submission to His will.

For, if you trust God, then you will trust that His will, as painful as it may be, is better than yours. This is what Jesus did!

Walk through this with me. Jesus falls down in respect, cries out his deepest desire, but knows that the Father’s will is better — so He submits.

This is what we are called to model! A deep relationship with the Father through a deep prayer life where we ultimately submit to His perfect will for our lives and follow through with obedience.

You children will not submit to you if they don’t have respect for you. They won’t have respect for you if you do not share a deep and personal relationship with them. You have to lead this fathers. You cannot and should not put the burden on your children’s shoulders to form and keep alive that personal relationship.

And we see this modeled by God. God never leaves us, He forms and sustains that relationship so that we can easily and boldly go to Him with all of our needs and desires.

This mindset is necessary for a Christ follower.

Romans 6:22 “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”

We once submitted to sin, but as a follower of the Savior, we must submit to God.

What does submission look like? Read our main passage with me again!

Matthew 26:39 “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

Jesus fell on His face out of respect, prayed His deepest desires, but still said “Father, thy will be done!”

It is a great privilege knowing that we can go to God with our deepest yearnings, and we should find deep joy in that fact, but at the end of the day, at the end of your desire, you must be willing to submit to God’s will for your life, no matter what it is.

The more you do this, the closer and closer your will and His will get. The more you submit, the more your will matches the Fathers. The more your will matches His, the closer you get to the Lord. The closer you get to the Lord, the better your life here on earth is. Your will begins to mesh with His.

Matthew 26:39 “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

Conclusion

This Father’s Day, I am aware of how that makes many of us feel. We miss. We don’t understand. We long for what could have been.

But, can I share something with you? As you long for what could or should have been, realize what you have in your heavenly Father.

As you miss, realize how close your Father really is.

As you don’t understand how someone could treat you that way, realize that your heavenly Father never would treat you that way.

He loves you. He is near to you.

Friends, model this relationship. Fall down before a loving Father, not out of an obligatory respect, but out of a loving one. Pour out your deepest desires to Him. Submit to His will and watch your will merge with the Fathers. The Father loves you and He is very near.

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Father’s you have a serious responsibility, whether you are biological, adoptive, foster, Harvest, or everything in between. You have the great responsibility to raise up your family in a godly way. You have the great responsibility to have a deep relationship with the heavenly Father that you can then model to your family.

Love your family like the Father loves you.

Romans 8:38–39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”