You Belong

I remember as a boy, going to baseball games, football games or wrestling meets.  I always wanted to do my very best because I always knew my dad was watching.  Every play, every snap, every second, no matter how many kids were out there and no matter if the play came to me or not, I knew my dad was watching me.  Even the monotonous parts of the game were important with the thought of his watching.  I always wanted to please my dad.  There is something in us that strives to gain our father’s approval. 

I remember a friend in high school named Brad.  He was a great wrestler and a great guy.  His senior year he had made the state tournament for the very first time.  His first match he lost and it looked as though his tournament was all but over and his hopes of getting a medal were lost.  The next day of the tournament Brad was told that his father had come to watch.  Brad’s father had never come to one meet or sporting event to my knowledge in his whole life.  Brad proceeded to pin every opponent he faced the rest of the State tournament to place third.  There is something powerful about knowing your dad is watching.

I remember the day my life changed.  I was watching a video about Jesus.  I had grown up in church, but God was a distant idea that I did not really understand.  He seemed more like a cosmic presence than a caring person.  But then it was impressed upon me in a powerful way that God was my Father.  God cared about me, he was watching over me and the words of Jesus were words to me.  I was not one of a mass of ants scurrying upon the ant hill of the world, but a child that he loved and listened to. 

The New Testament speaks a great deal about God as our Father.  Jesus instructs us to pray to “Our Father.”  He is not an impersonal force but a loving, concerned Father to his own.  Yet to some of you, the idea that God is a Father is a bit troubling.  As the video pointed out, your experience with your earthly father was a painful one.  Maybe he was harsh, absent, abusive, or unsupportive.

From an ABC special report on Father’s I read these quotes.  “It wasn't until after my third personnel conflict with a male supervisor within a six-month period that I noticed a troubling pattern. It was only then [I had] the idea that my relationship with my father might have something to do with my career problems.”

-- Linda, age twenty-nine

“I have always wanted and sought my father's approval. I rarely received his support and approval. I still look for it at times with colleagues and clients. It is a vicious cycle: I want my father's support, and I know it will never happen the way I want it to -- he isn't that kind of man.”

-- Mike, age thirty-seven

There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.

Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, p. 13.

For some of you, your difficult relationship with your dad has, like these people, caused problems in other areas of your life.  And when you think of God as your Father you bring along with you some of that baggage of one who is not present, not concerned, hard to please, or cruel. 

The Bible not only speaks to us about God being our heavenly Father, but shares with us what kind of Father he is.  So what kind of Father is the Living God?  The Bible says so much about this that we cannot address it all today, but I would like to look at one section of Scripture in Galatians 4:1-7.  Please stand for the reading of the Word of God.

Galatians 4:1-7
1What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.(NIV)

I want to look at three areas in these verses that indicate what kind of Father God is toward his Christian children and his feelings toward us.  First this section teaches us that as a Christian…

1. You have been redeemed by God our Father.

4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

It is through redemption that we become sons and daughters of God. 

Romans 8:23
23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.(NIV)

For those who are both redeemed and in the process of being redeemed, we are children of God and he is our Father.  But what does redemption mean?  We don’t use that word much except for in religious circles.   We may speak of redeeming a coupon, but this doesn’t really communicate well the meaning of the word and how the first century Christians would have understood it.  For these Christians, redeem and redemption were not religious words.  They were very practical words.  The concept of redemption actually has a military-type origins. 

Redemption meaning.  Discuss people who were taken to captivity.  When one was found to be an important person and unfit for heavy labor, they would notify those remaining from the conquered country.  The conquered country would put together a “ransom” to redeem the captured important person, and the nation would send him home. 

Redemption for slaves.   For freedom!

Date.  Apollo the Pythian bought from Sosibius of Amphissa, for freedom, a female slave, whose name is Nicaea, by race a Roman, with a price of three minae of silver and a half-mina.  Former seller according to the law:  Eumnastus of Amphissa.  The price he hath received.  The purchase, however, Nicaea has committed unto Apollo, for freedom.  Names of witnesses follow.

Understand that this slave was able to purchase her redemption for freedom.  The inscription makes sure everyone knows that she is being purchased not to work at the temple, but for freedom. 

Two things you must understand.  1)  We are slaves, and 2) God has redeemed us for freedom.

John 8:34-36
34Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.(NIV)

People are by nature slaves to sin.

This means more than that they occasionally do evil things.  In the state of the modern world it cannot be denied that there is a good deal of evil in the way people live.  But it may be held, and it is held by some humanists and others, that this evil is not an insuperable object in the way of human progress.  Man can do good.  There is that deep down within him to which appeal may be made and when he responds he can rise above his lesser self and do deeds of altruism.  In that lies the future of the human race, they say.

Christians do not reject the entirety of this position, but Christ clearly taught that the problem with mankind is that his nature is evil. 

“What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean’.  For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’” (Mk. 7:20-23).  The evil we do is not accidental and occasional.  It arises out of what we are.  And being what we are, we can never break free.  Our victories are always comparably small and incomplete; our defeats are always with us and their effects may be calamitous.  Redemption reminds us to face the facts of life realistically.”

Yet God has purchased us with a great price! 

1 Peter 1:18-19
18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.(NIV)

And God has purchased us for freedom!

Galatians 5:1
1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.(NIV)

Paul based his analogy on the legal practice of guardianship. As Longenecker describes it, “the picture he draws is of a boy in a home of wealth and standing who is legally the heir and so the ‘young master’ (kurios, literally ‘lord’ or ‘owner’) of the family estate, but who is still a minor (nēpios) and so lives under rules very much like a slave (doulos).”[1]

Jesus has redeemed us.

Yet our Father was willing to purchase us with a great price! 

You see, if you are a Christian, God is not your Father by accident.  You were bought with a great price and therefore have great worth in your Father’s eyes.  God sent his one and only for you.  There is nothing more he could do, nothing greater he could give.  You are a child because of an enormous price God was willing to pay to rescue you and free you from sin.  He bought you not to enslave you, but to free you.  For freedom!  He seeks what is for your best.  Contrast of God the Father and our fathers who often focus on their good rather than our own. 

We could not bear to live in a world where wrong is taken lightly and where right and wrong finally make no difference. Spare me a gospel of easy love that makes of my life a thing without consequence. Atonement is not an accountant's trick. It is not a kindly overlooking; it is not a "not counting" of what must count if anything in heaven or on earth is to matter. God could not simply decide not to count without declaring that we do not count.

Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon

If you are a Christian, God is your Father because he was willing to pay a great price, because you matter to him.  You have been redeemed.  Second, as a Christian, I want you to know that…

1. You have been accepted by God the Father.

Galatians 4:6
6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”(NIV)

God has placed within us His Spirit that cries out Abba.  His Spirit lets our hearts know God’s desired relationship with us, that of a dad.  The backdrop for this text is Paul’s concern over the Galatian church.  They are being deceived into thinking that they have to win God’s approval.  That God will only be happy with them if they complete their list of religious chores such as eating certain foods, circumcision and a host of other laws.  Paul says, “No, he is our dad!”  You used to live like slaves under the worlds laws and principles and demonic doctrines that teach that your value is found in your efforts to establish your own worth and righteousness.  But not anymore!  In Christ we grow up and become sons and daughters.  We do not strive to please God through our works, as a slave, but instead we are accepted and loved as family. 

Perhaps you are like me, but there have been many times in my life where I did not much care for myself.  Times when I have thought my life was relatively worthless.  Times when I looked in the mirror and did not like what I saw.  But that day the Spirit impressed upon my heart that God was my Father I realized that I was accepted and that God cared for me.  What a life-changing reality!

Like the little girl with a stuffed animal.  No matter how dirty or ragged that doll may become, you never, ever think of throwing it out.  The value of the doll is not found in its appearance and beauty, but in the love and acceptance of the girl.  She loves that doll which gives it enormous value in spite of its appearance, and God loves you.  You are accepted by him because he is your dad, not because of how you strive to appear. 

Joe Bayly, a Christian author and minister, had a son named Tim who was not following the Lord. This caused great tension in the home until one day Joe told his son he had to move out. Taking Tim aside, he said, "Tim, you're not living for God and you need to leave our home." Tim left, but his spiritual rebellion broke Joe's heart.

Tim moved to Wheaton, Illinois, where he rented a house with a group of musicians and artists. Late one night, Joe got a phone call. "This is the police," the voice said. "Your son has been arrested on drug charges, and we have him here in jail." Joe got out of bed and drove a half hour to the jail where the man on the phone had told him his son was being held. But no one there had ever heard of his son. Joe thought he had driven to the wrong jail, so he drove to several other jails trying to find Tim. Nothing.

Finally, around 2:00 a.m., Joe decided to go to Tim's house and see if he was there. The front door wasn't locked, so Joe entered and began to go from bedroom to bedroom looking for his son. He found Tim upstairs, fast asleep. Joe walked over and knelt by Tim's bed. Shaking him awake, Joe asked, "Tim, are you all right?"

Tim awoke and, seeing his Dad frantic with concern, answered, "Yes Dad—I'm all right. Why? What's wrong?"

Joe told Tim how someone had called in the middle of the night saying he was in jail. Then Joe and Tim kissed each other goodnight, and Joe drove home.

Years later, Tim had returned to Christian faith, and in a conversation with his Dad, Tim explained how God had used that night as a key part of bringing him back to faith. "Remember that night when you got a call that I was in jail?" he told his father. "Dad, I'll never forget you kneeling next to my bed, kissing me, and telling me you loved me."

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Sure reminds me of a story Jesus told about God the Father’s love in Luke 15.  You know the story.  A son feels his father is holding him back.  The son humiliates his father, asks for his inheritance and slams the door behind him, shattering his father’s heart.  The boy wastes his father’s money and finds himself humbled and starving, longing to eat the pig slop of the pigs he is feeding.  The boy comes to his senses, and goes home seeking to work as a servant in his Father’s home.  The boy says I am not worthy to be called your son.  But the father, looking and longing for his lost son, rushes out, embraces him and puts the family ring on his finger and shoes on his feet, because slaves don’t wear shoes… sons wear shoes.  My son!  The father declares, My son, was dead and is alive again.  Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they don’t understand why he hangs out with sinners because they don’t understand the love of the Heavenly Father. 

You are accepted by God because he is your Abba, Father and you are his son.  You don’t have to earn it or fight for it as maybe you have with your earthly father.  God rushes out to embrace us in spite of what we have done and celebrates to have us home.  You are accepted.

Finally, if you are a Christian and your hope is in Christ…

1. You are blessed by God the Father.

Galatians 4:7
7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.(NIV)

For some of you maybe you never received much from your fathers.  Maybe he was gone a lot in order to keep food on the table and there just wasn’t much he was able to give to you by way of time or material things because there just wasn’t much money although he worked very hard.  Or maybe he just wasn’t there and didn’t have much to give because he wasn’t willing.  That is not the case with your heavenly Father.  He is creator and owner of all there is and as his child you are an heir of God and co-heir with Christ.  I love this verse from the song we sang today in “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”

“I will not boast in anything.  No gifts, no power no wisdom.  But I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection.  Why should I gain from his reward?  I haven’t got an answer.  But this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.”

Why should we gain from his reward?  Why should the father ransom us, accept us, and bless us as heirs?  Why should he welcome us home with open arms and have a celebration and start a feast on our behalf?  Stuart Townsend in his song says, “I haven’t got an answer.”  Neither do I.  But that is how our heavenly Father loves us.  We are blessed beyond degree and have waiting for us at the coming of our Lord an inheritance that is beyond imagination, provided not by our goodness, but by our Father’s love.

Hebrews 2:6-10
6But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 7You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor 8and put everything under his feet.” In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.(NIV)

Today, we don’t know what exactly it means to be heirs of God in Christ.  But we get a taste by the Spirit he gives us that cries out within us, “Abba, Father.”  God is our dad.  Jesus said that if we, who are evil, give good gifts to our children, HOW MUCH MORE will God give good things to those who ask him?  We see in Christ that God LOVES to give.  No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind perceived the things that God has in store for those who love him.  We do not see or understand the blessing God has for us, but we see Jesus.  We see how God has glorified him given him a name above every name.  We see how he is glorified at the right hand of the Father.  We see that everything was made by him and for him.  And the Bible says that we are co-heirs with Christ.

This morning know this about your heavenly Father.  You are ransomed by a great price.  You have great value to him.  You are accepted.  He accepts you and receives you in his family as a loving dad.  You are blessed.  In all that God has given for you and the price he has paid, it is all a sign of what is to come.  You are an heir and of all the good we have received, the best is yet to come. 

• \\ 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.(NIV)  Romans 8:31-39*

Wherever did we get the concept that God is some cruel cosmic killjoy with a list of expectations we always fail to meet?  Redeems, Accepts, Blesses.

CONCLUSION:  Let me conclude with this story.

On a short flight from Tucson to Phoenix, I noticed a young woman with her baby. They were both dressed in white pinafores. The mother was smiling, and the little baby was saying "Dada, Dada." And the little baby was darling. She wore a little pink bow where there would probably be hair pretty soon, and it was just darling. And they sat down opposite me. Every time anybody went by, the baby would say, "Dada, Dada."

The young mother said they were going home, and Daddy was waiting for them. I think they had been gone overnight--it was a long, long time like that!

Everybody was so happy, and we all enjoyed the little baby. The mother had a little Thermos with orange juice in it. She kept feeding the baby, a little fruit and then a little juice. It was a rough flight. Every time the baby cried the mother fed her a little bit more orange juice and a little more fruit.

I don't know how to get out of this story without telling you the truth. The flight was very turbulent. (The flight was so rough that the attendants had to stay seated.) All of the fruit that had gone down came up. I think more came up than had gone down; I think there was more up than there was baby, and it was startling; the carpet was not in good condition. It was a mess.

Those of us on the opposite side of the aisle were not in good condition at all. We kept trying to tell the young mother it was just fine. We were handing her tissues and things. (Most of us have been babies.) It was a very loving time, but a mess. The baby was crying, and she looked awful. We couldn't cry, but we looked awful. The mother was so sorry about it.

We landed. The minute we landed, baby was fine: "Dada, Dada." The rest of us were just awful. We began to get off the plane, and we all moved very carefully. I had on a suit, and I was trying to decide whether to burn it or just cut off the sleeve. Have you ever tried to get away from something really unpleasant and it was you? Well that's the way we were. It was really bad.

I looked out of the plane, and there waiting was the young man who had to be Daddy: white slacks, white shirt, white flowers, and a little green paper. I thought, I know what's going to happen. He's going to run to that baby who now looks awful--I mean the hair and the pinafore were dreadful. He's going to run to that baby, get one look, and keep on running, saying, "Not my kid!"

As he ran to the young mother, I wouldn't say she threw the baby at him, but she did kind of leave quickly to go get cleaned up. He picked up that baby, and I watched him as he hugged that baby and kissed that baby and stroked that baby's hair. He said, "Daddy's baby's come home. Daddy's baby's come home."

I watched them all the way to the luggage claim area. He never stopped kissing that baby. He never stopped welcoming that baby back home. I thought, Where did I ever get the idea that my Father God is less loving than a young daddy in white slacks and white shirt with white flowers and a green paper.

Jeannette Clift George, "Belonging and Becoming

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[1]George, T. (2001, c1994). Vol. 30: Galatians (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (293). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.