Imitate Your Heavenly Father
Notes
Transcript
Happy Father’s Day
Introduction
What Biblical model do you, or should you, follow in manhood or fatherhood?
The answer to the question is complicated. The men portrayed in the Bible were presented in their full humanity, flaws and all. We sometimes gravitate to their flaws, in the same way that we gravitate to accidents or bad news. After a while, all we see is the bad:
Adam did such a great job parenting his children that one of them murdered the other
Abraham was such a good father that the current Arab-Israeli conflict can be traced back to his two sons Ishmael and Isaac
Isaac played favorites with his two sons, favoring Esau over Jacob, because that never leads to problems
Jacob had a baker’s dozen of children with four women and all manner of family drama that doesn’t really surprise
Joseph, for his part, had two sons that we know of and little is known of them
Moses had children, but again, we know little of them…but their was that one confrontation with his wife where she definitely suggested he wasn’t doing a good job of fathering
We frequently honor Samuel’s mother on Mother’s Day but Samuel was such a good father that his sons were a big part of the reason the people of Israel wanted a king
Saul, David, Solomon and the other kings…let’s not go there, it would take too long
And those are just a few of the “highlights”. Were there no good fathers in the Bible? Sure, there were tons of them. But the Dads that made the news, made it for all the wrong reasons when it came to parenting.
This teaches us two important lessons:
Good fathers are appreciated inside the family but often overlooked outside of it. It’s not quite a thankless job but it is under-appreciated. That does not mean it is any less important.
Good fathers need a model to follow that is superior to the models often seen in the Bible and frequently one that is superior to what they experienced.
Transition
Fortunately for us, we have a Heavenly Father who is a Father to us and a model for us. This good news transcends your gender or family role; it is good news for everyone.
Illumination
1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
We are children of God
We are children of God
If we went back to the beginning of Ephesians, we would find that the Apostle Paul was writing to “the saints at Ephesus”, ie believers, so there is a bit of exclusivity in this relationship; it does not apply to all people.
Regardless of the type of man your father was—good or bad—God is your Heavenly Father.
If your father was good, then he fathered you in ways that complement who God is and what God does.
If your father was bad then he fathered you in ways that conflict who God is and what God does.
Either way, God wants to perfectly fill the role of Father in each of our lives.
We are imitators of God
We are imitators of God
The word translated imitator relates back to the word for an actor.
For Fathers who don’t know what they’re doing (which is all of us), it means we don’t have to keep making it up as we go
We have a role to play that has been defined for us
We have a script to follow that has been written for us
We have a director to hear that has been provided for us
But this is good for all of us, not just fathers. How do we know what to do and how to live? We imitate our father, just like children imitate their fathers.
We are followers of Christ
We are followers of Christ
Beyond imitating God, which may be daunting to some because it will take a bit of effort to observe Him, we have Jesus to follow as an example. We can think of it as following the example of an older brother...
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Some people may find that concept disrespectful in some way. The Apostle Paul did not seem to think so. Their were a couple other guys in the New Testament who prove its not a problem: James, who wrote the book of James, and Jude, who wrote the book of Jude: both were Jesus’ physical younger brothers. Despite their relationship, both acknowledge Him as Lord. So…no problem.
What does Jesus model for us? More than anything else (and there is A LOT we can and should learn from Jesus), Jesus modelled love for us.
Love that is the perfect basis for all of our earthly relationships. It is unconditional love that elevates those loved above the one loving
Love that is the perfect basis for our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Jesus loved us enough to die in our place and for our sins. His death made a relationship with our Heavenly Father possible.
Conclusion
The fact that God is our perfect Heavenly Father is good news to all of us as children. No matter how good or bad our earthly father was (or is), he was still human and had imperfections. God will fill the voids those imperfections left in your life.
The fact that God is our perfect Heavenly Father is good news to all of our fathers. For one thing , we were someone’s son too. And, we have the responsibility and privilege of being someone’s father. It is encouraging to know that in God we have both a model, and something of a safety net.