July 18 2021, The Trinity: "And by Him We Cry 'Abba, Father!'" - Romans 8:14-17

I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:14-17. I will be reading out of the New International Version today.

As a word of introduction, this week we begin a new three series on The Trinity. God is the Trinity… three in one. He is not three gods as one of my professors in college once suggested. Rather, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all help us to understand God better and be able to wrap our minds around who God is. The idea of comprehending God fully and wholly may be too big for us. Understanding the attributes of God… Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is like seeing an iceberg. When we see the iceberg, whats on top looks massive and daunting and yet is only a fraction of the total piece of ice. In much the same way, God is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. And yet the parts, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, give us a clearer view of our one infinite, everlasting, all knowing, all loving God who has existed since before time began and will be here long after this world passes away.

Today we are talking about the Heavenly Father. As we begin our discussion today, it is important for us to have two images as we draw a picture of the Heavenly Father. God is both transcendent and imminent. Those are big words. Transcendence means that God is over all Creation and Immanence means that God is near to that which he created. I look at it this way. As God is over all Creation, He’s able to handle any problem that I could ever send His way. He is all knowing, all powerful, and in all places all the same time. And yet as vast and immense as He is, he stands out in the valleys and deserts of this world and calls His sheep all by name and leads to to safety and shelter.

I picture God as the big, muscular Father figure and me as the little child. What will happen if a small child chooses to throw a temper tantrum against the big daddy? Hopefully, the big daddy is able to provide an ear to listen and a safe place for the child until they can work it out and calm down. The father’s love for the child is so strong that while the child may be beating their fists against the Father, there’s no way that they are going to hurt the Father. It helps me to understand that I can take anything in all the world to God and he can handle it because He’s that big and vast. And conversely, as wonderful and unique as I am, I depend on that great big Father to help me on an ongoing basis.

On the immanence side, God is near to us. While we will study Jesus next week, the Heavenly Father is closer than a best friend. If the Father were to right you a love letter, here’s what it might look:

My child, oh how I love you! And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. Simply because you are my child and I am your Father. (16) I over you more than your earthly father ever could. (17) For I am the perfect father. (18) Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. (19) For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. (20) My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. (21) Because I love you with an everlasting love. (22) My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. (23) And I rejoice over you with singing. (24) I will never stop doing good to you. (25) For you are my treasured possession. (26) I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul. (27) And I want to show you great and marvelous things. (28) If you seek me with all your heart, you will and me. (29) Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. (30) For it is I who gave you those desires. (31) I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. (32) For I am your greatest encourager. (33) I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. (34) When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you. (35) As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. (36) One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth. (37) I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus.

If you want to see the Scriptures related to this letter, look back at the sermon text that shortly will be posted on the WB Facebook page.

(; (16) 1 John 3:1; (17) Matthew 7:11; (18) Matthew 5:48; (19) James 1:17; (20) Matthew 6:31-33 (21) Jeremiah 29:11; (22) Jeremiah 31:3; (23) Psalm 139:17-18; (24) Zephaniah 3:17; (25) Jeremiah 32:40; (26) Exodus 19:5; (27) Jeremiah 32:41; (28) Jeremiah 33:3; (29) Deuteronomy 4:29 (30) Psalm 37:4; (31) Philippians 2:13; (32) Ephesians 3:20; (33) 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17; (34) 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; (35) Psalm 34:18; (36) Isaiah 40:11; (37) Revelation 21:3-4)

The Father is transcendent and imminent. With that background,

Please stand for the reading and the hearing of God’s word from:

Romans 8:14-17 NIV

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 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.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

And may glory be to God for the reading and the hearing of His word this morning, “Thanks be to God.” You may be seated.

“And by Him we cry “Abba Father!”

In Scripture there are many different names used to describe God.

While all the names of God are important in many ways, the name “Abba Father” is one of the most significant names of God in understanding how He relates to people. The word Abba is an Aramaic word that would most closely be translated as “Daddy.” It was a common term that young children would use to address their fathers. It signifies the close, intimate relationship of a father to his child, as well as the childlike trust that a young child puts in his “daddy.”

When we cry “Abba, Father” we are not just crying out to God, we are calling out to a perfect Father that we love. There is passion in our call and assurance that he wants what’s best for us… that he will always be there to provide for our every need.

The Father/ child relationship is well illustrated by a recent SciFi movie I saw called The Tomorrow War.

In the movie, Chris Pratt plays a biology teacher named Dan that longs for more. His first few scenes show him in a telephone job interview while also hosting a Christmas party for the neighborhood at his house. When he doesn’t get the job, he sadly sits on the sofa and has his daughter Muri to sit in his lap and put her arm around him as she says, “Daddy, it’s going to be okay.” When Dan goes to the future to save the world, Muri is much older and Dan is still young. Muri tells him, “I would have done anything to be able to have a relationship with you.” After Dan solves the world’s problems, he travels back in time to his wife and young Muri again. He is given a second chance to right some of the mistakes that he made the first go round. This time, Dan realizes that he has everything he ever needed right in front of him… his wife and his beautiful child. Despite not getting the job he always wanted, he had everything that he ever could need right in front of him.

Maybe you feel like it is too late today for you to make amends for your past relationships. I say to you today that it is never too late for God’s love. God is a God of forgiveness who longs ever deepen His relationship with you just as He longs for you to continually deepen your relationships with others. Even though Dan was not perfect, his daughter Muri would do anything for a relationship with her Father because she loved Him. Once Dan became aware of his imperfections, he sought to mend the relationship with his daughter because he loved her deeply as well. That should be a message for us today. Earthly fathers may disappoint us from time to time and need to say we are sorry. But our perfect Heavenly Father never disappoints and doesn’t need to apologize because He always wants what’s best for us and stands with His arms wide open to me and you. Our great big Heavenly Father longs to wrap us up in His loving arms if we will only let Him. As Romans 8:39 says, “39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

While earthly Fathers are not perfect, the Heavenly Father is perfect.

It is important for earthly Father’s to receive the Heavenly Father’s love so that we can love our children and those like our children with a love that is even greater than us. Children, and we are all God’s children here, it’s important for us to stay close to the Heavenly Father so that we can receive God’s love with which to love our dads and others, sometimes as flawed and imperfect as we may be. I am reminded of Mark 8:36 which says, “36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Paired with Revelation 2:4 which says, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”, we see the importance of loving God first and foremost.

One step we need to take is to let go of that which stands in the way of our relationship with our perfect Heavenly Father.

Scripture speaks of the need for us to move from being slaves of things in the world to being slaves of God. While slavery sometimes comes with a negative meaning, in this case being a slave to God is a good thing. It means that instead of living in fear of the vices of this world, we are adopted by God. That’s why today’s Scripture says that “the Spirit you received does not make you slaves” and that we become God’s adopted children AND we becomes heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

Things that enslave us in the world can be many. We can be slaves to work, politics, COVID. Slavery can be everything on the earth that runs us instead of us running it. The easiest way to determine what runs you instead of you running it is to examine how you spend your time and where your money goes. The irony is that those things that run us may be good, but they may not leave room for our relationship with the God. God wants us to remember today that there are many good things on this earth but they are temporary. When we embrace our relationship with God fully, those things start to not matter as much.

This idea of letting go also applies as we claim our adopted status. To be adopted by a family in Greek times meant that in order to claim your status in the new family with all of the rights and privileges that came with it, you had to completely let go of your former life. In today’s day and age that sounds a bit harsh, especially as we value finding out where we came from and who our birth parents are, even if we may not have a relationship with them. Letting go is the only way to claim so much more.

You may have heard the story of the little girl who was given a pearl necklace by her father. The pearls weren’t real, but she cherished it as if they were real. She wore her necklace everywhere. One day, the father came into his daughter and said, “I’ve got a surprise for you. But in order to receive it, you must give me back your pearl necklace.” The daughter felt so hurt that her daddy would want the pearls back. She agonized for days over giving up her pearls. Why would her daddy do such a terrible thing as taking away her pearls? Finally one day, she walked into the room where her daddy was sitting, and she put the pearls in his hands. She said, “Daddy, I love these pearls, but I love you more.” Her daddy walked over to a chest across the room and put the not real pearls in the drawer. He pulled out a real strand of pearls, walked over to his daughter, fastened them around her neck and said, “Honey, I love you so much. I’ve been waiting.”

Isn’t that a lot how the Heavenly Father waits on us? He has so much more for us than we can ever imagine. He stands ready to take our sin, guilt, shame… anything that holds us back from him… and to give us real and genuine forgiveness, love, and eternal life. Today he is saying to you and saying to me, “I’m waiting.” Give me those things that are not real so that I may bless you beyond your wildest dreams. The ball is now in our court. Are you ready to embrace Him?

Moving forward, let’s make “Abba, Father” our heart’s cry.