The Father

Good morning, welcome to NHCC, please open your Bibles to John 3.

Beginning a new, short series this morning that focuses on the doctrine of the Trinity, namely the three persons, of the same nature and essence, that make up the biblical godhead.

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Our challenge for this morning-

Thomas à Kempis- “What good does it do you if you dispute loftily about the Trinity, but lack humility and therefore displease the Trinity? It is not lofty words that make you righteous or holy or dear to God, but a virtuous life…If you knew the whole of the Bible by heart, along with all the definitions of the philosophers, what good would this be without grace and love?”

The temptation is to think and preach as lofty as possible. To reach the limits of expansion of our minds and hearts and fill it with as much information as possible. The point Thomas à Kempis is making is that knowledge is worthless unless it leads to a life that is pleasing to God.

So this is our goal this morning- yes, to learn new things of the godhead, and specifically of the person of the Father, but also to grow in virtue, worship, and obedience.

Read John 3:16- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Pray.

This morning, I’d like to use our text as a launching pad, and here is the truth from which we launch- God is, first and foremost, a Father.

Seen clearly in John 3- He loved the world, and out of that love, He sent His only Son. To send a Son requires fatherhood.

We don’t often, at a foundational level, think of God as Father. We might think of King, Ruler, Savior, Shepherd, but Father ought to be first and foremost.

Michael Reeves in his book, Delighting in the Trinity- “The most foundational thing in God is not some abstract quality, but the fact that he is Father… Since God is, before all things, a Father, and not primarily Creator or Ruler, all his ways are beautifully fatherly… He is Father. All the way down. Thus all that he does he does as Father. That is who he is.”

This is the point being made today. Before we can rightly understand Jesus as the Son of God, we must first look to the Father. What does it mean that God is defined as a Father? What is the relationship between the Father and the Son? Or the Father and us? How does this Father behave toward His children?

Precaution- temptation is to take our experience of fatherhood and put it on God. It should be vice versa. God rightly defines what true fatherhood is.

Let’s find three truths together about the Father and defend these truths from Scripture.

1. The Father is the Source of all things.

The Father is the Source of the Son and the Spirit.

At a most basic level, this is why Scripture depicts God as a Father

John 5:26- For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

Eternal generation- The Father and the Son share their nature as God, share their eternity, share their power, and yet, the Son has His very being from the Father.

Hebrews 1:3- He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

The Son is the radiance of the glory of the Father. Think of a lamp and it’s light. The glory is the lamp, the radiating of that glory is the light.

4th C. theologian Gregory of Nyssa- “The Son is of the Father, and the Father is never without the Son; for it is impossible that the glory should be without radiance, as it is impossible that the lamp should be without brightness.”

Important to note this does not mean that Jesus has a beginning, or a creation. For as long as the Father has eternally existed, so has the Son.

The Son is generated by the Father, and thus we should not be surprised when we find that Jesus depended completely on the Father in His earthly ministry and that He submitted Himself constantly to the will of the Father.

We will spend more time on this next week.

But we must find that the Father is also the source of all created things. Notice what is written in Revelation.

Revelation 4:11- “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

In our text, the 24 elders gathered around the throne of God the Father give their crowns back to Him and proclaim the He is worthy of glory, honor and power. Why? Because He has created all things.

And He created them according to His own will. No outside influence. No pressure to do something that He didn’t want to do. He created because He is Creator, and His desire is to create.

Nebuchadnezzar at the end of Daniel 4.

But notice one more thing- The will of God not only creates but sustains all things.

Everything continues to exist because it is the will of the Father.

When it is no longer His will, that thing, or place, or person will cease to exist as it always has.

1 Corinthians 8:6- yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Here is the final important point to make about everything that proceeds from the Father- Everything was created FOR Him.

Stated plainly, we exist for the Father.

He defines our existence, not ourselves.

This runs counter to our culture.

There will be things in life that you would prefer for yourself, to which God says no. In these moments, we are to remember that we exist for the Father, and not for ourselves.

God’s satisfaction with our lives is far greater than our own.

So, we would do well to be reminded this morning that God is the source of everything, that everything, ourselves included, have our design, our creation and our sustaining in God alone.

2. Father to all, Father to some.

There is a sense in which God is the Father of all people, and even of all creation, but another sense in which God is the Father of some, and not others.

As has already been stated, God is the Father of all creation in that He is the source of all creation.

Everything has been created by God, and there is nothing that exists that was not created by Him.

Notice how John fleshes out this concept in his prologue.

John 1:1-3- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Everything that exists, outside of the uncreated godhead, was created by God, through Jesus Christ, known here as the Word of God.

Thus, with everything owing its very existence to God, there is a way in which God is truly the Father of all things, considering He created everything through Christ.

However, Scripture also makes clear that there is a special, new relationship that takes place between a person and the Father when faith is placed in Jesus.

Romans 8:15-17- For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Notice what is being spoken of here- those who have received the Spirit of adoption. This is clearly not all of mankind. But instead, it is those who will suffer with Christ and be glorified with Him.

While all are children of God in that God is responsible for their creation, only some are children of God in the sense that we have been adopted into His family and saved from our sins and sinfulness.

And our task on this earth is to see everyone we know adopted into the family of God.

We do a disservice when we make a flippant statement that we are all children of God without clearly defining what is meant.

May we never convince people that they are children of God when they have a true need for adoption.

We absolutely may say that they are loved by God, but must then push that they have a need FOR God.

God is Father to all, and Father to some.

Now, if God the Father is the source of all things, meaning that all created things have their beginning and sustaining in Him, and if God is able to truly be a Father in that He adopts some into His family, then the question remains, what kind of Father will God be?

3. The Father supplies all of our needs.

How does God behave toward those He has adopted into His family? By providing everything they need. In fact, we behave most in line with God as Father when we, as earthly fathers, are providers.

This requires a care for all needs. We provide, as we are able, financially. We meet emotional needs by pouring love into our children. We provide the gospel to meet the spiritual needs of our families.

God, as Father, supplies all of your needs. Notice the importance of the word, “all”.

Physical needs.

Sermon on the mount- what does it look like to have God as Father, to talk to Him, to trust Him?

Matthew 6:25-26- “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

God cares about your life, about what you need, and even what you enjoy. Think about this, God is the giver of good gifts, gifts that are meant to bring about enjoyment.

Proven in James 1:17- Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Aletheia in Lake Michigan.

God created within her a sense of adventure, a sense of overcoming and facing danger.

God created her such that she would love going out into the waves and find extreme enjoyment in having them crash over her head.

But God did more. God created the feeling that she gets in the water. In fact, God created the water that gave her so much satisfaction.

All these pleasures that I wish I could give to my daughter, but only God can give them to her. And He does, because He is a good and loving Father, and all that He does is fatherly. This is one of the gifts from James 1 that was given specifically to my daughter.

But beyond our physical needs, God goes further. He addresses our greatest bankruptcy, our sinful neediness.

Spiritual needs.

Ephesians 1:7-10- In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Here is the best news that we can receive this morning- not only does God care for us in physical ways, but He has redeemed us, even in our sinfulness, through the sacrifice of Jesus.

No matter the presence or lack of physical blessing, those who are in Christ are assured that they have received the highest of spiritual blessing and spiritual remedy.

Remember our words from John 3:16- God loved the world, and as a result sent His son as the miracle to give people new life.

Zacharias Ursinus, commenting on the Heidelberg Catechism, which he helped author- “The eternal Father is…my God and my Father; on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt but he will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body; and further, that he will make whatever evils he sends upon me, in this valley of tears, turn out to my advantage; for he is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing, being a faithful Father.”

The point being made- God supplies all of our needs. And He does so because He is a loving Father.

Conclude- How do we respond to all of this? Remember the words of a Kempis. Everything is meant to make us trust God more, in all things, great and small.

Charles Spurgeon illustrates this point perfectly- “See how your child trusts you. He comes to you and cries, ‘Please, father, I have a thorn in my finger.’ No matter what his trials are, the child brings them all to the father. You turn from your business, and attend to him. You say, ‘My dear, I will see to you immediately.’ You love your little boy, and therefore his little concerns are not too little for you. And God, who gave us to be called sons of God, leads us in confidence to go to him with each day’s burden and care, and prove for ourselves that we are the objects of the Father’s love.”

So much of our distance between us and God can be directly attributed to a lack of trust. First, we assume that we know better than God. Second, we assume we can care for ourselves better than God can. But trusting the Father gets rid of both assumptions. He knows what is best and He knows what is needed. While we are powerless to provide our own good gifts, God gives them freely.

Have you truly trusted God? Then draw close. Talk to Him. Give Him your life.

Pray. Invite.