Our Father

Intro

Hey well good evening friends. I’m so glad to be back with you all this evening. When I was last here a few weeks ago, we looked at Psalm 88 together. And if you were here, one of the things we saw from that text is how it impressed upon us two very important truths. The first is that suffering is real. Psalm 88 did not hold back. Suffering is real, but second, so is God’s love. Of course, Psalm 88 really majored in the suffering part; but the fact that the Psalm even exists in Scripture, that it shows us such honest prayers are accepted and desired by God, is evidence of his love.

Well tonight we’re going to look at a Psalm that really majors in that second statement, God’s love is real. Psalm 103 has become my favorite Psalm over the last year, and I’ll tell you why in a bit. Each verse is dripping with vivid detail of what God’s love is like. And the height of the Psalm, I think, can be found in verse 13, Psalm103:13

Psalm 103:13 ESV

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

This Psalm tells us what God’s fatherly love and care is like. Sometimes we use the theological category of adoption to capture this idea that God can be our loving father, and that we can enter into a sweet and familial relationship with him as a son or daughter. And if you were to ask just about any theologian, they would tell you, that to call on God as father as one of his children is one of the most important things the Bible teaches. And more than that, it is the height of all privileges we can enjoy as a Christian.

Consider what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 4:4-5:

Galatians 4:4–5 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Why did Jesus come? Why was he born? Why did he live, suffer, and die? It was so you and I could receive adoption; so that we could call God “Father.” That was his great purpose.

So, tonight, I want to press into what it means to call on God as “Father.” And my hope is that this will be a good word for us tonight; especially for those of us struggling with a sense of shame, or anxiety, or depression; for those who feel distant from God or condemned by him; for those who are maybe considering Christianity for the first time, or those reconsidering what they believe in a weary season of doubt or struggles with their faith.

You have 3 headings on your handout which capture some of the big ideas of this Psalm, and we’ll just go through each in order here.

The Crown of God (1-5)

The Character of God (6-14)

The Care of God (15-21)