Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

It makes all the difference in the world how we view God, some people see God as this wrathful being who brings punishment on those who he chooses.

Others see God as an all loving health wealth God, and some others see God as a friend who only cares about their happiness and they think that God damns the people they damn and Saves those they love.

But who is God really?

For those of us who believe, those of us who are in this church, He is our father.

And when we view God as our father that changes how we interact with God.

I want you to think back to your father or a father figure you had.

Were they all loving and so they never disciplined you? were they all discipline and no love?

Were they always your friend?

So here’s the thing, some of those may be true I know some parents who were a friend more than a parent and I had some friends whose parents refused to punish them.

And we know that the fathers of this world just like the rest of us are sinful and broken and imperfect.

However we have a father in Heaven who is perfect, who is both loving and disciplinary, who both instructs us and listens to us.

And that’s what I want to talk about today.

Cause all too often I see people struggling to view God as their father because they didn’t have a good fatherly example growing up.

Or you maybe God’s fatherhood over you hasn’t been clearly explained.

God’s our Father

So let’s start with this… How is it that we are considered Sons of God? Let’s read Romans 8:12-17

God created us in the womb however we were not born to God.

Rather we came to know God and had faith in him and so we are adopted when we accept the spirit of God. and because of this spirit of adoption we can cry out Abba! Father! and he answers us.

But not only are we adopted by God but we are heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ.

So what an heir is, is someone who receives an inheritance from another, in this case we receive an inheritance from God. and I don’t think we realize how special that is.

Not only has God called you his child but he has included you in the inheritance as though you were his own flesh in blood.

Who here has ever adopted a child?

Do you view that child any different from the rest of your children? when you adopt a kid and I’m not saying that this is always the case, cause sadly I know it’s not, but when you adopt a kid you bring someone into your family and treat them as if they were your own flesh and blood.

and that’s what God does with us.

And let’s read also Galatians 3:23-29

So I want to clear something up first, all this is saying is that God shows no partiality between his children, that he loves us all equally, some would use this passage to claim that there are no cultural or gender differences but that’s not what it’s saying, this is talking about our relationship with God.

So we have become united in faith in Christ Jesus, and so have recieved the promise that was given to Abraham to be Heirs of God.

Isn’t that amazing, fellow heirs with Christ, God loves us as he loves his own son Jesus Christ.

So I want you to write this down, We have been adopted by God to be fellow heirs with Christ.

God is Loving

So let’s talk about God and what makes him the perfect father, and Dads here, myself soon to be included.

Pay attention because this is the example that we should strive to follow.

So let me lay this out for you first, there are 4 characteristics that come to mind when I think of a good father, 4 Characteristics that we can find in God, and keep in mind these 4 things are of my own opinion you may find 4 things that you find even more important, however these 4 things are essential in any father.

So a father should be; Loving, Disciplinary, Caring, and Protective.

So let’s start with how God is loving.

and to me one of the clearest passages about God’s love is found in 1 John, that’s right, not John 3:16 but 1 John 4:7-12

God loved us not because we loved him, he loved us first, and sent his son to die for us that we may know his love for us.

and share that love with others.

and how do we know who is the child of God, because they love one another.

God loves us and because of this we should love one another.

Do you love your brothers and sisters here today?

I have a sister, and let me tell you I don’t always like her and I don’t always get along with her.

But I love her, and what that means is, I’ll encourage her and be there for her if she needs it.

Your brothers and sisters in the church should be the same.

You may not like them sometimes but you still need to love them.

I had a friend in college who’s name was Joseph Wang, He was a Chinese exchange student and his real name was (Pronounce his name).

But one day he was saying something about us being brothers because he would always call his friends brother and I laughed and said we weren’t blood brothers and I will never forget the look he gave me.

He looked offended, and he reminded me that we were blood brothers, that we were bonded by the blood of Jesus Christ.

What a guy Joe was, and he was right, we are blood brothers and sisters, bonded by something greater than biology.

Do you guys remember the story of the prodigal son? open up to Luke 15:11-32

When we read this story it’s just like wow, what an amazing and loving God we serve that he would receive us even after we have walked away.

And not only receive us but rejoice in our safety.

Write this down, We serve a loving and Forgiving God

God is Disciplinary

When we think of God’s love many times we miss what all that means.

We forget that an essential part of love is discipline.

and this is something that the author of Hebrews clearly understood let’s go to Hebrews 12:5-11

It is hard for me to see the lack of discipline in the world today, Like I’ve said before I had friends growing up who recieved no form of discipline from their parents and you could tell, one of those friends ended up Over dosing on drugs causing his brain to bleed and barely survived.

and today there are so many people who do whatever they like because their parents would have rather been there friend than their parent.

But we have a father in Heaven who disciplines us, and why does he discipline us? look at verse 10, so that we may share in his holiness.

God’s discipline shows us that we are his legitimate children and that he loves us.

So Write this down God Disciplines his children, that we may be Holy.

God Cares for Us

God’s discipline is not only because he loves us but because he cares about our well being, Let’s read Psalm 103:13

The children of God those who both revere and fear the lord receive his compassion.

God will always take care of us the way that a father should.

Scripture tells us not to worry about tomorrow because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring but God does, and he will care for us.

We are told not to worry about what we will eat and what we will wear because God will provide for us.

I told you in one of my recent sermons, I think maybe on Mothers day, that when I was in college there was a time when I worried about my finances and how I would be able to continue going to school.

however God provided, he provided through blessing my parents with the means to help with blessing the church, and through blessing the scholarships that I recieved.

God took care of me so that I had to reason to worry.

and He does the same for all of us.

Write this down, God Cares for Us.

God Protects Us

and because God cares about us so much, he protects us, Isaiah 41:10 says.

And do you remember when Hezekiah was faced against the Assyrian Army, an army of 185,000 soldiers.

Hezekiah was worried and he prayed to God because he was worried and do you know what God did? 2 Kings 19:35

God protected him from the Assyrian army that he faced.

I remember and maybe I should have told this story first cause now I have to follow what God did for Hezekiah...

But I will always remember this story and it was very clear to me that God was protecting me.

A couple years ago I was driving out to camp I don’t remember exactly what for but I was driving out at night to help out with something, and it was down pouring, and if you’ve ever driven on that road from Beach Creek to Howard at night you know that there are no street lights.

well with the combination of rain and lack of street lights and the fact that it was already dark out, I couldn’t see a thing and I was terrified I couldn’t stop praying, the only indicator that I was on the road and in my lane was the tail lights of the car in front of me and the headlights of the car in the other lane.

I remember asking God that he make the rain stop when I get on the back road to camp.

and sure enough the moment I make the turn the rain vanished into a light mist.

and it stayed that way all the way up to camp.

In fact I even walked inside with no rain, and not a minute later it was down pouring again.

God hears your prayers and he protects will protect you when you cry out to him, because that’s the kind of father he is. he hears his child cry and he picks them up and embraces them.

Write this down, God Protects Us.

Conclusion

I want to close with this, Open up to 2 Corinthians 6:18

Regardless of the parents you have here on Earth, your God in heaven is a far greater father than anything that you can and will experience here.

He loves you so much that he’s willing to discipline you that you may be Holy, and he cares for you, and he protects you.

Time and time again I see people fail to recognize God the father because they didn’t have a good father figure growing up.

But I want you to realize that this everything I just talked about, is what a father should be.

There’s a saying that I heard from John Shirey just this past Thursday that Goes like this, “People who don’t see God in their father have a difficult time seeing a father in God” So let me encourage you fathers, let your kids see God in you that they can see God as their father.

and for everybody here, let’s remember that our father who is in Heaven is an eternal father who has adopted us to be heirs with Christ.

Happy Fathers Day, Let’s pray.