Good morning, Saylorville! If you brought a copy of Scripture with you this morning, you can find, for starters at least, Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, as we continue in our series, We Believe, and we are talking today about our Father in heaven.
Let me ask you as we get going, have you ever heard a statement from someone so… so captivating, so riveting, so stunning, maybe even shocking, that you couldn’t remember anything else they said after they made that statement, although they might have said a lot?
Just the other day, I attended the ceremony that was honoring one of our soldiers who had been given a great responsibility. Actually, I should say he already had a great responsibility … a much greater responsibility. And I’ll be candid. For about a week or two, I debated if I was going to be able to make it. I had very busy schedule, but earlier that morning that very soldier’s superior officer said in a meeting that I was in, and I quote, “It takes 18 to 20 years to develop a soldier of his rank and experience.” When I heard that, I thought, “I’m going to that ceremony!” I don’t remember anything else that superior officer said. I just remember, “It takes 18 to 20 years to develop this kind of man,” and the man was sitting right across from me at the time.
I think that’s probably how Joseph and Mary were thinking. If you’ll recall, when Jesus was 12 years old, they make their way to the temple. And back in those days, men would travel on their own. The women would travel on their own. But because… if you’ve read the Luke account you might wonder, how did both Mary and Joseph… are they that irresponsible that they don’t know where their kid is? But at 12 years old, you’re right at the cusp of becoming a man, and it’s very possible that Mary assumed he was with Joseph and the men, and Joseph might have assumed that Jesus was with the women. Either way, you know what happens, many of you. They find him in the temple confounding all of these leaders! And so they look at him and they’re completely incredulous! And they… ‘Jesus, do you not realize we’ve been looking for You?’ — and His answer is, ‘I have to be about My… My Father’s business.’ I don’t think Mary and Joseph heard another word that came out of His mouth, because I’m just… I’m trying to… My Father’s business.’ I mean, His earthly dad is standing right there! I’m just envisioning Mary looking over and saying, ‘Hey Joe, did you contract something with the temple while we were here? I mean, what’s He talking about?’ So stunning! Now, fast forward 18 years. Jesus is now thrust into the public eye, and He has gathered His 12 disciples and He has ascended to a mountain, and He’s begun to teach them and… The crowds are coming in along the way, and He’s teaching all the most famous sermon of all time, the Sermon on the Mount. And in the very middle of it, He takes on the subject of prayer. And He says in Matthew chapter 6, when you pray: verse 9
Matthew 6:9-13
verse 9 “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven…’ (I’m telling you right now, I’m not sure they heard any of the rest of this prayer. But we’ll say it anyway) ‘hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
I wonder how stunned those disciples were when they heard Jesus’ opening line, ‘When you pray, pray, our Father in heaven…”
The Roman world of that day, the Greco-Roman world, and even in the Jewish world, deities, the gods, or even the one true Yahweh God, was so awesome, and He is awesome. He’s so untouchable, and He was untouchable. He was distant. He was uncaring. He was impersonal… none of which were true. But to call this God “Father” would have been shocking, absolutely shocking to His disciples! To speak of Him in such a personal, such a warm, such a family and access kind of way would have been unthinkable! No one ever said in a prayer in the Old Testament to God, no one ever calls Him ‘my Father…’ ever. Now, He’s referred to as the Father of Israel, the nation, but not in a personal way. This changed everything… or I should say, Jesus changed everything, because Jesus refers to God as His Father no less than 60 times! In fact, it was so natural for Him to do so…
Remember when He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 11? You know, they’re gettin’ ready, they’re gettin’, They’re gonna roll back that stone, and there’s just all this drama. He’s been dead for four days, and blah, blah, blah. And just before Jesus says, ‘Lazarus! come forth,’ [John 11:43b] there’s a little parenthetical moment there where Jesus just stops and says:
John 11:41b-42
41b, ‘Father, I thank you that you hear Me.’
42 I mean, I know that you always hear Me, but I’m praying this so that everybody around me knows you’re hearing Me and that you sent Me.’
It’s just a very natural thing for Jesus to refer to God as His Father. And now God has never changed.
Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord, I do not change…”
He is an immutable God. He never mutates. He doesn’t change. But the way that God has revealed Himself to us has changed in so much as He has revealed to us in Christ as a personal Father, and Jesus’ coming is what changed all that. I mean, after all, Jesus is the eternal Son of God, necessitating Him always… having a Father.
And so, this begs the question, and thus our outlined for this morning, what does the Fatherhood of God mean to us? What does it mean to you? Well, it means that as Father… He created you. Here’s how our creed puts it.
We believe in God the Father who created everything from nothing. He rules with wisdom and power and love. He is holy, just, merciful and kind. He gives life and every good gift, (because every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, right? — from the Father of Lights) He gives life and every good gift. He is in control of every nation and every moment. Everything exists by His will and for His glory.
… and all God’s people said, [Amen.]
That is a glorious confession. In Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 right out of the shoot, God says:
Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God (what?) created the heavens in the earth.”
Now all the way… and he starts to enumerate all those things that He starts to create in those six days. And in verse 26, God says:
Genesis 1:26b, “Let us make man in our (own) image.”
Let us make… let us create. Us, our triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, the words from our creed, “… the Father who created…” “We believe in Him as the Father who created everything,” has troubled some, perhaps some of you. And it begs the question, which person of the Godhead, Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, created? Was it the Father who created all things as our creed states? — was it the Son? — or was it the Holy Spirit? And the answer is… Yes. The Son did and I alluded to it last week. Remember:
John 1:1,3
1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
3 All things, (verse three) were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
That’s talking about Jesus. All things were made, (dia) through Him. And then in Colossians in Chapter One, the Apostle Paul says:
[Colossians 1:16] “By Him all things were created.”
Same word, “dia.” The word means to be “by” or “through.” And that’s part of the key to all of this. Let me give you what I think… I could go to several passage, but I’m gonna give one, because it’s a haymaker; First Corinthians chapter eight and verse six. Look at this.
1 Corinthians 8:6
“Yet for us there is one God, (what?) the Father, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, (watch this) through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
So there you have it. Some would say, ‘Well, where does the Spirit of God get involved in all of this?’ Well, you saw right… well, you didn’t see it, but I alluded to it in Genesis 1:1. The very next verse says:
[Genesis 1:2] ‘And the Spirit [of God] was hovering over this mass of what God was creating.’
But Job, chapter 33 in verse 4 says, this of the Holy Spirit. It says:
Job 33:4, “The Spirit of God has made me, (has created me) and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
In fact, there’s another scripture I wanna share with you from Psalm 104, verse 30. He’s talking to God, praying to God when he says:
Psalm 104:30
“When You sent forth Your Spirit, they were created…”
Created. So the Son was involved in Creation, the Spirit was involved in Creation and there was the Father overseeing it all. Let me illustrate.
Today, as was mentioned… and you clapped, and rightly so… is the beginning of the 9th church in the Engage Network. Hallelujah! Amen? Today! Now, those eight church planters love to rib me. They love to say things like, ‘You’ve not planted one church,’ to which I always respond, ‘You’re right. I planted eight of ’em!” Now, of course, that’s not true… not exactly. But it is true that it all began right here at Saylorville Church. Let me better illustrate this. Who built… we’ve had many building projects over the years. Who built the Saylorville Family Life…? The most ambitious one was double our size and footprint with the Saylorville Family Life Center. Who built that? Well, who built that? Wait, we say, ‘I built that.’ We often… sometimes say… You might even, as a congregant, as a member of the church, you might have… you know, ‘We built…’ You’ll say those kinds of things. Who’s ‘we?’ Who creates a building anyway? You think about all the characters that are involved in building it. You’ve got an architect. He could say, ‘I built it.’ You’ve got an engineer who could say, ‘I built it.’ You could you have a project manager who could say, ‘I built it.’ You’ve got the contractor. That’s the dude swingin’ the hammer. That’s four different individuals who could say, ‘I built it,’ and legitimately so. But you’re missing something… No. We’re missing someone. There’s the owner. Without the owner, there’s no project, much less a building. Amen?
While all three members of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, were involved in creation, the Father owns it all. In fact, I wrote this down. I’m gonna go to it. I… put it up there for… I could… maybe I’ll put it up for the next service. In first Corinthians chapter 15, in verse 24… I love this! Verse 24 is talking about the resurrection, all that it imports, and then in verse 24:
1 Corinthians 15:24
24 “Then comes the end, when He (the Son) delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.”
It’s all handed over to the owner of it all, Father God. So we can boldly say, We believe in God the Father who created everything from nothing. Can I get an Amen?
What does the Fatherhood of God mean? It means… it means just that. It means that God as a Father created you. So secondly, it means that as a Father, He’s close to you. Now, God is both… what we say in theology… He’s both transcendent and He’s imminent. “Transcendent” means He’s above everything. He’s beyond everything. He’s great. He’s glorious. He’s powerful. Left to Himself, He’d be untouchable. In His holiness, He’s otherly. But God is not just transcendent. He is imminent, and by “imminent” we mean He is… close. He’s interested in you. He’s interested in your life right now, right now, right this second. He’s interested in your life. He’s interested in your loves. He’s interested in your interests, in your joys. He’s interested in your sorrows. He’s interested in everything about you. And there’s one verse of scripture which I love, which sort of encapsulates both the transcendency and imminency of God. It’s in Isaiah chapter 57 and verse 15. It says:
Isaiah 57:15
15 “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity (That’s His transcendence) whose name is Holy: (right? Behold, look at this) “I dwell in the high and holy place, (Aren’t you glad it doesn’t end there? — because that’s His transcendence) and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
I was meditating on this verse one day and I wrote this, I wrote:
“God has two homes; the highest heaven and the humblest heart.” Pat Nemmers
That was virtually unthought of back in Jesus’ day. So when He said “Our Father in heaven…” He brought God down!
In Acts chapter 17, the Apostle Paul is on Mars Hill… I’ve been to this very spot… and he was dealing with all the intellectuals of the day; philosophers, the Stoics, the Epicureans, and he was developing in an apologetic for God. These individuals, these polytheists who believed in multiple gods that were distant and completely unattached from humanity. And in the middle of it all as he was concluding his argument, the Apostle Paul said:
Acts 17:27b, “[God’s] actually not far from each of us.”
Have you ever read that? He’s actually not far from each of us. In fact, He’s not far from you and He might be really, really near to you right now. There was a time in Mark chapter 12 where Jesus has someone interact. It takes a great interest in God like some of you. You have an interest in God, but you’re not quite there. And Jesus said to this person:
Mark 12:34b, “You’re not far from the kingdom of God.”
Now that meant that they weren’t in the kingdom of God, but they were right on the cusp where some of you might be right now. I want to give to you the closeness of God. He’s interested in you as an individual. That’s why the Apostle Paul would say later on after he entered into the kingdom of God:
[Galatians 2:20] ‘I’m crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.’
Very, very personal because God is very, very close.
A couple of months ago, as we entered into our sabbatical, my wife and I went to Germany, and we hung out with our missionaries, the Rudolphs. It was an amazing opportunity! We held Bible studies and we met with 25 church planters, and on two separate occasions we met in the home of the Rudolphs with a number of lost people who were interested… like some of you, near but not in the kingdom of God. And a couple of them, they were just so close. My wife… we were dialoguing for a couple of hours, and I thought one of them was going to cross over right there! They didn’t… but just the other day, in the space of one week, the two that we went back and forth with, both crossed over! They are no longer near the kingdom. They are in the kingdom of God! Hallelujah! And the Fatherhood of God means that He is close to you, and some of you are near, but not in. Maybe today will be the day you walk in, huh?
Thirdly, the Fatherhood of God means that as a Father, He cares for you. He cares for you. God’s fatherhood is directly connected to what we call in theology, common grace. Every human being born into this world experiences common grace, the ability to breathe, to… the ability to think, the ability to work, you get sun, you get rain, you have health, you have the ability to fight off sicknesses. These are all common graces that our good Father, who cares for us, who cares for all humanity, gives to us. You should thank God daily for His common grace. You get it and so does the man, so does the woman who doesn’t know God.
But if you know God, you have… we’re told in 1 Peter 5 that you should:
1 Peter 5:6-7
6 ‘Humble yourself under, under the mighty hand of God so that He might lift you up and do time. And then (watch this)
7 casting all of your anxieties upon Him. (And the reason?) because He (what? He) cares for you.”
God cares. And sometimes we wonder, don’t we? But He does care. He cares for us so much, He’s willing to discipline His own. In fact, in Hebrews, in the book of Hebrews chapter 12… I think we’re gonna put this up for you here… You have these words beginning in verse 7.
Hebrews 12:6-10
7 “It is for discipline…”
6 (by the way, verse 6 says) ‘Whom the Lord loves, He disciplines and scourges every son whom He receives.’
7 (Verse 7 says) “It is for discipline that you that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there, whom his father does not discipline (rhetorical question, although I’ll come back to that)
8 “If you are left without discipline,” (you become absolutely impossible to live with! That’s not what it says, but I’m just adding that in there) “in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they dis… (that’s our earthly fathers) they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, (what a line!) but He disciplines us for our (what? for) our good…”
As a good Father, He cares enough to discipline you. I mean, nothing says, ‘Look out!’ — like an individual never disciplined, released into the world! They’re entitled. They’re narcissistic, often petulant in their adulthood. I mean, check the Instagram post… check some of yours! Some of us right now are literally inviting the disciplinary hand of God into our life by a narcissistic way of life, a self-absorbed kind of life. God wants us to be absorbed with Him. Our Father cares so much for you who know Him He will do whatever it takes to put you back into the center of His will, whatever it takes.
I met with somebody just the other day who told the most amazing story of what God had to do… and he began to weep as he told the story… to put him back into place. It’s one of the very first lessons I learned as a brand new Christian as I went out to the corners of John Deere, the Tractor Works. I was a Christian for about two weeks, and I went out to smoke some dope with a guy… and I got caught! I knew where every nook and cranny… I never came close to getting caught. But now I was God’s… and it was His way of saying, ‘You’re not getting away with it anymore.’
Now you might be learning that lesson right now, some of you. If you’re learning that lesson, then you need to say with Spurgeon, you need to get here where he says:
“I’ve learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.” Spurgeon
Why? Because He cares for you. That’s why. So that’s all about being the fatherhood of God.
One more thing, the fatherhood of God means that as a father, He loves you. Now that very designation, “Father,” speaks of love. And I realize that’s not entirely true of everyone, but it should be because first John 4:8, God is what? God is love and his earthly fathers were designed… we were designed to epitomize His love.
My dad was tough. He was stern. Sometimes he was a harsh disciplinarian. I feared my dad at times, but I never doubted his love for me. When I qualified… when I was in the tournament to qualify to go to State for wrestling, (greatest sport of all times!) my father was sick and could not come. That was the hardest tournament I ever wrestled with my entire life. It took everything within me to qualify for the State Wrestling Tournament. And I did, but his absence left me empty. I still qualified, and the very next week, he was better, and he made it to the State competition to watch me wrestle in the State Wrestling Tournament! Good thing, too… because I lost. My dreams were shattered! I couldn’t imagine ever feeling any lower the rest of my life. What a foolish kid I was. But my dad didn’t chastise me for being a foolish kid. He knew I was really down, and he came up to me. My head was bowed. I saw his feet and he touched my shoulder. And I literally felt his love.
Years later when my wife died in my arms, in the days that would follow, I would experience my Heavenly Father’s love in a similar but much deeper way. I wept myself to sleep for about a month straight on the couch. And one night I was crying, and I literally sat up and I literally… out loud I said, “Nemmers, get a grip on yourself!” — and it was like God, Himself, spoke to me in that moment. He said, “I’ve got a grip on you. I’m not going anywhere. I love you.”
Last week I got a little note from a little girl in our church who told me that she loved me, and she said, “I wish you were in my family.” And then she said, “I’m leaving room on the other side so you can write it back to me.” So I did… and I told her that I loved her. But I said, “I’m already in your family… if you know Jesus.”
Listen, follower of Jesus, God will never divorce you from His family or His love. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through. It does not matter. He will never leave you or forsake you. [Deuteronomy 31:6] He’ll never abandon you, even at your lowest place in life. What shall separate us from the love of God? Shall famine or persecution or nakedness? I am convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, love of God which is in Christ Jesus, Amen? [Romans 8:35-39]
I would go on to break my dad’s heart on many occasions after that day and before. I broke his heart when I got caught smoking on the campus. Yeah, I know. When I got arrested for shoplifting, when I moved in with my girlfriend, I broke his heart. And when I broke ranks with his religion, I really broke his heart. But he never quit loving me. My father loved me with a lifelong love. But my Heavenly Father loves me with an eternal love, because I’m in His family. And if you know Him, you are too. Are you in His family so that you can say, ‘Abba, Father, Daddy’ through the closeness, through the care, through the love? You know the verse: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever, (because He’s close and because you’re near) “whoever believes in Him will not perish but have ever lasting life.” [John 3:16] Would you believe in Him today? You won’t have to be near the kingdom. You’ll be in it. No. You’ll be in the family. Let’s pray.
Our Father, that’s our prayer this morning, that we would know You as Father God, and all Your greatness and power, all Your glory and majesty, all Your holiness and justice, but also as a God who loves us who is merciful and kind, the God who is close and cares, the one who is near. And will take those of us who are near… and that’s you right now, some of You right now, you’re near the kingdom of God, but you’re not there, would you like to be in? Would you like to be in right now? Would you believe that God’s Son, Jesus, (who we’ll hear more of next week) loved you and died for you? Would you believe that with all of your heart, for your sins, he died for you and rose again? Would you ask Him something really simple like, ‘Lord Jesus, I don’t understand it all, but I believe the Father sent you. I know that I’m a sinner. I want eternal life. Will you come into my life and save me today and place me into Your kingdom, into Your family?’ Could you pray that? Would you pray that? And for those of us who are in the family, rejoice and revel in the everlasting love of God! We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.