Who's Your Daddy?
Posted: Sunday, June 21, 2009
by Mark Parsec
Wordcasters
Today we celebrate Father's Day. Some of us will honor our fathers for all of the hard work they performed through the years to provide for us. Some of us will honor our fathers for all of the sacrifices they made to protect us. And some of us will honor our fathers for their words of encouragement and acts of love.
But, some of us had fathers who we find it very difficult to honor, fathers who were cruel, or violent, or drunk, or emotionally unavailable. And some of us never even knew our fathers. For such individuals as these Fathers' Day can be a very difficult time. A time of confusion… or anger… or grief.
Yet, throughout the Old Testament and the history of the Israelites, this relationship of God as our Father was not always appreciated or understood. In fact, there are very few verses in the Old Testament which portray God as our Father. Such verses do not appear until the Psalms and Proverbs, and then again in the books of the Prophets. And, only slowly does a picture begin to emerge of a God who is not just the God of our fathers, but of a God who is our Father.
One of the first glimpses of God as our Father is provided by the Prophet Isaiah, in Chapter 9:6, when he said:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
And although the Jews understood this prophecy pertained to the coming Messiah, they seemed to miss the part about Him being the Everlasting Father.
The full revelation of God's paternal nature did not come until Jesus Christ walked the earth. No one in the Bible spoke about God as our Father more than Jesus did. And, of all the books of the Bible nowhere do we see more references to God as our Father than we do in the Gospel of John.
In fact, the Gospel of John refers to our relationship to God, as His children, in the very first chapter when it tells us:
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1:10-13)
So, you see, if we receive Him and believe in his name than we are given the right to become God's children.
But, wait a minute, you might say, aren't we all God's children? Well, yes and no. It's kind of like those people who never knew their fathers. If you claim to be a member of a baseball team but never play with the team, are you really a member of the team? If you claim to be an employee of a certain business but never go to work, are you really an employee?
So, if you have never met your father, if you know absolutely nothing about him, if you don't have a relationship with him, what kind of child does that make you? You may be genetically related, but you are not living in a relationship as father and child. That is why verse 13 above says: children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
You see, being born into a Jewish or Catholic or Baptist family does not make someone a child of God any more than wearing a fur coat makes someone an animal. Nor is someone a child of God because they "decided" they were a child of God or because their parent said they were a child of God. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is whether or not God says you are a His child… then you are "born" of God.
Now, the Jews, like many people of our day and age, had a real difficult time understanding this concept. So, Jesus had to explain it to them, which he does in John 8:34-47…
34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
39"Abraham is our father," they answered.
"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you wouldd]'> do the things Abraham did. 40As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41You are doing the things your own father does."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
42Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
You see, the Jews thought they were God's children because they were the descendants of Abraham, the keepers of the Word of God, the priests of the temple of God. But, Jesus put things into perspective for them when he said in so many words, "Who's your Daddy? The one that you love and obey is your real Daddy. You love and obey the devil, so he's your Daddy."
Jesus was emphasizing that a father/child relationship is all about relationship. How well do you relate to your Father? How comfortable are you in presence of your Father? How much do you trust your Father?
I mentioned earlier that the full revelation of God's paternal nature was not revealed until Jesus Christ walked the earth. Remember what Isaiah the prophet said? For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
The prophecy was that the Messiah would not be just the son of God, but Mighty God himself, the Everlasting Father! If this is difficult to understand, don't be discouraged. Even the disciples had trouble comprehending the true nature of Jesus Christ. But, to help them in this matter Jesus elaborated in John 14:1-10 when he said…
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God]; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."
5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
Oh, brothers and sisters, if we are to understand anything about Jesus Christ at all we must know that Jesus is the Father, the Everlasting Father. How He can be the Father and the Son is part of the mystery of the Trinity… but it is true.
And the amazing thing about this is that if we receive Him and believe Him, then we become his sons and daughters, children of our heavenly Father. The world may disown us, people may fail us and our very fathers may desert us; but He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. That is why the Apostle Paul can say,
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. (Romans 8:15-16)
"Abba, Father"… Daddy - Father!
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