Sermon – Father’s Day: “Our Father”

Sermon – Our Father
Impact Church London
June 19th, 2022 (Father’s Day)

Recap: The Holy Spirit Reveals Divine Love: “If it seems too good to be true, then you’re just beginning to have a clue!”

Ephesians 3:19 (AMP)
“[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; …that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!”

1 John 4:8
“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Intro: Our Father

Of all the names and titles that God could have, when Jesus came to reveal God, he described God in these relational terms: “Our Father.” Not:

El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty)
El Elyon (The Most High God)
Adonai (Lord, Master)
Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah)
Jehovah Nissi (The Lord My Banner)
Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd)
Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals)
Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There)
Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness)
Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies You)
El Olam (The Everlasting God)
Elohim (God)
Qanna (Jealous)
Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide)
Jehovah Shalom (The Lord Is Peace)
Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts)

When you pray, say this “Our Father who is in heaven…” Matthew 6:9

He is all these and more, but wants to be known by you first and foremost as our Dad!
Sermon: Our Father

Father’s Day can be a tricky time… some have good and bad father experiences.

Somethings I have learned about being a son:

Some people have a hard time relating to God as Father because of their experience with their fathers, but it is always best to honour, and to assume positive intent, being generous of our interpretation of other’s input into our lives.

Genesis 9:20-27
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,“Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. 27  May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

Things I’ve learned as a father: We can honour kids in same way, and not exacerbate them by “uncovering” their errors as well. Love covers!

Colossians 3:21
“Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.”

If you have had a bad experience, or you’ve had a great one, here’s where our definition of fatherhood should come from… the clearest and most accurate depiction of the Father we have ever had… Jesus Christ himself.

John 1:18
“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

Knowing God as Father is an experience, one that Holy Spirit helps us have.

Romans 8:15
“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

God Our Father:

1. His Fatherhood is universal

Genesis 1:28
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Ephesians 3:14-15 (NLT)
“For this reason I kneel before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”

Every = πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν / pas: -all, every, the whole, every kind of

God is the origin and source of all humanity. There is something in our souls, nephesh, that is from God, and it stays there. Sin doesn’t remove it!

When Jesus said, “say Our Father,” he was essentially saying that to people who were not born again. Inviting them to recognize the fatherhood of God led to them eventually being born again, its wasn’t a prerequisite for it!

2. He is Good to all!

Matthew 5:44-45
“…I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

He is generous irrespective of your righteousness, conduct, or performance.

Psalms 145:9
“The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”

James 1:17
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

His intense goodness is always at fullness ( sundial) Gotta kick the fear of withholding out of our lives. That was a lie Satan sold Eve!

Luke 12:32
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

3. He Imparts Identity and all its rights!

John 1:12 (MSG)
“But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten.”

Galatians 4:6
“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

An example from the life of Benjamin.

Genesis 35:16-18
“Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, “Do not fear; you will have this son also.” 18 And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him [f]Benjamin.”

Benjamin’s mom as she is dying in childbirth gives him a false identity attached to their circumstances and pain. Like God our Father, Jacob intervenes, gives us new identity that is associated with our union with Jesus as he sits at the right hand ( Benjamin means son of my right hand), and with that confers on us all the right and privileges of life as a child of God.

Hebrews 1:3-4
“who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

Benjamin is a type of the offspring of God in his universal Fatherhood, who embrace grace. He got a 5 x larger portion. By grace he lived the reality and experience of being a son. As such he is a type of the church eating at God’s table, feasting on grace, fed and equipped in the church age by a functioning 5 fold ministry.

Genesis 43:33-34
“And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. 34 Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.”

We have to let people know of the FATHER and join Jesus in his mission of declaring the name of the father!

Summary

God is Our Father and he looks a lot like Jesus. It is in Jesus’ work on our behalf that we understand the heart of the Father towards us.

God is the Father of all of humanity… we have our origin in him, each of us.

He is generous to all, and it is his good pleasure to give us, all of us, the kingdom. His goodness and generosity have no limit.

God is the giver of identity, power, might and authority. He is the one who gives you your name and all the rights, power, and authority that this confers on you: Access, love, joy, peace, healing, wholeness, prosperity, needs met, purpose (vocation and ministry), relational blessings, His Spirit… to name a few!

God is good a Father who loves us, and we need not be afraid!