The Ultimate Father
Happy Father’s Day! Today I want to talk about the ultimate Father, our Father in heaven. For some of us today is a great day. We have men of God, Father’s, spiritual or physical, who have led us on a journey toward Christ and loved us and been there for us.
For others today is a hard day. It reminds us of some painful memories where we were let down by a male figure in our lives. Maybe today brings pain and difficulty instead of the celebration that others have to share. (Side note: if you don’t have a man of God in your life, there are great examples in this room. Find an older guy with a worn-out Bible in his hand and a wife that is smiling and ask him to lunch).
Regardless of which side of the spectrum you are on, this sermon on the Ultimate Father, our Father in Heaven, should bring us great encouragement and perspective. He is everything we need in a Father and all we could ever ask for. And whether our image of a father needs to be repaired or whether we see our heavenly Father in our own story, we need to look no further than our Father in heaven. He is the ultimate Father, who can provide all that we need in this life.
I also want to say this morning that the Father we are describing this morning is the God of the Bible. If you hear some things that you don’t think about your heavenly Father or know about him, you might have a different Father. We all have a father that we reflect in how we live. The term “like father like son” comes to mind. We ought to reflect the qualities that we talk about this morning in our heavenly Father.
A Present Father
Statistics paint a picture of what happens when a father isn’t present. 1 in 4 children today don’t have a father present in the home (some more recent statistics are as high as 1 out of 3 children). 1 in 4 in America is 17.8 million kids, enough to fill NYC twice, or LA four times over.
Children living without a father are 47% more likely to live in poverty. Teenage girls without a father have a 7 times greater risk of teen pregnancy. Children without fathers make up 85% of incarcerated youth, 90% of homeless and runaways, 85% of children with behavioral disorders, and 71% of high school dropouts. They have higher rates of depression, substance abuse, and divorce. We have a father problem in this country. Where are the men? More importantly, where are the men of God? They are simply not present.
In opposition of this painful reality is another one: God is our ever-present father, especially, in times of trouble. Where do we look? What do we strive for? Our Father, in heaven, is a present one. He isn’t an old guy in the sky with no desire to know you or be involved in your life, he is intimately present and deeply aware of who you are.
Your heavenly father is present and available any time that you need him. I love Jeremiah 33:3, “call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” I call my dad every day, and he answers. I also call my heavenly father, every day, and he answers.
You are not alone. You don’t have to walk through your season alone. Wisdom comes from God and he wants to give it to you (James 1:5), we don’t have to fear because he is with us and will hold us with his righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10), and nothing is impossible for your Father (Luke 1:37). He is our Father, and he is here, will you turn to him today? Will you rest in that reality and truth?
A Protective Father
7 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Why is this repeated? Because it is important! Good rule of thumb, if the Bible or the Pastor repeats something, it’s important. The first thing to notice in these verses is this: The Lord, Our Father, is the LORD of hosts. That means when I tell you that your father is protective, that means he has more power than just guns.
I remember when my sister brought her first boyfriend home, Dad got all the guns out so we could clean them. We haven’t cleaned them all and set them all out like that in YEARS. But we suddenly had to clean them.
Your Father in heaven is the LORD of angel armies. The power by which he can protect you is so far beyond your understanding and scope of reality. We often find so much comfort in money, houses, food, electricity, guns… physical provision. When we need to stop and think about spiritual provision and protection. This is far more important. This kind of protection is the only kind of protection that really matters.
Matthew 10:28 Jesus said, and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
This is a keen reminder of what truly matters and is truly at stake. Your Father has no problem protecting you physically, but he also can spiritually. Heeding his wisdom, following his path, allowing him to be Lord is a great place to start. He is a fortress: a fortified place, a large permanent fortified structure that provides defense and security. A place to turn to when trouble and strife are present in your life.
Isn’t it nice that is available to you? I want my son and daughter to know that their daddy can protect them. I want them to feel safe and supported, and that nothing will happen to them as long as their dad is around. Well, we already learned that God is always around, but he is also able to protect and uphold us.
A Powerful Father
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
Let me translate this into the Pastor Jordan translation: settle down and realize who your Dad is for a minute. We all know that in this world there are unfortunate situations where people in power aren’t held in check and get special rights and privileges. Both sides of the aisle my friends. It is time for you to sit back and realize who your daddy is and what rights and privileges you have for knowing him.
He will be exalted among the nations and all people. Philippians 2:10-11, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Revelation 22:12-13, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Do you know who your God is??? If you did, you would be able to be still. That is the point of verse 10, we can’t be still until we KNOW God. Doesn’t it sound nice to be still? Wouldn’t that be great? To just once settle down and kick back during an election year and be still? To look at your finances and be still? To look at your kids you worry about and just be still? To go to your frustrating job and be still?
Well, the only path to being still is knowing God. That’s it! No other path, no other way, you have to KNOW your God. And if you don’t, you will never know how to be still. Peace is a fruit of the… Spirit. Jesus is the prince of… Peace. Don’t you see? Can’t you tell where that comes from? No other name, no other place, no other religion or politician or retirement plan, it is through your Father in heaven! You must know that your God is powerful, and he will fight for you, you only need to be still.
Conclusion
I don’t know what kind of father you had, but I know there is the best one in heaven. Everything you need in this life can come from him. But you must make him your father, not a father of your own making or something else entirely. It must only be him, the God of the Bible, the true God of the universe.
He is a present father. He will never leave you or forsake you. When you go through it, he goes through it with you. He celebrates your highs and stands with you through your lows. No matter what happens, where you go, or what you do, God is going to be present in your life.
He is a protective father. He isn’t going to let the world have its way with you. He won’t ever let you be tempted beyond what you can handle (1 Cor. 10:13), and he is going to fight for you, you just need to be still (Exodus 14:14). He’s got your back, move forward into who God has called you to be.
And lastly, he is a powerful father. He backs up protection with power. You can bank on God. David says in Psalm 37:25, I was once young but now I am old, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken or begging for bread. He has the power and ability to meet all of your needs. Physical, spiritual, emotional or otherwise, your father in heaven has the power to back it up.
Whatever you need your father in heaven to be today, he is it. We just simply need to turn to him and stop turning to anything else. He is the way the truth and the life, and there is no other place to turn for true fulfillment and wholeness.