Ward Cleaver has got nothing on Him!!

So, we now continue on in our quest for Truth. This week, we will be talking about (my personal favorite) God’s role as our father.

This is a tricky subject, because I know that the word “father” does not necessarily have the best connotation to some of you. Perhaps your father hasn’t been a positive figure in your life. First of all let me say that, however your earthly father treated you, it is not your fault. And no, I’m not talking to those of you who are mad at your dad right now because he grounded you for that D- in history class. I’m speaking to those of you that have been hurt, and deeply. It is especially for you that I make this next statement, although it holds true for all of us… God does parenting right. He isn’t like your earthly father, or even like mine (although I love my daddy to death!). God is the perfect definition of fatherhood… really, fatherhood as it was always meant to be.

So, ideally, what does a good father do? He picks you up when you fall and scrape your knee. He’s there with a hug when you need one and when you don’t. He is protective of you, but knows when to let you do things on your own. For girls like me, he might interview and intimidate your dates. For you boys, he might spur you on with both jibes and words of encouragement toward that right girl. Although sometimes we prefer to leave this out of our “good father” list, a good father chastises us sometimes too, and punishes us when we need it. Does he do this out of rage, or because he gets some sick sense of pleasure from it? No! He does it to make us better people, to realize that things in life have consequences, and to keep us from getting hurt. Also to this end, a good father sets a list of rules.

God is all this to us and more. Is it always in a physical sense? As we discussed last week, no. But we also showed last week that He could give us comfort when we needed it, and I have a few times mentioned God-hugs. It says in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Think He has nothing to do with who you want to go out with? Think again! Titus chapter two gives God’s criteria of a godly young man and woman (I think I shall have to do a study on that one day). That is a tight list, and maybe holds a higher standard for your love interests than you or your earthly father do.

And, as we know, God does chastise and punish us. Bolts of lightning aren’t generally the norm, but convicting words of a sermon are. Maybe He gives a little nudge on your heart every once in a while. Maybe you are just straight up feeling guilty. All these are methods of chastisement and bringing our sin to attention. Often, punishment is simply the natural occurrence of things in the world. Drink and drive? You might kill someone, or yourself. Sleep around? You might get pregnant, or contract an STD. Stay up all night playing Rockband and don’t study for a big test? You might just flunk. This is NOT karma, people! It’s natural action and consequence. Karma is slapping someone in the face, then tripping over a rug the next day and hurting yourself. Action and consequence is slapping someone in the face, then getting beaten up. And no, Karma is not real, I am not advocating it. Just thought I would clarify.

ANYWAY, the point of all this is that God fulfills all the functions of what a father ought to do.

There is more to it than that, however. This series is all about relationship, right? God doesn’t just fulfil the functions of a father... God is our Daddy. At least to me, ‘Daddy’ is more personal than ‘Father’. I mean, how many of you walk up to your dad and say, “Good afternoon, Father. I hope you are well?” I’m more likely to run up to my dad, kiss him on the cheek and say, “Yo, padre! What up!” We don’t have to have a stiff, distant relationship with God. God is close, He is there, He is real. He is someone we can be totally comfortable with, and there is no reason to stand on form. I think now of my own earthly father, and the teasing he often endures from me. In fact, me and some friends from youth group wrote a song a few years back about his lack of hair and advancing age (gosh that was funny! We still sing it from time to time). I don’t fear to throw a few jokes his way, because we have that sort of relationship and closeness. God is the same way.

When I hear the word ‘Daddy’ I also think of a child’s love and trust. How does a child love? Simply, purely, innocently… the love of a child is so precious. It is for this reason that Jesus says in Mark 10:15, “I promise you that you cannot get into God's kingdom, unless you accept it the way a child does”. Our Daddy cares for us and provides for us as though we were children, and we need to love Him as such, albeit with the understanding and knowledge that comes in our later years.

So, the weekly question… I know you are thinking it! “What makes you think that God would want to be that to us? Where did He ever promise us this?” Many places, actually.

1 John 3:1- See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!
Psalm 68:5- Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
Psalm 89:26- He will cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation!
John 20:17- …but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
Romans 1:7- To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 8:6- But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him.
Ephesians 4:4-6- There is…one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17- Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, 17 comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.
Hebrews 12:7- As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?

God wants to have a close, parental relationship with you. This wasn’t achieved on a whim… Before Adam and Eve first sinned, they had that perfect, unadulterated relationship with God. After they disobeyed Him, however, that relationship was broken and sin separated us from God. God spent the next few thousand years weaving a plan to restore that relationship… that plan was His son, Jesus. So great was His love for us, and so potent was His desire to be reunited with us in fellowship once more that He sent His Son whom He loved to bridge that gap. Jesus came willingly, knowing what He would endure upon the cross and dreading it, but loving us enough that He would bear it. I can not imagine anyone loving me so much that they would allow their own child to die for me. He brought me, a rebellious, petty, self-centered and imperfect little girl into His arms to be His child, though his true Son suffered mightily for it. It was for you too, you know.

For too long we have been Fatherless and orphaned in the world… now the King of Kings is standing there with the adoption papers all filled out, just waiting for your signature. So… will you sign?