Sermon: Human Fathers, a Reflection of the Heavenly Father
Bible Passage: Matthew 6:9a
Our Father Who is in the Heavens
I. Introduction
1. I do not remember anyone teaching me about fatherhood
2. I thought that fatherhood comes naturally, an instinct!
3. Soon I realized that my fatherhood was/is characterized by
a. Aggression
b. Entitlement
c. Obsession
d. Manipulation
4. By the time I became a Jesus-following father, it was already too late (no church taught me how to be a Gospel-centered father)
5. What we need is not just “fatherhood,” but “Gospel-centered fatherhood”
6. Gospel-centered fatherhood is learned from the Scripture and practiced at home
7. It is a key ingredient of Christian discipleship of men that has far reaching spiritual and social benefits
8. I wish there was a chapter/section in the Bible that systematically outlined fatherhood
9. If subjects such as Christian fatherhood is left undefined in the Bible, it should be intentional to bring out deeper spiritual significances
a. It probably is a grace of God
b. It probably is an “almost Sacramentarian” (fatherhood points to something greater than just being a father!)
10. In the Bible, though fatherhood is not outlined exhaustively, it is illustrated exhaustively
11. Did Jesus use the term “father” to convey what it humanly conveys, or He used the term “Father” to convey what this term needs to convey?
12. Do we understand God the Father from the picture of human father, or it needs to be the other way around, i.e., understand the human father from God the Father?
13. Is fatherhood a social construct?
14. In the New Testament, God self-disclosure as: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—the Revelation
15. In this great self-disclosure, God’s Fatherhood is disclosed in relation to God the Son (this is the origin of “fatherhood”)
16. Let’s see what the Son tells about the Father
a. Matthew 5:45 The Father causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous
b. Matthew 6:8 Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him
c. Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them
d. Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
e. Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care
f. Matthew 18:14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish
g. John 6:40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
h. The Son sought the Father constantly
i. Luke 5:16 After healing of the leper
ii. Luke 6:12 Selection of disciples
iii. Luke 9:29 Transfiguration
iv. Luke 22:39-46 Gethsemane
v. Luke 23:34, 46 Cross
II. Now, let’s look at what the Father tells about the Son
1. Matthew 3:17 This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased
2. Matthew 17:5 This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased
III. Let’s look at both the Father and the Son together
1. John 8:19 “If you knew me, you would know my Father also”
2. John 8:28 Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me
3. John 10:30 I and the Father are one
IV. Observations
1. Though all Three Persons in the Godhead are of the same essence/substance, the Father comes first
2. The Father is the initiator of all things: in creation, the Father creates through the agency of the Son with the enablement of the Spirit
3. In the same way, in redemption the Father sends the Son and the Son redeems by the enablement of the Spirit
4. The Father and the Son commission the Spirit in the work of sanctification
5. The Father maintains an enabling relationship with the Son and the Spirit (inner dynamics of the Trinity)
6. The Father is missional through the Son and the Spirit (the other-centered in the community, non-assertive but completely enabling)
7. The Father is accessible to the Son and the Son always longs to be with the Father
8. The Father communicates with the Son so does the Son with the Father
V. Further Observations (let’s revisit the questions we raised earlier)
1. God appears to have established the office of the father to serve in the family on behalf of Him—in other words, as the under fathers
2. In this position, just as God the Father is the human fathers need to be
3. Initiators/leaders/levites
4. Gatekeepers/protectors/God-pointers
5. Redeemers of their families
6. Communicators both speak and hear
7. The office of human fathers is not for them or culture or any extraneous situation to decide, but they need to function in a family on behalf God the Father
8. It’s not a role of convenience, but a call to fulfill in God’s family
9. A human father who does not have a vibrant imitative relationship with God the Father may not succeed in the discharge of his God-given responsibilities/call
10. Of course, human fathers can never measure up to the Heavenly Father, but He remains their role-model—they need to look vertical to function horizontal
VI. The tragedy
1. Sin has brough distortions in fatherhood—instead of providing godly leadership, fathers fail miserably in their role
2. The role of father is misused—aggression, imposition, apathetic, entitlement, and being absent
3. Due to a lack of teaching in family environment, human fathers are disrespected and dispensed, and thereby families are forced to be dysfunctional
4. There is also an intentional humanistic effort to change the role of the human father and thereby create distortions in families and societies
VII. The Remedy
1. Apply Matthew 6:10 “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”
2. God’s kingdom arrives when Jesus is invited into the lives of sinners as their Savior of their sin and helplessness
3. When a person is born again, he is able to call God the Father through Jesus
4. God the Father provides a believer the correct point of reference for how to be a father
Take Away:
Seek to know God the Father to be a kingdom father at home; you cannot be a kingdom father if you do not have a relationship with God the Father