Sermon Synopsis for June 15, 2008

“Our Heavenly Father” Matthew 6:9

Maybe you heard …
A little girl was sitting in her grandfather's lap as he read her a story. From time to time, she would take her eyes off the book and reach up to touch his wrinkled cheek. By and by she was alternately stroking her own cheek, then his again.

Finally she spoke, "Granddaddy, did God make you?""Yes, sweetheart" he answered, "God made me a long, long time ago."

"Oh,” she said, then "Granddaddy, did God make daddy too?"
"Yes" he assured her. "God made your daddy some time ago."

"Oh,” she said, then "Granddaddy, did God make me too?"
"Yes, indeed honey" he assured her. "God made you just a little while ago."

"Oh" she said. Feeling their respective faces again, she observed, "God's getting better at it now isn't he?"

I have a question for you.
How’s your relationship with your father?

Maybe you’re father’s dead, or left you, or you never knew him, but just the same it’s a question you need to answer.

JESUS STARTS HIS MINISTRY
Early in his ministry, Jesus set-out his position; that way anyone who wanted to follow knew what they were getting into.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is baptized, he’s tempted, he calls his disciples, he goes on a preaching / teaching / healing tour and then when the crowds are growing he makes it clear what the terms are for being a follower of his.

Matthew Chapters 5-7 is known as The Sermon on the Mount preached by Jesus to his followers.

In this sermon Jesus refers to God as “your Father,” “your heavenly Father,” and “your Father in heaven.”

He is telling the people that God is …. their father.

HOW IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FATHER?
Some people don’t or didn’t have a good relationship with their father.
Some had no relationship.

Donald Miller, in his book, “Blue Like Jazz” (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003), is a young adult trying to make sense of the Christian faith

“Today I wonder why it is God refers to Himself as ‘Father’ at all. This, to me, in light of the earthy representation of the role, seems a marketing mistake. Why would God want to call Himself Father when so many fathers abandon their children?” (Miller, p.4)

“My father left my home when I was young, so when I was introduced to the concept of God as Father I imagined Him as a stiff, oily man who wanted to move into our house and share a bed with my mother. I can only remember this as a frightful and threatening idea.” (Miller, p.1)

Father is not always a good analogy for God. The problem doesn’t lie with God … it’s with the earthly parent. Christian parents need to help their children see God. (that’s a big responsibility!)

It demands a relationship, a relationship of Love.

In that relationship, it’s the dads that should lovingly guide the children. Often a dad has to tell his children what they should do.

“If you don’t love somebody, it gets annoying when they tell you what to do or what to feel. When you love them you get pleasure from their pleasure, and it makes it easy to serve. I didn’t love God because I didn’t know God.” (Miller, p.14)

WHAT DOES THE FATHER WANT

Jesus tells the crowd that God is their Father
What does the Father want from the child?

In the Sermon on the Mount God, the Father, wants certain behavior from his children.

1. Do good works (positive things for others). “Be salt and light.” (5:16)

2. Love your enemies. This leads to being children of God (5:44-45).

3. Try to be like God (perfect) (5:48). Imitation is the best form of flattery.

4. Don’t be showy in spiritual things.
- When you do good deeds, don’t showcase them (6:1)
- When you give, do it secretly, don’t tell a lot of people (6:4)
- When you pray, do it in secret, don’t be showy about it, be sincere (6:6)
- When you fast, do it so nobody knows (6:18)

5. Be forgiving of others (6:14-15). Your heavenly father wants to forgive you and he wants you to forgive others.

6. Trust your heavenly Father for all things.
- He knows what you need (6:8; 6:32)
- He feeds the birds; you’re better than birds (6:26)
- He gives good things to us (7:11)

Bottom line – God wants to be loved, and he wants us to love others.

How is your relationship with your father?
God doesn’t want to be an absent father.

During our first missionary term in Bolivia, I traveled quite a bit. I would often take one of my daughters along with me and our Bolivian mission team.

Once when we were returning from a week in a very isolated place called Canchasmayo, we were seconds away from death in a flash flood. It was the middle of the night and I was terrified. When we finally made it home (ask me if you’re interested in the long version of the story), my wife asked my 8 year old daughter if she was afraid. She told her, “Why should I be afraid? Daddy was with me?”

Do we trust our Heavenly Father that much?

Did you ever see some fathers sitting around bragging about their children? They seem to forget the bad stuff and tell the good stuff (even embellish it some) to the others.

I like to think about God that way. I picture him sitting around telling others … “Have
you seen my boy Steve …. He’s a pretty good kid …”

Are you giving your heavenly father something to brag about?

OUR FATHER

In the midst of references to “your father,” Jesus teaches the people to pray (6:9). He tells them to pray like this … “Our Father who art in Heaven …”

God is our Father
We must all see ourselves as Children of God – It’s what binds us together, we’re related.

I never had to learn the names of some of the folks in the churches I worked with in Latin America. They simply refer to each other as “Hermana” or “Hermano” (sister or brother). They do this because they see themselves as children of God.

Jesus is our brother.
At this point Jesus includes himself (he says “our” not “your”)

JESUS’ FATHER
How do we make Jesus’ father, our father?

Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 7:21) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of MY Father who is in heaven.” (This is the only other exception to the phrase “your father” in the Sermon on the Mount)

To become the children of God … to become the brother of Jesus … we need to be obedient to our Heavenly Father (do his will).

What’s God’s will
1. Come into the family: be saved (accept Christ, invite Jesus into your heart; become a Christian, anyway we wish to word it)
2. Be a good child: obey the Father

Last Sunday was Children’s Day. It reminds me of Jesus words, “unless you become like one of these children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4)

You can’t be a Christian unless you become a child, a Child of God.

THIS FATHER’S DAY

1. Remember your earthly father

If your father left you …
Find it in your heart to forgive him.

If your father has died …
Remember those good moments and cherish the memories you had together. Share them with someone else.

If your father is around …
Do something nice for your father. Work on that relationship.

2. Remember your eternal and heavenly Father …

God will never leave you or forsake you.
God will be an ever present help in your life.

What kind of children are we?
Let’s make a commitment to work on our relationship with our heavenly Father.