“The Good Father”
Main point: The Good Father gives the gift of the Holy Spirit.
BLESSING THE CHILDREN
SERMON
Introduction
The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Prayer. Prayer is the habitat of the union we share with God. It is the environment where the life of God joins with the souls of God's children. It is the air we breathe in the spiritual life. It is the cup which holds the water for the thirsty soul. The disciples recognize it as such and ask for a lesson in prayer.
Jesus bookends his response with the word “Father.” He begins with, “Father, may your name be revered as holy,” and ends with, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Today's lesson is instruction on prayer, but that prayer is anchored in the nature and character of God. And God is shown to us as a Good Father.
Part 1: Who is God to us?
By showing God to us as a Good Father, Jesus dispels several ideas about God that are incompatible with being 1) good and 2) a father.
God is not an impersonal force that is present in the universe despite what Star Wars tells us (Sorry, Star Wars fans). God is a being.
God is not the Great Spirit in the sky despite what Norman Greenbaum tells us. God is father.
God is not neutral in his activity as one who tries to stay above the fray. God gets involved and God is good.
Just like a Good Father
Just like a Good Father - God gives good gifts to his children.
Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights in whom there is no variation or shifting shadows. James 1:17
Just like a Good Father - (this one may be a little more difficult to swallow) God doesn't abandon us when we get stuck in our sins. (What do I mean by that?) When we are stuck in patterns that lead to us becoming the worst versions of ourselves - God steps in. Sometimes when God steps in it doesn't always feel like flowers, rainbows, and warm feelings. Ex: There are times when my own children are so determined to get their own way - even when it's detrimental to their health and well-being - that I, as their father, have to match their determination with equal strength to save them from themselves.
That is why the Scriptures tell us that, Whom the Lord loves he also chastens. Hebrews 12:6
If you don't love this idea, I ask you:
What kind of a father would see their child languishing in a hell of their own making and not move to correct them? God is so good that when we in our short-sighted weakness would rather walk in patterns of death, God steps in and leads us to patterns of life.
We don't always see it as such, and even when we do see it as such we don't always want it.
Sometimes maturing out of our childhood ways feels unpleasant.
Sometimes it feels harder rather than easier.
Sometimes it feels harsh rather than gentle.
But if we begin to believe that every action of God in our lives is done in perfect love with our best interest in mind, we begin to trust that God knows better than we know. A Good Father, at times. saves us from ourselves.
