REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Repeat the verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb. 10:14)
FLIP CHART: John Stott’s outline of SOM.
INTRODUCTION
“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Mt. 6:1-4).
OUTLINE FOR THIS SECTION:
1. Ancient Societies’ View of God as Father
2. Our Present Day View of god as Father
3. Calling God Father – The Practice of Jesus
4. The Implications of God Being Our Father
5. How Our “Dear Heavenly Father” is Portrayed in SOM
In the weeks ahead we will look at several comparisons, links, bridges between chapter 5 and chapter 6 but right now, here is what Martin Lloyd-Jones has to say:
We have been looking at the Christian and told something of his characteristics, how he is to behave in society, and what God expects of him in his relationship to others. Now “… this section presents a picture of the children in relationship to their Father as they wend their way on this pilgrimage of life” (MLJ, 9)
GOD, OUR DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER
I. ANCIENT SOCIETIES’ VIEW OF GOD AS FATHER
The Greeks might refer to “Father Zeus” but it was in a national sense, not a personal sense. It was like a king being called the father of his country. “Father Zeus” really didn’t care much for mankind.
ILL: The most significant Greek legend of the gods is the legend of Prometheus. Prometheus was a god. It was in the days before men possessed fire; and life without fire was a cheerless and comfortless thing. In pity Prometheus took fire from heaven and gave it as a gift to men. Zeus, the king of the gods, was mightily angry that men should receive this gift. Se he took Prometheus and chained him to a rock in the middle of the Adriatic Sea, where he was tortured with the heat and thirst of the day, and the cold of the night. Even more, Zeus prepared a vulture to tear out Prometheus’ liver, which always grew again, only to be torn out again.” (Barclay, 201).
God is referred to as “Father” 14 times in the OT but never in a personal sense. It designates his relationship to Israel.
David says in Ps. 103:13, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” Isaiah writes, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father” (Isa. 64:8). You don’t see individual Israelites addressing God as “My Father.” So God is the “Creator-Ruler-Father” in the OT. You can’t find one verse where a person prays to God as “Dear Father.”
II. OUR PRESENT-DAY VIEW OF GOD AS FATHER
“Father, the dearest, sweetest name
That men or angels know.
Fountain of life that had no fount,
From which itself could flow.”
(Frederick William Faber ( June 28, 1814 – September 26, 1863), British hymn writer and theologian, was born at Calverley, Yorkshire, where his grandfather, Thomas Faber, was vicar.)
Some people have a very difficult time calling God “Father” because their own father only caused them pain and grief due to either desertion, abuse or neglect.
“Father” is not a dear and sweet name to everyone but almost everyone can spot at least one good quality in their father.
READING: Donald Miller, although he only saw his father a few times as a child developed some vivid memories. Read starting with the last paragraph on page 2 to the fourth paragraph on page 4.
“Today I wonder why it is God refers to Himself as “Father” at all. This, to me, in the light of the earthly representation of the role seems a marketing mistake. Why would God want to call Himself Father when so many fathers abandon their children?” (Blue Like Jazz, Pgs. 2-4)
QUESTION: What positive characteristics did Donald Miller see in his father?
ACTIVITY: Have each table compile a list of the best characteristics of a Father by each person sharing one or two of the best characteristics of their Father. One characteristic of my father was – dependable, you could count on him.
FLIP-CHART: List the conclusions of each table on the flip-chart. Go around the tables twice if necessary.
III. CALLING GOD FATHER – THE PRACTICE OF JESUS
Jesus only addressed God as “Father” and in the four Gospels he uses “Father” 60 times in reference to God. Jesus’ use of Father is so striking that some scholars maintain this to be the main difference between the Old and New Testaments. (See Hughes, 155)
William Barclay writes, “It might well be said that the word Father used of God is a compact summary of the Christian faith.” (Barclay, 200).
While the Bible is translated in Greek and the Greek word for father is pater, most scholars believe that Jesus used the Aramaic word Abba when calling God Father. In fact Abba is even transliterated into the English versions in Mark 14:36 which refers to Jesus praying in Gethsemane.
What is amazing is that the term Jesus used for Father is not the formal term but Abba, the common Aramaic word a child would use when addressing his father. Abba was the word Jesus used to address his father Joseph and the word he wants us to use when praying to God.
Abba means something like “daddy” but has a more reverent touch to it. The best rendering is “Dearest Father.” (Hughes, 155)
Similar words: daddy, papa.
READING: Have someone read John 17: 1, 5, 11, 21, 24, 25 where Father is used.
The impulse and ability to call God Father in a personal, Biblical sense comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in our heart.
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children (Romans 8:15-16).
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6).
When we pray and say “Our Abba” we are using the exact same word that fell from the lips of Jesus when he prayed. When we pray do we say “Our Father,” “Our dearest Father.” Is a sense of God’s intimate Fatherhood profound and growing in our lives?” (Hughes, 156)
As Martin Lloyd-Jones said, chapter six focuses on our relationship with God. In this chapter alone Jesus refers to God as dearest Father or Abba 12 times.
One thing we must be careful of is a flippant and irreverent approach to God.
ILL: I was in a men’s Bible Study when one of the men praying kept referring to God as “Daddy.” For me it is hard to pray to God as “Daddy.”
In the Lord’s prayer Jesus teaches us to pray by saying, “Our Father (Abba) in heaven.” This helps us combine the familiarity of Abba while still holding God in reverential awe.
Jesus provides a remedy to both errors (treating God as a celestial teddy bear or as a distant, unapproachable monarch) with his opening words in the disciple’s prayer, “Our Father in heaven.” “Father” stresses his immanence – – that is, that he is involved in our lives and is to be intimately approached as Abba. “In heaven” stresses God’s transcendence. Sovereign and reigning, he surpasses all that is human. He is our Father and our King! We can affectionately call him “Abba,” “Dearest Father,” but we do it with a deep sense of wonder and reverence.” (Hughes, 158).
IV. THE IMPLICATIONS OF GOD BEING OUR FATHER
“All fathers learn their craft from Thee;
All loves are shadows cast
From the beautiful eternal hills
Of Thine unbeginning past.” (F. Faber)
FLIP-CHART: Go over the list. Ask what characteristics of God as our “Dearest Father” are intimated in the list?
Being able to Call God Abba, Dearest Father, Gives a Sense of Intimacy
Referring to God as Sovereign Lord, God Almighty, or God emphasizes his transcendence but does not communicate his immanence, the fact that he is near.
Being able to call God “Dearest Father” reminds us that God is close and that he hears and is sensitive to our heart’s cry.
Calling God Abba, Dearest Father Accents His Presence and That He is a Person / Personal, Cures Our Loneliness
He is not like a human father, who abandons his children.
READING: I Dared Call Him Father Pages 48-49, 51-53 when Bilquis Sheikh discovered that she could call God “Father.”
Calling God Abba, Dearest Father Reminds us that God loves us.
The first word that fell from the lips of the Prodigal Son was “Dearest Father.”
“Dearest Father, Abba” are words that are prayed with loving hearts because the very terms remind us of a pure love for us.
ILL: Muslims are very opposed to calling God “Father.” At the last ISI Christmas Celebration I shared with a Muslim student from Arabia and told him that Christians call themselves children of God because God is their father. He reminded me that he did not feel comfortable calling God father. I asked him, if for some reason he had to leave the USA and return to Jordan without telling his father, how would he be received if he entered his father’s house? Would he stand outside and be afraid to enter the house? He said no, that he would enter immediately. I said why would he be so free to enter the house. He said that it is the house of his father and that his father loves him. I said, “Yes, and that is why Christians call God Father. It is because we know He loves us.
READING: “The ‘child-Abba’ understanding brings wholeness to spiritual life. First, it brings a sense of being loved. Missionary Everett Fullam was a missionary to a remote tribe of people in the interior of Nigeria. The tribe was isolated and had never heard the word Africa much less America. They had a pagan, pre-scientific view of creation, so simplistic that when Fullam mentioned to the chief the recent phenomenon of two Americans walking on the moon, the old chief looked hard into Fullam’s face, then up to the moon, and exclaimed in an angry tone, “There’s nobody up there! Besides it is not big enough for two people to stand on.” The old chief meant it. He had absolutely no idea of the size of the moon or its distance from the earth. But there in the forgotten wilds of west Africa, Fullam had a memorable experience that drove home to him what it means to know the love of the Father. He baptized three people who had come to know the love of the Father through faith in Jesus Christ, and Fullam describes his experience this way: There were two men and one woman. We stood on the banks of a muddy river, wet and happy. I had never seen three more joyful people. “What is the best thing about this experience?” I asked. All three continued to smile, the glistening water emphasizing the brightness of their dark-skinned faces; but only one spoke: “Behind this universe stands one God, not a great number of warring spirits, as we had always believed, but one God. And that God loves me. (Hughes, 157).
V. HOW OUR DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PORTRAYED IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
The Father of the peacemakers (5:9)
One who deserves praise (5:16)
Bestower of sun and rain on the evil and the good (5:45)
Perfect (5:48)
He who rewards those who give, fast, pray (6:1,4,6,18)
Who sees what is done in secret (6:4, 6,18)
Who knows what we need before we ask for it (6:8)
Is sovereign in heaven (6:9)
Gives us our daily bread (6:11)
Forgives our sins (6:14-15)
Feeds the birds of the air (6:26)
Clothes the grass of the field (30)
Knows what we need (6:32)
Gives us good gifts (6:11).
He is Omnipresent: “…then your Father, who sees what is done in secret” (6:4).
He is Omniscient: “…your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (6:8)
He is Omnipotent: “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (5:45).
He is Omni-Benevolent: “… how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (7:11).
CONCLUSION:
QUESTION: What title do we usually use when we approach God in prayer:
Answer: Lord, God, Jesus, Savior, Sovereign God.
QUESTION: What is the advantage of using “Father” instead of one of these other titles when we pray?
“If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the NT new, and better than the OT, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. “Father” is the Christian name for God. (Dr. J.I. Packer as quoted by Hughes, 156)
If you do not feel you can address God as Abba or Dearest Father you may not yet be a believer.
“It is always wise, before we pray, to spend time deliberately recalling who he is. Only then shall we come to our loving Father in heaven with appropriate humility, devotion and confidence.” (Stott, 146).
ACTIVITY: Let’s all of quietly pray right now and thank God that we can, because we are his children, call him Abba, Dearest Father. Begin your silent prayer with Dearest Father ….
HOMEWORK: Let us all commit this week, during our times of prayer to approach God using the title Dearest Heavenly Father.
SO WHAT???
1. Jesus has taught us what a personal relationship with God looks like. He is our Dear Heavenly Father.
2. Understanding and relating to God as our Abba, our Dear Father accents intimacy, His presence, His love!!!!
3. He is a most wonderful Father: Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omni-benevolent. In every way he is a perfect Father.
4. He is both transcendent and immanent. When we address him as “Our dear heavenly father” we are both showing appreciation for his closeness, his presence, his love and also his power.