The God We Worship: The Father

The God We Worship: The Father
John 1:18; 1 Cor. 8:4-6; John 14:23

Introduction: Over the past couple of Sundays we have looked at, what I believe are some challenging concepts. You may have been stretched by thinking about our God as one above and beyond time and space. I have been stretched trying to preach about those things. But in a sense these have just been a warm-up for entering into the heart of the mystery we call God.

I. Learning About the Father
At the heart of the mystery are three persons that scripture calls the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We begin today by looking at some of what scripture tells us about the Father. Because of the association of fathers with authority it is not surprising that we call God “Father”. Yet this has not always been the case. In the Old Testament you find God referred to as creator, king, mighty warrior, and other powerful descriptive words but few references to God as Father. When God is referred to as “Father” in the Older Testament he is seen as father of the nation or the people of Israel but the idea of God as “my” father is not developed.

This changes dramatically when we come to the New Testament. The books of the New Testament began to be written about 20 years or so after the resurrection. In those letters we find Christians referring to “God the Father” in a way that shows a great shift in understanding who God is. Jesus taught many things but nothing more radical than God as the Father, not just of himself, but all who faithfully follow Jesus.

The only way Christians know God as Father is because Jesus revealed it to us. John wrote, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known,” John 1:18. Jesus’ coming into the world had many facets but John tells us that one primary purpose was to reveal the Father to us so we could know him.
In the past couple of weeks we have looked at some rather dense concepts about God, his uniqueness and the invisible God who is beyond time and space. While these things are true about God, he is more than these things. Jesus came to show us God who is our creator but also who wants to be our Father.

It is the task of the Son to reveal the Father to us. We will begin to look at the Son more closely next week but today we want to see a small part of what the Son has revealed about the Father.

II. The Father Who Loves
Early in the gospel of John we read one of the great verses in all of scripture, John 3:16; "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus wants us to know that the Father is the one who gave and sent His Son to save the world. Love in the heart of the Father is the motivation that drives divine action. There are so many scriptures that point to divine love, demonstrated in Jesus coming into the world, Rm. 5:8. The Father sends, empowers and glorifies Jesus as His Son who has come into the world to save us, rebellious humankind.

As Christians, followers of Jesus, we focus our attention on Jesus. He is the one who came, who died for us, the one who explains the Father to us. But it is the Father who sends, the Father who appoints, the Father who raises the Son from the dead, and gives authority to the Son, Eph. 1:18-22.

In fact it is difficult to talk about the Father without talking about the Son also. The relationship is so intimate and complex. We know a bit about relationships like that. We see married couples that have been together many years like Hayward and Sandra Burton. Couples learn that it is always wise to communicate but if I talk to Sandra and she says, “Yes, we will do that.” I know she speaks not just for herself but also for Hayward. When we think of the Burtons we think of both of them. Even when we think of one we know the other is there, part of what is going on. They can do this because of their marriage of over fifty years. Now imagine the Father and Son who exist together in perfect harmony and unity from eternity. God loves the world and gives his Son but just a bit later in this passage we read, “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands,” John 3:35. Again, in John 5:20 Jesus says, “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.”

One of the key beliefs that we have about God’s nature and character is that God is love. The thing about love is that for it to exist there must be an object of love. We hear a lot about “self” love and I think I know what is often meant by the term but “self” love in the end is narcissism. This is from the Greek legend of Narcissus who wastes away and dies because he is so enraptured by his own reflection in a pond. God is love because there is Father, Son, and Spirit existing together in love and harmony. God could not be love otherwise. The wonder, the mystery is that God created us and has invited us to enter in and participate in his love. Jesus expresses this in the plainest terms in John 14:20-23,

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

The context of Jesus’ statement is that of the new commandment given just a few moments before, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another,” John 13:34. It is our obedience to this command that makes our hearts a fit home for the Father, Son, and Spirit. Is there any mystery greater than this?

I hope that all of us can enter deeper into the heart of God. I want to close with a prayer for you and me. It is Paul’s prayer but one that speaks to our desire.
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
May we, by God’s grace, enter into the fullness of His love.

Livonia Church of Christ: October 9, 2005