Our Father's Love

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Father's Day, Sunday morning the 21st of June, 2020 at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This was an abbreviated service, also streamed live, due to constraints put in place from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our YouTube streaming channel is:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Today is the day we celebrate fatherhood.  Now, granted, not everyone has warm, loving thoughts of their father.  Sadly, some do not even know who their father is.  And some men serve admirably as Dads to children they did not father.

But we who do love our Fathers and Dads celebrate them on this day and try to show them our love.  I would hope, though, that we recognize and celebrate our heavenly Father’s love every day, not just on Father’s Day.

Let’s look at what Jesus said about our Father’s love.  Please listen and follow along to our Lord’s words as recorded by the Apostle John in chapter 15, verses 9 through 17 of his Gospel account, and I’ll be reading this from the Modern English Version of our Holy Bible…

9 "As the Father loved Me, I also loved you. Remain in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11 I have spoken these things to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 I no longer call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I have heard from My Father have I made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that the Father may give you whatever you ask Him in My name. 17 This I command you: that you love one another."

--John 15:9-17 (MEV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for being such a good Father.  Thank You for adopting us into Your family and making us Your children.  Please help us always be good, obedient children.  Help us to stay clean and righteous in Your eyes.  Please keep this family healthy and safe from the coronavirus.  And please keep us strong in our faith and see us safely through the days that lie ahead.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us for this day and for every day.  Speak to us of Your love and assurances.  Help us take guidance and strength from the words of our Bible and from Your Holy Spirit within us. This we pray under the blood and in the name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.


Columnist Erma Bombeck once wrote:

I received a letter from a single mother who had raised a son who was about to become a dad.  Since he had no recollection of his own father, her question to me was, "What do I tell him a father does?" 

When my dad died in my ninth year, I too, was raised by my mother, giving rise to the same question, "What do fathers do?"  As far as I could observe, they brought around the car when it rained so everyone else could stay dry. 

They always took the family pictures, which is why they were never in them.  They carved turkeys on Thanksgiving, kept the car gassed up, weren't afraid to go into the basement, mowed the lawn, and tightened the clothesline to keep it from sagging. 

It wasn't until my husband and I had children that I was able to observe firsthand what a father contributed to a child's life.  What did he do to deserve his children's respect?  He rarely fed them, did anything about their sagging diapers, wiped their noses or fannies, played ball, or bonded with them under the hoods of their cars. 

What did he do? 

He threw them higher than his head until they were weak from laughter.  He cast the deciding vote on the puppy debate.  He listened more than he talked.  He let them make mistakes. He allowed them to fall from their first two-wheeler without having a heart attack.  He read a newspaper while they were trying to parallel park a car for the first time in preparation for their driving test. 

If I had to tell someone's son what a father really does that is important, it would be that he shows up for the job in good times and bad times.  He's a man who is constantly being observed by his children.  They learn from him how to handle adversity, anger, disappointment and success. 

He won't laugh at their dreams no matter how impossible they might seem.  He will dig out at 1 a.m. when one of his children runs out of gas.  He will make unpopular decisions and stand by them.  When he is wrong and makes a mistake, he will admit it.  He sets the tone for how family members treat one another, members of the opposite sex and people who are different than they are.  By example, he can instill a desire to give something back to the community when its needs are greater than theirs. 

But mostly, a good father involves himself in his kids' lives.  The more responsibility he has for a child, the harder it is to walk out of his life. 

A father has the potential to be a powerful force in the life of a child.  Grab it!  Maybe you'll get a greeting card for your efforts.  Maybe not.  But it's steady work.

This is a powerful tribute to good fathers everywhere.  It speaks of their selflessness and their sacrifice.  It speaks of their love for their children, whether they actually fathered them or not.

Being a Dad is indeed steady work.  Not all fathers take the job.  Not all men are cut out to be fathers, and not all fathers are good.  Some fathers don't learn how to be good until much later on, sometimes too late.

Well, our Father in heaven is always good.  And I believe Ms. Bombeck well described the love He has for us, His adopted children.  When we accepted His Son Jesus as our Lord, God chose us to join His family, to be His children.

By His word in our Bible, He tells us how to treat other people.  He instills in us a desire to give something back to the community.  He teaches us how to handle adversity, anger, disappointment, and success.  And He doesn’t laugh at our dreams, rather He helps us attain them.  Our Father God loves us, and all He wants is for us to love Him back and to love others, too.


That is what our scripture this morning speaks of: our Father’s love.  More than that, though, it also paints a picture of what it means to love.  Jesus says that no one can have greater love than to be willing to lay down their life for someone else.  And that is just what He did, for all of us.  Jesus laid down His mortal life so that we could be freed from sin and saved from eternal damnation.  He tells us that anything we ask in His name, our Father, out of His love, will give.  And what does Jesus ask of us in return?  Only that we love one another.


Our heavenly Father will give us whatever we ask if we ask in the name of Jesus.  If a child has a need, what would any good father withhold from them?  A good Dad provides for the basic necessities, and usually much, much more than that.

And so it is with our heavenly Father.  Jesus tells us just how good our Father is, as recorded by the Apostle Luke in his Gospel account, in chapter 11, verses 9 through 13…

9 “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

11 “If a son asks for bread from any of you who is a father, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will you give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will you offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

--Luke 11:9-13 (MEV)

When we truly seek our Father God, we will find Him.  What we ask of Him, He will provide.  Now understand that He might not give us exactly what we are asking for, especially if doing so might harm someone else.  But He will give us what we need, what He knows is best for us.  And the very best thing for us, what He offers so freely, is everlasting life with Him and in paradise.


So on this Father’s Day, as we honor our fathers, even if only their memory, let us remember to include our heavenly Father.  Say a special thank you for His love and kindness and for all the mercy He extends to us.  And show Him how much you love Him in return, not with a necktie or a greeting card, but by loving others.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, our Master, our Savior.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, Happy Father’s Day!  Thank You for being such a good Father to us.  Sadly, some fathers aren’t so good.  Some children do not have a father in their lives.  Thank You, Father, for loving us and for giving us loving fathers and dads.  Please help us show our love to You in return by doing what Jesus commands and loving others.  Please help us show Your love to a world that so desperately needs it.  And please help us be more faithful, more trusting, more loving, and more kindhearted in our daily dealings with those around us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You straight from our hearts, promising to repent of our sinful ways, seeking Your forgiveness and Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You told us so often how much God loves us.  And you were the first to tell us to call God our Father, when You taught us how to pray to Him.  Jesus, help us, please, to understand that God’s love for us knows no bounds and that He only wants what is best for us, for all of us.  Help us to not doubt or question His love, or put human limitations or conditions on it.  Help us show our love in return by loving all others, by showing them unconditional, unwarranted love just like Your love.  And please, Lord, stand at our side and strengthen us we walk through these very trying days.  Help us remain faithful through it all.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.