Our Father

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Father's Day, Sunday morning the 20th of June, 2021, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  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.]

Jesus in the flesh was the begotten Son of God.  He called God “Father”.  And He told us – His followers – to call God “Father”, too, for we have been adopted by God into His family.

So every time Jesus told us what to do and how we should live, it was so that our words and deeds would be pleasing and acceptable to our heavenly Father.  Even when it came to the model He gave us for prayer.

Please listen and follow along to the instructions Jesus gave as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in the 6th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 14, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10 Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

13 And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

--Matthew 6:1-14 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for adopting us into Your family so that we can know You as our Father, our heavenly Father.  In You we have a good Father, one we can know, one we can live with for eternity.  Thank You, God, for so great a gift, and all because we follow Your Son Jesus.  Please help us be worthy of being in Your family.  Help us follow Your word in our daily walk.  Help us remain faithful and true to You and Jesus.  And Father, please protect us from all of Satan’s attacks, and from those who so willingly do his bidding.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and purpose in our love and our service to Jesus.  Please keep us healthy and safe through these extraordinary times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Tell us of Your undying, all compassionate love, the true love of a father.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus, your Son, who suffered for us all.   Amen.

I think I've read this before, but it is well worth repeating.  Listen to how Paul Harvey once described what fathers are made of:

A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic.

A father is a thing that growls when it feels good, and laughs very loud when it's scared half to death.

A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be... and this worries him, sometimes.  So he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him.

A father is a thing that gets very angry when the first school grades aren't as good as he thinks they should be.  He scolds his son though he knows it's the teacher's fault.  Fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody's.

Fathers make bets with insurance companies about who'll live the longest.  Though they know the odds, they keep right on betting.  And one day they lose.

I don't know where fathers go when they die.  But I've an idea that after a good rest, wherever it is, he won't be happy unless there's work to do.  He won't just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he's loved and the children she bore.  He'll be busy there, too, repairing the stairs, oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothing the way.

My earthly father, my Dad, was very good with his hands.  He had little formal education, but he could make or repair almost anything.  He was always puttering around with things in the house and yard, and I can just imagine him in heaven, working on all the stuff there, getting things ready for me to come home.

Father’s Day – the one day set aside each year to honor our Dads, to make them feel special.  We should honor them every day, because God commands us to: “Honor thy father and thy mother”.

Sadly, not all of us have or had good fathers.  I think most fathers have good and bad aspects that influenced our lives.  My Dad gave me my inquisitive nature, to look at things and try to figure out how they work, how to fix them when they’re broken.  But he also gave me my irrational fear of snakes, all snakes.  And there are other sore points we won’t go into, but I loved my father and miss him a lot.

Not all of us knew our fathers.  Some of us, the only Dad we’ve ever known was not our biological father, but one who adopted us and loved us like their own.

This is what God has done for us, we who believe in and follow His Son Jesus.  No matter what kind of earthy father we have or had, whether we knew the man who gave us half of our DNA or not, God in heaven adopted us and loves us like His very own.

I try not to generalize, but most boys – and even some girls – who grow up with their father in their lives want to be just like them, at least in some way.  We use our fathers as examples, trying to do the same things they do.  And until we get to those rebellious teenage years, we try to do things that please them.  Especially on Father’s Day.

But this is a two-way street and fathers have a responsibility, too.  Listen to what the Apostle Paul tells us fathers in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 4…

4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

--Ephesians 6:4 (NKJV)

Too often, I’ve seen fathers who expect too much of their offspring.  They want their kids to be just like them, and if they’re not, they sometimes take their frustrations out on the children.  Rather than just loving them as they are, they provoke the kids to get better, even to the point of making their little ones angry, or sad.

All fathers need to heed the words that God spoke through Moses, as recorded for us in chapter 6 of the Book of Deuteronomy, verses 6 through 9…

6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

--Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NKJV)

We fathers must teach God’s word to our children.  We need to drill it into them, constantly remind them, any and every chance we get.  This is the most important job we will ever have, to teach our children about God, about Jesus, and all about their love for us.

Our Father God is speaking to us.  Do we stop long enough to hear and listen?  Whether we are fathers or mothers, whether we have or have ever had children of our own or adopted any, we, as followers of Jesus, have a responsibility to teach the world about Jesus, about God and His word.

Jesus told us what to do, how to act, what to say and when to say it.  He knows our heavenly Father better than us, so we should listen to what He tells us.  Love others and help them whenever and however much we can, but do it out of love and not to glorify ourselves or to look good to our fellow man.  Pray quietly, just as a nice little conversation between us and God, again not that others may think of us as being very pious and godly.  God knows what we need, but like any father, He wants us to spend time with Him, talking with Him, just  He and us alone together.  Be sure to thank Him for all He provides, and don’t be afraid to ask for what we need.  For He wants to know that we can see the difference between what we want and what we truly need.  And give Him all the glory, for He is God, the Creator of all there is.  And He is our Father, who loves us as His own.

Happy Father’s Day, God!  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for bringing us into Your family and loving us as Your own.  Thank You for providing for our needs, and for giving us so much more.  And thank You for hearing us when we come to You in prayer.  Please help us glorify You and obey You.  Sometimes, Father, we just get all wrapped up in the busyness of life that we don’t take the time to teach others Your word.  Please, Father, help us be more pleasing in Your sight.  Help us remain ever faithful and obedient to You.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You from our hearts through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more faithful and true, putting all our trust in You and Jesus, and seeking Your help as we do so…

Lord Jesus, it is only because of You and the sacrifice You made on our behalf that we are able to know God as our Father.  You gave us the example of how to live.  You instructed us in what to do and say.  Thank You, Jesus, for teaching us God’s word and for never failing to love us.  Lord Jesus, we ask You to help us be more pleasing to our heavenly Father.  Strengthen our will to do what God wills us to do.  Help us to be more loving, more understanding, kinder to all we encounter each day.  And please help us as we try to show Your love in this world where hatred and distrust seem to abound.  All this we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.