Our Father

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Father's Day, Sunday morning, the 21st of June, 2026.  If all went well, a recording of the service may be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams for the older services or https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch3115/streams for later services.]

Father’s Day comes but once a year.  A dear friend of mine used to disagree with that.  She’d always say, “Every day is Father’s Day”.  I don’t know what her personal experience might have been in this area, but I figured she was referring to the stereotypical father who would come home from work, plop down in his easy chair, and wait for supper to be set on the table.

There was a time when the fathers went off to work each day while the mothers stayed home and managed the house - doing the cleaning and cooking, looking after the kids, that sort of stuff.  This pretty much began to change even in my youth, when many families needed two incomes to get by.  Nowadays, most mothers and fathers share roles.

Still, though, I’d have to concur that every day is Father’s Day, for there is no better job than being a father.  And it’s a crying shame when a man abandons his family, forsaking his kids and their Mom.

Fortunately for us, we have a good Father who will never abandon us, never forsake us, never give up on us.  He constantly looks after us, sees to all our needs, gives us so much, and wants nothing more than for us to live with Him forever.  His name is God, and while He lives in heaven, His home is with all of us, all the time.  And all He asks of us is to believe in and love His Son, following Him as we go through this life.  He set us apart from the rest of the world for this very purpose.  We are sanctified and blessed.

In the 8th chapter of his letter to the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul stresses the power in being sanctified, in being set apart for God's purpose.  He also speaks to how we should respond to being sanctified.  Please listen and follow along as the Paul tells us how we should now live, in verses 9 through 17 of the 8th chapter of his letter to the Romans, and I’ll be reading from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

9 You are no longer ruled by your desires, but by God's Spirit, who lives in you. People who don't have the Spirit of Christ in them don't belong to Him. 10 But Christ lives in you. So you are alive because God has accepted you, even though your bodies must die because of your sins. 11 Yet God raised Jesus to life! God's Spirit now lives in you, and He will raise you to life by His Spirit.

12 My dear friends, we must not live to satisfy our desires. 13 If you do, you will die. But you will live, if by the help of God's Spirit you say “No” to your desires. 14 Only those people who are led by God's Spirit are His children. 15 God's Spirit doesn't make us slaves who are afraid of Him. Instead, we become His children and call Him our Father. 16 God's Spirit makes us sure that we are His children. 17 His Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with Him.

--Romans 8:9-17 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for adopting us into Your family and calling us Your children.  And thank You for being such a good father, not only seeing to our needs but giving us even more, blessing us every day.  Father, we have all the instructions we need, right here in our bible, telling us how to live righteously.  But we struggle to do the things we know we should do.  Too often we find it difficult to not do the things we know we shouldn’t do.  So we thank You all the more, Father, for forgiving us when we stray and giving us another chance to get things right.  Please prod us to spend more time in our bible.  Remind us of how important it is that we live this life in a righteous manner.  Help us be more like Your Son Jesus each day.  This we pray in the beautiful name of our Lord Jesus.   Amen.

Dr. George Rekers, in the magazine Homemade, notes that,  “A positive and continuous relationship to one's father has been found to be associated with a good self-concept, higher self-esteem, higher self-confidence in personal and social interaction, higher moral maturity, reduced rates of unwed teen pregnancy, greater internal control and higher career aspirations. Fathers who are affectionate, nurturing and actively involved in child-rearing are more likely to have well- adjusted children.”

Our Father in heaven is affectionate, nurturing, and actively involved in our lives.  What is our relationship with Him?  Is it positive and continuous?  Or is it just for an hour or two on Sunday mornings?  Does it weather all storms, or does it give way to doubts when troubles rise?  Let’s make a commitment to work on and strengthen our relationships with our heavenly Father.

Paul starts right out by saying that now that we are sanctified, we are no longer ruled by our desires.  I wish I could be as confident of this as Paul.  I think that even we believers, at times, let our desires get the better of us.  They may not totally rule us, but they sure can take control sometimes.  And I think Paul understood this, too.  After all, he’s the one who, just a little earlier in this letter, said, “I don't understand why I act the way I do. I don't do what I know is right. I do the things I hate.”

So yes, we struggle with doing what is right, even though we’ve been sanctified, even though our Father sent His own Spirit to live in us and guide us.  This is how much God loves us, that He sent His Spirit to help us do what is right.  By His Spirit within us, we know we are children of God, and we can call Him Father, Daddy, Abba.

When we read of the birth of our Lord, it’s clear that while Joseph raised Him as his own, he was not Jesus’ real father.  Jesus had no earthly father.  Maybe this is why He tells us we only have one father, and it’s not who most people think.  The Apostle Matthew recorded Jesus telling us who our father is, in verse 9 of the 23rd chapter of his Gospel account, when Jesus said…

9 “Don't call anyone on earth your father. All of you have the same Father in heaven.”

--Matthew 23:9 (CEV)

On Father’s Day, we celebrate and honor our earthly fathers, and it is right that we should do so.  But Jesus is trying to emphasize that by our adoption into the family of God, we all have the same Father now, and it is God, our heavenly Father.  And this is why we pray, “Our Father, Who art in heaven…”.  This, of course, is the start of the model prayer that Jesus gave us.  The Apostle Luke reported this in the first 4 verses of the 11th chapter of his Gospel account…

1 When Jesus had finished praying, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his followers to pray.”

2 So Jesus told them, “Pray in this way:

‘Father, help us

to honor Your name.

Come and set up

Your kingdom.

3 Give us each day

the food we need.

4 Forgive our sins,

as we forgive everyone

who has done wrong to us.

And keep us

from being tempted.’”

--Luke 11:1-4 (CEV)

The Contemporary English Version of our bible has this worded a little differently that the King James Version we may be more used to, but the context is the same.  And they both stress how God, through Jesus, wants us to know we can call Him our Father.

It should be obvious that all of this is to our benefit, in this life and in the next.  I mean, who could possibly have a better father than Almighty God?!?  But it also carries with it a bit of obligation on our part.  Primarily in this regard, Jesus says we should show love just as our Father loves.  The Apostle Matthew recorded Jesus telling us who we should love, and why, in verses 43 through 48 of the 5th chapter of his Gospel account, during Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount…

43 "You have heard people say, 'Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.' 44 But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. 45 Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And He sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong. 46 If you love only those people who love you, will God reward you for this? Even tax collectors love their friends. 47 If you greet only your friends, what's so great about this? Don't even unbelievers do that? 48 But you must always act like your Father in heaven."

--Matthew 5:43-48 (CEV)

It seems kind of natural for children, especially little boys, to want to do the things their Dads do.  How many of you guys wanted to shave while watching your Dad shaving?  Jesus is telling us to act like our heavenly Dad.

God is impartial.  He makes the sun to rise on the good and the evil.  He sends the rains to those who do good and to those who do wrong.  He pours His love over all the earth.  And He wants all of mankind to be with Him forever.

This is God’s love, our Father’s love.  And this is the love He wants us to show others… even our enemies, even those who hate us, even those who would harm us if they could.  We can show our love by honoring our Father’s wishes and helping others come to know Jesus, so that they can also be with God forever.  So that they can call Him Father, too.

Fathers, let’s enjoy our special day and cherish the ones who made us fathers.  And let’s all celebrate our fathers.  For most of us here today, our Dads only live in our memories, but we can still honor him.

Happy Father’s Day to Dads everywhere, and an extra thank you to those men, like Joseph, who accepted the role of father to a child not their own.  And let’s not forget those mothers who also served as fathers for their children.  Happy Father’s Day to you all!

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us fathers.  They protect us, provide for us, and show us how to do things.  Sadly though, Father, not all men who father children are very good fathers.  Please remind all men of the great importance of being a good father to their children, of being a great Dad even to a child not of their own blood.  You are a great Father, and a great example for all men.  You provide for all our needs and then give even more.  You love us even when we are unlovable.  You forgive us even when we refuse to forgive.  Please help us follow Your example of impartial love.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment so that each of us can speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your and our Lord’s commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, thank You for reminding us that we believers are all children of God.  We all have the same Father in heaven.  And He loves us all.  Thank You for showing us that we should act like our heavenly Father with respect to others, and how we should act in our daily walk.  We know that we struggle to love all others, and find it most difficult to love the people who hate us.  Please help us remember that our love should be impartial, just as is God’s love.  Please help us love as You love: selflessly, unconditionally, sacrificially.  Help us show Your love and God’s love as we reach out to others, sharing Your words and Your works, telling them all about You.  Help us carry out the mission You gave us, seeking the lost sheep and leading them to You.

Holy Spirit, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  All this we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.