Introduction:
Many years ago my kids gave me a red ball cap for Father’s Day that said on the front: “World’s Greatest Dad.” I thought I still had it and wanted to show it to you today to prove that I was truly the “World’s Greatest Dad” but when I looked in the box marked “Dad’s Hats” it wasn’t there. Either it’s in another box, or it ended up in the bag going to the Goodwill or the Rescue Mission which means that right now there is a possibility that someone else is walking around wearing my hat and everyone is going to think that THEY are the “World’s Greatest Dad!”
I’m guessing that they won’t be alone…by a show of hands, how many of you dads have received a “world’s greatest…or best dad” t-shirt, tie, coffee mug, or hat? That’s what I figured! As touching as it may be for our kids to proclaim us to be the best fathers on the planet, the greatest father of all doesn’t live here, but He is with us all the time—our Heavenly Father. This morning I want us to look at a few verses from Psalm 103 that reveal the greatness of our Heavenly Father.
Text: Psalm 103:8-13
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and full of faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever.
He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our offenses.
Verses 8-10 tell me that our Heavenly Father is truly the “World’s Greatest Dad.” He may not have the red hat, but He definitely has all the qualities that make for greatness. Just look at how the Psalmist described the Lord:
1) Compassionate & Gracious
2) Slow to Anger and Full of Faithfull Love
3) His Anger isn’t Forever
4) He DOESN’T Give Us What We Deserve
Wow! We could spend a lot of time right there couldn’t we? What if God DID give us what we deserve? The Prophet Isaiah spoke about the grace and mercy of God towards His people. Listen to what he says in Isaiah 64:
Isaiah 64:6-8 (HCSB)
6 All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. 7 No one calls on Your name, striving to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and made us melt because of our iniquity. 8 Yet LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands.
I think back on my own childhood and the things I did and didn’t do—I’m really glad my Dad didn’t always give me what I deserve! I realize we live in a different world today, and that parenting has changed since I was a kid, and even since Lenea and I began raising our kids, but I have always said that my Dad didn’t spank me nearly enough! I didn’t think that at the time, but as I became an adult I realized just how many times I DIDN’T get what I deserved.
What I experienced a child growing up with Godly parents who raised me to honor the Lord was a reflection of my folks’ relationship with Jesus Christ. I was “clay” in their hands, and to the best of their ability they molded and shaped me to live for Jesus Christ. They were, and are still today, real-life examples of God’s grace and love. I praise God that I didn’t get what I deserved, but instead was given the love of Jesus Christ, the same love that our Heavenly Father gives to us today.
I want us to move on to verses 11-13, and I want us to focus on three of our Heavenly Father’s great attributes…
I. He Loves Consistently (11)
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love toward those who fear Him.
The words “faithful love” or yours may say “lovingkindness” come from the Hebrew word chesed. It is one of the most important words in the Old Testament. The word refers to God being “loyal” in His love…that He doesn’t love sometimes, or when He feels like it. That may describe the way “we” love, but it is not how “God” loves. God loves CONSISTENTLY. You can count on God’s great love because it is always going to be there.
Most of us value consistency. We like to know that there are things and people we can count on. I wish we were as consistent with spiritual things as we are with the other things of our lives. There are many who would never leave the house without the morning cup of coffee, but…many will leave everyday without opening God’s Word or spending a moment with Him in prayer.
Most believe that people ought do their jobs, show up for work on time, and frankly don’t blame an employer when they fire someone who won’t, but…many also consider serving at the church, or even attending every week to be optional activities to be fit into their busy schedules.
My question is: “How consistent is our love for Christ?”
I am eternally grateful that my Heavenly Father’s love IS consistent—that He loves me every moment of every day—that He loved me before I was born, and the He is going to love me for all eternity!
We should never take His love for granted, and we should never take advantage of His great love. So what should we do? Jesus made it quite simple He said: “If you love me, keep My commandments.”
I want us to move on to another attribute of our Heavenly Father that actual reveals His “faithful love” for all.
II. He Forgives Completely (12)
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
What a powerful statement—God forgives COMPLETELY! The psalmist says that God removes our sin as far as the east is from the west. So how far is the east from the west? If you can envision with me one of those classroom globes that we had in school and we started right here on the coast in Crescent City and started sailing west across the Pacific Ocean and then traveled across Asia and into Europe—at what point would we start going east? We wouldn’t, unless we turned around!
That is how our Heavenly Father deals with our sins. When we are truly repentant—not just sorry we got caught—but truly repentant of our sins He removes them as far as the East is from the West! What a gift! God forgives completely! When does God forgive? What does it say in 1 John 1:9?
9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
How does God forgive us? 1 John 4:10 answers that:
10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Jesus Christ is the “propitiation” for our sins—He “pays off the debt” that has been created by our sin. We have forgiveness of sin because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s forgiveness isn’t partial it is COMPLETE! You’re either forgiven or you’re not. You can’t be “sort of” forgiven, God doesn’t work that way—though we often do!
Because our Heavenly Father forgives us through His Son Jesus Christ, we are to follow His example and be forgiving in our daily lives. The Apostle Paul put it this way:
32And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
Boy, that’s a lot easier to read or say than it is to do! But we must learn to be living examples of the forgiveness that has been given to us through Jesus Christ!
Let me share one more quality of our Heavenly Father with you today…
III. He Relates Compassionately (13)
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
What is compassion? First let me tell you what it isn’t. It isn’t sympathy—feeling sorry for somebody. That’s important, but that’s not what compassion is. It’s also not empathy—feeling what someone feels. It’s important to know that others feel the pain we feel, or have been through what we’ve been through, but that still isn’t compassion. Compassion requires action—it is to “do something” about that which one is concerned.
That is exactly what our Heavenly Father has done on our behalf—He has shown us His compassion by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. God didn’t just “feel bad for us…” and Jesus didn’t just “feel what we felt and then go back to heaven…” God acted in compassion by sending His Son, and Jesus acted in compassion by giving up His life so that we might live.
The word that the Psalmist used here for compassion is the same word that the Prophet Jeremiah used in that verse we are so familiar with in Lamentations:
Lamentations 3:22
22 Because ofthe LORD’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
We sang about the great mercy and compassion of our God last Sunday…
“Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning, new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided,
Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me.”
Our Heavenly Father has proven His faithfulness to us, are we proving our faithfulness to Him? How are we doing at showing “compassion” to those around us? Showing compassion is one of the greatest ways we can reveal the love of God to others. When it comes to showing compassion you might say that it puts “feet to our feelings.”
Conclusion:
So what do each of the great attributes of our Heavenly Father teach us? How are we to apply them to our lives today? Let me give you these three simple thoughts as we close:
1) Don’t love part-time.
2) Don’t forgive half-way.
3) Don’t think about it—do it.
