WHO’S YOUR FATHER?
LUKE 11:1-4
INTRODUCTION: In the model prayer, Christ taught, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father’”. Can you and I truly pray, “Our Father”? Do we belong to a universal brotherhood? Is God the Father of everyone? If God is not the Father of everyone, then who is your Father?
I. The Belief in the Universal Fatherhood of God
A. People often speak of the “Fatherhood” of God suggesting that all people are the children of God. This belief of the universal fatherhood of God is not unique to any particular religion. It has been advanced in both Christian and non-Christian circles.
B. What is noteworthy is that the majority of churches advocating the “universal fatherhood of God” maintain a theological position which rejects any or all of the Bible as the Word of God, denying the supernatural elements of the Bible and the miraculous character of the Person and work of Christ, magnifying the universal brotherhood of man, with an emphasis on the social gospel as opposed to the New Testament need for evangelism.
C. The social gospel a heresy, which redefines Bible, terms in a way that changes the message of the gospel with social reform not spiritual transformation as its highest objective.
D. Acts 17:24-29 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
E. Offspring of God - Greek, "genos", = “stock”, “kind”, “genetic descendant”. The reference is to the creation-work of God in which He made man in his own likeness as recorded in Genesis. Paul is rebuking the thought that "the Godhead is like unto gold," etc.
II. God’s Relationship to all Mankind Affirmed in Acts 17
A. It affirms that God is our Creator – vs. 26, “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth”
1. You are no accident. God made you. We did not just happen by chance. We are part and parcel the creation of God.
2. A paraphrase of Isaiah 44:2 reads, “I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born.” (Contemporary English Version © 1995 by American Bible Society)
3. A little girl crawled up into her great grandmother’s lap one day. And looking up into her great grandmother’s face she saw all those crevices, lines, and wrinkles. Then she felt her own smooth baby-like skin. She said to her great grandmother, "Did God make you?" Her great grandmother said, "Yes honey, God made me." Then the little girl said, "Well great grandmother, did God make me?" Her great grandmother said, "Oh yes, God made you too." And then the little girl said, "Well great grandmother, don’t you think God’s doing a lot better job these days?" - Mike Minix
4. Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
5. We are the work of His hands – Job 34:19 states that all, both rich and poor, are “the work of His hands”
B. It affirms that God is our Sustainer – verse 28, "for in Him we live and move and have our being”
1. He is the original fountain of life, and he upholds us each moment.
2. Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.
3. Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
4. While God is absolutely independent of our existence, if God ceased to exist, so would everything else. All life would cease. There would be nothing. All that exists only does so because God wills it to exist. Should God stop willing the existence of anything or everything, then that existence would instantly end.
C. It affirms that God is our Judge
1. Acts 17:30-31 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent: Because he has appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
2. If man is the product of an evolutionary process then man is not morally accountable to God; if however, God directly created man, then man is accountable to God and was also created that he might walk in holiness for fellowship with God." Enns, P., the Moody Handbook of Theology, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1989, pp. 39-40.
D. It does not affirm God as Father of all mankind.
1. The word "Father" is not used in Acts 17:29.
2. As such the passage not does affirm anything concerning a relationship of God as Father or us as sons.
III. The Bible clearly teaches that God is NOT everyone’s Father
A. Listen to the Words of Christ.
1. John 8:41-44 You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, we be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do...
2. Jesus made it abundantly clear that not everyone was a child of God. He taught that natural man is the child of Satan.
B. Listen to the Words of John
1. 1 John 3:10 (NKJV) In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
2. 1 John 5:1-5 (NKJV) Who ever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
3. John makes a clear distinction between the children of God and the children of the devil. He declares that the difference lies in the relationship that each of us has with Jesus Christ. Those with Christ as Lord and Savior have God as Father.
C. Listen to the Words of Paul
1. Romans 8:14-16 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God; they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
2. Paul states that when one accepts Christ into his heart and life through the operation of the Holy Spirit, he or she is adopted into the family of God and can properly call God, “Abba Father” and thereby pray “Our Father, who art in heaven”.
3. There was a ripple of excitement all through the orphanage, for a great lady had come to take little Jane home with her. The girl herself was bewildered with the thought. "Do you want to go with me and be my child?" the lady asked in gentle tones. "I don’t know," said Jane timidly. "But I’m going to give you beautiful clothes and a lot of things, a room of your own with beautiful bed and table and chairs." After a moment’s silence, the little one said anxiously: "But what am I to do for all this?" The lady burst into tears. "Only to love me, and be my child," she said as she folded the little girl in her arms. God adopts us, protects us, and give us an inheritance in glory. All He asks in return is that we should love Him, and be His children --Children’s Record
IV. The Question this morning is who is your Father?
A. John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
B. John taught that all those who received Christ as their Lord and Savior have the privilege of becoming the children of God and have God as Father.
C. God wants to become your Father this morning. God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ has paid the adoption price in full. The Father of Eternity stands with open arms desiring you to become part of His family and for Him to be your Father. Come today!
