John 17:25-26 (KJV) O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
I've been trying to imagine how God feels about the human race in general
The prayer of Jesus for us in John 17 gives us some great insights of our Father
To start with, I don't think we've given enough thought to the whole idea of us being created by someone in the first place
Someone who is incredibly difficult for us to imagine
Because God is just so far beyond human comprehension
The more science reveals about the wonders of life in the universe
the greater this creator becomes
So much so, that it is hard to think of him as being anything like us
We are mere creatures, and very vulnerable ones at that
What human like creature could have ever been able to make even one sun?
Much less, all the other unfathomable bodies spread over space that we called the universe
But according to the Bible there was something of God that he put inside each of us humans
Probably as a way of helping us to understand the spirit behind all that he created
Romans 12:3 (KJV) For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
The Bible also says that we were created in the image of God
Genesis 1:27 (KJV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And that image is what I want to address in this sermon
Jesus summed up that image of the spirit of God the creator in one simple word -Father!
He consistently refers to God as “The Father” or “Our Father” or “My Father”
Many artists have tried to depict God as an old man with a white beard
But that has caused many people to make fun of such an illustration
Because obviously when it comes to God,
we're talking about something so much more than an old man floating on a cloud
Nevertheless, let’s think about the spirit or the heart that resides in that creator
Whether we describe him as an old man
Or as an incredible force greater than all the Suns in all the galaxies of the universe
It's so important for our salvation
That we learn to recognize and appreciate all that the father represents for us as His children
Not all of us have been parents, but we have all had parents
Sure, for some those parents have died or left us
But for most of us, we have grown up with them influencing us in many deeply significant ways
These people, our parents, have been responsible for bringing us into the world
and for protecting us
They provided for us throughout our youth
and taught us skills which they hoped would prepare us for life as an adult
Some have obviously done a better job than others
But in one way or another, even atheistic parents do try to protect, provide and prepare their children for a better life
But now think about how often you, or people you have known, have complained about their parents
Children can be so cruelly unappreciative of all that parents did to bring them into this world and to provide for a better life for them in this world
For most of us, this series of complaints starts during adolescence
But for a surprising high percentage of us,
this negative attitude toward their parents continues right throughout adult life as well
We blame a lot, if not all of our faults and sufferings on our parents
It’s only when we begin to suffer at the hands of our children do most of us recognize just how terribly unappreciative, we have been to our parents
Especially of fathers
Probably because they're the ones who most often have taken the responsibility of disciplining us
So, one of the most radical thoughts that crossed my mind as I was thinking about this was that we make impossible demands on our parents
Assuming that everything that goes wrong in our lives can be traced back to something they did
I often even hear the parents themselves asking through tears,
“What did I do wrong?” “Where did I fail?”
They often do this when they see their children rebelling and being hateful
or in some other way
turning on their parents despite all the best efforts of their mothers and fathers
That thought was pretty radical for me
because I started imagining something similar happening in our relationship with God
God could never struggle with thoughts about whether He did something wrong
God is omniscient, - all knowing and all informed so it’s impossible for Him to make a mistake
But our unreal demands are most commonly and most unfairly directed at God
On the assumption that it's His job to make everything fit perfectly together
So that our lives will mostly, if not totally, be smooth sailing
“if God was a loving God” we say,
And then we finish up with some gripe about how we think that He is not loving
Imagine how God must feel when we do that over and, over again?
And when it is multiplied billions of times by people all over the world
Human beings
God's greatest creation,
hating their creator for one relatively trivial reason after another
Despite all that he has given us
all that He has provided for us
Remember the story of the parodical son in Luke 15?
Remember the “other son” the older son that obeyed his father, that didn’t leave?
Remember how bitter he became because the rebellious son was getting all the attention?
Luke 15:25-32 (KJV) Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Isn’t it amazing how self-centered we can get?
How short sighted we become when we feel we are treated unfairly.
He should have been happy his brother came home.
But like most of us children, we can’t see the pig picture and we hurt people in the process with our negative attitude
Now God, despite His omnipotence,
cannot and would not satisfy such a demanding spirit
God does love us
And it is because He loves us that he has been forced to decide whether it would be better to give us freedom to disobey him and suffer some pretty awful consequences
Or whether it would be more loving to intervene in all that is happening in the world around us in order to solve our problems for us
That's not so different to the kinds of choices that the best fathers find themselves faced with as well
Don't forget that God the father has a far bigger picture of things than we do
Just as earthly fathers do all that they can in order for us to learn and experience life with little pain as possible
In order to make us strong examples to become trusting and obedient son’s or daughter’s
Yes, even with our natural disasters, the good father lets them happen
Whether we like it or not
Did God the Father do the right thing by giving us free choice?
Should He have intervened more in our lives?
Did he give the devil too much power?
These are questions that I could easily imagine the earthly Father asking himself in great anguish over all of our complaints
But never Our Heavenly Father
Although, God has given earthly fathers guidance in the Word and through the Holy Spirit
Earthly fathers will make many mistakes because we are imperfect beings
But praise be to God!
Our Heavenly Father has the final say in it all.
You can trust Him!
From God's perspective, the final goal may not start and finish with gushy emotionalism
He has plans for us that go way beyond our own limited understanding
Our Heavenly Father started creating the universe just for our benefit
From it we can learn to appreciate his greatness and recognize his incredible love for us in having done that
Mankind has recently come to understand that the entire universe revolves around one tiny planet in all those billions of light years of space
and that planet is called earth, our home
Here on this planet, He's constructed everything in the tiniest microscopic and atomic detail to make our lives interesting and enjoyable
All the pieces fit together in an unimaginable harmony enabling us to experience life
that not even the most intelligent animals could begin to appreciate
Even the battles that we face are part of a bigger picture
which includes our need to discover our purpose here in these last day’s
So, here is this loving Heavenly Father,
Heavenly creator who's done all this for us
But we end up cursing him because a volcano erupted or a sunami struck
Or some sickness befell us, and we get frustrated that God is not moving quicker to resolve our issues
And all this despite a promise from His Son that there is a better world waiting for us
If we can just trust our Heavenly Father's love in this present world
Yes, there is suffering,
there is injustice and death in this wonderful world in which we live
but there is also pleasure, and love, and life
Can you see how we treat God so much more unfairly than we even treat our physical fathers and mothers?
We want him to conform to our rules
When all he wants is for us to show some humility towards His rules
and where they will lead us if we trust Him
Faith in the Heavenly Father will reveal to us the bigger picture
God has spoken through various people throughout history in an attempt to communicate His will for the entire human race
But what have you done with those stories and exhortations?
Some of us grab snippets to be used to prove that we are better than everyone else
And others of us grab contradictions or things that do not conform with our limited understanding of this loving God
And some use them to throw the book out altogether
Either way, the simple messages is missed because of all their insistence that all of the pieces need to fit perfectly first
You want to understand it all now
You don’t take that attitude with your car, do you?
Do you understand everything going on under the hood of your car?
Do you understand everything going on in an airplane?
We trust many things in this life that we don’t fully understand ourselves
So, stop! Stop trying to tell God what to do
let him be your father and try coming to him as a little child as Jesus said
Matthew 18:3 (KJV) And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Be open to all that He wants you to learn to do
Give your Heavenly Father the freedom to do and say some things that don't make sense to you
remember he's the boss, not you
The Old Testament concluded with the promise that God would send someone with the spirit of Elijah before the coming of Jesus
And it specifically says that this second Elijah will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to the wisdom of the just
Malachi 4:5-6 (KJV) Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
God would like to teach us earthly fathers how to be better fathers
But before he can do that, we need to become better children
Children of our heavenly father
Children who do not need to know all the answers before we start trusting Him
Children who will trust Him with the very lives that he is given to each of us
And being assured that if He does take anything away,
it will only be to give us something better in return
Can we respond like that to the loving Heavenly Father, to the heart of God?
I'm not talking about organizations or religious rules here
I'm talking about humble worship of the creator of the universe
And openness to Him, revealing Himself to you
Think of Jesus as the “son”
This son did not have a human father
His heavenly father was also his human father
He came as 100% God, the creator revealed in 100% human form
Don't even attempt to understand how he did that
just accept it and take the time to listen to what Jesus has said
He has instructions for us from the one who inhabits eternity
For he himself came from the eternity
He is the Father revealed through His Son
I don't know how he did it
I can't even begin to understand the theology that other people have tried to use to explain it
But I do see the Father, the heart of God revealed most clearly
through the teachings of His only begotten Son Jesus!
No religion
No religious leader
No philosophy or philosopher has ever taught the kind of wisdom that Jesus taught
He does indeed have all the answers to all the world problems
in a concept which he called “the Kingdom of heaven” or the “Kingdom of God”
This heavenly Kingdom is the next stage in what God has been doing for a few thousand years here on planet earth
Take the time to listen to Jesus!
And ask yourself, if you would like to be part of this eternal Kingdom
It’s not all about going to heaven when you die
while living pretty much like everyone else here and now
it's about heaven coming down here on earth right now
Matthew 12:28 (KJV) But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
Luke 9:27 (KJV) But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.
It’s not in all of his fullness yet
but in a sample of what awaits us
when this life is finished or when Jesus returns
whichever comes first
So, preach, teach and speak of the Kingdom of God
