For June 15

 

Sermon Notes: A Father’s Love

Intro: To all fathers with us today, Happy Father’s Day!  Not to detract from such an honor, but biologically, it’s fairly easy to be a father, but some men never pursue fatherhood any further than that. Some men, realizing the sacrifice of effort and time with the consequent child, never endure very long in that experience. But those that do, know there are even varying levels of success and rewards. There are no guaranteed procedures, or manuals with the answers, but those who persevere, and are even reasonably successful, earn the title of Dad. So, I honor you and salute you by wishing you, Happy Dad’s Day.

  Joining them on the Father’s Day platform of recognition are the men who may not be biological dads, like stepfathers, grandfathers, foster dads, leaders, and other volunteers who invest their time and love to make a difference in children’s lives. Those who step in as a friend, choosing to help other fathers, or fill in for fathers unable, or unwilling, to be there for their kids. It’s hard being a kid, especially in today’s world, where guns, drugs, and gangs, predators, and corrupt morals lure young people into harmful ‘families’ with false promises of belonging. More than ever, they need to be influenced by dads who have their backs, steer them into better ways...with love...a father’s love. It’s a challenging job, with heartbreaks, pain, and frustrations along the way. But a job that brings tears of joy to their eyes, seeing their successes along the way that makes it such a rewarding experience. And so, on this Father’s Day, we also honor and salute you this morning, as Dads!

 

I. Psalm 103:6-18

A. Oh, if only there was such a “How To Be A Dad” manual. And if there was, I’m confident the first chapter would be about a father’s love. For those of us who believe we have a Loving Father, with His Son who loves us and whose earthly ministry showed us the Father’s love, we know we have such a manual, our Bible, available to us as that manual. It even includes some good, as well as bad examples of fathers in the Bible, intended to teach us God’s wisdom. But it’s up to us to read, pray for understanding, and apply those lessons to our lives.

B. So, this morning, let’s look at the love of fathers, starting with our Heavenly Father. Our Call To Worship invites us to come into His Presence, giving Him thanks and praise for His Goodness, Love, and Mercy that never fails, and who calls us as His children to live eternal life with Him. It’s an invitation to come to Him, without demanding or forcing us to accept His welcoming invitation. Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, otherwise known as the Parable of the Loving Father, exemplifies our Heavenly Father.

C. In that parable, a son wants his yet undeserved inheritance so he can go his separate way. His father knows what lies ahead for his foolish son, yet gives the son what he asks, not demanding or forcing him to stay. Although deeply hurt, the father never gives up watching and hoping for

his son’s return. Ultimately the son, at rock bottom, alone, feeling fatherless by his own choice, now remembers his father’s love that he had turned his back on. He decides to humble himself and ask his father to let him become a mere servant on his estate. But the waiting father sees him coming and runs to him, showering him with love, a Dad’s love, welcoming him home before the son can even speak.    

D. Psalm 103, written by King David, describes the characteristics of our loving Father. He won’t treat us as our sins deserve, or pay us back for offending Him. Instead, our God, our Heavenly Father, is compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love, infinitely removing our sins from us. He has compassion for his children, on those who call on Him. Compassion - sympathetic pity and concern for our sufferings and misfortunes. He knows our weaknesses, our mortal frames, yet His love is never ending with those who call Him Lord, keep His covenants, and remember to obey His laws,

E. We might think that David, as God’s chosen king, would have written this psalm from a place of knowing how God’s love from the vantage point of having received God’s showers of blessing on his reign, the golden years of Israel. But David had committed some horrible sins against God – adultery, murdering and lying to cover up his adultery, then physically and emotionally suffering when he thought he could hide those sins from God  But David, like the prodigal son, came before God, asking His forgiveness, and God had compassion on him, not treating him as those sins deserved, but with mercy, and His continuing love. God even promises that His Messiah would be David’s royal descendant who would occupy his throne one day.

 

II. I John 3:1-10

A. Country Western singer George Strait recorded a song about a father’s love, titled A Love Without End. It’s about a boy who gets in trouble at school for breaking the rules, and is sent home. Trembling, going over his confession, he waited for his daddy, expecting the worst. But compassionately, the father tells him the secret of a daddy’s love his father had shared with him. That Daddys don’t just love their children every now and then. It’s a love without end. Amen. The next verse of that song relates  about him having a similar conversation with his own errant son, sharing the secret about a father’s love without end with him. What a wonderful way to think about our Heavenly Father’s love for us. Even though expecting and deserving the worst for our sins, He assures us that His love never ends.

B. In our Epistle Reading, the Apostle John is sharing about the effect of God’s Fatherly love with his congregation. He begins by saying what great love the Father has lavished on us, by calling us to be the children of God. We know the great love the Father has for His only son, Jesus. It must have broken the Father’s heart to see His Son in such agony, dying on that cross. But because the Father, and His Son loved us so much, they were willing to make that great sacrifice for His children. Not just children, but in Ephesians 1:5, Paul talks about our being predestined for adoption to sonship through Jesus, in accordance with God’s pleasure and will. An adopted son was given the same love and legal standing as a son born to a father. We, being children of God, have the Father’s same love for us as He has for Jesus. And Jesus loves us as children of His Father. A love without end. Amen.

C. But the Father’s Love should have an effect on us. As children of God, loved by the Father, we aren’t given a free pass to sin, presumptuously relying on His love to automatically forgive our sins. John, further addressing his congregation as ‘Dear friends’, says that now, as children of God, when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, calling on us to purify ourselves, as He is pure. Paul's teaches in Romans 6:1-2, that true believers are called to live in newness of life, having died to sin.

D. The concept of being "born of God" is rooted in the idea of regeneration, a fundamental change in a person's nature through the Holy Spirit. This transformation results in a new disposition that is incompatible with a lifestyle of habitual sin. In the biblical context, sin is not merely isolated acts but a pattern of behavior that reflects a deeper spiritual condition. The refusal to practice sin is not about achieving sinless perfection but indicates a break from the pattern of sin that characterizes those who are not in Christ. We may call ourselves children of God, but those who are truly His children, who are born of God, will not continue to live in a state of sin, and will love their brothers and sisters. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has neither known him nor seen him.

E. John further appeals to his congregation as he writes “Dear Children, do not let anyone lead you astray.”  John’s congregation was being influenced by a corrupt theology, Gnosticism. that was denying Jesus’ humanity and divinity as God’s Son. Appealing to the Church not to be led astray, John exhorts them to hold on to their faith, obeying His commands, practicing all they’d learned as God’s children. And that is how we know who the children of God are, as opposed to those who are born of the devil.

F. We believe in a Father who loves us, and invites us to live in His Presence. But we must never forget that God is holy. We cannot come into His Presence with sin. Jesus came into our world to remove our sin, to clothe us in His righteousness, so that we can come into our Father’s Presence. Jesus taught us much about the Father’s love, so now we must ask ourselves, how do we love Him in return? 

G. We love Him when we genuinely live according to God’s commandments. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He quoted from Deuteronomy 6:4, that we are to love God with all our heart, mind, strength and soul. He quickly adds, that the second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself, and we know who He taught was our neighbor in his illustrative Parable of the Good Samaritan.

H. I may be preaching to the choir here, but devoting an occasional hour in church on a Sunday, or at Christmas and Easter, does not show our Father our continuing love with all our hearts and minds. Our love without end. When people spend more on questionable pleasures during the week than they do with their offerings or charitable giving, who are they showing their love to?  To be honest, dropping an obligatory check, or a few dollars in the plate may actually be showing God just how much we really love Him. Jesus tells us very plainly, that where our treasure is, there also is our heart. If we are born of God, thankful to be children of God, and know the joy of being in His presence, we aren’t limited by clock time, or expected financial giving, or competing priorities. To know our Heavenly Father’s love, is to desire to show our love in return. As we sang in our Hymn of Preparation, This is my Father’s world, the Lord is King, let the heavens ring! God reigns, let the earth be glad! When God truly reigns in us, we know His love, and He knows our love for Him.

I. Honoring our earthly dads is one way we can thank God for them. Taking time to show appreciation with more than a card in the mail, but treating them as God’s gift to us. Jesus knew His heavenly Father’s love, and loved Him deeply. But He also loved Joseph, his earthly dad, who loved Him and influenced Him, preparing Him for earthly, human life. He was a Dad who accepted the responsibility of raising God’s special son as His own, teaching him the carpenter’s trade, even frantically searching for him in the crowded streets of Jerusalem, relieved to find He hadn’t been lost, but going about His Father’s business in the Temple. But most of all we can thank our God for being our Heavenly Father, who has loved us since we were born, and will love us until we breathe our last. The love that Jesus modeled for us throughout His life.

 

Conclusion: The final verse of that song, Love Without End, ties all we’ve been hearing about the Father’s Love this morning. The man had heard his father tell him that the secret of a father’s love is that daddys don’t just love their children every now and then, but with a love that never ends. Then, later as a father, he shared that secret of a father’s love with his own son. But then one night he dreamed he had died and stood before the Pearly Gates, realizing there must have been some mistake, because if those behind the gate ever realized all he had done, they’d never let him in. But somewhere behind those gates came a voice saying, “Let me tell you a secret about a Father’s love.”  It was the voice of our Heavenly Father saying,( although it’s no secret), that He doesn’t just love His children every now and then. It’s a love without end. Amen