Seeing God as Father - Part A

The term father is meant to convey a warm, welcoming, convivial, intimate, sentiment. In other words, God is not some impersonal ruler, God is a personal father. Our God is a sovereign and powerful God, but isn't it amazing when you remember that he's personal and wants to have an intimate relationship with us? Today on Connect with Skip Heisig, Skip helps you cultivate an even deeper relationship with God as his child. Then stay tuned after the message as Skip and his son Nate share practical ways you can grow that special relationship with the Lord. How does God express his love as father? Well, first of all, he invites us to come and have a relationship with him. He says, call on me.

That's a command. And I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not. Be sure to stay with us after today's message to hear the full discussion. Right now, we want to tell you about a resource that will help transform the way you pray and the way you live. Recent research has found that Google searches for the word prayer have surged worldwide alongside the spread of the novel coronavirus. In fact, Google Trends data shows that the search intensity for prayer doubles for every 8,000 COVID-19 cases. But is there a right way or a more effective way to pray?

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Give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Now, as we join Skip Heitzig for today's teaching, we're in Luke chapter 11. There was a dad who went to the fair with his five kids. He went to the shooting gallery and he was a pretty good shot. And he did so well that he won the toy, the stuffed animal, went over to his five kids to ask which of them should receive this gift. And this is what he asked them. He said, who's the most obedient to mommy? Who never talks back to mommy? Who does everything that mommy asks?

And all five voices in unison said, you play with the toy, daddy. I love being a father. I really love being a grandfather. If I'd have known it's this much fun, I would have had grandkids first.

Somebody once said that grandkids are God's reward for you not killing your kids. I'm going to take you back in time before I take you to our text in Luke chapter 11. I'll take you back to the year 325 AD when a very important meeting took place in modern-day Turkey, ancient Asia Minor, in a little town called Nicaea. There was a dispute as to who the person of Jesus Christ was. There was an argument and the church leaders at the time thought we need to get together and formulate a creed that expresses biblical belief in the nature of God, the nature of Christ, the person of the Holy Spirit, the role of the church, etc. So they came up with a creed called the Nicaean Creed or the Apostles Creed.

Some of you know it by heart because you were raised with it, others of you at least are familiar with it, but it begins by saying, we believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth of all that is seen and unseen. So the creed begins by acknowledging God as Father. We come in Luke chapter 11 to the world's most famous prayer. Recited more than any other prayer by far, known by most everyone, even unbelievers know this prayer. Luke chapter 11 verse 1 begins, now it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. So he said to them, when you pray say, our Father in heaven hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. That has been known for the last couple thousand years as the Lord's Prayer and that's really not a good title for it. That's not the Lord's Prayer, that's the disciples prayer. That's the prayer the Lord taught the disciples to pray. The Lord's Prayer would be John chapter 17 when Jesus gives that incredible, monumental, intimate prayer to his Father. But this is the prayer he taught his disciples to pray. And though it is famous, not everybody understands it, especially kids. For example, a three-year-old said, our Father who does art in heaven, Harold is his name.

Another little boy said, when I was young, I thought the line read, lead a snot into temptation. He said, I thought I was praying for my little sister to get into trouble. Notice that the chapter begins with a request. The disciples are asking Jesus for instruction on how to pray. Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. John, the Baptist, really taught his own followers how to pray. Even the enemies of Jesus made note of this. And they said, John the Baptist, his disciples fast and pray. But I think that the disciples of our Lord, after just seeing Jesus pray on this occasion and probably other occasions, thought, man, there's something different and fresh about the way he talks to God. And so they said, Lord, teach us to pray.

Now, I don't think it's necessarily as much instruction as motivation. It's not that they didn't know how to pray. They were Jewish.

They grew up in the Middle East. They had all sorts of prayers memorized already. They, for example, knew a certain prayer every morning when they wake up, every night when they go to bed. At noontime, there was a special prayer.

There was one for meals. There was one for Passover, for Pentecost, for tabernacles. They had all sorts of prayers they already knew. And so when they said, Lord, teach us to pray, it's not so much teach us how to pray, but, Lord, teach us to be doing it.

Teach us to connect with God like you are able to connect with God. And so, verse 2, he said to them, when you pray, say. Now, you should know that this is one of two places that this prayer is taught by Jesus. The first time is in Matthew chapter 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. And the second time is in Matthew chapter 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. The next time is Luke chapter 11. Two different places, two different occasions, two different audiences. In Matthew chapter 6, he's up in Galilee. In Luke chapter 11, he's down in Judea.

Two different groups. And probably he taught them this prayer or taught people this prayer on several different occasions. I like Matthew chapter 6 because when he teaches them this prayer, he says, when you pray, pray in this manner. Pray like this. Let this be a template. Let this be a guide.

Let these be your values when you approach the Father. This is a template. This is a pattern. This is an outline.

Pray along these lines. Not so much something to be memorized as something to be modeled. Although it is memorized by many and recited by many and sung beautifully by many and not so beautifully by many others.

It is something to be modeled. What I'd like to do with you today on this day, Father's Day, is look at one verse. In fact, not even one verse.

But in verse two, one line, one stanza of verse two. Four words. Our Father in heaven. Believe it or not, I need a whole sermon to do that.

You know me well enough. You go, yeah, we get it. I want to show you though four attributes of God as Father. By the way, He's the only perfect Father.

So men, you're off the hook. In that sense, God is the only perfect Father, the only perfect parent. There never has been a perfect dad. There's never been a perfect mom. Although the closest to a perfect mom would have been my mom. She was an angel.

But she had a temper. But I want to show you four attributes of God as Father. First is His relatability. His relatability. Notice the term Father. When you pray, say, our Father. That's a term of relationship. That's a term of family relationship. It's always interesting to find out what people think God is like.

C.S. Lewis told a story of a little boy who was asked what God was like, and he said as far as he could determine what God was like. As far as he could determine, God was the sort of person who's always snooping around to see if anyone is enjoying himself and then trying to stop it. And I found a lot of people have that view of God. He's like a heavenly hall monitor or vice principal. No offense if you're a vice principal.

But you do have a reputation. If you want to know what God is really like, you look here. God is like the Father.

Now, I realize that that term is not a happy term for some people. For some people, they have difficulty with the term Father because for some, the term Father or Dad carries baggage with it because of their earthly dads. Baggage of disappointment, resentment, images of abuse, neglect. For example, if you're a child who is abandoned by your father and raised by a single mother, you might find it hard to relate to God as a father in a positive sense. For you, God as an uncle or God as a coach or God as a big brother would seem more suitable for you and more meaningful.

But here's what you need to know. The image of God being a father comes from a Jewish culture, an ancient Jewish culture which was far more stable and family-oriented than our own culture. And the term Father is meant to convey a warm, welcoming, convivial, intimate sentiment. In other words, God is not some impersonal ruler. God is a personal Father.

To us, that's not revolutionary. We're used to praying Father. We're used to thinking of God as a Heavenly Father because we were raised with a biblical background, many of us. But what you need to know is that when Jesus used the term 2,000 years ago, it was absolutely revolutionary.

It had never been done, and I want to explain that to you. If you go back in time, in ancient times, to the pagan belief systems and the Jewish belief system, God as Father was unknown. First of all, in the pagan belief system, the gods were distant. They were petulant.

They were angry. In Greek mythology, they had many gods. All the gods had to be placated.

You had to really watch your step around them, be careful what you say, what you do. You never quite knew where you stood with the Greek gods. So the idea of God as a Father was foreign to them. Now, in Roman mythology, they did have a Father figure called Jupiter. Jupiter comes from the words Jovis Pater, which is Father Jove. Have you ever heard the term by Jove? It comes from the worship of Jupiter. It comes from the worship of Jupiter. Father Jove, which means Father Day or Father Sky. So he was called a Father figure, but it was a very vague idea of a hidden God, a hidden deity, who had no contact with the material world because the material world was bad, was evil.

And so he was sort of tucked away up there, hidden away from what's going on here. That idea gave rise to a system called Gnosticism. Ever heard of the Gnostics?

You should know about them because 1 John is written against them. In fact, it was very prevalent in the early church, the idea of Gnostics. They believed Jesus was the son of the hidden Father, sent to redeem the world from the work of the inferior Creator. So once again, the whole idea of a warm, familiar Father God was unknown in the ancient pagan world.

Now let's turn to Judaism. In the Jewish religion, God wasn't Father, God was Master. God was Ruler. The Hebrew word Adonai means that. God was also mighty, El Shaddai, another Hebrew term, the mighty God.

God is referred to in the Old Testament as a Father only as the Father of the nation of Israel, the progenitor of the Hebrew race, never individually, never personally. Now the Jews respected God, revered God. That's admirable. You listen to their prayers, and it's obvious that they respected God. A typical Jewish prayer goes, Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech haolam.

Translated, blessed are you, Lord God, King of the universe. That's beautiful. That's reverential. That's holy, but it's it's not warm and fuzzy. It's not really intimate.

It's not really welcoming. You probably know that the name of God was so holy, they never spoke it. They referred to God, not they never called him Yahweh, his name. They simply called him Hashem, Hashem, which means in Hebrew the name, the name. A Jewish person when writing out God, even to this day, if you get an email, a text, or a letter from an Orthodox Jew, they spell God this way, G-D. They never put the O in because they feel human hands should never write out even the name God or the idea of God because he is so holy and we are so unholy.

Here is a Jewish translation of Psalm 134. Behold, bless ye Hashem, the name. All ye servants of Hashem that stand in the house of Hashem in the night seasons, lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless ye Hashem. Hashem blessed the out of Zion, even he that made heaven and earth. Very distant, very remote, very transcendent. A German scholar doing research in the New Testament discovered that in the entire history of Judaism, in all the existing books of the Old Testament and all the existing books of extra-biblical Jewish writings dating from the beginning of Judaism until the 10th century A.D. there is not a single reference of a Jewish person addressing God directly in the first person as Father.

Never once. So hear this, the first Jewish rabbi to call God Father directly was Jesus of Nazareth. That's why it was so monumental, it was so earth-shattering. And this is the reason many of his enemies wanted him dead. Because he so freely spoke of God as the Father, your Father, my Father.

That assumed a certain intimacy that they didn't like. John chapter 5, Jesus said, my Father has been working until now and I have been working. Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath but also said that God was his Father making himself equal with God. In the four Gospels, Jesus calls God Father over 160 times, in fact about a hundred times in the Gospel of John alone. Father, Father, Father, Father, Father, Father, Father, Father, everywhere. In fact he never called him anything else but Father.

Except one time, one time. And that is when Jesus was hanging on the cross and Mark's Gospel said one of the things Jesus said from the cross is, Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani, which is translated my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's the only time he addressed him not as Father but as my God.

Why did he do it then? Because he is quoting Psalm 122, anticipating the time when the Father would turn away from the Son as the Son was bearing all of the sin of the world upon himself. But then he quickly immediately reverted back to the familiar term, Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit. So that is the history of our Lord Jesus, introducing God as the Father. And the New Testament as it goes on gets even more intimate than that, even more familial than that. Three times in the New Testament an Aramaic term is used, Abba.

You remember that word? Abba. Abba is what might be called baby talk. It's what young kids learn to call their mom and dad. In fact, the Jewish Talmud says as soon as the child is weaned, the child says Abba, daddy.

Ima, mommy. You still hear it in Israel today when you walk around. You hear little Hebrew kids.

Hebrew and Aramaic are the same in that word. Abba, daddy. Ima, mommy. So it is a very intimate term. And we are called to do that. Galatians 4 verse 6, we have received the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father. God is our Father, and Jesus gives you permission to call Him that. Before Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection, He met Mary Magdalene. And He said, go tell my disciples I am a sinner. I am a sinner. Go tell my disciples I am ascending to my Father and your Father. To my God and your God.

So beautiful. So all of that to say this, when we talk to God, we're not talking to the force. We're not talking to the first uncaused cause, the first universal principle. We're talking to our Father in heaven. I got a question for you. What's your relationship with God like? To you, God might be ineffable, amazing, sovereign, transcendent, majestic, good.

But I hope that's not all. Sometimes people talk about the good Lord or the big guy. I'll meet people in the community that recognize me and go, yeah, I've been talking to the big guy. Or I've been talking to the good Lord.

It's like it's a dead giveaway that you don't have any kind of close intimate relationship with the Father if He's just the big guy. J.I.P. says, God is the Father.

J.I. Packer in his great book, Knowing God, writes, if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child. And having God as his Father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish is summed up in the knowledge of the fatherhood of God. Father, he writes, is the Christian name for God.

That's Skip Heitink with a message from the series 2020. Now, here's Skip and Nate as they share practical ways you can cultivate a deeper relationship with God as His child. As we learn today, Jesus desires for us to know God as our Father. And Skip, as my Father, how does God express His love and intimacy as our Father? And what can we do to cultivate that special relationship that we have with Him?

Yeah, this is a very, very important concept. Judaism has always been very respectful of God. They call Him master, ruler, mighty or almighty. And sometimes when they want to talk about God, they won't even say the name God. They'll just say Hashem in Hebrew, which means the name. They all know they're speaking about God. The very first rabbi, historically, to call God Father was Jesus of Nazareth.

And I believe about 160 times in all the Gospels, he refers to God as my Father or our Father or the Father. So, how does God express His love as Father? Well, first of all, He invites us to come and have a relationship with Him. He says, Call on Me, that's a command, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not.

So, think about it. God, who doesn't need anything or anyone, is pursuing you. And once He pursues you and you say yes to Him, He adopts you. He adopts you. You become a part of His family. You enter the royal family. And then because of that, you get an inheritance forever. So, it's an incredible package deal.

So good. Thank you, Skip and Nate. Our experiences of God's strength and presence here on earth give us just a glimpse of eternity with Him. That's why it's important to share the good news of Jesus, so others can know His love now and be with Him in heaven forever.

When you give a gift, you help connect others to Jesus' love by keeping this teaching ministry going strong. Visit connectwithskip.com slash donate to give a gift now. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Or call 800-922-1888.

800-922-1888. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares how you can tap into more of God's power for your everyday life. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.