June 18, 2023
Father’s Day
Today is Father’s Day – the day set aside to honor our fathers. Originally, the sentiment behind the honoring of fathers was rooted in a loving familial relationship between children and their fathers – although our culture has so dissolved and devolved that such a loving relationship seems to be more the exception than the rule.
Some of you know my own experience with my fathers – plural. Al – my first father, the one who gave me his DNA – Al left Mom and my sister Andrea when I was four years old. I saw him only on rare occasions afterward. When I was 18, I asked my mom to set up a meeting with him. I wanted to ask him why he deserted me and Andrea. I vividly remember his response. Without a moment’s hesitation, he told me: “Because I wanted to.”
Tom Maffeo, the man who married mom several years later and who legally adopted me and Andrea, was a very angry and mean-spirited man. When I got older, I was able to cut him some proverbial slack because I learned his own father was an abusive alcoholic. But, nonetheless, Tom Maffeo never embraced me. Never told me he was proud of me. Never visited my scout meetings or high school football games. He was an essentially absent father who seemed to think his role as a parent was simply to bring home his paycheck.
Although many of you here had wonderful and loving fathers, in a group as diverse as this, statistically I can be confident that my story is not too dissimilar to some of your own. Or, if not similar to your stories, mine may be similar to the stories of children that you know – grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or the children of close friends.
I didn’t know how endemic this tragedy is until I did some research for this message. According to a 2022 US Census Bureau report, one in four children today – 25% -- are living without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home. That’s 18.4 million boys and girls. To give us some perspective, that’s enough fatherless children to fill New York City twice, or Los Angels four times.
And so, because of the so many tragic stories around us, my message today is an important one for you, for me, and for all who never knew the loving embrace of a father.
Why? Because the comforting, consoling, and heartening truth is, everyone, anyone can each have a deeply personal and passionately intimate relationship with the One who created us to have that kind of relationship with Himself.
Jesus and all of the New Testament writers speak of God as Creator. But it speaks of God as Father to only those who are adopted by Him through their faith in the atoning sacrifice of God the Son, who is the second Person of the Triune Being we know as God. At the conclusion of this message, I’ll come to this point about who is truly a child of God, but for now let it suffice to only say that God WANTS all men and women to be His children.
So, since this is Father’s Day, and the Fatherhood of God is so vital to our life and our sense of self-worth, I will spend the rest of our time today looking at this one question, “What is God the Father like”?
The answer is not as difficult to determine as it might seem at first. Do you remember when Jesus told the religious leaders: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30). What Jesus meant by that simple phrase – and the religious leaders knew precisely what Jesus meant, which is why they picked up stones to execute Him for blasphemy – Jesus meant that He and the Father are one substance. One essence. Jesus, along with the Holy Spirit, are co-existent, co-equal, and co-eternal with each other. He meant that there never was a time when He did not exist.
That’s part of what the Holy Spirit tells us in that first chapter of John’s gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
This is important to the question, “What is God the Father like?” because it dovetails precisely to the conversation He and Philip had in the 14th chapter of the same gospel.
Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:8-9)
So, to answer the question of what the Father is like, we need only to look at what Jesus is like, since He and the Father are one essence, one Being, although three Persons.
And what is Jesus like? For the sake of time, we will look at only a few of His attributes in answer to the question on this Father’s Day.
First, St. John tells us God ‘IS’ love. St Paul defines love this way: “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13)
Now while we cannot now take the time to unpeel these characteristics of love as they each relate to God (meaning, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) we should recognize that the Triune Being is PATIENT. And KIND.
That means He is not standing at His throne, combing through the affairs of your life, systematically seeking a reason to whip you into line. That’s because He already whipped His only begotten Son who stood in YOUR place.
But some might ask for proof of His love, especially when their life is so full of disappointments and heartaches and loss and pain.
I remember asking Him that question a long time ago. Nearly half a century ago. I accused Him of not loving me, not caring about me, because of all I was going through at the time. But then, in the midst of my accusations, I suddenly saw Him. I won’t say I had a vision, but I saw Him as clearly with my mind’s eye as if seeing Him in person.
As I looked into the cloudless sky, a cross appeared. As I stared at it, it slowly turn on its axis, 180 degrees. And then I saw the Father’s proof of His love for me, even in the midst of my own pain. I saw Jesus hanging there. He was looking right at me. His eyes soft. And tender. I will NEVER forget that moment.
How do you know the Father loves you? Because Jesus, who ‘IS’ God in the flesh, went willingly to that cross, willingly STAYED on that cross, until the penalty for your sins and mine was fully, totally, eternally paid.
It doesn’t matter what was our experience with our earthly father – whether it was a good relationship or a terrible one. It doesn’t matter, and it SHOULD NOT matter when we are comparing our earthly father with our creator and heavenly Father. He alone in all the universe of universes is perfect and pure in all ways. And He loves you.
As we look at Jesus to explain and define for us the Father, we turn to Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome: 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . . 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Your Father on this Father’s Day – and on EVERY day – is not itching to beat you into submission. Don’t let that lie of Satan, who wants us to think our Father is perpetually angry with us – don’t let that lie sink into your soul.
Which brings us to the second point about who the Father is. For this, let’s look at Jesus’ opinion of hypocrites. What did He, who is God incarnate -- what did Jesus warn those who practiced hypocrisy, especially as it relates to Christian faith?
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in . . . . 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves . . . 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. . . . 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you . . . outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness . . . 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”
Whoa! Our Father in heaven had some pretty hard words of warning for hypocrites, didn’t he? Think of all the hypocrites you’ve known in churches you attended and who, because of their hypocrisy, caused many to stumble and fall away from Christ. Think of the church leaders and televangelists who lived hypocritical lives and, when their sins were found out, led multitudes away from Christ.
And don’t think for a moment that our HOLY Father in heaven does not also warn us against our own practice of hypocrisy. Don’t think for a moment that He ignores how WE cause others to stumble when our walk consistently undermines our talk.
Which now brings us to yet another attribute of our Father in heaven as seen lived out in Jesus. God is eager to forgive our sins. Even the most egregious of sins.
Remember what Jesus said to the woman caught in the act of adultery. “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.” (John 8:10-11)
FORGIVENESS. Why else would God the Holy Spirit move St Paul to write: Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:1, 8-10)
And a few chapters later, Paul follows up with this promise of God: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)
It does not matter – it MUST NOT matter – if our earthly father held a grudge against us for things we did wrong. Our heavenly Father NEVER holds a grudge. He “does not take into account a wrong suffered.”
Which now brings us to the final attribute of God the Father as evidenced by God the Son on this Father’s Day. He promised to never leave us. That means our heavenly Father never rejects ANY of His children. Nor will He ever do that.
Here is yet another example of how our human experiences with people – even with earthly fathers – can dilute and color our confidence in our heavenly Father’s trustworthiness. It is the experience of far too many of us that people have rejected us, time and again. Whether by parents, or friends, or children, or a spouse —such things happen all too often in life, either to us or to those we care about.
But – and this is an important word, ‘But.” But such things NEVER happen with regard to our Father who is in heaven. Did not Jesus say, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you?” (Hebrews 13:5) Did He not say, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age”?
On this Father’s Day when we remember all the good things that our earthly father was – or the good things we WISH our earthly father was – we must get it into our souls on this Father’s Day 2023 – and every day for the remainder of our earthly lives – that our heavenly Father is above all that we can ask or think or even dream about regarding what it means to have a father who loves us.
Let me bring this message to a close in this way: If you are a child of God, if you belong to Him because of your faith in God the Son, then you have a Father in heaven unlike any earthly father who has ever lived and who ever will live.
You have love like no one has ever or can ever be loved apart from Him. You have a Father who demands you and me to live in holiness. You also have His vow to always forgive us and to embrace us each time we fail Him but return to Him in repentance. And if you are a child of God, you have His vow to never, ever leave you.
All these, and so much more that we could not examine today for the sake of time – all these unalterable promises belong to the child of God.
Which rightly brings me to the critical question: Are you a child of God? We all must know that not everyone is His child. Yes, we are all His creation, but we are not – by that act of creation – we are not all adopted into His family. The scriptures tell us: “He [Christ] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:10-13)
I must ask it again – are YOU a child of God? Have you confessed to God that you are a sinner through and through, and that you deserve His wrath because of your sins?
Have you told Him you’re sorry for the way you’ve lived your life, and that you want to now serve Him as a slave for the rest of your days?
Have you asked Jesus to wash away your sins with His blood shed on that cross? Have you followed Him in water baptism? And are you striving each day to live a life of obedience to His commandments?
If you answer yes to those questions, then I will repeat what I have said in this message: Every promise God has made to His children – every promise – applies to you. Say it aloud – Every promise your heavenly Father makes to His children belongs to YOU.
Today is Father’s Day. Most of us in this room have long ago buried their fathers and are therefore no longer able to honor them. But our Father who art in heaven – He lives forever.
Take time today to thank your heavenly Father for His love, His commandments, His forgiveness, His continuous presence with us every moment of every day of our lives.
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