Sermon Summary: The Fatherhood of God by David Tadros

The following is a written summary of a sermon initially delivered by David Tadros.

• One can argue that God’s attributes such as loving, Saviour, Redeemer etc. can be under the umbrella term of a ‘Father’.

  • A father will forgive his son, when he sees his son is genuine.

  • A father will die to redeem his son.

  • Our idea of a father is based on an earthly biological relationship.

• The idea of God as our ‘Father’ is derived from Matthew 6:6-9.

  • In this chapter, Jesus presents the Beatitudes to His disciples. Jesus conveys:

    • 1. That we must “Hunger and thirst for righteousness”.

    • 2. Jesus teaches us how to act on this earth e.g. whoever slaps your cheek, give them the other, “if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles”, “if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well”.

    • 3. Jesus reveals how we should speak directly to God.

  • At the conclusion of the Beatitudes, Jesus mentions that we should pray to God in secret, and address Him as “Our Father”.

    • This term of God as the “Father” would have come as a great shock to the disciples as in the Old Testament, God is depicted as a strict God, one full of wrath and one that should be feared.

    • Yet, in just the 4 Gospels, God has been described as ‘Father’ around 150 times.

• What do we learn and benefit from understanding our relationship of God as one between a Father and his son?

  • Christ and the Church allows us to recognise the intimacy of our relationship with God, just like a father is to his son.

  • God wants an intimate and specialised relationship with His children.

  • 1 Peter 5:6-7 - “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

  • “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” (12th hour psalm)

  • God will perfect your concerns in every way that He deems best for you, for He cares about you.

• Whatever we care about, God will care about it also - however, this is not to say that God will give everything we ask of Him, rather He will give according to His will and in due time.

  • Luke 12:6-7 - “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many more sparrows.”

  • If God worries about a sparrow that isn’t even worth 1 copper coin, who is to say that He won’t care about you also?

  • Isaiah 25:8 - “The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces”

  • Psalm 56:8 - “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?”

  • Isaiah 49:14-16 - “But Zion said “The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget a nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palm of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.”

• Often at times we feel that the Lord has forgotten us, but when we are distressed, God is distressed. God is not a bystander and thus, you can rest assured that God cares for you and feels your pain.

• “He heals the wounds of every broken heart. He counts the starts and calls them each by name.” - Psalm 147

• Recall the last time you wrote something on your hand. For what reason?... to remember something.

  • In the same way, God has inscribed the names of each of His children on the palm of His hands and our walls are continually before Him.

  • Christ on the cross, was nailed, and as the nail pierced through His flesh, the blood of Jesus cleansed the sins of every human inscribed on His hands.

    • The cross is the perfect representation of Christ’s Fatherhood for us.

    • When we see how much God has done for us, we are able to love Him more.

    • He will wipe away our tears no matter what we have done to cause them.

Q. How do we practice that intimacy but still respect God?

• The level of intimacy we can show God does not have to be one like we would show to our friends e.g. do something for them before they ask you to.

• Instead, using and remembering God’s love as a reminder of our relationship with Him can bring us to be more intimate with Him.

• Once you experience God, there lies an underlying urge and love to be in constant contact with Him - you can’t un-taste the sweetness of a mango!