Do we know it's Father's day at all?

And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18 ESV

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” Matthew 6:9 ESV

                Some of us are blessed to have earthly fathers who love us, and have done right by us according to the expectations of God. Some of us are blessed to be fathers and to raise up our children in the way they should go to the glory of God. All of us would do well to remember that we have a greater Father in Heaven. We who have earthly fathers will be reminded to honor them, even in their imperfection, for the love and honor of the perfect Father. Those who are fathers will be reminded what an awesome responsibility we bear towards our children to show them something of their truer Father who is in Heaven.  All of us will be encouraged, and comforted, and edified in this remembrance.

Some will find their fathers afflicted with disease of body or of mind, unable to be all that once they were. There are some whose fathers have pass on from this world who can celebrate only the memory.  These souls may feel they have lost something dear. They also have need to look to the Heavenly Father who is every presence, and ever capable.  In his presence they may be glad for what was, and is, and will be.

                Sadly there is another reason that we must hold to this theology. We live in a fallen world, and even the most sacred things are corrupted Romans 3:23. There are some who do not know a good earthly father. Some have been abused in ways too horrible to recount. Some have been abandoned. Some have not known a father at all. There are too many souls who have no reason to celebrate a day dedicated to fathers. We must ask the question, do they know it is father’s day at all? And just as importantly do we?  I find this father’s day that the world is in need of the one Father, Ephesians 4:6. And to those who fathers have failed and those who have no father, and to all who would seek the Father it is written.

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. Psalm 68:5 ESV

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15 ESV

            Whether you have known a good though imperfect father, or a father whose imperfections where painfully felt, or a father who was abusive, or no father worthy of being called a father at all, or no father whatsoever; you may know a perfect loving Father. That you may know what Father He is, allow me to share briefly from His word some of the best truths of who he is, and how He relates to us.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 ESV

 I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 ESV

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works. John 14:9-10 ESV

            The Father desires to be known. According to Psalm 19:1 and Romans 1 God makes Himself known in nature. He has displayed His goodness and His majesty and His power for all to see that we may seek Him.  He comes near to us in Christ, revealing Himself fully. Not only this but in Christ the way has been opened for us to approach the Father, John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, Hebrews 2:17-18, 4:14-16. And that we might know of all this He has given us His word 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

            God wants to know you and to be known by you. He has not secreted Himself away. In fact you can find His words to you in many hotel room drawers all across the land. You can find in every place a group of His children ready to help you understand the Father’s good news to you, and to carry your burdens up to the Father in prayer.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? f you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:7-11 ESV

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. Psalm 103:13 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 ESV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 ESV

            The Father is good to His children. God cares for His sons and daughters so that He desires them to cast their cares on Him 1 Peter 5:7. He loves His children with a definitive love 1 John 4:10. Jesus taught us to look to the Father for our provisions each day Matthew 6:11. Jesus taught us not to worry, but to trust that God will provide the ends of those who seek Him before all else Matthew 6:25:33. We do not ever have to worry that the Heavenly Father will overlook us Matthew 10:29-31. Coming before the Father in itself grants us peace Philippians 4:6-7.

            All of this despite lack lovable qualities.In Genesis 3 Adam our first father broke God’s single commandment, spitting in the face of the Heavenly Father, dooming us all to slavery to sin. Some would say the penalty is too severe, but consider the threat was that on the day adam ate of that particular fruit he would die. Adam did not die that day; he lived for many more years. He had his nakedness covered. Most importantly God made Adam a promise that he would set things right. That promise is fulfilled in Christ Jesus the new and better Adam Romans 5:12-21.

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of His reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom He loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Hebrews 12:7 ESV

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. John 15:1-2 ESV

but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 1 Peter 1:14 ESV

            The father loves us too much to let us continue in sin. Sin is killing us Romans 6:23 whether we know it or not. God disciplines His children for their own good, to lead them back onto the right pass. In this He is unlike an earthly father in that He has a perfect knowledge, and a perfect understanding Romans 11:33. Consider how the Lord humbled Peter so that Peter might be lifted up and made ready for a greater work, or how in Acts 9 Saul was brought low so that He might be made into Paul. God’s way is the best way Matthew 5:3-10, Proverbs, Psalm 1, etc. Sometimes God allows us to suffer in order that we might learn and grow in knowledge of Him, and in faith consider Job. In all of this the promise of Romans 8:28 holds true.

God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it? 23:19 ESV

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Isaiah 40:8 ESV

The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Psalm 33:11 ESV

Forever, O LORD, Your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Psalm 119:89 ESV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 ESV

            With God the rules don’t change suddenly. He never acts out of character. He is perfectly consistent in all His ways. When God sets out right and wrong that is right and wrong. When God establishes a covenant it will be enforced until it is completed. When He makes a promise it will be kept. This means you never have to wonder what God will be like today. You never have to try and guess what He expects from you. If you need help figuring out what you need to do, or understand a situation God offers His wisdom to you James 1:5. You never have to worry about losing what He promises you. It is called eternal life for a reason John 6:37-40, 1 Peter 1:3-5, Ephesians 1:13-14, etc. Christ will hold you fast. God won’t abandon you.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 ESV

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Mark 16:15 ESV

As You sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. John 17:18 ESV

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” John 20:21 ESV

            That Father entrust His sons and daughters with His work, and with His name. God invites us into the Kingdom not to go and sit quietly in the corner seen and unheard. He welcomes us to join in what He is doing, to have a role in the family business as it were. He is not ashamed of us. At times God may even call us to the honor of suffering for His name’s sake Matthew 5:11-12. Consider Daniel, or Paul, or any of the apostles. He trust us even the worst situations to represent Him well. He is not ashamed of those who are not ashamed of them, and indeed we know that those who suffer for His sake are approved by Him through the testimony regarding Stephen in Acts 7:55.

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Psalm 56:8 ESV

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 6:4 ESV

            No tears fall from the eyes of one of God own to be wasted. He is not indifferent to your pain. He keeps an account. One day He will wipe each tear away.

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? John 14:2 ESV

            There is a place for each of God’s children in His house. He is prepared for our coming.

            There is more that could be said. May this be sufficient however to remind us who ought to know, and to show those who do not know that for all would come to the Father through Christ by grace in faith that it is indeed Father’s day: every day is the Father’s day. Let us celebrate our Father who is in heaven. Let those who have earthly fathers give thanks to their Father for their fathers. Let the fathers give thanks that they father under the Holy Father. Let those who have lost fathers find joy in the Father. Let the fatherless of all kinds find that they have the very best Father of all. And may the love of our God and Father be with us all this Father’s day. Amen.