THE FATHER HEART OF GOD
I am blessed to be a father of three beautiful,
intelligent daughters. When they were little children, my missionary work with
YWAM in India used to take me away from them quite a bit. On one of those
teaching trips, Jemimah was an infant when I called home to talk to my family.
After talking with Wilma and Joanna, Wilma put the phone to Jemimah’s ears, “You
should have seen her eyes light up listening to your voice,” Wilma told me
later.
That made me realize how important a father is in the
lives of children, especially when they are young. On this Father’s Day,
countless children in the USA are growing up without fathers. It is a tragic
situation. Children growing up in such homes particularly have a hard time
understanding and receiving God’s Father’s love.
One of my favorite YWAM leaders, Floyd McClung’s book,
“The Father Heart of God,” immensely helped me to see God as my loving father. McClung
says, “Most people do not know God as a loving Father. They do not consider Him
someone to love and trust, worthy of their absolute loyalty and commitment.
Whether a person is a Christian or not, at one time or another, everyone seriously
thinks about who God is and what He is like.
Many people long to know God personally but imagine Him
as a remote, impersonal Being who cannot be known. Others yearn for a
relationship with Him but cling to the misconception that He sits in heaven
wearing a black suit and twisting His long gray beard as He glares down,
seeking to judge anyone who dares to smile on a Sunday.”
What is your perception of God? Do you see Him as a
loving father you can rely upon? Or are you afraid to come near him because of
the past hurts and abuse you may have received from your earthly father? I will
share how God expressed His Father’s heart in four ways toward His children. I
title this message “The Father Heart of God.” Luke 15:11-31
God,
the Father you never had.
Among all images of God in the
Bible, the most loving image is that God is our Father. The Biblical authors
portrayed God as the Father of all humanity. Isaiah 63:16, “Surely you are
still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us. Lord, you would
still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past.”
In John 1:9-13, we read, “The one who is the true
light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came into the
very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own
people, and even they rejected him.
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave
the right to become children of God. They are reborn not with a physical birth
resulting from human passion or plan but a birth that comes from God.” When we
believe in Jesus, we have the right to become God’s children and are no longer
orphans. In our passage, we see how God expressed himself to his children.
I.
A father who gives generously to his children
Vs. 11-12, “Jesus told them
this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my
share of your estate now before you die.’ So, his father agreed to divide his
wealth between his sons.” The father in the story reflects our heavenly Father.
God, our heavenly father, loves us lavishly that we
should be called his children. (I John 3:1). Every good and perfect gift comes
from Him. (James 1:17). He generously gives everything for our enjoyment, to do
good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share with
others. (I Tim 6:17-18). What do we do with these God-given resources?
II.
A father who patiently waits for his prodigal sons and daughters to return
Vs. 13, “A few days later, this younger son packed all
his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money
in wild living.” What a waste of resources!
The prodigal son represents those who move away from
God in pursuit of worldly pleasures and enjoyment. They waste all their
God-given resources of money, intelligence, physical strength, and energy on
things that don’t truly satisfy them. Like the prodigal son in the story, they
end up in a pigsty. What did the prodigal son’s father do while he was away?
He did not go after keeping an eye on him like some
parents do when their children move away from their home. Instead, the father
waited at home, perhaps praying for his son’s protection and returning home
someday. Our heavenly father opens his arms to his rebellious children all day
long (Isaiah 65:2) and waits patiently for his prodigal children to return
home.
III.
A father who lovingly forgives and restores his children when they repent.
When the younger son was home, he
must have been a happy and secure young man having everything to his heart’s
content. But soon after leaving home, all the money was spent on wild parties,
and life became a struggle. Out of starvation wanted to eat what pigs ate, but
no one gave him anything that brought him to his senses and made his journey
homeward.
While he was still a long way off, his father saw him,
filled with love and compassion, ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
His son said to him, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I
am no longer worthy of being called your son.
The younger son thought of asking his father to take
him as one of his servants. Instead, his father restored him to his sonship. He
called his servants to bring the finest robe in the house, put a ring on his
finger, and sandals for his feet. Let me get this into our context.
Our sins take us far from God and make us slaves to
sin and Satan. We lose joy, live in misery, and feel hopeless. When we come to
our senses and return to God in repentance, God forgives our sins, frees us
from the grip of Satan, and reinstates us as his children. As the Holy Spirit
affirms, we are God’s children; now we call him Abba, Father.
IV.
A father who delightfully celebrates when his prodigal children return.
Our God is a generous Father. He patiently waits,
lovingly forgives, and restores us. He also delightfully celebrates each time
his son or daughter returns home. The prodigal son’s father ordered a fattened
calf to be slaughtered for a feast. What he pronounced afterward indicates the
state of all of us in our sinful condition. He said, “We must celebrate with a
feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost,
but now he is found.”
The scriptures say that all of us were lost due to our
sins. While we were dead in our sins, Christ died for us so we might be found
and live again as his sons and daughters. Nothing brings greater joy to our heavenly
Father than his prodigal sons and daughters returning home.
The last parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin
illude to the fact that “there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even
one sinner repents.” The Psalmist accurately described the Father Heart of God
toward His children. Psalm 103:8-13, “The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow
to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us nor
remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not
deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who
fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has
removed our sins as far from us as the East is from the West. The Lord is like
a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.”
Are you like the prodigal son in the story, lost in
your sin? Are you starving for your heavenly father’s love and affection? Come
to your senses, rise up from your pit of depression and discouragement, and
journey toward God. Our compassionate and loving father will forgive you and
restore you to be his son and daughter again. Let the party begin! Let the joy
and peace return. May our souls be revived and satisfied in our heavenly Father’s
loving embrace.
