| The Good Father
January 22, 2006 - Arty Hart
Introduction: Do you ever think, “I would like to have been around to see the look on the disciple's face when Jesus said some of the things He said”?
How about, “You feed them!” How about, “Cast the nets on the other side of the boat” (carpenter speaking to fishermen!). One of my favorites, “Roll the stone away!” (That is like saying “Somebody get a shovel!”)
In Luke 11 Jesus was talking about prayer. Actually, His disciples had asked Him to teach them to pray, so He started teaching them about prayer. They knew how to “pray”. Everybody did. They had all seen the Pharisees pray. But Jesus was different, and they wanted that difference. The difference begins with “Father” – Abba/Daddy.
A lot of commentators make a point of making sure we understand that we can not address God as daddy in the same way that Jesus did. Duh! But Jesus was making the point that we could address God as “Daddy” – a whole lot more than anyone knew.
Jesus gave them a model to follow. It is the same basic prayer found in Matthew chapter six, only abbreviated. It starts with intimacy with God as Father – worship. Jesus' kind of prayer recognizes the superiority of God's plan, seeking His Kingdom. It includes asking for things we need. And it gets real honest about sin – recognizing our weaknesses and admitting our failures. That sums up prayer.
Then Jesus taught them that persistence was important. Prayer isn't a religious exercise, or duty. It is the expression of a relationship, and like any relationship it is built over time.
LK 11:9 We should… “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
In prayer we are often like children in a toy store – asking for whatever is on the next shelf. The Father wants us to focus on what is really important to us.
Then Jesus said something really strange…
11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Remember the filter I talked about a couple of weeks ago? The filter we have affects the way we read Scripture. Some people's “sin filter” would lead them to read that passage and, “though you are evil” would jump right out. “You are evil! You are evil! “You are evil!!!” Jesus' point was not to say you are evil. They knew that. His point was to direct them to the Father's love.
Let me clear something up from last week. When I spoke of the prodigal son I pointed out that the son was wrong when he said, “I don't deserve to be called your son.” It is true that we do not deserve God's love. We have sinned against His love. We can't earn His love. We don't deserve his love. That is why Jesus came to earth. There is no one who has ever earned God's love. Anyone who thinks that they merit God's love is sadly mistaken.
God loves us in spite of what we have done, not because of anything we have done. But once we get honest about our sin, and receive Jesus we become children of God (John 1:12). At that point all of the “you don't deserve it” language is coming from the devil. The devil focuses on doubt – doubt that God loves us, doubt that we have properly received it, doubt that we have done everything we need to do… God doesn't focus on doubt. He focuses on assurance – assurance of His love.
Okay, let's get back to the passage…
11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
We can trust God to love us and give us good things because He is God and He is good. His love is based on Who He is - not on what we have done.
Jack Frost will be here this weekend. He is coming to speak to us about God's love. He is coming to speak to us about our position in the Father's love. He is coming to minister to us on the difference that a real experience of that love will make in our lives.
Understanding and experiencing the Father's love will change our lives, because the Father's love is unlike anything we have ever really experienced.
This little passage of Scripture teaches two things about Father's love that we need to understand:
All earthly fathers have blown it. They are human. They sin. They even sin in the way they parent. This is no great mystery. Fathers are people, people are sinful, fathers are sometime sinful – even in their parenting. The sooner we recognize that and move on the better. No one gets any better by focusing on everything their father (or mother) did wrong. Our hope is in experiencing the love of God the Father.
God's love for us is perfect. God's love for us is based on Who He is, not on who we are or what we have done. That is why the devil can't get any mileage out of accusing us with God. God knows what we have done wrong. The only thing He cares about in that regard is that we admit it and return to Him. He has a great plan for changing our lives, and it is based on what He has done, and is not limited by anything we have done.
Okay, back to Luke 11…
11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
We can trust God to love us and give us good things because He is God and He is good. His love is based on Who He is not on what we have done.
The focus of this passage is on the fact that our experience of the Father's love (experience, provision, blessing…) is supposed to be so much better than the greatest love that we have ever experienced.
Hopefully our earthly fathers gave us good things. Hopefully our earthly fathers wanted the best for us. Hopefully our earthly fathers never intentionally did anything to harm us. Good fathers do what is best for their children.
But compared to God, even the best of Fathers is sinful. And the things that God has for us are perfect, and powerful, and life changing – because He is God, and He loves us, and He has great plans for us, and He is intent on fulfilling those plans, no matter what our past experience has been.
In Matthew 7 Jesus gave this same illustration, but made it a little more general. In Luke 11 Jesus says that God will give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks. That is great news. God is not withholding His Spirit until we ask just right. He is not holding back until we deserve it. He has also not withheld his Spirit from you if you haven't had a particular experience to prove it.
In Matthew 7 the promise is more general. God will give you good things, because He loves you. Experiencing the Father's love is based on Who He is. It is based on His love, not on anything you have done, or haven't done. Your job is to receive it. That is why the devil works so hard on keeping you from just receiving God's love.
Let's visit Luke 11 one more time…
11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Conclusion: Thomas A Kempis said, “A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.”
God is the great giver. He wants to give us everything we need. Our ability experience and receive from God depends on our focus. If or focus is one the gifts we will never receive what we need from God. If our focus is on our limitations we will experience only our limitations. If our focus is on the Father we will find everything we need. PRAY
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