Rev. Darrell Debowey Immanuel Lutheran Church, Springfield, IL September 30, 2012

Transcription

1 Rev. Darrell Debowey Immanuel Lutheran Church, Springfield, IL September 30, 2012 Mark 10:15: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. God Is Our Father Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. INTRODUCTION: In the Lord s Prayer, Jesus invites us to call God, Our Father who art in heaven. Even the youngest of children can understand the concept of Father, except for perhaps Reese, a threeyear old, who was heard praying, Our Father who does art in heaven, Harold is His name! The term Father implies a relationship. God our Father watches over us, loves us and cares for us. In fact, the symbol above our Altar for God the Father is a hand reaching downward, showing that God as our Father provides for His Creation. Question 96 from the Explanation of the Small Catechism, asks the question: Why is the first person of the Trinity called the Father? The answer comes in two parts: First, God is the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ and also my Father through faith in Christ. And second, He is also the Father of all people because He created them. Strictly speaking, there is only one human race, because all human beings are equally the children of Adam and Eve and are equally redeemed by Christ. Let s meditate upon the second answer first: God is our Father because He created us. I. God is our Father because He made us. Page 1

2 Why are you here? What is your purpose in life? Those are questions we naturally ask ourselves. If we are merely accidents of natural, then there really is no purpose in life and life has no value except to survive and pass on your genes to the next generation. But, if you are the creation of a loving God, your very existence has value you matter to God because He made you. A carpenter values each piece of furniture that he makes because he makes it with his own hands his work is a reflection of him. The Bible teaches that every person is created in God s image and is a creation of God s own hand. That means you are a reflection of your Creator s goodness, love and intelligence. And because the greatest intelligence in the universe made you, you know that you have purpose, for God has created you for a reason: that you may love Him and live to serve your neighbor with the gifts God has given you. But above all, God has created you with the purpose of having a relationship with you. That s why we pray in the Lord s Prayer, Our Father because as our Creator, God is our Father and we are His children. II. God is especially the Father of believers. It s been said that every person has a relationship with God but it s a broken relationship. We were all created to have a loving, familial relationship with God our Father. But that relationship was broken long ago. It was broken when Adam and Eve the first people God created chose to rebel against God and sin. At that very moment their relationship with God went from loving God as their Father to fearing God as their Enemy. Yet God had not changed He was still the same loving Creator He d always been. God was angry with Adam and Eve, and righteously so. He had made them and given them everything they needed in the Garden of Eden. Everything was perfect for them, yet they still Page 2

3 rebelled against their Creator. And with their rebellion and sin came consequences consequences we know and feel today. But no consequence was worse than the ruptured relationship between God and His creation. Though God was angry, yet in His mercy He immediately went to work to restore His relationship with Adam and Eve. Once the relationship with God was broken, there was nothing Adam and Eve could do to restore their relationship with God. But God went to work. He immediately promised to send a Savior who would restore the relationship between God and man. And that Savior was God s own Son, Jesus Christ. Through His earthly life, death on the cross and resurrection, Jesus overcame the very thing that broke our relationship with God the Father sin. The body Jesus gave into death and the blood He shed were the perfect and complete sacrifice to win for all people the forgiveness of sins. Which takes us back to the first answer to our question: Why is the first person of the Trinity called the Father? God is the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ and also my Father through faith in Christ. In our Gospel reading from Mark, you heard Jesus announce: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. What Jesus is talking about is faith complete trust in God the Father. The younger the child, the more a child trusts what his or her parents say. This child-like faith is what opens God s kingdom to you. You see, since Jesus is the One whose life, death and resurrection overcame sin and nothing that we do all who believe in Jesus Christ as God s Son and Savior, no longer live in a broken relationship with God, for in Christ they live in a restored relationship. Because of what Page 3

4 Jesus has done for us, no longer is God the enemy, but He is once again Our Father who art in heaven. III. As our Father, God invites us to pray to Him. Which takes us to another question in the Explanation of the Small Catechism, Question 205: In what way does the word Father in the Lord s Prayer encourage us to pray? Answer: The word Father tells us that God loves us and wants us to pray to Him confidently and without fear. And Question 206: What does the word our impress upon us when we pray, Our Father? Answer: In Jesus all believers are children of the one Father and should pray with and for one another. And finally, Question 207: What do the words who art in heaven say about God? Answer: These words assure us that our heavenly Father, as Lord over all, has the power to grant our prayers. One of the fruits of faith in Christ is knowing God as Father. With that restored relationship comes the invitation to approach God in prayer, to ask Him as dear children ask their dear father. As our creator, God promises to provide for all of our needs, even without our prayers. Yet He invites His children to come to Him with all of our needs and concerns. Even Jesus, God s own Son, went to His heavenly Father often prayer. And God promises to hear and answer all the prayers of those who believe in His Son. But that doesn t mean He ll say Yes or give you an answer right away. Again, going back to having faith like little children, we trust that God, as our heavenly Father and Creator, Page 4

5 knows what is best for His creation. After all, God has already given us His very best, really all that we need Jesus to save us from our sin. Yet, that old evil foe, who succeeded in getting Adam and Eve to sin, is still around trying to undermine God s work in you. He wants to break your relationship with God the Father by getting you to believe that God doesn t exist or that He s too weak to help, or that He s a liar. But every cross is a reminder that Satan s power has been defeated Jesus crushed His head on the cross. And even if we do sin, all is not lost. We have a Savior who has overcome sin, death and the devil, and daily through His Holy Spirit, Jesus works to overcome sin in our lives. The greatest gift that our heavenly Father has given us next to faith in Jesus Christ is the gift of life and salvation through the forgiveness of sins. Jesus said that He didn t come to save the righteous they don t need Him but the sick and the poor and the downcast and lowly He came to call sinners to repentance that they may know God as their Father. CONCLUSION: What an eternal blessing it is to know God not as enemy or judge, but as our Father. Through the rebirth of Baptism and faith in Christ Jesus, we are able to again know and rejoice in God our Father now and forevermore. In Jesus Name. Amen. Page 5