BEHOLDING THE FATHER!

“The most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God.” In other words: when someone say to you “God”, there is a canvas in your brain and whatever you’re projecting on that canvas, is God to you. That is the most important thing about you. And the reason that this is true is because you and I have been made by God and in the image of God and we’ve been made to be responders to God. And we can’t do a thing about it. Colossians 1:16 says: “Because in Him were created all that are in the heavens and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or rulerships or principalities or authorities – all have been created through Him and for Him.” So the implication of Colossians 1 for us all here is not are we only made BY God – our source of origin – but we’re also made FOR God – that is the definition of our purpose on planet earth. So here are two very simple things about you out of Colossians 1:16 – you are incredibly important, valued and priced, because you are made by God… You were made by the Creator of the universe and that says something fenomal about you! And secondly: you were made for God. He didn’t just created you and put you in motion on earth, but He put you in motion on earth for a reason. And the reason was that He and you would connect in a relationship. So, there is an eternal urge inside of us to respond to God. That’s why it is important what Tozer said, because he knew you would think about God. And whatever it is we think He is like is what we start to respond too. That’s why it’s so important what you think about God. Somehow you came up with a picture that could have been influenced by your family. Your mother or father told you from a very small age what God was like and you just assumed a lot of their thinking. Or by a teacher, your church or a life experience and that shaped for you who He is. But everybody’s got a picture in their mind.

And God is constantly in the process of revealing Himself. He is showing, refining and defining Who He is. God is speaking for Himself, because He wants to make sure that we know Who He is. When Jesus stepped on to earth, He became the exact representation of God. It doesn’t mean God is as tall or the same colour as Jesus looked, but the values, action, thinking, the display of life, the heart and soul through Christ, shows us what God is like… What the Father is like. And all the time God is working and revealing Himself through Christ, saying: “I am a Father, and I want you to know me as a Father! So I am going to fully reveal Myself through a son. And the Son is going to be the exact representation of the Father.” So Jesus begins to sketch on the canvas who God is for all of us to see and understand, so that we then can respond to Him.

In Jesus’ relationship to His Father, He teaches us that God is a perfect Father. He is modelling to us a relationship between a son and father who is loved. Then this Son begins to teach and He teaches on prayer and the opening words are: “Our Father…” Imagine that? Here is how I want you to pray: not dear sir, not God above gods who is most high… no. When you pray, pray like this: “Our Father.” Why did Jesus say that? Because He understood that we need to get our image of God right in the first place and that is to see Him as a Father. And any kind of father? No. “Who art in heaven.” That implies a perfect Father in every dimension and every aspect.

And just a few verses earlier Jesus says: “Let your light shine before men, so that you will bring glory to your Father.” In other words, you need to life your life so that the world can see that you live in a relationship with a perfect Father. Not: “I see your good deeds you must be from church,” but “You seem to be motivated from a whole different angle and that must be because you have a very unique and special relationship with the Father.” So, Jesus, in very defining moments is describing God as a Father! Yes, He refers to Him in other ways and yes He acknowledges everything that is true about God, but 189 times in the first four gospels alone Jesus refers to God as a Father! Far more than any other term He uses to describe Him. Even in His last breath He says: “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” Right at the very end of His life He is still teaching us that God is a Father.

See if you can grab on to this: the Fatherhood of God is like a skin that is wrapped around all His other attributes and holds it together so that we can respond to a Father. I don’t know how to put my arms around “Perfect Wisdom”, but I definitely know how to put my arms around a Father. I don’t know how to put my arms around “Being Just”, but I can embrace a Father who is just. How do you embrace Grace and Truth? But I can embrace a gracious Father! You see: the Fatherhood of God becomes the skin that covers all the attributes of God and it gives us that way to connect to Him.

Our Father is FAITHFUL:2 Timothy 2:13 – “If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful because He cannot be untrue to Himself.”

Our Father has ACCEPTED us:Galatians 4:6-7 – “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son.”

This is what I believe is what happens when we became a Christian. God awakens our spirit by sending His Spirit into our spirit and now we are alive, born again, new. The Spirit of God is in me and the first thing the Spirit of God says is: “Abba! Father!” So when I’m born again and I’m brand new on the inside, the first thing my heart knows is: I have a Father! We can now stand in the same relationship with God as a Father as Jesus did, because we are now sons and daughters, children of God! That’s what was at the heart of gospel of Jesus: is that sinners would become sons and daughters of a perfect Father. Our Father is TRUSTWORTHY:Numbers 23:19 – “God is not a man, to say what is false; or the son of man, that his purpose may be changed: what he has said, will he not do? and will he not give effect to the words of his mouth?”

Our Father is a HEALER:Exodus 15:26 – “I am the LORD, who heals you.”When the Father sees us in misery and heartache, HE IS MOVED WITH COMPASSION. This literally means “MOVED IN THE INWARD PARTS.” HIS HEART BECOMES TENDER to the point of action. An important thing to understand here is that the Father DOES NOT GATE-CRASH INTO OUR LIVES. If we are wounded and hurting and then act as though nothing is wrong, we declare that we have NO NEED for healing. It takes humility. Pride will stop us acknowledging that we have needs. Tell the Father about it. We must come into a position of worship and praise where there is an exchange of love and intimacy.

Our Father is ELOHIM:Deuteronomy 10:17 – “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, strong in power and greatly to be feared…”EL comes from a word that indicates might of strength. When it is used of God we have the meaning “Almighty”, to indicate totality or completeness of might or strength. Elohim is the plural form of EL. However, this is not translated as “Gods”, since the plural form in Hebrew can also indicate intensification or enlargement of an idea expressed through the singular. This shows us how inexhaustible the fullness of the Godhead is and to what extent the life of God overflow in all its aspects.

Our Father is the RULER:Revelation 19:6 – “And there came to my ears the voice of a great army, like the sound of waters, and the sound of loud thunders, saying, Praise to the Lord: for the Lord our God, Ruler of all, is King.”When Fathers abuse their authority, children are hurt. When fathers bully their children either physically, mentally or emotionally, children het a perverted idea of authority. This is what causes people to reject the ministry of the Father. Even when God reaches out, past hurts influence our response towards Him. God the Father is not like other authorities we may have had in our lives. He is the Ruler that is for us, and not against us.