This
is a Father’s Day sermon.
When I saw Eden Cheese’s Mother’s Day commercial last month, I was both horrified and angry. This is for two reasons.
First, it promotes the validity of same-sex marriage. It argues that you don’t
have to be a man to be a mother. Men can be mothers too. One of the pictures at
the collage at the end of the video clearly says this. Secondly, the commercial
presupposes that human fathers are terrible, and that it is abnormal for
fathers to be caring and compassionate at home. It shows how crazy it is for
fathers to shop toys for their kids, to try nail polish for them, to cook
spaghetti for them, and generally to be a great dad. It argues that when
fathers do these things, they are not doing fatherly things; rather, they are
doing motherly functions. But why do we need to label excellent fathers as
mothers, when we can just call them fathers?
The video actually expresses a typical
stereotyping of fathers. Fathers are these and that, and these and that tend to
include a lot more negative connotations than positive ones. Fathers are often
belittled, under-assessed, prejudicially judged, or even undervalued. I do not
know where this prejudice came from. Was it the fault of fathers throughout
history that brought upon us a very negative view? If we as fathers have erred,
then it is high time for us to redeem what fatherhood really means by looking
at the original father of all, God Himself.
Let us read Romans 8:14-17: “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.15 The
Spirit you
received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received
brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God
and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in
his glory.”
God is the Father of those who are saved. We become God’s children when we are saved because we
are adopted into God’s family through our relationship with Jesus Christ (Gal
4:5-6; Eph 1:5). John was clear: “To all who did receive him,
to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of
natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”
(John 1:12-13). Those who are saved are children “of God through faith
in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:26) because God has “predestined us to be adopted as
his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Eph
1:5).
So who is this Father whom we are in
relationship with as sons and daughters by grace? What does He do?
The Father Casts Away Fears
Paul
says in Romans 8:15, “The
Spirit you
received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received
brought about your adoption to sonship.” Interesting
in this verse is the fact that living in fear as slaves is contrasted to being
children of God with promised inheritance (8:17).
To be not the child of the Father is to live
in fear. The one who is a slave to sin is constantly afraid. He is constantly
afraid of being found out by others, because there is great shame in sin (Prov
14:34). He is constantly afraid of death, because he knows that he would
receive judgment (Rom 6:16). He is constantly afraid of the consequence of his
sins, for he knows that they will soon arrive (Rom 8:1). The person living in
sin is living in fear. There is no peace for those who are in sin. There is
always restlessness and anxiety. Quite clearly, the Fatherhood of God means
peace for us who are His children. When we are born again, these fears are
gone. The Fatherhood of God entails peace, security, and comfort.
We should admit that peace is not something
usually associated with fathers. In fact, fathers are more commonly known as
the problem of the family—but this might be because of the work of mothers unjustly
brainwashing their children. Even in psychological studies, the father is a
problematic figure. For Sigmund Freud, who is extremely influential even today,
the human father as the mortal enemy number one in the family. Firstly, the
father is the greatest source of anxiety for children because in relation to
the father, children exist in the tension between respect and dependence and
fear of authority. Secondly, the father is seen as the primary competition for
love. According to Freud, children have an innate desire to possess their
mothers—even to have sexual intercourse with them—but the father stands in the
way. The father is not a glue that holds the family together, but is the competitor
that needs to be eliminated. (These are things that are taught to our children
in college, which is really scary.)
We are being brainwashed by society that
fathers are unreliable, are sources of great anxiety, and are to be feared as
tyrants. Peace is more associated with a motherly embrace and understanding.
But this does not need to be the case. We know that genuine fatherhood is being
peace-givers and peace-makers. We should not let society dictate how we should
view our fathers. We should allow the Bible to impress onto us what it means to
be fathers, patterned after the Fatherhood of God. If our Father in heaven
gives peace, then our calling as fathers on earth is to provide the same.
The Father Listens
Human fathers are often looked at as aloof
and indifferent. As part of the caricature of men, fathers are emotionless
robots incapable of shedding tears and displaying normal human emotions unless
under the influence of alcohol. If there is an emotion that fathers find
easiness to show, it is anger and impatience. These are the biases of movies.
Fathers who are joyful and funny are usually only found in ridiculous
over-the-top comedy shows.
But in Romans 8:15, the description of God
the Father is quite different. According to Paul, “by him [the Holy Spirit] we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (8:15). The
term Abba is quite an intimate term, and is equivalent to Daddy today. We may call God in different ways. This is because we
experience Him in different ways all throughout our lives. We experience Him as
Jehovah Jireh, the provider (Gen 22:14). We call Him El Shaddai, because we
experience His almightiness (Gen 49:24; Ps 132:2, 5). We call Him Jehovah
Rapha, because He is the Lord who heals (Exo 15:26). We call Him Adonai, because
He is the Lord and Master of our lives (Gen 15:2; Judg 6:15). We call Him Yahweh-Shalom,
because He is our peace (Judg 6:24). We call Him Jehovah Rohi, because He is
our Shepherd (Ps 23:1). We call Him Jehovah Shammah, because He is always here
with us (Ezek 48:35). We call Him El Elyon, because He is indeed God Most High
(Deut 26:19). We sing that He is El Elom, the everlasting God (Ps 90:1-3).
There are many other names
we can call Him. But the greatest name that we can call God is “Father.” Jesus
Himself preferred addressing God as Father. Jesus called God Father 65 times in
the Synoptic Gospels more than 100 times in John. Jesus encouraged us to call
God, “Father.” It is no
surprise therefore that Paul also used the term Father to God more than 40
times.
The term Father does not
deal so much with what He has done for us. It speaks more of who He is to us
and who we are to Him. Abba spells closeness and intimacy. It is the term that
children use to their Fathers when they want to express their love (or lambing).
I do not want my children to call me other description other than Daddy. I do
not want to be called Dr Dick or Awesome Dude or Mr Suave or whatever. I want
to be called Daddy. It is a term of endearment.
Overall, the word “father” when used to God,
means one thing: intimacy. To have a Father in heaven is to have someone to cry
to when we need someone. Because we are intimate with God, we are not afraid or
ashamed. It is not awkward to ask from our Father. We are able to pray to our
Father because we are intimate with Him. When we pray to those intimate to us,
we do not need to be eloquent. We do not need to impress him with our
vocabulary or syntax or grammar or language. Moreover, we address him as
Father, not as someone we are introducing to an audience.
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