God The Father | The Father Who Loves
About this talk:
The nations of the ancient world among which Israel lived had little or no conception of love when it came to thinking of their gods. Gods were selfish, power-hungry and treated people harshly, controlling events as they wished. In such a world, the reality of the one true God as loving, caring, giving of himself and disposed to be kind and merciful to his people was a completely radical idea.
And so the Old Testament repeatedly portrays God as a Father who loves his children. For example:
Psalm 103:8-13: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger for ever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”
Deuteronomy 1:31: “There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”
Isaiah 64:8: “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
Hosea 11:1: “‘When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”
We should understand, first, that God as Father is to be understood in the context of the culture in which this was written - the ideal Father who loves, who is responsible, who is present and available, who cares enough for his children to guide them and discipline them, who has the resources necessary to provide for his children’s needs and will grant to them his treasures as their inheritance. All of which is important to state in a western world where many people’s experience of fatherhood is far less than ideal; where they’ve been failed by or abandoned by their father and where their own fatherhood has fallen short of what they had hoped it would be.
The New Testament writers then develop this idea of God as Father, in large part because Jesus reveals the Father to his disciples (“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,” John 14:9; “No-one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made him known,” John 1:18) and relates to his Father in such a way as makes the nature of his Fatherhood far clearer. Building on the Old Testament Scriptures, God is revealed as the one who knows all our needs, who cares intimately for us, who adopts us as his own children, who is trustworthy, true and faithful to his promises.
And then John, in his first letter, writes some of the most precious words in the New Testament: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). Our new relationship with God is based on his prior love for us - it is a great love; it is the love of a Father; it results in us becoming his children.
But John goes one step further when he twice says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8,16). He is not only the Father who loves, but the Father who is love. He is love:
Completely. People are capable of being loving, but only God is never less than love completely.
Constantly. Only God loves always - because he is love and cannot be less than completely loving at all times in perfect combination with all his other attributes.
Independently. God’s love is not dependent on anything outside himself. God is eternally love in the community of Trinity. His love, unlike ours, doesn’t change according to circumstances or the loveliness of the one he loves.
And when we think of what his love is actually like, John gives the answer. The sending of his Son is the defining demonstration of the Father’s love, the ultimate display of his love for us - “God is love. [And] This is how [he] showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:8-10).
‘The love of God is the answer to all the “whys” in the Bible: the why of creation, the why of Incarnation, the why of Redemption … If the written word of the Bible could be changed into a spoken word and become one single voice, this voice, more powerful than the roaring of the sea, would cry out: “The Father loves you!”’ (Simon Holley).
Audio only
Life Group activity
Characteristics of God
Split into 2 or 3 groups (roughly 4 - 5 people per group)
Come up with some characteristics/aspects for God the Father based on the letters FATHER.
e.g. F = a father who Forgives….. (Luke 15:11 - 32)
Include a Scripture verse for each.
Share
As each person to pick one of those characteristics that has a particular significance for them and share that in their smaller groups, including a reason why that characteristic is so meaningful.
Get each group just to share what characteristics they've come up with (see how many have done different ones)
Create a rap or poem
Each smaller group makes a song or rap or poem based on those 7 characteristics and presents that back to the whole group.
Pray
END by people praying out and thanking God for a particular characteristic that stood out for them.
Worship
End by singing along to 'Good Good Father'
Have a great week, remembering our amazing Father God, who has lavished his love upon us!
