When We Honor Our Fathers, It Says More Than You Might Think

Father’s Day is a special day, set apart to honor our fathers. Why should we honor our fathers? Because being a father is ordained by God and God intends earthly fathers to be a reflection of Himself. God created Adam in His image (Gen 1:2) and He created Adam to be a father (Gen 1:28  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth…”)

So when we honor our earthly fathers, we also honor our heavenly Father.

Many Cultures, Many Gods

• The ancient Greek God, Zeus, was moody and ill-tempered.  He shot lightning bolts at people to kill them. 
• Buddhists don’t acknowledge a supreme god or deity. Instead, they work on achieving enlightenment (inner peace and wisdom).
• Hindus believe their god, Brahma, created everything and is supreme in the triad of great gods. Most Hindus have a personal god or godess to whom they pray.
• The Muslims claim their god, Allah, is all-knowing and all-powerful. But he is also unapproachable, unknowable, and unmerciful.
• The humanists’ god is themselves.  They want no lord over their lives.

Our Heavenly Father is the One True God

• The God of the Bible is the God of all creation and also the sustainer of all He created. 
• He is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (always present), and omni-benevolent (all good).
• He is also relational and has made Himself knowable.  

In the Holy Bible, He has revealed Himself to us, His children, so that we can approach Him and enjoy a relationship with Him.

Just as God IS Love, God IS Father

God is Father to Israel

Hosea 11:1  When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt.

God is Father to Jesus

Fifty times in the Gospels, Jesus called God, “My Father.”

Mat 10:32  Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

Paul said God is the Father and Jesus is the Son:

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

God is Father to the Church

Rom 1:7  To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 1:3  Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 1:2  Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Human fatherhood is patterned after divine Fatherhood.  God desires that human fathers reflect all that He is, in both His love for His children and in His works in their lives.

God Is “OUR Father”

In the prayer Jesus gave His disciples to pray (Matt 6), the most important part is the first two words, “Our Father…”  

We are Our Father’s Children

Gal 4:4-5  But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,  to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

We are adopted into the family of God as His children, as His sons and His daughters, and we are joint-heirs with Jesus.

God is a Present Father

God is everywhere and always with us.

Psa 139:7-10  Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend into heaven, You are there, if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.  If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

Prov 15:3  The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good.

Psa 46:1  God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

God is a Father Who Helps His Children

Gen 28:15  “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

Deut 20:4  ‘for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

Isa 43:2  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

Heb 13:5-6  Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Psa 46:1  God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

God is a Father Who Provides for His Children

Just as earthly fathers provide for their children, so also does God.  In the prayer Jesus gave in Matthew 6, we are told to ask that God provide for our needs.  

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread.

And knowing that it is in His will to provide for us, we can trust that our prayer will be answered.

Mat 6:25-29 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? {26} Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? {27} Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? {28} So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;  {29} and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

Mat 6:30-31 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? {31} Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

Children Honor Your Fathers

There are many ways that children honor their earthly fathers on Father’s Day and throughout the year.  So how should we honor our heavenly Father?  

Jesus has given us an example:

Matt 6:9  Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

God is worthy of our praise and His name is to be hallowed (revered). 

Under the Old Covenant, God revealed Himself to His children by His many names:

• El Shaddai—the Mighty God –Genesis 17:1, 28:3, 35:11; Ruth 1:20-21; 31 x in Job; Ezekiel 10:5 ,
• El Elyon—the Most High God – Genesis 14:19, 22; Deut. 32:8; Isaiah 14:14
• El Roi—the God who sees –Genesis 16:13.

(Read more names:   In addition to Yahweh (YHVH), Yeshua and Jesus, what other names for God are in the Bible?)

Another Name

“Av” or “Ab” is the Hebrew word for father. But in Greek, Aramaic, and other Semetic languages the word for father is “Abba.”

Abba expresses an intimate relationship between a father and a child. (Read: Does Abba Really Mean Daddy? Spoiler alert: it does not.)

In the New Testament Jesus used Abba to address His Father:

Mark 14:36  And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

And as God’s children, adopted into His family, we are able to address God the Father as “our Abba.”

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Gal 4:6-7  And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”  Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

God is such a loving and gracious Father, yet it is not an obligation to honor and glorify Him.  It is a privilege!

And one of the ways we honor our heavenly Father is to honor our earthly fathers. 

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