You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one's holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. “Father” is the Christian name for God.
(JI Packer, Evangelical Magazine, 7, p. 19f, quoted in Knowing God, p. 224)
You haven't thought much of the fact that God is your father. It's not something that's taught much in your church or Bible study group. It doesn't appear in most gospel presentations you've encountered—not even in 2 Ways to Live. It's occasionally mentioned in passing but you never thought that being God's child and a member of God's family was actually a big deal.
It's probably because you don't really know what being a father is all about. This is especially true if you have no children. You look to your own father but there are problems there as well. Your father disappoints you. He's lazy and undisciplined. He never helps out at home and he doesn't seem to care about you or your brothers and sisters. When he does, it's half-hearted and awkward. When you're away, he never rings; when you're overseas, he hardly ever writes. Your father is an absent father who is too caught up in his work to have time for you. You father is a violent or abusive father who violated you in ways you're still dealing with. You are the child of a broken home and your father seems like a stranger to you. You never met him because he died before you were born.
Many of the Biblical patriarchs were shoddy fathers. Abraham sought his own safety over that of his wife and violated their marriage covenant by sleeping with Sarah's maidservant. He failed to instruct Ishmael in the ways of the Lord so that when Isaac, the promised son was born, Ishmael mocked him and was cast out. Isaac played favourites and exploited his sons for what they could do for him (he liked to eat Esau's game). Jacob kept two wives and fathered many children but showed little regard for them, favouring only Joseph and Benjamin. When his only daughter, Dinah, was raped, her brothers sought vengeance but Jacob did nothing and complained about the consequences for him of their retributive actions afterwards.
But your father may not be bad. He may be a good father—a nice father—a caring father. A father who played with you and your siblings when you were children. A father who used to carry you on his shoulders and read you bedtime stories at night. A father who taught you how to ride your bike without falling off and came to see you in the school play, even though you were one of the village townspeople and not a major character who had to memorise lines. Your father punished you when you were naughty and praised you when you were good. He was proud of you and wasn't afraid to show it. He read the Bible with the whole family and instructed you and your siblings in the ways of the Lord. Your father loved God and he passed that love on to you.
God is your father. He's not like your human fathers. He's not like the Biblical fathers. He is not a father but the Father. All fatherhood is derived from him. In essence he is fatherly. He leaves all the other fathers for dead—even the good ones. God isn't sinful or selfish. God doesn't play favourites. He's not lazy or disappointing or abusive or violent. He's always with you and wants you to know him more.
When you became a Christian, you became God's child. He took you from the gutter—from the prison of your sin—and removed your filth and chains. He clothed and fed you and established you as a member of his household. He adopted you to be one of his own and set his name on you so that you bear his image wherever you go. He loves you and his love for you is not conditional on who you are, what you look like or what you have done. He doesn't care if you're overweight, covered with pimples or burdened with a terrible addiction to pornography. He isn't fazed by your temper, your laziness, your gluttony or your malice. He accepts you as you are.
But it doesn't just stop there. He is keen to see you change and grow up into the man or woman he wants you to be. He's patient. He disciplines you but at the same time encourages you so you don't give up hope. Your bad habits hurt him and he wants to break you out of them so that you'll live according to the house rules and not track mud all over the floor. He will instruct you in his ways so that you will gradually take on and display the family likeness in thinking nothing of yourself but everything for others. He does not want you to shame him in front of others because he earnestly desires you to be a part of the work of adding others to his family. When you fall, he catches you; it's hard to learn to walk in this new way. He nurses your scrapes and binds up your wounds. He holds you when you cry and always listens to your troubles, even when you beat against his chest and call him terrible names—even when you're so angry with him, you choke on your own rage. He is forgiving when you are repentant and faithful when you are faithless. He does not throw bad children out of his own family but he aims to make bad children into good ones; this is how you know you are really his child and not illegitimate offspring.
He gives good gifts but he doesn't spoil you. He knows what you need even before you do and better than you. You and he may not always agree but his way is better. Sometimes he withholds the gift because it's not quite time but he's never slow in his generosity. He gives you wisdom so you can see what the world is like and how life really works. He gives you patience because he knows you'll be hasty otherwise. He gives you perseverance because he know you'll want to give up and you mustn't.
You are now part of God's family but you are not an only child. He has other sons and daughters besides you and yet is able to give you all the individual attention you never felt you received from your human father. You do not feel neglected. Your brothers and sisters are just like you—sinful, selfish and not here on their own merits. You need to remember that and not try to compete with them. Your father does not encourage sibling rivalry. Instead, he wants you to help each other. “Bear each other's burdens,” he says. “Love one another and forgive each other your trespasses.” You find this hard but it is one of the top rules of the house. Some of your siblings are so different from you. They have irritating habits and rub you up the wrong way. You get along with some better than others and it is tempting to just hang around the siblings that you like. But your father says you must love everyone and not play favourites; in this way people will know you belong to him.
However, there is one brother you admire more than the others. There is one who displays the family likeness perfectly in a way you wish you could emulate. His name is Jesus and you know him well. He has a close and loving relationship with your father—the kind you want to have except you feel so inadequate. He was the one who first told you what the father was like and how the father wanted to bring you home. He is in charge of all the father's children because he is the one who made your adoption possible in the first place. Your father stood by and watched him die. You cannot imagine what it would have been like but you're thankful that it was done for your sake.
You want to grow up to be like Jesus. You know that one day this will be possible. One day you will shed the trappings and flaws of your earthly life. You look forward to living forever with your father. You look forward to living forever with Jesus. You look forward to living forever with your brothers and sisters where there will be no more tears and no more pain.
Karen comes from a family of millions and millions—many of whom she's never met. Her father is most famous for creating the world, delivering the Israelites and sending his only son to die on a Roman cross.
Comments
This is a lovely piece Karen! Very warm and insightful and a powerful reminder that God is indeed our perfect and holy father who loves us more than we will ever understand! Thanks for that…
Ronnie on 02 September, 2003 3:28 PM