Myths That Make Us Miserable XI, The Father Heart of God

Well, if you have your Bible this morning, I'd turn to Matthew chapter 7. And while you're doing that, I want to extend a warm welcome to a cold morning to the people who are visiting with us today as guests. Thank you for venturing out on a day when most people have lots of excuses and reasons to stay in. We're glad you're here. And by the way, if you are a guest today, there's a very nice brochure we've prepared for you that kind of describes our vision, a little bit of our history. Pick one of these up either back in the gym as you go with us for coffee and donuts after the service, if you'd like. Or on the way out on your left, there's a visitor reception area there. And some of the folks that would like to meet you are here. I think they're in this service. Any of the visitors team here this morning in this service? If you are, just stand up so they can see who you are. All right. Over there, you're pointing to someone. All right. Are you one, Darlene? Well, then stand up. You did stand up. Stand up and let me see you. Thank you very much. And Dave, we bless you guys. Thanks. Okay. It was so fast, I couldn't see you. I appreciate it. Anyhow, if you're a guest today, please do feel free to stop. And by the way, there are a large number of people who came this morning for the Paradigm Seminars. I don't know. I didn't count them all. We had 120 signed up. I don't know how many made it, but if you didn't make it today, then sign up for February's seminars. I believe it's on the 18th, I think, is the next series. Okay. Is that right? I don't know. All right. I don't know either. We'll figure it out though. All right. Matthew chapter 7. And we are working through some challenging passages on the Sermon on the Mount. Before we read this today, I want you to think of just one little something to set the scene here. When was the last time you were asked to do something that you looked at and honestly said, I wish I could do that, but I can't. Yesterday, I looked at my driveway. I knew I had 12 people coming for dinner. And I said, I wish I could shovel that driveway. But I know I couldn't do it. I mean, I worked at it and got it halfway done, but I knew I could never do the whole thing. But I just couldn't do it. It's income tax time. How many of you look at that income tax? I wish I could fill it out, but I know I can't. Maybe the doctor said, you've got to lose 35 pounds this year. And you say, I really would like to, but I just can't. Yeah. You know, there's all these kinds of things that come up that we want to be able to change. How many of you made a New Year's resolution that you already know you can't keep? You've already done the tubes. You know, you've already started to read the Bible through and you're in Genesis 4 and you're done. You know whatever. Well, this section of scripture in the Sermon on the Mount is sandwiched between some incredibly difficult and challenging things that Jesus is asking of his followers. Think about what we've talked about in some of the weeks past and what's coming ahead. And I urge you to take out your little teaching outline here and maybe fill these blanks in. Jesus challenged them a couple of messages ago to build heavenly treasures and not just earthly ones. And if you really take that seriously, that's counter-cultural. That's very difficult. Jesus then challenged them not, we talked about this on New Year's day. Don't worry about anything. Now, how many of you find that easy to do? Don't worry about what you wear. Don't worry about how much money you have. Don't worry about the food you eat. Don't worry about stuff. I find that very difficult, don't you? Then he said to them, and we talked about this, you know, last week, don't be judgmental or critical. You know, and then somebody walks into your life who, you know, deserves a bucket full of judgment and there you are. And you say, God, but I can't possibly do that. And if you look ahead next week, you're going to see that Jesus says some very challenging things about the narrow road that we're to walk on, if we're to be on the road to heaven. I mean, there's not a lot of, you know, a lot of wandering going on there. And he later talks about false prophets and misguided allegiances. And folks, my sense about all this is, if you were one of those followers seated on the hillside 2,000 years ago, and you were hearing Jesus talk about all these things that seemed very difficult to do, you might have just said at this point, wait a minute, there's no way I can do this stuff. There's no way I can be a member of your kingdom, Jesus, because I can't do it. I might as, I can't climb Mount Everest, I can't run a marathon, and I can't do this. And I believe, because I know from speaking in this platform, I know what it's like to look in people's eyes and sense when they've they've started to lose you. And I believe Jesus stopped at that moment and changed directions, because in context, there's no real reason for him to say what he says right here. But let's read his words in Matthew 7 and verse 7. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, the door will be open. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? And I believe right here, Jesus is looking into our eyes and saying, if you don't think that you can make it in my kingdom, then you need to know my Father. Because my Father will help you to make it in my kingdom. These verses have been taught to me through the years as motivation to pray. And I believe they do that, but they do much more than that. If you really dig into them, they teach you about God the Father. They teach you about the character, the nature of God. And it's more about revelation than it is about motivation for me. You know, recall that all the people, thousands probably on that hillside, all they'd ever heard about God was someone who was mysterious and shrouded in this unapproachable glory. One who, you know, only a few had the secret code to know how to get to his presence. And then only once in a while. And they found him as a very difficult, impersonal God who they could never bring pleasure to. That's what they'd been taught by the scribes and pharisees. And as an aside, how many of you are here today and you grew up in a religious tradition where God was always spoken of in mysterious, shrouded, almost unapproachable terms, where only a few really had access to God and they were the ones that would tell you how to be heard. And it's amazing how many of us have in our background this sort of largely impersonal God who, when something happens in your life, you don't have a clue. I wonder how many millions of people today are blaming God for the earthquake at Kobe. How could a loving God let innocent children and women and older people die? I always leave the men out of it because the men know they deserve it. But people, it fascinates me how many people, I've heard this conversation, and they blame God for that. But very few of those same people would ever stop and pause and thank God for their health, for their family, for the blessing of God in their life. And it has to do, you see, with this sort of misshapen idea we have of who God is. And Jesus says here, if you see my Father in this distant, impersonal, detached kind of way, then you're not seeing him as he really is. You're not walking with him in the way that he intended. You know, something's been happening in my heart. I don't know if you can tell or not, but it so resonates with what this message is today, this message of Jesus. It's just been the last weeks I hear my own spirit saying, Lord Jesus, I do want to know your Father like you talk about him here, as approachable and gracious and personal, as someone who by his spirit walks right alongside me in the kingdom that you've described. Because Jesus, I know something about me. I know that I can't do what you said here. I know that I can't go through a whole day and not look at a woman and not laugh. Real quiet about that. I appreciate your holiness there. How many of you had the same problem? I know I can go through a whole day and find myself not just solely thinking about nothing but God, but oftentimes thinking about other things and stuff and worrying about this and that and the other. I find I can't go through a whole day and not get a little critical about somebody. You say, I'm just telling you what I'm like. I don't know what you're like. Maybe you're a whole lot farther down than I am, closer to God. But I find that what's talked about in the Sermon on the Mount is impossible for me to live. And if you find it for you, would you say amen? Thank you. I know, I know that that's right because it was meant to be. Jesus wanted you to know that you can't do this without him. But he also wants you to know that the Father is ready and willing to enable you to do it far beyond what you ever imagined. And that's the thrilling, exciting part of this whole thing. There's just two points that I want to make today about the Father heart of God. And if you see them, and I don't just mean see them sort of up here, and church, I am concerned about those of us, those of you who've been Christians 5, 10, 15, 20 years, kind of folding your hands and saying to me through your body language, I know that. Because I'm not sure that we do know what the Lord is saying here really, experientially. It's so powerful. It's changing how I see my walk with God. Two things. Number one, I want us to see today how much the Father desires to bless you. I find it difficult to express myself on this point. But let me try this. You know, being a parent is such a great classroom for learning about yourself and also learning about God. One of the things you learn as a parent is you are almost irrational in how much you want to give to your kids. How many parents are here? Put your hand up. Okay. How many of you have parents? I want to include everybody. I saw some of you haven't put your hand up for anything yet. I thought I'd get you on that one. Still didn't put your hand up. But nonetheless, parents, do you find like me that it's almost like this internal drive to want to give your kids, I mean, opportunities and experiences and things and affection? And it's just, it's kind of innately in us to want to be pouring out to our kids. And so, you know, at times, I don't even know where it all comes from. I mean, we're driven to do nice things for our kids. Honey, you want a cabbage patch doll for Christmas? How many parents were around when your little girls want a cabbage patch doll? And so, yeah, sure. I'll wait in line, you know, for two days at Toys R Us to get the cabbage patch doll. And what was it this year? It was the Power Ranger. Power Ranger. Oh, Johnny, I'll go to Murraysville and I'll camp out and try to get one Power Ranger thing for you. You know, and it's, we'll do whatever it takes. You know, bicycle, you want a, you want a 29 speed bike? Well, I'll find one even though you're only going to use two speeds. And, you know, a computer. Well, sure, honey, I'll get you the, you know, computer that can run NORAD and, you know, the whole defense system if you need it. And, you know, music lessons, sure, I'll get Andre Previn. Basketball, Michael Jordan, I'll call. We'll do whatever we have to do. We'll get you the best because we love you and we want to bless you. And, you know, the interesting thing is you think parents would get it all out of their system the first time through, but you know who the worst irrational blessers are? Grandparents. They just come on with a second shovel full, you know. Now, think about that. And I do know, and let me be sensitive, I'm sure there's some of you who said, you know, well, you sure didn't know my parents. You know, my dad didn't give me anything. I know that there are some who, because of their own hurt or because of their own difficulties in life, weren't able to give you love. But I can tell you it's in there. And healthy parents want to bless their kids. It's part of the package. I don't know why. And Jesus is saying here, if you earthly parents want to bless your kids, and he said, it's a given that you're kind of have this, you know, this evil bent in you. How much more does your perfect heavenly father wait for the opportunity? And it's no burden to God. And he's not like, you know, he doesn't get diminished if he blesses one and then another and then another. He can't wait. The other day, our son David had a basketball game and it was, actually, so did Jonathan that night, and it was an away game. It was on a Tuesday, which is my longest day. We started six o'clock prayer, and Carol worked that day, and it was, we were exhausted. I got home at six o'clock, and we looked at each other, and the kids had already left for their game. And we looked at each other, and we said, are we going to the game tonight? Boom, just like that. Well, of course, because we want to go. You know, we want to be supportive. We want to be there for our kids. It wasn't like, oh, I guess we have to go. No, we wanted to be there. And I didn't feel depleted. I felt energized because, you know, it's part of that. And see, God wants you to know, I am there to bless you. It's in my heart for you. Why? Because you deserve it? No, just because you're my child. Jesus said, all you got to do is ask, seek, and knock. And I don't have time today to talk about the progression of the deepening relationship that's there. Ask, seek, and knock. I do want you to know that in the Greek language, ask, seek, and knock are in the present tense, which means continuing action. The best interpretation of those verses is ask, and keep on asking. Knock, and keep on knocking, and God will open. I mean, you have to do it. Just keep on doing it. But the blessing isn't there because you've been good. It's there because he loves you. And the reason that is, is folks, listen carefully. If you say, you know, Lord, I earned your blessing today. I deserve a blessing. How many know gifts aren't deserved? Gifts are just given. God would say, well, how did you deserve my blessing? Well, I had, I spent two hours in prayer for my quiet time. And God would say, well, la-de-da, you know, good for you. Well, I was really nice to my wife today. Would you bless me at work? Or I was really, God, I was good today and didn't watch my soap operas. You know, bless my evening. If we start doing those kinds of little games with God, there is inherent in that mindset, this attitude, which is when I am right, then God will bless me. And when I am wrong, he's against me. And folks, that little lie is at the seed of every fallen Christian that you know. That little lie is at the root of why many, many people fear God in the negative way, because they think they don't deserve it. And folks, let's just get it on the table. We don't deserve it. But God says, I want to bless you anyhow, because it's in my heart. And you see, the problem is if we put that, make that blessing contingent on our behavior, it moves the focus of blessing off of the character of God and onto the worthiness of us. And folks, we're not worthy, but God is willing. And he wants us just to turn to him and ask. Chuck Smith says the only requirement for the blessing of God, the only requirement is that you trust him for it. You might want to write that down on a little piece of paper. That could change your life. The only requirement of the blessing of God is that you trust him for it. And the reason why it couldn't be, you know, sort of dependent on my behavior is because I know my behavior, even if I had my quiet time and was nice to my wife and didn't watch my soap operas today, what about tomorrow? How many tomorrow? You're probably not going to make it. Something's going to happen. In fact, Paul writes very powerfully, and we have an overhead for this, I think, Karen, in Romans. Let's get it out here. Romans chapter seven. There we go. Here's what he says. I realize, but I don't have what it takes. See if you identify with this. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do. I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something's gone wrong deep within me, and it gets the better of me every time. How many of you identify with that? You don't do what you want to do, and what you don't want to do, you do. I mean, just the other day, I had somebody violate my airspace on the highway, and my youngest son is learning to drive now, and I'm trying to be a good role model, and I didn't want to do to this alien what they deserve for violating my airspace, but something, as Paul says, deep within me was totally wrong, and I recaptured my space in life, and my son said, now dad, help me understand why you did that right there. I said, son, that which I don't want to do, I do, and that what, well, you know what I mean. It's all in there, and it just keeps happening to us. If we have to deserve God's blessing, folks, it's going to be impossible in the long run to be able to trust God, because we know that we don't deserve it. Rather, we have to just trust him based on his nature and character. What I believe Jesus wants us to see in these verses is a father who wants to bless you just because, just because you're his son or daughter, just because he loves you, just because you've asked him to bless you, and that it delights him, because it's his nature to be a God of blessing. Hear this, friends. This whole thing about earned blessing is a trap, and you know what it does? It kind of sears your faith from expecting God, and I have to say, I'm not sure how many of us really expect God to bless us anymore. I wonder, I mean, did you, how many of you came today to this service expecting a blessing from God? I hope you did, but I wonder how many of us just kind of came because it was Sunday, and the reason is you didn't feel like you deserved it, but if you came asking God, who knows what God might want to do even right now to bless your life. I trust you're not seeing God as a scorekeeper, but you're seeing him as a father who loves you and wants to bless you just because. Last fall, our high school had their homecoming night, what most all of them do, and it's a little different than when I was in school. It's a big deal here. I mean, it's, you know, let's dress up and go out and dinner and then to dance all that stuff, and both of my boys had dates for the homecoming thing, and I remember that night. It was a beautiful October warm late afternoon on a Saturday. The sun was shining and autumn and leaves and all that stuff, and but part of the whole thing that they do is they go to the homes of the of their dates and take pictures, and usually their friends all arrive, so it's kind of a social thing, and lots of dynamics happening there, and we ran to Jonathan's place to get pictures with his date, and then we hurried in the car over to David's friend's place, and there was maybe eight or ten other couples there. It was a big thing, you know, and I remember thinking as I was taking photographs and kind of finished that and just thinking how proud I was just in that moment to be the dad of these two guys, you know. I just felt a certain deep joy that these are my sons, and they didn't do anything that night to, you know, deserve it. In fact, it probably cost me 200 bucks. In fact, one of them kind of saw, you know, that I was sort of like touched right at that moment. He walks up, he said, hey dad, by the way, you see this little dent back here? Basketball hoop, and I backed, you know, and he, you know, backed the car into the basketball hoop, but it didn't matter. Is it possible that God loves us that way just because? I hope that's getting through to you, because you know how many of us grew up in a performance sort of, like if you don't meet the bar that's been put out there, then you're not acceptable, and it breaks your spirit, and it puts you in a posture of not receiving, and that's what Jesus wants you to know. You can't live the Sermon on the Mount on your own, but God wants to bless you with what it's going to take to see you through, even if you've been unspiritual, even if you've failed, even if you haven't been all that God wants you to be. This is about grace. This is about the grace of God, God's power to live his life in you, unmerited favor to perform that which God's asked you to, and dear ones, the only reason why blessing sometimes doesn't come the way we expect is because some of us have gotten into the habit of expecting the blessing more than we have looking for God, and I have to tell you, that's a trap. When you want the blessing more than you want God, then you've got it upside down. The fastest way to get a blessing is just to want God, and then let him bless you. So I just ask you to put that into your heart. And one last point about this, it says here, how much more Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him, what's the best gift God could give you? What's the very best gift God could give you? Well the parallel passage, Luke chapter 11 verse 13, the very best gift, if you want to look in your notes with me again, take a look at it, the very best gift on the back page is the Holy Spirit. And I want to say something here, I think is for at least a few of you, some of you have been hungry for God's Spirit to fill your life, and you've been trying to sort of torque up your righteousness level so that God would bless you with the Holy Spirit. And you've been taught that if you get pure enough, God will bless you. And I want you to know that that sounds right, but can I say it's wrong? And I know what I'm talking about this, because for two years I sought for God's Spirit to fill my life by going to all these different anointed people that whose books most of you have read, and said lay your hands on me and pray for me and anoint me with oil so that I'll have the fullness of the Spirit. When in fact it wasn't until one day I read that verse, Luke 11 13, and I read God wants to bless me with the gift of the Holy Spirit. And right there, right then, boom, I knew the Spirit of God was filling my life. Just a little something for some of you, maybe just one of you who are really hungry for all that God has for your life today. Second thing I want you to know today is that not only does God want to bless you, but he delights in being your dad. Any kind of careful study of the words of Jesus will tell you that he understood his mission to be a revelation of the Father and a reconciliation of the world. That's the two things, that's what he came to do. In fact, John 17 verse 6, I think we have that in an overhead as well. I have revealed you to those whom God gave me out of the world. Jesus said, look, I've revealed you Father. And as Dave read earlier, if you've seen me, Jesus said, you've seen the Father. I want you to know the Father. And 17 26, I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. See, the Lord wants you to know not just Jesus the Savior, but he wants you to know the Father, the King of this kingdom. 150 times Jesus used the word Father in the Gospels. And he made it clear that he didn't want the people just to stop with the knowledge of him, but that through Jesus they would also know the Father. And this, dear ones, is the key to the passion of the Christian life. It's the intimate companionship with God the Father. Abba. Abba, he's called. You know the word Abba means what? Daddy. And the Jews of their day never used the word Abba to refer to God. It would have been blasphemous. They called God one very holy kind of name. It was Yahweh. And when they wrote it, they didn't even put the vowels in because they didn't want to be guilty necessarily of blaspheming even in writing the name. That's how holy it was. So when Jesus came and said, call him Abba, call him Daddy. They said, you're a blasphemer. When Paul later wrote, as I put on your notes here in Galatians chapter 4, verse 6, because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father, Daddy God. Or if you're Italian, Papa. Papa God. What image do most of us have of our Heavenly Father? Some of us see him as like cold and distant and mysterious. Some, you know, tragically think that God is like our earthly dads. In some cases, you know, our dads weren't there for us at all. Or if they were, they were emotionally detached, uncaring and cold. You know, we dads have a tough role with all the pressure to provide and succeed and oversee. We often run out of patience or kindness or compassion or warmth. But dear ones, our Heavenly Father never does. Amen. He never runs out. Our Heavenly Father wants us to feel relaxed and at home with him, to know that he isn't up and down with his love for us. How many of you dads some days are really great with your kids and other days, man, don't get near me. Dad's having a bad day. See, God's not that way. He never gets up on the wrong side of the bed. He never has a bad hair day, you know. God's consistently loving and faithful. And he's available. I've been told by Christian psychologists that rebellion is normally in people born of resentment and resentment is born more often than not out of an absence or of broken promises. Rebellion born of resentment, resentment born of an absence, whether it be emotionally or physically and of broken promises, but not with the Father. He always cares. He always looks out for you. He always knows what you need. Look at Matthew 10, 29 through 31. Look at these verses. Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. Think about that. You're going to go home today and you're going to see raccoon and possum and deer and every other thing along the side of the road. The Bible says not one little bird's going to fall that the Father won't know. God even knows how many hairs are on your head. Someone told me the other day he can subtract two. I was comforted. He also knows the true color of your hair. All right. So don't worry. You're worth much more. Everyone say much more, much more than many sparrows. Dear ones, grab hold of that promise and say to your heart today, God, then you know what I'm going through. You know the loneliness I feel. You know the deficiencies I'm dealing with. You know the inadequacies I have and I can trust you to take care of me. I can trust you to send to me what I need to prevail. Not long ago, I had a burden in my heart for a local pastor and I put off calling him for a day or two. Finally, I just couldn't shake the burden. That's, by the way, that's how I know it's God, not just me making it up when it doesn't go away after a day or two. And so I called him and he said, you know, Jay, I got to tell you, we're not real close friends or anything. He said, he said, you don't know what your phone call means. I said, well, tell me. He said, because last night my board voted to dismiss me. And this morning in my prayer time, I asked God to tell me if he really cared and if I really mattered to him anymore. And you called just to tell me that you were thinking and caring about me. You see, God is able to send right to you what you need when you need it, if you simply trust him and ask him to. And I think it's marvelous to know that God can use you to be a blessing. One of the reasons we're so committed to getting you connected here at North Way is so that you can have a group of people that God can use you to be a messenger, a vessel to, for someone who's asking God to be a blessing to them. And once you've really been convinced of this daddy relationship, you begin to expect him to work great things in your life. And when you have a need, you know, hey, my father will take care of it. If you're facing a decision, hey, dad, which way should we go? When you have a problem, dad, help me figure this out. He's right there. He's part, he's giving you an inheritance of his spirit. He's not, as some have taught, watching you from a distance. You know, I hear that song and I say, wait a minute, nice song, wrong theology. God's not watching us from a distance. He wants to be right there. Baba, daddy. And he accepts you. He loves you just the way you are. And you know what? I know some of you don't have any problem with that, but there are others for whom they've not been able to believe that yet. I read this story this week in preparing for the message and it so spoke to my heart. Let me share with you as I conclude. Mary Ann Bird writes this. She's the daughter of a pastor. She said, I grew up knowing I was different and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate. And when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others. A little girl with misshapen, a misshapen lip, a crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech. When schoolmates ask, what happened to your lip? I tell them, well, I've fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me. There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored, Mrs. Leonard by name. She was short, round, and happy, a sparkling lady. Annually we had a hearing test. Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something and we would have to repeat it back. Something like, the sky is blue, or do you have new shoes? Well, I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, this little girl with a cleft palate. For those seven words that changed my life came when Mrs. Leonard said, in a whisper, I wish you were my little girl. God says to every person deformed by sin, I wish you were my son. We need to know that today. It's the father heart of God. And if today you're here and you don't believe that you're acceptable in God's eyes, that he wouldn't want to be your daddy because of all the stuff you've done, because of all the failures you've had, I want you to come and believe his promises. The most important thing that we could know about God. And if you know it, celebrate it and be humbled by it, because it's amazing grace that we don't deserve. Let's stand and pray together. Lord, I'm aware of your presence in this service, and I thank you right now for being here. Lord, I thank you for the time that you spoke into my life and told me that you loved me, that I didn't have to earn your favor any longer, that it was a futile pursuit. Lord, I thank you that just this week you reminded me, God, that it's not because I'm a pastor or we have a wonderful church because we're doing great things for God that you love me. You just love me, and you want me to share that fellowship. I pray for everyone hearing me today who doubts that, or for whom, Lord, that's just an old memory of a truth and not a rhema for today. Put your arms around me. Let's celebrate that grace that we stand in. Let's sing the chorus that we learned last week. We stand in grace.