The Greatest Father Ever
Notes
Transcript
To those of us who have our own children, to those who act as fathers to others children, Happy Father’s Day!
The origin of Father’s Day is not entirely clear, but there are several possibilities. Babylonian scholars discovered a message carved in clay by a young man roughly 4,000 years ago. In the message, he wishes his father good health and a long life. Some believe this ancient message represents evidence of an established tradition of honoring fathers, but there is little evidence to support a specially designated Father’s Day until modern times.
According to USA Today, the holiday, created to honor dads, father figures and paternal bonds across the nation, marks a day symbolizing love and appreciation for all they do. The first Father's Day was celebrated in 1910, but it took more than six decades for the day to become official. The holiday piggybacked off Mother's Day, which became a commercial holiday in 1908. By 1914, Mother's Day was made official by President Woodrow Wilson, who said the second Sunday of May would be dedicated to honoring “that tender, gentle army, the mothers of America.” The country was slower to honor fathers on a particular day.
However in 1916, Wilson recognized Father's Day, and in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged states to observe the holiday.
Finally in 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson made the first presidential proclamation that honored fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.
According to History.com, after hearing a Mother's Day sermon in 1909, a Spokane, Washington woman was inspired to create a similar holiday that celebrated fathers.
Sonora Smart Dodd, who was born in 1882, is recognized as the founder of Father's Day. Dodd, who died in 1978, was raised by a twice married, twice widowed Civil War veteran with 14 children. As a result, she wanted to honor "loving service" of fathers.
In 1910, she brought a petition before the Spokane Ministerial Alliance to recognize "the courage and devotion of all fathers" like William Dodd on June 5, her dad’s birthday. As reported by History.com, the local clergy liked the idea of a special Father’s Day service, but couldn’t pull something together so quickly, so they settled for the third Sunday in June. Whereas Mother’s Day was met with instant enthusiasm, Father’s Day was initially mocked and ridiculed. Few people believed that fathers wanted, or needed, any acknowledgement.
So, breaking away from that kind of thinking… thank you to all the dads and here is a special day to recognize all of us!
According to Psychology Today, fathers are given credit for being great teachers and mentors. They teach us how to fix a flat tire, shoot a basketball, and write a resume. Fathers are less emotional than mothers, but they lead by example and devote time demonstrating life skills to us. Second, fathers are great providers and protectors. Fathers are heroes in their commitment to provide for their families, often at great sacrifice to ensure that their families have adequate food and shelter. Fathers also provide a sense of safety and protection.
From the pride of seeing our children succeed, to the joy of watching our children look up to us, to the pleasure we receive when our house is full, complete, and protected, thank you to all the dads.
As I was reading these articles, I started to think… where do dad’s go for their examples? While we might say we learn from our own fathers, I think we also learn from our Heavenly Father. You see, He set the ultimate example of love towards His children. He loved us so much, that He made a sacrifice none of us can imagine by sending His only Son to die as a substitute for the sins of all of us.
In John 3 we find these words showing His love for us:
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
You see, it is a father’s love that will make them sacrifice. It is a father’s love that drives us to provide. It is a father’s love that will sacrifice themselves so their children can have it all.
For God so loved the world. Not one individual is left out of the love shown by God. God’s love is not just for the religious, it’s not just for a Christian, it is for everyone. You see, He loves all His creation regardless of their life choices. It is not hard to love those who are easy to love…but for us - it is hard to think of loving those who are unlovable.
For those of us who may have family that believe differently than us, who have made life choices that are not acceptable, or who even choose to not follow Jesus. God, our Heavenly Father, loves everyone even the unlovable and the unbelieving.
He loves us all so much that He gave His only begotten Son. You see, He demonstrated His love for us.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The act of giving His son is an expression of God’s love for us. True love cannot be idle, it is active. God demonstrates, he shows, His love for us continually. His act of love was a true sacrifice. He demonstrated His love by giving His Son as ransom for our sin. He gave the greatest act of love so that we could have an opportunity of salvation.
Notice, God was not asked to give His Son. He was not compensated in any way. He did not even ask for anything in return. He simply gave a gift, expecting nothing in return. Let’s take a closer look at this gift:
He gave us His Son - separated in Heaven, allowing Jesus to leave His presence, His majesty and glory, even the worship and honor of heaven to come to earth. Notice the difference in heaven and earth - earth was fallen, dark with sin, depraved, immoral, rebelling against the God who sent His Son. He sent Him from the perfection of heaven to the imperfection of earth just to die for our sins.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
Why would He do that? Why? I have said before, there are not any of us I know of who would willingly give one of our children to die in place of a good person, let alone someone who is unworthy. But there was a purpose in God’s sacrifice.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
You see, we can not save ourselves. It took the sacrifice of God to save us. It is in HIM - Jesus Christ - that we can be made righteous to God. God knew there was no way we could ever pay the price owed for our sins - our transgressions against the Father. What was this transgression? A knowing, willful decision to go against God’s Will for our life. This willful sin separates us from the relationship we have with our Father.
But He sent His only begotten Son to restore that relationship. That is the most remarkable proof of God’s love for us! He was willing to give the most important thing, the thing He loved the most, the thing dearest to His heart so that we could be saved. Begotten denotes the physical relation of a parent and a child. It is used to describe the relationship between the Father and the Son. It describes the relationship between God and Israel. It is used to describe the relationship between God and those who accept Jesus as their Savior.
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the One who gives new birth loves also the one who has been born of Him.
Our relationship is restored with our Heavenly Father when we accept the sacrifice of His Son and we are begotten - adopted into the family and a child of God. That whosoever believes in Him shall not perish. Perishing means to be lost, to lose eternal life, to be separated from God eternally. Without the forgiveness of God, we live life without purpose and without hope. But Jesus gives us a way to have eternal life - a life in heaven with our Father. Life is not just what we have with a heart beat and breath. Life is the quality and essence of Christ. Without Christ, there is no life and it is through him that we exist and our eternal life is secured. It gives the physical life purpose, meaning, and significance. We can receive this eternal life simply through belief. The word used to describe belief here can also be translated “Committed”. We must commit our lives to Him so that we can be saved.
Saving faith is not head knowledge, it’s not just remorse for sin or guilt over being caught in sin. It’s not just believing that Jesus exists, it is putting our full faith, our belief, our commitment into the knowledge of WHO and WHAT Jesus is, the Savior and Lord who died in our place for our sins. We must surrender our life, our will, our desires, our wants and commit to following Jesus with all that we are. In believing IN Jesus , we receive forgiveness for all our sins, past, present, and future.
12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
You see, Jesus was not sent into the world to judge the world. The world has already been judged because of sin.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
God did not send Jesus to judge, but to save the world. He was sent to save us from eternal separation with our Creator and to give us the opportunity of eternal life.
You see, we are already guilty. We already have been convicted. But we can choose to avoid the penalty associated with our guilt.
10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
Salvation comes through the sacrifice of the Father, and as a result of the sacrifice of His Son.
16 Yet for this reason I was shown mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Christ Jesus might demonstrate all His patience as an example for those who are going to believe upon Him for eternal life.
You see, Jesus has already done all the work. He has already paid the price we owe for our sin. He has given a way to restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father. All we must do is believe. A small inconvenience - giving up a death sentence for restoration and eternal life.
Closing
Closing
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
God loved us so much. You see, most of us are very proud of our family, of our name. There is even more privilege in being a child of the King. Think about how amazing this is, we are a Child of God! We become a child through accepting the love of God and being adopted into His family. You see, even in an adoption today there is a price to be paid, things that must be done, but there is nothing the child can do. No one can become a child of God based on what we can do. It is simply through God’s love that we are given an opportunity to be His Child.
Today, I ask you - are you willing to be loved by God? Would you be willing to receive salvation by believing in the sacrifice made by Jesus? If so, you can be freed from the penalty of sin, restored in our relationship with our Heavenly Father, adopted into God’s family, and assured an eternal life in heaven. Are you willing to make this the best Fathers Day ever? If so, the altar is open, come.