Happy Father’s day. Many of us here have a vested interest in Fathers day. I am one, of course. It is a day named after us, a day recognizing our importance, a day in which we can bask in the glory of our reproductive power.
Or is it? Is Father’s day about us human fathers? Of course it is. On what other day would you get receive ill fitting socks, Y fronts, or wide, loud ties? That is why Father’s day exists: so that we can receive our yearly supply of aftershave, and replenish our stocks of shaving cream. It is the day that sellers of cards featuring old sailing ships and racing cars can make a living.
But I put it to you today that Father’s day is mostly not about us dads. Because Fatherhood is not about us dads. Fatherhood is much more about God than it is about us. Because in the end Father’s day is not about us. Father’s day is about God.
This Father’s day, we honour God the Father, who gave his Son for us. And gives the Holy Spirit to all who would ask him.
Father’s day is God’s day. Because he is the Big Daddy. He is the Mother of all Fathers.
In the words of Ephesians:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family[1] in heaven and on earth is named (Ephesians 3:14-15 ESV)
God is the real Father. He is the Father who created everything on earth and in heaven. Every human, God gave life and breath. Every human family, God has created. And every heavenly family, God has created. Even the myriads of angels in heaven, in their distinct families and groupings, they too are God’s offspring. That seems to be the meaning here.
God created the family groupings we see in our world. He is their father because he has begotten humanity. And we are his offspring. We were, if you like, the twinkle in his eye. As Paul says elsewhere:
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. (Acts 17:26 NIV)
It was God’s will that brought humanity into existence. He brought us into existence as families in relationship to each other. We are all drawn from the one man, from Adam, and his wife Eve. And then we branched out into our different family trees. So all humans are brothers and sisters, offspring of the one God, descendants of the one man. We are God’s offspring. So God is the ultimate Father.
What this tells us is that the idea of Father is not a projection from us to God. It is not as if we all want to have a loving Father, so we think of God as Father. Rather, the very concept, idea, and name of Father is from God[2]. He is the great father, the big father, the big daddy. He brought us into the world. And we human fathers are only Fathers in so far as we conform to him as father.
We should not be surprised, therefore, that in our passage Jesus calls God simply ‘Father’. After all, Jesus was the one who said:
Do not call anyone on earth 'father', for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. (Matthew 23:9)
We fathers are fathers only derivatively. Only as far as we are like God, do we deserve the name Father.
What is God the Father like? God is the proper father, the real father, the archetypal father. What is this Father like?
Well, the first thing we notice is that he gives for the asking. He is a provider. He gives what his children need, God gives good gifts.
This of course extends to our necessities. Our food, our clothing. Verse 3, 'Give us each day our daily bread'. It is God who gives us our food. Food doesn’t just come from the shop, it comes from God.
God is an open-handed God who gives exactly what we need, when we need it. So Jesus encourages his disciples to ask God, who is the provider, who gives good gifts. As James says:
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)
So it honours God when we ask him for things. Asking God for things says that I rely on God, I need God, I can’t live without God. He is my Father who provides me the things I need for life.
And even when hardships come, these too are from a good and kind Fatherly God. When sufferings come to us, behind them stands our loving Father. We need to remember this:
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? […] [W]e have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! (Hebrews 12:7, 9)
Well, what about human fathers? Where do they come in?
Like God…
Well, human fathers are given the privilege of being like the Father, God. That is, they give good gifts. God the big Father gives life, and so do our earthly fathers. God gives food, and things necessary to continue life, and so do our earthly fathers. God gives discipline to enable us to grow to maturity, and so do our earthly fathers. And if they don’t do these things, they are not fathers.
And just as it honours our heavenly father to ask things of him, so it honours our earthly fathers to ask for things. For after all, parents should save up for children, not children for parents. It is the privilege of human fathers to give. It is more blessed to give than to receive. And so fathers share in the blessing of giving: life, food, safety, protection, discipline, care. And when human fathers cease to do this, they cease to exercise fatherhood. They cease to be like God. But when human fathers do, they have the privilege of doing something very godlike: to provide us what we need.
The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. (Psalm 145:15 NKJV)
And for this reason, Fathers need to be honoured. Just as our heavenly Father needs to be honoured, because of his provision for us, so too do our earthly fathers. We owe them so much.
….and not like God
But Jesus says some thing very surprising. Humans fathers are evil fathers, even the good ones. And so they are not like God, even when they are like him. We read that in Luke 11 verses 11 to 13:
Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:11-13 NIV)
Jesus calls his disciples who are fathers, evil. This is a big difference between us and God. Jesus says of the Heavenly Father: Hallowed be your name. But of us earthly fathers ‘though you are evil.’
I’m a dad. And I love my kids. But I must confess, I hate being nagged. Dad, I’m hungry! But that’s what dinner is for! Dad I need to go to the toilet! But we just stopped back there. Dad, you said! Dad, can you play with us now. Dad, can I have my pocket money… Dad, you need to pay for… And I’m told the outgoings just increase as the children get older. Dad, Dad, Dad… Dad, Dad, Dad. Hungry bellies wanting to be fed, bored brains wanting to be entertained, empty wallets wanting to be filled.
This is the privilege of being a father. This whole interaction is very godlike. The children ask and ask and ask and ask. And the father gives and gives and gives and gives. Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened to you.
In fact, in our passage, Jesus encourages the man in need because he asks shamelessly. He asks boldly. He doesn’t give up. We call that nagging. And Jesus says, go for it: God loves to be nagged.
I hate being nagged. But God loves being nagged. Who then is wrong? God, the real father? Or me, the shadowy copy of a father, the poor excuse for a father, the evil father? God is right, of course. So remind your dad of that, next time you stick your hand out for something. Dad, that’s your privilege. You get to give me stuff. You get to provide, just like God provides. I’m enabling you to get God’s blessing, because it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Mind you, Jesus also tells us what to nag our fathers about.
Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation. (Luke 11:2-4 NIV)
We are not just told to nag indiscriminantly. We are told to nag God specifically. We have very particular instructions about what sort of nagging pleases God.
Father, you are holy. Father, please bring your kingdom. Father, please give us what we need. Father, please forgive us just like we forgive others. Father, please don’t test us more than we can bear. These are the things the Father loves to be nagged about.
Not, Father, please make my name great. Father, please build me a kingdom. Father, give us our greeds as well as our needs. Father, forgive me, but not them! Let me maintain my grudge against them. And anyway father, you could have stopped me sinning, because you sent that situation. It’s all your fault anyway.
We have specific instructions about the nagging we should do. It’s all about honouring our heavenly Father. And asking him to give us the things we really need. And God knows the things we really need.
You see, there are some things our human fathers cannot provide us. And there are some things that we in our unworthiness don’t want to ask. Yet these are the things our heavenly Father is bursting to give us.
Our earthly fathers have the privilege of providing many things for us. They begat us, giving us life. And they sustain that life. But they cannot provide us eternal life. Dads are doomed to die, and so are we. More than likely, you will bury your dad. One day, his strength one day will be no more. No more will you be able to go to him, to ask him for one of the many things you need. Eventually, your dad comes to the end of his resources. And he will have to finally say to you: 'My Son, I can’t help you anymore. My daughter, I can’t give you what you really need. My children, you need eternal life. And I cannot give it to you. Because I am an evil father. I need my sins forgiven. I look elsewhere for these things. And so must you.'
And so the good but evil earthly father will point us to the always good heavenly father. Verse 13 in our passage again:
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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (NIV)
Here is God the Father who makes a wide and broad promise. Ask me, and I will give you what you really need. I will give you the Holy Spirit. You need the Holy Spirit. My name is Holy. And I will give you My own Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And The Holy Spirit will give you eternal life. He is the Spirit of life. Just Ask Me. The Spirit is there for the asking. The only reason you do not have is that you don’t come to me and ask. Ask Me. I gave my Son up for you before you even knew you needed him. I want to give you the Holy Spirit. Come to me. Ask me. And you will receive him, and live forever.
Let’s pray.
[1] patria (1) as one's ancestry derived through the father family, clan, tribe Lk 2:4; (2) plural, in a broader sense of all peoples of earth, as deriving from God the Father of mankind families, nations (Acts 3:25); (3) in a unique sense, as the idea of a group of people forming a family, patterned after God's fatherhood, family (Eph 3:15) (Friberg).
[2] See Foulkes, 101, Stott, 134, Bruce, 325-5.