This is the manuscript of the Father's Day sermon at Christ Chruch Los Angeles, June 18, 2021. The sermon, "The Father Heart of God" is a represents a pause in the "Lessons from the Upper Room" series, which will resume that next Sunday.
SCRIPTURE
Psalms 103:8-18 NIV The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
Text
Psalms 103:8-12 NIV The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Introduction
Father's Day was founded in Spokane, Washington at the YMCA in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children there. After hearing a sermon about ' Mother's Day in 1909, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them.
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.
Today is Father’s Day and tomorrow is Juneteenth. While I do have a Father’s Day message, I want to give a little background on the Juneteenth Holiday because most people including African Americans don’t really know its history.
Also called Emancipation Day, Freedom Day or Jubilee Day, Juneteenth is the commemoration of June 19, 1865, the day enslaved African Americans in Galveston, TX, learned that they were free. While President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, it only applied to people in Confederate states. In Texas, a Confederate state where there was no large Union Army presence, slavery continued years after the Emancipation Proclamation — and even after the 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 — as many enslaved people in the state were not aware of the news. Finally in June of 1865, Major General Gordon Granger and Union troops landed in Galveston, Texas to tell the enslaved African Americans living there that the Civil War had ended and that they were now free. General Orders, Number 3; Headquarters District of Texas, Galveston June 19, 1865.
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
Juneteenth is considered the longest-running holiday in African American and Black communities and was often observed with community celebrations on the third Saturday in June. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 after the U.S. Congress passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act.
Now let’s talk about the Father heart of God.
From a human point of view God has a long fuse, a short memory, thick skin, and a big heart. I'll tell you something even more amazing. An infinite, perfectly holy, majestic, awesome God is passionately in love with insignificant, sinful, sometimes openly rebellious, frequently indifferent people. God loves people like you and me.
In fact, God loves us so much that he wants to adopt us into his family. And even beyond that, he wants us to call him "Father." The Bible never teaches that everybody becomes a child of God automatically. We are adopted into his family because of His grace and through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus.
Today, on this Father's Day, I want to focus on some dimensions of that grace.
When it comes to his love for sinful people, God has a long fuse, a short memory, a thick skin, and a big heart.
Verse 8 of Psalm 103 describes God's patience with us. He has got a long fuse.
Psalms 103:8 NIV The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
This is remarkably similar to something Moses had written some 500 years earlier.
While Moses was at the top of Mount Sinai conferring with God Almighty, the people were having a party. These people whom God had just delivered from bondage in Egypt were expressing their gratitude to God by worshiping an idol of a golden calf made from discarded jewelry. On top of that there was drunkenness and immorality.
Exodus 32:5-6 NIV When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
The Scripture says that when God saw this, he was angry.
Exodus 32:9-10 NIV “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Moses fell on his face and appealed to God's grace.
Exodus 32:13-14 NIV Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ ” Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
God agrees with Moses and withholds his righteous wrath, but Moses was so upset with the people he destroyed the copy of the Commandments that God had given him.
Exodus 32:19 NIV When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
So God takes Moses back to the top of Mount Sinai, to dictate the Commandments again
Exodus 34:5-7 NIV Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, is very similar to what David wrote in Psalm 103.
Psalms 103:8 NIV The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
Yes, God gets angry. But He puts up with a great deal before reaching his boiling point. Over and over again, the Bible tells us the reason God exercises such great patience is that he wants us to take advantage of this extension of his grace to turn from our sin, seek his forgiveness, and begin to obey him.
2 Peter 3:8-9 NIV But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Psalms 103:9 NIV says He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
Yet many of us make the mistaken assumption that God's patience really means that he isn't that concerned about our disobedience. And so, we abuse his patience
Sometimes when we have an argument with an old friend we get historical, not hysterical but historical. We and they bring up stuff from the past.
God chooses to have a short memory. Psalm 130:3 tells us that if God kept a detailed record of our sins, none of us would ever be able to stand before him.
Psalms 130:3 NIV If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
Isaiah 57:16 NIV says I will not accuse them forever, nor will I always be angry, for then they would faint away because of me— the very people I have created.
Thank goodness, once we've sought his forgiveness, he doesn't keep on accusing. He doesn't keep on harboring his anger toward us. He chooses to have a short memory.
Psalms 103:10 NIV says he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
If God punished us every time we deserved it, we would be in a perpetual state of receiving retribution. Every time we turned around, God would be chasing us for a selfish attitude or hurtful words or prideful spirit or materialism or indifference to the needs of others or something. The Bible word for this thick skin of God's is forbearance.
Romans 3:25-26 NIV God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Scripture says God doesn't always treat us as our sins deserve. If God doesn't give you what you think you deserve, be grateful. God has a long fuse. He has got a short memory. He has thick skin.
Psalms 103:11-12 NIV say For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
David tells us that when we ask God to forgive our sins, he removes them as far as the east is from the west. Do you know how far that is? Truth is, it can't even be measured.
If you ever wondered how serious God is about taking care of your sin. Let’s look at some Scripture
Micah 7:18-19 NIV Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
Isaiah 38:17 NIV says Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.
Isaiah 43:25 NIV says “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
Isaiah 44:22 NIV says I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
Jeremiah 31:34 NIV says "No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
This morning God wants you to bask in his grace. He wants you to come, confess your sin, trust in Jesus Christ, allow the work that Christ did on the cross—the pain, the penalty for your sin—to be applied to your account, to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be filled with his Spirit.
Even as God's children, we sometimes don't take full advantage of his forgiveness.
It’s possible as a child of God that you're not taking full advantage of his forgiveness and grace. You've forgotten that God has a long fuse and a short memory and thick skin and a big heart.
You may never have had an earthly father who was characterized by these traits, but your Heavenly Father wants you to be secure in his love.
Psalms 103:13-16 NIV say As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
The Bible describes our frailty in these verses in a couple of ways. And neither of them is very flattering.
At the end of verse 14, the Scripture says we're like dust.
God made mankind from the dust of the earth and after death our bodies will decompose, and we'll return to dust.
Genesis 2:7 NIV Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 3:19 NIV By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
The second picture of our frailty is that of grass, or flowers that temporarily flourish, and then the wind comes along, and it's gone.
David, the psalmist, is describing our frailty. We're not as invincible as we sometimes think we are.
The good news is that like a compassionate father, God understands our tenuous nature. God factors in our frailty when he weighs his responses to us.
Last week we talked about how God responds by giving eternal life to those of us who trust and believe Him.
Now I'm not suggesting that God always handles us with kid gloves. Every good dad knows that there's an appropriate time to demand a certain toughness in his children and to discipline them. But good dads also know their kids' limitations.
Hebrews 12:7-9 NIV Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!
Good dads take into account a son or daughter's age or temperament or peer pressure or physical health or school struggles or popularity issues. Do you think that our Heavenly Father is any less sensitive than an earthly dad who weighs these factors when dealing with a child?
When was the last time you were in one of those situations where you threw up your hands and you said, "I can't take any more?" "I can't take one more demand from my boss. I can't take one more bad medical report. I can't take one more moral failure in the same area. I can't take one more morning of waking up with pain. I can't take another rejection, another cruel word, another unpaid bill." Doesn't God know how much I can take?
Yes, He does and in fact, God knows better than you know. He knows your limitations, and He also knows what he's capable of doing in and through your life if you'll just trust him.
Here’s what it says in Psalms 103:17-18 NIV But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
This is the third time, in this psalm, that David has made the point that God's love is for those who fear him. The other two are;
Psalms 103:11, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
This must be a crucial point if David needs to repeat it three times.
Does God want me to be afraid of him? What does he mean by fear? He tells us in verse 18 so let's read verses 17 and 18 again
Psalms 103:17-18 NIV But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— (here is David's point of definition of fear) with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
David is saying to fear God is to know and obey God's word. If you don't know God's word, you can't obey it. And even if you know it but you don't obey it, then you don't fear God. If you don't fear God, then you can't experience His love.
You might ask the question "Well Doesn't God love everyone because John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world."
Well, Jesus said it this way in John 14:21 NIV Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Psalms 103:17-18 NIV But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
Fearing God is the path to experiencing his presence and love in our lives.
Let's pray,
Abba Father,
Thank You that because You desired such a relationship with us, You sought us out and adopted us. You would be right to condemn us, but You accepted us. Though You could stand far off, You intentionally drew us near. Though You could turn Your face, You gathered us in Your arms.
We hardly know how to express our gratitude that You grant us an inheritance of Your Kingdom. We know we don’t deserve it, and Your generosity overwhelms us. Please show us how to invest these riches into others’ lives. Thank you, Lord, for the gifts You give. EVERY good thing in our lives is because of You. Please forgive our ingratitude as we take so many blessings for granted. Show us how to use these gifts to build Your Kingdom.
Father, we also want to thank You for the discipline You lovingly give us. We wish that we always did the right thing, but we are grateful You do not leave us in our sin, and instead correct us and guide us. Forgive us for the many times we have refused that correction in the past. We ask You to help us to listen quickly to Your instruction and to go in the way You point.
Please help us walk in the fullness of being Your children. Guide us toward the intimacy You offer. We want to enter completely into fellowship with You. We want to not only rest in this permanent relationship, but also walk in the privileges and responsibilities of it.
We love You Abba Father and we thank You for Your great love for us.
In Jesus name Amen
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