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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

Fatherlike Giving & Childlike Living

My message today is entitled, Father-like Giving and Child-like Living.

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

And may that will be done here, this morning, right here in this place, as it is in heaven.

And may the Holy Spirit come and have His own way in us.

The gospel according to Matthew records that Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of diseases among the people.

Great multitudes followed him from Galilee, from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

And in chapter 5, Matthew writes that there on the mountaintop, surrounded by thousands of people, Jesus spoke to the multitude and he delivered what has become known as the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew, the first book of the New Testament.

And in this sermon, in it, Jesus describes the character traits of kingdom citizens.

Qualities that are to characterize his people.

So as we look through the Sermon on the Mount, Let's make 1 thing perfectly clear.

He's not outlining how to get into the kingdom.

But rather how you are to be Because you are a citizen of the heavenly kingdom.

And what's interesting is when 1 reads the sermon manuscript, consisting of 3 chapters, chapters 5, 6, and 7 in the Gospel of Matthew.

As you read through it, a very particular theme surfaces.

You can't help but catch it when you read carefully the outline that Matthew provides.

You see Jesus uses the title Father, Father, 17 times in these 3 chapters.

In the New King James, I counted 3 times.

17 times Jesus uses the word or title Father.

In fact, the first instance of God as Father in all of Matthew is found near the beginning of the sermon, right here in the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 5.

And it resurfaces, reappears throughout the entire sermon as a refrain, Father, Father, Father.

And interestingly enough, all of the 17 uses of the title father, all 17, are attached to a possessive pronoun.

The possessive pronoun your, as in your father, is used in 15 of the 17 times.

With our Father and my Father used for the other 2 times.

And make no mistake about it, Jesus chooses his words carefully.

He's intentional in the words that he uses.

He used possessive pronouns to indicate some kind of ownership.

It's not to be borrowed, it's not someone else's, it's yours.

But greater than any grammatical purpose, The use of a possessive pronoun in this context indicates a very intimate, very personal relationship.

And if we were to summarize Jesus' sermon in a single sentence, Sermon on the Mount, it would be something like this, how children of God are bound for the kingdom of their father and how they ought to live.

How children of God who are bound for the kingdom of their father ought to live.

But God is not just a father or any father.

And that's the kind of relationship Jesus appeals when when he shared this, this illustration is somewhat of a humorous illustration.

And in Matthew chapter 7, In verses 9 to 11, we find these words, this illustration that Jesus shared.

He said, or what man is there among you who, if his son asked for bread, it will give him a stone.

Or if he asked for a fish, it will give him a scorpion.

Verse 11, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good gifts to those who ask Him?

Everyone here can understand it, even our children.

You see, dads, moms, if your hungry son, if your hungry daughter comes to you saying, mom, dad, I'm hungry, asking for food, you're not going to give them something else.

You're not going to give them something inedible like a rock.

You're not going to give them something dangerous like a snake.

But if you, a fallen human father, a fallen human mother, will give your child good gifts, How much more will our perfect Father in heaven give us things that are good for us if we but ask?

Now, if what Jesus is teaching here is true, which it is, it is.

We got to let this sink in because this humorous illustration Also has a very deep teaching on how we are to live, on how we are to live.

And if we don't ponder it just enough, We'll miss it.

We'll read right through it, talk about scorpions and rocks and miss what Jesus is saying.

We must ponder this powerful yet underestimated potential privilege of prayer.

But in doing so, do not overlook the immediate context.

And what's the And what's the immediate context?

Since we all have earthly fathers, all of us, no exception, we know that the response to our request as sons and daughters depends entirely on the kind of relationship we have with our father.

There's many in the history of this world whose biographies reveal a very sinister life.

But even a father who may be evil yet have loyal children will in return grant the request for good gifts such as bread and fish.

Only when the child is really living in that relationship in the home, in the love, in the service of the Father, can he expect that prayers will be answered?

On the other hand, a son Who by choice does not respect his father.

Who by choice has no relationship with him.

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Fatherlike Giving & Childlike Living

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