Today's offering was prepared by Ryan Song:
Topic: God as your Father
Here are five points about God that I know personally as I’ve gotten to know him.
1) God is a Community of Relationships
Topic: God as your Father
Here are five points about God that I know personally as I’ve gotten to know him.
1) God is a Community of Relationships
God desires to have relationships, and fundamentally the concept of God itself should bring forth some notion of community and fellowship. A triune God (Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) with separate entities and yet at the same time are one says it all. God himself is a community of relationships. Genesis 1:2 says “the spirit of God swept over the face of the waters” and later in Genesis 1 every time God speaks, something is created which means God’s word has some form of agency and according to John 1 it says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Eventually John reveals this “Word” became flesh and was the father’s only son. Note how John describes the Word and God as two different beings yet with one identity. So even in the beginning of creation you have the community of God working as one.
2) A Personal God
Now if God is a community the question becomes what community is he inviting us to? Incredibly God is inviting us to him, his own personal relational community. He is our savior, shepherd, king, servant, lamb, spouse, and father among other things.
3) God as our father
The Lord’s prayer says it all (Matthew 6:9-13, note this is Jesus saying the prayer). “Our Father in heaven…” there are two things to note. The word “our” is a personal term. First to say something/someone is my, mine, or our, it means it is personal to you by definition. For example, to say this is my crew, my possession, my friend, my mother, it is a specific and unique relationship to you. Second when we pray to God we should pray as if he is our own personal and unique father who understands our needs, wants, and pains. Basically we should be comfortable talking to him as if he is our Dad.
4) God being our father means we have rights
Contrary to popular belief, being a child endows you with great power. When I was a little kid there were times I would wake up at 1 AM and wake my parents up and ask them to get me milk or go buy me ice cream. The person who catered my needs was my father. Drowsy and wearisome, he went and got me my milk and ice cream and it was doubtful that he would do such an act for any child, or even now but because I was his child he got me what I wanted. Thus it is important to know that not only is God your Father, but you are also his child. Thus, being his child endows you with exclusive rights.
5) Conclusion
For those who are fatherless, or didn’t really have great parents, know this; God more than anybody in the world pursues a relationship after you, and it’s just not any relationship, it is the most intimate relationship possible. God is a Father to the fatherless, and for those who never knew God as a father, well stop reading this because you have some major catching up to do with your Dad.
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