Perfect Father
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: We have a perfect Heavenly Father who desires to grow our identity, place and purpose in him.
Wayward Children
Perfect Son
Perfect Father
1 John 2:12-17 ESV
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
The apostle John addresses three stages of development in our walks with God - when we are children in the faith, when we are fathers and when we are young men.
Wayward Children
We’ve all been wayward children that God calls to return to him in Jesus.
God’s expectation is that we would mature in our faith as we seek Jesus and walk with him.
*What marks a child of God is the foundation of repentance and faith in Jesus - knowing that because of the cross, your sins have been forgiven on account of what Jesus has done for you.
I John 2:12 ESV
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. "
This is where most people remain, but it is not where we are to stay.
Even as last week we were speaking about the Holy Spirit, in I Corinthians 12-14 the apostle Paul has a whole discourse of the operation of the Holy Spirit in the church, and in this context says the following about how the people of God should grow:
1 Corinthians 13:11 ESV
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”
When we are children, we are myopic relating to the world as if everything is about us and how things affect only us.
We have a selfish orientation.
But the beauty of God’s grace is that children too can know the Father (though their depth of understanding of the Father grows over the years through interaction and life experience).
I John 12:13c ESV
“I write to you, children, because you know the Father.”
God here is establishing our identity as our Heavenly Father.
Perfect Son
Jesus was the perfect son who modeled relationship with the Father for us.
What marks young men is that they have overcome the evil one.
1 John 2:13b ESV
“I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.”
They are not trapped in the cycle of sin or the fallacy that selfish living is acceptable.
They understand they have died, and their lives are now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).
They therefore understand that their lives are no longer their own, but they’ve been bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:19,20).
They overcome the evil one because they make it their ambition for it to be no longer they who live, but Christ living through them (Galatians 2:20).
What marks a young man in the faith is the development of a Biblical worldview, where you begin to see not just your life, but the world as God sees it.
In doing so, the word of God becomes alive and active in you.
You begin to love what God loves (Christ, his church, righteousness and people), and hate what God hates (sin and the demonic - Hebrews 1:9).
I John 2:14b ESV
“I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”
You begin to grow in strength of love, conviction, faith and the Holy Spirit.
*You begin to see your place in God’s great family (the church) and find your role in God’s great commission to go into all the world to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28).
Even on difficult days, you learn how to fight and stay engaged because the word of God is not something that you just agree with, but it is living in you.
What you learn is that your place matters in the family, on the team, to accomplish God’s purposes on the earth.
Perfect Father
Jesus served a perfect Father who now comes to adopt us as his children and make us like him as his sons and daughters.
The Roman idea of adoption that was the context of the early gospel’s writing included the idea of a change of legal standing, inheritance and responsibility - which included family continuity.
I John 2:13a ESV
“I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.”
*What marks a father is the narrowing of options unto obedience in the Lord and taking responsibility for others.
The fathers in the faith are able to do this because they know the Heavenly Father, see that he has set the example and receive grace from the Heavenly Father to do the same.
John 21:17-19 ESV
“He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me."”
God the Father first loved us and made the ultimate sacrifice by sending his only Son, Jesus, to fight for us, bleed for us and die to rescue us from our damnation to hell.
Because of his perfect obedience to the Father - his sinless life, Jesus was victoriously raised from the dead according to God’s own word.
God now intends to reap the reward of his suffering through his family’s life and purpose.
Think about your family - we are the product of those who’ve gone before us and those who will come after us.
It is no different in God’s family, the church.
What makes a father is that he is defined by his family - those who’ve gone before him and those who will come after him in Christ.
Because they’ve know the Heavenly Father, fathers in the faith help bring definition.
Fathers are necessary to hold the line of God’s word and give the next generation a vision of God’s purposes and God’s promises to come.
“What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.”
-John Wesley
I John 2:14a ESV
“I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.”
“Never underestimate your role as a father. Remember, Dads, that your children’s view of God will largely be dependent on their view of you.”
-Tony Evans, Kingdom Man: Every Man's Destiny, Every Woman's Dream
We’ve all been wayward children in need of a complete redemption.
Jesus alone is the perfect son who provides for us absolute forgiveness as we turn from our sin to put our trust in his sacrificial death at the cross, burial and resurrection from the dead.
God is a perfect father who offers us an everlasting reconciliation and purpose through Jesus his Son.
