Many people have come to know God as God, but practically speaking many people have not come to know God as their Father. We might have read “Our father” many times but in the practical sense, knowing God as our father is a revolutional truth. It is a ground-breaking truth. It was Jesus that introduced us to the concept of the Fatherhood of God.
Matthew 6:8-9 was Jesus’ introduction to the concept of Fatherhood. “Your Father knows” in Matthew 6:8 is revelational, it is a very strong statement. Many of us do not know that “our father knows”. Our earthly father knows when we are in need, how much more God. Our father knows, sees, feels the things we need before we ask him.
Matthew 6:9 was the first time “Our Father” was used. Nobody dares call God his father in the old testament. Jesus came and said “Our father, who hath in heaven, Halloweth be your name.
The premise that Jesus used to reveal and unveil God as our father is on the premise that he knows what we need. It is on the premise that God the Father is a source and that is one of the meanings of Abba- The source, beginning, where things originate/ proceed from. Since our father knows, then we can say Our father.
It was a bold statement that Jesus dared to call God father. Till date some people have struggled with that concept. They don’t believe that God is the father of anybody. They identify themselves as Slaves.
John 20:17- Jesus did not bring us to the equation of “My father and your father” until he rose from the dead. We have the audacity to call God our father on the premise that Jesus died, buried and resurrected.
Jesus’ death is an invitation to bring us into the family of God. So if God is Jesus’s father, then God is also our Father. We can personalize God as “Our father and my father”.
Jesus is not the only son. He is the only begotten son but not the only son. And after his death, he has brought many sons to glory and he was not ashamed to call us his brethren. He is a pattern Son, a prototype. So when we hear that he is the firstborn, the firstborn is not about numbering.
Jesus is the pattern or prototype son and he has brought many sons to glory so we are now sons of God. That is where sonship is coming in. Jesus introduced us to the concept of the fatherhood of God and he didn’t leave it like that, after his resurrection he then brought us to a place where we can personalize God as our father.
It was on this premise of truth and revelation that Paul now came with the concept of the sonship of God. Paul does not have a private revelation, it was based on the study of what has been written and Paul came into a dimension of truth and understanding and started sharing about the sonship and adoption of God.
The day Jesus introduced us to the concept of “My father and your father” was the day Christianity was born. We must understand that we are children of God and God is our father.
John 10:15 NKJV “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”
If there is one truth to be grounded in, it is to know God. It is not God knowing me but me knowing God as my father.
Paul was not an eye-witness to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. He became a witness on the premise of the spirit of revelation. The disciples were eye-witnesses but Paul was spirit-witness.
Romans 8:15-17 NKJV ” For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
John, Matthew, Mark, Luke were eyewitnesses, but Paul was not an eyewitness. Paul became a witness on the premise of the spirit of revelation. They were eyewitnesses but Paul was a spirit witness. How come a man that was not there physically had this level of confidence and full persuasion about the things people saw with their naked eyes? Paul did not see but he believed, his persuasion is even more than that of the people that saw it physically.
Jesus speaking in the Bible says we have received the Spirit of adoption, the spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God. We are heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, which means whatever right Jesus has to claim God as his father, you also have it. Jesus doesn’t have a greater right than you. That was the premise of the message of Paul, that all that Jesus has is also our entitlement.
In Galatians 4 : 5-7, we see another narrative and perspective of this same truth about our adoption as sons of God.
We are no longer slaves but sons. It’s a truth, an understanding and a knowing for us. This knowledge is superior to the economy of the nation. You should get intoxicated with the understanding that God is your father. To emphasize further, let’s examine the life of the prodigal son as seen in Luke 15 :11, where the son requested a portion of his inheritance. Most believers do not even know they have a portion with God, it shows in the types of requests they make from God. Some believers do not walk in that consciousness that they have a portion.
The major challenge with the younger son of the rich man is that he wasted his father’s resources. One lesson we can pick from it is to invest when we are entrusted with resources. This story isn’t a bad story all together. It is just that he wasted the resources with prodigal living.
There came famine in the land he decided to relocate to but it is wise for us not to see that God wanted to punish him. It came on the land not on him. He got to the point that he didn’t have resources to live on. This is as a result of the fact that he made no wise use of his resources and also had no skills to earn a living.
Luke 15: 11-32
The devil decided to mess up with his mind by letting him think he is no longer worthy to be called a son.
Vs 19
Jesus told this story to depict the things to come. When we will feel far away from God but he longs for us to come back to his waiting arms like the father of these two sons.
The older son came home feeling cheated by the way the father treated his brother who he presumed had wasted his father’s resources and on his return, the father feasted.
He retorted to his father about this and the father replied saying that all he had was his.
Obviously, he didn’t know his father too well to lay claim on his wealth anytime he wanted but the only mistake the younger son made was not multiplying his father’s wealth.
This is a result of premature independence. A product of not being grounded enough to manage resources. We need to run with an understanding that God never casts anyone away.
Pastor taught on the topic Knowing God as your father and he explained to us that Jesus gave us access to enjoy fatherhood. His death, burial and resurrection is the reason we can call God our Father.
He said the devil tries to mess up with our minds by making us not to live in the fullness of this truth but an understanding of this truth gives us assurance that God is our father.
Reference was made to the story in Luke 15:11- 32, to depict the fatherhood of God. He never casts us from his presence and we can lay claim on whatever he has as his sons. He is our God and father and he longs to have all men come to the knowledge of this truth and reality.