Be with the Father

APC Core Value #1: Be with the Father

Luke 11:11-13, Luke 5:15-16, Luke 11:1-2

Be with the Father (Luke 11)

Connection

For those of us who are new this morning, we are in the middle of a mission/vision/values series for our church family We are essentially trying to answer the question, “where are we going and how are we going to get there?”

Two weeks ago, we heard a summons from the book of Habakkuk to live for God’s glory covering the earth as the waters cover the sea. Our vision is to glorify God by multiplying worshippers of Jesus and healthy churches in the Twin Cities and beyond. That’s the great end in mind and the cause we are aiming at- it’s where we are going. 

Last week, we heard from pastor Sam a call to “follow Jesus.” How do we go about living for God’s global glory? We live in the same way Christ did, with total surrender to God and love for people. Our mission is to follow Jesus in everyday life and help all kinds of people do the same.  

Those are two of the biggest things any of us have ever received a call to. Take God’s glory global, and do that by living a life that’s like Jesus, the most incredible person ever to live. You might feel like, “how is that even possible? Where do I even begin?” We are, after all, a group of rather ordinary people. 

That’s where our values come in. We have three simple values where we want to focus our time and energy as a community. Another way to think of them are as three practices we want to incorporate into the rhythms of our life together.

Yet, our hope is that these values simplify and focus on the most significant areas Jesus focused on. The first value we will focus on this morning is simply, Be with the Father. To show you that this idea is not from our own minds, but from the heart of God in the Scriptures, we are going to turn to a few different texts from the gospel of Luke: 

Revelation

Luke tells the story of Jesus living the most remarkable life ever. He healed people of their illnesses and their shame, and brought people near to God. As a result, crowds of people surged around him and followed him wherever he went. Luke writes about one such episode in 5:15,

15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.

·        When we hear details like this, we should think, how did he do it? 2 amazing realities:

o   1. He was compelling to crowds and crowds of people for serving them with the love and power of God.

o   2. Did not live like rich and famous with entourage keeping comfortable bubble: People came close to him, touching him, pleading with him, and he patiently helped them. I’m overwhelmed with one little needy human, Jesus was patient with thousands.

·        I ask again, how did he do it?

o   One level, amazing:

o   Another level: We are not just supposed to marvel at Jesus, but imitate him. We want to be compelling and patient.

·        One way we can think about Jesus is, “he was God.” Yet, that’s not the story Luke tells us. Instead, he tells us a story of a real man who lived in the power of God. We see that in the next Luke shows us how he did this as a real man and how we can too:

16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

·        As fame and rep growing, Jesus did what not many would do: didn’t seek fame, but his father.

·        Shows us what first, great practice that enabled him to live as he did: he spent time with God.

·        What following Jesus looks like. It’s Jesus who showed us we must be with the Father.

·        Before he acted, he abided. Relationship with his father proceeded all his doing. He was with God before he did for God. Actions were not hollow performance, but overflow of intimacy. Identity as son preceded any action.

·        Jesus shows: one way to have intimacy with Father is to withdraw to place without interruption and pray. That is, hear from God’s words in Bible and respond with your own.

·        This is where our Lord received the power for his mission, and where we get the same.

·        Our Lord was with God before he did for God, and so must we.

·        His disciples eventually picked up on this habit of Jesus’s. Later in Luke 11, we see this:

11 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.”

·        They find Jesus praying in what was a familiar place of his. Jesus teaches them familiar prayer.

·        Draw attention, “Father.” Not, “creator,” “judge,” or, “king of all” (although true). Father.

·        Why is that significant? “Father” = both greatness and nearness. No term quite like it.

·        Jesus brings together something our hearts desire: relationship with one both great and near.

·        That’s what our earthly fathers are supposed to be; it’s what our heavenly Father completely is.

·        So, how is Jesus getting such power to live? His Father. That’s where we get value, Be with Father.

·        Another question, where does this come from for Jesus, “Father”? Up until Jesus, people don’t. Where is it from?

·        Allow to suggest: not introducing something new as taking us back to the beginning.

o   God made man “in his image,” such a rich term.

o   In story, Adam has a son, “in his image and likeness.” Hints that humans as image are sons

o   Luke makes clear in Jesus’s genealogy, which traces back to Adam and calls him “son of God” (Luke 3:38).

·        Sin interrupted fatherly intimacy with God. Jesus comes to restore it. Finally God’s image, God’s son, descendent of Adam to fix what Adam did, who comes to make others become God’s children with same intimacy.

·        By seeing this goes back to the beginning, not just something nice; something God made us for.

·        In calling us to follow him, Jesus is calling us into the relationship with the Father he made us for.

Another way: We were made for communion with a transcendent person.

·        Transcendent means above and beyond ourselves and our experience, something truly glorious.

·        I wonder if we stray into sin because we look for transcendent experiences elsewhere: substances, sex outside of marriage, and power, success and fame.

·        Jesus didn’t lust after these things because he experienced transcendence all these things promise but never deliver.

If these things are all true, why do so many of us struggle to spend time with the Father?

·        Simply put: we (I) struggle to believe he’s actually our father. Don’t functionally live as if he were great and as if he were near and available.

·        Greatness: If Father as great as Jesus reveals, we would prefer him over the sins, distractions, and amusements we choose over time with him.

·        We would stop looking for experience greatness first in concerts, shows, sports, social media, dining experiences, relationships, trips and our jobs, or something on the internet. We would look for it first in spending time with God and then enjoy those things.

·        Jesus shows us how great his father is when he heals sick bodies, casts out demons, and forgives sin. What could be greater than these things? We won’t Be with the Father if we don’t believe that we experience greatness when we relate to him.

·        Nearness: we also struggle to believe that God is near and available and responsive to our needs (like a father should be).

·        Yet, Jesus says this later in this same teaching in Luke 11,

11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

·        Jesus moves from something familiar to understand God (I love these foods).

·        Normally, fathers give good gifts to their children, fathers who are selfish and prideful, how much more God who is neither of these?

·        One bible teacher, long ago: “But if the little drops [of earthly fathers] produce such an amount of [blessing], what ought we to expect from the inexhaustible ocean?”[1]

·        A lot of us can fail to spend time with God, because we don’t believe anything is happening.

·        Fail to believe he is near, available, and good. Yet, nothing is further from the truth.

·        God responds to our needs; in this verse he responds to our greatest need! The Spirit is the person of God who conveys the Father’s personal power and presence. God’s promising greatest gift to his children- himself!

·        When you get Spirit, you get power to live and a sense of God’s nearness to you.

·        Emphasize: we don’t always receive this immediately. Verses 5-10 Jesus says we receive through persistent prayer. If you don’t feel God, do you believe he’s your Father and will keep this promise?

·        Don’t withdraw, double down.

Christ and the Church

·        Nothing and no one can convince us of the Father’s greatness and nearness more than Jesus. It’s the Father who sent Jesus to win this relationship for us. In Luke 3, God says of Jesus,

“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

·        Later in the story, the beloved son dies on our behalf. The son gives himself in the place of spiritual orphans to make us children of God.

·        This is how we became children of God, and this is where we look to remember our Father:

·        We see how great God is in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We see how good God is in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We see that God is the great father and the good father in his giving of the son.

·        When we increasingly comprehend what the father has done in giving the son, God will grow in us in our desire to be with him.

·        Do you know him yet?

·        I love that this value is at the middle of our series because it was at the heart of the life of Christ and needs to be in ours as well if we will live a remarkable life like Jesus’s.

·        If being with the Father is at the center of our lives, we should make a shift: not think, “how can I plan time with God into my life, but how can I plan my life around time with God?” 

What could this look like?

·        It could look like seeking the Father morning, noon, and night. Before you dismiss that as unrealistic, please hear me out:

·        There’s a pattern in the Bible of seeking God in the morning, a practice I highly commend.

·        As a next step, closing the day with a short time of prayer with your roommates or family could be a doable step.

·        Yet, I want to commend to you what has been a helpful practice for me:

o   After lunch, go on a 5-10 min walk; devote it to being with God. Powerful to be in creation, move your body, and talk out loud to God. Something about sitting still in a room can be very challenging. Being out in the world can help you engage.

o   Just pour your heart out. Tell God what your feeling, thinking about, and needing. Confess sin to him and ask for help. “Walk with God” by actually going on a walk.

What could happen in our community if we all sought God together as Father passionately and persistently?

·        We would walk in the Holy Spirit more than ever as a community, experiencing the power and presence of God among us. We would not be Christians in name only, living powerless lives without a close walk with God. We would have deep intimacy with him and one another.

·        More of us would go to the nations with the gospel.

·        More of us would open our homes to our neighbors.

·        More of us would put our secret sin to death and surrender more fully to God. 

·        More of us would serve other people in this church family in miraculous ways. 

·        Most of all, we would be people who prioritized being with God before we do anything for God. We wouldn’t disconnect obedience to Christ from relationship with the Father. 

As a result, all of our actions would have the flavor of the presence and closeness of God, such that we would experience him all the more together. There would be a sense in our community both among us and our visitors that, “God is here” (1 Cor 14:25).

I would love for our life as a church to have the same kind of impact on our city as Jesus did on the world. We want to live to take God’s glory global (our vision). We want to truly surrender and pattern our lives after Jesus’s- following him in everyday life (our mission).

And, Jesus showed us the way to the same source of presence and power he lived by, the same source of power we need to walk in these same directions, being with the Father. Would you please join me in making this a core value by which we live by in this community? 

Let’s pray

Now, we will transition to a time of reflection and prayer. Would you please gather with two or three around you and pray to God that he would help you spend daily time with him and experience him through his Holy Spirit?

Benediction

24  The Lord bless you and keep you;

25     the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

26     the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

[1] Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries on the HArmony of Matthew Mark Luke John 1-11, 353.