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The Father Who Loves You

Personal Introduction

One of my all time favorite bands in my non-Christian days was a band called Everclear.  They were best known for their hit, “Father of Mine”, in which the singer describes growing up without knowing his dad.  Well, in that same album was a song that struck me as interesting, a song titled “Why I don’t believe in God”.  I thought it was a hate filled Bible bashing based song but I was all too shock to learned that the song was talking about not having a father.  So, it’s with those who have been hurt during their experience of not having a father, that I wrote this sermon in mind.

Main Message

                In today’s world, growing up without a dad has become the norm.  We live in a time where two parents family are becoming much more rare.  Divorce; having illegitimate children, separation and other occasions have made its mark upon our culture.  But what effect or impact has it made to our society?  Or, more to the point concerning the topic of this sermon, what has it done directly to the victims that are the most venerable ones of all, the kids and the children of those missing daddies?

                My message here isn’t one that’s political or one of social works either.  The job done by many advocates for the family such as Focus on the Family is to be commended.  Those brave souls work hard for many years trying to fix the many social ills and problems attacking the family today.  But, being led by the Spirit, I feel that there is another side, another angle or front to be confronted in this troubling dilemma concerning growing up without a father.  And this message, hopefully by the grace of God, would address the emptiness of those who were fatherless in their teenage or childhood years.

                Many downplay the effect of losing a father.  Too often, those who do so try to draw a rational defense by appealing to personal experiences.  “It didn’t effect me!”, they cry.  If you’re one of them, then it’s good to hear that no harm was done to you.  But to those who have been affected, it’s for you that I pray to God dearly about, that He would touch and also transform your lives.

                After all, who wants to be a bastard child?

                Obviously, it would seem that no one in his or her right minds would want to be one.  The effect of it could be long lasting.

                It’s been observed that many of the staunchest atheists lacked an appropriate father figure in their lives.  Either the dad was a totalitarian, abusive figure or the father was always distant and far away or there wasn’t any papa around at all.  Names like Fidel Castro, Chairman Mao and famed atheist Auguste Comte usually arises.  And don’t forget the young bastard that grew up to murder countless lives- Adolf Hitler himself.  Or what about the philosopher who influenced him greatly, Friedrich Nietzsche?

                Nietzsche?  The famous professor of philosophy who wrote strongly hate-filled books against God?  Yes, being a child without a father affected him deeply and much of his views later in life.  In an autobiography fragments dated 1868-1869(his early years as a student) Nietzsche wrote, “My father, a Protestant clergyman in Thuringia, died all too soon, I missed the strict and superior guidance of a male intellect.”

                Many others like him can attest to the spiritual depravity Nietzsche experienced.  To be loved by someone, to have someone in their lives guiding them and providing them support—that is a real need; and so is the need of having a Father who receives them openly and whole heartedly as “my dear child”.

                Do you want someone to love you as his own child?  Would you know how to respond to the one who loves you dearly?  Or would you shut the door to your heart to the very one who’s been knocking at it all these years?

                Like most of those who have been orphaned, Jesus Christ too, knows what’s it’s like to be rejected.  He died on the cross for our sins and can relate to our sufferings.  God’s Word said that though “He was in the World, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” (John 1:10)  Think about that.  You might not have ever thought much about Jesus Christ, but think about the idea that Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior, being rejected!  “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not received him.” (John 1:11)  And why did he come in the first place?

                It’s because of God’s love, His gracious and amazing love for the orphans of this universe.  Just look at how lost man is when human fathers aren’t around in our lives.  What else but the word chaos and disaster should be used when describing the conditions of being disconnected from the heavenly father above?  And that’s what the world has become.  The world has become chaotic and it is loss.  We are bastards in the universe…and it doesn’t end just there.  There is still a ray of hope…“yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become a child of God.” (John 1:12)

                Would you receive Jesus?  Would you allow the Holy Spirit to transform you as a child of God?  Though being a Christian doesn’t necessarily mean you will find a human father, it’s great to know that your new Father is now God himself!  If you have chosen to become a child of God through Jesus dying for your sins, you’re now one those “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:13)

--Jimmy Li

[Last edited September 5, 2001]