Abba Father
Shabbat , September 9, 2006
Before we were born, Abba was our Father. When we are born again, Abba became our Father again .
• Abba will help us and our children, both physical and spiritual, come to maturity.
• But whereas children grow to physical maturity with time, time does not produce spiritual maturity.
• To attain spiritual maturity, we need the milk of God's love, then the training of spiritual discipline.
Today I am continuing a series of sermons on Family Priorities, based on Keith (Asher) Intrater's Covenant Relationships .
• The theme of my sermon two weeks ago was: L'dor v'dor , from generation to generation.
• HaShem is calling into being a kingdom of priests that endures from generation to generation.
• If we see commitment to the kingdom of God as being faithful to God's covenants and promises, then commitment to one's family becomes a direct expression of one's kingdom of God priorities.
• The theme of my sermon last week was the joy of the bridegroom and his bride— katan v'kala.
• The Spirit of God has often compared his relationship with His people to marriage.
• So the Ruach has much to say, in the Scriptures, about how marriages are meant to work.
The theme of my sermon today is fathering .
• Asher, who is anointed teacher who has demonstrated that he practices what he preaches, has much practical wisdom about the relationship between children and their parents, especially fathers.
• Lest anyone who is not a parent tune out, let me assure you that the Ruach also has much to say about all of us who are His children in the Spirit. Does that include anyone else here?
God is a father. So Moshe says in Deuteronomy 1:31, “ the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. ”
• To each person who has become a child of God through Messiah Yeshua, the Ruach Kodesh says:
• The LORD your God has carried you, is carrying you and will carry you, as he carried Israel his son, all the way until you reach the place he has for you.
• You were born again because he loved you even before you were born.
• You are here today because he called you and provided for you to be here.
• Because he loves you, today he says to you: “You are my beloved son: in you I am well pleased .”
• And he has plans and a future for you. V'eemru ?
• This is the heart of Abba Father for you.
• How many of know that this is the heart of Abba Father for you?
• If any of you struggle to know the heart of Abba Father, it may be because your earthly parents struggled to express love as Abba would, probably because their parents did.
• That is the most important thing that parents can do for their children: love your children well, love them unconditionally, and so reveal the love of Abba Father for them.
• Alas, many of our fathers are imperfect. If your father hurt you, Abba wants you to forgive him.
• And it's OK. You can go to Abba Father himself and experience his perfect love for you.
• He loves you, just as he loves Yeshua.
• Receive the love and joy of Abba, who has compassion for his prodigal son, throws his arm around him and kisses him, and celebrates his son's return.
• “Just as a father has compassion on his children, ADONAI has compassion on those who fear him. For he understands how we are made.” Ps 103:13-14
If you are a father, you are called to be like Abba: to express his love and blessing for your children.
• There is no greater calling than to be a father.
• Spiritual fathering imprints God's personality and spiritual values in a child.
• Spiritual fathering is discipleship —training a spiritual child in the way he should go.
• Paul describes his ministry in 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 thus: “F or you know that we treated each one of you the way a father treats his children - we encouraged you and comforted you and appealed to you to lead lives worthy of God, who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.”
• A spiritual father encourages, challenges, rebukes, hugs, instructs, commands and comforts.
• A spiritual father restrains his children from dong wrong and comforts them when they are hurt.
• A spiritual father sets goals to challenge his children to reach their potential.
• Adam turned 16 a couple of months ago.
• Many people assumed that he was ready to drive. I don't know why . ;-)
• I am teaching my son that driving is a responsibility.
• Before he drives, I want him to pay for the insurance, and I want him to how insurance works.
• I gave him the charge of finding out how much it would cost to insure him and how much it would cost to add him to our policy.
• It took him a while to buckle down to it, but he found a couple of web sites, and began asking me questions, so he could learn how to fill out the forms.
• He had to learn about liability and tort and deductibles.
• He discovered that it costs a bundle to insure a young man with his own wheels.
• But it costs much less to add a young man to his father's policy.
• I think there's a principle in there somewhere…. How about this:
• A spiritual father sets goals to challenge his children to reach their potential as responsible adults.
And this is true for fathers of spiritual children as well.
• So in Numbers 18:1, “ The LORD said to Aaron, "You, your sons and your father's family are to bear the responsibility for … the sanctuary.”
• HaShem wants fathers to train their spiritual children to be responsible, morally and practically.
• What is the topic of the leadership training video that we are watching?
• Discipling a new Jewish believer, with Rabbi David Levine teaching.
• Our goal is learn how to challenge new Jewish believers to reach their potential. V'eemru ?
• How is discipling new Jewish believers like training up a child?
Spiritual fathers write the word of God upon the hearts of their children.
• So in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, HaShem tells the fathers of Israel : “The se words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home.”
• The Hebrew word for “you shall write them diligently” is shinatam .
• Shinatam means to repeat a second time or to engrave with a sharp point.
• The words of God must be repeated often to engrave them indelibly on the hearts of our children.
• To do so requires an investment of our time, energy, and resources—expressing our own love of Abba Father, with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our strength.
Love and investment in our children is a risky affair, especially if we have spiritual aspirations for them. • It takes faith to believe that our children will grow up to be godly and successful. • Proverbs 22:6 declares, “ Train a child in the way he [should] go; and, even when old, he will not swerve from it.” • Proverbs hasn't given us a formula or a guarantee, but a spiritual principle of faith. • If spiritual parents train their children in the right way, that's the way they will go. • But we need to understand what training us. • The Hebrew word for training in this verse is chanak . In every other context, it means to dedicate . • De 20:5: “The officers shall say to the army: "Has anyone built a new house and not dedicated it?” • 1Ki 8:63 & 2Ch 7:5 both say, “So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD.” • What can we infer about training up? • It's not about punishing a child; it's about dedicating a child for God's purpose. • When I bless our children before bed, or before Shabbat, I am dedicating them for God's purpose. • When I read to them from the Bible—teaching them God's word when they lie down—and when we sing praise songs and the Shema together, I am dedicating them for God's purpose. • And when I discipline them, I am not punishing them—I am dedicating them for God's purpose.
Let me emphasize this point: discipline is not punishing, it's making a disciple for the Lord.
• Take a look at Hebrews 12, starting in verse 6: “t he Lord disciplines those he loves.”
• When I was getting started as a father with Adam, I made the mistake of being too harsh.
• One evening, the Lord took me aside and told me so: you are being too harsh.
• If you cannot spank your son in love, then don't spank him at all.
• I had to go to Adam and ask his forgiveness for disciplining him the wrong way.
• Then the Lord taught me how to discipline my children the right way.
• When a father knows (and has confirmed) that his child has sinned, he must confront it firmly.
• The child should understand what he has done wrong.
• To turn the child out of the path of wrong-doing, discipline must have an element of pain.
• As Hebrews 12:11 says, “ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful . Later on, however,
it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
• The painful element of discipline may be spanking or it may be a timeout or a temporary loss of
a privilege, but it must be painful, in order to turn the child away from the path of wrong-doing.
• Bear in mind that the purpose of the painful element of discipline is not to hurt the child
but to train the child and ultimately to make a disciple for the Lord.
• Finally, discipline involves teaching: the child needs to understand the right way and its benefits.
• And make sure the child understands that it is because you love him that you discipline him.
• Ephesians 6:4 says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
• Provoking anger in the process of discipline will sow seeds of wrath and revenge in the child.
• Discipline that involves spanking, verbal instruction and affectionate affirmation will cause the child
to be trained in the positive direction of the Lord. V'eemru ?
• But what if I make a mistake with my children and lose my temper?
• Then I make it a point to go to them, confess my wrong-doing, and ask their forgiveness.
• Children will not forget if they have been wronged.
• A covenant apology on the part of the parent will remove any grounds for resentment .
• The sooner you make things right, the better. But better late then never!
• A spiritual parent can thus model the ministry of reconciliation and restore shalom to the child.
Hebrews 12 explains that Abba Father disciplines his spiritual children, too.
• It is very important that we receive and respect Abba 's discipline.
• “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.”
• When hardship comes, how many of you complain?
• Saying ouch is one thing, but if you reject God's discipline, you will not receive the benefit.
• God humbled the children of Israel in the desert, to test their faith, so they could grow.
• What was their response? They grumbled and kvetched; and they lost faith.
• How else could they have responded? They could have cried out to God or just trusted him.
• How do you respond?
• If you do not learn to respond to hardship in trust , you will not become spiritually mature.
• A Messianic disciple understands that spiritual discipline produces a harvest of righteousness and shalom who for those who have been trained by it. V'eemru ?
A different kind of correction is appropriate for a teenager or adolescent.
• The word “ adolescent ” means “one who is becoming an adult.”
• This stage is full of transitions, sometimes awkward.
• A God-given transformation turns on inside a child around the age of twelve.
• That's one reason we have bar and bat mitzvahs.
• Parents need to adjust, beginning to treat the child as an adult, though not quite.
• Luke chapter 2 describes this stage of transition in the life of Yeshua. You might want to turn there.
• Verse 40 describes him as a child. “ And the child grew and became strong.”
• During this early stage of life, a child grows physically, gaining strength.
• Verse 42 notes that Yeshua has reached the transition age of twelve.
• “When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.”
• Verse 43 describes Yeshua as a boy: “ After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem but they were unaware of it.
• The boy stage is the beginning of the adolescent transition between the child and the man.
• Yeshua now takes a step of independence , going off in his own direction without telling his parents.
• Adolescents often seem themselves as mature and expect to be treated more like adults.
• Continuing in verse 46: “T hey found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”
• Another characteristic of adolescence is a growth of inquisitiveness.
• So an adolescent will question what he has been told. Any parents ever notice that tendency?
• A growth of inquisitiveness is not, however, a justification for rebellion.
• There is a myth in our modern culture that teenagers are supposed to be rebellious .
• It's a lie: rebellion is sin. We must resist false ideas. I've often talked to Adam about this.
• The natural tendency for an adolescent to ask questions can be distorted or misunderstood.
• Parents and their adolescent children must discern the difference.
• Rebellion rejects authority. Asking questions seeks understanding.
• If a parent refuses to take time to respond to the questions, inquisitiveness will turn into rebellion.
• The inquisitiveness is natural because there is usually a major advance in mental capacity.
• So in verse 47: “ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”
• Yeshua was an extraordinary boy, but many an adolescent will amaze his parents and other adults.
• An adolescent may come forth with a brilliant analysis one moment and then revert to some childish need or behavior the next.
An adolescent begins to become aware of his own identity and independence from their parents.
• Verse 49 shows Yeshua making this transition: "Why were you searching for me?" he asked.
"Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"
• Just like Yeshua, so other adolescents develop an awareness of their identity as a person.
• Just as Yeshua was finding his calling to his Father's house, any young person's need for identity and independence can find its fulfillment in his unique destiny in God.
• It is a time for parents to help their children discover God's calling. Soon Adam goes to college!
Parents often have a hard time adjusting to the changes in their children.
• Miriam and Yosef were anxious and upset at what Yeshua had done.
• But parents must remember: God designed children to grow up and become adults!
• Children need to be told exactly what to do.
• Adolescents need general guidelines, while continuing to respect and obey parental authority.
• So in verse 51, “ Yeshua went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.”
• Yeshua continued to recognize the authority of his parents over his life.
• The balance between submission and independence is a godly dynamic in an adolescent.
• Gradually, adolescents should be given more and more free choice and more responsibility.
• Parents need to prepare them to become responsible, to make the right choices as adults, and as talmidim of the Lord. So I am trusting Adam to be on his own while we are in Israel .
• That is another purpose of the bar or bat mitzvah: accepting and challenging the child to begin taking on the spiritual and moral responsibility of a young adult.
• This training does not stop after the bar or bat mitzvah!
These stages of growth have their parallels in the spiritual life of every believer.
• Where are you in your relationship with HaShem?
• Have you been born anew? Have you put your trust in Messiah Yeshua to follow him as Lord?
• Are you a spiritual infant? Hebrews 5:13 explains this stage: “ Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.”
• The biblical teaching about righteousness distinguishes what is good from what is evil.
• Many who have accepted Yeshua haven't accepted the Bible's teaching, and so continue to live in sin.
• I remember when one of first mentors had to challenge me to accept the Bible's teaching on sexual morality. Until I did, I was still a spiritual toddler. God was feeding me with the milk of his Word.
• Hebrew 5:14 explains that “ solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
• How about you? Have you accepted the Bible as the teaching of righteousness?
• Heb 6:1 challenges us: “ let us leave the elementary teachings about Messiah and go on to maturity.”
• Are you a spiritual adolescent yet?
• A spiritual adolescent asks questions, in order to grow in understanding about God and his word.
• A spiritual adolescent learns how to become a responsible member of the community.
• A spiritual adolescent should continue to respect the spiritual authority of elders and mentors,
while growing in his or her own personal relationship with the Lord. V'eemru ?
• Are any of you spiritual adults?
• A spiritual adult is able to answer questions about God and his word.
• A spiritual adult knows how to walk in the Spirit, no matter what the circumstances.
• A spiritual adult is able to be responsible for others and build up the body of Messiah.
• A spiritual adult is ready to raise spiritual children, as disciples of the Lord.
Where are you in your relationship with the Lord? Let's pray….
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