God our Father
2 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsAs Christian, we relate to God as Father and Jesus as Lord
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I want to go ahead and tell you that tonights sermon will be a little different. I am going to springboard off of 2 Thessalonians 1:1-2 into some different texts in Scripture. This may seem a bit more topical, but what I want to accomplish in tonights study is an understanding of God that describes the relationship Christians have with him, as Scripture shows.
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy: To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Context:
Who is writing this letter: From the introduction to the letter we see three names. However, in 2 Thess. 3:17 Paul includes a subscript which identifies Paul as the author of this letter to the church at Thessalonica. The letter of 2 Thessalonians, like the first, is written by Paul, however there is some evidence of collaboration by his friends, Silas and Timothy.
Who is the Letter written to: The church at Thessalonica that was established during Paul’s second missionary journey as recorded in Acts 17. This takes place after what is known as the Macedonian call, the vision Paul had of a Macedonian man asking Paul to come and help. (Acts 16:6-10)
Why is this Letter written: 2nd Thessalonians was likely written during the 18th month period in which Paul was in Corinth on his second Missionary journey. The church was facing difficult persecution, though they were persevering. Paul responds to this persecution in the first part of the letter, reminding them of the destiny of the persecutors and the Christians. The Thessalonian church had been deceived with teaching that the day of the Lord, has already come, a teaching which threatened to destabilize the congregation.
So Paul is writing to these believers, along with his ministry partners Silas and Timothy, in order to encourage the church in the face of persecution as well as to dispel false teaching regarding the second coming of Jesus Christ. Paul begins his letters like so many others with a reference to who the letter is written to as well as a reminder of their relationship which is shared with God and Christ. However, one thing which is intriguing as we begin this study is to look at the introduction to 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians.
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy: To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace.
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy: To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a slight difference between these two passages. The first passage says “to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
While 2 Thessalonians passage says “To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The first thing I want for us to see here is the importance of understanding God as our Father. God is the Father, but as believers He is now our Father.
God our Father
God our Father
Why do you think it is important that Paul tells these Thessalonian believers that God is not just God THE Father but he is God OUR Father?
I think we find this answer as we look at other passages of Scripture which show us the unique relationship God has with believers.
Let’s begin by looking at one of the first reference to God as the Father of believers.
a. God our Father is Personal
a. God our Father is Personal
12 When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and blows from mortals.
15 But my faithful love will never leave him as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
16 Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’ ”
17 Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.
In this passage, Nathan, the prophet of God during the time of David, comes to David when David desired to build a permanent temple for God to be worshipped in and told David that “He (Solomon) is the one who will build a house for my (God’s) name, and (God) will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I(God) will be his father, and he(Solomon) will be my son.” This is one of the first times we see God describe Himself as the personal Father over a human.
How does the personal nature of God as our Father change how we walk before God?
b. God our Father is Listening and Giving
b. God our Father is Listening and Giving
Jesus also refers to God as the personal Father of believers in
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.
Jesus tells them if they need anything they need only to ask God. He tells them if a good Father gives good gifts, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.
5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
Why is it important for us to know that God hears our prayers and requests?
Does this mean God will give us anything we ask Him for?
How does understanding God as a giving Father change the way we relate to Him?
Likewise, James tells us that God gives generously and ungrudgingly.
The gifts of God satisfy us.
5 He satisfies you with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle.
c. God our Father is Holy
c. God our Father is Holy
How does Jesus teach his disciples to pray:
9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
In these verses we see that God is
Our Father, Holy, sovereign, giving, forgiving, guiding and protecting.
This prayer Jesus teaches his disciples shows that as children of God we submit ourselves to the sovereign plan of God “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
These are attributes of our father.
The relationship of God as our father does not make our relationship with him suddenly informal. God is still God, and exists on a completely different level than we can possibly exist. However, he still calls us His children and refers to himself as Our Father.
How do we relate to God as Father but also as the Holy God?
d. God our Father adopts us as His own children
d. God our Father adopts us as His own children
15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”
16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children,
17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
As a result of the work of Christ, we are adopted into the family of God. This image of adoption is all throughout Scripture, however, Paul does a wonderful job of showing how in Christ our relationship with God changes. We go from outsiders to insiders.
Lets walk through this passage:
as a result of salvation in Christ we recieved the Spirit of adoption.
As a result of receiving this Spirit, we are able to cry out and call God “Father”
The Holy Spirit testifies along with our spirit that we are God’s children.
How does our adoption change our relationship to Christ? We are now coheirs with Christ. We receive, as a result of our adoption, the inheritance of Christ. We go from being outsiders to the kingdom to insiders.
Why is it important for us to understand that God is not only God the Father, but also God Our Father?
What we will see as we continue to study the book of 2 Thessalonians is the relationship of God as Father and how a relationship with Him changes how we lives in this world.
What does this mean?
You’re probably wondering “Ok, so what? So God is my Father.”
Among all other false religions that exist in the world, Christianity stands out because the God of all creation reaches down to humanity and says “I want a relationship with you. Not only do I want a relationship with you but I will take the burden on myself for making things right. Not only will I make things right for you, providing the means of salvation through my son, but I will also accept you as a child, accept you as though you were my very own son and make you a coheir with Christ.” Christianity stands apart because Christianity does not look at humanity and say “do,” Christianity looks at humanity and says “done.”
If you are found in Christ you have a heavenly Father who has gone to great lengths to make you his child. As children of God we are called to live in this new relationship with him.
If you are a Christian, perhaps you have never understood God to be your father. Perhaps you have never walked in your relationship with God as your Father.
When we are adopted into the family of Christ we receive a calling to walk as obedient children, walk in freedom. Are you living in the freedom of Christ? Are you walking as someone who has a personal relationship with God the Father? Has a relationship with Jesus as Lord and God as Father changed your life?
The work of salvation is a work of the trinity, as we have seen. God sent his Son, Jesus, into the world to live the perfect life, die a sinners death, raise from the dead, and ascend to the right hand of God. The work of Christ makes salvation and a restored relationship with God possible. The Spirit not only does the work of drawing sinners to repentance but also, as we have read, does the work of confirming salvation. The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
Have you yielded yourself to the call of God to make Jesus Lord and God Father of your life or are you still on the outside looking in?