Our Father…

Psalm 103:1-18 June 21, 2026

Today is the National Holiday we call Father’s Day. How Father’s Day became a national holiday is interesting. On 5 July, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers. The next year a woman in Spokane Washington tried to establish a holiday for father’s equivalent to Mother’s Day. She was one of six children raised by a widower and she wanted to honor him and all fathers. In 1910, Washington State celebrated the nations’ first statewide Father’s Day on June 19th. During the 1920’s and ‘30’s, there were movements to scrap both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and replace them with Parent’s Day. That did not catch on. It is interesting that Father’s Day did not become an official national holiday until 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a Permanent National Holiday. Father’s Day is quite a celebration and Americans spent $24 billion last year on Father’s Day. That’s about $200 per father. Compare that with $34.1 billion or $259 per mother on Mother’s Day 2025. As I was reflecting on preaching for Father’s Day, I recognized that most of the men in the chapel are fathers but some have moved to the stage of being grandfathers or even great grandfathers. However, it is best to honor and celebrate Father God on this and every Sunday. In the history of the various religions, seeing the God as Father is unique to Christianity. The Ancient Hebrews did recognize God as Father but it was not the recognition of God as a personal Father. They saw God as the Father of Israel, not as a personal our Father. One writer noted that, “The first Jewish rabbi to call God ‘Father’ directly was Jesus of Nazareth. His calling God as Father was a radical departure from tradition.” In the Gospels, Jesus calls God Father, more than 60 times. The word Jesus used which we translate Father is Abba. It is not a formal term but an intimate family term. Jewish children call their father’s Abba. When I was in Israel, I heard a little boy calling out for his Abba. He was calling for his father and used the same word that Jesus tells us to address the Lord God. In our culture, there is a confusing notion that every human is a child of God. It is as though one has no choice in the matter and at birth becomes a child of God. As we study the New Testament it is clear that one becomes a child of God when one acknowledges Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It comes when one confesses one’s sin and seeks forgiveness in Christ Jesus. It does not happen automatically at birth. The Apostle Paul writes: “He [God] destined us for adoption as his children through Christ Jesus, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved [Jesus] (Ephesians 1:5).” If you have not accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior and seek to be obedient to his commands, you are not a child of God. However, when you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, God adopts you into his family and you become one of his children. We are adopted into God’s family and become a child of God when one is adopted into his family. A fellow named Dale Riffle moved to West Virginia with his Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig and founded a refuge for that special breed of pig. People discover that they are not the cute 1 little pets as they expected. Oddly, Ruffle decided to get into the pig rescue business. He has around 200 pigs on his farm and they are literally in hog heaven. All they have to do is enjoy life and they have no fear of the butcher. Riffle commented, “I think we’re all put on earth for some reason, and I guess pigs are my lot in life.” It is amazing someone would have a heart to rescue dirty, nasty pigs. However, the idea caught on and there is even one in Indiana: Oinking Acres Farm & Rescue Sanctuary located in Brownsburg. However, there is something even more amazing than pig rescue sanctuaries. It is the Lord God whose love of insignificant, sinful, openly rebellious and often indifferent people. I have been surprised that God has not given up on me. I have often been surprised that he has not given up on all humanity. We humans have a nastier record than pigs. We are in nearly constant rebellion against God. One only has to ponder the events of Islamic terror in Africa recognize human depravity. Instead of ending the human problem, God wants to adopt us into his family and wants us to call him Father. The Lord is quite different from us. Whereas we hold grudges and seek revenge, the Lord is filled with forgiveness. There are many characteristics of the Lord God and in Psalm 103:8-14 we read about several of those important characteristics. The Psalmist writes: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far, he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers we are dust.” The Lord God has many remarkable characteristics. In the face of human sinfulness, the Lord God is amazingly tolerant. He is merciful and gracious. We humans often seek revenge when we are wronged. If the Lord God were like us, we would have long ago been eliminated from the earth. While there are exceptions, we humans are fast to become angry. Yet the Lord God is slow to anger. God abounds in steadfast love while we humans get caught up in anger and even hate. One of the key characteristics of the Lord God is forgiveness. The Psalmist tells us that he does not deal with us according to our sins nor repay us according to our iniquities. God’s plans do not include revenge. He does not try to “get even.” His position to those who revere him is love, not anger and revenge. When it comes to forgiveness, God will quickly forgive our sins when we seek his forgiveness. He knows we will mess up so do not hold back from confessing your sin and receiving forgiveness. And when God forgives, he forgives completely. The Psalmist tells us that “…as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).” God has a short memory when it comes to confessed sin. One writer said: “God has a short fuse, short memory, a thick skin and a big heart.” Imagine if God kept a record of our sin? Imagine if he said, “I stop forgiving after fifty sins. Sorry but your punch card is all punched out.” God knows who we are and what we are made of and is full of mercy and grace. 2 The characteristics I have talked about are core characteristics of the Father, of Abba. Jesus reveals to us that for Christians who seek to be faithful and obey his commands the Lord God is properly addressed as Father or Abba. Ancient rabbis often taught their disciples a special prayer that they were to offer to God. Matthew reports that Messiah Rabbi Jesus taught them a simple prayer: “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ (Matthew 6:9-13).” How are we to address the Lord God? We are to address him with the same name that a small child addresses his or her father: Abba or Father or Papa or Daddy. God is not up there somewhere distant and aloof. He is present with you regardless of whether you recognize it or not. Have you had the experience of feeling that God is not present or is completely distant from you? Many of us have had that hard feeling. However, when you have that experience know that God is right there with you regardless of your feelings. He has not abandoned you and will never abandon you. He has adopted you into his family and is your loving Father. Jesus tells us what God is really like and he tells us to call the Lord God, King of the Universe, Father. One of his parables that we are all familiar with clearly teaches us about the Father heart of God. Most of us were taught to call it the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It is better titled, “The Parable of the Loving Father.” It is a simple story of a father and his foolish son. The parable is one of which most people are familiar. It is a simple one. A son demands his inheritance and his father gives it to him. He then leaves the farm and goes to a Gentile land. There he blows the money in riotous living. He goes broke and gets a job feeding pigs. He is about to starve but comes back home seeking his father’s forgiveness. His father sees him coming at a distance and runs to him. The father restores him to the family. Jesus is telling us that the Lord God is like that loving father. He is merciful and forgiving, not one to condemn or seek revenge. Jesus tells us that there is a God in heaven who cares about you and he is called Father. Father God, Abba, is not a pushover. He is not one to manipulate. Being a part of God’s family means we are under his care and authority. While Father God is loving, merciful, and forgiving, he also expects us to obey his commands and live as he calls us to live. The Psalmist said: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:8-10).” Did you hear that? God will not keep his anger forever. If we get caught up in willful disobedience and rebellion and do not repent of it, one day we will face judgment. God will call us to account. Do not fear your Abba in heaven but come to him seeking his grace and forgiveness.

A Sermon Preached by CH (COL) Michael W. Malone on Father’s Day 21 June 20263