WHOSE YOUR DADDY

Romans 8:14-17

Romans 8:14-17 TNIV - ¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

INTRO:  In "The Whisper Test" Mary Ann Bird writes: “I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided
teeth, and garbled speech.  When schoolmates asked, "What happened to your lip?" I'd tell them I'd fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered and accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.  There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored-- Mrs.
Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy, a sparkling lady.  Annually we had a hearing test ... Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back -- things like "The sky is blue" or "Do you have new shoes?" I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, "I wish you were my little girl."  God says to every person deformed by sin, "I wish you were my son" or "I wish
you were my daughter."

Now before we get into our sermon this morning, let’s look for a few moments at our Scripture text. 

This passage is found in the context of Paul talking about the life that we believers have through the Spirit in vv. 1-17.  Let’s look quickly at what we can find in these great passages in context:

• To those who walk in and live in the Spirit, there is no condemnation.  Think of that for just a few moments.  Those horrible things in our past life, or even the struggles we may be facing now there is no condemnation for.  Why?  Well it is because through Jesus Christ the Law of the Spirit gives life and we have been set free from the law of sin and death.  Our relationship with God is not based on performance on our part, because quite frankly, we can’t perform.  What we couldn’t do, God did for us by sending Jesus to become our sin offering (verses 1-4).
• As believers, our minds should not be set on our own evil desires or passions, but our minds should be set on the things of the Spirit.  Whatever controls your mind controls you, and you cannot please God with a carnal mind (verses 5-8).
• But thanks be to God, those who are true born again believers are not controlled by our sinful passions and desires, we are controlled by the Spirit of Christ.  Why?  Because the Spirit of Christ lives within us (verses 9-13).
• Those who are led by the Spirit of God are His children.  Think about that for a moment.  As believers in Christ, not only are we new creations, but we are children of the one who formed this universe.  We are children of the one who is all-power, all-loving, all-knowing, in Whom there is no sin, no deceit, but He is perfect in every way.  We belong to Him.  Wow!

This morning we are going to be dealing with this fact – that God is our Father.  Now not only is He our Father, He is much more than that.  He is our Abba Father.  According to Brennan Manning, the greatest revelation Jesus ever gave this word was this one simple fact:  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the one true eternal God though Jesus Christ has become our Abba (Daddy) Father.

Let’s look at this subject this morning.

1.  God is more that just a being out in heaven, but He is a Divine being that longs for intimacy with us His Children.

Psalm 86:15 TNIV - But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

A.     Notice first that this passage says that the Lord is compassionate.

1.      When He looks at you and me, it is always with eyes of compassion. 

2.      Sure, He sees us, He knows our faults, our failings, and our struggles, yet out of His heart of compassion He loves us continually.

B.     The next thing this passage says is that God is gracious.

1.      He knows that without His presence in our lives we would be absolutely hopeless.  So He supplies His grace toward us His children.

C.     God is slow to anger – He is patient with us, not ready to pounce on us like people are apt to do.

D.     He abounds and love and faithfulness.

1.      He doesn’t just have love toward us – He abounds in love for us His children.

2.      In Hebrew this word abound literally means, “Stretched out toward us.”

3.      Think of a rubber band.  In it’s original state it keeps it’s form, but you begin stretching it out, the form begins to spread out and become longer until it breaks.

4.      That is the way it is with God’s love toward us with the exception of one thing.  His love has no breaking point.

E.      You see, the King of the Universe desires a relationship with us.  He longs for intimacy as a parent does toward their children.

2.  We have this intimacy through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A.     You see, through Jesus, we are adopted into the family.

1.      Like the story we shared earlier, no matter how extreme our sin maybe and how filthy we may become, the whisper of Jesus Christ still goes out, “I wish you were my child.”

2.      Now that word adopted in the Greek signifies someone who has full legal standing to be declared as a son or daughter.

3.      And through Jesus Christ, we have this full legal standing to be called God’s Children.

John 1:12-13 TNIV - ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

3.  The Spirit Himself leads the cry within our heart for this deep Father-child intimacy with the Father God.

Galatians 4:6 TNIV - Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."

A.     The Holy Spirit cannot be earned or obtained by works or reward, but He is received as a gift from God.

1.      And this same Holy Spirit also declares that we are God children be calling out “Abba Father” within our hearts.

2.      Think about that for a moment.  When the Spirit comes and dwells inside the believer, He comes with one loud cry, a cry for intimacy between us and the Father.

4.  To Jesus, God was Abba Father.

Mark 14:36 TNIV - "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

A.     Jesus had a special relationship with Father God.

1.      Here is the garden, as Jesus breaks down under the weight that no other person in the history of all time had to carry, He uses this deep, intimate phrase to call out on God – Abba Father.

B.     The Jews and the Rabbi’s during the time of Christ would have never thought to use this word. 

1.      Although they believed that God was their Father, they didn’t believe He was their Abba, because that required a deep intimacy with God that they thought would be too impossible to obtain.

2.      And they are right in a sense, it is impossible to obtain this except through the one person who revealed Him to the world as Abba – Jesus Christ.

C.     The early church picked up on what Jesus was saying, that is why you see Paul using this intimate expression in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6.

5.  In Jesus, God is our Abba Father as well.

A.     The word Abba is Aramaic.

1.      There is really no close English word associated with it.

2.      It is a word that displays deep affection and meaning.

3.      The closest words we have in the English language would be, “Daddy, or Poppa,” but even they fall short in their meaning and usage.

4.      Abba is a word that is filled with deep intimacy and love.

B.     And it is this word that Jesus reveals the heart of our Father God to us. 

1.      He is not just to creator of the universe, He is our Father God.

2.      He is not just our Father God – He is our Abba Father God.

C.     Oh, what love the Abba Father has for us His children, that He reveals Himself in this most intimate fashion.

1.      His heart’s cry is for deep intimate fellowship with Him.

CONCL:  Church, no matter how old we may become, or how much we may mature in the faith – we will never outgrow the fact that we are His Children – or daddy’s or Abba’s kids.  Like Brennan Manning says, “Heaven is populated by 5 year olds.”  But I would add not only heaven, but here on earth – we are to have a child like faith, a reckless child-like abandon and love for our Abba God.  Let your faith become child-like, surrender your desires, your passions, even your minds and spirits to Him.  Let Him taker you by the and, as a Parent would take their little 4 year old and let Him led you in this wonderful adventure that we call life.  If you do this, we will find His purposes, His passions, and His very fingerprints all over our very lives.