Introduction

Some years ago I realised that I was in fact mentoring and providing spiritual direction for people from every continent. Since this is certainly not my natural disposition I can only explain this in terms of the words of Paul in Ephesians 4:6; “There is….one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Jesus came, not to bring us to himself but to call us to the Father, ““I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”” He is the way to the Father, the truth of the Father and the life of the Father (John 14:6).  Above all he came to bring the presence of the Father into everything. The deepest hunger that a human being can experience is Father-hunger.

I have often said that the ultimate question in the universe: “Is God a Father, and if so, what sort of a Father is he?” My own personal experience, and in dealing with people of all genders, races and backgrounds over the decades, is that human beings can only respond to the message of Christ according to how they see, understand and relate to God as a Father.

I must stress that the way of knowing God as Father I am talking about is not primarily at the mental or intellectual level; for instance the church I belong affirms in the Apostles Creed each Sunday by Sunday, “I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth…”, but not everyone in our congregation had had a revelation of the Father. Paul sees this as so important that he virtually says the same thing in two places; “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”” (Gal 4:6), and “you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” (Rom 8:16).

Many people in Australia are happy to describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious”, and many of them are attracted to Eastern spirituality, especially Buddhism. But the most intensely spiritual experience any human being can have is to know God as Father. This is not my opinion, it is what Jesus said. Christ’s first recorded words are, ““I must be in my Father’s house”” and his last words are, ““Father into your hands I commit my spirit.”” (Luke 2:49). Jesus’ sole reference point and the key to his identity was his relationship with the Father.

This is a relationship without beginning or end. So we read at the start of the book of Revelation, ““I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”” (Rev 1:8) and then at the end of the book we hear the words of Jesus, “‘Look, I am coming soon!…13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Rev 22:13).

In the language of the great debates of the fourth century which shaped the church’s understanding of God as Trinity, “The Father has always been Father because the Son has always been Son”. This means that there is an essential difference between human and divine fatherhood. I am a father, but there was a time when I wasn’t a father, I became a father. God the Father never became a Father. To confuse divine fathering with human fatherhood is the worst sort of idolatry.

Father of Glory

The sense that God’s fathering is prior to every human experience was real to Israel; in a time of need we read, “But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.” (Isa 63:16). The pagans also had a sense of this. When Paul is preaching in Athens he proclaims, “From one man he made all the nations… 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 “For in him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.”” (Acts 17:26-28). But to truly understand the depths of God’s Fatherhood we must turn to the words of Jesus.

As Jesus approaches the cross; “he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:1-5).

This is the most categorical statement in the Bible about the dynamic relationship which Father and Son enjoyed together in eternity. But what does “glory” mean anyway? It certainly means God’s radiant presence; but there is one word that Jesus keeps using in his prayer that points us in a specific direction; he speaks 15 x in John 17 of what the Father has “given” him. This is an outstanding feature of John’s Gospel; e.g. the Father gives to Jesus life (5:26), authority to judge (5:22, 27), works to perform (5:36;; 17:4), words to speak (12:49; 17:8), a cup to drink (18:11), people (8:37, 39; 10:29; 17:2, 6, 9), all things (3:35; 13:3), his name (17:11). We find something similar in Matthew when Christ says, ““All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”” (Matt 11:27). Something similar is found in the teaching of Paul, “He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” (Col 1:15-16). These texts move us  to a simple but most profound conclusion. The glory of the Father is to give all that he is and has to the Son. The way this comes to pass however is totally strange to the sinful human mind.

Suffering is Glory

When we try to search the Gospels for insight into the content of the relationship between Jesus and the Father in eternity what we do not find is extended descriptions of spiritual pleasure. Christ does speak plainly to the Father in his prayer how “you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24) and that this love is the means of his glorification (17:24). How the Father’s love would glorify Jesus is explained by the resurrected Christ’s words to the disciples on the road to Emmaus; ““Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”” (Luke 24:26-27). In other words the scriptures had always foretold that suffering was the means by which the Father would glorify his Son. From a biblical perspective the cross was never simply a solution to a problem but the gateway of glory.

When the letters of the New Testament unveil what was going on in the depths of the Father-Son relationship in eternity they focus on the plan of salvation centred in the cross. Peter explains to his readers that they were ransomed “with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown/chosen before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you” (1 Pet 1:19-20). Paul testifies that God “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” (2 Tim 1:9-10). The book of Revelation is even more expansive, testifying of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev 13:8). In the vision of Revelation the glory of God which fills the New Jerusalem does so because the blood of the Lamb has “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,” (Rev 5:9; 21:11, 23). [Through his death and resurrection the Lamb has come to fully share the titles of God, “Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” So that the glory which was with Father and Son in eternity is now in the new creation (Rev 22:13).]  The glorious eternal plan shared by the Father and Son was that everything God had would be given to Jesus because of his suffering and resurrection.

Paul brings this truth down to earth for us by teaching, “according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, [12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So][ I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.” (Eph 3:11-13). It was as Paul suffered for the Church that he had most in common with Jesus who suffered for us. Suffering is site of the revelation of the love of God, and so our glory. But the plan that the Father and the Son shared that through the death and resurrection of Jesus he might become “heir of all things” has a unique quality (Heb 1:2). A quality that reveals the heart of God the Father.

The Father of Perfection

Before however I examine the scriptures about God as a perfect Father let me share a personal story.

Some years ago I was struggling with what seemed at the time to be the impossible demands of the Christian life. Marriage and family life were OK, the church was growing but at the back of my mind there seemed always to be a sense that God’s demands were impossible to satisfy; “How do you meet the expectations of a perfect person (Deut 32:4)?”

Frustrated with this I started to call out to the Lord for help, and then one of the strangest experiences of my spiritual journey took place. Projected in front of me, almost like a hologram/3-D image, I saw an image of the demands of my own earthly father. I knew instantly that what I had been feeling about the impossible demands of my heavenly Father were actually expectations from my earthly dad I had laid up in my heart. Immediately I repented of my hopeless efforts to please this idol and asked the God and Father of Jesus to forgive me. A short time later I had a most marvellous experience of the goodness of God filling all the creation.  A sense of the fatherly presence of God in all things had been restored.

We must never imagine what it means to call God a Father, especially a perfect Father. The true perfection of God as a Father is radically re-interpreted by the teaching of Jesus; ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”” (Matt 5:43-48)

According to Jesus the perfection of the Father is not seen in his moral blamelessness but in his kindness to his enemies. It does not matter whether you are saint or sinner the same sun comes up day after day and the rain comes down on all. This was why Paul preached to the pagans, “In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”” (Acts 14:16-17). Much more than this, the perfection of the Fatherhood of God is shown in his willingness to forgive his enemies; “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8).

When Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus he confidently claimed about his prayers; ““Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me,”” (John 11:41-42). The Son so perfectly knew the heart of the Father that he always asked what the Father wanted. So when Jesus appealed on the cross, ““Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”” (Luke 23:34), we have an insight into the depths of God’s desire as a Father to forgive ignorant sinners. Before he died Jesus knew that this prayer had been answered and that he had completely satisfied the heart of God in being “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”, that in him “God was reconciling the world to himself not counting men’s trespasses against them” (John 1:29; 2 Cor 5:19). We know this because of the final words used by Jesus from the cross in John’s Gospel; “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30). These words do not mean that Jesus is exhausted and about to die; they mean that the work the Father had asked him to do had been perfectly completed, now and forever. That the Son would suffer like this for God was the true perfection of God as a Father. There are great depths in this truth.

Remember how Jesus said, ““Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”” (John 14:9). This does not mean that Jesus perfectly copies or imitates the Father. Going back to Jesus’ prayer in John 17, “you, Father, are in me, and I in you” (v.21) describes the inner sharing of life between the Father and the Son which is their glory. The perfection of the Father is not that of an abstract or distant God, Jesus dies painfully on a cross because he is filled with the Spirit of God’s love for lost humanity (Heb 9:14). The perfect love of God is only made real in human experience when the Son of God dies and rises in the place of the enemies of God. The only part of the New Testament that consistently applies the language of perfection to Jesus is the letter to the Hebrews, and it always does this in the context of Christ’s suffering for sinners.

“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” (Heb 2:10)   “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb 5:7-8 cf. 7:28).

Although Jesus never sinned (Heb 4:15) as a human being, to quote Luke, Jesus “grew in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man.” (2:52). The climax and completion of Jesus’ growth as a human being obedient to his heavenly Father came when he fully shared the unconditional love of the Father towards sinners expressed in forgiveness. On the cross Jesus loves us exactly as the Father loves us. This is the climax of the sharing of the Father and the Son in the plan of God for the salvation of the world, in other words this is their deepest glory. God’s glory as a Father is revealed and radiated into the world through the willing suffering of his Son (John 12:27ff.).

A Prayer for Perfection

If the complete sharing of the Father and the Son, which is their glory, can only take place through suffering in love that others might be saved, this must be true for the glory of the Church.

Our teaching in this session began with Jesus’ prayer in John 17 to return to the glory he had with the Father from before the foundation of the world. Later on Jesus prays for us; ““I do not ask for these (apostles) only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly (teteleiomenoi) one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”  (John 17:20-23).  As love brought glory to the Son through suffering for others in unity with his Father, so the Father is revealed through the Church when it joins with Jesus in suffering for the lost. This is why the Church in every age must suffer.