Access to the Father

The story is told of a soldier who was fighting for the North during the United States Civil War. All his brothers had died in battle. And he feared that if he died too, his mother would not be able to take care of their family farm all by herself. So, he marched up to the White House and asked to speak with President Lincoln. Unfortunately, he was denied access to enter.

Feeling dejected, he sat down by a nearby bench. A young boy noticed this soldier and asked why he looked so sad. He told the boy his concern. The boy responded, “follow me.” The young boy led the soldier up to the White House doors, where they passed right through. Together they walked down the hallway and strolled right into the room where President Lincoln was meeting with his staff.

The young boy spoke up, “Father, this man has a problem, and I would like you to listen to him.”

Now, I don’t know how accurate this story really is, but it makes an important point: Children have access to their parents, even if nobody else does.

This is the same point that St. Paul made when he wrote to the Christians in Galatia. He told them that no matter what family they grew up in, Jesus had made them children of God. And God’s children get access to their heavenly Father. He goes so far as to say that we can call the almighty God our “Abba, Father.” (“Abba” is the way of saying father in Aramaic.)

St. Paul wrote: “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to shout, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if you are a son, then you are also an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:4-7).

We need familial access to our heavenly Father because the access we have to our earthly families can often become broken. Sometimes its broken by us. Other times its broken by other family members.

This Christmas holiday season probably meant family time for you. Extended family traveled to your house for a visit. You traveled to visit your family. Meals were prepared. Gifts were given. Memories were made. But maybe the memories weren’t all that good. Maybe the Christmas dinner ended in a fight. Maybe feelings were hurt when you came together for the holidays. Maybe feelings had already been hurt and coming together didn’t solve the situation.

The painful reality is that we sinners fail our families, and our families fail us.

Not only do we often deal with a broken relationship somewhere in our earthly family, but we certainly have had a broken relationship with our heavenly family. Sometimes the parents or the children may break our earthly familial relationships. But the break with our heavenly family is one-sided. We are at fault. We are the ones who have broken our relationship with our divine Father, Jesus our Brother, and the Holy Spirit.

God knows about our broken relationships. He wanted and created children to be perfect. … But he was sorely disappointed. That’s why he made a plan. It was a plan created even before time began. St. Paul explains to Pastor Timothy: “[God] saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, and it has now been revealed through the appearance of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9, 10).

When the time had fully come – when the time was right and God used Caesar Augustus to move the holy family into the right place at the right time – God sent his Son born of the Virgin Mary. God the Father sent Jesus to be the perfect Son he always wanted. He returned God’s love, was perfect in obedience, and unwavering in devotion. Jesus came to be everything that God wanted from us.

By coming to be the true Son of the Father, Jesus gives us rights to be redeemed sons and daughters. We are the redeemed – blood-bought children of the heavenly Father. Jesus came to be everything that God wanted from us … by giving everything that he was and earned over to us. Jesus gave us his perfection and righteousness so that when Abba looks at us, he sees little Jesuses. He sees us wearing Jesus’ perfection and righteousness. Jesus earned our adoption into the heavenly family with his bloody suffering and innocent death. He paid the price for our redemption. Now when Abba looks at us, he sees little Jesuses. He sees that our sins have been removed and placed upon his perfect Son.

Now, as the Father’s redeemed sons and daughters, we enjoy all the rights, the privileges, and the relationship of heirs. Just like Jesus.

Now you don’t need to remain outside the presence of the Father. You can walk right into God’s presence through your prayers, empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak whatever is in your heart. You can call the Lord God of heaven and earth “Abba.” You have access to the Father … through the Son … by faith given to you by the Holy Spirit … because you are now God’s adopted sons and daughters. Amen.

Warning: Immanuel Ahead

Isaiah 7:10-14 10The Lord spoke to Ahaz again. He said, 11“Ask for a sign from the Lord your God. Ask for it either in the depths below or in the heights above.”

 12But Ahaz responded, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”

 13So Isaiah said: Listen now, you house of David. Is it not enough for you to test the patience of men? Will you test the patience of my God as well? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give a sign for all of you. Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel.

A yellow diamond sign with black letters on the side of the road is always a warning sign. The signs might be warning of a no outlet, hidden driveway, dead end or a sharp turn. They might be warning about a crossing of some kind – like a school or train or deer or ducks. I’m sure when you’ve been driving you’ve seen signs like this often.

Ignoring signs like these can cause people to become seriously injured.

But have you ever seen a sign warning, “Immanuel Ahead”?

In Isaiah 7, King Ahaz is given a warning. Ahaz was a descendant of David. But unlike David, Ahaz was a wicked, unbelieving king. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. His kingdom of Judah was facing fierce opposition from the neighboring countries. All Judah’s enemies were teaming up to rip Judah apart. Ahaz was worried because he didn’t believe in the true God like King David did.

God sent his prophet Isaiah to assure Ahaz that he didn’t need to worry. God was going to protect him from his enemies. To prove this, God told Ahaz to pick a sign – any sign – as proof of his protection.

Ahaz could have asked for anything. He could have gone simple and asked for a shooting star across the sky that night. He could have gone big and asked for an asteroid to come crashing down on his enemies. He could have asked for any sign he wanted.

The problem was that King Ahaz did not trust God. He trusted in the alliances he had made with other kingdoms. Because he did not trust God, there was no sign that would have convinced him of God’s power to save his throne or country.

To prove to Ahaz and to the world that his promises can be trusted, God decided on his own sign. It was a sign that was an embarrassment to Ahaz because it was so simple, yet so miraculous. It was also a sign that would take 700 years to fulfill. God said, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel.”

Even though Ahaz sinned with his false humility, lack of trust, and refusal of God’s words, the Lord still gave him the promise of the Savior. The sign of the Savior was not something Ahaz wanted to hear. King Ahaz did not want a baby to be more powerful than he was. Ahaz wasn’t able to save his kingdom. But God promised a child who would save the whole world. Ahaz didn’t want God to come to be with us in such a weak way – a helpless baby born to a woman who wasn’t even married.

We can often refuse God’s Word, too. We don’t want to hear how we should listen to our parents or follow our teachers. We don’t want to hear how we should love our enemies, be polite to those who hate us, and be respectful to governing authorities we disagree with. We don’t want to hear how we should always be thankful and not complain. We don’t want to hear that we have sinned and are not the good people we think we are.

Even though as adults and children we can be like King Ahaz by not wanting to listen to God’s words, God still loves us. He still gives us signs to warn us that if we don’t listen to his words and believe his promises, we can become seriously injured now and will become seriously injured in hell forever.

God loves us enough to give us warnings. He loves us enough to give us promises and then fulfills those promises. He loves us enough to give us his Son Jesus to be born as a baby at Christmas and be given the name Immanuel. That name means that God is with us.

During the holiday season, people – whether it’s parents, children, or friends – can become too busy to hang out with us. But we have a God who is always with us. A God who always loves us. A God who always forgives us. He is Immanuel.

The sign that God gave to Ahaz is the same sign that God gives to all of us. It was a warning sign for King Ahaz – “Immanuel Ahead.” It is also a warning sign for us if we don’t want to listen to God or believe his promises. But it is also a sign of love – that God is with us – when we do listen and believe. Amen.