FATHER'S DAY (Australia)

It says in Psalm 103:13, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”

Now, in the Bible, you see mostly what God is like rather than what He is. We know God by way of analogy, what He is like. In Psalm 103 He is being likened to a father who has compassion on his children.

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Fathers are supposed to be like, for instance, the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. His son was returning to him after wasting his inheritance on the debauchery of Vanity Fair. He ended up in the pits feeding pigs and even dining with them. But, by the grace of God, he came to his senses. So, he returned to his father.

As a student for the ministry, I had to dismantle the Prodigal Son parable and rebuild it into a presentable sermon. The idea was to preach on whatever the essence of the parable is. So, I titled my sermon “The Compassionate Father.”

This father sees his lost son on the horizon, coming towards him. He didn’t just sit there on porch in his rocking chair nursing his wrath. No! He gathers up his robes and he runs out to meet his boy and embraces him, slobbering all over him. “This is my boy!”

Then the prodigal asks for his father’s forgiveness.

The word compassion is made up from two words, com means with, and passion is suffering. Com-passion is suffering with. Therefore, even the word compassion is like two people embracing, hugging, suffering together.

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.” This is what God is like.

The very next verse says, “For He knows how we are formed, He remembers we are dust.” We are fallen in our great, great, great…. grandfather Adam, who, in Luke 3:38, is called “the son of God”, the man that God our heavenly Father formed from the dust.

God remembers who we are. Little pieces of dirt that He formed in His own image – to be like Him! Therefore, whenever we repent and believe in the Gospel, it is like our Heavenly Father embracing His prodigal son, Adam.

One dad had thoroughly catechized his son on the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Shorter Catechism. His son left home and moved to Sydney, Kings Cross to be precise, where he squandered his life in revelry. Pubs, clubs, and hot tubs!

But, in time at Kings Cross, he remembered what he’d been taught as a youngster. He remembered that other cross, the cross of THE King, the Son of THE compassionate Father.

In time he contacted his father. “Dad. I want to come home. I’m sick of this lifestyle and I’m just, well, I’m sick.” His father had compassion and welcomed his son back into his home with embracing arms. “This is my boy!” He knew that we’re all sinners made of dust! So, he loved and cared for his son who, not long after, died from AIDS.

But here’s the good news. His son had repented of his sins, and he believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He went to be with the LORD. How so? “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”

One last thing. As dads (as with all children of God) we can seek forgiveness when we stumble. Whenever we turn our back on our sin and return to Him, God runs out to meet us as it were and embraces us. “This is My child!”

So, Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers.

To watch a recorded version, scroll to about 25:30 in the following link to the Sunday service at Oasis Church:

https://youtu.be/SbvHXjsHjW8