Colossians 1:12a
~18 min read
💭 Consider this: How does addressing God as your “Father” affect the way you approach Him in prayer and daily life? Do you find yourself seeking Him intimately or at a distance?
TRANSCRIPT
Our text for this morning's message is taken from Colossians 1:12: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.”
In the preceding verses, the Apostle Paul spoke about receiving news regarding the wonderful testimonies of the Colossians. He had heard about their faith, love and hope. And since he heard, he had prayed without ceasing for their spiritual growth, that they will be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and walk worthy of the Lord, producing fruit in every good work.
Well, all these things—the wonderful testimonies, the spiritual growth, the increase in knowledge, the producing of spiritual fruits—were possible only because of one thing: their salvation. They were saved from sin, Satan and the world.
Every man or woman born into this world is born with a sinful nature and dominated by this evil world system, which is ruled by Satan. As Ephesians 2:1-2 says, we were dead in sins and we walk according to the cause of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air—that is, Satan. We were the children of disobedience. It does not mean that people have no control of themselves or they are demon-possessed. What it means is that Satan can easily use our sinful nature, inclinations and desires to manipulate us to do his will.
“The power of the air” means the realms of influence, the realms of ideas and beliefs which Satan operates as the prince, the ruler. People are enslaved by this evil world system which is opposed to God.
A man has three great adversaries: Satan, the world, and the flesh. The flesh is the natural life each person has inherited from Adam by birth. It is this flesh, it is this sinful nature that makes him a willing follower of Satan and the world—to live in sin, to commit sin, to be the children of disobedience.
That is why you do not need to teach a child to tell lies. Sometimes when a child does something wrong and he is being confronted by the parents, he will say, ‘It is not me, it is my sister, she's the one who did it.’ The parents will then respond, ‘Who taught you to tell such a lie?’
Even children have this sinful nature. As the child grows up, his mind will be exposed to more and more sinful things, and the intensity of his sins will increase. In the state of spiritual death, he is dead in trespasses and sins. Just as a physically dead person cannot make a choice to be physically alive, a spiritually dead person cannot make a choice to be spiritually alive. The only thing he can do is to continue in his sins.
And there is a price to pay for sin. The wages of sin is death—physically, spiritually and eternally. Man has to die physically. Spiritually, he is separated from God. And on judgement day, he will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. If nothing is done, that will be his life and destiny.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Dear friend, if we want to know how much God loves us, just look to the cross and consider how God sent His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to die at Calvary to save us from the penalty of our sins through the shedding of His precious blood.
Jesus died to redeem our souls from the pit of hell. If that is not enough, God sends Christians by the millions to testify to us the gospel of His saving grace. If that is not enough, God plants churches all around the world to remind us that He loves us. If that is not enough, God calls preachers—preachers who live and die—but God would call others to warn the people of the coming judgement.
If that is not enough, God raised up hymn writers to write spiritual songs that would captivate our attention. And then he would bring us to a worship service like this, and the Holy Spirit would use the Word of God to convict our hearts of our sins and point us to the Saviour who died for us. That is just how much God loves us, and He wants to save our souls. The moment we believe in the gospel and we cried out to Jesus to save us from our sins, we are saved.
Martin Luther called it the wonderful exchange, where Jesus bore our sins on the cross and His righteousness is imputed onto us. From that moment onwards, we are no longer the children of Satan but the children of God. And as his children, we call upon Him, Father.
This is what we want to learn from this phrase: giving thanks unto the Father. Today we want to focus only on this word—Father. The title of our message is: ‘What Does It Mean to Call God Our Father?’
I. The Concept
Firstly, we want to understand the concept of calling God our Father. This reminds us of our Lord Jesus, who taught the disciples to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). It does not mean that our Father is only in heaven and He does not know what is happening on this earth.
God is omnipresent—all-present—as in, we are always in his presence. What it means is simply, heaven is His dwelling place. We must understand that when Jesus taught the disciples to pray and call upon God, Father, it was something new to the Jews because they would not address God directly as my Father.
God was referred to as the Father only fourteen times in the Old Testament, and even then, it was not personal. The word Father was used with reference to God's relationship with the nation of Israel. For example, Israel was the firstborn son of God. God said in Exodus 4:22, "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus sayeth the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn."
The psalmist David said in Psalm 103:13, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." - referring to the children of Israel because at that time, only the Israelites would worship the one living and true God.
The prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 64:8, "But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."
It was always used in the context of the nation of Israel. You can search through from Genesis to Malachi and you will not find any individual Israelite addressing God directly as my Father. But essentially, if God was the Father of all the believers collectively, then he was also their Father individually.
Sadly, over the centuries, because of their disobedience, the nation of Israel had turned away from their heavenly Father. They had turned away from Him to worship idols. So much so that most of the Jews had lost the sense of God as their Father. Until the time of Jesus Christ, the distance between God and men seemed so far apart that the Jews felt that calling God "my Father" was strange, irrelevant and even blasphemous.
Is God the heavenly Father of everyone—meaning to say, the entire humanity? In our generation, we have to be aware of the false teaching of the universal fatherhood of God. Those who teach the universal fatherhood of God deny that Jesus is the only way to salvation and the only way to heaven.
They believe that God is the Father of everyone, whether they are safe or lost—it doesn't matter. Everyone is our brother or sister, whether they are believers or not. People do not need to be converted in the first place to have God as their Father, because God is already the Father of all, according to them. They would tell you that it is absolutely unnecessary to believe in Jesus Christ, because you are already a child of God, whether you have faith in Him or not. That is a terrible lie of the devil.
Scriptures make it very clear that God's fatherhood in relation to the unbelievers is only in the sense of him being the creator. Man is made in the image of God.
According to the Bible, most certainly God is not the Father of all men. He is uniquely the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he becomes the Father only of those who believe in Christ and are united to Him by grace through faith in His only begotten Son.
On one occasion, in John 8:44, Jesus spoke directly to the unbelieving Jews who thought they were God's children because they were physical descendants of Abraham. But actually, they were the children of the devil. These were the words of our Lord Jesus: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." (John 8:44)
What a strong statement - ye are the children of the devil. There are only two families in this world—having God as the Father, or having the devil as the Father. There is the family of Adam, into which all men are born. And there is the family of God, into which some men are reborn by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we have mentioned a while ago, before our conversions, we were dead in trespasses and sin. We were walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air—that is, the devil. We were by nature the children of God's wrath.
But God, by his grace and mercy, has saved us through his Son. We are now the children of God. And only the children of God can call upon him, Father.
Dear friend, which family do you belong to—the family of God, or the family of the devil? If you do not have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, then you are still lingering in the family of the devil. There are only two families and only two destinations: heaven or hell. People do not like to hear this, but it is a reality.
When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). He makes Christianity exclusive—and indeed, Christianity is exclusive. Only Jesus saves. Apart from Jesus Christ, no one can save us from our sins.
Jesus always addressed God as Father. He never used anything else. All his prayers addressed God as "my Father", except the one when He prayed on the cross of Calvary, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" That was a quotation of the messianic Psalm 22:1, and it was a fulfilment of the messianic psalm.
He always prayed, "My Father". And other times Jesus addressed God as Abba. Like in Mark 14:36, he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me." - which refers to the cup of suffering – “nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”
Abba was an Aramaic word. It was like the child calling his or her father in a loving and endearing way. In our modern-day equivalent, it would be probably ‘Dad’. To the Jewish mind, Jesus' prayer was blasphemous. Now consider this: God was referred to as the Father only fourteen times in the Old Testament. And even then, it was always as the Father of Israel—not individually or personally.
But Jesus taught his disciples to pray individually, "My Father", and corporately, "Our Father". By doing so, he was teaching the disciples about sonship. In other words, you are a child of God. And as a child of God, you speak to your heavenly Father in a familiar, trusting, loving and endearing way—like the child speaking to his or her father.
II. The Application
THE BOOK OF COLOSSIANSA Faith And Love That ShinesA Faith And Love That ShinesColossians 1:1-4
The Blessedness Of Our Christian HopeThe Blessedness Of Our Christian HopeColossians 1:5-6a
The Transforming Power Of The GospelThe Transforming Power Of The GospelColossians 1:6b-8
The Need For PrayersThe Need For PrayersColossians 1:9
Prayer for Spiritual ExcellencePrayer for Spiritual ExcellenceColossians 1:9-12
Walk Worthy Of The LordWalk Worthy Of The LordColossians 1:10-11
What Does It Mean To Call God Our Father?What Does It Mean To Call God Our Father?Colossians 1:12a
What Does It Mean To Be Citizens Of God’s Kingdom?What Does It Mean To Be Citizens Of God’s Kingdom?Colossians 1:12b-13
I Am Redeemed And ForgivenI Am Redeemed And ForgivenColossians 1:14
Christ, The Invisible GodChrist, The Invisible GodColossians 1:15
Jesus Our Creator Loves Me, This I KnowJesus Our Creator Loves Me, This I KnowColossians 1:16-17; Romans 8:37-39
What Is Christ’s Relationship With The Church?What Is Christ’s Relationship With The Church?Colossians 1:18
What Does It Mean To Be Reconciled To God?What Does It Mean To Be Reconciled To God?Colossians 1:19-22
The Evidence Of Our SalvationThe Evidence Of Our SalvationColossians 1:23a
Are We Willing To Suffer For Christ?Are We Willing To Suffer For Christ?Colossians 1:23b-24
How Faithful Are We?How Faithful Are We?Colossians 1:25-27
What Does It Take To Be Faithful In The Ministry?What Does It Take To Be Faithful In The Ministry?Colossians 1:28-29
The Indispensable Component In Serving GodThe Indispensable Component In Serving GodColossians 2:1-2a
This Is What I Wish For You To Have And To BeThis Is What I Wish For You To Have And To BeColossians 2:2b-5
Message 3: What is Christ to you? My Covenantal Head!Message 3: What is Christ to you? My Covenantal Head!Colossians 2:4-9, 19
The Evidence Of Our SalvationThe Evidence Of Our SalvationColossians 2:6-7
Message 4: What is a healthy and sound church? My Covenantal Haven!Message 4: What is a healthy and sound church? My Covenantal Haven!Colossians 2:7
Message 2: What is Church to you? My Covenantal Family!Message 2: What is Church to you? My Covenantal Family!Exodus 12:48-49, Colossians 2:11-12
