GOD THE FATHER: ACCESSIBLE AND GENEROUS



Sermon Notes, May 22, 2016
Rev. Garry McGlinchy
Pastor Garry continued his series on the Trinity with a message titled “God the Father: Accessible and Generous,” based on Matthew 7:7-12.  Pastor asked us to think about a friend we knew we could call upon at any time, and then told us about his friend, Chris, who helps anyone who needs help.  Chris looks upon helping not as an obligation, but as an opportunity to use his gifts for God’s glory, and to build life-long loving relationships with all his neighbors.
Last week we talked about how God is constantly on the move in and amongst the world He created and loves.  He not only goes out, but He gives out—He brings gifts.  And since we are made in His image, we also need to be sending and sharing.  One popular view of God the Father is that He is the wrathful and inaccessible deity within the Trinity, and that Jesus is the loving and accessible deity within the Trinity.  But we discover a much different view of God in our scripture reading today.
Accessibility of God.  In verses 7 & 8, we see that although the Father is above and beyond us, He is also among and beside us.  Although the Father is greater by far than anything He created, He is accessible and available to interact with His creation.  Many people think God is far removed from His creation, but this could not be farther from the truth.  Acts 17:26-27 says that He made all the nations from one man, to inhabit the whole earth.  He marked their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.  He did this so they would seek him and reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us.  He didn’t just create Heaven and Earth and everything in it just to abandon it or observe it from a distance like a mad scientist.  God isn’t a “hands off” God.  No! He is a God who cherishes us and wants to share everything with us.  Yes, God the Father wants to give good gifts to those who ask, seek, and knock.
The problem is we’re often afraid to be direct with God.  Think about it.  Ask, Seek and Knock are all action words.  This means that we have to take action when speaking with God the Father.  We can’t just sit back and wait to get what we need.  We need to Ask Him, and ask Him directly: don’t beat around the bush with God.
The Extravagant Generosity of Our Heavenly Father.  In verses 9-10 Jesus highlights not only the accessibility of the Father, but the extravagant generosity of the Father.  Jesus, the one telling the people that the Father wants to give good gifts to His children, is Himself the greatest gift given by God.  The extravagant generosity of God is Jesus the Son.  If it were not for the love of the Father, we would not have the Son.
The Jewish people of Jesus’ day were asking for liberation, freedom, hope and restoration.  Instead of giving them the political, temporal freedom they thought they needed, God goes one better and gives them eternal, ultimate freedom from sin, death, and lifeless living.  God not only hears us and answers us, but He gives more than we could ever hope for.
The Way to Make Our Heavenly Father Proud.  This passage ends with a challenge to treat people well. (Verse 12) The Father is pleased when His children do to others as we would have them do to us.  We cannot pay the Father back for His kindness to us, but He wants us to pay His kindness forward to others.
At first, Pastor Garry was blown away with his friend Chris’s accessibility and generosity.  However he began to understand that Chris was merely projecting the image of God that we were created in.  He was loving God by loving those around him with the gifts that God gave him.  He was most certainly making our Heavenly Father very proud!  Simply put, Chris was loving God and loving others.
In 1 John 1:7-8 we’re told to love one another, for love comes from God.  If we don’t love, we don’t know God, because God is love.  We have a heavenly Father we can be extremely proud of. The question is, are we making our Father proud of us by doing to others as we would have them do to us?  The Father sees our human need and gives us what we need most.  He calls us to put ourselves in the shoes of others and do for them what they need most. 
What can you do this week to pay the extravagant generosity of the Father forward to someone in need?  Our #1 priority will have to be prayer.  1 John 5:14-15 says “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”
Pastor Garry asked us to write down the names of people we’re praying for.  Write some specific need these people have.  Write down our personal needs.  Then bring them to the front and put them on the altar.  All week, pray for these people and these needs.  Ask. Seek. Knock.

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