Men's Newsletter - Summer 2022

The Love of the Father by Bob DiGiorgio

Call to Worship on May 15, 2022

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.  Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:1-2)

J.I. Packer in his classic book, Knowing God, asks the question, “What is a Christian?”  He said that question can be answered in many ways.  I would venture to say that many of us would define a Christian as a follower of Christ.  That would certainly be true. -- But Packer wrote: “the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God for his Father.” He then goes on to say that God adopting us as His children is both the “highest privilege” and “highest blessing” of the gospel.

Salvation is certainly the primary gift that we have in Christ because salvation meets our deepest need.  But – think about this for a moment – God in His great mercy didn’t just pardon us for our sins at Calvary through the death of His Son.  As incredible as that work of grace was, the Lord didn’t stop there.  God didn’t just fix our sin problem and heal our broken relationship with Him. He went far beyond that, and did something unimaginable! God -- after pronouncing us forgiven and free – adopted us into His family as His very own sons and daughters!

Now -- as our Father God’s beloved children -- we are nurtured and cared for by Him forever! Could there be any greater blessing than this?  That the God of the universe would choose us and “take us off the streets” adopting us into His very own Kingdom family?

So how do we respond to this display of the Father’s love for us?  By thanking Him!  By praising Him! By honoring Him in all that we do! By worshiping Him!

“How deep the Father’s love for us. How vast beyond all measure.” (Stuart Townend)