The Lutheran Hour

"A Father’s Love"

#78-41
Presented on The Lutheran Hour on June 19, 2011
Speaker: Rev. Gregory Seltz
Copyright 2025 Lutheran Hour Ministries

Text: Matthew 6:9

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I loved growing up in my Dearborn Heights, Michigan neighborhood back in the ’60s and early ’70s. There were enough kids on that block to field four basketball teams, three baseball teams, two football teams, and even an occasional hockey team just for fun. It was a young boy’s dream. It seemed like there always was something going on right outside of my house. In fact, I don’t remember watching much TV when I was a kid because even when you sat down to rest or even to eat; someone was knocking at the door asking if you could come out and play.

So, it was one of those typical Saturday afternoons in the old neighborhood. It was in the fall and we were playing a football game on the street. It was great! But this afternoon was even better, it was special because some of the dads came out to watch, even to play. We always loved when our dads participated because then you could show off a bit, you know, try to make them proud. What a day, what a game, dads playing, moms watching, the whole neighborhood enjoying a beautiful Saturday afternoon outside and then suddenly one of the guys screamed, “car, car. C…A….R….car, car.” I know it sounds silly, but that was the neighborhood scream to keep us safe, you know, because cars occasionally liked to use our football field for a road. So, the first guy to see the car would scream, play would stop dead, and we would quickly walk to the grass area by the curbs. But on this day, the neighborhood cry almost wasn’t quick enough as a Dodge Charger roared through our game. Now, we knew who this guy was. He lived several blocks away, and this wasn’t the first time that he gleefully interrupted our game. I think he kind of enjoyed gunning his engine and watching boys scatter before him.

But something different happened that day. As I jumped to the curb with an angry glance towards the car, I noticed my dad and two other dads running that car down. Incredibly, they caught him at the stop sign. And I remembering seeing my father reach into that car through the window and pull the driver towards him. My dad was really angry and he said something to the driver eye to eye, face to face. Whatever he said, that guy never drove through our neighborhood again. I remember that day as a day when our dads took care of business, they protected their families.

You might say, I learned that day that “It was good to have a Father’s love.”

Today is Father’s Day, and people are celebrating fathers like my dad today. Now, Father’s Day doesn’t get quite the press that Mother’s Day does, but both days are very important for our families and for our society. Dads, you are more important than ever today, no matter what the modern TV shows say. You are needed as engaged dads for your kids and as loving husbands to your wives. For that reason, I’m a big fan of Father’s Day celebrations like this for you.

But, I’m also a big fan for another reason. Yes, for an even more important reason. As a pastor, Father’s Day not only causes me to remember the fatherly love of my dad and my responsibilities to my family, it more importantly calls me and all of us to receive and reflect the love of God, our heavenly Father for our very lives.

It’s important as fathers, mothers, married ones, single, children, friends, all of us to realize that the health and healing needed in all of our relationships must first come from a right relationship; a right understanding of who God the Father is for us, and what He expects of us. Today, we celebrate the fact that each of us can say, through the work of Jesus Christ, “It’s good to have a heavenly Father’s love in our lives!” For, it is Jesus who taught us to pray.

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. And the whole Christian church on earth confesses I believe in God the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”

You know, there’s a natural progression of the importance of dads in our lives. There are times when we celebrate them, times when we challenge them, times when we ask for their forgiveness, and times when we finally realize the importance of their love for us.

Do you remember the column by Ann Landers about dads? She said it this way:

“My Father….. When I Was
4: My daddy can do anything.
5: My daddy knows a whole lot.
8: My dad doesn’t exactly know everything.
14: Don’t pay attention to my Father. He is so old-fashioned.
25: Dad knows a little bit about it, but then he should because he has been around so long.
30: Maybe we should ask Dad what he thinks.
40: I wonder how Dad would have handled that? He was so wise and he had such a
world of experience.
50: I’d give anything if Dad were here now so I could talk it over with him. Too bad I didn’t appreciate how smart he was. I could have learned a lot from him when he was just a phone call away.”

In this column you sense a person’s natural change of attitude concerning the importance of their dad. But, dad didn’t really change, she did. In this way of appreciating good dads, we, too, are reminded to celebrate God the Father’s goodness in our lives as well.

But, we don’t have to wait until we are 50 to speak to our heavenly Father and I pray that you don’t wait until it’s too late to trust and to believe in Him. What Jesus says here is incredible, He teaches us to pray to the God of the universe as our Father. He teaches us throughout His ministry that our greatest need is to be reconciled to God the Father, our Creator. For life is back in harmony, life is at peace when we’re reconnected to Him, the holy, righteous God of creation.
Jesus reminds us today that it is good to have our heavenly Father’s love.

The Father’s love is the kind of love that can discipline and protect. It’s the kind of love that can set standards and build self-respect. It’s the kind of love that ensures that there will be justice in this world and that righteousness and holiness will be vindicated in the end. The heavenly Father’s love sees the whole picture of things. It is the kind of love the one appreciates when you feel it’s protective, directive power as a son or as a daughter, but it is the kind of love that is rightfully feared by those who do wrong, by those who seek to destroy and create deadly chaos in His world.

As sinful people, though, we often fear our heavenly Father rather than joyfully call on Him in prayerful faith. Such fear of God, even rejection of His love is not because of who He is, it is because of who we are as sinners. We need His holy, righteous, eternal love. But our unwillingness to trust in that love causes us to caricature it as too harsh, too demanding, even too remote. Maybe we’ve even had a dad who reflected that love so poorly that it colored our view of our heavenly Father’s love. Well, Jesus debunks the caricatures and Jesus calls all of us to repentance today, to have a change of mind, to turn to the Only One Who can love us with an everlasting love, our Father in heaven.

In our text for today, Jesus is inviting us to faith, prayerful faith in our heavenly Father, to trust in God the Father’s love for us. His love is a righteous one, a just one. It is one that hates sin because sin’s destructive power is both temporal and eternal. But, it is also a love that yearns to reconcile a sinful, rebellious world back to Himself so that we might live again in Him. In fact, one of the most famous passages in the Bible, John 3:16, says that “God (the Father) so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Jesus isn’t merely teaching us today that it is good to have our heavenly Father’s love, He is teaching us, that because of His work on our behalf, His life, and death, and resurrection, we do have a Father’s love and we can have that Father’s love by faith.

Jesus, God the Son, took our place in this world by the will of that same Father first to demonstrate the beauty of a perfect relationship with our holy, heavenly Father, but, Jesus did something more than live His life as an example. He took our place as sons and daughters before God, He even took on Himself our sin before the Father’s righteous judgment throne so that the Father’s perfect justice would be rightfully executed, death overcome, Satan defeated, and God’s eternal mercy graciously available to a world undeserving, but desperately in need.

The Bible’s message is a message of God’s love in action, God the Father, sending the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome sin and evil, so that this world might again know forgiveness, life, and salvation, life as children of our heavenly Father. His will be done, that you might live.

That’s why Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father, who art in heaven,” and that’s why the whole Christian Church on earth confesses, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”

So, today, we are invited to receive and to reflect God the Father’s love, here on earth.

That means first receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The great work of Jesus is not only to forgive our sins, it is ultimately to restore our relationship with God the Father, the One who created us to be His own, to live under Him in His kingdom, and to serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

To know Jesus by faith is to get a glimpse of the heart of the heavenly Father, who created us and wants us to be with Him in eternity, because of Jesus then, we can celebrate the Father’s love and all that that means for us.

People often reflect on “what a good dad is” celebrating the uniqueness of that love, by saying things like this, “My dad was a dad of action. If there was a problem, he solved it. If there was a need, he found a way to fill it, and if we got scared, he made sure that we were protected.”

Well, just think then of our Holy Father in heaven, celebrate His eternally active love: for out of His love God the Father created the world, out of love He sent His Son to redeem and restore the world, out of His loving kindness, He daily provides for our needs, out of love, He disciplines and matures those who are His children, and above all, out of His love, He is always on the job for us.

God the Father’s love, much like my dad’s love that Saturday back in the old neighborhood, is an active love, one that jumped into action for the sake of others. But, even more so, God, our heavenly Father, after sin entered His perfect world, He jumped into action from the very beginning. He did what was necessary to make a relationship with Him possible again.
On this Father’s Day then, all of us are called to receive and reflect our heavenly Father’s love and its meaning for our lives. One of the ways that we can show our love for Him is to live our lives dependent on His grace and mercy in Jesus. One of the great ways to be a protector of those we love is to connect them, to lead them to the love of their Heavenly Father who is their mighty fortress at all times and in all places.

In the Bible, then, God the Father is portrayed and proclaimed as a God of action, One who leads the way, One who answered the call when sin destroyed His perfect creation and when lives were in need of His blessing, forgiveness, protection, or discipline. Who can fully understand that kind of perfect Fatherly love?

Well, let me close today with one story that might give you one more glimpse of the depth of the Father’s love just for you.
After singing a few hymns at church one Sunday evening, the pastor stood up, walked to the front, and gave a brief introduction of his childhood friend. With that, an elderly man stepped up to the front of the church and he began to speak. He said, “A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast when a fast-approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to shore. The waves were so high that even the father, who was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright, and the three were swept into the ocean.”

The old man hesitated. He made eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time in the service, paying attention. He continued. “Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life to which boy would he throw the other end of the line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son’s friend was not. The agony of that decision could not even be matched by the torrent of the waves. As the father yelled out, ‘I love you, Son!’ He threw the line to his son’s friend. By the time he pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beyond the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered.”

By this time, the two teenagers were sitting a little straighter in the pew waiting for the next words to come out of the old man’s mouth. He continued, “The father knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus, and he couldn’t bear the thought of his son’s friend stepping into eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son. How great is the love of God the Father that He should do the same for us.” With that, the old man sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room.

Within minutes after the service, the two teenagers were at the old man’s side. One of the boys started talking politely, “Well, that was a nice story, but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his son’s life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian.”

“Well, you’ve got a good point there,” the old man replied as he looked down at his Bible and then he looked back up at the boys with a smile on his face. “It sure isn’t very realistic, is it? But, boys, I’m standing here today to tell you that that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God the Father to give up His Son for me. You see boys, in the water that day; I was the son’s friend.”

We may not be able to fully grasp the love of a Father, whose very heart broke when He sent His eternally beloved Son to endure our judgment so that we might live again. That’s why it is even more important to believe in Jesus, the One whom the Father has sent. Jesus is the One who reflects the depth of the Father’s love in a way that we can understand and believe.
And Jesus is saying for you today, it’s good to have a heavenly Father’s love. And with faith in Jesus, you have the very love of God your heavenly Father, and through faith, you even have the Father’s attention when you pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven.”

God bless you this Father’s Day and always. In Jesus’ Name.

Amen.

LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for JUNE 19, 2011
Topic: Men’s NetWork

ANNOUNCER: And we’re back in the studio once again with Pastor Gregory Seltz. I’m Mark Eischer. Today we’re going to do something a little bit different. Today is “Father’s Day,” as you know, so instead of our regular Questions and Answers from listeners, we’re going to take the next few minutes to talk about one of our growing ministries here, the Men’s NetWork.

SELTZ: Mark, that ministry network really is growing and it’s reconnecting men to churches all across the country.

ANNOUNCER: And that’s an important thing for our churches and for our families all around the country, isn’t it?

SELTZ – I would say so. In the last 25 or 30 years, men have been leaving the church and that exodus is not just bad for those men, it’s detrimental to our families and to the communities across the country.

ANNOUNCER -Why do you suppose that’s happened?

SELTZ – Well, first of all, we do have to be careful not to make excuses here. God is calling men to Himself and they need to step up and answer that call like the generations of men who have gone before them. Answer that call with repentance and with faith. But, it is true that many churches too have become places that are more and more uncomfortable to men, a place that doesn’t often see the unique value of a godly man’s love.

ANNOUNCER: What do you suppose changed?

SELTZ: Well, since the 1960s, churches are more and more places of therapy, of small group sharing and caring. And again, there is nothing inherently wrong with this, but men often demonstrate their love and their leadership in different ways than that.

ANNOUNCER – In what ways?

SELTZ -You know that men tend to shy away from things that tend to examine them overly or to put them under a microscope. They generally try to solve problems on their own. They’re at their best when there are problems to solve, loved ones to protect, or adventures to lead. They even often relate to each other better when their doing something together, getting their hands dirty, if you will.

ANNOUNCER: How does the Men’s NetWork address men’s needs to be faithful as well as respecting their unique way of receiving and sharing the love of Jesus with those around them?

SELTZ: Here’s where I think the Men’s NetWork is really pretty exciting. It has fashioned Bible studies and practical “how to” faith activities that help men grow in their faith as well as help them mature in their love for their wives and families and their communities.

ANNOUNCER-That’s an important point to emphasize. This isn’t just something “for men.” It’s something that reaches beyond the men to bless all the people in their lives.

SELTZ- Exactly. These studies, these activities and the gatherings are meant to meet men where they’re at, in ways they can relate to. But, the ultimate goal is that they be “faithful men of God” for the sake of those whom God has given them to love and to care for.

ANNOUNCER – Are you saying then that wives, and children — and for you single guys, your girlfriends — will be happy that you’re involved with something like this?

SELTZ- Well, listen. I surely can’t speak for them, but I would guess that the answer would be “yes,” because, think about it, when men gather to grow in the things of Christ; when they realize that they can be faithful in church and still be a “man’s man,” when they take seriously the challenge to be men of God who learn to love and cherish their wives and their families the way that God cares for them — I think it something that everybody will appreciate.

ANNOUNCER – I hope that after a few years of the Men’s NetWork, that we can ask the wives and children if that was the case.
SELTZ: I think that would be great, because that would be a challenge and men respond to challenges. We tend to rise to the challenges in sports and in business, but as we get older, we realize that those challenges are really secondary to being good husbands, dads, and even faithful participants in Christ’s church. I think if the men were challenged, I think they’d really take that on.

ANNOUNCER – It would be great to see men leading their families back to church.

SELTZ – It would not only be great, but I think that it would be a real blessing too, don’t you?

ANNOUNCER: I do. Pastor, how can people get more information about the Men’s NetWork?

SELTZ – Mark, all they have to do is go to our website www.lhm.org and just click on the button, “Men’s NetWork.” There you can find a way to be connected to a local chapter near you. Or, you can also find out how to create a chapter in your home church today.

ANNOUNCER – Very good. Again, that’s LHM.org and you’ll find information there about the Men’s NetWork, free video Bible Studies, volunteer opportunities, even a virtual fishing tournament this summer. Check it out. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.

Music Selections for this program:

“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.

“Oh, Blest the House” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.

“Our Father, Who in Heaven Reigns” by Dietrich Buxtehude. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC

“Glory Be to God the Father” arr. William Heyne. Used by permission.

“At the Lamb’s High Feast” by Charles Ore. From From My Perspective, vol. 4 by Charles Ore (© 2002 Organ Works Corporation)

“Allegro from Chorale varie sur ‘Veni Creator’ Op. 4” by Maurice Durufle. From Pipe Organ Dedicatory Concert by Charles Ore (© 2000 Chapel of the Cross Lutheran Church)