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God the Father Sermon Ideas

God the Father is the first person of the Holy Trinity. With the Son and the Holy Spirit, God the Father is the creator of all, the elector of Israel, and the supreme savior, provider, and protector. Our sermons, homilies, prayers, and liturgies rightly glorify God as Father, Son, and Spirit. 

Where does the Bible talk about God as Father? 

Use these prefiltered searches to craft sermons and prayers, offer pastoral care, or plan worship services around the theme of God the Father. 

Sermon ideas about God the Father 

Sermons on God the Father can examine four ways in which the Bible reveals God's fatherly character: through creation, adoption, care, and relationship to Christ. 

Revealed by creation 

According to the Bible, God's fatherly character is revealed by creation. God is its architect and generator. Parts of creation remind us of God, especially where creation is beautiful, powerful, graceful, or mysterious. God's creation of human beings in the image of God adds more: now we see created beings with stewardship, communal relationships, and capacity for righteousness. At their best, human beings may be saints—that is, people who make God believable. 

Revealed by the adoption of Israel 

Again, according to the Bible, God's fatherly character is revealed by God's adoption of Israel as a covenant partner. Israel is God's firstborn. According to the matchless account in Hosea 11, God raised Israel as a toddler, forming so intimate a bond that later, when Israel became corrupt, God simply cannot act toward Israel out of anger. After all, God had taught Israel how to walk, had bent down to Israel and fed her, had lifted Israel up to his cheeks. Like a parent, God's heart keeps going out to Israel. 

Revealed by providential care 

Sermons on God the Father can also point out that God's fatherly character is revealed by God's providential care for creatures—certainly for human creatures, and especially for vulnerable human creatures. The Bible says God is "Father of orphans and protector of widows" (Psalm 68:5). In fact, God is fierce in requiring justice from Israel toward four oft-mentioned vulnerable populations: widows, orphans, resident aliens, and the poor. Lapses in such justice are prominent causes of God's indignation. God hates mistreatment of the vulnerable. 

Revealed in relationship to Christ 

In the New Testament, God's fatherly character is revealed by his relationship to his only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is equal with God, in the form of God, the "exegesis" of God, who bears "the exact imprint of God's very being" (Philippians 2:6; John 1:18; Hebrews 1:3). The Son as well as the Father is a being deserving of worship (Hebrews 1:6, Revelation 5:14). Jesus Christ is his Father all over again. 

A note about language 

The idea and title of God the Father may inspire love and trust in people raised by wonderful fathers, but fear and loathing in people raised by awful fathers. Parents, pastors, and other witnesses to the faith need to bear this constantly in mind, pastorally adapting their language about God for their audience. 

Similarly, because father is a masculine title, many Christians will call attention to the mothering images of God in the Bible. For example, in Isaiah 66 God promises to comfort Israel as a mother comforts her child, and in Job 38 the sea bursts from God's womb and God gives birth to the frost and the ice. 

Still, the title Father is deep in scripture and faith. Jesus taught his followers to pray like this: "Our Father in heaven." Christians do not generally wish to correct Jesus. The creeds, following suit, testify to faith in God, the Father almighty. God's fatherhood may be pastorally qualified, but it can't be wholly bracketed or erased.

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