Do You Want to Be Like Our Heavenly Father?

The title of my sermon today is taken or influenced by the theme we had for the United Youth Camps this summer, Be Like Our Heavenly Father. My title is, Do You Want to Be Like Our Heavenly Father? It's a question. Do you want to be like our Heavenly Father? Now, I don't know if you've noticed, but you have. We are like our fathers. Whether you know it or not, we are all like our fathers. Physically, we bear some of their features.

Maybe you got your dad's two cow licks, one in the back, one right up here. I got a nephew like that. Got it from his dad. Maybe you have your dad's piercing eyes, his piercing blue eyes. Or, well, I won't say unfortunately because I'm there. Perhaps you have his receding hairline. That could be something from your dad. And I'm sure you each bear some of your dad's character traits, too. Maybe you got a little bit of his bullheadedness. I got my dad's. Of course, I try to use it in a good way.

Perhaps you have your dad's laid-back manner, or his sense of fairness, or perhaps his generous nature. But how many dads would really want their kids to be just like them? How many of you dads out there want your kids to be just like you? No way. I wouldn't wish that on my kids. Most fathers, if they're honest, don't want their children to be just like them. Why is that? Well, the dads and moms, too, know those dads' shortcomings. They're little quirks and flaws, perhaps some of their own selfish ways and bad habits.

They don't want their children to have, let's call them, their less than positive qualities. They want something better for their kids. And again, if you ask the moms, they'd probably agree with the dads, too. And although most people don't know it, we also have a Heavenly Father, don't we? But he wants us to be just like him. Just like him. Notice what Jesus Christ said about the way we need to be living our lives. Let's look at Matthew 5.16. I'm breaking in a new Bible, I admit.

It's one of those with a larger print. For some reason, I find it more useful. It's hard to find things sometimes. 5.16 is what I say. Matthew 5.16. Jesus is teaching the disciples. Matthew 5.16, he says, "...let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." This verse suggests what we know about fathers and their children, doesn't it? What our children do, especially the good things they do, they often reflect their father's influence in their lives.

What this scripture is telling us, the good works we do will reflect the heavenly Father's influence in us, His part in us. So we're being like God when we do good works, and that in turn glorifies Him or gives Him greater honor. Let's skip down to verse 48. Verse 48, Jesus said, "...therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Our Father wants us to have His character, to be perfect, just as He is perfect. So today I will be addressing what we should be doing to be more like our heavenly Father.

To become perfect like God our Father is not something we can do on our own. And that's why our Father helps us through the gift of His Holy Spirit. However, we have our part to do. So in the sermon, I'd like to offer us three things we need to be doing to be more like our Father. But before that, I want to begin by first laying a foundation, a foundational principle for us to know.

To be like our heavenly Father, we must follow and know Jesus Christ. That's where it begins, that foundational principle. We must know and follow Jesus Christ. Maybe you've heard that old expression, like Father, like Son.

Yeah? Okay. Or maybe you've heard this one, He's a spitting image of His Father. Does anybody know what that means? Spitting image? It's not very flattering. But we hear that. Or how about, He's a chip off the old block. If Dad's the block of granite, the Son is a chip off that piece of granite.

Sounds like a good thing. Now, people use these expressions to say that His Son resembles His Father. Perhaps, again, in those physical features I was listing off as we began, or in His manners or attitude. And sometimes, to say He's like His Father can be complimentary, or not so much. But Jesus Christ, I believe, is the ultimate example of like Father, like Son.

Let's begin in Luke 10, verse 22. Luke 10, verse 22. Like Father, like Son? Look what Christ said about Himself in Luke 10, verse 22. He said, All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the One to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. So to know the Father, we must know Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ reveals the Father to us. Let's also turn back and look in Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 3.

In Hebrews 1, verse 1, in Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 3, we learn that Christ came as the express image, express image of the Father. Let's read about that in these first three verses of Hebrew 1. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

Who, being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Now, I'm wanting us to focus on that phrase express image in verse 3 here. The phrase express image is translated from the Greek huarakter, or it looks almost exactly like the way we spell the English word character.

It's spelled the same way for the most part. Character means an exact copy or representation. That's what an express image is. So, in other words, Jesus Christ is a precise reproduction in every respect of the Father, of His nature, of His character, of His love.

That phrase express image helps to explain Christ's response to Philip back in John 14.

If you turn back with me, please. In John 14, Philip, we read, had asked Jesus Christ to see the Father. He wanted to see the Father. And in John 14, verse 8 through 9, we read, Philip said to him, to Christ, Lord, show us the Father and His sufficient for us. And Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Let's also read in John 12, a few chapters back. In John 12, verse 44 through 45. John 12, 44, Jesus said, He who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And he who sees me sees him who sent me. And then skipping down to verse 49, Christ says, For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told me, so I speak.

Christ and our Father are just that similar. When we see Christ, we see the Father.

And more than just that, when we read and hear the words of Christ, we read and hear the words of the Father. That's why I say Jesus Christ is an ultimate example of that old saying, like Father, like Son. So if we then want to be like our heavenly Father, we must imitate and obey his Son, Jesus Christ. Notice what Paul says in Ephesians 5, verse 1.

Notice what Paul says on this point, Ephesians 5, verse 1.

We need to imitate his Son, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5, verse 1. Paul wrote, Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children, be imitators of God, and walk in love as Christ has also loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. If we are following his Son, Jesus Christ, we can be most confident that we are also following our Father, our heavenly Father. In my mind, being like our Father in heaven has to be the most important thing we can be doing with this life our Father has given us to live. To be like him, our Father, we must continually, though, be practicing repentance, repentance from our own sinful ways. Now, most people associate repentance with feelings of remorse or guilt for all those bad things we think, do, or say. And although those feelings of remorse or guilt are definitely a part of repentance, repentance, we know, should be much more than just feeling bad for what we did or said, or perhaps what we failed to do and failed to say. Repentance means to change direction. It really means to turn around, to turn from the way we're going, to a whole new way of living, specifically towards God. We turn from living for ourselves to living for God and for others. It means, in many ways, a total revolution in the way we think, in the way we act, the way we behave, the way we are. Total revolution.

Repentance is a must for us because, humanly speaking, we cannot live the way we keep we're living now as human beings without God's help. That way only leads to death. If we want to live, we have to live the way of God. Isaiah 55.8 makes this point pretty clear. We cannot just continue our own ways. We, as human beings, or the larger humanity around us on their own cannot know God, cannot understand or comprehend why they need to change their ways. Without God's help, we can't fully grasp how to repent to be more like Him. Notice Isaiah 55.8.

Isaiah was inspired to write, speaking on behalf of God, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Eternal. And more than simply not understanding God, our carnal human mind actually hates God. It hates God.

It hates God in His way of life. Notice Romans 8, 5-7.

If you look at the news items, we've heard about them in announcement bulletin. We see all the other worlds turning more and more against God. It's always been against God. It's just becoming more noticeable, more obvious, more accepted by the larger society around us. Romans 8, verses 5-7.

Our carnal human mind hates God in His way of life. Romans 8, 5-7. Paul writes, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Yet because of His profound love for us, and despite human hostility towards Him, our own included, even now when so many in our society seem so bent on rejecting God and His love, our Father still, even still, wants every human being to receive His gift of salvation, to receive His gift of salvation and be members with Him in His eternal family. That's true. Hard to believe.

But we think too often as human beings and not as God, who is love.

God still loves humanity, and we see that in 2 Peter 3.9.

God still loves humanity, even though the world's hatefulness towards Him and towards us and others who are trying their best to follow His way of life seems to be increasing. The hatred against those who would follow God is increasing in our world. But look what Peter states in 2 Peter 3 verse 9.

God still loves. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering towards us. He's not willing that any should perish, that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

But notice carefully that Scripture. Notice carefully what it states. Yes, God loves all people, and yes, He wants none to perish.

But also notice He will not accept people as they are.

That's why Peter says that all should come to repentance. All must change. All must repent of their self-centered ways. All must surrender totally to Him.

True repentance means we no longer choose for ourselves how to live, how and what to worship, how to treat people, what laws to obey or disobey.

God tells us what to do. True repentance means choosing to follow God's way of life as reveals it to us in His Holy Scriptures.

We must be willing to reject our own way of doing things in order to be like our Father. And if you've been trying to do this for any length of time, you know that that is not very easy, especially hard at certain times than at others. But we all know this fact of life. I'm looking at a lot of wise people out here. Anything truly worth having requires what? A lot of work, a lot of effort.

And being like God is most rewarding, but it's certainly not easy.

Christ called it the difficult road that leads to a narrow gate.

But of course, we know the good news. God will help us, and He does help us. It seems so incredibly incredible to me when I make myself slow down and think deeply about our Father and the gift of life He gives us and eternal life that He offers us. It seems so incredible to me to think about what He's doing for all He's had, not just you and me.

And the fact, too, that He even loved us before we even knew Him. We knew nothing about the Father. It had to be revealed to us.

Look at 1 John 4.19. Excuse me. No, that's right. 1 John 4.19.

In 1 John 4.19, you know, I've run across some folks through the years, and they don't believe in Christianity. They think it's a joke. Why should I love God? Why should I? What has He ever done for me? It sounds really... I just want to cover my ears when I hear people talking like that. Don't say that. Don't say that. You have no idea. Why should we love our Father? 1 John 4.19. 1 John 4.19. We love Him because He first loved us. He took the first step before the world existed. He loved us. God loves us. Despite all the selfish and sinful things, humanity and I, and we still do, He still loves us. He loved us first. Repentance is really our effort, coupled with His spiritual help, to be more like He is. That's really what repentance is all about.

When we repent from sin, from living life selfishly, according to our desires, our wants, our ways, we are turning towards God and becoming more like Him. That's repentance.

So it is vital, then, that we continually live life's repentance and follow Jesus Christ.

Yet, whether we've been walking that path of godly repentance for decades, some of us may count only months, but there are three things that we must be doing to become more like God is. The foundational piece is that we follow Jesus Christ. He's just like the Father. If we want to be like the Father, we have to follow Jesus Christ. In addition to that, I want to narrow down three specific things that we must all be doing and keep doing to become more as God is. So, again, no matter who you are or how long you've been following in the way of God, I want to offer us three keys in our lives that will help us be more like our Father. Some things to focus on. Well, I call them keys. I can't find a good English word. I want to say a checklist or a rubric. That's an old teacher thing. I don't want to use that. But something we can look at and ask ourselves, are we doing enough to become like our Father? So, I called it a key. Let me give you key one. Key one to becoming more like our Father. Give God our time and attention. Give God our time and attention.

That's what life is made of, isn't it? Time. In order to be like our Heavenly Father, we need to know Him. To know Him, we must spend time with Him. I think it's pretty simple.

Think about it this way. We didn't pick up our physical Father's way of walking, His manner of speaking, maybe that peculiar, some call it weird, laugh of His. And we certainly didn't pick up His way of thinking without spending a substantial amount of time with our physical dads. Right? Well, let me give you an example. Through the years, I've had students rib me about how I walk.

I walk like my dad did, usually quickly and with a purpose. Dad always had the idea, get to where you're going, get it, and get back. Sounds familiar to some of you, maybe. So, I usually walked quickly with a purpose. I didn't slough around or drag my feet. I got there, and my students thought it was kind of funny, because they typically took their time.

I also hold my hand to my mouth while in thought. I can't help it. You're going to see me do it.

My dad did that, and recently, we're back home with our family in Nebraska. I watch my brothers and my sister do the same thing. They're even older than me. I even recognize my own influence on my children now that I'm a father, too. I smile at it. You see, I correct my children from time to time for slouching and not standing up straight. Guess what? You ever watch me stand? I admit it. I slouch. I do not stand up straight. When I see my kids, and they get corrected, sometimes, by my wife, I've got to chuckle, because they're doing what I do. I did that, in a sense. They've learned it from me from spending so much time with me. I'd rather they pick up some really good traits from me, but if they pick up everything else, that's good, and only the slouching I can deal with that. I hope they'll forgive me. But now, I think the same principle holds true with our Heavenly Father. The more time we spend in His presence through reading, through studying, and being taught from His Holy Scriptures, I really believe the more we learn about being like Him. We will come to have more of His mindset, for example, if we're truly paying attention while we're studying His Word.

And the more we yield to God's Holy Spirit and imitate Christ's example of living God's law of love towards God and towards others, towards our neighbors, the more we will become like our Heavenly Father. Therefore, I believe we must give quality time and real effort each day in building a relationship with our Father. That means we must develop and maintain a daily habit, a daily habit of studying God's Scriptures and of praying to Him.

Reading God's Word, studying it, taking it in, that nourishes and strengthens God's Holy Spirit in us.

And through His Word, God also gives us what we need.

Times are getting rough. The best place to go to is get close to God because He does comfort us through His Word. He encourages us. He teaches us. And yes, He even corrects us, because we need that too. We're His kids. Let's look at 2 Timothy 3.16.

If you're not too familiar with the Scripture, it's definitely one you need to know and need to remember. 2 Timothy 3.16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God or woman of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. We need to listen with sensitive ears, sensitive ears to hear the wisdom and guidance and strength God offers us in His Scriptures.

God's Word is holy. It's not some man-made philosophy, theology, or gobbledygook. It's not gobbledygook nonsense as some want to argue with us. It should not be lightly regarded or ignored. I know what Paul said about God's Word in 1 Thessalonians 2.13.

We have all sorts of critics becoming more vocal now, arguing that God's Word is unnecessary, or they'll argue God's Word doesn't say what it says, what it clearly says. They're wanting to say, we don't need it. It's old. Old book, new times. Let's move on.

Look at Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2.13, For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth.

The Word of God. These are the very words of our Father.

As it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. That's the other catch. You've got to believe what you read. You've got to believe it and not let others trick you out of it.

We're going to also look in 2 Peter 1.16. You see, God's Word is holy. It's not some man-made philosophy or theology.

Neither is it a bunch of fanciful stories concocted by men.

I've read a lot of those through the years. The Bible's not quite like those. Know what Peter said in 2 Peter 1.16.

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. Some parts of the Bible are there because the apostles actually saw and witnessed what Jesus Christ went through. They didn't make this up. It's what they were accused of doing by the Jews and other enemies through not only in their time, but even into our day and age. But they're not fables. These are eyewitnesses accounts. What Peter wrote about, he saw and experienced for himself. The Holy Scriptures that comprise the Bible is truth.

God's truth, and we need to treat it as such.

John 1717, this is another good scripture to know.

John 1717, Jesus, in this instance, is praying to the Father. He's talking to His Father in heaven. John 1717, and he says, your word is truth. Your word, that means God's word, the Father's word, is truth.

Now, let's also notice something from the Old Testament about God's word. As Dr. Ward's been reminding us, God's word, the Bible, it's a whole. It's united. It's not broken up in bits and pieces and fragments. It's a unit. Psalm 119, verse 142.

Psalm 119, verse 142.

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth. And then, same chapter, just skip down to verse 151.

You are near, O eternal, and all your commandments are truth.

And finally, let's add to this, verse 160. Same chapter, Psalm 119, verse 160. The entirety of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever.

God's word is truth. It's eternal. It's permanent. It always has been. It always will be. People can say what they want about it. We can think what we want about it. But the fact is, it's eternal. It's not going anywhere. These scriptures admonish us not to treat God's word lightly. The Bible is not, as many would contend, just some old manuscript, bunches of them, written, strung together by men. The Bible demands our study and our greatest respect.

Can you tell I'm doing a sales pitch here? We've got to study God's word. No other book contains the Father's words of true life.

Notice John 6.33.

John 6.33.

In John 6.33, Jesus said, It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

These words were inspired by God and even spoken by God Himself.

God's word is life-giving, and we must hearken to it and spiritually nourish ourselves with the words of God's Bible every day.

We've got to do it.

Now, along with taking in God's word each day, we also need to talk privately to God through daily prayer, even several times a day.

Talk with our Father. Tell Him our worries and fears.

If praying each day is a challenge, well, you've got something to ask God to help you with, because He will even help you to pray to Him more often. We can ask God to help us build a closer and richer relationship with Him.

It works. He will answer you.

And the way society is going, frankly, we need to be talking with God and getting closer to Him more than ever. We especially need, as well, to be generous in thanking Him for His many blessings. As we see, perhaps, some of our freedom slipping away from us, perhaps we start realizing just what some of those blessings were, those freedoms, and how much we should thank God for what we have.

But whatever we do, brethren, we must be careful not to let ourselves doubt that God hears our prayers.

He hears our prayers. If you are trying hard to repent and follow His way of righteousness, your heart is in the right place, God will hear you. God will hear you. Let's note Proverbs 15, verse 8.

Proverbs 15, verse 8.

Proverbs 15, verse 8 reads, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the eternal, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

He loves hearing our prayers. He wants to hear your prayers.

And then skip down to verse 29, same chapter, Proverbs 15, 29.

The eternal is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.

God hears our prayers.

Philippians 4, verse 6 through 7, please.

Let's read Philippians 4, verse 6 through 7.

Now, this is part of the hard part, not being anxious, right?

Philippians 4, verse 6 through 7, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

And the result and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.

Sounds like a promise to me.

We better try it every day. So are world events troubling you? They're certainly bothering me.

That's why we must go to God in prayer.

He gives us the peace of mind and encouragement in everything we need that we're not going to find any place else, not for the sort of worries and concerns we have. Only God can help us with that. Now, of course, I've got to admit something to you.

Studying God's word and praying every day will require some sacrifice on our part. It's going to take a little effort.

It's worth having. It's worth working for. But isn't sacrificing a bit of our time and life God has given us to build a closer relationship with Him, a more than fair exchange, to ensure our place in His kingdom?

Think what's most important in your life.

Doesn't it make sense to study His word and pray every day? Sacrificing a mere morsel of our personal time and interest, I admit, may mean a little less time at the computer in front of TV.

May mean a little less time in bed. Ouch!

Or perhaps for us workaholics, and I know there's a few of us out there. I'm one of them. It may mean a little less time working. But we need to just consider making such personal sacrifices, because that's what it's going to take for us to really study, get closer to God with His word, and to have a greater prayer life and a better relationship with Him.

We need to stop thinking about that as what a chore to pray and study to God, and just accept it as a normal part of life. It's a normal part of life. What we're doing from God's perspective is the abnormal part of life. It's normal to want to be close to your dad, and the Father wants us there near Him.

Now, we might argue that we don't have time to pray to God before our day starts, or before we collapse exhausted into our beds, but I really do believe we do have time.

We may need to change our priorities and our routines, but much can be accomplished if we sacrifice those unnecessary time-wasters in our lives. Each of us privately knows what we can do less of in order to spend more time with God and His word.

The bottom line is this. We must dedicate ourselves to drawing nearer to God, to build a stronger relationship with Him, and in order to become more like Him.

That's just the first key.

Second key.

Be humble and willing to obey God.

You can be doing the right thing studying His word and praying, but if you're not humble and willing to listen and do what He says, we're going to have problems becoming like Him. We must be willing to push aside our human pride that exalts self and instead give our hearts and minds willingly to God without any of our arguments or excuses.

Developing such a humble and teachable attitude is crucial and critical to us to become more like our Father.

Again, I know it's not easy. Why can't we just put our attitude down and just be humbly willing to do what we're told?

Well, sometimes what God would have us do doesn't make sense, for one thing. Not at first.

Even sometimes what God asks us to do doesn't seem to be all that important, not to us.

I want to illustrate that by having us look at an example from the Bible, back in Judges, regarding Gideon.

Remember Gideon?

Gideon back in Judges 7.

God had asked Gideon to do a number of things that I know probably didn't make a whole lot of sense to him or maybe seem important, but I can't help but admire his attitude. An example he sets for me and for all of us about having the humble attitude and willingness to obey.

So let's see. We're going to go back to Judges.

If I can find it. It's hard to miss, except in this new Bible. There you are. Okay, Judges 7. I'm not going to read the entire storyline to you. I'm going to summarize a lot of it and have us look at a few scriptures.

But if you remember the story of Gideon back in chapter 7 of Judges, this is a time in ancient Israel when the Israelites were facing a massive invasion by the Midianites and Amalekites.

And Gideon rallied the Israelites under God's direction, and a huge number of Israelites came to him. 32,000 in all. I'm summarizing the first part of this chapter. 32,000 Israelites came. But that was way too many to launch against this massive invasion, at least from God's point of view.

So Gideon instructed that those who were afraid that they should go home.

If you don't feel like doing this, go home. Take your stuff, pack up, and go home.

And so they did. And that left Gideon 10,000 men.

Doesn't sound too bad, but it's still too many men from God's point of view.

So Gideon did exactly as God commanded, and then sent home those who had put their mouths to the pool of water to drink, instead of lapping up the water with their hands. That's how they decided who should be let go.

Now let's read in Judges 7-8. We'll pick up the story there.

And then the Lord said, He left him 300 men after sending those down who didn't drink in a certain way. Verse 7, then the eternal said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who laughed, I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man, to his place.

So the people took provisions, and their trumpets, and their hands. It seems to refer to the 300. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man, to his tent, and retained those 300 men. So the original 32,000 men, Gideon and his assembly obeyed God, until now he was only 300 fighting men to face the enemy.

Now if that doesn't make sense or seem strange enough, God seems to have put into Gideon's mind to do something also quite unusual in the realm of human warfare. Note Judges 7.16.

Judges 7.16.

Then Gideon divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's hand with empty pitchers and torches inside the pitchers.

Now imagine a repelling an invasion, with only 300 men in each one armed, with a trumpet, not a brass trumpet. This probably would have been a ram's horn, like a shofar.

They only have a trumpet in one hand, and a torch inside a clay pot in the other, and they're marching out to see this massive invasion as the sands of the sea. That's how many people are out there, because they're going up to face.

It doesn't make sense to me.

Maybe it didn't make sense to Gideon and his men either, but what did they do? They trusted God, and they did as they were commanded. Verse 20 then, Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, and they held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands were blowing, and they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.

And every man stood in his place all around the camp, and the whole army ran, and cried out and fled.

Whew!

Everything God told Gideon to do seemed most odd and peculiar in preparation for war. Yet Gideon trusted God and willingly obeyed, and God in turn granted him and the Israelites total victory.

Now, most of us, I assume, have been in Gideon's shoes to a degree. I make you a little curious about that. How have we been in Gideon's shoes?

Well, most of us, I assume, have had personal experience in being humble and willing to obey God. Even when obeying God doesn't seem to make sense, and especially so if we didn't grow up in God's church.

Some of you were called into God's church. You didn't grow up as infants into the church so that everything we do seems normal. What we do seems normal to our children. They know nothing else. It wasn't that way for me and for a lot of you. Do you remember? Do you remember how strange God's laws seemed to be when you were first called? Do you remember when you started to keep God's weekly Sabbath, for example? I do. We had to give up doing our own thing on Friday night. No more shopping on Friday night.

No more partying. No more Friday night football games. And even those on Saturday we had to give up, too. That hurts if you're from Texas. Instead, we rested, did no labor for a whole day, and attended services that were two hours long. I know two hours long are not necessarily in the Scripture, but that's our tradition as a church. We did it! Absolutely! We did it! Absolutely incredible!

How unlike our neighbors! And yet, we did so willingly. Some of us even traveled more than an hour, maybe two hours, to do it. How unusual. And then we had to learn to observe more Sabbath days. Not just weekly Sabbath, but we got more. I remember thinking more. Well, those are God's Holy Days, right? The names of God's Holy Days were totally foreign, totally strange.

And what a challenge it was to explain to our employers and teachers why we would be absent on certain days, but not always the same day each year, right? And some of the reactions we got from our employers and teachers weren't always very pleasant. They're pretty snarky at times, if I can use that word. They weren't very nice. And consider the unusual things we had to do on those days, these Holy Days. What? Don't eat leavening? What's leavening? Never heard of it. Oh, what's that? A feast of atonement?

You called a feast, but we don't eat or drink anything for 24 hours? That was odd. And then we left jobs and school for eight days every fall to worship God and spend 10% of our income in that time period. That was odd, too. And let's not forget Passover. Passover, we take dish pans. Just being frank. We take dish pans. Fill them with water and then hand wash each other's feet. That was a shocker for me, kind of a little bit of gross factor for a while. Okay. It was strange at first. Now, of course, I can list many other strange things we do or choose not to do.

Well, let's admit it. When we first came to know God and His Word when He's revealing things to us, God's instructions did seem most strange and unusual. Only now, they don't. If you've stayed with God and you've grown in His grace and knowledge, again, we've had a realignment of the way we think.

This seems so much more logical and makes so much good sense. And I understand why we wash each other's feet. Jesus Christ did. And it's about an example of surrendering ourselves totally to God. So God's Spirit worked with us and is still working with us. But it took...it had to be coupled with their humble and willing desire to trust God, to do what He says. Perhaps we're all a bit like Gideon in that regard. It's a humble and willing attitude that will allow us to yield to God, to give us victory over our old carnal ways and our old habits, and to become more like our Father.

So God is most pleased when we willingly sacrifice our comfort and even risk our personal well-being to love and obey Him. Though it has to take a willing attitude. So with God's help, we can develop and keep that humble attitude in order to be more like our Father. And that brings us to key number three. Key number three, be doers of God's Word. Be doers of God's Word.

To be more like our Heavenly Father, we must be doers of His Word. We must actively practice and live according to His Word. This third key, perhaps, is the most challenging because it requires that we always strive to live contrary to our carnal nature and to obey our Father's law of love towards God and man. We must be doers of God's law. It's not enough that we pray to God and that we study His Word. It's not enough that we revere His Word and that we have humility and a willingness to obey Him.

It takes more than an attitude. Knowledge and understanding and the willingness to obey are not enough alone. It's not enough that we know who God is, what is God, and what is God's purpose. It's not enough to know that. We must act upon that knowledge with God's help and put that knowledge into action in our everyday lives. This brings us full circle back to where we started in this sermon with our need to follow Jesus Christ's example and to live a life of repentance to better do what God tells us to do.

Let's refresh our memories of some of these important Scriptures. John 15.10 Christ told His disciples, If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. Jesus kept His Father's commandments and so must we. We've got to follow Christ. We see Christ, we see the Father. Christ did not nail the Ten Commandments to the cross. He did not nail the Ten Commandments to the cross, forever negating humanity's need to obey them and to live by them.

He did not put them away at His death, as many in Christendom misunderstand. They sincerely misunderstand and wrongly believe. Let's also notice John 14, this back of page, perhaps, in your Bible. John 14. 15 Jesus also said, If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Drop down to verse 21. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves Me, and He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love Him and manifest Myself to Him. And also, verse 24, He who does not love Me does not keep My words, and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.

God's word is truth, and God's commandments must be obeyed. I'd also like for us to turn to James 1, and remind us of an analogy James uses as an admonition to us to be doers of God's word.

James 1, verse 22, it's a powerful warning. It's a powerful warning about neglecting this most important aspect in our lives. It's about doing what God tells us. In James 1, 22, James develops this analogy, this comparison between viewing our faces in a mirror with examining ourselves through the use of God's Holy Word. In James 1, verse 22, we read, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, God's word, and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does. So think about that. How many times each day do we look in a mirror and study our faces? You know, combing your hair, gentlemen when you're shaving, you know? The mirror reveals blemishes we have on our faces. Maybe a scar, maybe a few wrinkles, just a few.

Maybe even a pimple. The mirror reveals to us what we really look like. But what do you do once you take your eyes off the mirror? I typically forget what I was really looking at. I forget whatever my face looks like because I have something else in my head. Maybe another idea of what I think I look like. But in James, you're warned not to treat God's word the same way. When God's word reveals those sinful blemishes and pimples in our spiritual lives, I know that's gross, but it's a good way of remembering what I'm trying to say.

When we see spiritual blemishes or pimples in our lives after looking at God's word, we shouldn't ignore or forget what we just saw there. It wasn't pretty. We're not to ignore or forget what we find using God's word, but take action to repent and do what God's word tells us to do. The New Living Translation, translate James 1-22, it translates it this way, but don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says.

Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. I like that translation of that particular Scripture. Our admonition from God's word is to keep God's law. It's very clear. Romans 2.13. Romans 2.13.

For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified, be made right. Let's also read... Sorry, I should have had you hold your finger in the back. We're going to flip back to 1 John 4. 1 John 4.

In 1 John 4.21, And this commandment we have from him, That he who loves God must love his brother also, loving our neighbor. And then skip down to 1 John 5.2-3. 1 John 5.2-3. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. The commandments have always been there. The Ten Commandments. They are truth and they are eternal. You know, through the years I've heard of people who have memorized whole sections of the Bible. I've even heard it said there are one or two people out there who have actually memorized the entire Bible. Some people can quote Scripture after Scripture with ease. Some of you can do that. And some of you do it a whole lot better than me and it's a shame to me. But I'm working on it and we can all work on that. And there are scholars out there who have given their entire lives to analyzing even the jots and tittles of ancient biblical manuscripts. And some people grasp the intricacies of biblical prophecy. Others keep up with their daily Bible reading plan without ever missing a day. And others pray for hours a day to God and some so much their knees become red and raw because of prayer. And I say such achievements are truly commendable. Those are wonderful achievements. However, if these people or we are not living lives of repentance to sin and of obedience to God's commandments and even doing all these things but not obeying God's commandments, well, frankly, we are failing to be more like our Father. This is a principle we find in 1 Corinthians 13, 1-3. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 13, please. 1 Corinthians 13, 1-3. Paul writes here, The key point of key three is this. In order to be like God or Father, we must be doers of His word. When we find sin in our lives, we must ignore it or get comfy with it, but take action to repent of it. Knowing God's word, praying to our Father, having a humble and willing attitude are absolutely needful for our spiritual growth. However, we must act to obey God, do what we're told, strive to love God, to practice love, which is defined by His commandments. We must love others His way according to His commandments. If we truly believe that God's word is truth, then we will trust God and faithfully act to keep His commandments.

The title of my sermon is, Do You Want to Be Like Our Heavenly Father? If You Do, and I know you do, if you do, then are you willing to do what it takes to be like Him? It's in our hands. It's up to us. Are you willing to do the things we've considered today? If your answer is yes, let's do it. Just do it. Don't procrastinate anymore. Stop putting it off. Stop waiting for more time. Whatever it might be. Let's be visibly doing what we read in Ephesians 5-2. We read it already, but let me read it again to you in the New Living Translation. It went like this. Imitate God. Imitate God in everything you do. Because you are His dear children.

We want to be like Dad, and Dad wants us to be like Him. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.

Our Eternal Father wants His children to be just like Him. He will help us. We must continually choose to know our Father better. To maintain an attitude that is humble and willing to obey. And then, most importantly, to be a faithful doer of His law, of His commandments. As we persistently practice these three keys throughout our lives, we can't stop doing it. But as we practice these keys throughout our lives, God will be with us, helping us mature spiritually to become perfect even as He is perfect. So, brethren, my final admonition to us is, let's each continue to love and to encourage one another, as we all endeavor, to be just like our Heavenly Father.