I Bow To The Father

Introduction

We want to welcome everybody here this morning as we’ve gathered, as you know, to worship God, to sing as we have praises to Him, to remember His sacrifice and suffering on that cross, and as we’re about to do, just to study a portion of His Word. And as we do that this morning, we want to do that connected to our family theme this year, and that family theme is family. And members of the congregation here, you know that we initiated this theme on the first Sunday of this year, that we are family. And there’s our family album, by the way. If you’re visiting with us, uh if you’re a member here, the task, and some of you told me you’ve already done that, you’ve kind of done that.

Where is Waldo or where am I in there? And if you’re a member of this congregation, your family photo is probably up there somewhere. And again, this is an encouragement, though, by the way. If that photo looks more like your high school yearbook photo than it does you today, then maybe it’s time uh for you to ask for an updated photo for our directory, and we’d appreciate that. But we are family, and that has meaning and that has significance to our relationship to one another, but as we said when we introduced this theme, that we’re going to be looking at different components of that aspect. And one component is that if we’re a family, that means that we have a father. We share the same father.

And we want to talk about that father this morning as our family praises God. We’ve done that today. If our heart has been where it ought to be, we’ve surely done that today. We have praised God. In the singing of that last song alone, we sang praises to our God who is our father. We share that father. Now, I hope this will be a pleasant exercise for you, and I have to apologize if it’s not, but I want you to think about your father, your earthly father. Whether you called him, if you were a British aristocrat, maybe you called him father, or like me, you just called him dad, or daddy, or pops, or whatever you called your dad. Think about your dad. I hope it’s again a good memory.

Many of us had good loving father. Some of us, I’m sorry to say, did not, but I was blessed with a good father. I showed you pictures that first Sunday as we introduced this theme from my family photo album. I don’t resemble my father physically in many ways. My dad was a short, skinny man.

I don’t know why you’re laughing at that.

We’re all big people. But I do resemble my father in a lot of other ways. I have, unfortunately for my wife Deedra, I have my dad’s sense of humor and the inclination to pull pranks and to joke with other people. I hope I’ve inherited some other attributes of my father, as I told you about my dad. He was, he’s been described by other people. And maybe that’s a more objective description as one person told me of my dad. He was the kindest man they ever met. And I would agree with that. Dad was a good helper. Dad was a handyman. He could do just about anything around the house. And he did that at the church building. He was the church’s handyman, everything at the building that needed fixed and worked on.

My dad was there to do it. Any of the neighbors, friends or family who needed something done, dad was there to pitch in and do that kind of work. Dad loved being in a crowd, but he that’s where we differ. He didn’t like being the center and the focus of that crowd. Dad was a quieter man than I am. He never led singing, uh, did any preaching or talking before the congregation. He was far too bashful uh to do that. But you never had to wonder where dad’s faith lied and where his convictions were and what type of man that he truly was. And so you can probably see ways in which you resemble your dad, your father, whether it be physical attributes, you may, unlike me, physically look like your father, or certainly, if not the case, there may be some attributes, some ways and things that you do that you can, as we often do, more and more see our parents in ourselves.

That’s the way that relationship ought to be. And that’s the way that relationship ought to be spiritually. If we truly are children of God, we talked about that a little bit in our Lord’s Supper talk this morning. If we truly are children of God, then that has a standard to it, an obligation to it. We will be like our Father. But this morning I want to talk about another aspect of us in our relationship to our Father, and that has to do with our attitude toward our Father, our posture, spiritual posture toward our Father, our worship to Him. Will you join me in Ephesians chapter 3? We’ll look at that as our text for this morning’s lesson. Ephesians chapter 3. We want to begin in verse 14.

1. For This Reason I Bow

You might put your finger or your bookmark there. We’re going to camp out in Ephesians. We’ll be looking at chapter 3, some in chapter 2 as we get toward the end of our lesson, as we talk about this family aspect of our Father, and how as children of our Father, we will bow to that Father. The Ephesian author, the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 3, verse 14, for this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing that jumps off the page as we study this text is that there’s a reason. In fact, we have reason to bow. The apostle says, for this reason. Now we’re going to examine those reasons that he lists here. But he says, this is why.

This is the why. I worship God. I bow. And let’s just talk a little bit about that aspect of bowing. Our culture doesn’t bow generally like some other cultures do. If you turn on the television and watch any kind of proceedings in England, they will bow before what was the queen and now the king. They’ll do a kind of a curtsy, a little bow. Oriental countries like that would have been in the first century, certainly still bow. It’s a sign of respect, a sign of humility and respect and even of apology sometimes, was the idea of bowing down before. But we need to understand this concept because he says, and he takes it a little bit further. He says, I bow my knees. So this isn’t just this simple little nod of the head or a simple little curtsy that might be given.

This is the idea of bowing to the knees. In fact, the word that is translated worship in our New Testament Bibles really speaks of the idea of not just falling to our knees, but falling prostrate on the ground, laying literally down, face down in the dirt before someone. That’s the idea of bowing or worship that we read about in Scripture. And many times descriptions of someone bowing will actually speak of that. But we recognize that this bowing, although it’s not prohibited, certainly, that we take that physical posture, hopefully we can understand that what the author here is talking about is not so much a physical posture that we assume in worship or in prayer, but this is a spiritual posture that we bow ourselves before God spiritually, mentally in our ascent to him.

But the apostle says here, again in verse 14 of Ephesians 3, for this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says there’s a reason that I bow. Now, is that reason stated before or after what he says here? And I guess the easy answer is yes, both. Look what he says before in verse 3, or verse 8, excuse me, of chapter 3. To me, Paul speaking of himself, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of gray of Christ, and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God and created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent now that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.

Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is for your glory. That’s the reason, one of the reasons Paul could say, I bow my knees before the Father. He speaks of the manifold wisdom, the powerful, wise plan of God that baffles the human mind. He also speaks of his, Paul would say, little old sinful me, and the grace that was given to me to have a part in that plan. For this reason, Paul could say, I bow. And though you and I are not an apostle, and I don’t think you and I could describe ourselves as the chiefest of sinners, but we can pray that same prayer, can’t we? For this reason, I bow. We can see, as the apostle saw, the manifold wisdom of God in that plan.

We study, and we’re studying in our Sunday evening classes together here once a month, the 17 Bible time periods, and we’re trying to see that timeline and how everything connects. And this is all one story. Over thousands of years and hundreds of characters and stories involved, it’s really just one continuous thread of this plan of God. Of how it is unfolded slowly, piece by piece, and person by person, and promise by promise, until finally it’s realized in the person of Jesus Christ and in his body, the church, and we, like the principalities and powers above, are marveling at the wisdom unfolded in the plan of God. And like the Apostle Paul, we can recognize that even little old me has a part to play in that plan.

It’s for that reason I bow my knees to the Father. I think what Paul is saying here is that’s just almost the natural response when I think of God’s plan and that he would include me, the least of all the apostles, the chiefest of sinners, that he would let me have a part in that. I just, all I can do is drop to my knees before God. For this reason. Now it may include what follows. Ephesians 3, verse 15. Speaking of that Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom, Ephesians 3, verse 15 says, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

2. Because of the Love Shown Through Jesus Christ

For this reason I bow, the apostle says, because of the love that’s been shown through Jesus Christ. He speaks of the love of God. The Bible speaks of the love and the power of God demonstrated in two powerful ways. Number one is through creation. What a powerful way to demonstrate power. We talk about somebody, and somebody may brag of their power and their self-importance when they say, I’m a boss at work, and when I say jump, they say, how high. They know that their words carry power, and people will respond instantly because of that. But think of the creative power of our Father. He spoke. And the universe responded. Planets moved and aligned themselves. Stars found their assigned places in the galaxy and the universe. The earth transformed and changed from being void and without form to having order and organization and light came out of that, and water and dried land came out of that.

And animals just appeared upon this planet and knew instinctively what they were supposed to do. And then the crowning act of God’s creation appeared on this planet. Man who was made in his own image. So we bow the knees to the Father because of his creative power, but we also see love in that creation. We bow our knees as he describes here because of his salvation power, seen through the person of Jesus Christ, who was the culmination of that plan. And so for this reason, I bow to the Father. I pray that that’s our response. That like the apostle, that that’s almost an involuntary response when we think of God, when we read the scriptures, when we meditate upon him and his power and his love, we don’t know anything better to do than to fall to our knees before him.

3. We Bow to Our Father

But we bow to him because he’s our Maker. We bow to him because he’s our King. We better bow to him because He’ll be our judge. But the apostle doesn’t use any of those appropriate titles when he says, I bow to the Father. That doesn’t speak of his power. That speaks of his love. And of the relationship, and don’t miss this point, the relationship that he wants to have with us. Our Father decided to give life to us. And when we strayed, he decided to adopt us.

And so we don’t just bow to a powerful creator. We don’t just bow in fear to an impending judge. We bow to our Father. He says there in verse 15 that we bow our knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Here’s our question. If this was a Bible class, I would raise this question. What family is he talking about here? Is he talking about the creative power? That God is the Father.

That everybody is his. He would say in Exodus chapter 19, when he was selecting Israel to be his special covenant people, in Exodus chapter 19 in verse 6, he would say, You are my special people, for all the world is mine. And so, in some sense, everybody is made in the image of God, and therefore everybody is a child of God. And so is he talking about the whole earth? God, I bow my knees to the Father because He created us all and made us all a family. And let’s just pause there and talk about that concept. That is a biblical concept. We are family with every other human being that exists. We’ve all been made in the image of God. And that has so many ramifications.

It has personal ramifications for me. If I’ve been made in the image of God, then that means something to me. But it also means something in my relationship to you if you also have been made in the family of God. Genesis chapter 9 in verse 6 points out that’s the reason I can’t take your life. You’re not just an animal. You’re not just another one of God’s creative works. You’ve been made in the image of God. Therefore, I am to cherish your life. Because, and I would argue, only because you’ve been made in the image of God. James tells us, in talking about taming the tongue, that we’re not to curse our fellow man who was made in the image or the likeness of God. And so I’m not to curse my fellow man because he’s been made in the image of God.

1 John 4, John would tell us that how can we say we love God whom we’ve not seen and yet hate our brother whom we have seen, who has been made, John would say, in the likeness of God. So I can’t hate because you’ve been made in the image of God. And so, yes, it’s true that the whole family of every human being is a part of God’s family in that grand universal sense. But maybe in this context of a book of Ephesians, where he emphasizes the church as the body of Christ, the church that demonstrates the manifold wisdom of God, it is most likely that what he has in mind here is a different family. Our theme for this year, our spiritual family, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

4. We Bow to a Loving Father

And so we bow to our Father. And the Apostle Paul wants us to know that not only do we have reason to bow, so much reason, that that should be almost our involuntary action when we think of God and our relationship to that Father, we fall to our knees. And not only do we bow to him not just as a king, a creator, and a judge, but we bow to our Father, but we bow to a loving Father. I began this lesson asking you to reminisce about your earthly father. And it may be that some of us did not have idyllic fathers.

Even worse, you may have had an abusive father. But when the scripture speaks of family, it speaks of it in the ideal sense, the way it should be, not the way it often is, but the way it should be. And when the Bible speaks of God as our Father, again, it’s speaking of it in the ideal sense. A Father who not just gives life, but gives love. And so we bow to a loving Father. Do we bow to him out of fear? Yes. Do we bow to him out of reverence? Yes. But do we also bow to him out of love? Absolutely we do. We are moved to this spiritual posture because of what he has done, is doing, and will do for us. Stay in Ephesians.

Look in Ephesians chapter one. Begin in verse 3. Ephesians 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And he goes on through verse 14 of that chapter to list some of those glorious spiritual blessings that our Father has given to us. Chapter 2, again, verse 1, he says, and you, he, who’s the he here? Our Father. He made you alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the other, but God, we would add, as Paul would later add, our Father, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace.

You’ve been saved, and has raised us up together and made us sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. That’s the Father we bow to.

5. The Father of the Prodigal Son

You remember that story of the Son who left his father and went away into a foreign country. And wasted, that’s what the word prodigal means, wasted that inheritance in riotous living, it says. And then when he finally, and that’s where Joshua’s reading started, when he came to himself, he said, servants in my father’s house have it better than me. I’ll go back to my father and beg for mercy. I want us to think about some parallels between that well-known parable in Luke chapter 15 of the prodigal son, and our text here of our Father who has saved us. Notice the similarities in this text. This text in Ephesians chapter 2 says, While we were dead in our trespasses and sins, he loved us. Remember what the Father would say of that son who wandered away when he was talking to that elder brother?

In our text in Ephesians 2, it says, Our Father loved us when we were dead. In our trespasses and sins. In this life in which we once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh, does that not describe the life that that prodigal son lived after he left the father?

Doesn’t that describe the father in the story of the prodigal son who was wealthy not just financially and with this world’s goods, but who was rich in mercy and who showed the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us. And what does it say that in this text, Ephesians chapter 2, that our Father has done for us, though we were dead in our trespasses and sins, it says he has lifted us up. Isn’t that what the Father did in Luke 15? Kill the fatted calf. Bring the ring and the robe. He elevated that son. Remember the son’s request, just make me a servant. But the father elevated him back to the status of a son. But there’s more components to this. Look at continue our reading in Ephesians 2, verse 11.

It says, Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at the time you were without Christ, being aliens and from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in this world. But now in Christ, you who were once afar off have been made near by the blood of Christ. That son, that prodigal son, was afar off. But now he’s been brought near and made a family and reconciled back into that family, as Paul would say in the book of Ephesians, that those who were afar off have been brought to a family to those who were near. The far off describes the prodigal son.

Those who were near is that elder brother who stayed at home. And he’s brought them back together. And that’s what that father did. Make no mistake about it. The story in Luke chapter 15 is not a story about a son who runs away from home. The story in Luke 15 is about a father who loves a son who’s run away from home. And loves an arrogant son who stayed at home but did not appreciate the blessings of home. The story is about the Father being rich in mercy toward us. Whether we’re afar off, like the son who left, or whether we’re near, like the arrogant son who stayed. God’s plan, the Father’s plan, was to reconcile us together in Christ Jesus. When I realize that, when I realize that God loves me that much, what am I to do?

Conclusion

I bow out of fear, out of reverence, and out of love. Are you bowing to the Father this morning? Would you, like that prodigal son, recognize your plight in sin and say, I’ll go to my father. Would you render obedience to that father? He’s waiting to welcome you home today. A celebration is in those three stories in Luke 15 will take place in heaven if you’ll come to Him and render obedience and bow your knees to that Father this morning. Can we help you in that spiritual posture? Can we help you as you come and give your life to Christ? Would you do that right now as together we stand and as we sing?

I have decide to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus.