The Father Who Validates

Our understanding of a father deeply shapes our identity and faith. In this series, we’ll explore how earthly fathers have impacted us, find healing for the places we’ve been hurt, and encounter God as the perfect Father who fully loves, restores, and defines who we are—so that His love overflows into the lives of others.

Transcript

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Thank you for listening to an audio resource from Stanwich Church, located in Greenwich in Stanford, Connecticut. The vision of Stanwich Church is to know Christ and make him known.

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The Old Testament lesson for today is from Zephaniah chapter 3, verses 14 through 17. This can be found on page 937 of your Pew Bible. Today's reading portrays a father who delights in us, fostering joy and security, and prompting us to speak encouragement and affirmation over others. A reading from Zephaniah chapter 3, beginning with the 14th verse. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not, O Zion. Let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love.

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When I first came to Sandwich in 2018, I was a novice preacher. The thought of stepping into this pulpit intimidated me. And I dreaded every time I had to preach because of the immense weight of proclaiming God's word. It felt like such a sacred responsibility, and I constantly wrestled with thoughts of inadequacy and unworthiness. I didn't think that I knew enough to rightly handle God's word and then faithfully communicate it to other people. In those early days, it would take me almost an entire month to prepare a sermon. For those of you preachers, you know what I'm talking about. I would constantly wrestle with the texts. I would be spending countless hours in prayer. I'd be going back and forth with my thoughts, continually asking God, what do you want to say to your people? The process was such an ordeal that it was marked more by anxiety than joy. I didn't really look forward to preaching because I carried it as a very heavy burden. And then one day, completely out of the blue, I received an email from Pastor Chuck. Now, when I first came to Sandwich, Pastor Chuck was transitioning to itinerant ministry. So I didn't really get a chance to get to know him at a personal level. At that point, he and Ingrid were already gone ministering overseas. But on May 6, 2019, I received this email from Chuck. Hey Gina, we are ministering in New Zealand, Australia, and Papua these weeks. I'm a sound sleeper and rarely remember a dream. When one comes to me so vividly and especially out of the blue from my context, I pay attention. I woke early this morning with a clear image of you preaching to hundreds of people. I was so proud of you as I heard people talking about how powerful the word was. You then, as a child, came and sat on the father's lap, looking out with your head down. It was more a sense of relief than celebration of what God had just done through you. I think there might be a theological healing piece that is key for you to move fully into your vocational calling. Though I am not fully your spiritual father, you need to trust the words that are being spoken over you by the Father above through earthly spiritual fathers. You are called to preach. You need to celebrate this divine affirmation and not minimize it. And the words of someone who's real close to me, bless the Lord. Now I was stunned. There was absolutely no way that Chuck would have known the inner battle that I was struggling with every time I stepped into the pulpit. And yet God used him from thousands of miles away to speak the Father's affirmation over me at the exactly the right moment. That email marked the beginning of a healing journey that helped me to overcome my insecurity and doubts and fully embrace God's call on my life. And the truth is, if we're really being honest, every one of us here has an inner battle like the one I'm describing. Now, it may not be preaching for you, it may show up in your workplace, your marriage, your parenting, your singleness, or your ministry. You may battle with thoughts like, am I enough? Am I really accepted? Am I loved? When those questions go unanswered, insecurity, fear, doubt, and striving can begin to shape our lives instead of the Father's voice. We spend our time trying to earn what God has already freely given us in Christ. And that's why the Father's affirmation is so life-changing. It doesn't just make us feel better about ourselves, it actually sets us free to become who He has already declared us to be. So this morning we're going to close out our Father's Heart sermon series by looking at this invitation found in Zephaniah 3.17. It's an invitation to receive the confidence, security, and affirmation that only our heavenly Father can give, the very thing that we need to overcome those negative voices. But before we dive into this powerful verse, let me give you guys a little bit of context of what's happening. Zephaniah was a prophet who ministered during a very difficult season in Judah's history. Although God's people had in our covenant relationship with him, they had drifted far away from him. They had forgotten who they were. And instead of trusting in God as their king, they looked to the surrounding nations and their idols for security and significance. Their lives became marked by compromise, injustice, and spiritual apathy. And because of their rebellion, God warned that judgment was coming. A warning that was ultimately fulfilled when the Babylonians came and conquered Judah and carried the people off into exile. But thankfully, judgment was never God's final word. Toward the end of Zephaniah's prophecy, God gives his people a promise of hope, restoration, and renewal. He would purify them, restore them to himself, and once again delight in them as his people. Now, for the sake of time, we're just going to focus on this one verse this morning in Zephaniah 3.17 because it's loaded with spiritual truths about who God is and how he sees us. So let's read together what it says in Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 17. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. That phrase, mighty one, comes from the Hebrew word gebor, which literally means mighty warrior. Add that to your list of names of God the next time you are in a battle. This is a powerful picture of who God is because he's not a distant father who simply watches us from afar. No, he's a father who enters into our battle. He is a mighty warrior who is greater than our circumstances, stronger than the enemy of our souls, and he fights for us. Now, for the people of Judah, this was a reminder that their hope was not ultimately found in their own strength, their alliances, or their ability to fix their own problems. Their hope was found in the mighty God who was with them, who alone had the power to save them. And the same is true for us today. You know, so often we live as though everything depends on us. We carry the weight of proving ourselves, protecting ourselves, and fighting battles that God never intended us to fight alone. We forget that our Father is not asking us to figure it all out and secure victory in our own strength. No, through the finished work of the cross, he has already moved towards us. He is in our midst. He is El Gibor, the mighty God who saves us. Now the verse continues on and it reveals these three beautiful expressions of the Father's heart towards his people. It says that he rejoices over us with gladness. He quiets us by his love. And he exalts over us with loud singing. Now, this might seem surprising to some of us because we might expect God's response towards rebellious and broken people to be one of disappointment, frustration, or anger. But instead, we see a father who rejoices, a father who delights, a father whose heart is moved with compassion and affection towards his children. This is not a picture of a reluctant father who's just tolerating his children. No, this is a father who genuinely delights in them. And this is where many of us need healing. We can believe that God loves us in our heads, but we struggle to believe that he actually enjoys us. We can believe that he saved us from our sins, but struggle to believe that he rejoices over us. Can you imagine God the Father looking at you right now with immense joy? Not because of what you've done or what you haven't done, but simply because you belong to him. You see, when we begin to experience that kind of love, there's no longer pressure, but there's peace. It says that he will quiet us by his love. And the image here is of God calming our anxious hearts. The Father's voice silences the voices that accuse us, the fears that overwhelm us, and the lies that tell us that we are not enough. Have you ever seen a baby just crying hysterically? And as soon as the child is picked up and rocked back and forth, they find comfort in the loving arms of the one who cares for them. The same is true with us and God. His presence can comfort us even in our greatest distress, as he reminds us that we are safe and secure and loved by him. But God's love is not merely just quiet and comforting, he silences our fears, but he also sings songs of delight. Because it continues in verse 17 and says, He exalts over us with loud singing. That word exalt in Hebrew refers to a physical, overwhelming expression of joy, like leaping for joy or spinning around with joy. When was the last time you spun around with joy? Can you imagine that the Father is leaping for joy over you right now? Well, that's exactly what this verse is saying here. When we begin to grasp that our Heavenly Father delights in us, everything begins to change. We're no longer striving to earn his love. Instead, we learn to live from the security of it. Our confidence is no longer rooted in our performance, our accomplishments, or how well we think we measure up. But instead, it's anchored in the unshakable truth that we are already loved, already accepted, and already delighted in by our Heavenly Father. So going back to my story from earlier, you might be wondering, how did I ever get over my anxiety about preaching? Because I'm still preaching today, right now, right? Praise God. Well, the turning point came for me one Sunday morning when I was scheduled to preach. Now, Mark Curtis was our elder chair at the time. And for those of you that know Mark, he's always happy, always smiling, full of joy. And he was serving as our elder chair, and he was in the prayer room praying with our pastors before the service to get ready. And as I walked into the room, they were in the middle of a conversation where they were talking about his son Sam, because Sam had just shared his testimony at church the week before. So as they were talking about Sam's testimony, you could see Mark's face just lighting up with delight. You could see the joy and the pride that he had over his son. And it was right at that moment, time just stood still. And I sensed the Lord saying to my heart, Do you see how his face is beaming with delight as he talks about his son? That's the joy I feel towards you whenever you preach. God showed me a picture of Mark's face, his joyful, exuberant face, to show me a picture of the father's heart towards me. So that morning when I stepped into the pulpit, I began to imagine Abba's father just beaming with delight simply because I was his daughter. And something shifted. Knowing that my preaching brought him joy, it brought me joy. And I no longer felt this pressure to perform. I was free. Because I already had the approval of my father. And that was enough. I wonder if there are some of us in this room this morning that need to be reminded of this truth. Some of you may have never experienced the father's delight over you. For some, your experiences with earthly fathers may have been marked by absence, criticism, indifference, or even abuse. Instead of hearing words like, I love you. I'm so proud of you. You have what it takes. Maybe you received words that deeply wounded you. For others, maybe you received the Father's love and affirmation. But you still struggle to receive God's love over you because of lies that you believed about yourself. Lies that were planted by the enemy of your soul. Instead of being shaped by the voice of your heavenly father, who says, You are mine. You are chosen. You are accepted. You are love. So wherever you are on this journey of knowing God as Father, I want to end by giving us space to actually behold his loving gaze towards us because that's what changes us. And before we enter into this time of reflection, I want to let you know that if the Holy Spirit starts to move in your heart and you want to go deeper in experiencing the Father's love, we're going to have an opportunity to do that together this coming Saturday morning and Emmaus Hall in our Encounter the Father's Heart gathering. So I do invite you to come to that. But right now, I want to invite all of us to just simply receive what the Father has in store for us today. I'm going to pray for us and then Katie's going to play some reflective music. And as she does, I invite you to just quiet your heart and meditate on the Father's heart towards you. Now, for some of you, you may actually picture in your mind's eye God the Father looking at you. And for others, a familiar face might come to mind. It could be your earthly father, a friend, or a mentor who has reflected the Father's love for you. However, the Lord meets you in this moment, just simply receive it. Fix your gaze upon his face and just imagine him smiling over you. What is he saying over you today? What song might he be singing? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you now with open hearts. We thank you that you are not a distant God. But you are a Father who draws near to us. You are a mighty God who rejoices over us with gladness and delights over us with singing. Holy Spirit, help us receive this truth right now, not just in our minds, but deep within our hearts. Heal the places where we have struggled to believe that we are loved, accepted, and valued by you. Lead us now as we behold your face. In Jesus' name.

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Amen.

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