(Basics) 43. Finding Security in God as a Father — Zac Poonen

Insecurity and the Need for a Father

And today we want to think of the reason why so many people feel insecure and the problems that come from that and the solution for that. When Jesus was leaving the world on the night before he was crucified, he told his disciples in John 14 and verse 18, I will not leave you as orphans.

The Insecurity of Those Who Grow Up Without Parental Love

I will come to you. That is in the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. What is an orphan? An orphan is one who has no father or mother. And there is a lot of difference between a child who has grown up in a home, experiencing the love of a father and mother, and a child who has had no father and mother, or that means the father and mother died when the child was small, so the child had to be brought up by stepmother or stepfather or uncle or auntie or grandparents, or sometimes in an orphanage.

Orphans tend to be insecure because they have not experienced love in their childhood. The love that only a father and mother could give. No uncle or auntie or grandmother or orphanage can ever give it.

And when there is this type of insecurity because of a lack of love, orphans tend to be very defensive. They tend to feel that people are against them, they must defend themselves. And introverted, depressed, discouraged, jealous of others who have more than them, they become very possessive in friendships because of insecurity.

They want somebody to love only them and nobody else. And we shouldn't judge orphans who are like this. They can be like that even when they are 40 or 50 years old. Because way back in childhood they never experienced the love of a father or mother.

Those of us who have parents sometimes don't appreciate the value of having parents. That's unfortunate. Some of you, children, you probably don't appreciate the value of your parents sufficiently. You need to thank God for your father and mother.

Because there are many children in the world who do not have a father and mother. Now I want to apply this spiritually. What did Jesus mean when he said, I will not leave you orphans? Spiritually speaking, we can say the world is full of orphans.

The World’s Spiritual Orphans and Their Insecurity

Because they don't have a father. They don't have God as a father. They don't know God as a father or mother. And so, all the characteristics that you find in ordinary physical orphans, you find in these spiritual orphans.

The world is full of people who are insecure. Who feel that others are against them. So they fight and they defend themselves. They are very possessive. It's like that. Because they are spiritually orphans.

They love money because they are insecure. They have no heavenly father. They are anxious. They are worried. Jesus sought so much during his earthly ministry to impress upon his disciples the fact that God was a loving father.

Jesus Reveals God as a Loving Father

He taught them to pray, our father. No person in the Old Testament could ever pray like that. But he said, when you pray, say our father. And after his resurrection he said, my father is your father. There is a beautiful verse in John 1 verse 18 which says, No one has seen God at any time.

But Jesus came and explained him to us. In other words, Jesus by his life and his teaching has explained to us what God is like. You know, the world is full of people who have never seen God. None of us have seen God.

That's what it says in that verse. And when we have not seen God, it's like a man who has never seen an elephant. You know, if you have never seen an elephant or never seen a photograph of an elephant, supposing you were to go to some country, say some western country where there is some child who has maybe seen pictures of lions and tigers but never seen a picture of an elephant.

And never seen an elephant, never seen a picture of one. And supposing you ask that child to draw a picture of an elephant. You say, what do you think an elephant will look like? Do you think any child in the world will ever think of drawing a long nose, which we call a trunk?

No. Because there is no other animal that has it. They will draw something that looks like a lion or a dog or like most animals with four legs. Nobody will be able to draw an elephant who has not seen one or a picture of one.

Because how can you imagine? And if it's some created animal like this we cannot draw a correct picture of, can you draw a correct picture of God? No. Your picture will definitely be wrong. And so we have so many people who have given their own opinions about God and what is the result?

Human Conceptions of God and the Spread of False Religion

Today we have so many religions. Each with their own ideas about what God is like. It's like 200 people who have never seen an elephant or a picture of one trying to draw an elephant. Who is right? Every one of them is wrong.

But the man who has seen an elephant, he will be able to draw a correct one. And so when Jesus came from heaven, he was the only person who could tell us what God is like. See, most people's idea of God is the one who is a very strict person like a policeman who is out to catch you for some small mistake you did.

You know like these traffic police wait around blind corners to see if you have cut the circle or made some traffic, you know, violated some traffic rule. They think God is like that. Just waiting, hiding in the corner and to pounce on you as soon as you make some mistake.

So most people live in fear, in a wrong type of fear of God. They are afraid God will punish them or harm them. And so every religion, there are preachers and teachers and priests who capitalize on this fear that people have.

The Deception of Buying God’s Favor

And they say now you got to please this God in some way or the other, otherwise he will punish you. And almost every religion, including the Christian religion, priests and preachers say the way to please God is by giving him money.

And so people give money. They go on long pilgrimages here and there and give hundreds of thousands of rupees. And lot of this money goes into the pockets of these priests and preachers and pastors and all that.

It's all capitalizing on the weakness of orphan-like people and knowing that they have some type of guilt feeling and fear and making them give their money. It's a great deception. Jesus came to remove this concept of God from people altogether.

He said God is a loving father. God is interested in you, not in your money. He is interested in helping you. Which father is always trying to get money out of his small children? A father is always trying to help his children, feed them, clothe them, educate them, spend so much money on them and get nothing in return.

God’s Care for the Birds of the Air

Jesus revealed God as a father. And when you feel that God is like a managing director living up there in the top floor of some factory whom you never see, well, you got a wrong concept of God and you are an orphan.

And the result is, there is a lot of insecurity, anxiety, fear, tension in your life which you need not have. Jesus said look at the birds of the air. Who feeds them? They don't have a barn, they don't have a storehouse and yet how many dead birds do you see on the road?

You hardly can find one dead bird on the road. It is very rarely that you find a dead bird on the road. How is that? How is it they don't all starve to death? Are there lots of people throwing seed for the birds every day?

How many times have you done it? No. They find it. Somehow or the other your heavenly father feeds them and they are not worried. And Jesus said, don't you think you are of more value than many sparrows?

Sparrows are among the cheapest of all the birds. There is a little poem of two little birds that were sitting on a tree and talking to one another. And one bird was asking the other bird, why do you think these human beings are so anxious and worried?

They always seem to be so tense in their life. And the other bird said, I think the reason is they don't have a heavenly father like we have. That's the reason. We are okay because our heavenly father provides us something.

Security in God Frees Believers from Fear of People

What do you think, my friend, when you hear those two birds talking? Isn't that a shame when Christians are anxious and worried? You know, when we are anxious and worried, it makes us irritable, it makes us tense and it makes us hit back at people who we think, we suspect they are hitting at us.

The person who is secure in God is never disturbed by whatever people say. Supposing you are walking down the road and a dog keeps on barking, barking, barking, barking from, say, inside a locked gate or even barking from the other side of the road.

What are you going to do? Are you going to argue with that dog? Are you going to go fighting with the dog and say, why do you bark at me? It is as foolish when you go and start arguing with somebody who is accusing you or calling you names or telling false stories about you.

What should you do? What do you do when you see a barking dog on the other side of the road? Just leave him alone. But if you are insecure and you are like an orphan, you won't be able to do that. You will be tense.

You will be worried. And you will just go and fight with that dog. And that's how many people fight and argue with people who are calling them bad names. Somebody writes a bad letter to them. They write one back to them.

Jesus’ Example When Accused by Others

This is all the result of insecurity. But how is it with Jesus? When people call Him the Prince of Devils. He just left them alone. They accused Him. They said all types of stories about Him. He just left them alone.

It did not bother Him one bit. So, the most important thing for us is to know God as a Father. He is not a policeman. He loves you. He cares for you. He knows every detail of your life. And if you have opened your heart to let Jesus Christ come into your heart, God has become your Father.

Receiving Assurance as a Child of God

That choice is yours. Now, if you are not sure of that, you can do that right now. You know, just open your heart and say, Lord Jesus, I want you to come into my heart. I want to be sure that I am a child of God.

Ask Him to give you that assurance. He will send His Holy Spirit into your heart to assure you God is your Father. If you are a Christian already, ask God to give you that assurance. He is your Father who will care for you.

It will make all the difference in your life.