The world is in quite a mess, but so are we. We are sinners, and the biggest world we have to conquer is the world of self—being sure that the desires of the flesh, the eyes, and the pride in possessions does not push out or deter the love of the Father from thriving (cf. 1 John 2:15–17). There are many pressures in life both personal and global. Nonetheless, one can attack an army like a god in Sparta and go headlong into perdition never knowing there are no such gods, but only one true One.

This is not to say that all there is to life is religion—because that is not the case. Religion is the foundation of what a person does, not all that he does. Besides this, religion is not the dirty word that millennials have made it. Religion in its pure sense means worship of God. True and undefiled religion acts in accordance with the love of God in the Scriptures and is a father to the fatherless, and a help to widows. Religion constructs a view of the world that considers men and women as image-bearers made to glorify God.

Therefore, a world without religion is a world without the Father’s help. No such world exists. God sent His only Son into the world to demonstrate His eternal love for His people. He has indwelt us by His Spirit and secured us for a full day of redemption. The love of the Father is now in us and is first expressed in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, following the Lord in baptism and membership in the local body of believers. Gathering on Sunday is a tremendous duty and privilege. It is foundational to everything we do.

In some places, people speak of the “devout” as those who practice their faith, but the truth is that there is no practice of faith without devotion to the basics. The Lord’s Day is one of those basics. It’s gathering to be in the Spirit, meaning to worship the Lord. Those who love the Father make it a practice to gather in spirit and in truth under his care and with his family.

This Sunday we will be looking at an attribute of God that is often overlooked and misunderstood. The attribute of God’s fatherhood or fatherliness. It is primary, basic, in practicing the Christian faith. If one doesn’t understand the attribute of God’s fatherhood, Christianity loses its lustre and one goes off into their own lusts. Nothing is more opposed than this doctrine of God as our Father. Feminists wish to oppose the idea of a masculine fatherly being who exists in the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The war on gender is really a war on God. And if the love of and the love for the Father can be taken from you it will leave you with no definition for what fatherhood really is. Far from legalism, Christians gather to worship because they have been freed from the other things that tie them to the world. They come walking home like prodigals each week, thinking perhaps that they have to earn the Father’s love again by being a servant. But the Father comes running, reminds you of the Lamb of God and clothes you afresh with grace so the party celebrates each week that you were dead, but now you are alive; you were lost, but now you are found. Let this Sunday be your homecoming. Amen.