The children begged for a hamster, and after the usual fervent vows that they alone would care for it, they got one. They named it Danny. Two months later, when Mom found herself responsible for cleaning and feeding the creature, she located a prospective new home for it. The children took the news of Danny's imminent departure quite well, though one of them remarked, "He's been around here a long time--we'll miss him."

"Yes," Mom replied, "But he's too much work for one person, and since I'm that one person, I say he goes."

Another child offered, "Well, maybe if he wouldn't eat so much and wouldn't be so messy, we could keep him."

But Mom was firm. "It's time to take Danny to his new home now," she insisted. "Go and get his cage."

With one voice and in tearful outrage the children shouted, "Danny? We thought you said Daddy!"

That’s a funny story, isn’t it? 

What’s not funny, though, is the reality of what really happens when you get rid of Dad:

1)    43% of US children live without their father
2)    90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.
3)    71% of pregnant teenagers lack a father.
4)    85% of children who exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes.
5)    90% of adolescent repeat arsonists live without their father.
6)    71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.
7)    75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes.
8)    70% of juveniles in state operated institutions have no father.
9)    85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.
10)    Fatherless boys and girls are: twice as likely to drop out of high school; twice as likely to end up in jail; four times more likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems.

What happens when you get rid of Dad?  Women, children… and all of society suffer immensely.

Yes, we have a big problem when it comes to deadbeat dads.  There are too many dads who refuse to live up to their responsibility as Fathers!  But we have another problem.  A bigger problem, which I would suggest is the ultimate cause of deadbeat dad’s in the first place:

We suffer from rejecting the greatest Dad of all.  What does the Bible have to say about our heavenly Father?  Who is He?  And how should we respond to Him?

Please turn with me to our text for this morning: John 5:16-24.  First, though, we need to understand the context.  In verses 1-15, we see Jesus going to Jerusalem for a Jewish feast.  Jesus heals a man who has been paralyzed for 38 years, and he tells the man “Get up.  Pick up your mat, and walk.”  The man promptly does so, but he is soon confronted by the Jews and told that he cannot carry his mat because he cannot work on the Sabbath.  No doubt, this leads to a confrontation with Jesus.

What is fascinating about this confrontation with the Jews is that Jesus has one main goal: to get the Jews to understand and respond to the character of the Father.  And as we read this passage, we can be sure that God has the very same desire for us: that we would understand and respond to the character of the Father.

Who is the Heavenly Father?  As we look at this passage, we’ll see who the Father is, and we’ll see three ways that we need to respond.

The first thing that we see is that God is loving.  And the proper response?  We need to:  Depend on his love

We read in verse 16:  So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.

Question: why did Jesus continuously disobey the Sabbath law?  If he was trying to communicate to the Jews that he was the Messiah, why in the world would he keep trampling on this one sacred day?

It is important that we understand the difference between God’s law and human law.  God had said, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”  But the Jews had come up with hundreds of rules to explain what that meant.  God never said, “thou shalt not pick up a mat on the Sabbath.”  And God never said, “thou shalt not heal people on the Sabbath.”  God just said, “Keep the Sabbath Holy.”

But still, why couldn’t Jesus – for the sake of improving his relationship with the Jews – why couldn’t he just heal on some other day?  Why did he have to tell the man “pick up your mat and walk.”  He is healed!  He doesn’t need his mat anymore!  It seems that Jesus purposefully tries to rile the Jews up on this Sabbath issue!  Why?

The answer is really quite simple: Jesus wanted them to understand that the law (including the Sabbath law) was LOVING.  The law is a gift from God.  God’s rules are GOOD.  God’s rules give LIFE.  God wanting us to obey Him is not for His sake – it is for OUR sake.  God loves us.

Anyone have a blender at home?  Janelle and I have a blender; we use it just about every day to make home-made frappaccinos and smoothies.  Well, the other day I was bored, and I thought I’d do some leisurely reading for pleasure; so I picked up my handy Blender Manual.  When’s the last time you read your blender manual?

Well, I am glad I read it!  I found some life-saving instructions in there!  There is an entire section a few pages long called “Important Safeguards.”

Listen to a few of these rules: 

“Keep hands out of jar while blending.”

And a little lower on the list is this:

“When blender is on, do not touch blade.”

Question: why do you think they give you an instruction manual with such warnings?

The blender CEOs don’t sit around at a table saying, “Let’s give them a bunch of rules so they can’t enjoy their blenders!”

God isn’t sitting up on a cloud, peering down at us as he says to his angels: “Let’s just keep them from having fun!  Give them a bunch of rules!"

Unfortunately, the Jews didn’t get it.  They persecuted Jesus for loving people on God’s holy day.  Jesus wanted them to understand, and he wants us to understand – the Father loves us.  He wants what is best for us.  He wants us to have Life, and Life to the full.  We can be confident that God has a wonderful plan for our lives!

In the Bible we’ll find a bunch of “important safeguards” so that we can have true life.  We can obey God with confidence that he has our highest happiness in view!  Depend on His love!

The next thing we notice in this passage about God’s character is that he works on our behalf.  Consider verse 17:  Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."

The Jews were upset at Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath; so Jesus responds by saying that the Father is always at work.  What is the Father working on?  On serving people!  What a great God we have!  Our God is at work for our good!

So what did Jesus want the Jews to do about it?  No doubt he wanted them… and he wants us to:  Accept his service

Elsewhere we read from Jesus:  “I have come not to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”

Any of you ever gone to see a doctor?

What would you say of a man who went to a doctor with a painful infection.  The doctor prescribes an antibiotic that will surely heal the man. 

What does the man do?  Does he take the prescription and thank the doctor for serving him?  Or does he go home and lament, oh my pride, how can I let the doctor tell me what to do!

Which of his responses would please the doctor?

What happens if he dies two weeks later from the infection?  What would the talk of town be, “Wow, who was that man’s doctor?  He died from a simple infection?  I’ll never go to that doctor!  What’s his name?

Which response honors the doctor?  Which response shows the doctor to be great?

Isn’t it the same with our Father in heaven!

Our Father is glorified when we let him serve us.  Our Father is honored when we willingly accept his cure.  He is glorified when we let him satisfy our needs.  He is seen to be the great and wonderful Father that He is when we accept his service.

And what is the greatest service that He has done for us?  Surely it is this: that our Heavenly Father gave his one and only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for us.  If there is any service that we need to accept from our Father, is it not the service of His death on the cross on our behalf?

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”

And that is exactly what Jesus is getting at here in this passage.  He wants the Jews to understand that the Father loves them and serves them.  And Jesus wants them to understand that the greatest act of service from the Father is the giving of His son.

Our Father is a father who serves us; and he has served us by sending His son.  So how are we supposed to respond to such an act of service by the God of the universe?

Here it is:  Devote Yourself

The obvious question is this: devote myself to what?  Or to whom?

The answer is in 18 and the following verses.  We read:  For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus is making himself equal with God.  Devote yourself to Jesus!

And how do we do that?

There is a story of a beggar in India.  As usual, he was stationed on the side of the dirt road in the center area of town, patiently holding his cup.  He had collected about a fourth of a cup of rice by midday.  Suddenly, there was a growing commotion around him.  “The Prince is coming!  The Prince is coming!” exclaimed the beggars around him.  He sat up straighter and held out his cup with anticipation.  It wasn’t every day that the Prince came to town!  His heart began beating harder and harder as the Prince’s chariot approached.  When it was in front of him… it stopped!  And the Prince got out of his chariot and approached the beggar!  The beggar looked up at him with hungry eyes, and the Prince said to him, “Greetings, could I please have some rice?”

The beggar was astonished!  Here is the Prince, who has more wealth than he knows what to do with, and he is asking a poor beggar for rice? 

But not wanting to deny the request of the Prince, the beggar carefully counted out five grains of rice and placed them in the Prince’s hand.  At once, the Prince thanked him and mounted his chariot, and off he was.

As the Prince rode off, one of the Prince’s servants approached the beggar:

“Are you the one who gave my master five grains of rice?” he asked.  “Here, my master has ordered me to give you these.” And he counted out five gold coins and placed them in the beggar’s hand.

No sooner had the servant turned around than the beggar began to run after the chariot yelling, “You can have ALL my rice!”

What does it mean to be devoted to Jesus?

Being devoted to Jesus means giving Him everything… willingly, joyously.  Why?  Because we are convinced that “he rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”  Because we believe him when he says that He loves us.  Because we believe him when he says he has served us by giving his very own life for us.  Because we are convinced that there is no true Life outside of Jesus.

Consider verse 24; Jesus says:  "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."

Have you crossed over from death to life?

If you have never given your life to Jesus, give it to him now.  Don’t waste any more of your time; according to this verse, if you haven’t received Jesus, you are currently living in a state of death.

Are you happy?  Is life meaningful?  Don’t you realize that without Jesus you will never experience life?  Receive him now and you will cross over from death to life!  Give yourself to him now and you will enter into true life, and you will never, never die!

Maybe you have received Jesus in the past, but you would not describe your life right now as one of “Abundant Life.”

There is only one thing that you need to do: give your life once again to Jesus!  Devote yourself to him.  Say to him right now, “Jesus, you are the one with Life.  You are the only one who can give me true life.  I want it!  Right now I give my life again to you.  I will obey you.  I will live for you.  I will seek you.  I want life!  Forgive me for wandering, take me back and take control of my life; I give it to you."

It is Father’s Day.  I am a Father.  What do you think I want most from my children today?  Do I want a new TV?  A new car?  Well, to be honest, those would be nice.  But want I want most is whatever is good for my children.

The best Father’s Day present for me today would be to have Josiah and Olivia give me hug and tell me that they know that I love them.  The best gift from them would simply be the words, “I know you love me, Dad.”

I think our Heavenly Father is no different.  He just wants us to come to Him and say the same thing: “I know you love me, Dad.”

Do you know that your Father in heaven loves you?  Let’s tell him this morning that we are satisfied with his love.  And let’s not just say it with words; let’s live it.

Let us pray.