Introduction: Al Serhal tells the following story. It has been said that "a child is not likely to find a father in God unless he finds something of God in his father." In a preschool class in our Sunday school children were asked to draw a picture of God. I intended to use them as an illustration for my Sunday sermon. Toward the end of class the children were excited to show me their work. They came up with rainbows and men with big hands. Finally, my daughter showed me her picture: a man with a suit and tie on. "I don't know what God looks like," she said, "so I just drew my daddy instead."  (Al Serhal, Oakford, Ind. "Lite Fare," Christian Reader. Leadership.)

That perhaps, is what all fathers want to hear from their children. Unfortunately, many children don’t have that experience.

ILL: Over 50% of children in America are being raised in homes without their fathers and the percentage is rising.

How did this happen? Why are so many of our children growing up without a full-time father?  Perhaps because our culture has accepted the idea that fathers aren’t necessary in the “modern” idea of family.  Ideas, of course, have consequences. And the consequences of this idea have been disastrous.
    •    Almost 75 % of American children living in fatherless households will experience poverty before the age of eleven, compared to only 20 % of those raised by          two parents.
    •    Children living in homes where fathers are absent are far more likely to be expelled from or drop out of school, develop emotional or behavioral problems,              commit suicide, and fall victim to child abuse or neglect.
    •    Men who grew up without dads currently represent 70 % of the prison population serving long-term sentences.
 
ILL: US News and World Report stated that : More than virtually any other factor, a biological father’s presence in the family will determine a child’s success and happiness. (U. S. News and World Report)

Is it any wonder many men and women spend their lives avoiding God because it’s a re-encounter with their own father who was either absent, abusive or indifferent?
You might be thinking ‘Today is Palm Sunday, not Father’s Day’ why is he preaching on fathers?’ Good question. Well I believe thoughts of the Father were central to that first Palm Sunday. Why? Because Jesus stated over and over again that
    •    he came to do the Fathers will,
    •    he does nothing unless he sees the Father doing it,
    •    he came to glorify the Father.

That’s what Palm Sunday really is about. Not just recognizing and glorifying Jesus but recognizing and glorifying God the Father…for Jesus. It was because of Jesus’ intimacy with and love for the Father that he came to give his life for our sins….so that we might be reunited with the Father, one with him as Jesus is one with the Father. But God the Father understood the impact our own relationship or lack of it, with our natural fathers would have on our relationship with our Heavenly Father. So he sent God the Son, Jesus to show us what the Father is like.

Transition: Open your Bibles to John 14:7. It’s here that we will learn that by seeing Jesus we will see the Father.

1. John 14:7          If you really knew me…
Read: John 14:7

‘Jesus, what do you mean? Of course we know you. We spent the last three years with you…we know you!’ That thought was on the mind of every disciple in that upper room.  

The Greek words ‘knew and know’ imply closeness, intimacy. Jesus was stating that because they were intimate with him, they too were intimate with the Father…only they didn’t recognize it yet.

Jesus rebuked them for not recognizing the Father in Jesus, but, he  reassures them when he says ‘and you have seen him.’ The disciples were floored by this statement. I bet they were thinking…
    •    ‘Hold on, God’s Word tells us no one can see God and live…we haven’t seen God. But, since Jesus claims to be the Messiah, the Son of God, perhaps in               some miraculous way he could let us see God the Father w/o having to die.

Transition: Jesus really has the disciples attention, especially Philip.

2. John 14:8          Show us the Father!
Read: John 14:8

Philip wanted what Moses wanted on Mt Sinai: to experience God though one of his senses. They wanted to see what God is like. I believe Philip expressed a universal desire to experience God in a tangible way.

If I can amplify what Philip asked it would go something like this.

•    ‘Jesus, I hear what you are saying, but we live in a cynical world where seeing is believing. If you would just show us the Father, give us a glimpse of Him, that will be enough. And in seeing the Father, we will be content in life…seeing God is enough for us.’

Sounds like the song we just sang.

  Philip asks Jesus for a miracle, a supernatural experience. Of God’s presence.  But Philip failed to recognize the supernatural experience of God’s presence with him every moment in Jesus…And so do many today.
    •    People want more of God, but fail to see that Jesus dwelling in them, is more than enough.

Transition: With a heart of compassion for Philip, Jesus gently rebukes him for his lack of insight, his lack of vision. And he explains not only to Philip and the disciples, but to all of us as well, that believing is seeing.

3. John 14:9-11     Don’t you know me, Philip?
Read: John 14:9-11

For Philip, seeing is believing…sound familiar? (Missouri is the Show Me state’ But Jesus is going to turn this upside down by implying that believing is seeing.

Follow me on this.

A. Even after I have been with you such a long time?
Have you ever heard Jesus tell you that?
    •    You’ve been a Christian for some time yet you still need the milk of the Word and are not ready for the meat.
    •    You should’ve been ready for service, but you have been otherwise occupied by the things of life.
    •    You grieve God’s absence in the dark times only for him to  remind you that he has never left…it was you who disappeared.

Have you ever heard Jesus say to you ‘All the years we’ve been together and you still don’t get it?’ It’s possible to waste valuable time when you fail to recognize the presence and power of Jesus in your life.
                   
B. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father
This is perhaps one of the most staggering claims Jesus has made to date. He’s saying that the Father is perfectly revealed in him.
    •    He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Col 1:15)
    •    For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity (God) lives in bodily form (Col 2:9)

To know Jesus is to know God. To place your faith in Jesus is to place your faith in God.
To be in relationship with Jesus is to be in relationship with the Father. BUT, to reject Jesus is to reject God.

C. I am in the Father and the Father is in me…twice
All that the Father is. I am. All that I am, the Father is. Remember Jesus’ words in John 10:30? ‘I and the Father are one.’ The disciples knew…
they just forgot that they knew. And Jesus gently reminds them…twice, as he so often does for us.

D. At least believe my words and work that come from the Father
    •    Jesus is the Truth and his words are true because they are the very words of God.
    •    What Jesus did, the miracles, only God could do.
    •    Jesus is asking all of us…Think for a moment, have I ever intervened in your life to protect you, to help you, to comfort you, to meet your needs?
    •    I certainly have given you enough evidence to know who I really am…just believe I am the Father are one.
    •    When you believe…you will see…am I right?

Transition: Do you believe? Do you see? If you said yes, Jesus says something rather hard to believe.

4. John 14:12-14     It’s all about the Father!
Read: John 14:12-14

Wow, these couple of verses are taken way out of content so often by those who promote the ‘health, wealth and prosperity gospel’. You know who I am talking about…many of the TV evangelists and pastors like Floyd Price, Crefalo C.Dollar and most of the people you see on Trinity Broadcast Network. They teach…

You can have what you say," "The reason you haven't been healed is that you don't have enough faith," "We can write our own ticket with God if we decide what we want, believe that it's ours, and confess it," "He wants you rich and healthy," "What is the desire of your heart? Name it , claim it by faith, and it is yours! Your heavenly Father has promised it. It's right there in the Bible."

And for them, John 14:12-14 is the mother load. Do you believe that 60% of American Christians follow this teaching. While I will never have the thousands who attend their churches, I have the peace that when I go to sleep at night, I have rightfully divided the Word of Truth. I have, as best as I can, explained God’s Word to you, as your pastor.

When I watch these supposedly men of God distort Scripture so badly it makes my blood pressure soar and my head almost explode.  So, because of it’s prevalence in Christianity and on religious TV, let me, as best I can, and as briefly as I can, explain to you what these verses actually say.

A. Greater works, not in sensation but in magnitude
Greater works not in degree but in scope. With Jesus in heaven making constant intercession for us, with the Holy Spirit indwelling each believer, God’s power in us in unlimited in it’s scope.

Think about it. Jesus actually saw very few come to faith during his days on the earth.
    •    Peter saw 3000 in one day at Pentecost.
    •    The Great Revival of the 1700’s saw perhaps millions come to faith on two continents.
    •    The ministry of Billy Graham has seen untold thousands be restored to God through faith in Jesus Christ

Jesus is not saying that we will raise the dead, feed 5000 with a kids lunchable. But because he is in heaven, and the Holy Spirit is in us, because of modern technology like the internet and podcasting, the extent or scope of our ministry can be greater than even Jesus’ was while he was on the earth.

Look at the jewelry and $800.00 suites. Read about their homes and cars. Many TV evangelists and preachers who teach a ‘health, wealth and prosperity gospel’ are attempting to bring glory to themselves, though faintly veiled by their references to Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. BUT, Jesus’ purpose and ours as well, in doing greater things, is to bring glory to the Father.

B. ‘In my name’ is not a magical formula
    •    Jesus is not a genie in a bottle we just need to rub the correct number of times to get our wishes.
    •    We are not magicians who work wonders by reciting the phrase ‘in Jesus name’ over and over again.

‘In Jesus name’ means in the will of Jesus, in the will of God…not our wishes, but God’s will.

Look, pray, seek God’s face, ask him for the desires of your heart, he wants you to do that. BUT,  pray in Jesus’ name, pray in accordance with the will of God. Pray, in all things, even my deepest desires, not my will but your will be done…on earth as it is in heaven.  And Jesus will answer you, why? Because it will bring glory to the Father.

C. So that the Son may bring glory to the Father
What are the first words to the Lord’s Prayer?
    •    Our Father, who art in heaven…hollowed be your name!

Jesus always brings honor and glory to the Father, whether directly through his words and works while here on earth, or through us when he answers our prayers…we, He gives honor to the Father.

Conclusion
That first Palm Sunday was not really about Jesus at all, it was about Jesus bringing glory to the Father. A triumphal passage in
    •    Lk 19:37 reads ‘the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles that had seen.

Jesus focused the disciples attention on the Father that night in the upper room…why? To bring him the honor and the glory. Why?
Because
    •    when all is said and done,
    •    when this life is over,
    •    there is a God,
    •    the very sight of whom will satisfy all our deepest desires and needs
    •    and will transform us,
    •    lift us up into the place of everlasting joy and peace.

Isn’t that great? Isn’t that worth waiting for? Well why wait? All of that is possible now in Jesus Christ, for he is the perfect revelation of the Father.

Let this Palm Sunday be the day Jesus glorifies the Father when you believe Jesus died for your sin to restore your relationship with God. Believe and you will see God the Father in Jesus the Son.

No matter what kind of father you had. No matter what kind of relationship you had with your father, remember this…
    •    the character of your Heavenly Father is perfectly revealed in Jesus the Son.
    •    Remember this and like that crown on Jesus triumphal entry, you too will give glory to God.