# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1902_S38 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) i 38 The Lutheran Pioneer. The First Article. During the past few months we have con-|love, and delight. les with Him, and to be happy in His com- pany. He should be our rest, confidence, Whatever a loving child sidered the first words of the Creed, the} would be to a kind, considerate father, that words, ‘‘I believe in God.’’ Taking up each| we should spiritually be unto our heavenly word separately, we have tried to get at the meaning of this simple but comprehensive sentence. We are now ready to take up the study of each one of the three Articles in turn, and so will now begin with the First Article which treats of the Person and Work of the First Person of the Holy Trinity, God the Father. Of the Person of the First Person in the Godhead we confess in the Creed, ‘*7 believe in Gop THE FATHER ALMIGHTY.’’ We give the First Person of the Trinity the endearing name Father. This is the name the Bible gives Him, and it does so for several reasons. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Addressing the Son, the First Person of the Godhead says, ‘‘Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee,’’ and at the Baptism of Jesus and, later, at the Transfiguration, the same Person declares, ‘‘This is my beloved Son.’’ So also Christ always refers to the First Person of the God- head as His Father. But we also call the First Person ‘‘Father,”? because He is our Father. Says the prophet: ‘‘Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us?’? Mal. 2,10. We owe our life and being to God, and, therefore, He is our true Father. But alas! we cannot say that we are His true children by nature, for by sin we turned our backs upon our heavenly Father and left our home; we denied our true Father and became the children of the devil. But io His dealings with us after our defection God showed that He still loved His disobe- dient children. He sent His only begotten Son that through Him we might receive the adoption of sons. In Christ the Beloved, God hath again accepted us as His dear children. Because of His perfect redemption Christ can send the joyful message to all His disciples, 4*T ascend unto my Father, and your Father.’’ Christ’s redemption has reconciled God to the ‘whole world of sinners, and they that accept Him are numbered with the family whose Father is God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.. What a world of consolation in this simple statement, ‘‘God is our Father.’’ We, being evil, love our children; how much more shall our heavenly Father love us, and keep us under His watchful eye! Our Father is alla fatlier can be, and more. We are poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon us. It were well if we did our children’s duty as well. _ But we, as children, only too often forget ther. If we treated our God as good dren do a loving father, we should long to Father. Of our heavenly Father we further confess | that He is almighty. We are poor, weak crea- | tures, and are very prone to doubt the strength | and power of God. We think our own thoughts | of God, and straightway we doubt. Therefore it is necessary that we be always reminded of our heavenly Father’s omnipotence. Our God and Father is almighty ; He takes up the isles as a very little thing, and the mountains He} weighs in scales. If we would set our troubles in the light of God’s power, love, and wisdom, they would seem small to us. And why should we not so regard them, being reminded as we are so continually of our Father’s almighty |power? Why do we not compute our troubles A Beautiful Garden. by our almighty Father’s measurement, and then see how small and insignificant they be- come? Estimating God’s strength by human standards is one of the foolish things we must put away, lest we offend and dishonor our heavenly Father. Let, then, the confession of our lips, ‘‘I believe in God the Father Al- mighty,’’ be the sincere expression of a child- like trust and confidence in our omnipotent Father who is willing and able to doa father’s full duty by us. F. J. L. — s ~