According to John 1:1-14 [NLTse]

1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He existed in the beginning with God. ³ God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. ⁴ The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

⁶ God sent a man, John the Baptist, ⁷ to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. ⁸ John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. ⁹ The One Who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰ He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. ¹¹ He came to His Own people, and even they rejected Him. ¹² But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

¹⁴ So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

The Hebrew people became the “People of God” when the Lord God elected – chose – to enter into a covenant with a man named Abram (later changing his name to “Abraham”). And Abraham had a son named “Isaac”, and Isaac had a son named “Jacob”, and Jacob had twelve sons, each the head of what have come to be called “the Twelve Tribes of Israel”. So the most frequently used name across the Old Testament Scriptures for a member of the Jewish people was “brother” reflecting their historical roots of all being related to one another through common ancestry to the “Patriarchs” (the Fathers): Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

As the divine head of their national family, and as the source of their life and the good things they enjoyed as a nation together, God was their “father”, the same way that a king is a “father” to his citizens. And yet Abraham was also their “father” because he, too, was their source: All the Jews had come from him; and, it was through him – Abraham – that the Lord God made the covenant with them that the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be the Lord’s people and the Lord would be their god. Of course, each Jew had their own earthly fathers, as well, their “daddy’s” who raised them and sheltered them and protected them and provided for them each day.

In a similar way that the Jews spoke (and speak) of themselves as members of one family because they all trace their ancestry back to Abraham, you can hear many voices around our society today speak about the “brotherhood of Mankind”: That because God made the first humans so then God has made all of us; which means that all human beings are “brothers and sisters” because God is our “Father” – our Maker, the Creator of all.

And wherever there is any kind of social unity you can hear words and expressions that speak of brotherhood: Because you like the Yankees you’re “My brother!” If you drive a Jeep you’re “My brother!” [Ask] Does anyone here like chocolate ice cream? My brothers! When people are like us in whatever way we will often talk about each other in terms of family, “My brother!”

Jesus has once and for all changed all that.

In the beginning when God created the Heavens and the Earth, the Bible tells us that God lived in close proximity, and in close mental, emotional, and spiritual intimacy with humanity. But there came a time when our first ancestors decided they liked what the Devil had to offer more than they liked what God had to offer. And so the close proximity and the close mental, emotional, and spiritual intimacy we once enjoyed with God was broken, and so human beings lived separated from God’s presence and our close intimate relationship with Him was broken.

Even so, across the generations communities of men and women have teamed up and built great “towers of Babel” and “wonders of the world” in great acts and exhibitions of community and brotherhood. But even in our greatness these have always been “brotherhood’s” of our own making: Brotherhoods we established ourselves on account of our common ties or common goals…

And as we’ve said, God called Himself together a people through Abraham: A people with a common ancestry and a common way of living in the world and a common purpose for their lives together. And, as we’ve said, the Jews knew themselves to be “brothers” and they knew God to be their “Father”, even if in a very formal way, like the way a grandfather might be the family “patriarch” – the family “father” – or the way a king or governor or clan leader might be looked up to as “the great father”…

But Jesus’ attitude towards God changed all that. Whenever the Lord Jesus spoke to God He always used the direct, intimate Abba – “Daddy” – to refer to God, rather than the customary Jewish title of respect, “My Father”. And although we can read of the Lord Jesus speaking about God as “the Almighty” and the “the Most High”… whenever the Lord spoke to God He addressed Him as “Abba, My Daddy”. Jesus’ unique revelation to us of God as “Abba, Daddy, Father” came directly from His Own personal knowledge and relationship with God as His Abba, His Daddy, His Father.

What Jesus has shown us is that God has chosen us to be His children: Not because He bore us, because He didn’t; not because we’re all related, because we’re not; not because we have so much in common, because, although we may have much in common with other Christians living here in the United States and in this Milford area, we have brothers and sisters whom God has also chosen to be His children who are vastly different from us. As a matter of fact the only thing we might have in common with many among the worldwide family of God – our true brothers and sisters – is our shared belief and trust in Jesus Christ!

Because Jesus is the key to our brotherhood (and sisterhood), dear saints. Because Jesus is the key to our Father! In the cross Jesus bridged the separation. Because Jesus always chose God, when we choose Jesus, we’re brought over the bridge and back into the close proximity and close mental, emotional, and spiritual intimacy that was lost so long ago.

Now some religions pretend there’s no such thing as sin and so don’t think we need the cross. And other religions teach that you can work really hard at being good and doing good and get across the chasm without the cross. But the Scriptures make absolutely clear that there is no way to bridge our separation from God other than by trusting in the cross of Christ. There is no other name under Heaven by which we must be saved. And that’s why God is our Daddy, because the Lord God Almighty has chosen us to be His children and because Jesus Christ our Savior has died for us and brought us back to Him.

It is of the utmost importance we understand that God is not looking to be our Lord or our Master or our King. The Lord God is not looking to be our Teacher or our Savior or even our Friend. (Even though He is all of those things.) What the Most High God is looking for is for us to know Him and live with Him and trust Him as our Father. Not the formality of, “Yes, Father; no, Father; thank You, Father.” No, He sent the Law and the Prophets, and in the fullness of Time He sent His One and only-begotten Son, giving us His Holy Spirit in order to be our “Daddy”.

No other faith is so intimate with their god. And yet the fuller truth is that no other faith has a god Who has revealed Himself to want to be so intimate with us; the God and Daddy of our Lord Jesus Christ; our Daddy in Heaven…