Tag Archives: Father

Be Holy

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BE HOLY

But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, ‘Be holy because I am holy.’ Since you call on a Father who judges each work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear (1 Peter 1: 15-17).

‘Holiness, reverence and fear’ are not very popular words among believers in Jesus today. We prefer words like ‘relationship, friendship, family’ which are all true but we need to put them in their right perspective.

Before Peter had anything to say about relating to God as our Father, he put it into the context of a correct attitude towards Him – reverential fear. In this generation, the pendulum has swung from legalistic fear and distance from God to the kind of closeness that lowers the standards He requires until we treat God as our buddy and forget that He is still a holy God.

The very word ‘father’ is intended to include honour, respect and obedience. Take Jesus, for example. He came to earth as the Son of God. Was He not always, from before His incarnation, the Son of God? Not according to the Scriptures. Psalm 2 makes it quite clear that there was a specific moment when Jesus became the Son of God.

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’ (Psalm 2:7).

God chose the father/son relationship to model the relationship He wanted between Himself and those who come to faith in Him through the Son. Jesus emptied Himself of every right and privilege as God in order to become a reverent and obedient Son. It had to be so that He could live as a perfect son in the place of the rebellious human race that had opted out of sonship to become renegades instead of rulers. He had to do this in order to die in our place. He also modelled and taught us how to be sons.

In order to become true fathers to their own offspring, sons have to learn to be servants. According to the Bible, a son’s role is to serve his father until he is mature enough to have his own sons and daughters who will, in turn, serve him – and so on down the generations.

‘. . . Have the same mind set as Christ Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness (Phil. 2: 5b-7).

Jesus’s call to His disciples, ‘Follow me,’ included the call to be a son like Himself. What are the qualities He modelled and taught?

The first requirement is holiness. That’s enough to scare us, isn’t it? What is holiness? We tend to think of holiness as something mysterious; God is so holy that we dare not whisper or even breathe in His presence let alone approach Him. In the Old Testament era the people were not permitted anywhere near His visible presence in the Holy of Holies, only the High Priest, once a year and then after he followed strict rules and approached God with the blood of an animal sacrifice.

How can we approach God now? We come through Jesus, the perfect son who became the perfect sacrifice to take away our sin. In God’s eyes we are already holy because He sees us through Jesus. But that also means that, just as Jesus has removed our sin and blotted it out, it is now up to us to remove ourselves from sin and be set apart to God and for God.

Reverential fear is the second requirement. God is not our buddy. He is our God and our Father. He is our life source and our authority. The fear of the Lord is based on two fundamentals; who He is and what He does. He is the almighty, all knowing and ever present God. He sees and knows everything. Solomon put it like this:

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil (Eccles. 12: 13-14).

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Which God?

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WHICH GOD?

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you.” Colossians 1:3-6a.

Some religions claim that we all believe in and worship the same God but just in different ways. Is this correct? How can we be sure we are worshipping the true God?

Paul gives us a simple test to check whether we are worshipping the one true God or the creation of human imagination. Apart from the Bible, where we learn the nature and ways of God through revelation, we have an infallible way of knowing that we are believing in and following the ways of the God who is who He is and will do what He  said He will do. We must be sure of the truth if we stake our lives on what He says and what He has promised.

Our God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the great dividing line between the truth and the lies that are spoken about Him by people who refuse to believe in Him. The Apostle John stated it like this:

“Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist – denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:22, 23.

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” 1 John 4:1-3.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit cannot be separated. If someone tells you that they believe in God but reject Jesus as the Son of God, no matter what he may claim, he is lying because the Father and Son are one. We cannot know God apart from the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is God in the flesh. He told Philip that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus is the exact reflection of the Father and His purpose was to reveal the Father so that we might believe in Him and return to Him.

Without Jesus we will never be able to go home to the Father because Jesus is the only way (John 14:6). It is a lie to believe that all religions will take us to God. Although it sounds like and has been branded as hate speech and intolerant to claim that Jesus is the only true God, He said it and He is the only way.

Imagine taking a journey from your home town to the capital city of your country. You go to the train station, buy a ticket to that city and then look for the platform from which your train will leave. How confusing it would be if there was a notice on every platform saying that this train will take you to your chosen destination. You choose a platform, climb on the train and settle in, believing that you will arrive at the city of your choice only to find, when the train stops, that you have gone in the wrong direction.

Believing that every god will take you to heaven is as foolish as believing that every train will take you to the capital city and yet that is what people believe. But how can we know that Jesus is the way to the Father? We have to examine His track record to see whether He was telling the truth about other things. How did he prove that He was not a liar?

 

People make all kinds of promises. Gods are also said to make promises to their followers. How do you know they are telling the truth? There was one promise Jesus made that no one else has ever dared to make: He said He would be put to death by the religious leaders but, after three days He would rise again. He raised dead people to life but how could He raise Himself and in a body that could never die again? He came back to life because the Holy Spirit resurrected Him by His power.

If Jesus did that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be sure that He will do everything else He promised to do because He is the Son of God. What more do we need to know to believe that God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and that He is the one and only true God in three Persons?

Acknowledgement

SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Who Was In Charge?

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WHO WAS IN CHARGE? 

“Again He asked them, ‘Who do you want?’ ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they said. Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am He. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.’ This happened so that the words He has spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus). Jesus commanded Peter, ‘Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?'” John 18: 7-11 NIV.

Who is in charge around here?

This is a very strange situation. A mob of soldiers and religious big shots, armed to the teeth had come to arrest Jesus but they couldn’t. He was protected by the power of His name. The very words, “I AM!” struck terror into these men and they fell backwards to the ground when He spoke. Never had they had dealings with a prisoner like this!

He was fully aware of why they had come. He had been anticipating their arrival and had actually gone to meet them. What criminal would ever deliberately put himself in the path of the authorities unless he knew he was guilty and wanted to hand himself over? Not only could they not lay a hand on them, but they were also afraid of Him. There was something about Him they could not fathom.

He, the felon, was actually in charge. He gave the orders; He called the shots and they obeyed Him. How crazy was that! ‘You can take me,’ He instructed them, ‘but leave these men alone.’ And even when they took Him and roughed Him up, He was still in charge. Everyone who had dealings with Him, soldiers, Sanhedrin, Herod, Pilate, Jewish mob, lost it while He remained calm and serene throughout the entire debacle.

Peter lost it too; Peter, the big, brave fisherman, pulled out his sword and lashed out wildly at the nearest guy — what a way to handle the crisis! Did he think he was going to pick them all off, one by one, while they waited in line to be taken out? Did he really think that Jesus would stand by and allow him to do that? No, Peter acted brainlessly and instinctively, so unlike his Master whose response was deliberate and carefully controlled.

Jesus’ response to Peter’s reaction was typically Jesus. Never for a moment did He lose focus. He had come for this reason and He was not about to allow Peter’s panic to side-track Him or cause Him to deviate from His purpose. Listen to His response! ‘Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?’ I wonder what the soldiers and the rest of the mob made of that!

How did the military men react to Jesus? What did they think when He allowed them to arrest Him? How many of them would gladly have walked away rather than take a man prisoner who literally invited them to do so? I would not like to have been in their shoes. What went through their minds when they lay in bed that night?

John did not record the sequel to Peter’s cowardly act, not that it didn’t happen or that it was unimportant but that it was just not a part of his purpose. He probably did not want to deviate from what he intended to convey. He was presenting Jesus as the Son of God and, at this moment Jesus was behaving as perfectly obedient to His Father, a true Son of the Father, doing the Father’s will without question because He had chosen to submit and become the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world.

He was fully aware of the “cup” which His Father had given Him to drink and the baptism of suffering He was about to undergo and He faced it without flinching because the reward that lay beyond it far outweighed the agony of the next few hours. But His suffering was to be His alone. The time would come when His disciples would have their own cup to drink. But not now. For the moment they were only spectators.

His words of command protected them from any thoughtless action by the soldiers. They would, in the future, be guilty by association but, for now they would be unmolested and free to follow, watch and try to process what was happening to their Master until He returned from the grave to shake their lives to the core and to send them on their way as witnesses to all these events.

 

Love So Amazing!

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LOVE SO AMAZING! 

“‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

“‘Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you and they know that you have sent me.

‘”I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.'” John 7:24-26 NIV.

This beautiful, intimate communication between the Son and His Father breathes the atmosphere of tender love. After a physical and geographical separation from Him of thirty three years, Jesus’ taste of living as a human being in time and space, He was on the brink of experiencing the worst that a human being could ever suffer. It was the necessary gateway to His return to His beloved Father to take His place once again with the Father in the eternal realm.

A new position awaited Him if He completed His mission — to reveal the greatest measure of the Father’s love for His fallen world by being obedient to death, even death on a cross. He would be exalted to the highest place and given the highest name in all the universe. He would be elevated to king, ruling over everything, and head of the church, His body, the composite woman who was destined to be His bride when the universe was restored to its original perfection.

Jesus had spent three years imparting to this group of men whom the Father had given Him, the nature of the Father and the enormity of His love for His human race by teaching and showing them what the Father is like and wooing them back to intimacy with Himself so that they would understand how much the Father loved them and desired their love in return.

He had done what He could and finished the task, sowing the seeds of the words God had given Him into His disciples in the confidence that, when He had returned to the Father, the Holy Spirit would continue the work of nurturing in them the knowledge of the truth.

It was time to go. In one last expression of desire, He poured out His soul to His Abba. So precious had these men become to Him that He wanted them to be as close as they could ever be to Him, with Him, by His side so that they could gaze on His glory, the glory He shared with the Father before the beginning of time.

Yes, they had been with Him on earth, listening, watching and marvelling at a human being so different from all other humans that it took every effort of His to teach them that He was truly the Son of God. But this was only preparation for what was yet to come, something so otherworldly that the Apostle Paul could only declare, “No eye has seen, no ear had heard…” No imagination could stretch to embrace so glorious a being whom they were yet to see.

So deep was His love for them that He wanted to share it all, not only His place in eternity with the Father but the environment of love so pure and so all-embracing that He would give them not only His love and the love of the Father but His very position of power and authority in His universe — His throne. To be “in Him” is to be in everything He is and share in everything He owns.

Who can fathom the mystery of being “in Christ”? Through His Spirit we are in such intimate union with Him that our spirits have been fused to His Spirit, inseparably joined to Him so that we have become one. This does not mean that we have become gods! Nowhere in God’s word does He even suggest such nonsense. No, He has restored us to the place of oneness with Him that He created in His first human pair.

It was God’s intention that Jesus, through His death on the cross, would reconcile all things to Himself — “For God was pleased to have all His fulness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.” Colossians1:19, 20 NIV restoring perfect harmony in the universe, the environment He prepared as a home for His children.

Prayer

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PRAYER

“After Jesus had said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those you have given Him.

“‘Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.'” John 17:1-3 NIV.

Jesus prayed…Now this is prayer!

He prayed many times during His earthly life. Few of His prayers were recorded for us. Some were brief, sentence prayers…sometimes He prayed all night…but this is the only time we have a glimpse into the words of His communion with the Father. This was not the agonising, blood-sweating Gethsemane prayer.

This was quiet fellowship with His Abba, pouring out His heartfelt desires before the whirlwind events that were soon to overtake Him. There would be no opportunity then to share His heart with Daddy in the silence of the night. In the presence of the men He loved most in the world, He mouthed His hopes and dreams for them and for those who would follow them in faith and obedience.

What emotions were packed into those words, ‘Father, the hour has come’? The “hour” of His suffering had hung over Him from the moment of His birth. It was His reason for coming. It was the pinnacle of His revelation of the Father’s love to a world that would rather not know. It was the final nail in the coffin of His arch enemy and the enemy of all humanity. Did He shiver with anticipation and dread?

The writer to the Hebrews caught the spirit of this moment: “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2b NIV.

As always, Jesus looked beyond the immediate events to the triumph of God’s final purpose for mankind. “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”  We read these words easily enough without understanding the depth of Jesus’ request.

“In the intense pain and suffering I am about to endure; the physical agony of flogging and crucifixion; the emotional pain of rejection, humiliation and betrayal; the searing heat of the devil’s rage against me and the utter abandonment I must face when you, Father, also turn your face away from me, give me the strength to be a perfect reflection of you, your love, mercy and grace, so that the whole world will see you mirrored in me.”

God the Father gave Him, Jesus — this God-man who came from heaven to live the ordinary life of an ordinary human being in a hostile world that hated and rejected Him, and a spiritual realm that fired its entire arsenal of weapons at Him — the authority to give life to all those who believed in Him. Sin had killed them; spiritual death had claimed them and would destroy them forever without His intervention. But they would never rise to new life unless He first died in their place to take the rap for their sin; and His death would accomplish nothing unless He did not deserve it.

“Father glorify your Son…” just four simple words, but a world of desire in them. Once again, Jesus exemplified the heart of a true son. This was not about Him. It was ultimately about the Father…; “that the Son may glorify you.” All He wanted, in this whole cross event, was that the wonder of His Father’s true nature would be revealed to the world.

In one short sentence Jesus forever defined the nature of eternal life — knowing the Father and the Son, because they are one. To know the Son is to know the Father; notice — not know about, but know, implying intimate, personal knowledge and understanding as a husband “knows” his wife. “Adam lay with (knew – yada) his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.” Genesis 4:1 NIV.

That takes time, fellowship, and obedience!