Wednesday, December 28th, 2005
What is the Father Like? – Edition #4
The three things:
- Is there a fact to believe here?
- Is there a promise to trust?
- Is there a command to obey?
This year has been a very good year to me. A lot of things have happened that at the time I didn’t like, many surprises, but all in all, I am grateful for everything. I have been exploring the world of poetry and this month I have written four poems! The last poem I wrote before this month was years and years ago… I don’t that I am so bold as to share them with anyone just yet, but I like the idea of writing them down and to work them over in my mind. It really helps clear the head, if anything. Maybe that is how the Psalms came about… not really sure, and I don’t think the poems I have written are anywhere near the quality of the Psalms, but I know the Psalms are an outpouring of the heart. Anyway… so onto the QT.
John 8:28-36
28 So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." 30 Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33 They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 14:1-14
1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going."
5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 14:20-27
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 16:29-33
29 Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God."
31 "You believe at last!" Jesus answered. 32 "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Deuteronomy 10:12-14
12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
14 To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
Galatians 2:19-20
19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 3:1-2
1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?
Romans 8:1-28
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Well, looking at the first scripture, I ask myself do I see myself as a slave to sin? Or at least I need to look at myself as one who was… and that I can definitely see. Romans uses the words “slave” and “sin” in eight scriptures. And it’s only in chapters 6 and 7. Romans 7:14 says “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.” And then the chapter finishes with this: “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” In my mind, I need to be fighting for the righteousness that God wants me to be, but I also have to realize that sin is crouching at my door, waiting to have me. I have been set free, so long as I walk with God.
How well do I obey God’s teaching? Some days are better than others. I am not perfect, but really, outside of Christ, who is, right? I thought of this scripture yesterday in a situation. A friend of mine is getting married and his to be spouse is and him have some issues… a trust issue is the core part of it all. If the to be spouse is to be respected and to feel loved; then some basic obeying needs to take place. I guess it is a whole “Yes be yes, no be no” thing. But coming back to me, if I love God, then I need to obey him. I already took his cup saying I would follow him. Now am I going to live up to it? I am going to say “yes” and then follow through with what I say, showing my love to be true? Do I show esteem for my Lord? Do I prize my Lord? Do I treasure him? It is so easy for me to do such with my wife and child, but do I hold up my God in the same way? And if I do, do I do in such a fashion as to do it twice as much as my family, to where my love, esteem, and prize to God could be compared to that of hatred toward them? Goodness… I can’t say that it does… and that is convicting.
I like the part that says “you believe at last!” I think God got that excited with me. Can you imagine a teacher in school working hard with the students trying to teach them something as simple as 1 + 1… and finally someone bursts out with the answer 2, and the lights come on as they understand addition. AT LAST! YOU GET IT! Hours of work finally paying off with a revelation from the children. God has spent years on me… and finally, I am starting to get it. I know as I have tutored a few people, it excites me to see the brain click, for them to understand math on a new level… and to relate that to God seeing me click, to understand him on a deeper level, it must really warm him up inside to see that “he is starting to get it.”
I think the scripture about the sinful mind cannot please God really says it all… the bible is about truth. The bible shows me the truth of the sinful nature and the truth about the nature of the Spirit. When the dominoes are placed in the fashion to be knocked down, one after another and can’t be stopped till all are laid flat, the consequences are set in motion. The pain I feel today is from the sin of yester year. The crop I reap today is from what was sown yesterday. That is the nature of sin. That is also the nature of the Spirit. What I reap tomorrow is from what I sow today. Now, I don’t think I should focus too much on tomorrow, for I do not know what tomorrow will bring, but I should focus on what God wants me to do. I should focus on what the fruits of the Spirit want for me to do… (Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.) If I should exercise love, joy, peace, goodness and such, then tomorrow will take care of itself and I will reap something good… and hopefully it will be the treasure in heaven and not so much the lottery on earth. God bless and hopefully I will catch you all again tomorrow.
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