Hi all,
I've been sharing how the focus of New Testament living is about the Father's will being done in our lives, rather than; 'Lord beam me up!'. As The Revelation closes, we see heaven coming to earth, not earth beamed up to heaven. Most of the NT is focused on the kingdom of heaven coming to earth. Let us have that same mindset. (Rev 21:2)
"Father in heaven, holy is your name" is how Jesus started His teaching on the pattern of prayer we call The Lord's Prayer.
Everything else in that prayer is traced directly back to and flows from, 'holy is your name'.
Let's go back to the Garden of Eden when Adam named the animals. (Genesis 2:18-20) The rabbi's say the names Adam gave them were the result of him knowing the character, nature, and place in creation each animal and its kind fit. We do the same today, one of the better known cases might be the naming of a dinosaur 'Tyrannosaurus Rex' or 'terrible lizard', summing up its character after looking at its bones.
When Jesus said 'holy is your name' the focus isn't on a particular name but rather used as a summary for all the attributes of His Being. People get side-tracked arguing over the proper name of God, not satisfied with 'Father' or even 'Jesus', completely missing the point that 'holy is your name' means the sum total of His nature and character. The use of 'Father' completely sums up His character, nature, loving-kindness and justice within His Being.
Similarly, we are called Christians, first seen in Acts 11:26. The title 'Christian' literally means 'kinsman of Christ', but in use it means a follower of Christ. With that identifier we can say the attributes of Christ are within us and we are set aside for His use. The words 'sanctification' or 'set apart for use' and the word 'holy' are often considered synonymous. I would say it this way:Holy is belonging to the divine. Holiness is the condition or state of being holy.
Purity not perfection
You are holy without being perfect. Purity is in our spirit, our soul is being renewed to think more like Him daily, and our bodies have been made a living sacrifice. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels (earthly bodies) that the glory will be of God and not of us." II Corinthians 4:7 states this mystery. It isn't about us. It's about Him. So eyes off self.
When Jesus said in Matthew 5:38-48 in His great instruction on walking in love with those who don't love us, He concluded saying in the King James Version:"Be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect." The use of 'perfect' in 1611 English meant 'mature, complete', not as we use it today meaning no imperfections at all. The Greek 'teleios' means 'complete' or 'mature.' "Be complete/mature (in love) as your Father in heaven is complete/mature (in love)." He is always moving us towards greater love within the framework of holiness.
The Father's grace is so overwhelming that when we have a revelation of the depths of our own sin we can scarcely take it in. Human tendency is to turn inward at the sins of the past or present and conclude we are doomed to hell in spite of New Testament realities. They believe their own fears and doubts rather than believing God. This process of course is part of the growing up in Christ everyone of us must do. Yes, His grace is overwhelming. And yes we sinned and continue to sin, and maybe said things to Him like a toddler having a tantrum with their parents that cause us to fear we have offended Him beyond grace. But being holy is about how He recreated us and placed us in His family, not about our imperfections.
He planned us while we were still within His mind before time began. II Timothy 1:9 says of the Father:"Who saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to what we've done, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal."
It's too late to argue the point
It's like someone telling me the baptism with the Holy Spirit or healing's aren't for today. Too late, I've already received the Holy Spirit, opened the eyes of the blind, opened the ears and speech of the deaf and dumb - I'm already walking in what they say doesn't exist today. So too is someone who says they sinned too much and are doomed for hell, even though they love Jesus with all their heart. Too late, He already recreated your spirit meaning Christ is in you. It's too late, He already made you one of His children, part of a royal family. Too late; He saw every sin we would ever do, and still in times eternal gave us Christ. Wow.
This truth comes home when we understand:“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. And because of his joy, he goes out and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. Upon finding a pearl of great value, he went out and sold all that he had and bought it."
In these parables Jesus is the man who finds a treasure in a field (the world).
Jesus is the merchant who traveled far and found a pearl 'of great value', and then sold all He had and bought it. WE are the pearl of great price which He bought with His own blood. You see, it's too late for us. He already saved us before times eternal.
In I Corinthians 6:9 Paul states the unrighteousness (those who don't know Jesus) will not enter the kingdom of heaven. He then lists lifestyles of the unrighteous just to be sure they knew who he was talking about. Lifestyles of promiscuity, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, drunkards, extortionists, and rioters (riotous living) will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then he says:
"And such were some of you (proving he was talking about lifestyle not individual sins done after knowing Christ). But now you are washed, now you are sanctified (made holy), now you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God." v11 Washed, set aside, justified. Justification is an amazing word. It doesn't mean a person was charged with a crime and then had their record erased. It is a legal term for a judge stating no charges existed in the first place. NOW are we justified Paul wrote.
Some get stuck on what they did, even after they came to know the Lord. In their spirits they are pure, but that treasure is in a soul greatly burdened and a body used to sinning. That is the whole process Paul describes in Romans 12:1-3, where he says to make our body a living sacrifice, then we will undergo a metamorphosis as we change how we think, and then we will be able to 'prove (walk out) the good, acceptable, and complete (perfect) will of God.
"Fear not little flock, it is the Father's good pleasure (Greek:Father took delight) giving you the kingdom." Luke 12:32
Jesus' statement had nothing to do with our imperfections. No! The Father knows all that, saw all that, made provision for all of that, and STILL found it in His good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Purity, not perfection. Perfection will come and He has the long-term view. It IS about us forging our way seeking His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, right now in our lives. The kingdom of heaven is now within us. Let us live it out, demonstrating to those around us the ways of our Father and Lord.
I will conclude with something I've said for decades:Anyone can say they are a Christian. But the Father in His wisdom has made it so that righteousness is proven within a framework of relationships. It is within those relationships we see the Father's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
I've been sharing how the focus of New Testament living is about the Father's will being done in our lives, rather than; 'Lord beam me up!'. As The Revelation closes, we see heaven coming to earth, not earth beamed up to heaven. Most of the NT is focused on the kingdom of heaven coming to earth. Let us have that same mindset. (Rev 21:2)
"Father in heaven, holy is your name" is how Jesus started His teaching on the pattern of prayer we call The Lord's Prayer.
Everything else in that prayer is traced directly back to and flows from, 'holy is your name'.
Let's go back to the Garden of Eden when Adam named the animals. (Genesis 2:18-20) The rabbi's say the names Adam gave them were the result of him knowing the character, nature, and place in creation each animal and its kind fit. We do the same today, one of the better known cases might be the naming of a dinosaur 'Tyrannosaurus Rex' or 'terrible lizard', summing up its character after looking at its bones.
When Jesus said 'holy is your name' the focus isn't on a particular name but rather used as a summary for all the attributes of His Being. People get side-tracked arguing over the proper name of God, not satisfied with 'Father' or even 'Jesus', completely missing the point that 'holy is your name' means the sum total of His nature and character. The use of 'Father' completely sums up His character, nature, loving-kindness and justice within His Being.
Similarly, we are called Christians, first seen in Acts 11:26. The title 'Christian' literally means 'kinsman of Christ', but in use it means a follower of Christ. With that identifier we can say the attributes of Christ are within us and we are set aside for His use. The words 'sanctification' or 'set apart for use' and the word 'holy' are often considered synonymous. I would say it this way:Holy is belonging to the divine. Holiness is the condition or state of being holy.
Purity not perfection
You are holy without being perfect. Purity is in our spirit, our soul is being renewed to think more like Him daily, and our bodies have been made a living sacrifice. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels (earthly bodies) that the glory will be of God and not of us." II Corinthians 4:7 states this mystery. It isn't about us. It's about Him. So eyes off self.
When Jesus said in Matthew 5:38-48 in His great instruction on walking in love with those who don't love us, He concluded saying in the King James Version:"Be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect." The use of 'perfect' in 1611 English meant 'mature, complete', not as we use it today meaning no imperfections at all. The Greek 'teleios' means 'complete' or 'mature.' "Be complete/mature (in love) as your Father in heaven is complete/mature (in love)." He is always moving us towards greater love within the framework of holiness.
The Father's grace is so overwhelming that when we have a revelation of the depths of our own sin we can scarcely take it in. Human tendency is to turn inward at the sins of the past or present and conclude we are doomed to hell in spite of New Testament realities. They believe their own fears and doubts rather than believing God. This process of course is part of the growing up in Christ everyone of us must do. Yes, His grace is overwhelming. And yes we sinned and continue to sin, and maybe said things to Him like a toddler having a tantrum with their parents that cause us to fear we have offended Him beyond grace. But being holy is about how He recreated us and placed us in His family, not about our imperfections.
He planned us while we were still within His mind before time began. II Timothy 1:9 says of the Father:"Who saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to what we've done, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal."
It's too late to argue the point
It's like someone telling me the baptism with the Holy Spirit or healing's aren't for today. Too late, I've already received the Holy Spirit, opened the eyes of the blind, opened the ears and speech of the deaf and dumb - I'm already walking in what they say doesn't exist today. So too is someone who says they sinned too much and are doomed for hell, even though they love Jesus with all their heart. Too late, He already recreated your spirit meaning Christ is in you. It's too late, He already made you one of His children, part of a royal family. Too late; He saw every sin we would ever do, and still in times eternal gave us Christ. Wow.
This truth comes home when we understand:“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. And because of his joy, he goes out and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. Upon finding a pearl of great value, he went out and sold all that he had and bought it."
In these parables Jesus is the man who finds a treasure in a field (the world).
Jesus is the merchant who traveled far and found a pearl 'of great value', and then sold all He had and bought it. WE are the pearl of great price which He bought with His own blood. You see, it's too late for us. He already saved us before times eternal.
In I Corinthians 6:9 Paul states the unrighteousness (those who don't know Jesus) will not enter the kingdom of heaven. He then lists lifestyles of the unrighteous just to be sure they knew who he was talking about. Lifestyles of promiscuity, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, drunkards, extortionists, and rioters (riotous living) will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then he says:
"And such were some of you (proving he was talking about lifestyle not individual sins done after knowing Christ). But now you are washed, now you are sanctified (made holy), now you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God." v11 Washed, set aside, justified. Justification is an amazing word. It doesn't mean a person was charged with a crime and then had their record erased. It is a legal term for a judge stating no charges existed in the first place. NOW are we justified Paul wrote.
Some get stuck on what they did, even after they came to know the Lord. In their spirits they are pure, but that treasure is in a soul greatly burdened and a body used to sinning. That is the whole process Paul describes in Romans 12:1-3, where he says to make our body a living sacrifice, then we will undergo a metamorphosis as we change how we think, and then we will be able to 'prove (walk out) the good, acceptable, and complete (perfect) will of God.
"Fear not little flock, it is the Father's good pleasure (Greek:Father took delight) giving you the kingdom." Luke 12:32
Jesus' statement had nothing to do with our imperfections. No! The Father knows all that, saw all that, made provision for all of that, and STILL found it in His good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Purity, not perfection. Perfection will come and He has the long-term view. It IS about us forging our way seeking His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, right now in our lives. The kingdom of heaven is now within us. Let us live it out, demonstrating to those around us the ways of our Father and Lord.
I will conclude with something I've said for decades:Anyone can say they are a Christian. But the Father in His wisdom has made it so that righteousness is proven within a framework of relationships. It is within those relationships we see the Father's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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