Copyright 2008
I am the son of my father, as is my brother.
I am the father of my four children.
While I am like a father to Roxie the dog and Woof the cat, I am not their father.
Sure, the missus says to Splotch, the other cat, “Maybe Daddy will open the door for you.” I generally do.
I am still only the father of the four children I fathered.
I might have adopted, and those would be my children too.
But the four I fathered, they have my DNA. I am their father. I am lucky in that the genetic bond can never be broken…they will always be my children as long as we live.
God Fathered Jesus. He created a seed in Mary that caused conception. Jesus became God’s only begotten. Then, at Jesus’ resurrection, God made Jesus into a new type of creation. Using power greater than all that created Heaven and Earth, God gave His son a spiritual body.
We see the creation of Jesus in Matthew 1.
Matthew 1:19-21:
“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to
make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
“But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD
appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to
take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Ghost.
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
For some reason we tend to think of the ancients as a bunch of ignorant, superstitious simpletons. We think they were ignoramuses who barely could recognize the crudest elements of science. Maybe this was true of the unwashed masses, but not of the elite.
We thus read this “immaculate conception” as a feat of magic with no relationship to science and the methods of nature.
Not true.
By the time of flight, Greeks had logically surmised all the basic tenets of all of our math, backbone of physics and science. We are only one or two steps away from that, for all our posturing. The Egyptians and others had the math of geometry, they and the Aztecs astronomy.
Our advantage is the printing press with which to maintain records for hundreds of years, and now computers.
Two steps only in information gathering as well.
See? Not that far ahead at all, really.
When the Greeks used the word “gennao” for “conceived,” they knew seed from a man mixed with seed from a woman (we call it an “egg”) to create a baby.
Luke 1:31-32: “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring
forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
“He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:”
The angel speaking this to Mary said “he shall be called the Son of the
Highest.”
Why was Jesus not called “the Son of the Highest” already?
Because Jesus had not yet born, he had not been floating around in Heaven. Luke gives testimony that the Gospel records of the “beginning of all Jesus began to do and teach.” He was not even conceived. Jesus did not yet exist in reality, even though in foreknowledge God had chosen Jesus before the world was overthrown.
Luke: 1:34-35: “Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing
I know not a man?
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
See? “...shall be called the Son of God.”
Not “is called the Son of the Highest,” not “is called the Son of God,” but “shall be.”
At the time the angel was speaking, there was no Jesus to be called Jesus. There was no Jesus to be called Son of the Highest, no Jesus to be called the Son of God.
Jesus was yet to be conceived. God had not yet created the seed that would mingle with Mary’s that would create the Son of God. Jesus was only in God’s foreknowledge.
I know what you might say. You were probably taught Jesus and the Father were at the beginning of creation, the left hand speaking with the right, and Jesus being the right hand, all things were created by him.
After all, doesn’t the Bible tell us that God created all things through
Christ?
Well, yes, various versions of the Bible tell us that.
KJV of Ephesians 3:9: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:”
You see, people sometimes translate things according to their understanding and theology rather than according to the body of evidence. As seekers of truth, we want the evidence, correct?
Many scholars believe that the reason the JKV translator responsible for that section added Jesus as the creative agent did so because of a footnote in his version of Stephen’s text he mistook for the text itself.
But this verse was translated in the NIV according to the majority of older
texts.
NIV Ephesians 3:9: “and to make plain to everyone the administration of
this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all
things.”
You see? It was God creating all things. Jesus was not yet conceived.
But when he was conceived, when he was born, he was called the Son of the Highest, the Son of God.
Over 50 times the Scriptures tell us Jesus is the Son of God. God created that sinless seed in Mary that fertilized Mary’s that made conception. Jesus thus “grew in grace,” sinless, able to move through life unblemished.
Jesus, Son of the Highest, Son of God.
Do you really believe this?
Do you really, really believe Jesus is truly the Son of God?
The angel said he would be the Son of God. Who does God say Jesus is?
Matthew 3:16-17: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway
out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
“And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Do you believe the testimony God gave of His Son?
Do you really believe God when God said, three times in the Gospel records, “This is my beloved Son?”
Huh. God seems to be under the impression that Jesus is His Son. Perhaps we should correct the angel, perhaps we should correct God?
I think not.
Brothers and sisters, who do we think Jesus really is? Do we really embrace him as the Son of God? Do you have sons? What do you think of your sons? Are they really you, or are they really their own individuals?
Do we believe Jesus is really the Son of God, as God seems to think, or do we believe the traditions handed down to us by people to whom God is simply a mystery none of us can understand at all?
1 John 5:5: “ Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
Do you really, literally believe that Jesus is the Son of God, a man created by God to stand above, a man God created to be His very own Son?
Or do you think that Jesus is literally just an appendage or part of God, not a separate individual at all, just another face of God?
If you literally accept that Jesus is the Son of God, you can overcome the world.
If in your heart you believe the truth, for with the heart man believes unto
righteousness, then you can get to the point of being an overcomer.
If you reject the literal truth that Jesus is God’s Son, if you cling to the idea Jesus exists only as an appendage or apparition of God, you simply deceive yourself.
Why is this? Let us look further.
Romans 8:28-29: “And we know that all things work together for good to
them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Do we really believe that we are to conform to the image of a man who is the literal Son of God? If we do, we can overcome. We can walk in the footsteps of our Savior.
We are then brothers of Jesus Christ. We are not brothers of God. God is our Father; He is the Father of the firstborn brother, Jesus. It is a neat little package that does not distort the meaning of language and add pagan elements to our faith.
Do we believe we are the many brothers of Jesus Christ, spiritually neither male nor female, Jew nor gentile, bond nor free, but one in Christ, one in our Lord, our eldest brother?
1 John 3:2: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
Now, right now, we are overcomers, because right now we are conformed to the image of our brother Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High.
Right now, we are overcomers because we conform to the truth that Jesus is
both our Lord and our example, and that we are also sons of the Most High.
We believed this Jesus Son of God was raised from the dead, and believed unto righteousness.
We confessed this Jesus Son of God as our Lord, unto salvation.
We then were given the gift of God, spirit that is holy, “pnuema hagion” in the Greek, also called “the sonship spirit,” “huiothesia.” Like spiritual DNA, making God truly our spiritual Father.
Thus while we will never attain the measure of sinless perfection Jesus had on earth, thus it won’t appear now what we shall be, every time we walk in faith we start where Jesus finished.
Thus, the works he did and greater we do.
Not “can do,” but “will do,” because believing that Jesus is literally the Son of God, we are overcomers.
Man can multiply his knowledge, can move those one or two baby steps away from the science of the ancients and proclaim it a great feat.
We know better.
We simply have the same truth God gave centuries ago that already contain all pertaining to life and godliness, and we simply strive to live up to the standard God set for us those centuries ago.
Believing the great truth that Jesus is truly the Son of the Highest, the Son of God, we will overcome.
Where do we start?
Homologeo. It's a dusty old Greek word few of us are familiar with, and even less really understand.
Yet it is involved in
the path of salvation.
Romans 10:9, KJV: "That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shat be saved."
Not might be saved, but,
shalt be saved.
It's going to come to
pass.
The word
"confess" in Rom. 10:9 is "homologeo."
Homologeo comes from two
words, "homo" and "logos."
"Homo" means,
in the Greek, "the same," and "logos" means
"communication" or "word"
"The same
word."
One's words are told to
be in agreement with.
But in agreement with
what?
Anyone can
say "Jesus is Lord." But is it a "homologeo," this
confessing that we are told to do?
"The same
word."
First, there is a
connotation that we are in agreement with reality. Whenever we are told to
"homologeo," we are to understand that we aren't agreeing with
fables, with myths, or with opinions. It is not a fable, a myth, or an opinion
that Jesus is Lord. It is not simply an analogy, or a meaningless title. He is
Lord.
Second, we are to agree
with the reality revealed by the subject and predicate.
That Jesus is Lord is
the reality we agree with here. We are confessing the reality Jesus is Lord.
We aren't repeating a
fable, myth or opinion, we are confessing what is really really real, to quote
the late Jim Varney, and that reality is that Jesus is Lord. He is not a
make-believe King, he is not only King of those who want him to be. He is Lord.
Everybody's, everything's. And God is his Lord, and ours.
Amen.
There are other
realities we are commanded by God's Word to confess.
One of these, I have
been called to account for frequently. I have been harassed, taunted, chased
out of churches for. People have even suggested violence because I've
proclaimed, I've confessed, this reality. I John 4:15:
"Whosoever shall
confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."
So simple. Anyone who confesses,
who homologeos, that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, he in God. I
am saved when I confess Jesus as Lord. When I “homologeo” he is the son of God,
not only is God my Father, He dwells in my life as well.
The reality then that we
are to confess? That Jesus is the Son of God.
We are saved if we
confess the reality that Jesus is Lord, but if one wants God to dwell in Him,
if one wants to really see God in one's life, one needs to proclaim the truth
that Jesus is the Son of God.
If you proclaim the
myth, fable, opinion, or analogy that Jesus is the Son of God, your
relationship with Jesus and with God will be limited.
Confess the truth, that
Jesus is the firstborn offspring of God, that he was created as progeny by God
to be a Son, God will dwell in you and you in God.
You will see a life, not
full of hints of God, but a life of Biblical proportions. I John 5:5:
"Who is he that
overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"
You see?
We might want to say,
"Jesus as Son is only an analogy," but then we are not longer
homologeo Jesus is God's Son.
We want to say,
"Jesus the Son is really part of God, not a son at all." But is that
confessing him as Son of God? Of course not.
Few in the early Church
embraced Jesus as either eternal or identical or synonomous with God, and those
that did were anathema.
We are not to embrace
myths or fables.
We are to embrace the
reality that Jesus is the Son of God.
Truly the Son.
If you have children, you know a young child wants
to be like their parents.
Teenagers do not wish to be like their
parents, but by the time they drop the "teen" in their years, too
late.
To paraphrase Robin Williams in
"Jumanji," "I've become my father."
Literally?
Of course not.
God saves, rescues individuals each time He
intervenes to keep them safe from harm or intervenes to protect them from the
world's devices, and from the false "god" of this world who takes
captive his citizens at will.
The Church as a body, that is, a relevant
portion thereof, is saved, rescued and made whole, through good works, through
acting cohesively according to God's will.
But the salvation of the altar call, the
salvation in Christ to an individual, is received by that individual accepting
the "package" implied by the resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ.
Rom. 10:9: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved."
Remember, the word "confess" here
is the word "homologeo," literally, "same word," which
Scripturally is used when one's words agree both with reality and one's inner
most belief.
If I say "I am the son of Jack
Randolph," I homologeo. The reality is that I am, and the
conviction of my heart is that I am. I am totally convinced since in pictures
taken at a similar age we can (and have) been mistaken for one another.
So when I say it, it is homologeo. My words
agree both with reality and with conviction, they "say the same
word."
If I say "I am the son of Martha
Stewart," it is not homologeo. It is not reality, and I do not
believe it in my heart.
If I am convinced something is true and I
say it, I am not lying, but the reality is not there, it is not homologeo.
If something is true but I don't believe it, but I say it anyway, the
conviction is lacking. The reality is there, the words are spoken that agree,
but the words do not agree with the conviction of my heart.
Again, no homologeo.
But Jesus is Lord, whether I agree or not.
God raised him from the dead. That is reality, no matter how hard I might work
to explain it away.
Fortunately, I also believe that God has
raised Jesus from the dead and made him Lord over all His creation.
In fact, I know this, and rejoice.
So when I state the reality that Jesus is
Lord, my heart agrees, I am in agreement with reality and with my words, homologeo.
I believe God raised him from the dead
according to the story of Calvary.
I am saved.
What happens when we are saved?
Eph. 1:12-14: "That we should be to the praise of his glory, who
first trusted in Christ.
"In whom ye also
trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:
in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of
promise,
"Which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the
praise of his glory."
After your salvation,
you are sealed with the holy spirit of promise.
Rom. 8:15: "For
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
This
"adoption" is a translation of the word "huiothesia."
"Huio" means "son."
I am the son, the huios,
of Jack Randolph not by adoption, but
by DNA.
"Huiothesia"
has nothing to do with adoption, it has everything to do with that holy spirit
of promise, with spiritual DNA. It has everything to do with the huiothesia,
the spirit of sonship, or as some have translated, the "sonship
spirit."
We are in every way that
counts the children of God because we are sealed with the gift of holy spirit.
Acts 2:38:
"Then
Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost."
"Holy Ghost"
is in the Greek "pnuema hagion," the same words "holy
Spirit" in Ephesians 1:13 we read earlier.
It does not read as we
have read it, "You shall receive the gift of (from) the Holy Spirit,"
it reads "You shall receive the gift of holy spirit."
We’ve missed the true intention.
Holy spirit itself,
spiritual DNA, is the gift. You are upon your salvation the child, the huios,
of God by birth. You are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, the seed called holy spirit.
Acts 10:45: "And they of the circumcision which believed were
astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Again, pnuema hagion,
holy spirit, is the gift. Spiritual DNA. This was what was practiced and taught
in the early Christian Church.
This is the truth.
Being children, what do
we do?
Eph. 4:1-2: "Be
ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
“And walk in love, as
Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. "
The word
"follower" here is in the Greek the word "mimitos," which
means "imitator.
We imitate God how? We
cannot say "Become a rock" and create something from nothing. (Well,
I suppose God could tell us to, or tell us to say unto a mountain, Be thou
removed…But that's different. It is still God’s power that energizes, His Will
that decides it will come to pass.)
We imitate God the same
way we imitate our earthly parents: by walking in love.
Love is manifest by
doing the Word, but it entails giving, it involves sacrifice, by putting the
welfare of others our priority.
As an immature child of
God, your heart desire is to do this, to walk as Christ walked. Your mission,
should you choose to accept, is simply to do what your heart wants to do
anyway, and be like your Heavenly Father, very loving, very compassionate.
Don't act like a
spiritual rebellious teen who has all the answers.
Be the young child.
Try to act in love,
being therefore like your Father.
Earlier we saw that we
should want to be like our Father.
We did not make that up
or think it up our selves.
Eph. 5:1: "Be ye
therefore followers of God, as dear children."
The word in this verse
translated "followers" is in the Greek texts "mimitos," which
is from the root of our word "mimic."
In fact, the Darby
translation renders it like this:
"Be ye therefore
imitators of God, as beloved children."
Not just followers, but
imitators; not just dear children, but beloved, "agapetos."
New International Version
reads it as "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved
children."
As children of God, we
are to imitate God.
I don't know about you,
but I'd be hard pressed to say "Let there be light," etc., and in six
days reform a universe.
There are some differences
between God and His children that are fairly, uh, insurmountable.
How then are we to
imitate God?
Find out WHY He does
what He does, rather than just what, and then use those reasonings as our
reasonings.
John 3:16: "For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
He gave, not just
things, but His only begotten son, so that we can live. Why did He do this?
Because He loves us, and loves all of Adam's grandkids as well.
Love is manifested by
giving.
Giving what?
Giving what we actually
have to give.
2 Cor. 9:7: "Every
man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or
of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."
Yes. Give out of what
God puts on your heart; not grudgingly, or because we have to, but because we
want to see people blessed, because we want to see people filled and not
needing.
If I have only one of
something that I know I will need, maybe I can't give that. (Although the
miracles I've seen when people give what they might think they couldn't do
without are of Biblical proportions.)
If I have more than
enough of something, and people are in need, if I love them in the love of God,
what will I do?
Well, if you love, what
will you do?
We sometimes get so
caught up in making sure we "support the ministry" that we forget
that firast of all we are simply to be good to one another and take care of
people.
This leads us to
something else we have to give.
The result God was
looking for when He gave His son (out of love) was that people should not
perish.
Five hundred people will
give ten, fifteen percent of their income so that a handful of people can
minister to the spiritual needs of the Church.
That's not a bad thing,
is it?
But aren't you as a
Christian saved, filled with the fullness of God?
We have mouths to speak
to our neighbor of the gift given through Christ.
We have hands to
minister to the sick.
We have hearts to lift
supplication up to God on behalf of the saints.
Having a heart to love,
and thus to give, starts with wanting others to have salvation.
We can't all be full
time ministers, but we can all minister in the time we do have.
Love.
Only one of the things
we can imitate from our Father by following the example of Christ who
is His image.
Think about it in your
life.
Love.
Give.
Imitate.
Eph. 5:1, NIV: "Be ye imitators of God,
therefore, as dearly loved children."
To be imitators of God as beloved children, we
need to follow the footsteps of he who blazed our trail of faith, Jesus Christ.
After all, it is Jesus who is beginner and
finisher of our faith.It is Jesus who is firstborn of many brethren.
5:2: "and live a life of love, just as
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice
to God."
The consequence of love is giving. God so loved the world He gave, and here Jesus loved us and gave of himself. "I love you but I will not do anything to help you" is a lie.
If we love, we will give, of ourselves and of what
we have to give with.
We imitate by living a life of love, just as
Christ our brother, who we are to imitate in our effort to imitate God our
Father.
We can also imitate God by imitating those who are imitating Christ and who have received the Word of God.
1 Thes. 2:14b: "For you, brothers, became
imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus:.."
See? We use those who walk as an example of faith,
but Jesus as our standard of faith, that is, as our reference check.
In this walk of loving faith, what are some of the
characteristics we will see in our life?
Well, what did we see in the life of Jesus?
John 15:10, KJV: "If ye keep my
commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's
commandments, and abide in his love."
Ah. To abide in love, we imitate Jesus by keeping
his commandments the way he kept God's.
Where do we find these commandments? Scripture.
Scripture contained commandments to the people of Israel of who was Jesus, and what
we refer to as the Church Epistles, Romans through Jude contain the
commandments we as Christians are constrained to follow. We have the rest of
the Bible to learn why’s and wherefore’s as well.
So to walk in love we walk obediently.
Rom. 6:17: "But God be thanked, that ye
were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered you."
So much for the idea that as Christians we can
pretty much do whatever we want as long as it doesn't hurt anybody, 'cause it's
all grace, as some teach.
While regarding meat and drink and respect of days
this is true, living like Riley while others perish, using the resources of the
Church as our personal trust fund and using God's people to serve our own wants
and perceived needs is out.
Well, it is all grace, and after judgment, we will
as Christians be spared. But we still will have to account for things. You want
to face the fire of Jesus' judgment with a life made of stubble and hay?
Oh, Jesus walked in faith. We walk in love? Great.
We also want to walk in faith.
Heb. 12:1: "Looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God."
Jesus is the one who set the pattern for what we believe and how we act. After all, aren't those things the greater part of faith?
John 10:24-26: "Then
came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to
doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
"Jesus answered
them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name,
they bear witness of me.
"But ye believe
not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you."
Jesus' works bore
witness of who he was in God. Our works are also to bear witness to us.
John 14:12: "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he
do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."
Wow.
Of course, we've
rationalized that the "greater works" are calling people to salvation
in Christ.
While that may be a
"greater work," is it an excuse to not really believe, not really
expect that God will still work mighty deeds in the natural world?
Mark 16:16-20: "He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall
be damned.
"And these signs
shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they
shall speak with new tongues;
"They shall take
up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
"So then after
the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the
right hand of God.
"And they went
forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the
word with signs following. Amen."
That's right. One of the
last things Jesus told his people before ascending into heaven was how to tell
people really believed on him. When my daughter was bitten three times by a
copperhead and she prayed, with no swelling or poisonous reaction, people knew
that was hard to fake. When I walked out of the middle of a great big fireball
without a hair singed, well, I knew that no preacher faked a miracle.
When a friend's cancer
disappeared immediately after prayer, that was real.
For those two things,
which were only tiny fragments of what we and others we know have seen, we know
our faith is real. More important, we have seen the mighty hand of our God
these and other times too numerous to remember all at once.
Therefore, we know our
God is real. He has proven Himself, and in the wonders following real
believing,
We imitate God by
imitating Christ who brought the power of God to the people by believing God is
faithful to do what He promises.
He has promised our
lives can be, should be, supernatural.
We imitate Christ by
looking to the fulfillment of destiny, which will be manifested at the end
times.
For this we are to hope,
and in this hope, we are to have joy for the promises set before us.
Heb. 12:1: "Looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God."
Jesus, beginner and
finisher of our faith, endured because of the joy he had looking to his hope.
We imitate Jesus by looking at our hope, our joy.
1 John 3:1-2: "Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as
he is.
"And every
man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
Jesus knew he would come
unto great joy. We too know, and we imitate Jesus by weighing the consequence
of our actions not against immediate results, but against eternal results.
Now, right now, God is
our Father, He is the Father of Christians, of those who have His spiritual
DNA. But it is looking forward to the day that this won’t be hidden by our
natural bodies that gives us hope, that gives us endurance.
Faith. Love. Hope. Where
have we heard these three before?
Of course, the greatest
of these is the love. It is our motivating factor; it is our great
"why."
But of the heart, lungs
and brain, the brain is greatest. Since our knowledge of self is in the brain,
we might continue with a replacement heart, or one lung. What good would
transplanting another brain do you?
But your brain still
needs a heart and at least some part of a lung.
So it is that love needs
faith and hope, else why would we be told to bother with them?
We love, we obey, we
believe, we act, we hope.
In these things we
imitate Christ, and by so doing imitate our Father, giver of the gift of pnuema
hagion, our sonship spirit.
Does God love all men
and women and children?
You bet.
But beloved, He has
called us out not to be loved only, but to love. We can only truly do that well
by accepting His gift of sonship, for God is only the literal Father of those
who are truly His children.
Israel was adopted, but
Jesus begotten, and we are the many brethren Jesus is first of.
You don’t accept this
gift through Buddha or Confucius, by Mohammed or by Darwin. It does not even
come through Moses or John the Baptist.
You receive it only
through confessing Jesus as Lord and believing God raised him from the dead.
Then you are the sons of
God, then you can imitate God.
By doing these things
and by believing on Jesus the firstborn son, you can overcome, you can hope the
most, believe the most, love the most you can.
This is how you begin to
walk with God your Father, Father of Jesus, Father of the Christians.
Amen?
Amen!
C 2008
