Father pt iii

Luke 18:15-17 “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

whoever does not receive the kingdom as a child…

what is more childlike than the act of receiving?

especially here today on Mother’s Day

the reality is that there is no one that gives as much as a mother gives to her children

i know this first hand from my mom who continues to give of herself, not just to me but to many

i know this first hand from my mother in law who not only helped watch my kids when Jaime and I were away but did the kids laundry, and cooked us dinner when we arrived home!

i think the title mom, is synonymous with a request being made

Mom can i have, Mom where is, Mom can you…

and because of this as Mom’s it can be very easy to feel that all you do is give

and unfortunately often don’t know what it is to receive

but here today I want to communicate a principle for every mom here today, but also for every single one of us

because while this is so important for every mom to hear…

it is actually critical for every child, which is to say every one of us

that whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

this morning as we have each Sunday of this series we are going to begin with a prayer that Jesus prayed for our benefit

this prayer is being prayed very likely on Palm Sunday

beginning the week where He would be betrayed, denied, falsely accused, beaten and crucified.

and at this moment there are some men that want to come speak with Him, but His reply is this:

John 12:23–28 “And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.””

this morning I want to begin by reiterating something we have said many times

Jesus knew His purpose

He knew His why

and nothing He did was accidental

everything He did, every word, every action fulfilled His purpose

it fulfilled prophecy

and all that He did was put on display for us as humanity to see what it is to walk in relationship with The Father.

Purpose

and what Jesus very clearly stated in this moment was this

there is a price to be paid

He was not unaware of what would be required of Him to give

and as a result, Jesus, the Son of God, God Himself reveals that His Soul is troubled

i am always fascinated when we are given a glimpse into the humanity of Jesus

to know that Jesus Himself had moments where He felt the weight and heaviness of His calling

where He felt and knew what is was to walk through a trial of life and to experience the emotions that we know so well

and yet He says very clearly, although I could walk away from this in a moment, “not my will but yours Father be done”

He says no matter what I am facing, I know that THIS IS MY PURPOSE and this is why I am here

For The Father to be glorified.

and in response God Speaks audibly.

and Jesus goes on to say This voice has come for your sake, not mine

which shows just how normal this communication was for Jesus

but it also speaks to an even greater reality

That the way the Father is glorified is through His children

God the Father is saying through this audible response that the very life of Jesus has brought Him glory and yet there was more glory to come

but that glory was to come through the sacrifice of Jesus, through His death and resurrection

and what was the glory He was speaking about?

it was the glory of The Father, receiving back His children, through the Son.

it is to the glory of God that we were restored back to Him!

this is the heart of God! That His children would come home to Him!

do you know the joy of the Father when His children enter into relationship with Him?

just in case you don’t, I want to turn to this Old Testament passage

Isaiah 43:1–7 “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.””

and Jesus makes this possible.

How?

because He knows His Father

Therefore He knows His Father’s Heart

Therefore He knows His purpose

Being

don’t miss this today mothers and children (thats everyone btw)

the way we bring glory to God is by fulfilling our purpose

but we cannot do this unless we:

know the Father, who He really is

and we know His heart for us

i didn’t say it is hard to do this without it, I am saying it is impossible

because outside of this revelation, the best we can do, is just that we can “do things for God”

but God is not calling us to DO as much as He is calling us first to BE

very often we are more concerned with the DOING and He is much more concerned with the BEING

trust me when i tell you this morning, to God nothing you can do is more important to Him than you BECOMING and stepping into who He created you to BE

i am not going to read through it this morning but Luke 15 tells us the beautiful story of the prodigal son, where the end result for both the son who squanders everything and the brother who remains is far more about identity than their ability to live up to his requirements

i am not suggesting that what we do is not important to God, but I am saying that God makes it clear that it is secondary to operating out of who we are

so with this in mind this morning i want to say this morning that

what we do flows not out of who we have been created to be, but rather who we think we are

and it isn’t until these two realities become one that our lives truly produce what they are meant to produce, God being glorified

so the question becomes who are you really?

and do you know?

if you don’t this morning I am going to give you the secret

you may say this morning, I am a mother and i would say you cannot actually fulfill your purpose as a mother unless you are first a daughter

and yes while this is scientifically true (much to the disappointment of our culture who thinks anyone can be anything they want)

i am much more speaking about the spiritual reality

in order to fulfill the purpose of being a mother there is a requirement

it is that you first understand the significance of being a daughter

in the same way in order to fulfill the purpose of being a father there is a requirement of first understanding the significance of being a son

in fact, no matter who you were created to be, the example of Jesus is this.

unless you step into the reality of being a Son or Daughter you will not become who you were meant to be

and this in all honesty is likely more profound than some of you realize today

because it is a truth that must be experienced in order to truly accept

to explain lets look at the words of Paul speaking to unbelievers in the city of Athens, on Mars Hill

Acts 17:22–28 “So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”

you guys are very religious, you are trying the best way you know how

you have so many idols you have actually given up naming them

but I know the name of the god that you don’t yet know

He is the one true God

He gave life to everything

He gives life meaning and order

and through ONE MAN, Jesus, He has made a way that we can not just seek God, but actually find Him

He is not far from us, and then he uses the words of one of their poets and says

“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”

In Him

where do we find out who we are?

where do we find our being?

In Him only

for…we are His offspring

again the only way we know who we are is as HIS OFFSPRING (His Children)

this word being is significant

Being - (εἰμί) EIMI- (ee-mee) to exist, to happen, to be present

now it may not sound that profound until we understand that our being is not who we are at the moment

who has ever said or heard “you are being such a…”

fill in the blank, but maybe do it in your head

in that statement we are saying this is the way you are acting

if we felt you were always a jerk for instance we would say “you are such a jerk”

but in saying you are “being” we are talking about a current, and hopefully temporary state

and a lot of times this is how we judge others and ourselves

we make judgements based on what we currently see

and therefore we respond out of the temporary instead of the true identity

but this word being, in the context Paul uses it indicates the tense

and in this tense, as he uses it, conveys a timeless reality

it is the same word that Jesus uses in

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.””

which echoes Exodus 3:14 “God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”

I AM is the same word EIMI that conveys not a temporary reality (i.e. your being such a…)

but the reality of who YOU ARE

which means the only way you find out who YOU ARE is IN CHRIST as a SON or DAUGHTER

and it is only when we enter into this reality that we can truly live and move!

it is actually even better than that

Eternal reality

the reason why we need the true identity as His Sons and Daughters is because it would be one thing to say that this is who we have been created to be on earth

and having a mission and purpose on earth is beautiful

but this is why people often miss it, and spend years, and decades trying to find out their purpose

because they are limiting who they are to an earthly timeframe

the truth is:

who you are, you’re very being, being that it is IN HIM started before the earth was formed

Jeremiah 1:5 ““Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.””

it continues in the present

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

and will continue into eternity

to understand your being in the now… you must understand who you are IN HIM

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