The Father and the Contest — these words are part of being a believer in Christ. When I become a Christian, I enter into a relationship and regiment. I am part of the family of God and also a soldier in the Army of the Cross.
These days we seem get a lot of information, a lot of communication, on what it means to be a son or a daughter, but precious little is taught about being a warrior. This is what I would call a false balance and the book of Proverbs says that such thing is an abomination. That big word carries a weightiness about it and it should. But at its core the word is defined as something that drags man down. Man was made to be sublime; that is, God designed him to reign. Anything that pulls man beneath his dignity, anything takes below his status as the king of the earth he made to be, is abomination. So it is with any false balance.
Balance in our lives involves being rightly related and also ready to fight. For this reason, we get both pictures of home and fortress in describing the roles of the Church in the world.
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray for John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray. Jesus said when you prayer begin this way: “Our Father.” The sense of the fatherhood of God was a new one. Israel had been addressed this way at several points in the Old Testament, but the message did not get through. God revealed Himself to Moses as I AM THAT I AM or Yahweh. This personal name for the LORD marked a departure from the name Elohim that had been the common moniker used among the people of Abraham. God was speaking as the I AM to HIs people who are.
Christ entered the world to bring the reality of God’s Personhood to full fruition. Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Word that was, is, and always will be, confined Himself to a human body subject to all the ordinances and laws governing creation. God became one of us so that He could perish as one of us. It was the grand design of redemption.
The Father — this is who God is to us. Jesus emphasized this to HIs Apostles and we read this throughout the writings of John. It should not surprise us that John penned these pictures for us to read. He among all the Apostles kept himself close to his Master always. He, his brother James, and Peter were privy to things the other Apostles were not. John was there when Jairus’ daughter was called back from the dead. John was there on the Mount when Jesus was transfigured into Light and counseled by the resurrected forms of Moses and Elijah. John was there leaning upon Jesus at the supper before the day of the Cross, staying near the heart of the Teacher as He expounded the reality of the new relationship that grace, truth, and the Spirit would bring to those called out into Heaven’s flock. John lived longest of the Apostles. He lingered into his 90s while the others were cut down by tyrants and persecutors. This blessing of years that John perhaps saw as something of a curse at times gave him more time to ponder and consider the Way.
It was John who related to us how Jesus prayed to the Father for HIs disciples to experience the fullness of being One with Him and so also being One in the Father. It was John who also spoke of those whom he discipled in the faith of Christ as little children. He admonished them to keep themselves from idols.
Father God, Abba, Daddy, Dad, Papa. These terms of endearment and closeness say something to every heart. Relationship, not religion, is the key to living for God. Jesus put this point before the legalists dominating Jewish life in the Roman era. He healed on the Sabbath and created conflict with traditions that obscured the face of God with ceremony and ritual. The Pharisee treated their animals better than the congregants in their synagogues. Mercy and justice and care and compassion represented the weighty things of God’s Law. In centering the heart on these, one could follow the commandments with clarity and alacrity.
Jesus reduced true religion to three very simple rules: Hear God, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. All of these things involve relationship. Listen, Jesus said. This is the starting point. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Listen and be equipped to love God and your neighbor. Hear what the Father speaks and let it sink deeply into your heart and become part of your frame of reference.