Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Matthew 6:9a "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven."
OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN
The religious leaders of Jesus' day told Him: " . . . we have one Father -- God." Were they right in saying that God was their Father? Consider Jesus' reply to them. "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me." Here then is the simple test to determine whether a person has the right to call God his Father. What do they think of Jesus? Do they love Him, or do they hate Him? All those who can rightly call God their Father are lovers of Jesus. Of course, this love of Jesus is not just some kind of mystical or sentimental nonsense they have convinced themselves of, but it is a love of Jesus as He is described in the Bible. It is a love of Jesus that submits to the teaching of Jesus and bases its beliefs about Jesus on what Jesus and His apostles have said about Him.
In fact true love of Jesus is possible only where there is true faith in Jesus as One sent from God as our Savior. Listen to the apostle Paul's words to the Galatians, chapter three: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Who, then, are the sons of God who can rightly call their Father? Those who have faith in Christ Jesus. The fruit of faith in Christ Jesus is love for Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus and those who love Jesus are the same people, and these are the ones who can call God their Father. They are the ones who have been born of God. One way in which this spiritual birth takes place is baptism. Those who have been baptized into Christ, whether as children or adults, "have put on Christ." That is, although they are evil by nature and do not dare to claim God as their Father on the basis of their own goodness, Christ and His righteousness have been given to them as a covering. Their sins are forgiven, for the righteousness of Christ in all its perfection has been given to them and is now counted as theirs.
What about those who do not believe in Jesus and do not love Him? Jesus' answer is sharp and blunt: "You are of your father the devil" (John 8:44).
