What Is God's Name? (Part 4)

We've been talking here about God's name as Father (we'll look at God's other names later).  We said that we can let God, as a perfect Father, define

The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit

I come from a tradition that didn't emphasize the Spirit's work except as extra power we used to avoid sin.  But the more I study, the more I realize that sin-avoidance only one small part of what the Spirit is about.  The "Third Person of the Trinity" as the Spirit is called by theologians, is the mind

Face to Face (part 2)

Experts say 90% of communication is non-verbal -- that is, not the words themselves, but the vocal inflection, timing, and the facial and bodily expressions that go with the words.  This is why I'd rather see my wife while we talk, than just speak on the phone, as I can understand more of what she's saying.

John, the apostle, seems to have known Jesus best of the twelve.  He wrote his gospel to comment on Jesus' divinity and how he reveals the Father to us.  John writes in chapter 1 verse 1, that "In the beginning the Word already existed.  The Word was with God, and the Word was God."  The word "with" in English indicates being next to, or participating; but that's far too simple a thought here.  It is translated from the Greek "pros" which has the idea of connection, nearness and intimacy.  It means, in this usage, something like "face to face with."  John takes it even farther in verse 14, when the Word (who became human, now obviously speaking of Jesus) is called "the Father's one and only Son."  So John is painting a portrait here of a Being who is God, who is also face-to-face with God, and who also became human. 

Verse 18 is also powerful:  "No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us."  The Greek here says "God the one and only" or "God the uniquely begotten one".  That's the one we know now as Jesus; who as the eternal Word, became a human being just like us and showed us who and how the Father really is. The Hebrew writers and prophets described God as best they could; but human language was just not good enough.  God himself came to be with us and let us see him, to supply all the information that language alone couldn't provide (among other reasons).

Jesus was giving the disciples a deeper understanding of his relationship with the Father in John 14.  He said to Philip in verse 9, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?"  So when we want to understand who God really is, what he's really saying, we look at Jesus.  Jesus was and is God, not just a prophet; so what he shows us is more complete than what was said before.  There is no other "God" hiding behind Jesus' back.  There aren't two different faces to God, the God of anger and judgment on one hand and the God of love in Jesus on the other -- that's our own misunderstanding of the scriptures.  There isn't any other mysterious 'plan of God' besides Jesus.  Jesus is the One who brings out in detail the full plan and purpose of God from creation:  that is, to be with us, to save us from all our sins and failings and to get us close to him so he can show us what real life and real love are about -- forever!


Jesus was and is God's equivalent, for us, of all the non-verbal communication cues that we use in trying to understand others.  His life and teachings, in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, are there to help us get face-to-face with God and understand him.  So let's continue to look to him (Heb. 12:1-2) until we actually get to see him with our own resurrected eyes.  More on that next time.

Daddy

The picture many of us have of God is often one of a stern, harsh ruler, ready to 'take us out' at our next infraction. Some see the OT God as some sort of angry authority figure, balanced out by his really nice and loving son Jesus. The angry God sent the Son, the idea goes, to be punished because of us -- sort of like the vicarious 'whipping boy' employed by royalty when the prince messes up.

But we need to remember that God is one (Deut. 6:4, etc). So there is no difference between the God of the Hebrew scriptures and the God of the Greek New Testament. Whether we think of the Father or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, the passions and love and desires of God are the same.

Jesus referred to God as his Father. To do so in a personal sense was unheard of in Israel's thinking. Observant Jews of his day would not have dared claim God as a Father. But Jesus did!

He told us to pray to "Our Father" in a personal way (Matt. 6:9). So he was opening up that relationship of love and acceptance, tenderness and grace, on a personal level, for the first time.

The Father wants us to experience that relationship with him, not just learn about it in some sort of classroom way. Paul uses some OT verses to construct a new thought in 2 Cor 6:18: "And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." The Father is serious about being our Father, and he wants us to accept our status as his children. He thinks of us as his children, and he wants us to think of him as Father.

Those of us who are fathers know how much we want to be Daddy to our kids. We desire to be close to our children emotionally, to have a deep relationship with them. That's just what the Father says to us also. His love for us was so strong that, before the universe existed, he knew he would have to sacrifice his own self, through the Son, to bring us into intimacy with him: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life"(John 3:16).

God has already made that move. We already belong to him as his children and he yearns for us to have that same intimacy with him. That relationship already exists, whether we see it or not. But the experience of it is up to us. How about it? Will you run into his arms and call him Daddy? It will change your life forever.

Separation Anxiety

The Lovely Joanne is gone this week on business, and her daughter (Mimi the cat) misses her tremendously. So do I, but the cat tends to express it in different ways like walking around the house meowing as though I had taken away her food bowl. In the middle of the night. Separation anxiety is a terrible thing!

You probably know where I'm going with this. Whenever we humans go our own way and try to make life turn out the way we want, on our own steam, we're turning our backs on the one Source of life, happiness and peace. Well, guess what? Anxiety results! By trusting ourselves, instead of God, we not only are unsuccessful in our pursuits, but we live anxious and unsettled lives.

The wonderful message of the Incarnation, celebrated this time of year with Advent and Christmas, is that God has come to be with us in the person of his Son Jesus; and has permanently erased that separation. Jesus said in Matthew 11:27 “No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Jesus came to show the Father to all of us wandering people (John 14:6-11).

To make the truth even more amazing, Jesus said "When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you" (John 14:20; also John 17:21). His being "in" the Father, and our being "in" him, is no mere wordplay; it is a word picture of the intimacy, the closeness, the bond of love, that the Father and the Son have for us, as expressed through the Holy Spirit's mind in us. The Father's intention, as delivered through his Son's life on earth as he brought all of creation back to himself, was and is for us to be in complete unity and intimacy with him again, forever.

The holiday seasons can be lonely times as we miss the companionship of loved ones, or wish for closeness with others and see it missing from our lives. Jesus came that we might never have to be truly lonely again. He wants us to know the love of the Father and never be without it. So if you know those who, this time of year or any time, are feeling lost, left out or alone, why not find a way to help them know that love of God for them? As you call or write, visit and sit with them or help with chores, you're expressing to them the love that God sent into the world through his Son, and continuing the Son's work in the world. That love flowing through you will increase your own closeness to the Father, too.