Jesus What Jesus Taught About God the Father

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What Jesus Taught about God as Father byStanford E. Murrell

One of the great works Christ came toaccomplish was to reveal the Father to men.Would you like to know something about God as Father? Then consider the followingrevelation of Him from the lips of the Lord.The points are arranged in a chronologicalmanner according to the prescription of Christ’s teaching.

1.

Through good works in the lives of believers the Father is glorified inheaven.

Matt 5:16

Let your light soshine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

~*~

Work for the night is coming,Under the sunset skies;While their bright tints are glowing,Work, for daylight flies.Work till the last beam fadeth, Fadeth toshine no more; Work, while the nigh isdark’ning, When men’s work is o’er

.

~*~

Annie L. Coghill2.

By living out the ethics of the kingdomof heaven as outlined in the Sermonon the Mount, individuals arerecognized as the children of theFather

. Matt 5:45

That ye may be thechildren of your Father which is inheaven: for he maketh his sun to rise onthe evil and on the good, and sendethrain on the just and on the unjust.

“Grace is the good pleasure of God thatinclines him to bestow benefits upon theundeserving. It is a self-existentprinciple inherent in the divine natureand appears to us as a self-causedpropensity to pity the wretched, sparethe guilty, welcome the outcast, andbring into favor those who were beforeunder just disapprobation. Its use to ussinful men is to save us and make us sittogether in heavenly places todemonstrate to the ages the exceedingriches of God's kindness to us in ChristJesus.” A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)3.

The Father is perfect in every way

.Matt 5:48

Be ye therefore perfect, evenas your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

“There are some again to whomthe idea of a God perfect as they couldimage Him in love and devotion andtruth, seems, they say, too good to betrue; such have not yet perceived that noGod anything less than absolutelyglorious in loveliness would be worthbelieving in, or such as the human soulcould believe in.” George Macdonald(1824-1905)§ On Christmas Day 1968, the threeastronauts of Apollo 8 circled the dark side of the moon and headed for home.Suddenly, over the horizon of the moonrose the blue and white Earth garlandedby the glistening light of the sun againstthe black void of space. Thosesophisticated men, trained in science andtechnology, did not utter Einstein'sname. They did not even go to the poets,the lyricists, or the dramatists. Only onething could capture the awe-inspiringthrill of this magnificent observation.Billions heard the voice from outer spaceas the astronaut read it

: "In thebeginning God

" —the only conceptworthy enough to describe thatunspeakable awe, unutterable in anyother way

. "In the beginning God created" —

the invasive, the inescapablesense of the infinite and the eternal. The

Perfect One who has done all thingswell.

4.

The Father properly rewardsappropriate religious behavior

Matt6:1,4

Take heed that ye do not your almsbefore men, to be seen of them:otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven

…

That thinealms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shallreward thee openly

.

§

There is a marble tablet set into theoutside walls of Plymouth’s High StreetChapel, bearing these remarkable words:

Erected by Friends As a Memorial of their esteem and respect for

JOHN POUNDS

Who, while earning his livelihood By mending shoes, gratuitously Educated And, in part, clothed and fed Some hundreds of Poor Children He died suddenlyOn the first of January, 1839 Aged 72 years.‘Thou shalt be blessed

: —

For theyCannot Recompense thee.’

The Father is pleased when good worksare done in secret.

5.

The Father encourages privateprayer

. Matt 6:6 But thou, when thouprayest, enter into thy closet, and whenthou hast shut thy door, pray to thyFather which is in secret; and thy Fatherwhich seeth in secret shall reward theeopenly. “Prayer pulls the rope below andthe great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for theypray so languidly. Others give but anoccasional pluck at the rope. But he whowins with heaven is the man who graspsthe rope boldly and pulls continuously,with all his might.” C.H. Spurgeon

6.

The Father knows what every heartand life needs and promises to meetour needs so that we do not have toworry

. Matt 6:8

Be not ye therefore likeunto them: for your Father knowethwhat things ye have need of, before yeask him

. The word

worry

comes fromthe Greek word

merimnao,

acombination of two words—

merizo

,which means

to divide

, and

nous

whichrefers to the mind. Worry thereforemeans

to divide the mind.

The Bible saysthat

A double-minded man is unstable inall his ways.

(James 1:8)§ In the spring of 1871, a young manread twenty-one words that changed hislife. As a medical student at theMontreal General Hospital he wasworried about final examinations andbeyond that where he should establishhis medical practice. Thomas Carlylewrote the words that changed WilliamOsler, a founder of Johns HopkinsSchool of Medicine. These are thetwenty-one words:

Our main business isnot to see what lies dimly at a distance,but to do what lies clearly at hand.

TheFather has promised to meet our needs athands. The future can wait withoutworry.

7.

There is an appropriate way to speakto the Father

. Matt 6:9

After thismanner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thyname

. The proper way to speak to God iswith respect to His holiness and Hishonor. The Father is in heaven and Hisname is holy. “We can seek God andfind Him! God is knowable, touchable,hearable, seeable, with the mind, the

hands, the ears, and eyes of the innerman. (A.W. Tozer 1897-1963)

8.

The Father will forgive sins on thesame basis that others are forgiven

.Matt 6:14

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father willalso forgive you:

Matt 6:15

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

(cp. Matt. 18:21-35; Mark 11:25,26)Lord Edward Herbert, an English journalist, said,

He who cannot forgiveothers breaks the bridge over which hemust pass himself, for every man hasneed to be forgiven.

~*~

Forgiveness is the fragranceof the flower that clings tothe heel that crushes it.

~*~

9.

The Father welcomes sincereexpressions of serious devotion such asfasting

. Matt 6:18

That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, whichseeth in secret, shall reward thee openly

.Such spiritual counsel is needed becausethere is a temptation to want others toknow just what we have done for Christand for the Church. The heart is acauldron of pride and humility. It wantsto be humble, but finds subtle ways toshow off. Those who seek to be humblebefore men can be assured that theFather will one-day honor their endeavorfor humility is so foreign to the fallenheart. “Take delight in being unknownand unregarded. A true understandingand humble estimate of oneself is thehighest and most valuable of all lessons.To take no account of oneself, butalways to think well and highly of others, is the highest wisdom. ... We areall-frail; consider none more frail thanyourself.” Thomas a Kempis,(

Leadership,

Vol. 3, no. 3.)

10.

The Father has a tender regard fornature

. Matt 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do theyreap, nor gather into barns; yet yourheavenly Father feedeth them. Are yenot much better than they? “The longer Ilive, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairsof man; and if a sparrow cannot fall tothe ground without his notice, is itprobable that an empire can rise withouthis aid?” Benjamin Franklin

11.

The Father does not want theChristian to worry, but to trust Himand seek first spiritual matters

. Matt6:32,33

(For after all these things do theGentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all thesethings. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and allthese things shall be added unto you

.§ In one of his prayers in the US Senate,Peter Marshall prayed

, “O Lord, forgiveus our ulcers, the badges of our anxietiesand insecurities.”

12.

The Father knows how to give goodgifts to His children

. Matt 7:11 If yethen, being evil, know how to give goodgifts unto your children, how much moreshall your Father which is in heaven givegood things to them that ask him? Thegifts of God include eternal life and theindwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.(cp. Luke 11:13) For these gifts of divinegrace we must pray, as did Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215).

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