Hi Everyone
Here are last Friday's notes. You can download or listen to the audio here.
Do share it as you are blessed!
Chris
God Wants Relationship with His Sons
par·a·digm
/ˈparəˌdīm/
Noun
- A typical example or pattern of something; a model.
- A worldview underlying the theories and methodology of a particular scientific subject.
Many of us as Christians need a paradigm shift pertaining to how we see God. For starters, we are not lab rats nor guinea pigs. God did not put us here on earth to test us and see if we could comply to a certain moral or “Christian” code of ethics for life. It was really all about a rescue mission. From the day Adam sinned, there was a promise of a Saviour who would come to us.
Genesis 3:14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” (NKJV)
The Bible is this story playing out, how God sought for His people, in spite of their wayward nature, the possibility of them destroying themselves, the difficulty in getting them back on track till it was the right time for Christ to come.
Christianity is not about moral standards or good ethics. It’s all about the Love of God reaching out to Man, which changes those who hear, receive and respond to His love.
God loves His Creation more than we can ever hunger and have a heart for Him. He is the one who first had a heart for us!
The story of Joseph’s treatment of his brothers in the book of Genesis largely parallels how our Lord treats us.
Genesis 50: 15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” 16 So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, 17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. (NKJV)
Joseph’s brothers were deathly afraid of Joseph taking revenge for what they did to him. They did not dare approach him personally after the death of Jacob. Instead, they sent messengers to convey a message of how Jacob had begged for their forgiveness on their behalf. This caused Joseph, who meant only for good, who wanted only relationship with his kin, to weep in sadness.
In like fashion, God went at the greatest expense to win us back into His presence, for Him and us to be one again. The worst thing we can do to this offer is to fear the one who opened the way and forgo a relationship with Him.
Genesis 50:18 Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 21 Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (NKJV)
Joseph was a soft-hearted man. What broke his heart more was that they would doubt his forgiveness. As a typology of Jesus, I think we also break His heart when we doubt His goodness!
This is the same for the Lord. When we continue to doubt His goodness, how He had suffered and died for us yet, we doubt it and wonder if He is still angry with us and continually beg for His forgiveness.
We need to believe for His goodness. We need to come to Him directly, not like Joseph's brother's who sent messengers.
Like our Lord, Joseph only wants relationship, only wants goodness and kindness on His brethren. He was not interested in making them into his servants. Likewise, this is true for our Lord. He is not keen on making us into His servants to serve Him, for this is not the heart of love. He Himself said this in John 15:14.
Our Lord is kind and tenderhearted. He gave it all to restore us.
Matthew 13:44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (NKJV)
There are two parables here: the first one speaks of how a man sought treasure which was the Kingdom of Heaven. When he found it, he sold all for this, to have the treasure of the Kingdom. This is how we should be seeking God. The second one speaks of the Kingdom being “like a merchant”. The Kingdom of Heaven is seeking us, the pearl of great price, and is willing to plunder Heaven to purchase this pearl! God sent His very best, His own Son, to pay for us with His own blood! The Kingdom of Heaven indeed sought out Man at the greatest expense.
So Why Don't We See This?
The fallen mind, the flesh, not the spirit. We need to see more in the Spirit, walking by faith.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (NKJV)
God’s Words are Spirit and are Life.
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (NKJV)
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (NKJV)
We see condemnation only when we walk in the flesh. There is no condemnation when we walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (NKJV)
We who have begun in the Spirit can never be perfected by external influences, by codes of conduct, by anything in the five senses. We can only be perfected by the same way we got saved - God’s love, that causes us to repent, to change our minds and see things God’s way.
God Is After Our Hearts
Now the Father has opened His lavish invitation to us all. He won’t violate our wills. The only thing He needs from us is a response from our hearts!
1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (NKJV)
God is interested in our heart, our attitudes, our beliefs, not what we want to show the world on the outside.
Who we are is marked by how we act when we are under less or no constraints.
Proverbs 17:3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests the hearts. (NKJV)
In many parts of scriptures, we see that God is interested only in the hearts of men: our priorities and our pursuits. Those who put God and the things of eternal in priority and pursue them, these are the ones God looks for.
Seek to Know God with Your Heart
Isaiah 55:1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. (NKJV)
If we hunger and thirst and are not satisfied with the things of this world, we come to the one true God and our soul will delight in abundance.
John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (NKJV)
It is all about thirst, not about behaviour. The thirst will determine the first action of belief. The fruits will show thereafter. Sometimes, we Christians are too eager to try to get people to behave “like Christians” first, before belief and renewal of mind take place.
John 4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (NKJV)
Only Jesus fulfills. Everything else we try will leave us thirsty again. Once we find this treasure, we can go ahead and sell all other treasures for this, as it will NEVER leave you thirsty.
Jesus satisfies. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Revelation 21:6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. (NKJV)
Simple conclusion: don't thirst and you don't get the water of life.
Many of us aren't thirsty or are drinking every other thing that leaves us dissatisfied. We need to realise up front and early that we are eternal beings living for the eternal, then we start to go for the things that are eternal - living water, not diet Coke which kills!
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (NKJV)
Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. 10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. (NKJV)
This is like Matt 6:33. We must taste.
Paradigm 1
God needs us to conform to certain “Christian” behaviour before He looks on us with favour
He gets displeased (perhaps even angry?) with our wrong behaviour/actions
Life here is a test – every situation is God trying me to see how I react/behave (lab rat)
I will go to Heaven to be with Him after I die, but life here is up to God, according to His sovereign will (good and bad)
Paradigm 2
Jesus IS the way (John 14:6)
God loves us at the cost of His Son to rescue us
God IS in us, one with us already because of this!
He is not making it hard, but in fact easy – needs us to realize the above
He longs for us to know Him, to have a relationship with Him
The decision is ours, to know Him more daily in His Word
I am enjoying eternal life already, blessed as a son
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