Whose Father?

Philippians 2

The Apostle Paul is calling us to embrace a life of self-giving self-emptying love.  He says if there is any encouragement, if there is any consolation, if you have received any good thing, by bearing the name of Jesus Christ, then be of the same mind. Don’t do anything out of selfishness but give of yourself for each other. Love each other courageously. Love each other sacrificially. This isn’t just Paul’s own ideas. He lifts up Jesus as the prime example.

 Jesus is the incarnate God. Christ existed from the beginning of time but Jesus was born as a human in Bethlehem. Jesus was the embodied realization of the Eternal Christ which is the second person of the holy trinity.  This Jesus who was God in human form, Paul says, did not exploit equality with God, but made himself like a slave.  He was a servant to all. Jesus could have commanded Heavenly armies; Jesus could have led a huge earthly following. Jesus could have been an earthly king but he rejected all of that to teach us Gods way; to teach us self-emptying love.  Jesus had an earthly father who raised him, that was Joseph. Jesus has a heavenly father who is the first person of the Trinity God the father. When we have faith in Jesus Christ, when we believe in him, we receive the power to be children of God.

God is our father.

About 5 years ago I spent the weekend in prison with Pastor Bob Henning.  We were there to share with a select group of inmates who showed receptivity to the Gospel, an experience of unconditional love while teaching about our Jesus.  These guys weren’t hearing about Jesus for the first time.  These guys were ones that were already reading the bible.  In fact, a few of them knew the bible very well.  That is how they devoted their available time.  Studying the scripture, finding hope in those wonderful words that reveal how God loves us.  These guys were the ones most trusted by the guards.  These guys were a family.  I have to tell you I did not like the experience of being in a prison.  The layers of security it takes to get through just to get in makes it very clear that getting out quickly is not a possibility.  And while you are on the inside the utter lack of security for any individual is even more disconcerting. The inmates far outnumber the guards.  We had a lot of instructions.  A lot of “what to do if…” situations. The one situation that sticks with me was what one of the guards said of the guys selected to take part in this weekend program. He said that if there is a riot, these guys would give their lives protecting us because it means so much to them that someone from the outside would come and give of their time to be in that place with them. 

It was a partnership of self-sacrificial love.  We risked our comfort, security to be in that dark place and they were willing to sacrifice their safety to preserve what was being offered. 

Is there a place where we feel uncomfortable going to share God’s love?

This past week D’Ann and I went visiting the neighborhood.  Along the way there was some discussion about who to visit and who to not.  Ultimately it was only time that prevented us from visiting anyone.  We stopped at every house in our path, including one that was beyond a sign that said something like “Keep out.” Or “Private Property”

We learned that when surprised at home most people cannot come up with any examples of needs in the community.  We learned that it would have been valuable if we had a better grasp of the Spanish language.

During that weekend in prison, there was one practice that the insiders had that I liked.  One of the guys started the Lord’s Prayer by asking “Whose father?” then the rest would respond with “Our Father, who art in heaven…”

The Lord’s Prayer is not just words to be recited but truth to be savored. The parenthood of God to each of us is a reality we can live into.  It’s a reality that those guys reflected in their prayer life and in their actions.

Whose father?  Our father. We are all brothers and sisters under the fatherhood of God. We are each blessed with gifts from the father and those gifts are intended to lift up his whole family. We are given the commission to go out and make new disciples or to say it another way to go and make new siblings. 

We pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  Our Fathers will is done when we go and make more disciples, teaching them all that we have learned. When we live in a manner that is self-emptying, when we love in a way that is self-sacrificial, that is when our Fathers will is done. When we are all brothers and sisters under the same god when we are all loving sacrificially, when we are all living in a way that is self-emptying no one will have to worry about where they will find their daily bread.

When we can let go of hurts and forgive, we are free to love.  When we can confess that we have wronged another and receive forgiveness from god and from others we are freed from the guilt and fear that hold us back from giving of ourselves completely.

The good news today is that we have a good God who wants to carry the good news about Jesus Christ to every person.  To be a light in the darkness.  Our God wants to use his children to transform this world.  Our God wants to heal our brokenness so that His love is evident. 

Jesus defines family as those who does the Father's will.
Biology has little to do with it. 

And to what end?  What is the purpose of all this.  Paul says it at the end of the passage we read today.  He says that we should have the same mind that was in Christ.  Christ is our example.  God the Father exulted Jesus, lifted him up; glorified him.  Those who are in Christ will have Christ’s righteousness imparted to them.  And so we are glorified in Christ.  And why was Christ glorified?

“So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and to the glory of God the Father.”

Whose father?

Our father; Jesus’ father; the father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the father of many generations that came before us and many that will follow us.

So, how is it with you today?  Have you experience the self-emptying love that glorifies God?  If you haven’t, you can experience it by demonstrating it.