His Children

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that we are!" 1 John 3:1
I have thought much about the truth stated in this verse this past week... the depth of belonging that is signified when God calls us His children. There are many children that have been part of my life to varying degrees over the years of my adult life. About 30 of them have been foster children in our home. As many or more homeless youth have been under our roof as well. All are recipients of a warm bed, hot meals, a listening hear, a hug of encouragement and some "motherly" advice. Yet, there are only four children in my life that I call "my children": Rebekah, Jonathan, Daniel and Stephanie. What is it that makes that distinction and bestows on these four children alone that position? I believe it is the greatness of the love that I have for these four children. I care about all the children that live in my home, but it is only my four children that I love to the depths of my heart.
What an honor to be called a "child of God." All people are recipients of a beautiful creation, air to breath, the fruit of the earth to eat and God's revelation through His Word. Yet only some are given the "right to become children of God" (John 1:12). Oh the depths of His love for us who are called "God's children." "God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) Is that the ultimate demonstration of love, a love that leads God to call us His children?

Spiritual Piety

In Luke 5, Jesus called Levi, the tax collector, to follow Him. This immediately caused a stir. The religious could not fathom why, if Jesus was truly who He was making Himself out to be, He would call to the low life. The religious, who saw themselves as the righteous, did not consider mixing with the unrighteous... the sinners. Why did Jesus cross these lines? If those people wanted to become like the righteous, they could clean up their act and then come over to the other side of life. Jesus had the opposite perspective. He, who was here to offer forgiveness of sin, was not about standing by waiting for the sinners to clean up their act so he could offer them a new life. No, He came to "call sinners to repentence." (v. 31) He wasn't about calling the righteous. Those who already thought they were righteous didn't think they needed a Savior. Jesus equates it to a healthy person not needing a doctor. A person could be truly sick, yet think they are healthy and thus not realize their need for a doctor. Spiritually we are all sinners (Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10), yet we think we are righteous and thus we don't think we are in need of a Savior. Beware of this spiritual piety. Pray that we may see ourselves as we truly are: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." (Luke 18:13) Only then can the true work of regeneration begin.

The Opportune Time

After the time that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan (Luke 4:1-13), Luke states that Satan left him (Jesus) until an opportune time. What are those times? I think they are the high times and the low times in our lives. When this story opens, Jesus has just been baptized in the Jordan River by John. It is Jesus "passage" into his formal years of ministry. The baptism is given further power and significance because God the Father and God the Holy Spirit show up as well. The Father doesn't just watch on from heaven, but speaks out audibly, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." The Spirit decends on Him in bodily form like a dove. This to me is the ultimate of spiritual intimacy within the Godhead. Jesus comes out of the water completely prepared for the task set before him...to bring salvation to the world. It is at this point that the Spirit led him out into the desert and Satan comes into the picture to tempt Jesus. The desert, the place where Satan puts Jesus spiritual intimacy with the Godhead to the test. Just as Satan's greed for power and status led to his fall in the heavenlies (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:12-19), he now tries to break up the Godhead by tempting Jesus to act independently of the Father and the Spirit. To satisfy His immediate needs himself, with the help of Satan. Jesus, still empowered by the Spirit, rebukes Satan with the words of God the Father all three times. "It is written...It is written...and It says..."
This story of Jesus in the desert also shows Satan's attach in the low times. Jesus had fasted for 40 days. The Bible says that he was hungry. That is a time of weakness. Physical weakness easily breeds spiritual weakness. Satan will look for any window of opportunity.
After Jesus rebuked Satan, verse 13 says, Satan left him until an opportune time. We must beware. The devil is a roaring lion seeking who he can devour. (1 Peter 5:8) Beware in the times we feel like we are spiritually imtimate and beware in the times that we are feeling worn out, tired, hungry and vulnerable. May the words of the Father be ever present on our hearts and tongues. "I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." (Psalm 119:11) May the fullness of His Spirit guard our hearts and minds so that we are prepared when the evil one thinks that it is the opportune time.

Dressed for the Wedding

"When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes." Matthew 22:11
Weddings are a great event in any culture. There are expected norms of food, form, and fashion worldwide. This rite of passage may be the most prominent between birth and death.
Spiritually, Jesus gives us the same picture. One day there is going to be a wedding feast (Revelation 19:6-9) for Jesus the Lamb to His bride, the church. It is to be a great event, there is expected form and fashion, and it is a mandatory spiritual rite of passage. Jesus told stories about this upcoming wedding so that people would be prepared. Like any wedding, it isn't something that is just wandered in to.
The story Jesus tells in Matthew 22 is about a wedding feast that a king put on for his son. It is much like the wedding feast that the King of the Universe will throw for His Son, Jesus the Lamb at the end of time. He talks about the people invited and how they came to the wedding. What happened at this earthly wedding is a good picture of what that heavenly wedding is going to look like when the day comes.
Everything was made ready for the wedding and the king sent out his servants to invite the guests, those who deserved to come. That was probably the people who came across as loyal subjects to the king. The "good" people of the land. Much to the king’s surprise, no one accepted his invitation. Every person either just outright refused, paid no attention because they were too busy and preoccupied with personal things or actually attacked the servants sent with the invitation. This was unheard of. In the same sort of way, Jesus often talked about “religious” people and the Jews who had been chosen in early history to be His people as rejecting, ignoring and even killing those that God had sent to tell them how to be ready for that heavenly wedding feast at the end of time. Woe to those of us who think we don't need to respond to the King of the Universe's invitation because we don't need or want it, we're just too busy or we have no tolerance for the King.
So, the king sent out his servants again. This time he sent them to anyone they could find anywhere. It didn’t matter their station in life, their reputation, or even where they were from. The response was just what was hoped for. The wedding hall was filled with guests. In the same way, Jesus gave the opportunity for everyone everywhere to become one of His chosen ones which he now calls His Church to participate in that heavenly feast at the end of time.
Now remember, all weddings have expected form and fashion and all the guests came to the wedding feast in Jesus’ story appropriately attired, except one. This one thought he could just show up however he happened to look at the time. Just him as he was. After all, he was doing the king a favor by just coming, wasn't he? We find otherwise. Jesus tells us that when the king arrived at the wedding feast to greet the guests, he noticed the one man who was not wearing wedding clothes. The king addressed him directly, "Friend, (this was a personal king!) how did you get in here without wedding clothes?" It was unthinkable to come to a royal wedding inappropriately dressed. What was he thinking? Jesus tells us that the man was speechless. He apparently thought he was OK just like he was. He was confident in himself. Well that didn’t fly. The king had no tolerance for the man who came with his own fashion. He ordered that the man be bound hand and foot and thrown outside, into the darkness, where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth because of the separation from the king himself, his feast, his kingdom and his graces.
The Bible tells us that on that day of the wedding feast of Jesus the Lamb, the King's Son, in the kingdom of heaven there will be those who will come in their own clothes. They will be the ones that say "but Lord, didn't I speak for you and didn’t I work for you?" They will be dressed in their own righteousness/goodness which is inappropriate for the royal wedding of the King’s Son. The King will have no tolerance for those who come dressed in their own righteousness or goodness. As in Jesus’ story, they will be thrown out where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth because of separation from the King Himself, His feast, His kingdom, and His graces. So what is considered appropriate dress for the coming royal wedding of the King’s Son in the kingdom of heaven? The Bible tells us that we must be dressed in garments that are bright, clean and white (Revelation 19:8). They have been "washed in the blood of the Lamb, the King’s Son, Jesus." (Revelation 7:14). They are not "clean" by anything we have done or said. It’s Jesus righteousness/goodness that clothes us before the King. Anything else, attempting to come dressed in our own righteousness, will only result in that same question: "How did you get in here without wedding clothes?"
The difference between those who remain at the wedding feast and those who are thrown outside is how they are dressed: in garments of their own righteousness (they are good enough in themselves) or garments of the King's righteousness and salvation (Jesus goodness/righteousness in place of themselves). The garments of the Kings can only be gotten from the King himself. We can't pay the price for them. Jesus paid it with his death on the cross. "Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that we might become or be clothed in the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) That's a guaranteed place at the wedding feast of Jesus the King's Son.
How are we dressed?

For His Name's Sake

"When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet He saved them for His name's sake, to make His mighty power known." (Psalm 106:7,8)
These people did nothing to encourage God's salvation. It wasn't even in their thought processes. They were totally self absorbed, even to the point of rebelling against what they knew of God. You can't get much more distant or put up a much higher wall.
God's actions are completely independent. He doesn't look for interest, for some softness of heart, or even some fleeting thought or remembrance of who He is. He acts solely because of who He is and who He is does not depend one bit on who we are and how we act. That is why He saves these people for His name's sake. That is: in order to uphold the character that His name represents. Then He also does it simply to make His power known. The whole Exodus is a tremendous display of God's power.
Praise God that His actions toward us are not dependent on us. He will call and draw us for His own name's sake. That He might be known to the world around us.
Oh God, make yourself known through me.

God's Faults?

"This is what the LORD says: 'What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? The followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.'" (Jeremiah 2:5) If you were to ask me if I find fault with God, I would definitely say no. "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless." (2 Sam. 22:31)
Yet when you look at my daily walk, there is some discrepancy in that answer. This manifests itself in the worry that my mind meddles in, the discouragement that I wallow in, the discontentment that I feed, and the frustration that influences my actions and responses.
I must find fault in God's trustworthiness (worry), that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (discouragement), His care and supply (discontentment), and His sovereignty (frustration).
Oh God, these manifestations are worthless and they make me worthless myself. Forgive my faultfinding. I want to live in light of who you are.

God's Faults?

"This is what the Lord says, 'What fault did your father's find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.'" Jeremiah 2:5

If you were to ask me if God has any faults, I would most definitely say no. David proclaims. "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless." (2 Sam. 22:31)

Yet when I think about my daily walk, I obviously find fault in God. This manifests itself in the worry that my mind meddles in, the discouragement that I wallow in, the discontentment I feed, and the frustration that controls my feelings and responses.

I must find fault in God's trustworthiness if I worry, that His is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine when I'm discouraged, His goodness, care and supply when I am discontent, and His sovereignty when I'm frustrated.

Oh God, these manifestations are worthless and I become worthless myself. Forgive my faultfinding. Restore to me the joy of my salvation; the child like faith.