{"id":95,"date":"2020-03-29T17:44:33","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T16:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/?p=95"},"modified":"2020-04-03T10:30:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T09:30:01","slug":"blog-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/blog-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Father, in Luke’s Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Blog\n2: Our Father Providing for His Children<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please\nquickly read again the previous blog, and if you wish, the bible passages I referred\nto there.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as we need to talk to\nmembers of our own families, we should also feel able to talk to God as often\nas we like. He is our Father, and it pleases Him to hear our voice. It is\nnatural for a child to think first of his own needs and wants, but our\nconversations with God should develop with experience. A baby screams until he\nis heard: may God teach us not to scream at Him; we should have got past that\nstage! The Lord Jesus teaches us about our relationship with the Father, by His\nown example, by parables, and by simple statements. At times when our faith is\nweak, someone might say \u201cYou tell me I have a Father who loves me very much,\nbut I can\u2019t see Him…..\u201d Jesus\u2019 reply to this is found in John 14 verses 7-9.\nIt is essential reading for every Christian. As we learn more about our Father\nin His Word, we can grow as his children into maturity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Now please turn to Luke Chapter 12, especially\nverses 4-7, 22-32. This is the focus of our study in Blog 2. It is only human\nfor us to be frightened sometimes, and yet the Lord Jesus tells the disciples\nthey have no need to be afraid:-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verse 4, of murder<\/strong>. If even each one of our hairs\nis counted, then the fate of our whole living body is of huge concern to God.\nRemember though that the death of our body is only \u201cgoing-to-sleep\u201d to Him, because\nit\u2019s the route through which we will awake in His presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verse 11, of arrest<\/strong>. Don\u2019t fearfully prepare your\nspeech of defence against the charge that\u2019s laid against you; God\u2019s Spirit will\ntell you what to say when the time comes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verse 22, of needing\nfood and clothing<\/strong>.\nThe ravens, the lilies and even the grass have their own beauty to Him, and are\nthe focus of His care. We, redeemed humans, on the other hand, are the pinnacle\nof God\u2019s creative brilliance so he will be sure to provide for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nLord\u2019s reasoning in these pictures is remarkable: our Father knows our needs\nand provides for them (but not necessarily our wants) every second of the day,\nwhich relieves us of the problem of worrying about them. Therefore we can\nconcentrate on \u201cmore important things\u201d. Remember\nhow God provided for the children of Israel in their journey to the Promised\nLand \u2013 the manna that was their food was entirely of His providing, and they\nweren\u2019t to worry about the next day\u2019s supply. But, they were responsible\nfor collecting it, and they were responsible for following the pillar of\ncloud! (Exodus 16).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nthen are those \u201cmore important things\u201d? He tells us in verse 31: \u201cBut seek the\nKingdom of God, and all these (other) things shall be added to you.\u201d Seeking\nthe Kingdom of God is a very inclusive description that Jesus used often, for\nthe life that you lead as a christian. It began the day you first believed. We\ncan imagine it as a journey, or as a job of work, but the best word for it is\nperhaps \u201cservice\u201d. Please read Luke 2\nverse 49. Mary and Joseph had lost their 12-year old son. When they did find\nHim, he had to remind them that actually He was God\u2019s Son! \u201cDid you not know\nthat I must be about my Father\u2019s business?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nLord Jesus\u2019 life was completely devoted to His Father\u2019s service. While it would\nnot be possible for us to please God completely like Jesus did for those 33\nyears as a perfect man, we should use Him as our example to follow. Whether we\nare aged 12 or 92 we can serve our Father faithfully. (Our Queen is busily\nserving her God in these difficult days aged 93!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord here in Luke 12 uses parables to illustrate how we can serve our heavenly Father. A parable is an earthly story to illustrate a heavenly meaning. We must take great care as we read them, not to put ourselves in the place of the characters in the Lord\u2019s story \u2013 which is not what He intended – but instead to ponder and learn the lessons from them. The stories can be violent, and that was His way to ensure the disciples should take the message in the parable very seriously. For example in the parable about the master who returns after a long absence, one servant is cut in two (v.46), and another is beaten with many stripes (v.47). This is an earthly scene, not something in the mind of God for His servants, however badly we may fail Him. Instead, there are some lessons to learn. We should be adding to our savings-account in the Bank of Heaven (v. 33). We should be busy, and ready for the Lord\u2019s return for us (v.36). We should not be lazy or selfish (v.45), but faithful (v.42). Perhaps the most extraordinary part of one of these parables is in v.37, where there\u2019s a role-reversal: the servants enjoy the feast and the master becomes a waiter! Did the Lord really mean that He would treat faithful Christians like that one day when they are in heaven with Him? Please read John 13 verse 3-5, where the Lord took a towel and washed the disciples\u2019 feet. He took the place of a servant, illustrating the work of salvation he would achieve on the cross for them in a few hours’ time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nLord Jesus is unique. John 3 verse 16 reminds us that God \u201cgave his only begotten Son\u201d,<\/em> or, \u201cHis one and only Son\u201d. <\/em>That uniqueness will never change, but\nbecause of His work on the cross, His Father can also become our Father. The\nday that Jesus rose from the grave, He gave this message for the disciples to\nMary: \u201cI am ascending to my Father and\nyour Father….\u201d  (<\/em>John 20 verse 17).This statement confirms that our close\nrelationship with our Father is not just for now. It will continue unbroken\nafter our life is finished on earth. There is much more in the New Testament\nabout the future reward waiting in heaven for those who live faithful lives. Some\nof these passages emphasise the close oneness between Christ and His church\nthat will one day be displayed to all creation, notably in heaven itself. Another\ntheme is that the church is the most wonderful gift that the Father could give\nto the Son that He loves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nearly chapters of Luke\u2019s Gospel are much concerned with the future Kingdom of\nGod on earth. In a future day, Christ will indeed reign on earth, but our relationship\nwith him is eternal, and has already begun. It is deeper, higher and greater\nthan any earthly scene, even that future one. The christian\u2019s inheritance (2\nCorinthians 5, verse1) is permanent like a building, not temporary like a tent,\n\u201ceternal in the heavens\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nhope to explore the christian\u2019s inheritance from our Father in Heaven in the\nnext blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog 2: Our Father Providing for His Children Please quickly read again the previous blog, and if you wish, the bible passages I referred to…<\/p>\n

Continue readingOur Father, in Luke’s Gospel<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}