{"id":97,"date":"2020-04-02T21:03:30","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T20:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/?p=97"},"modified":"2021-11-12T14:28:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T14:28:58","slug":"our-father-in-lukes-gospel-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lancastergospelhall.org.uk\/blog\/our-father-in-lukes-gospel-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Father, in Luke’s Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Blog 3: Our Father,\nand His Inheritance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blogging:<\/strong> Paul Coe has given us a long\nlist of valuable on-line ministry options to look up and feed on; something very\nhelpful for all of us, especially for those who may have to spend many hours\nquietly at home over the coming weeks. As I write this third blog, I\u2019m very\naware that such wisdom from bible scholars is way beyond my own ability to\nequal; yet blogging is different, and it has the great advantage that reader\nand writer share a close friendship and a knowledge of each other\u2019s\ncircumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We are going through an anxious time, and so\nwe have turned to Luke 12 and discovered the Lord giving us a dual remedy for\nfears: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. to rely on our\nheavenly Father to provide for our needs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. to focus on\nforward-looking service for Him so we don\u2019t have time to worry.<\/em> (Prayer for others is \u201cservice\u201d.\nWhen I was 16 I first noticed a long list on the kitchen worktop that my mum\nhad written: I thought it was a shopping list. \u201cNo, that\u2019s my prayer list\u201d she\nsaid. How long is my<\/strong> prayer list?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nstudying the bible to find out what the future holds for Christians after our\nlife on earth has finished, we should be careful to distinguish the events that\nwe will experience in heaven from those that are prophesied to take place on\nearth. In other words: \u201cIs this verse or\npassage talking about heaven, or on earth?\u201d <\/em>Please look at the following\nwebsite, as recommended by Paul Coe: https:\/\/www.preciousseed.org\/<\/a> . Find February 2020, Vol.75, page\n12, an article on \u201cThe Church and the Millennium\u201d (just before Lloyd\u2019s article\non the Tribe of Gad.) Here, Ian Jackson tells us about the reign of the Lord\nJesus on earth. But he reminds us that in that day the Church, the Bride of\nChrist, will appear coming down to the earth from her own sphere, HEAVEN, the\nhome of the Father! Ian finishes with John 17 verse 22, which speaks of the\nglory that the Lord Jesus has chosen to share with them – His Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s\na song that was very popular among Christians in the late 20th<\/sup>\ncentury; it came from the negro-spiritual tradition. The first line was: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis world is not\nmy home, I\u2019m just a-passing through…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

… my treasure\u2019s\nall laid up somewhere beyond the blue\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those\nwords were based on Luke 12 verse 32-34. The Lord said \u201cWhere your treasure is,\nthere your heart will be also\u201d. This savings-account in the Bank of Heaven is\ngoing to be waiting for us to claim. How will we enjoy it? How is it being\nlooked after in the meantime?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In My Father\u2019s\nHouse<\/strong>. Please\nturn to the beginning of John chapter14. We hear the Lord Jesus speak about His\nFather again in verse 2, a subject which He loved to share with the disciples: \u201cIn my Father\u2019s house…\u201d<\/em> He speaks with\nthe authority of one who is the co-owner of that house! It is also His house,\nand He chooses who is going to live there with Him. His choice is made: \u201cI am\ngoing to prepare a place for you<\/strong>\u201d.\nTherefore it will be our home too, shared with our Father and our Saviour. About\neighteen times in that one chapter 14, He tells the disciples more and more\nabout the Father. We all enjoy talking to others about someone we love: was love\nfor His Father His chief motivation? But He loved them too! Soon He would have\nto endure the horrors of the cross, but afterwards He would return to His\nFather, the work completed, and the place prepared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\ncan readily recognise that there is nowhere safer to keep an inheritance than\nin the presence of God, and under His scrutiny. But what does that inheritance consist\nof? We can see two parallel but very different threads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.<\/strong> Free.<\/strong> That which the Lord has chosen to give us freely because we\nare His purchased possession. Eternal life is the free gift of God. (Romans 6\nverse23). Therefore it cannot be earned. Also, it cannot be taken away. \u201cNone<\/em> can\npluck them out of my Father\u2019s hand\u201d. <\/em>(John 10 verse 29). <\/em>Speaking of His glory, in John 17 verse 22\/3, He says: \u201cthat they may be one just as we are one: I\nin them and You in me\u201d. <\/em>That glory is His to share, not ours to earn. There\ncan be no greater inheritance than to be with the Lord Jesus for ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 There is another sense too in which this inheritance cannot be gained or earned individually: it can only be obtained by association with Christ. We are \u201c…heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ…\u201d<\/em> (Romans 8 verse 17). As the chapter unfolds, the Apostle Paul excitedly tells of the shared glory that shall be revealed in us when creation enjoys \u201c… the glorious liberty of the children of God.\u201d <\/em> Like the first creation of Genesis 1, it will be the Lord\u2019s work, and perhaps He will declare it \u201cvery good\u201d. This time it will be unspoiled by sin and we can imagine the Lord God (to use the imagery of the Garden of Eden) walking \u201c…in the garden in the cool of the day\u201d<\/em> with redeemed man, and they, together, will appreciate its beauty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/strong> Earned.<\/strong> That which we have earned through service. No-one has ever earned eternal life, but tragically there will be some who think they have done so. They will discover – in the day of God, when the truth is displayed about their life\u2019s history – that they have earned nothing by their own efforts, and lost their own soul. Others again will be amazed and overjoyed to learn that their faith in Christ has saved them, not their works. They believed in His salvation, but were taught by their spiritual \u201cleaders\u201d that they must also lead \u201cgood\u201d lives and thereby earn God\u2019s favour, or their salvation would be in doubt. Yet it was a free gift from their Saviour, given the day they first believed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nis it that we can earn through service? The Apostle Paul describes it this way\nto Timothy as he approaches the end of his life: \u201cFinally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness….but\nalso to all who have loved His appearing\u201d <\/em>2 Timothy 4, verse 8. <\/em>It will be given him by the Lord, the\nrighteous Judge. Peter says that those who exercise a responsible task for the Chief\nShepherd (shepherd-care of His flock) there will be …the<\/em> crown of glory…<\/em>\n(1Peter 5 verse 4). To what extent those servants will consider they have\nearned their crown, is a good question: it will be HIS righteousness and HIS\nglory, not theirs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the book of Revelation, Chapter 4 gives us a view into heaven, where there is a vision of twenty four elders sitting on thrones, \u201c…and they had crowns of gold on their heads\u201d<\/em> (verse4). John saw them \u201c…fall down before Him who sits on the throne….and cast their crowns before the throne…\u201d. <\/em>(Verse10). How many crowns will be thrown at the feet of the Lord Jesus on that day? We suppose there will be a lot more than 24! When we appear before our heavenly Master surely we will join all His servants and say:  \u201cWe are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do\u201d <\/em>(Luke 17 verse 10). In the \u201cparable of the talents\u201d, the returning master said to each of the servants who had done well in his absence: \u201cWell done, good and faithful servant….enter into the joy of your lord\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 25 verse 21). That sounds like reward enough when interpreted as the scene when each saint is received into the Lord\u2019s presence in heaven.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog 3: Our Father, and His Inheritance Blogging: Paul Coe has given us a long list of valuable on-line ministry options to look up and…<\/p>\n

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