I Will Not Leave You Fatherless

Before we go any farther I believe it is important to revisit our portion of scripture that is our “jumping off point”.

John 14:18 “I will not leave you fatherless. I will come to you.”

There are several companion passages to this one in the New Testament. One is:

“For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,”  

                                                Romans 8:15-16

Luke 3:38 tells us that Adam was “the son of God.”

We see over and over again that in God’s restoration of creation, He is not content to restore the way we think of restoration. He always makes it better than it originally was.  In this case, the glory of God rested on Adam and Eve (they were naked and unashamed). Now, His glory lives within us!

One Story, One Observation

I have a story to tell and an observation to share, then I will come back to verse 18.

Story

I never knew my father. He left the family when I was 18 months old. I have no memories of ever seeing him again. My childhood was truly fatherless and manless.  My mother was strong and did her best to be provider, protector, shepherd, teacher, and mother. Being a mere human, this was impossible. The unfortunate result in my life was a distorted and confused understanding of what either father or mother is supposed to be. And my life revealed this lackluster understanding at every turn. (And, in many ways, probably still does. I am a work in progress)

When I surrendered to the love and Lordship of Christ I was told that God was now my father. In my creative artist’s mind this presented me with a tremendous opportunity. You see, I grew up wanting to replace Mike Schmidt at third base for the Philadelphia Phillies. My mother taught me enough about baseball to get on a team and get some decent coaching. I took it from there.

From the age of seven to fifteen, I put in hours every day developing my skills as a baseball player. I had no one to work with me. I did not realize that I could ask my coaches to work with me one on one and no one told me I could. So, I worked alone. I worked as diligently as I could. By fifteen it was obvious that I was not going to be good enough to make the Rookie League so, I decided to focus on swimming to try to get a college scholarship.

The one thing that I always noticed was that the other kids had their dads at their games. Their dads played catch with them in the back yard. Their dads supported and were proud of them.

I never had that.

At twenty-one I was recently out of the Air Force and born again. I was starting life all over again. I thought, “If God is my Father, than I want to know what it is like to play baseball with my Dad.”

I went to the batting cages with Him. I talked with Him the whole time. Instead of coaching myself on my technique, I imagined Him telling me what adjustments I needed to make. It was fun!

Observation

At the time of this writing, I have been taking up space on this planet for over forty-five years (counting from conception). I have noticed that, most of the Christian men I've known who are willing to marry single mothers have incredibly blessed marriages and lives.

 I find it to be an amazing phenomenon.

We know that widows and orphans are dear to God’s heart:

“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

                                                                                                James 1:27

“You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry to at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.” Exodus 22:22-24

“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, any come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.” Deuteronomy 14:28-29 (also Duet. 16:11, 14; Duet. 24:17-21; 26:12-12; 27:19; Psalm 10:14, 18; 82:3; and on and on it goes)  

Job believed that his relationship with God, his wealth, and his place of influence in the community were directly due to his care for the fatherless, widows, foreigners, and the poor. (Job 29)

Back To The Beginning

We saw earlier that Adam was God’s son. And, Jesus, when first explaining the coming of the Holy Spirit says, “I will not leave you fatherless. I will come to you.”

Apparently, since the fall, God has considered humanity to be “Fatherless”.

Obviously most foreigners, widows, and orphans (the handicapped, as well) are the most vulnerable in our society. It is understandable that our compassionate God would go out of His way to make sure that we care for them.

 And, maybe it wasn't until Jesus began to reveal the Fatherhood (heart?) of God that humanity could begin to realize that when we take care of these most vulnerable that we are, indeed, taking care of ourselves. I say this, because, until we receive the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of adoption – we are every bit as Fatherless, widowed (without provision or protection), Levite (without inheritance), handicapped, and foreigners (aliens without the benefits of citizenship, living away from our Father’s land).  

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”                   

John 1:12-13

Are you enjoying a Father-child relationship with God?

The type of Father who wants us loved, provided for, protected, socially integrated in a fulfilling way, and whole spirit, soul, and body.

The Holy Spirit resides within us to lead us into this reality.

As I meditate on the wonders of God being my Father, I hear my heart say,

“Daddy, more, please!?”

The Sacrifice

We are considering the Lord’s promise in John 14:16-18 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”  NKJV

The consequences and ramifications of the fulfillment of this promise are many. Again, humanity will probably be investigating the wonders of this gift throughout eternity.

We already examined, in part, how Acts 2:1-4 is the beginning of the fulfillment of this promise:

“When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

From here we looked at two of the Old Testament types of this event.  

·         The dedication of the tabernacle of Moses (Leviticus 9:22-24)

·         The dedication of Solomon’s temple (I Kings 8:10-13; 2 Chronicles 5:11-14; 2 Chron. 7:1-3)

After reading these passages, we can see that one important thing is missing from the account in the books of Acts that was vital in the two Old Testament types we referenced – the sacrifice.  In Leviticus 9:22-24 and 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 fire came down from heaven to consume the sacrifice. The sacrifice seems to be missing in the book of Acts. 

Where is it?

The obvious answer is: the perfect sacrifice had occurred fifty-one days before – on the cross. Jesus was the sacrifice that pleased God to the point of answering by fire. Jesus laid down His life, was crucified, descended into hell and rose again the third day. He ascended into Heaven where He now sits at God the Father’s right hand. (I think I've heard and/or read that somewhere) So there is no sacrifice to be consumed.

Or is there?

In the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon the fire consumed the sacrifice. Jesus gave Himself completely and there was nothing left to consume. So, why the fire from heaven? The fire did not consume the apostles and other disciples who were in the upper room. They were able to lead, support, and train the great influx of new converts that came into the church in the next hours and days. Again, why the fire?

Could it be that the fire that came from heaven in the book of Acts was more like what we see in Romans 2:25-29?

“For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?

For He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”

Could it be that the fire from heaven came to consume us inwardly and our outward lives will show that consummation?

Isn't this what the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul urges in Romans 12:1-2?

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Jeremiah 24:7, 11:19-20, Ezekiel 18:30-32)

This is precisely what Jesus asked for:

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matt. 16:24-25 (also Matt. 10:37-39)

John the Baptist said of Jesus, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matt. 3:11)

Can we reasonably expect to receive one and not the other? Would we won’t to?

Do we have the courage to allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to consumer our lives?

If we do not, are we at least willing to pray for the grace to be willing?

His Glory

If we are going to have the courage to believe that we are filled with His glory, than wouldn't it make sense to find out what that glory is? It does to me so, that is what we will investigate next.

In Exodus 33 and 34 Moses has several different types of encounters with God. We will focus on only one at this time.

Exodus 33:18     And he (Moses) said, “Please, show me Your glory.”

To our amazement and, probably to Moses’, as well, God grants the request.

Can you imagine what must have been going on in Moses’ heart and mind? This God that revealed Himself to in the burning bush, kept him safe from Pharaoh and his political cronies. Brought the ten plagues to Egypt, orchestrated the Passover, separated the Red Sea and allowed all of Israel to cross on dry ground and then closed it up again on Egypt’s mighty army, the God who made bitter water sweet, and made enough water flow from a rock to take care of entire nation plus their animals, the God that was guiding them with a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire by night – that awesome, terrifying God –

Is about to reveal to him His glory.

Moses is about to learn what makes this God so special.

What was Moses feeling? Excitement, anticipation, fear, humility? What did that feel like? What thoughts were swirling around in Moses’ mind? Was he able to sleep that night? What was it like explaining to his leaders what was about to happen? As he approached the cave God told him to be in at the appointed time was he in a cold sweat? Was thinking, “what if He doesn’t show up?” Followed immediately with, “What if He does?” “Am I going to live through this either way?”

We don’t know. But we do know that God did show up.

Exodus 34:5-8

Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”  So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.

There are numerous theological things in this passage but, I will only focus on what God revealed about Himself to Moses. Moses has asked God to reveal His glory. Moses has already seen God’s power, His authority over nature and all matter. Moses is already terrifyingly familiar with God’s destructive power; His ability to decimate the most powerful nation to have ever existed up that point.

God could have said, “Moses, you have seen what I can do. I am the King of the Universe. I am all powerful. There is none like me. Do what I say or else.”

Instead, God says, in effect, “Moses, what is most important for you to know about me is: mercy, compassion, patience, goodness, and truth and I am still just.”

We know that this is not all there is to God’s glory. We also know that this is what He chooses to emphasize throughout His word. (Micah 6:8, Matthew 23:23, Ps. 100:5)

We also know that these are the attributes He wants us to emphasize in our lives. ( Matthew 5-7, I Corinthians 13, Galatians 5:22-23, Matthew 22:36-40)

When we are filled with God’s Spirit, His glory fills the temple.

We have been filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  

Now all we have to do is live it. 

His Glory Fills the Temple

We are investigating God coming to live inside of believers. This is what Jesus said was going to happen in John 14: 16-18. After His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, something magnificent happens in Acts 2:1-4. ₁

“When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

God the Holy Spirit fills His temple! He has come to take make His home amongst His people – just as He promised. A number of Old Testament images come instantly to mind₂ but, we will only focus on two:

·         The dedication of the tabernacle of Moses (Leviticus 9:22-24)

·         The dedication of Solomon’s temple (I Kings 8:10-13; 2 Chronicles 5:11-14; 2 Chron. 7:1-3)

At the dedication of the tabernacle of Moses, God consumed the sacrifice with fire from heaven. Then He filled the tabernacle with a cloud of His glory (we will research His glory a little later). He filled the tabernacle so completely that Moses and Aaron could not enter.

At the dedication of the temple of Solomon the priests had sanctified themselves and assembled before the LORD as one. They did not assemble according to their assigned divisions. The Levites were all clothed in white and sang in unison. And 120 more priests were there sounding trumpets. As they were all praising as one. God consumed the sacrifice with fire from heaven. Then He filled the temple with His glory so that the priests could not continue ministering (making offerings and liturgical prayers).

There is powerful symbolism here. Symbolism lived out in real lives and real events.

·         Unity among God’s people

·         Acceptable sacrifice

·         Sanctification

·         These three combine to create an atmosphere so congruent with God’s nature that an extraordinary response is granted. God reveals Himself and “takes up residence”.

This is what happened in acts chapter two. This is what happens every time someone comes to faith in Jesus.

Have you put your faith in Christ, yet? Have you received the Holy Spirit? Have you been filled as His temple?

 Wouldn’t you say that today is a great day to be filled with His glory?

 Wouldn’t you say that, right now, is the perfect time to be filled with His glory? 

All you have to do is ask...

Footnotes

1.      John 20:19-23     Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Received the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

I am not skipping over this passage of scripture. There simply wasn’t room for ample explanation. I do believe that the ten Apostles present did receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at this time. Also, it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility that Thomas received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at this time – wherever he was. This is what happened to Eldad and Medad in Numbers 11:24-30.

The difference between what transpired here and Acts chapter two is at least two fold:

a.      Jesus was transferring His own earthly authority specifically to the apostles.

b.      While the apostles received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at this time, in Acts chapter two God filled His new temple – the entire church.

2.      See also Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3), Elijah’s challenge to the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:20-40) ;Elijah in the cave (I Kings 19:1-18) 

God Inside

John 14:16-18

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”  NKJV

These three verses are weighted down with truth, revelation, and importance. Humanity will probably be mining their depths for all of eternity. I will be taking my time and enjoying the richness of this meditation like a fine, desert. I hope you derive as much excitement, peace, and love of God reading and pondering it as I do meditating and writing!

First we have Jesus, the Light of the world (John 8:12), the revealer of grace and truth (John 1:17), announcing to His closest followers, His chosen disciples, that He is leaving.

 I am not sure that we can grasp how devastating this news was to these men. Nothing like Jesus’ ministry had ever been seen before on earth, no, not even in Israel. With even the mightiest prophets healings, miracles, raisings from the dead, and the love of God being revealed to His people, was incredibly rare. With Jesus they were commonplace.

He even had the authority to transfer that power to these men and they were able to pray for people and see them healed! They had cast demons out. The bread had multiplied in their hands. And if any case was too difficult for them He was there to set it right. (Matt. 14:7-21)

Hearing Him preach, seeing the miracles, the healings, the restorations; this – this was life! Their hearts must have been on fire during this three year period! How intoxicating!

These men had “left everything” (Matt. 19:27) to follow Jesus. They left wives, children, family, friends, businesses, and had staked their entire reputations and futures on the belief that He was the Messiah. They believed that, because He had prayed, heard from God and chosen them, they were going to rule with Him when He ascended to the throne of Israel.

Keep in mind that there was already a king on the throne of Israel. He even had the backing of Rome. Kings generally don’t allow others to make claims to the throne and let them continue breathing. Either Jesus was going to pull this off or they were all dead.

And now he says he’s leaving?  

As the depth of depression is setting in they hear that He is sending Another in His place. A “Helper”? We don’t need a helper, we need a Deliverer King! Jesus calls this Other the “Spirit of Truth”. Then He goes on to explain that this Spirit has been with them the whole time. He is the source of power they've been living with. …

And He is going to live in them.

What?

God is going to come live in us?

You and this Spirit are the same?

You are going to come live in us?

What?! 

Is it this even possible? God told Moses that he was not allowed to see God’s face and live. It has been that way since before the nation of Israel took the Promised Land. So, how is it that God is going to come live inside of them and they will somehow survive? And one other question:

How will God – the one who has been doing all of these healings, miracles, deliverances, restorations, signs, and wonders – coming to live inside of them change the way they live their lives?

How much better is this going to be?

How much better is this for us?

Do we dare to believe it? 

Epic Fail

Epic Fail

The kids seem to be abnormally fond of this saying over the last year. Today, I experienced it. 

I was literally just finishing some writing on the importance of the indwelling Spirit of God in our lives when my daughter called me to her room. She had just had a bad dream and felt that there might be “something bad” in her room and wanted me to pray to make sure the room was clear.

I prayed for a little while in the Spirit and said, “Well, you are here.” This evoked a slight smile. “And Jesus is in you so, Jesus is here.” A little laughter.

I prayed a little more. I believe that she is at the age when she needs to be taking more and more of the responsibility for her relationship with the Lord. So I said, “Just connect with His presence inside you.”

“I don’t know how!” More tears.

“What do you mean you don’t know how? You pray in tongues don’t you?”

“I think so.”

“You think so? Just pray in tongues a little. (She began praying) Do you feel His presence?”

“No.” More tears.

“OK. Do you remember a time when you felt God’s presence?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Youth America.”

“Great! Go back and re-experience that. Close your eyes. See what you were seeing. Hear what you where hearing. And feel what you were feeling. Let me know when you are back there and experiencing His presence.” She nodded to let me know she was there. “Good. Now just pull that presence inside of you.”

She opened her eyes and looked at me, “I how do I do that?”

I had her describe the experience to me. It was a beautiful, powerful experience that has forever changed her. Wonderful stuff. He is so good to us!

I had her go back and re-experience it again. This time and the height of the experience I had her reach out with her arms and pull Him inside. I lead her to experience Him filling her from head to toe and fingertip to fingertip.  I told her to feel God filling every space, every cell within her. Feel His love, His joy, His peace filling her. As she did this all tension left. All fear left (perfect love casts out all fear sound familiar?). I said, “just sit there and enjoy that for a while.” And I left the room.

I left because I wanted her to take responsibility for this experience with the Lord. This is her relationship; her walk. I want her to know that she can do this on her own.

So, why did I call this an “EPIC FAIL”? Everything turned out great. I called this an epic fail because, first,  through my writing and traveling to minister to people I teach people all over the world to experience the indwelling presence of God but, had not taught my own daughter. She is currently learning how to lead worship, herself, and I hadn't taught her the most fundamental part of being a good Christian, let alone a quality worship leader.

Secondly, I called this an epic fail to illustrate that, we work hard to be the best we can be. And, even at our best, we can fail miserably. And isn't it amazing that the Lord will show us how to fix it in the simplest of ways?

That's my view from here. 

Needs Pt. II

I've said before that I was raised by a single mother. Money was always in short supply. I had a pretty good idea about what needs really were and that the rest were wants.

My first album was Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell".  I found it laying on the ground on my way home from school one day. It was an eight track tape. I wore that thing out.  (I've noticed, while recording my current CD, that it still influences me today) My second record was The Sugarhill Gang's first record. I bought that in the sixth grade. I didn't own any other music until I was in high school and had a paper route. I had to make due with the local radio stations and MTV - when I was at a friend's house. We didn't have cable.

I am always amazed to find what my kids "need". My eleven year old has a laptop. I was told he "needed" it for school. My daughter has more clothes than will fit in her walk in closet and six dresser drawers. She tells me often that she needs more clothes because she has nothing to wear!

I have several friends who are or were missionaries. They tell me that if I have more than one set of clothing I am richer than fifty percent of the world. My kids don't want to hear it. My eleven year old thinks I am depriving him because he doesn't have a cell phone.

Currently, our culture programs us to believe we need all kinds of things that did not exist fifty years ago. One strategy I often use is to ask my kids, "How did the human race ever survive without going to the movies. If going to the movies is a need, shouldn't we have died out long ago?" My kids don't think I'm funny.

I've explained to them over and over that our needs are air, food, water, shelter and clothes. Everything else is just a want. Like every other kid in America they don't buy it.

So, I just deal with each issue as it comes up. And I've also learned that it is perfectly healthy and OK to tell them, "I know you really want this and you even feel entitled to it but, it is not in the budget."

"So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern."

                                                                              Matthew 6:31-33
                                                                                       NLT

I've had my children memorize this verse. It seems to be the one they forget the quickest! I've had them come with me on lots of  "street ministry" when we minister to the homeless. I've told them stories of how poor I was as a kid. Sometimes I get discouraged because I think it is not working. They aren't getting it. But, then I remember that I want them to have a better life than I have. I want them to take advantage of living in the land of opportunity. I want them to want a better life for themselves and their children.

Does an abundance of money and things give you a better life? No. But, if used correctly, money and things can make your life far easier.

So living in a material world while trying to live a spiritual life is a paradox that my children and I both need to be guided through. I think prayerfully and thoughtfully applying the scriptures to our lives is an excellent way to do this.

I've been told that  a ship sailing for a distant port is almost never directly on course. It needs to be adjusted constantly by the pilot. I believe our lives are basically the same.

That's my view from here.