Now the fourth goal of Jesus' mission on Earth was to retrain mankind for Kingdom leadership. He came to teach us how to think and act like God once again. Jesus replicated the message that He proclaimed. By the power of the Spirit we are also empowered to model and preach the message of the Kingdom. Keep in mind, that Jesus established the standard by the example of His own life. In every word, Jesus showed us what the Father is like and what we should be like as His children. Like us, Jesus' disciples did not always understand this easily.
John 14:5-10 5) Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. The Father revealed 7) “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8) Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9) Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10) Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
Retraining us to think and act like children of the King was perhaps the toughest part of Jesus' mission because we tend to be so stubborn, hard headed and slow to learn. This is dues, in part, to our blindness and spiritual dullness because of our sin and, in part, to the fact that we as a race of people have been separated from God's royal and holy environment for so long. God created us in His own image as royal sons and daughters, and designed us to rule the earthly realm as He ruled the heavenly realm. Our sin evicted us from the place we were destined to fill and for millennia we have been like the prodigal son of Luke 15:11-32, living in a pigpen and feeding on the same corn husks that the pigs eat. We have been out of touch with "home" for so long that we have lost sight, not only of our identity but also of our destiny. Jesus came to lead us to rediscover both and to retrain us in how to reclaim and live in them.
Now Jesus accomplished this for us by giving us a perfect model of the Father. As mentioned previously, if we wanted to know what God the Father is like, all we have to do is take a real good look at Jesus' life. I said a real good intense look; not a glance. If we want to know what we should be like as children of the Father, all we have to do is look at Jesus, who is the only begotten Son of the Father. The Holy Spirit in us enables us to understand what we see in Jesus and what we hear in His teachings and gives us the power to carry them over into our lives.
John 14:5-10 5) Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. The Father revealed 7) “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8) Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9) Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10) Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
Retraining us to think and act like children of the King was perhaps the toughest part of Jesus' mission because we tend to be so stubborn, hard headed and slow to learn. This is dues, in part, to our blindness and spiritual dullness because of our sin and, in part, to the fact that we as a race of people have been separated from God's royal and holy environment for so long. God created us in His own image as royal sons and daughters, and designed us to rule the earthly realm as He ruled the heavenly realm. Our sin evicted us from the place we were destined to fill and for millennia we have been like the prodigal son of Luke 15:11-32, living in a pigpen and feeding on the same corn husks that the pigs eat. We have been out of touch with "home" for so long that we have lost sight, not only of our identity but also of our destiny. Jesus came to lead us to rediscover both and to retrain us in how to reclaim and live in them.
Now Jesus accomplished this for us by giving us a perfect model of the Father. As mentioned previously, if we wanted to know what God the Father is like, all we have to do is take a real good look at Jesus' life. I said a real good intense look; not a glance. If we want to know what we should be like as children of the Father, all we have to do is look at Jesus, who is the only begotten Son of the Father. The Holy Spirit in us enables us to understand what we see in Jesus and what we hear in His teachings and gives us the power to carry them over into our lives.
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