Stop Listening to Our Fathers--and Start Listening to The Father

  We have to get past the knowledge of our parents and go to the wisdom of God the Father.

For the longest time, I vacillated between the opinions of my mother and my father. I have only recently learned how wrong they BOTH were, on so many issues.

Unlike many people, I have no problem looking past the two options which are usually placed before us on a number of issues.

I have gotten more accustomed to recognizing that whatever ideas are presented in an either/or fashion, there is often a great way to come up with other options in the midst of them, or outside of their scope entirely.

I don't feel the need to be bitter toward my parents. I realize what they did not know about the Gospel of Grace, and what I have learned today because I have learned so much from the preaching of Pastor Joseph Prince and Pastor Bob George, among many others. So grateful for their work in restoring the Gospel of Grace, that Jesus has finished the Work and given us Himself.

Amen!

We need to seek not the wisdom of our fathers, but the Father. We need the love of the Father, not just the love of our earthly fathers. This is not to disparage the work and the witness of the men and women who raised us. 

But no matter what we are facing, not matter what we have learned, we need the love of THE Father!

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)

The wisdom of our earthly fathers cannot compare with the Wisdom of the Father. In fact, let us never forget that "Christ is our wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:30)

One final thought ...

I have listened to so many older men talk about their convictions and beliefs, and many of them acknowledge that their beliefs come from what their fathers told them. "I know that William F. Buckley was a racist, because my father said so, and my father would never tell a lie."

Perhaps your father did not lie to you, but what he said was not true. 

Consider also what my father used to say about lying: "My father told me not to lie, because you are too stupid to keep track of your lies."

But what does the Bible say about lying?

"Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another." (Ephesians 4:25)

and

"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;" (Colossians 3:9)

We don't tell lies because they are not commensurate with our new nature, our new identity, our new creation as Christ's own, adopted into the Family of God.

We need to stop listening to our fathers, and start listening to the Father!

Jesus Makes the Unlearned Wise and The Ordinary Extraordinary

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." (Acts 4:13)

There is something about being with Jesus that takes men from a low estate to a greater place.

In the original Greek, "unlearned" means unschooled, and "ignorant" is literally "idiot."

What is interesting especially is that the people who listened to Peter and John thought that they were unschooled idiots. They judged by appearance, and boy were they wrong!

Jesus instructed the Israelites during His earthly ministry:

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24)

Notice that because of Jesus, these two apostles--no longer are they disciples, since they have received Jesus' life and standing before God the Father (cf. John 20:22)--were bold! They knew the truth and they declared it without fear:

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

This perfect love comes from being established in Jesus' righteousness (Isaiah 54:17; 1 John 3:7, 4:17).

The same holds true for wisdom and honor. Peter and John were not ignorant idiots in any way. Why?

Because of Jesus!

"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Jesus transforms us from dead in our trespasses to alive and seated in heaven places in Him (Ephesians 2:4-6) so that we are in His standing, and God our Father sees us in His Son!

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

Hang out with Jesus--and You will become more like Him, all by the power of His Holy Spirit:

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Christ is Our Wisdom

"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Do you need wisdom for a situation you are facing?

I notice that many times when I need direction or guidance, or when other people suggest a certain course of action, they would uote Scriptures from the Bible, specifically the Proverbs.

And yet I would find that the peace of Christ ruling in my heart (Colossians 3:15) did not lead me to follow the suggestions posed by others, even when they were  quoting scripture.

Then I return to what the Bible is all about.

We are called to a Person, not to a set of principles.

We are invited to rest in a Person, not a set of ideas:

"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." (2 John 9)

The Bible is not "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth."

The Bible is book of life, and that life is Jesus (John 14:6)

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39)

The Bible is not a snippet or a large selection of aphorisms that we apply like a code book to every situation in our lives.

Jesus is our life, and the Bible speaks of Himself!

If we need wisdom for any situation, the solution is not a set of ideas or a prescription or a response.

We need to see more of Him!

Wisdom is a Person, and that Person is Jesus!