The Good Of The Father (As The Father) # 2200

 

Jesus, then, answers and said to them, "Verily, verily, I am saying to you, the Son can not be doing anything of Himself if it is not what He should be observing the Father doing, for whatever He may be doing, this the Son is doing likewise 

Johns Account 5: 19, Concordant New Testament Translation 

I recall more than a few years ago when those in the congregation of the old church I used to frequent started wearing bracelets and apparel with the letters WWJD emblazoned on them.  I have since come to refer to this as the "What would Jesus do phase,"  At first it seemed logical.  Have an unruly church member?  What would Jesus do?  Someone falling into temptation?  What would Jesus do?  It seemed that wondering what Jesus would do was the answer to any question a believer might have.  But, wondering what He might do and actually doing as He would are definitely two totally different things.  So, how is it that we can know what Jesus will be doing at any given moment?  Well, Jesus Himself explains this in the gospel of John.  Here, Jesus explains that He only does what it is that He should see the Father doing {Johns Account 5:19}.  So it is that Jesus will never be doing anything of Himself, only that which He observes the Father Himself doing.  So, if we pose the same questions, but in a different format, they become more understandable.  Have an unruly church member?  What would the Father do in this situation?  Have someone who has failed to know the truth about sin?  What would the Father say to them in this instance?  For whatever the Father is doing, that Jesus will be doing as well.  I believe that the marketers of the WWJD movement would have been better off asking, what is God doing?  But, that's just my opinion.  Of course, if we do not know the truth of the Father, how is it that we can know what it is that He is doing?  In yesterdays page, I posed the question that God has but one true character, and that is love {First Epistle of John 4:8}.  A good friend has since reminded me that I was in error in this.  Of course, I remembered the two characteristics of the Father, but somehow it escaped me for a minute.  The truth we have in the Father is that God indeed has two characteristics, that being love AND pain and tragedy, for He is indeed all in all.  However, it is important to note that God CHOOSES to display only His love nature unto His creation.  Therefore, His opposite, pain and tragedy, are not what we ultimately know Him by (I will redo this post at a future date}.  

To know what the Father will be doing at any moment we must, as Jesus has, know the Father.  And who is God?  Well, it is the Fathers love in which we now live {Johns Account 14:20}.  See, Jesus knew the Father very intimately, which is why He could proclaim that He only did what He saw Him doing.  When Philip asked him, "Show us the Father," Jesus had the perfect response {Johns Account 14:8-9}.  That he who has seen Jesus has indeed seen the Father as well.  This falls right in line with the words of Jesus when He spoke that, "I and the Father, We are one" {Johns Account 10:30}.  So, knowing who the Father is and what He is doing is all part of the intimate knowledge which we now have of Him.  Of course, there are those who, either through adhering to wrong teaching or never having known Him, will be unaware of their relationship they share with God.  Of course, this DOES NOT invalidate that relationship in any way, only that He has yet to be revealed in them.  Over the years, I have grown in a better understanding of my own life within the Fathers love.  I grew up being taught that my life was separated from God by sin.  I have since referred to this as one of the lies spoken by the church.  Would God invite us to live within His love while we were still in sin?  The scriptures proclaim the truth to us that Christ Jesus has died to sin, "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  That is ALL sin past, present and future.  Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we now live free in Gods love.  Again, there will be those who continue to adhere to the same bondage of sin spoken by those within the church.  I'm not that guy.  Knowing that we live within the Father provides us with the intimate knowing of what He is doing.  As with Jesus, we may only do what it is we see the Father doing, if we have that revelation of our life lived within Him. 

Philip is saying to Him, "Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficing us."  Jesus is saying to him, "So much time I am with you, and you do not know Me, Philip!  He who has seen Me has seen the Father, and how are you saying, 'Show us the Father'? 

Johns Account 14: 8-9, Concordant New Testament Translation 

~Scott~