Fanning the Flames

If you have embraced the gospel message of Jesus Christ, you have a brand new connection to God Himself.  He is now your Father.  He identifies Himself as your Father.  He calls you His child.  As we have explored our new Father-child relationship over the past few weeks, we have come to learn that God is a good Father.  He is the giver of good gifts.  He loves you with an everlasting love.  He provides for your needs.  He truly is a good, good Father.

But God is not an indulgent father.  In fact, as one of His children, we will experience discipline, training, and even pain at the hands of our good Father.  “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.  For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb 12:5-6).

The Greek word translated “discipline” in this passage refers to a training regimen.  God has you on a training program.  He is training you in righteousness; in righteous living.  And this training program may involve pain.  But the beauty of God’s training program, and the most important thing to take away from this passage is that the pain is never random, cruel, capricious, or evil.  God’s training program is always fueled by His love for us and for our good.

The author of the book of Hebrews goes on to explain, “God deals with you as with sons.  For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them.  Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness” (Heb 12:7-10).

If we are true children of God, we will all experience His training program.  Just as we respected our fathers who disciplined us for earthly goals, should we not more so worship and respect our heavenly Father who disciplines us for “our good and to share in His holiness”?  Our good and our holiness are the desired outcome of the training program of God.  And that training program may include the pain of discipline on our way to the joy and peace of righteousness that it produces.

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Heb 12:11).  The goal of God’s training program is not only our good and our holiness, but also joy and a peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Now the beauty of this journey and what may set this apart from what you have heard in the past about God’s discipline is that God’s training program does not take place in a mysterious and unknown vacuum.  It is not meant to be painful in a way that keeps us in the dark.  It happens in the framework of God being the good Father and loving us with an everlasting love.  God’s overarching attribute in His dealings with His children is love.  Even God’s discipline is motivated by His love, “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines” (Heb 12:6).

The upshot of this is that the discipline of God should always be understood through the lens of the good Father.  Because God Himself is using that analogy in the Hebrews 12 passage.  He is telling us what to expect of Him based on what we experience at the hands of a good earthly father.  Based on that comparison, we know that His discipline will never be capricious, never be random, never be mean, never be beyond understanding.  Even if the reason is delayed, our knowing that the Father is good informs our faith to trust His timing.  Again, think about this comparison with our earthly fathers.

Every good father disciplines with the goal clearly explained to the child.  In fact, before we discipline or correct our youngsters, we go out of our way to make sure they understand what behavior is expected.  We go out of our way to make sure they understand why they are being disciplined.  We make clear to the child what they did wrong.  They know what behavior needs to change.  A good parent never disciplines in a random, unexpected, surprising, or capricious manner.  And based on today’s Scripture, we would not expect our heavenly Father to do so either.  His discipline is always fueled by His love.

“Now Jesus was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart, saying, ‘There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God, and did not respect man.  And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying “Give me legal protection from my opponent.”  And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, “Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming she wears me out.” ‘ ” (Lk 18:1-5).

Then Jesus draws this contrast, “You just heard what the unrighteous judge said.  But God, on the other hand, delights to bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night.  And will He delay long over them?  I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily.  However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Lk 18:6-8).

I used to read this parable thinking of God as the judge in the story.  As a result, it seemed to me that our approach to prayer was to badger God into an answer.  As I studied the New Testament, my emerging view of God as the good Father, the giver of good gifts did not fit the unrighteous judge in this story.

Then it hit me.  God is not the mean judge at all.  In fact, the point of the parable is that God is just the opposite.  God stands in contrast to the judge, not as a similarity.  Look at the opening lines of the parable.  Many of Christ’s parables start with, “The kingdom of God is like…” or “The kingdom of heaven is like…”  But this story does not have that common opening line.

Because this judge is not like our God.  This judge is not like the good Father.  No, the point of the story is that God is the opposite of the unrighteous judge.  God is looking to provide relief and answer to His children “speedily”; the opposite of the judge in the story.

But there is a part for us to play.  The opening verse tells us that Jesus told the parable to illustrate the necessity of persistent prayer.  Our persistent prayer is an act of faith, not an attempt to loosen the purse strings of a reluctant father.  Our persistent prayer demonstrates our faith that God will answer.  The necessity of faith in our practice of prayer is driven home in the last statement in the passage (vs 8).  Will Christ find this kind of persistent faith on the earth?  Will Christ see this kind of faith in His people?

So take heart.  Let your prayers be bathed in faith.  Infuse your prayers in the faith that your good Father “knows all that you need” (Mt 6:32).  Do not grow weary of coming to the Father with your requests.  You are not trying to pry some breadcrumbs from an unwilling father.  No, you are entering the holy presence of the good Father, the giver of good gifts.

The contrast of light and darkness is a prominent theme in Scripture.  “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them” (Is 9:2).  This well-known verse opens Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the coming Messiah.  The darkness that covered the land prior to Christ’s coming will be swept aside by the light of His glory.  The “great light” is the glory of the coming Messiah.

In the New Testament, the apostle John announced the coming of the Messiah in similar light and darkness language.  “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it” (Jn 1:4-5).  Jesus would later say of Himself, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (Jn 8:12).

The theme of light continues in the epistles.  “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (Js 1:17).  The context of this verse is James’ earlier explanation that God does not tempt us to evil because there is no evil within Him.  God is not the author or purveyor of evil.  Rather, according to this verse, God is the good Father; the giver of good gifts.  And the promise that God is good, all the time, will never vary or change or shift.

Have you ever noticed that a flame does not cast a shadow?  Try it with a match or your Scripto lighter.  I was a skeptic when I first saw a picture of this phenomenon.  So I took my lighter into Rhonda’s study and she shined a flashlight my way while I fired it up.  Sure enough, the lighter (and my prominent nose) cast a shadow, but the flame did not.  I thought it was a neat illustration of our heavenly Father, the Father of lights in whom there is no shadow.

God is illumined by His own light such that we can see and comprehend His perfect character, His essence of love, and His constant care over us.  He is totally open in His relationship with us.  There is no shadow.  God has no hidden agenda.  He is not lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce.  God is not hiding, playing hard to get.  The thought that His ways and character are beyond our understanding is an Old Covenant concept that faded away when we were infused with the mind of Christ (I Cor 2:13) and the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9).

Rather than lurking in the shadows, God’s light is shining like a laser beam right into your heart, right now.  “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (II Cor 4:6).  We see and experience the glory of God in the face of Christ.  And that glory is lighting up your new heart; that clean soft shiny new heart you received at your salvation.

So run to the Light.  Embrace the Light.  Celebrate the Light.  And come expecting to be received by the good Father, the giver of good gifts.

Some weeks ago, I wrote about the good Father; the Father who answers when we ask, can be found when we seek Him, and opens the door when we knock.  The picture that comes to my mind in this description of God, the good Father, is this:  God is not a father who is parked in his study, doing his God work while we remain locked out in the hall seeing only the glow of the study light coming out from under the closed door.  No.  No.  No.  As children of God, we have every right to fling the door open, run inside, and like an excited four-year-old, leap into God’s lap.  Is this picture wishful thinking?  Can it really be true?

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God (i.e. all believers), these are sons of God.  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba!  Father!’ ” (Rom 8:14-15).  Did you hear that?  We cry out, “Daddy!  Papa!”  And it is these words of tender relationship that inform my four-year-old in the lap picture.

“Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place (God’s personal study in my word picture) by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb 10:19-22).  We have the right to enter God’s study, God’s holy place, God’s personal space by the blood of Jesus.  We have the right to “draw near” by the blood of Jesus.  When we embrace the gospel message, we become adopted, and through Christ, we have direct access to the Father.  And by faith, I believe that when I leap into the air like a child, God’s loving arms will catch me and draw me onto His lap.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him and he with Me” (Rev 3:20).  When we see the light from God’s study and dash down the hall toward it, we do not run into a locked door.  No, we find an open welcome.  When we rush inside, we see God waiting for us and are invited in for tea and watercress sandwiches or a Thanksgiving buffet; whatever fits the need of the moment.  There is a tender relationship in dining together.

If this image of God sounds too tender, too grandfatherly to you, please heed this warning.  Do not let your Old Testament view of God put up a wall between you and your access to the good Father described in the New Testament.  Right there in our Hebrews passage, it emphasizes that Jesus “inaugurated a new and living way” to enter the Father’s presence.  I cannot say this loud enough.  Our access to the Father is a brand new way of relating to God, all made possible by the blood of Jesus.  The Old Testament way, the Old Testament arrangement, the Old Covenant method had been put on the shelf;  literally “made obsolete” (Heb 8:13) by the blood of Jesus.

Can I encourage you?  Do not approach the Father in a way that is obsolete and out dated.  Instead, enter His holy place.  Climb up beside your heavenly Father and find out what He is working on.  Find out what is going on in that God world of His.  And join Him in the work.  Working alongside the tender Father who loves you and welcomes you in.