Who’s The Father?

DNA Helix

This past week, CBS This Morning had a segment on an adoptee who found her birth father through DNA, along with a sister that she could be very close to. The New York Post had an article where she learned from DNA that the man she thought was her father wasn’t. DNA pretty much defines who are ancestors are. At present, DNA tested correctly hasn’t found to be wrong.

So, who is the Father? Jesus taught us to pray to Him:

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13 KJV)

There doesn’t appear to be physical DNA that proves God is our father, so how do people know we are truly His child – or another father described in the Bible:

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44 KJV)

The father of lies.  Have you ever told one? Even one that was supposed to be a kindness to another person? Yep, that’s still not truth. Does that separate us from God? The Bible says it does:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23 KJV)

Paul knew well enough this truth, and spent a couple of chapters before this verse explaining why this is truth. This is not so much an indictment as a statement of fact from people who care. As the Pulpit Commentary puts it:

It does not look down with contempt upon human nature. But it deals with facts as they are. And yet, if it speaks of human nature as sinful, it is in terms of pity and compassion and desire to save.

It is not said in judgment, but it acknowledges that God has placed standards, and we all have failed to live up to them. That’s why He provides both mercy and grace. All we have to do is have faith.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV)

Please note that works do not/will not provide salvation in God’s planning. However, as verse 10 shows, we were created for good works and God’s plan ordains that we should do them. There is a huge difference between doing good works because we love God and doing good works thinking we will please Him. And no chance at all that good works without believing in Him bring salvation. That is so terribly clear, yet I hear people say: “No, they doesn’t believe in God, but they’re good people doing good for others.”  Please, please, please find the verse in God’s word that initiates that belief.

So far, there were two things given by God for our use in reaching Him.  The Ten Commandments and the books of the Law, which Jesus filtered down to two essentials:

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40 KJV)

That takes care of the Law compliance, but we’re told Jesus fulfilled the law as the Son of God. He explained about faith – about believing – which has always been essential, even with the Law:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:14-19 KJV)

Yes – John 3:16 in context. Not everyone will be saved. Some are condemned only because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Jesus had to explain this to a religious leader of the Jews.

Do you require additional explanation? Do you believe? That really determines who is our Father, doesn’t it?

Why Wouldn’t We Do It?

Bible primer, Old Testament, for use in the primary department of Sunday schools (1919)

June of this year, Greg Morris began a blog, “But If Not,” with these words:

“Do not worry, my friend,” he told me. “If God does as we have discussed, I trust that he will bring about something wonderful from it.”

Do not worry. The irony could not be more apparent. It was he, not I, that was headed home to a hostile country. It was he, not I, that had already received death threats from former Muslim friends who awaited him there. And it was he, not I, who sought to comfort others in the hours before his departure.

The title comes from scripture – there are four in the KJV with the phrase, but this one is applicable:

But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Daniel 3:18 KJV)

Do you know the fiery furnace from Daniel 3 – it’s a childhood Bible lesson – but if not, you can read it all by clicking here: Daniel 3:8-30.

It begins with local people making trouble for those who love and serve God. If you don’t know who three are, go back and read Daniel’s first chapter. And if that’s not enough information, try Jeremiah and the latter part of 2 Kings. In Daniel 3, the Chaldeans have interacted with the Jews since their king lost a war and royalty were taken to be of service to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon c. 605 BC – c. 562 BC. The book’s author, Daniel, isn’t included in this story – a question I’ll have to be answered in eternity.

His three companions from chapter one are the center of attention. They purposely disobeyed the king’s command, which was was set up by people discontented with Jews in general. The goal was for them to die, and Nebuchadnezzar had the fire stoked so hot that the soldiers carrying the condemned men died putting them in the furnace.

All they needed to do to keep from being killed was:

Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image: (Daniel 3:10 KJV)

Just a few moments of the day, fall down and worship an image. Simple – do it, don’t die; don’t do it, die a fiery death. They didn’t – believing God would take care of them. He did.

So I wondered: why wouldn’t we do it? Do we have a reason for not taking just a few moments to act as though this statue was important? Just a few moments, and we’ll live. Why wouldn’t we want to live?

Then I got to thinking of the missionaries I know. One is similar to Morris’ friend – spreading God’s message of eternal love and life in an area where the government could demand the death penalty. Yet that missionary has been doing spreading the gospel for years. My offering helps send him to talk to people that hate what he has to say.

So my question gets turned back on me – he’s doing this because he loves his fellow man. He loves the country that doesn’t want him. We could be carrying the same message to people who may not want to hear us, so why wouldn’t we do it for people we know?

It’s embarrassing? It might make people angry? It might cost us friends and/or relatives? It certainly made the Chaldeans angry that people thought differently, that people worshipped different – and believed their God would protect them.

And, He did protect them. Perhaps the real question is, why don’t we believe God will do the same for us? Do you have an answer?

Jonadab’s Instructions, Jeremiah’s Contrast

Jeremiah, as depicted by Michelangelo from the Sistine Chapel ceiling

The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment:

Do you know Jonadab? A minor character in the Old Testament, but his words were important enough for inclusion, and their result, too. Take a look at 2 Kings 10:15-31 – use the link, I won’t use all the verses here. The name is spelled Jehonadab, but biblical spellings do vary, and we are told he is the son of Rechab. He and Jehu are named as those who wiped out Ahab’s family and destroyed worshipers of Baal in a very violent manner. In verse 31, we find Jehu not continuing to follow God’s commandments, but Jonadab isn’t mentioned again until Jeremiah 35, when God gives specific instructions:

The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. (Jeremiah 35:1-2 KJV)

Go ahead and read the next verses, down to 14. That’s part of the lesson. It is obvious that Jeremiah was saying “God told me to give you wine,” but Jonadab’s descendants are having to part of that. They had sworn an oath and were following the instructions they had promised generations before.
We might think this was a lesson from God not to follow traditional instructions – but that’s not the lesson, as we learn from the second part of verse 14:

notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me. (Jeremiah 35:14 KJV)

Jeremiah had been speaking God’s word of destruction, but he had been ignored, then vilified for giving incorrect information. In these few words, he contrasts the obedience of the Rechabites to the righteous of their father, Jonadab, with the disobedience of the people of Judah and Israel to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - of all Israel.

All of his days, morning to evening, Jeremiah has spoken God’s prophecy to God’s people. Generations before them had made promises to prophets – and to God – that this generation was ignoring. “. . . ye hearkened not.”

Have we hearkened? Have we listened to God’s words, or have we determined they were meant only for other people at other times. That God has not been working in this world since days of old and we are left to, as Israel did centuries ago, to do what is right in our own eyes, as mentioned in Judges :

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6 KJV)


No – what is right in our own eyes is not what we should be doing:

Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. (Deuteronomy 12:8 KJV)

And for very good reasons:

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. (Proverbs 12:15 KJV)
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. (Proverbs 21:2 KJV)

If we have no concern for God’s will in our lives, we can certainly do whatever is right in our own eyes. We can ignore the lessons of Jonadab son of Rechab, the lessons from Jeremiah, even the lessons taught us by Jesus Christ. But there are consequences.

Are we really ready to face the consequences of doing what we think is right without learning what God desires for our lives and the consequences He has defined for not believing Him?

Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll accept the love and promise given in John 3:16-18.

To What Church Do You Belong?

That’s how I see my church just before I turn in to the parking lot. The large building on your right is our sanctuary, where we hold our worship services and assemble as a congregation for other meetings. The left wing with the lower roofline contains our nursery and “old” Fellowship Hall. Far left is a tiny bit of our “new” Fellowship Hall and Gymnasium building which holds our youth Sunday School classrooms. The memory garden in front offers a great spot to sit early morning and late evening, enjoying the quiet of a country churchyard. I’m comfortable in this  physical location.

I think of it when someone asked: “To what church do you belong?” and I easily answer: “First Baptist Cottondale. Where’s your membership?” But, that’s not my headline question. I’m referencing biblical chapters (Revelation 2-3) where Christ is addressing specific churches:

Ephesus - good review, but there is a problem:

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. (Revelation 2:4 KJV)

Smyrna - which only hears good things, though problems are encountered:

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 KJV)

Pergamum - holding fast, not denying their faith, but again, there are problems and a promise:

Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (Revelation 2:16 KJV)

Thyatira - their last is more than the first, but they did allow a false teacher and are requested to:

But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. (Revelation 2:25 KJV)

Sardis - that has a name of life, but is dead. Their works have not found to be perfect, but they did receive a promise:

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. (Revelation 3:5 KJV)

Philadelphia - (at last - a name familiar to Americans!) a church that has a little strength, kept His word and did not deny his name. Here's a beautiful promise:

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10 KJV)

Laodicea - neither hot or cold, to be spewed out. Here is an action on Christ's part:

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20 KJV)


These verses are taught as stages of the whole church membership through the ages. I’m wondering which church’s description matches the churches people attend, as I attend FBCC. Where would you place the spiritual health of the church where you attend? Do you belong there? If so, are you adding to the spiritual growth of the congregation? If not, where should you attend – and how do you find it?

Good Roots

I found this shared on Facebook.  I wish I knew where it was, I’d love to visit and see if it’s still alive and growing. The verdant growth of a fallen tree with exposed roots really speaks to me. If it were a fruit tree, the thought would be complete. As far as I can tell, this tree helps our atmosphere, provides shade, and looks awesome.

I reminds me of the parable in Matthew 13:3-9 where Jesus speaks of a sower throwing seeds on the ground. Just as I wondered how this tree continues to thrive, His disciples wondered why His parables were so hard to understand:

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? (Matthew 13:10 KJV)

And, He had an answer:

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. (Matthew 13:11-13 KJV)

Now that’s a bit hard to understand, isn’t it? “Not given” for them? Of course, they did see what Jesus accomplished – miracles of healing, even raising those who had died – but they discounted their own eyes. They heard what Jesus had to say – and knew He was a great teacher – but they did not heed what He said. And, they did not understand. Do we?

In Matthew 13:18-23, Jesus explains the parable. From what He said, we can understand this tree grew in good soil, prepared for the seeds that would grow from it. Even in storms that could bring this tree down, there was a good root system that tied the tree to the ground and provided nourishment.

I hope I’m like that tree. When something comes along to tear me away from the prepared ground, I pray the good roots will keep me attached and fed, as Jesus explained:

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:23 KJV)

For me, the “good ground” is the preparation to receive the “seed,” which is the word of God’s kingdom. God spoke to His creation from the beginning and inspired certain men to write down His word – referred to as scriptures. I believe those contained in the Bible were intended to help us understand. “Good ground’s” nourishment for a Christian is reading God’s word in prayer, keeping a connection with other believers, and responding to God’s will for our lives.

It may be difficult, we may fall down – but if we have a good root system providing nourishment, we will provide fruit, even if it is simply shade on a hot day. That is helpful. Maybe someone will sit in that shade and read God’s word, building good roots for themselves.