Ephesians; 1:3 – the Trinity; the Father of all believers, part 2.

Thursday October 4, 2018

 

It is the Father’s will to bring all His grace to every man and establish peace with him.

 

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” is the salutation of eight New Testament epistles.

 

2Th 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,

 

2Th 2:17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

 

God the Father is the Father of every believer and He constantly and forever gives His children grace, and between them there is always peace.

 

The fact that the same grace and peace are used of both God the Father and God the Son reveals that the Father is drawing near to Himself many sons to share in His glory through the means of the work of the Son. The Father planed and the Son worked so that we could partake in and enjoy an intimate and personal relationship with the Trinity, in which the Father provides and guides His sons in the ways of God the Son, the God Man and Mediator between man and God, and by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God.

 

This relationship between the believer and God the Father has all the meaning of Fatherhood and sonship that is good, rewarding, satisfying, full of love, devotion, faithfulness, obedience, and even discipline. It has the full and immutable meaning of family.

 

He is your Father in every sense of the word that is good, including discipline. He is that Father that no man can be. He has accomplished it so that you can confidently and joyously call Him Abba Father just as our Lord did.

 

We may say Abba Father just as our Lord did from His own humanity.

 

Mar 14:32 And they came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here until I have prayed." 

 

Mar 14:33 And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled.

 

Mar 14:34 And He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." 

 

Mar 14:35 And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground, and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.

 

Mar 14:36 And He was saying, "Abba! Father! All things are possible for Thee; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt."

 

O, that we would cry this name out when we find ourselves in deep travail, or even when we are in the throws of temptation to doubt, fear, sin, and shame. How many of us run to our Father in prayer and confidently assert that all things are possible for Thee, but what You will, not I! You will lead me through. That’s what a perfect Father does. You will see me delivered and victorious because that’s what a perfect Father does. You will show me the way and give me the strength to concede to your will and do your will.

 

Rom 8:15 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!"

 

That implies that we are fearless because God is our Father. That, of course, means fearless in doing His will. 

 

Rom 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

 

Rom 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

 

Gal 4:1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything,

 

Gal 4:2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.

 

Gal 4:3 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.

 

Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

 

Gal 4:5 in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

 

Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

 

Gal 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

 

We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ if we suffer with Him.

 

When the disciples asked Jesus for instructions on how to pray, He instructed them, “Our Father (all believers) Who are in heaven.”

 

Yet our sonship is not the same as the Sonship of Christ to the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is unique and the relationship of the Father to the Son is also unique.

 

Jesus was and is the Son. He merits such a position. Our sonship, our resurrection, our share in the glory of God is never by merit, but always be grace.

 

His relationship to the Father from both His Deity and humanity is different than ours, but we share in them with Him.

 

Joh 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren, and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'"

 

We have the same Father, the same God, but He doesn’t say “our Father and our God.” He makes a distinction which has eternal ramifications and we could spend a lifetime determining the similarities and the differences. We easily determine that Christ’s position is merited. He was sinless, we are not. He is God, while we are not. He is eternal, fulfilled the Law, did all the will of the Father, and more, and we have done none of these things. He died a spiritual death as a substitute for us, we could not approach such a thing. He merits all titles and relationships, while we receive these things by grace.

 

1Co 8:5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,

 

1Co 8:6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

 

Our whole existence is for the Father. We exist through Jesus Christ.

 

The Trinity is our eternal family along with the body of Christ. Everything that is good comes from the source of the Father. We must keep the eyes of our heart upon this.