Awakening to the Revelation

Jesus, revealing the nature of God, could have made just two statements during His life and would have still turned religion on its head. Two major points of difference between what He was revealing and what was currently being experienced. And even 2,000 years later we struggle to see this.

Jesus' ministry was fully of revelatory statements. He often portrayed "G-O-D" in a different light. However, I simply want us to focus upon two statements today. Two instances where Jesus turned religion on its head. Two verses that should get our attention at the core of our being.
"For God so LOVED the world..."
and
"When you pray, say, 'Our Father...'"

What I want us to focus upon with these two statements is not only the revelation they provide to the nature and character of God, but to the very nature and essence of religion.

#1 - God is not some distant deity who is angry with humanity, but a loving God who is concerned with our wholeness.

This is something religion knows nothing about. The gods of the ancient world were consumed with sacrifice. They were incredibly indifferent to human existence. Humanity itself could only serve to the greater good of these deities. They knew nothing of love, except for the benefit it brought to them personally. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in our understanding of Greek & Roman mythology. Unfortunately, many of these concepts have crept into Christianity. That, along with a very Old Testament view of God, has led to our demise. We fail to see a God who is for humanity, and therefore, miss out on the wholeness He longs to bring us into.

#2 - God is not a localized deity only fixated upon the nation of Israel, but is in fact the Father of ALL CREATION who longs for relationship.

Think about it. Jesus went through the same religious training as the Elders of Israel. He was a Rabbi among rabbis. He understood their history. He interpreted their Law. He was familiar with the god they spoke about. However, even in the midst of all of that, He came out on the other end with a very different view. He knew God as His Father. He was able to see life, Israel, Himself, and the whole world through a different lens. He understood the prominence of Israel in the place of human history, but He also recognized the need for the entire world to hear the truth about the nature and character of God.

You see, the best religion can offer is some kind of appeasement on your part. A sacrifice or two that would distract the attention away from your failures at least long enough to another day of atonement. Hoops that could be jumped through to keep you (and the nation) in the favor of the god that you worship. This is NOT the Abba of Jesus.

His revelation of the the nature of the Father calls us to repentance (to rethink and reframe our understanding and our lives). To see ourselves in a different light and relate accordingly. To rediscover the One who walks WITH His creation.

This understanding. This way of life. This revelation. It is drastically different. It points directly at our wrongheadedness concerning the nature & character of God. It sheds light into our darkness and reveals that in many areas we have gotten it completely wrong. It tells us that there were some things we were ignorant of or we simply neglected to see. And while I would love to say that 2,000 years later that we finally have it figured out, the reality is that we still miss out on these two foundational truths.

I just heard a guy the other day address a group of students. His primary talking point was that "God is a HOLY GOD who DEMANDS perfection." This statement bring us right back to a legal understanding of God. A god who is primarily concerned with moral uprightness, law keeping, and the like. A god who is indifferent to humanity. It misses out on the amazing revelation of the Father through Jesus. A God who is Holy but understands that His holiness speaks of the fact that He is wholly different from any other imagined deity. He was holy before creation. He was holy before sin entered that creation. He was holy before the Law was brought into human experience. Wholly set apart. But what bothers me more about this way of portraying the nature of God is that it completely misses the point that Jesus was making. LOVE is the very nature & essence of His Father. Out of His love He sends, He gives, and He lays down His life. Out of love He extends mercy. He is not looking for robots to perform His will, but for sons who will walk with Him.

May the revelation of Jesus forever change our concept of God. May we embrace the light of this revelation over the darkness of our ignorance. May we awaken to the reality of our sonship and share this reality with others. May we see our Father's Kingdom come & His will be done Earth as it is in Heaven.

Enjoy the journey!