Emancipation from the old dad – existence vs. spiritual eternal life

2. The old dad represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!

This is an exciting topic, This is the battle between the old mans vision and the new mans vision. Our blindness verses the fresh sight Jesus Christ gives us. New eyes vs the old eyes, It’s a beautiful moment when we trust in our new eyes but it takes time and understanding which we get from applying ourselves to God’s Word and trusting in His Grace.

Let’s set the tone – “Carnal existence” this is all things carnal, so it goes beyond the pleasures but to placing the high value on our own existence. So it’s a survivalist mentality, phrases like “survival of the fittest” fit into this belief easily because it encourages that survival is key and chief above all else. It’s essential seems to me (by my reading and understanding) self above all, even the apparent betterment of self.

“Spiritual pipe dreams” – This for us Christians is the eternal life that Christ promised us, this is that beautiful revelation of Him. John 17:3 Jesus says “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Our dreams or vision is set on the Eternal Father and the Heavenly things. Colossians 3 speaks about this beautifully which we will read at the end.

So the question is this… Are you carnally minded or spiritually minded? Is your mind set on survival or set on Eternal Life?

It’s a hard question for some, I believe many Christians are carnally minded I was and battle with the carnal mind often. I know that the carnal mind is lacking and when my vision is set on the carnal lower things, I lose focus of what is truly important. It is like momentarily stepping back into darkness. Maybe not as dark as it once was but certainly not the same brightness and brilliance that comes from looking onto Jesus Christ.

So why did that old dad teach us this? This is speculative thought, but I think it stands to reason. If we are set primarily on our own survival and our own benefits we will not purposely seek out God. Jesus taught us that if we want to seek after Him we must first deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (see Luke 9:23). In essence place death in our beings and seek Him for life but if we seek after our own life then we will never seek after God’s Eternal Life.

Scripture shows us that we were never seeking after God.

Romans 3:11 “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God.”

Every believer in Christ is the product of Grace from start to finish, not one single person can say that they are a seeker after God by their own hand, it is God’s Grace working in us that begins that desire to seek after Him.

So how do we battle with this insecurity of our own life and seek after God’s Eternal Life?

First we need to acknowledge the frailty of our own life. Whether it be a baby or old man, we all have an appointed time to die. We in this world but a breath before we come before God. Our lives in this world have meaning and purpose but they are not found in this world.

We have absolutely no control of the world around us, we have absolutely zero sovereignty over what goes on around us, We can not even control our own lives let alone another’s. What can man do by himself? We can create nothing, we can destroy nothing, we understand that which is unimportant and that which is important we neglect.

We are frail in our beings, but secondly to that is that God has purpose and meaning for us, our greatest source of power is our weakness. Not that our weakness is powerful but that God is powerful in our weakness, We boast in our weakness not to boast in ourselves but to boast in God’s work within the frailty of ourselves.

So the old dad taught us to trust in our own survival and prize it above all else but God taught us to deny our own survival and trust in Him above all else.

Colossians 3:12-15 says

“12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

How beautiful, this is not a survival mentality but one of service, one of love, this is what God has called us to, to walk in His image just as Jesus Christ being God and revealing God has enabled and showed us to do. Therefore let us do what the verse above says.

Colossians 3:1-4 says

 1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

There we have it, seeking those things above, some may mock our “spiritual pipe dreams” but we know that this Eternal Life of knowing the Father and the Son, to know the True God is by far worth any death we may face in this world. Trust Christ above all else.

I hope this message has challenged and encourage you, it has been a blessing for me to write and challenge me in our day to day living. May God continue to Bless you!,
Chris

Emancipation of the old dad - Leave that fool!

Before we move on to the second principle, I think it’s good to take a moment and share what the Word of God says about the old man in relation to our new life in Christ. So it’s a few verses I wanted to share more than anything speaking about how we have left the past in the past and those of us who haven’t how we should leave the past in the past and move forward in Christ.

Romans 6:6 –

4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

“our old man was crucified with Him”, We have no reason nor right to bring back the old man into our lives, he was put to death with Christ. The sins, the troubles, the shame, the guilt, the hatred, the abuse whatever it may be, they all died with the old man. We need to understand that things of past have past and by stepping into Christ we are born again in the fullness of His resurrection.

We hold onto things in the past often because we don’t trust that they are dealt with, but listen to those words again “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”(rom 6:6), not held by those things of old but stepping into the freeness of Christ.

Let’s look at another verse -

Ephesians 2:14-16 -

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

This is a bit more complicated but in essence saying that what was separating us from God and keeping us outside of having peace with God – Sin, was put to death in Christ, and through Christ now we have peace with God but more so that which held is back is destroyed and we are made new in Him.

There is nothing that can hold back in the newness Christ has for you, if Christ has given you a new life, you won’t experience a new death. His life is eternal life, therefore forget about the things of held, let God be judge of those things and deal with anyone who has hurt you. As a Child of God you must forgive those who have hurt you and move on because God has great things for you, why keep you mind on such matters?

Let’s look at another verse Ephesians 4:22-24 -

22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

“that you put off”, let us put away those things of old, those childish things, those old hates, those old enemies and walk in forgiveness, let us put off those former lusts and be “renewed” by the “spirit of your mind” that is Christ’ working in us, that we may set our minds on the things the new man was created for. That is us being born again, walk in that new birth, that we died with Christ and put off all those things of old, so being born in Christ put on all those things of new. We are the new wine that is placed in new wine skins. “that you put on the new man which was created according to God” not created by our own will by created in the will of God, for His good pleasure!(Eph 1:5) what a beautiful thing it is dependent on the will of God and He is “well please”!

“in true righteousness and holiness”
These some of the foundations of the new man, Righteousness and Holiness, these both come from God. God says “be Holy for I am Holy”(1 Peter 1:16) we could not be Holy if God was not first holy, He leads us into holiness and how can we be righteous? Only by the gift of God’s salvation in Christ. It is Christ’ righteousness that makes us righteous and our obedience that makes us holy and our obedience is empowered by God’s grace so we can fulfill it. It is all God working in us and us cooperating with Him.

The last verse, We spoke about putting away the old man, putting on the new man and briefly on cooperating with God’s grace.

Colossians 3:9-11

9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

There is this relationship between the old man and “his deeds” what the old man does, this is the most noticeable way we put away the old man, through what we do. If we learn to control our tongue by grace, speaking’s the right words not lying to one another nor being deceitful in our words, the rest of our being will fall in place as we trust in God’s Grace.

The new man, the glory that has been set before us as believers and born-again Children of God. “put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him”, Let us renew our minds in the knowledge of Christ who made us, let us set our minds and hearts on Him who cared enough about us, that loved us so dearly that He gave His life for us, that we may have life and opened a way for us through the Cross for God purposed that we would be born again by His power by His strength, that we may rest securely in the blessed place of His rest.

Do not despise God for opening this blessing but rather embrace Him for it because there is nothing you could of done for it but God did all that was necessary. Now the verse says “where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” There is neither a slave no free man, black nor white man, Asian nor Hispanic man, English nor Scottish, There is none except Christ in all and all in Christ. Amongst you and your brothers and sister, there is no distinction except Christ! How beautiful, there is nothing that separates you from those who have truly been born again of God because “Christ is all and in all” He is the very substance of our being. How precious!

Beloved, I hope this helps you to look forward toward God and away from things old, forgive that which you need to and continue to embrace God’s Love. He has set before you Christ to be the substance of every single detail of your life, how can you not be of great value? Heading towards Great things!

May God truly Bless You!,
Chris.

Emancipation From The Old Dad - 1. Indulgence Vs Abstinence

First Principle of this way of life is this -

1. The old dad represents indulgence instead of abstinence!

Indulgence, what a word speaks volumes to me and I hope it does for you too, for it is to indulge that means “to allow oneself to enjoy pleasure of” generally indulge is in relation to something you shouldn’t be partaking in.

The old dad, has no concern about restraining us from our desires, his attitude is one that says “do as you please”, In fact in Satanism the “golden rule” is this – “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”.

How confident they are in the fallen nature of man, that by our own will we will continue to do the will of the old dad. This isn’t to shock you but to reveal to you the very deprived state that we were and are in. The devil is confident that you left to your own devices are no threat to his kingdom and wouldn’t have a desire to leave it.

Let’s see how this is true of our lives and even how we as Christians convince ourselves that it is better for us to “indulge” rather than “abstain”.

I go to a church with a young adults ministry, I hear frequently in relation to lust, that because we are young and those desires are aroused it is inevitable for us to get entangled in various activity that is contrary to what God would have us do. Have you heard this before “we can’t fulfill the law so thank God for grace” This used in as a justification for some sin. I say this from experience I have said it many times in the past but after seeking God’s word about it I was shocked to see what God had to say about it.

(1 Cor 10:13) - No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

The truth is we would often rather indulge in temptation than abstain from it, this is the nature of the old dads influence in us that must be killed.

We try to spiritualize and justify it but there is no justification for it. Just as God is Faithful so is there a way out of temptation. Temptation is the step that goes just before indulgence. We do not “indulge” or “give ourselves to” something before we are enticed to. So when we say that temptation is to much, or that we can not walk away from a certain temptation we almost go to say “God is not as faithful as He says” though no-one would say this but we deny the Truth of God’s Word.

We must be so careful of our confessions and be more ready to recognize how we have fallen, how we are fallen and are redeemed and being redeemed. Romans 12:1-2 speaks of the “renewing of the mind” fighting the “uniformity” of this world.

Let’s look at abstinence, It means “The act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite or desire", So what are those desires we have from the old dad?

The Fleshly Ways! Galatians 5:19-21 –

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I remember a conversation with my friend I had about sex before marriage, I showed him where in the Bible it speaks about it, then I spoke from my own personal experience and struggles with temptation but ultimately told him it is better to abstain and do as God would have us do.

His reply was in essence this “but it feels so good, I don’t see how that could be a bad thing”…. How many people have made similar confessions like this, we bypass the word of God and turn to our feelings and base what is true on our feelings. God says do not commit adultery but we say “but I love her!” then try to justify that based on the fact God is a God of Love. Though we all too often indulge in our desires.

Another example, a man had killed 17 people over the course of two years, He was a serial killer, when asked why he committed this hideous crimes, for each person was killed in a horrific way. He replied, “Because it felt good!”

How quickly we would turn and say “this man is surely sick!” yet for ourselves we think our actions need the same justification, if we can’t see our need for God’s saving power in every area of our life we will continue to indulge just as we did before but even worse because we will try use God to justify our continued sinning.

Why is abstinence good and of God?

In short because to abstain requires self-control and faithfulness, these are categorized as being fruit of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us (Gal 5:22-23). God will eventually change our desires so we don’t struggle so much in those areas but until He does we must cooperate with Him and His Spirit by trusting in His ways.

The old dads desires are still raging against the new self Christ has made us to be.

Galatians 5:17 says -

17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

There is this relationship throughout the New Testament between the flesh and the Spirit. We if truly we have given our lives to Jesus Christ, want to walk as Children of God, doing those things are pleasing to Him and being pleased in Him. This takes time and takes trust, we need to trust God that we will experience the blessed rest and peace that He has promised us though now we may faced heated temptation to commit adultery, to gossip, to speak ill of something or be angry but we must trust God that He will and is able to keep us.

God has so blessed us and so redeemed us from our wicked selves through Jesus Christ. He has such great plans ahead for all of His children. We have been adopted not just by a King but the King of Kings. We have a blessed place and God takes care of His children by gently and sometimes sharply instructing us in the way we should walk. God is more aware than we are of our fallen nature, therefore He has given us a wealth of His Word to help us partake in the things are helpful for us to grow as His Children and to abstain from those things that are hinderances to ourselves.

It was by the Cross that we can leave the "old dad" behind but his nature is still in our being needing to be continually crucified in us by God's Word and God's Spirit, So as we continue this study, let us be bold in making our requests to God about the life we want in Him and have a courageous trust in God's Faithfulness.

So next time you feel the urge to “indulge” in some form of former practice (the old dads ways) think, “Which Father am I following?”

I Pray and hope this has been encouraging to you to continue to Love God, please feel free to comment or message. May God Continue to Bless You!

We will look into the other 8 principles one by one.

Emancipation From The Old Dad - Introduction

Introduction

Definition of Emancipation: freeing someone from the control of another; especially a parent's relinquishing authority and control over a minor child

I want to talk through 9 principles, which I will keep you in a level of secrecy until the very end about. They are 9 principles, which are used to define a particular way of living, but if I were to reveal it to you directly I feel some may not take the relevance of what is being taught.

So we shall go on a journey together!

John 8:44 says, “The devil is your father. You are from him. You want to do the sinful things your father, the devil, wants you to do. He has been a killer from the beginning. The devil has nothing to do with the truth. There is no truth in him. It is expected of the devil to lie, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Jesus is speaking to the Pharisee’s here, We as a “modern” society often like to airbrush this truth, now we know that these Pharisee’s did not “sell their souls to the devil” but yet Jesus tells them straight that they do as their father the devil does. What incredibly hard words to bear for a person who believes their service is to God, though it was indeed mixed with much selfishness, These are hard words.

Though it is Truth, we are adopted to be Children of God by Jesus Christ (John 1:12-13, Eph 1:5), If we are then adopted then naturally we have another father, and that is what Jesus’ speaks of and that father is the Devil, Naturally we are born children of wrath.

Ephesians 2:2-3 -

2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

It is an extremely blessed gift this salvation we have in Jesus Christ!

So the reason this is called “emancipation from the old dad”, well firstly emancipation because I remember hear about children getting emancipations from their parents because their parents were in affect doing “bad or irresponsible jobs”, so this was legal ground for a “divorce” between a child and father. This isn’t why we can emancipated from our old dad (the devil) our legal ground for divorcing him is that Jesus Christ purchased for us a better home, a better father and a whole new freedom.

Naturally we’d be happy with the old dad because we are naturally “children of wrath” and this is more or less what I want to speak about, in the hope that it will encourage you toward your true Father God.

So we’ll be touring through these principles!

My heart lately

I’ve found myself in more and more need of God, I’ve been struggling with so many aspects of my life, primarily relationships and all this has brought I more and more into a state of need. It’s a Blessing to be in a position of need before God even though often it hasn’t felt like it but God is faithful and in that I hold onto.

I’ve found myself speaking less and less and doing less and less and ultimately I believe it’s been because I’ve been praying less and less. I have pleaded to God for forgiveness and He has faithfully forgiven me, as He promises so. There is no shortage of need around me, not just in myself but in my family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ and the world around me.

In addition to my unfaithful actions, God has been amazingly Faithful, my family bible study seems to be multiplying which isn’t something I was prepared for or considered since it was a family bible study, but of last week we have another family over and who joined us and partook in our study and we shared and fellowshipped together, tonight another family joins us.

In all honestly, I have no words to say about it but to Thank God. I am in awe with the fact I can’t comprehend God’s Faithfulness. The last few weeks have had a great peace to it despite allot of turmoil taking place around me and as I came before God early this morning in prayer for those around me, my grew heavier and heavier as I saw the burdens of those around me were carrying.

So I’ve been very negligent to those around me and worse still I believe it was by choice, I have placed this before God and confessed my unfaithfulness to the amazing people God has placed in my life as sin and He has forgiven me and encouraged me to move forward, as He is faithful to do. As I move forward desiring to be a true brother to those around me, bearing there burdens and partaking in there hardships with them, that in all things our relationships may bear witness of Christ.

I ask you to please pray for me on this journey.

If you are in a place similar to the place I was in, just know that God is Faithful to forgive and enable you to move forward but there is no shortage of need for any person especially in looking to those around them. So ask God to open your eyes to those around you, it may weigh heavy on your heart but let it be motivation to pray more earnestly.

Exploring John The Baptist

So recently I’ve been intimately reading the Gospel of John, asking God to reveal much of Himself to me and that I may remember His Word. I am awestruck from the First Chapter, the amazing things God has revealed and taught me.


I called this Exploring John the Baptist, because there is something in his words and actions that have greatly benefited me over the last few weeks. As John 1 speaks extensively about John the Baptist in relation to Jesus Christ and I received much correction and encouragement from reading and seeing his heart in a number of situations.

John 1:6-9 -

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. ⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

Here we see an outline of John’s Call. He was a Witness through and through; The Bible even goes to say in verse 8 “He was not that Light”. Putting emphasis that he was a witness and separate from that which he was witnessing to. Now let’s compare this to John the Baptists testimony to the Priests and Levites to his call.

John 1:19-20 –

¹⁹ Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

Notice his response, He did not say “I am John, a man sent from God to bear witness to His Son, I shall be baptising with Water”, But what He said was this “I am NOT the Christ”. His first response knowing that they came seeking him, was to confess to them that he was not the Christ. His first reaction was to deny himself and deny himself any glory. They further asked him, whether he was Elijah or the Prophet, and when John did respond he quoted Isaiah 40:3.

Here’s what I strongly received as I read this. The reason why he had no intention of confessing of himself was that he was not sent to bear witness of himself but Christ. He was so certain of this; that he was there to point towards Christ. So that in this question of “Who are you?” Alone, his choice response was “I am not the Christ” Almost saying, “You should be seeking the Christ and I am not Him”.

The legal definition of a Witness is this -

“1) a person who testifies under oath in a trial (or a deposition which may be used in a trial if the witness is not available) with first-hand or expert evidence useful in a lawsuit. A party to the lawsuit (plaintiff or defendant) may be a witness.”

The role of a witness is to put forward any first hand evidence he/she has in relevance to the trial.

Now let’s look at John, John knew his calling because God had revealed it to him ( John 1:32-33 ). He knew from what God said, that he would see the Christ and that he was not the Christ. He knew that he was a witness to the Christ (John 1:33).

When opportunity came later in this same encounter with the Jewish Levites and Priests, He freely confessed to them further –

John 1:26-27

²⁶ John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. ²⁷It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

Encouragement

Here’s the encouragement for our lives. Most people are familiar with John’s famous testimony of this “³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30). The reality of this is what we see in John’s witness, He was so set on bringing glory to God, to living in His Call, to walking to bring glory to God. That when a simple question was asked of him, “Who are you?” his reaction was “I am not the Christ”. How glorious it would be that us as people would have a “I am not the Christ” attitude, that in everything we did, we did with excellence and a sense of purpose because “We are not the Christ but we know Him”. Beloved know this, that in everything we have this glorious gift bestowed on us, that we know Jesus Christ. The confession that we are not the Christ brings glory to Him, that He may be exalted in our lives and those around us. When we know we are not Jesus, we realise all the more how great and wonderful Our Lord Jesus Christ is.

Therefore know this, you are not Jesus Christ but by Him you are God’s Child and beloved. Let everything you do be done with excellence not because of who are you but because of who you are not. Do well based on the fact that you are not the Christ, He has done everything for you and we walk in the path of His Victory. So let your cry be this “I am not the Christ but I know Him! And through Him I can do all things!”. Then just as Peter writes ( 1 Peter 3:15 ), when people ask of you, what this great hope it is that you hold onto, this great difference about you, you may confess “It is not I but who I am not, It is He Jesus Christ who has done everything not just for myself but for everyone, that I may know God and through Jesus Christ I have been redeemed!”.