"A Father, a Lamb, a Dove"

"A Father, a Lamb, a Dove"

  The Lord Jesus Christ showed us that humility serves as the foundation of authority.

   "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God, He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded…  So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:3-5; 13-14).

    The Christ who declared Himself to be "meek and lowly in heart" affirmed the same character in His Father: "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (Matthew 11:29; John 14:9).  Moreover, consider that the Holy Spirit seeks not His own glory or revelation, but that of the Lord Jesus (John 15:26; 16:14).  Glimmering before us lies the beauty of humility as revealed in three glorious but humble Persons.  That is, the Lord of all things and the great Authority unto which all answer bears within His heart the character and nature of a servant.  "Before honor is humility" (Proverbs 15:33).  No less than the cross of Calvary proclaims the wonder of Majesty, as revealed in meekness.  What other notion or religious thought about God suggests that the Almighty would subject Himself to be "crucified through weakness?" (II Corinthians 13:4).  Only the Bible and the Gospel dare to make such a claim, and only an infinitely glorious Lord possessed of a meek and lowly heart would deign to devise so wondrous a purpose of redeeming those who proudly rebelled against Him.

    Such truth does not detract from God's authority, or from the absolute necessity of our bowing before Him in complete reverence and submission.  Indeed, if we will not respond to the loving humility of Christ, we must know Him as our rightful and fearful Judge.  "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:40-42).  Our Lord will not and cannot be mocked.  If we will not have Him as the Lamb He so desires to be for us, we will know Him as the Lion that His holy purity demands.  All will one day bow before Christ, confessing Him as Lord (Philippians 2:10).  The only issue involves whether we do so happily or unhappily, based upon whether we have received the Lord who redeems those who will first know Him as a Servant.  "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).

    We will never bow lower (or low enough) than in those times when the humility of our Lord overwhelms our hearts with consideration of His character and nature of sublime goodness.  We worship the God who would have us know Him as a Father, a Lamb, and a Dove.  High and holy beyond all pondering, but meek and lowly beyond all wondering.  Herein our hearts find rest as the grace of His heart beckons us into the peace of His humility.

A Father, a Lamb, a Dove,

so high and holy above,

so meek and lowly in love.

a Father, a Lamb, a Dove.

A grace, a mercy, a peace,

given freely to all who believe

with the heart that kneels to perceive

a Father, a Lamb, a Dove.

Forever will not suffice

to offer our sacrifice

of praise to the Goodness on high,

to the Father, the Lamb, the Dove.

A Father, a Lamb, a Dove,

so high and holy above,

so meek and lowly in love,

A Father, a Lamb, a Dove…

a Father, a Lamb, a Dove.

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

(Philippians 2:5-11)

"The LORD is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!"

(Psalm 113:4-6)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Godliness with contentment is great gain.

(I Timothy 6:6)

    

4443

"Something We Can Do"

  Biblical contentment does not involve the fatalism that resigns itself to the notion, "Well, things just are as they are, and there is nothing I can do about them!"  Some necessary changes lie right before us, requiring our God-enabled actions as led by His Spirit.  "Work with your own hands" commanded the Apostle Paul of those responsibilities we can fulfill without waiting on our Lord to part a sea or move a mountain (I Thessalonians 4:11).  We increasingly enter into the realized contentment of Christ as we keep our eyes open and our hands ready to change those things within our means to accomplish.

   Some challenges of change, however, seemingly lie beyond our capacities to fulfill.  Regarding those, do we simply throw up our hands, consigning the matters to the "nothing I can do about them" category?  Hardly.  

    "Wait on the Lord.  Be of good courage and He shall strengthen thine heart.  Wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14).

    "Wait on the Lord and keep His way" (Psalm 37:34).

    Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are never more active than when still, if we recognize the presence and involvement of God in matters that seem to indicate His absence.  In such times, we join Moses, who "endured as seeing Him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27).  We actively choose to believe that our Heavenly Father is present and accounted for, as it were.  He attends to the matter of "present" by fulfilling His promise to "work together for good" all things in our lives (Romans 8:28).  The "accounted for" aspect rests upon us.  Will we "see" the Invisible, affirming the activity of God on our behalf even if the heart and hand of our Lord seem far away?  We are never more engaged and active than in those times when our hearts must courageously believe and declare, against all appearances, that God is at hand, and is working by His hand.  As the Psalmist declared, we "keep His way" while we "wait on the Lord."  Thus, there  is always something we can do about necessary changes, whether outwardly or inwardly.  Moreover, in a lifetime of walking by faith, the latter way of "seeing Him who is invisible"  accomplishes far more than we can imagine.  "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which worketh in us…" (Ephesians 3:20).

    The presence of God is often most confirmed by the appearance of His absence.  Thus, anyone who has ever accused Christians of practicing an "easy believism" has never actually tried to live by faith in the Lord Jesus.  Much courage is required, as provided by God, but as accessed by our choices to trust Him when the darkness is deep and the apparent stillness of God's hand seems overwhelming.  Great changes take place in such times, no less and even more than when we can put our hands to the plow and till the soil that lie before us.  Christians are not fatalists.  We do not resign ourselves to the "nothing I can do about it" category of futility.  On the contrary, there is always something we can do.  We change those things that we can.  And, through Christ and by faith, we change those things that we cannot.

"We walk by faith, not by sight."

(II Corinthians 7:5)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Godliness with contentment is great gain.

(I Timothy 6:6)

    

"Having Him..."

  "Be content with such things as ye have, for He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5).

  

   When considering the Apostle Paul's command to contentment, we may be tempted to focus more on the challenge than the accompanying promise.  Indeed, the basis of "Be content" is the assurance of the promise and presence of God - "He hath said… I will never leave the nor forsake thee."   Thus, the issue does not involve our dedication or capacity to experience satisfaction in the varying conditions of life, but rather our confidence in the ability of our Heavenly Father to do what He promises and be who He is.

   Is the Word of God faithful and true?  One of the greatest blessings in my life came to me just after I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior in 1975.  A friend gave me a book by the author M.R. DeHaan, who wrote in its pages that we can trust God and the Bible without reserve.  Dr. DeHaan affirmed (and I paraphrase), "Believe the Scriptures from beginning to end, and all points in between.  As times goes by, you will increasingly discover the perfection of the Bible and the truth that "every word of God is pure" (Proverbs 30:5).  In this holy light, the aforementioned assurance of our Lord's abiding and contenting presence beckons our hearts to complete confidence - "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart" (Proverbs 3:5).  We could lose everything, but if God remained, we would have lost nothing.  Or, as my wife Frances says, "Having Him, we have all."

     No more challenging truth exists in the pages of God's Word.  Everything in the world rages against the proposition of God alone as the contentment of our hearts.  The devil constantly tempts us to believe that we require more.  Moreover, the flesh of even the most godly believer resists the singular contentment found only in the promise and the presence of "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee."   We must therefore expect the conflict so long as we live in a fallen world.  God Himself is our contentment.  This we must believe and affirm with both heart and tongue, building the altar within that believes contentment to be possible no less in dungeons than in palaces.  Our enemies will savagely attack our position, and we must be ready to counter.  When tempted to believe that we must have something or someone other than our Lord and His provision, we arise to affirm, "God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever!" (Psalm 73:26).  "Having Him, we have all…"

    Contentment is the fruit of God's presence, and our confidence therein.  Confidence is the fruit of consistent exposure to the Lord and His truth - "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17).  The Word of God is the fruit of the perfectly faithful heart of the God who "cannot lie" (Titus 1:2).  Herein we rest our own hearts in that haven of peace which realizes the truth of One as the Life of our lives.  Our contentment lies in Christ.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  Nothing else.  Upon this basis alone can we respond effectually to the promise and the command, "Be content with such things as ye have, for He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee."   Yes indeed, having Him...

"Fear thou not, for I am with thee.  Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.  I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness."

(Isaiah 41:10)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Godliness with contentment is great gain.

(I Timothy 6:6)