religion - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent 2023 | Day 27: The Gospel’s Uniqueness

In Christianity, God makes the first move. What’s more, in Christianity God comes and entered the human experience and provided a living example of what he desired.

The exclusive truth claims of the Gospel must be considered when comparing Christianity with other religious systems. What this means is, we must take each claim as a good faith expression of what it describes and assess its reliability to our experiences, coherence with what we know about the world, and congruity within the system making the claims as a whole.

Each of these will help us to better determine which system of belief best leads us to the truth. The goal of belief should not be to satisfy some emotional need. The goal of belief should be to give us tools and structures of thought that help us live in this world.

When our belief system keeps us from living in accord with the truth, we become susceptible to lies and manipulations. The truth is the only antidote to the lies we are told. The truth is the only shield we have to protect ourselves from becoming puppets to another person’s agenda.

We do not have the time in this post to go through each of the criteria I shared above. But, there is a quality of the Gospel that gives it a “head start” on other belief systems.

Of all the religions and systems of belief, the Christian faith is the only one that argues for divine intervention as the initiating action in the relationship. What this means is that in virtually all other systems, we must work our way toward God. But in Christianity, God makes the first move.

What’s more, in Christianity, God comes and entered the human experience and provided a living example of what he desired. And while other religions may try and argue that this understanding of divine intervention exists, it does not compare to what Christianity claims to have happened.

The Gospel’s uniqueness is that God enters the world and calls all who hear to come to Him. The Gospel is a call to follow. Not to perform acts of righteousness to placate God. Not to say the right words in the right way to flatter God. Not even to go to a particular place in order to find God.

The Gospel says that God came to personally invite us to follow him. This is the difference between the faith of Jesus and all other systems.

We are invited to participate in a relationship initiated by God Himself. And here’s the best part, God even paid the price for us to be able to approach Him at all.

Lent 2023 Series

I am angry with my fellow Christians today

If you believe that what happened in Uvalde, Texas, was an act of evil, this post is for you.

If you are tired of the way our world is becoming more divided and divisive, this post is for you.

If you consider yourself a Christian and to be redeemed by the blood of Christ, this is post is for you especially.

I am angry.

I am angry at Christians on the “right” who get defensive when tragedies involving “our rights” happen.

I am angry at Christians on the “left” who use tragedies to throw accusations at those who disagree with them about those rights.

I’m angry at Christians in the middle who throw their hands up and claim there is nothing that can be done because the world is “full of sin.”

Every single one of us is guilty of using events like this to promote ungodly and unholy agendas. Either through an intentional act or by passive disengagement. And you know how I know, because the gospel is only a byline to the tragedy.

The comfort God supplies is used as just a platitude we throw out there to sound spiritual. And that right before we launch into “what we really want to say.”

I am so angry.

I’m angry because we keep talking like the world. Thinking like the world. Engaging with each other about the social ills we face like the world.

We have placated the world, accommodated the world, compromised with the world, and even prostituted ourselves to the world.

And for what?! To be liked? To be accepted? To make the Gospel more palatable and the Church more respectable? To be allowed access to what the world has defined as success or affirmation?

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

This approach by the Church to engaging the world has been proven a failure. And we look like fools for continuing to use these approaches.

These strategies and methods are not working because they are not biblical. They cannot produce the transformation the human soul needs. And they are incongruent with the character of God.

And for those wondering what I mean when I say “the world”, let me tell you what I mean. It is the way of living that seeks its own way and pleasure rather than the way of obedience to God in Christ. It is a way of looking at life that is defined by selfishness, “winning”, and self-righteousness.

It is marked by posturing and virtue signaling and the pretense of looking like Jesus, being near to Jesus, but never actually embracing the life of Jesus. Never fully appreciating that anonymity is closer to the goal, and not some bug to the outworking of holiness in our lives.

We keep talking about God but haven’t truly spent any real time with him.

We keep preaching about the gospel but haven’t really been convicted to the point of contrition and transformed by it to such a degree we mourn our former ways of life.

We keep calling people to repent of sin but are walking around with logs in our eyes the size of redwoods.

We talk about what needs to change and cry out for revival in our nation while at the same time holding onto the millstones that have been drowning us in the oceans of sin and worldliness.

And then, when tragedy after tragedy happens, we become as shrill and incoherent as the supposed pundits who are “looking out” for us.

This vacillating makes us idolatrous. Not wise. Not shrewd. Not contextual. Not culturally sensitive.

It makes us hypocrites. And charlatans.

There are too many claiming to be emissaries of Jesus who have become prophets in the service of false gods. Who function more like priests in the temples of the same rather than a royal priesthood in the kingdom of God.

When evil like we have seen in the last couple of weeks, and years, rears its head, the church should be the first to show the world how to mourn with those who are mourning. To weep for the innocence lost and the hopes fractured by the wickedness of broken people.

When the world sees the members of the body of Christ engaging in the same finger-pointing as the rest of the world, we have become the salt that has lost its saltiness. We have moved from abdicating our moral authority to participating in the moral corruption of the world.

The people of God should be the first to call out the evil, especially from those on “our side.” Or did we think those around us don’t notice our duplicity?

Do we actually think we can give them a pass because they are like “us?” Because they are on the “right side” of history (and it always seems to be “our side”). We should not only be ashamed of behaving like this, we should be revolted. We should be disgusted with not just our cowardice but in too many cases our complicity.

And just so we are all clear, I’ve had it with political Christianity. The kind of Christianity that uses faith as an excuse for politicizing and justifying anything and everything they think is right.

I’m done.

I hate it with every fiber of my being.

When our primary framework as Christians is political in nature, we have become more secular than holy. We have surrendered the moral ground and ceded it to the enemy of our souls.

What is happening around us may look like physical warfare, but it’s not. This is a spiritual war. This is why using the methods of the world will fail us over and over again. And yes, spiritual warfare often has catastrophic physical consequences. But not recognizing what is happening around and behind the visible tragedy is a terribly short-sighted understanding of what is happening.

The political approach is a failed endeavor for the Church. And those who continue to use it will become victims of their own self-deception.

The reason I hate the political methodology is because it is a lie. It is based on the same premise that sent the human race into the fall—that we can know good and evil and live. No, we cannot. That is the principal lesson of the Garden. With knowledge comes responsibility. And with that responsibility accountability.

For the Church, the political arena is the fountainhead of death in our world. And it tricks us into thinking we are making a difference. It seduces us with promises of being “agents of change” or “making a difference”. Welcome to the failures of the Maccabean revolution and the betrayal of Judas.

If our worldview is framed by the political ideas of the world we cannot be a Christian who properly reflects the character of God. But if we are trying to be Christians whose understanding of the word is constrained by the revelation of God, then we must reject the use of politicized language, rhetoric, and accusations outright. We must work harder to be charitable with those we disagree with. Not less.

And don’t confuse what I’ve just said with being engaged in the civic process. We can be good citizens without becoming ideologues. And to think it can’t be done is to misunderstand the very power of the Gospel. It’s to accept the notion that engaging in the civic process requires a conversion from Christianity. Or at minimum a compromising of our faith.

It has become clear to me that in the eyes and minds of too many, both inside and outside the Church, there is no tangible difference between the world and the people of God. And that is not the world’s fault. That’s on us as the Church.

We are the ones bringing disrepute to the name of Christ. We are the ones smudging the spotless dress of Christ’s bride with the filth of this world. We are the ones scandalizing the world by creating confusion and fomenting apostasy through our inconsistent witness. That’s an “us” problem.

To all the Christians talking about ____ today… WE are the problem.

When we don’t love our neighbors because we don’t know them… we are the problem.

When we don’t forgive those who have wronged us because they deserve what’s coming to them… we are the problem.

When we don’t turn the other cheek or go the extra mile because that is a violation of my rights… we are the problem.

When we wax more eloquent on political talking points than the gospel of life…. We are the problem.

When we moralize tragedies for political advantage and excuse wickedness out of fear… we are the problem.

When we stand in judgment over each other as self-appointment executioners of God’s holiness… we are the problem.

When we think we know what’s wrong with the world and have “the” solution… we are the problem.

When we allow our emotions to be enflamed by those who neither know God nor are led by God… we are the problem.

When we abandon the Truth for the next and newest cultural phenomenon… we are the problem.

We can continue to get disappointed at a world ruled by sin and wickedness. Or we can do what we were saved to do.

The tools, definitions, rhetoric, and mechanisms of the world will not address or solve what is wrong in the world. Every time we think they will, every time we substitute what God gave us for what some other fallen person has invented we will fail. And we will continue to fail until we surrender our wills and our wisdom to God.

The Top 5 ways Americans read our culture into Scripture

If you did not know, reading Scripture is a difficult endeavor at times.

Since we do not share our language, culture, or literary nuances with the authors of these writings, at times we read aspects of our American culture into the words of Scripture. And many times it’s not always obvious… Continue reading “The Top 5 ways Americans read our culture into Scripture”

Just Pray: There is too much at stake not to!

I believe every person living will say a prayer to something or somebody at some point in time in their lives. When we pray we give our submission to something that is bigger than ourselves.

For myself, I can’t always say that I have had the best prayer life. I know that when things get hard I find it easier to pray but when times are easy I rarely will speak to God. I can catch myself at times living life as if I control what goes on in it. And when I do find myself praying I even catch myself doubting God in the midst of my prayers. I think a lot of times we pray and God may very well answer our prayers, but in our own doubts, we miss the answers given to us. Continue reading “Just Pray: There is too much at stake not to!”

Sermon Sketch | “Marks of Pure Worship”

I preached this sermon on a couple of occasions, but this particular version I preached at Merrywood Baptist Church in Statesboro, Georgia.

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Marks of Pure Worship

Luke 7:36-50

³⁶ Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down to eat. ³⁷ And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, ³⁸ and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

Pure Worship is…

I. PRECIOUS: [the alabaster box] (of such great value that a suitable price is hard to estimate ); costly – the idea of costly.

a. Luke gives us that information that the price of the alabaster ointment was three hundred denarius.

b. In other places in scripture we find that a denarius was equal to about one days wage.

i. If she did not eat for a 300 days she would have the money to buy it – unlikely.

ii. If she saved half of what she made in a day, half of a denarius it would have taken 600 days – this is becoming very valuable perfume.

iii. She is described as a sinner by the Pharisee implying that she was a woman that made her living by less than honorable means. As a sore in the sight of society will she be paid in a normal way? I don’t think so.

c. Pure worship is precious. The alabaster box is a representation that what we bring to God should be something “of such great value” that its price is hard to estimate, it is priceless to us, but it can serve as an appropriate symbol of our love for God.

II. POWERFUL: [the forgiveness of sins] – it changes our lives

a. The woman’s worship created an opportunity for Jesus to demonstrate that faith is what brings forgiveness.

b. That woman had to believe that there was a possibility that Jesus could do something for her.

c. You don’t do something if you don’t believe it.

III. PECULIAR: [the woman’s presence] – some won’t understand what it is; why we do it

a. What an odd scene. Here is this woman walking through the crowd…she probably got access to the house because the Pharisee that had invited Jesus was trying to show off.

b. But there was something that probably caught the attention more than just her presence there in that gathering. Paul tells us about the glory of a woman

…but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. (1 Corinthians 11:15, ESV)

c. Allow me just a moment to touch on this. It was common practice for women of that time to cover their hair in public if they were married. They were only to show their hair to their husbands.

i. The fact that this woman exposed her hair reveals to us that she was indeed a sinner, but more to the heart of the matter this woman was taking that which was her glory, the symbol of her womanhood and using it to wash the filth off Jesus’ feet.

ii. The only thing that the Pharisee could see was the woman. Jesus, on the other hand, looked beyond the sin, beyond the cultural rule, beyond the decorum of the day and saw the sincerity of her worship.

d. It is only when I recognize the depth of my sin that the miracle of God’s grace comes to cover the sin of my life.

e. Pure worship is peculiar because when the moment comes we have to be ready to let our hair done.

IV. PENETRATING: [the weeping] – it moves us to the core

a. The weeping was like that of a rain storm. When we come into the presence of God are we moved to tears because of the wrong our sin had done to his holiness.

b. No one could deny that this woman knew who she was. She was honest enough with herself not to argue with the charge that she was a sinner.

i. There was not need to fight back. That was not why she had come. There was no longer a reason to hide.

ii. Any effort to hide would not conceal the truth of here condition from the world because the world already knew. We so often times hide from ourselves because we can face the truth.

V. PASSIONATE: [holding on for dear life] – we do it with all of our being

a. The touch…we do worship because is it something that we should do. Worship is done is such a way that when others look at us they would think that our lives depended on it if we didn’t.

b. The Pharisee lived by a strict set of rules that kept him separate from everyone and everything in his world. He would guard against touching something or being touched because he could afford to be contaminated.

c. This woman was passionate about what she was doing. The text does not do justice to what was happening. This woman was not just touching Jesus she was literally hanging on for dear life to his feet. She just couldn’t make herself let go. There was something different about this man.

VI. PERSONAL: [we are responsible] – we have to do it

a. This is the final point mark of pure worship. Only you can offer it to God.

Sermon Sketch | “Between Life and Living”

I wrote this outline on February 19, 2003. I am not sure if I ever shared it in a teaching/preaching setting. However, I wanted to record it for posterity. I have clarified some of the points so that it makes more sense!

Between Life and Living

Life is that which we have.
Living is that which we do.
This is one of the most distinctive characteristics of the Christian experience. Faith in Jesus moves us from just having life to living the life that God has given.

There are two types of life:

1. Physical Life

All have creatures that breath have this. There is no purpose. It is merely a fact.

2. Spiritual Life

This is better than mere physical life. The question is now that you are a live what will you do? This is where learning how to live comes in.

What is Necessary for living?

1. Purpose

Where is it found?

For the disciple of Jesus it is found in a relationship with him.

Why is it necessary?

Without a relationship with Jesus we cannot live up to God’s will and purpose for our lives.

2. Desire

How do you get it?

Desire comes from experiencing the Gospel’s transforming power. (Romans 1:16)

How do you keep it?

We keep our desire by reminding ourselves of the Gospel and holding onto the truth that it proclaims–that we are now new creations because of Jesus. (2 Cor. 5:17)

Reading as Conversation: Learning to Hear the Voice of God Today (Pt. 2)

In the first part of Reading as Conversation, we talked about the two pivotal events that propelled me into changing the way I read the Bible. I also talked about how the Bible is a game-changer. What that means is if we want to see the Bible do what God intended for it to do in our lives we have to stop “telling” the Bible what it is. We have to allow God’s word to work as God designed it to work in our lives. Too often we come to the Bible with all kinds of preconceptions and then are pleasantly surprised when we find what we were “looking for.”

Let’s take a moment and review the six basic realities we must understand and believe regarding the Bible. There may be more, however, I believe that if we are going to learn to read the Bible better we have to start with some ground rules about what we are dealing with.

The Bible was written by God.
The Bible’s author is not dead.
The Bible is designed to point to who God is and not just tell me what to do.
The Bible reveals God’s character.
The Bible defines what sin is.
The Bible proclaims the good news that Jesus has reconciled sinners to a holy God.

Do you believe these things to be true of God’s word? If you do not, you will have a difficult time hearing from God and discerning what he is trying to do in the world and, more importantly, in your life.

We will now discuss three principles that govern how I read the Bible. These principles are what transform the Bible from a reading exercise or a chore into a pleasure. If we can wrap our minds around these simple ideas, I believe, everyone’s reading of the Bible will be radically changed.

1. Engage as many of the senses as possible as you read

When we read books we generally engage several of our senses in the process. The reason for this is it enhances our reading and actually increases our investment in what we are reading. Books that leave an impression are those books that “get under our skin.” There is something about the characters or the setting; the twists and turns of the plot that causes us to want to keep reading. To get to the end and find out how the puzzle gets solved.

The Bible is no different. There are all kinds of characters, plot twists, settings and more to keep us engrossed. I find that what has happened is that we have characterized the Bible as a manual rather than what it is–God’s story played out through the human drama. I could have said along-side the human drama, but this is not correct. The Bible is the only religious text that reveals the main character through the lives, events, and circumstances of the other minor characters. We see God for who he is because we see how the other players respond and interact with God.

If we are going to maximize the impact of the Bible in our reading we have to do a better job of becoming engrossed in the reading of the Bible. We must allow our imagination to pull us into the stories and characters we encounter. We should be able to feel the dirt or road or grass beneath our feet. To smell the aromas wafting in around us, whether they be intoxicating or revolting. The sensation of a rock in our hands, the sling on our fingertips, the water over our heads. This and so much more must be experienced, not merely known as bits of data.

When you read about Lazarus dying, can you hear the wailing of his sisters and friends? When Peter faltered after walking on the water could you feel the weight of your body sinking into the sea? When Jesus fed the five thousand did you wonder how the fish would taste?

God has given to us the ability to imagine, not so we can conjure up any whim or fancy as we read the Bible. It is not a time to ask the “what if” questions that draw us away from the story rather than draw us in. Our holy imagination should help us to step into the world of the Bible. It should help us to better sense the human element of the story. We have to understand that the human element is what bridges us to the God of the Bible.

We must engage as many of our senses as possible when we read. This will get us closer to understanding what was truly taking place as we flip the pages from one chapter to the next.

2. Conversations last longer than lectures

The second principle for reading the Bible is thinking of the time we spend reading as a conversation with God. Many people have suggested this before, but I do not think we know how to follow through with this idea. So, let me explain what I mean. I get the feeling that we just don’t know how to do it anymore. We have become so inundated with tweets and soundbites that we no longer know how to sustain a conversation for more than a few minutes.

Conversations typically have at least two participants. However, how many times do we read with the idea that there is only one person involved in the process? When we do not enter into the reading event with the idea of God being present as we read, then there is no conversation. We have to change how we think about reading and who we think is present. When I read the Bible God is right there with me. He is there waiting for me to engage Him as I investigate, ponder, and meditate on what I find on each page.

The reality of this idea is that conversations are more stimulating and have longer lasting effects than we give them credit. How many times have we had a conversation with someone and could not stop thinking about the subject? How many times have we found ourselves without a response in the heat of the moment only to come with a comeback we promise ourselves we will use the next time? This is what we want to create when we read the Bible. We want to interact with God’s word as if God were right there speaking to us because He is.

Here is the most shocking realization I had about reading the Bible, the part of the conversation that is missing is my part. God’s part has already been put down on paper. God has already given us His half of the conversation. Our job is to come to the scriptures ready to ask questions, interact with the ideas, and to engage in the challenges that are issued to us. As we do this we will begin to see that what we are looking for will happen with far less effort.

You may be asking yourself, “What are we looking for?” That is the topic of our next principle.

3. Reading the Bible is Not about Information or Transformation

What needs to take place is a shift in our expectations when reading the Bible. What does this mean? Too often we read the Bible and we are looking for a windfall of revelation. We are hoping to find the one truth/idea/concept that will change our lives in an instant. The problem with coming to the Bible with this expectation is that that is not the way the Bible works.

Let me make this simple. When we read the bible for information we miss the author. When we read the Bible for transformation we miss the relationship. But when we read the Bible for conversation we get both.

The easiest way to describe what I am saying is this: spend more time looking for what God is saying to you than what he is said to them (the original hearers). Yes, the Bible needs to be understood within its original context. Yes, we have to know what the Bible meant to the original recipients. I do not deny any of these things. What I would like to encourage you to do is to do these things while consciously and intentionally thinking about what would it mean if I was an original hearer of the words I am reading.

This concept is so important to me I have written a short booklet that will help you read the Bible better. It’s short and is how I teach people to read the Bible as I disciple them.

Changing the way you read changes what you hear

The Bible is vitally important for the faith and life of every follower of Christ. We will not become who God has purposed if we jettison the Bible from our lives. The better we get at engaging with God in Scripture-centered conversation, the better prepared we will be to receive what God expects for us to do in our daily lives.

Start reading the Bible and thinking about the Bible as a way of having a conversation with God. If you don’t know where to start get my book. You will spend more on a cup a coffee but, reading the Bible in a new way will give you a longer-lasting jolt!

(UPDATE: This post has been edited for spelling, grammar, and ease of reading.)

Does the Church truly desire revival?

Came across this thought about the connection between prayer and the church’s alleged desires for revival. Could it be that revival tarries because the church does not really desire what it petitions God for?

“Many a church is praying for a revival that does not really desire a revival. They think they do, for to their minds a revival means an increase of membership, an increase of income, an increase of reputation among the churches; but if they knew what a real revival meant, what a searching of hearts on the part of professed Christians would be involved, what a radical transformation of individual, domestic and social life would be brought about, and many other things that would come to pass if the Spirit of God was poured out in reality and power; if all this were known, the real cry of the church would be: “O God, keep us from having a revival.” (emphasis not in original).

R. A. Torrey, How to Pray (Chicago; New York: Fleming H. Revell company, 1900), 45–46.

I would like to hear your reaction to this notion. I look forward to your thoughts.

God’s Love Through Paul’s Eyes

First Corinthians 13 has been called the chapter of love. It contains beautiful and poetic language regarding the nature of love. As I have read it this week, I found myself struck by the opening verses of that passage. There is something in the way that Paul instructs the Corinthian church that deeds without proper motive are vacuous and utterly worthless efforts.

At first it is difficult to understand why Paul takes such a hard stance on our need to love in all we do. Sure, it makes sense that we should be kind and generous to others. We should not see to do harm to those who have wronged us. But, there is something else at work in Paul’s examples. He reminds us that we must take care not to get lost in our own spiritual endeavors that we forget our companions on the way.

Paul highlights that the possession and exercise of spiritual gifts does not give us license to do as we wish. The examples Paul uses are spectacular. These are not small or insignificant gifts. She are big, visible, in-your-face gifts, but if it’s about the individual then it is nothing more than a charade. It seems that the temptation to take advantage of spiritual gifts was something that had become common place in that church. The struggle to remain humble had given way to personal gain and influence.

Paul ends the chapter by telling us that of all the gifts that will abide faith, hope, and love will remain forever. These three are given prominence among all of God’s gifts to the saints because they are different from the all the others. All the spiritual gifts discussed in chapter 12 are to be used by the believer for the benefit of those in the church. Faith, hope, and love are not like this. These three are given to the believer as a means of confirming the presence of God within us. The fact that faith, hope, and love will abide forever, is an indication that what God has done was intended to produce these three things from the start.

The question that rolls around in my mind is why love is the greatest. What is it about the nature of love that make it rise above the other two? I think it is greatest because it is a reflection of God’s own character. Love, while it resides within us, must be expressed sacrificially. I can speak in tongues, move mountains, and give everything away and it not really be a burden or a struggle to do so. It makes us feel good to do those thing most of the time. But, when the task required is costly; when it calls for a deeper level of commitment; when there is no inherent benefit to me, love must be present for me to act.

Love is sacrificial. When we love the way God does, it forces us to not consider the ramifications to ourselves. We see the one in need and we are compelled to act. Love is more than just an emotion. A true act of love engages us to the very core of our being.

I think Paul understood this better than most. After all he had done, God loved him and taught him how to love others. As I read this famous chapter, I read it as an acknowledgement by Paul of what he experienced when God loved him and saved him. This is Paul’s description of God’s love toward him, the chief of sinners. A magnificent one at that.

The Father of Jesus Christ

My church will begin a study of the book of Colossians this weekend. We will be working through the book over the next several weeks (something I am looking forward to). Even though I have read the letter many times, we were all encouraged to read the letter again as a way of preparing for the messages and discussion during our LifeGroup meetings.

One of the benefits of reading a book of the bible several times in a short amount of time is the way different ideas, thoughts, and peculiarities seems to come to the forefront. One of these ideas is found in verse 3 of chapter 1. Paul is commending the church Colossae for their hospitality and kindness toward other saints. As he does so he makes this simple statement, identifying who he is giving thanks to. He writes, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…”

While there are many things that we could discuss about this description, the one that came to mind this time around is the relational reality of God’s connection to Jesus. Paul describes God as the Father of Jesus. Is there something that we have missed in the kind of relationship that exists between God and Jesus. We have grown so accustomed to the speaking of Jesus’ divinity we forget that while he walked upon this earth he did not relate to Jesus upon this aspect of who he was.

Jesus was a man in the full meaning and implications of what that means. To dismiss this is to negate a critically important part of who Jesus is. Even though Jesus had and has an eternal relationship with the Father, Jesus lived for himself the kind of life we can experience with the Father. When we were adopted into the family of God we were given access and permission to call God our father as well.