One Thing 8/6/12

John 8:28 Jesus therefore said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.
John 8:29 “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

There are some amazing things in these two verse that define Jesus’ walk in the Spirit as the Son of Man. That is very relevant to us for Jesus as the Son of Man modeled to us what a Spirit filled life should look like. For one, Jesus says that He did nothing on His own initiative, but always did those things that were pleasing to His Father. Jesus laid down His right to live independently as God, and as the second Adam He lived in absolute total surrender to His Father. This was at the heart of His Spirit filled life, He refused to do anything unless it was something HE saw the Father doing. His great passion was to bring pleasure to His Father so He lived as a living sacrifice. He didn’t just die as a sacrifice at the end of His earthly life, He was a living sacrifice everyday leading up to the Cross. Remember, Hebrews says that Jesus is the author and perfecter of faith. Dying everyday to your own will as a living sacrifice is the foundation of a life of faith. Understand, that the motive behind Jesus’ radical life of surrender was love. He always wanted to please the heart of His Father. Jesus did nothing out of guilt. Jesus didn’t live a surrendered life to get God off His back, or to manipulate God to get some favor from Him. It wasn’t out of reluctant duty. He delighted in bringing pleasure to Abba’s heart. Even at Gethsemane when He struggled with the weight of the Cross, He came to that ” Nevertheless, Not my will, but Thy will be done.” He endured the Cross with joy set before Him. Surrender with any other motive than love can not be sustained. So let’s start there in following Jesus’ example. All that we do in relationship to God; all that we think, say, and do should flow out of a love for Him. Our obedience must flow out of love for Him. Only the crushing weight of His stunning love for us can keep us bowed down before Him in abandoned surrender. We will see more tomorrow.

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