God the Father, Christ the Son

As Jesus prepares to go from the Upper Room, go out to the encounter which led to His trial and execution, He says: John 14:31:

“That the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave Me commandments, so I do. Arise, and let us go from here.”

So Jesus went to the cross in obedience to the Father’s command. That’s the ultimate test of obedience.

And then it says in Hebrews 5 and verse 8:

“Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”

So there is a pattern of two divine persons: the Father and the Son. The Father gave the commands and the Son learned obedience by obeying the commands—which cost Him His life. You see, there is no pattern for sloppiness or disobedience or carelessness. God is a very accurate God. He tells us what He wants us to do and He expects us to do it. And this should be reproduced in the human family.

Actually, there are three ministries of Jesus which the father should reproduce in the home: the ministry of the priest, the prophet and the king. As a priest, the father makes intercession for his family. And remember the pattern of Job. He got up early every morning and offered sacrifices for his seven sons and his three daughters. He’s the prophet: he brings the Word of God to his family. And he’s the king: he rules his family according to the Word of God. Priest, prophet and king.

But what I want to emphasize tonight is there is authority, there is discipline, there is obedience. And it starts in heaven. It does not begin on earth. And God’s intention is that it should be reproduced in every family. A father should be the priest, the prophet and the king.

Have you ever asked yourself: Why did God choose Abraham? God was looking for a man who would be the father of a special people that would fulfill God’s purposes on the earth. And he had all the human race available. You see we’re very insensitive to sins of omissions. We hardly ever take any note of them, but they never end there. So sins of omission lead to sins of commission. I’d like you all to say that. “Sins of omission lead to sins of commission.” That’s the story of the human race. It’s the story of the fall.

The first failure was Adam. He was delinquent. It was not what he did. It was what he didn’t do that was the problem. You see, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul is really applying the teaching of Genesis and I want to take just one Scripture—1 Corinthians 11:3.

“But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.”

Let’s put it this way. There’s a descending chain of authority that starts in heaven and ends in the family. The chain comes out of God the Father, through Christ, to the husband, to the woman, to the family. That is the way God ordained it. Now I’ve heard a lot of people say or suggest that Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 is cultural. I think that’s ridiculous to say the truth. I can’t think of anything that is less cultural than the relationship between God the Father and Jesus the Son and the husband and the wife. If the eternal relationships in the Godhead are cultural, then we have nothing stable on which to build at all. Furthermore, people suggest that being cultural makes it all right. I think that’s ridiculous.

I’ve traveled in approximately fifty nations and preached and I’ve come across many different cultures. And almost every culture that I can think of there was a strong demonic element. So the fact that it’s cultural doesn’t make it all right. There’s only one thing that makes it all right, that it’s Scriptural. And if it’s not scriptural, it’s not all right.

So we have this descending chain of authority. From God the Father, through Christ His Son, to the husband and father, and from him to the wife and the mother. Let’s look for a moment in John 10:18. How did authority work, or does it work in the heavenly family? And I think it’s surprising, it will surprise you how Jesus speaks about His relationship to the Father’s authority. He says in John 10 verses 17 and 18,

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself, I have power [authority] to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

So God the Father gives commands to Jesus the Son, and Jesus obeys His Father’s command. So the idea that it’s unscriptural to have commands in a family is not in agreement with Scripture. In the heavenly family, God give the commands and Jesus carries them out. In John chapter 12 verses 49 and 50, Jesus is speaking,

“For I have not spoken of Myself, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

So Jesus in all His teaching was obeying the commands of the Father. That was the relationship in the heavenly family. And then in John 14:31 as Jesus prepares to go from the upper room, go out to the encounter which led to his trial and execution, He says John 14:31,

“But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.”

So Jesus went to the cross in obedience to the Father’s command. That’s the ultimate test of obedience. And then it says in Hebrews 5:8

“Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”

So there is a pattern of two divine persons—the Father and the Son. The Father gave the command and the Son learned obedience by obeying the commands which cost Him His life. You see, there is no pattern for sloppiness or disobedience of carelessness. God is a very accurate God. He tells us what He wants us to do and He expects us to do it. And this should be reproduced in the human family. Actually there are three ministries of Jesus which the father should reproduce in the home. The ministry of the priest, the prophet and the king. As a priest the father makes intercession for his family. And you And remember the pattern of Job. He got up early every morning and offered sacrifices for his seven sons and his three daughters. He’s the prophet: he brings the Word of God to his family. And he’s the king: he rules his family according to the Word of God. Priest, prophet and king.

But what I want to emphasize tonight is there is authority, there is discipline, there is obedience. And it starts in heaven. It does not begin on earth. And God’s intention is that it should be reproduced in every family. A father should be the priest, the prophet and the king.

Have you ever asked yourself: Why did God choose Abraham? God was looking for a man who would be the father of a special people that would fulfill God’s purposes on the earth. And he had all the human race available. And he chose one man whose name was Abraham. And the name in itself is significant because A-b, Ab, in Hebrew, means father. The first thing God looked for was a father. And He tells us in Genesis 18 why He chose Abraham.