Yeah, it's not a habit for me to go to this kind of thing. But you know, I don't know why I went I just did. Such deep regret I'd have if I hadn't gone. I will not post certain sensitive things of course, but here's a gist of the thing not as word by word as said by the preacher, but how I understood it.
What is God? If God is the ultimate being of the universe; the uncreated, the exalted, the terrible, then won't we be obliged to lick the dust of His feet? If God is indeed the absolute gold standard of Morality; a being so pure and holy then we would be lucky if He looked at us with anything other than scorn, right? Wrong. To gain perspective, we take a look at some fun facts. In the bible, how did Jesus describe God? He described Him as holy 3 times, but described Him as some other adjective a whooping 202 times. That adjective was 'father'. To put this in context we must know first that Jesus was here to set an example of a perfect relationship with God, one thing we should emulate. So, no, Jesus did not deny that God was the holy, jealous, and 'terrible' God. But there was more emphasis on God with the role of a father figure, wasn't there?
We're talking about a perfect father here. One that wants a relationship with his children, cares for them, and forgives them for their imperfections. So, generally, if you want to do something for this perfect dad, you'd do it out of love won't you? If you want to follow his edicts, you'd try and try again, and it would mean nothing because you did it out of love won't it? You'd also strive to be holy won't you?
We do need to be holy, but this is the wiser way rather than 'keeping tabs' on every single nuance of morality (ouch with all that nitty gritty).
So, first conclusion,
1. God is our father, and we strive to fulfill His edicts because we love Him and He first loved us.
"Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" John 14:9
Now, let's look into the Prodigal Son. Both sons are Prodigal sons. There difference here is that one had a lot of self-condemnation because he wasn't exactly the perfect son; the other had a lavished sense of self-entitlement because man - he was The perfect son, or was he? Let's take a look at the jerk first.
Jerk tells dad that he wants his inheritance. Does this indicate that times have changed? I mean, nowadays you do that to LOSE your inheritance. I don't think it was any different last time. Amazingly, dad grants him his wish. Elsewhere, you'd get five-fold ministry (is that what Pastor Jay said?). Jerk then leaves family, regrets, and comes back in a melodramatic heap. Acceptance back into the family was the last thing he expects. The best bet, is to be as a servant of the family and nothing more. He prepares a speech. Must have spent some time rehearsing it. But the Father, doesn't do that. He welcomes him with a ferocity. Slaughters the fat calf, drapes over him the best robe, gives him sandals, ring. Did he even hear his 'O Woe to me' speach? And oh, other son is outraged. He worked 'like a slave' for the family and what? He digs no calf? This guy served the family loyally more than the amount of years that the other guy was disloyal. The father pleads, and begs him to understand,
So what were their faults? (translation: how were they similar to us =))
One was extremely shameful that he had strayed away and was nowhere near the standards of being a father's son. The other, thought that hey, I've tried so hard, and I definitely deserve a special place with my father. And both happen to be wrong. And both are like most of us.
The Father doesn't flee when we are wrong, and we're not just sons of the Father when we're right. To understand this we have to ask the question: What makes us righteous? By now the obvious answer would be: the Father makes us righteous. We are sons of the Father, you know, just because.We are His children. He comes in peace. Robe. Ring. Sandals.
On another note, the oldest son was like 'a slave' in his own words. He wasn't doing things out of love and care but rather out of 'duty'. Like a morality calculus machine. He also wasn't so 'cured' as he thought it was. He thought doing good works did it. So he kept at it and it made him feel good but deep inside something was still not right.
It's getting quite draggy writing about this right now, but man it is awesome. Another thing, would be on how we must hate the sin and not the sinner (which ironically also points to not being too harsh on ourselves). I have always asked why. Through Pastor Jay's experience (and I say Pastor Jay because it may be not entirely biblical, but nevertheless wise perception), sometimes people who act in less tolerable ways are simply hurt. The sharing is personal so of course it can't be public, never mind the remoteness of my blog. He also inferred a reason the younger son left. Perhaps it was because he couldn't live up to expectations of being like the older brother and felt that he didn't deserve to be family.
God just wants a relationship. Like Father and Child. Beautiful, isn't it? When we pray in our austere, office-formal prayers God's probably like: what? Whatcha doing?
So this, is day 1. I can't believe I went to all 4 days. What's gotten into me? The Holy Spirit, Amen? I'll try to post the rest like this one so at least those who didn't go can read something. Also, I'm doing some research into the emo subculture. Seems to be a worrying trendy trend....
What is God? If God is the ultimate being of the universe; the uncreated, the exalted, the terrible, then won't we be obliged to lick the dust of His feet? If God is indeed the absolute gold standard of Morality; a being so pure and holy then we would be lucky if He looked at us with anything other than scorn, right? Wrong. To gain perspective, we take a look at some fun facts. In the bible, how did Jesus describe God? He described Him as holy 3 times, but described Him as some other adjective a whooping 202 times. That adjective was 'father'. To put this in context we must know first that Jesus was here to set an example of a perfect relationship with God, one thing we should emulate. So, no, Jesus did not deny that God was the holy, jealous, and 'terrible' God. But there was more emphasis on God with the role of a father figure, wasn't there?
We're talking about a perfect father here. One that wants a relationship with his children, cares for them, and forgives them for their imperfections. So, generally, if you want to do something for this perfect dad, you'd do it out of love won't you? If you want to follow his edicts, you'd try and try again, and it would mean nothing because you did it out of love won't it? You'd also strive to be holy won't you?
We do need to be holy, but this is the wiser way rather than 'keeping tabs' on every single nuance of morality (ouch with all that nitty gritty).
So, first conclusion,
1. God is our father, and we strive to fulfill His edicts because we love Him and He first loved us.
"Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" John 14:9
Now, let's look into the Prodigal Son. Both sons are Prodigal sons. There difference here is that one had a lot of self-condemnation because he wasn't exactly the perfect son; the other had a lavished sense of self-entitlement because man - he was The perfect son, or was he? Let's take a look at the jerk first.
Jerk tells dad that he wants his inheritance. Does this indicate that times have changed? I mean, nowadays you do that to LOSE your inheritance. I don't think it was any different last time. Amazingly, dad grants him his wish. Elsewhere, you'd get five-fold ministry (is that what Pastor Jay said?). Jerk then leaves family, regrets, and comes back in a melodramatic heap. Acceptance back into the family was the last thing he expects. The best bet, is to be as a servant of the family and nothing more. He prepares a speech. Must have spent some time rehearsing it. But the Father, doesn't do that. He welcomes him with a ferocity. Slaughters the fat calf, drapes over him the best robe, gives him sandals, ring. Did he even hear his 'O Woe to me' speach? And oh, other son is outraged. He worked 'like a slave' for the family and what? He digs no calf? This guy served the family loyally more than the amount of years that the other guy was disloyal. The father pleads, and begs him to understand,
So what were their faults? (translation: how were they similar to us =))
One was extremely shameful that he had strayed away and was nowhere near the standards of being a father's son. The other, thought that hey, I've tried so hard, and I definitely deserve a special place with my father. And both happen to be wrong. And both are like most of us.
The Father doesn't flee when we are wrong, and we're not just sons of the Father when we're right. To understand this we have to ask the question: What makes us righteous? By now the obvious answer would be: the Father makes us righteous. We are sons of the Father, you know, just because.We are His children. He comes in peace. Robe. Ring. Sandals.
On another note, the oldest son was like 'a slave' in his own words. He wasn't doing things out of love and care but rather out of 'duty'. Like a morality calculus machine. He also wasn't so 'cured' as he thought it was. He thought doing good works did it. So he kept at it and it made him feel good but deep inside something was still not right.
It's getting quite draggy writing about this right now, but man it is awesome. Another thing, would be on how we must hate the sin and not the sinner (which ironically also points to not being too harsh on ourselves). I have always asked why. Through Pastor Jay's experience (and I say Pastor Jay because it may be not entirely biblical, but nevertheless wise perception), sometimes people who act in less tolerable ways are simply hurt. The sharing is personal so of course it can't be public, never mind the remoteness of my blog. He also inferred a reason the younger son left. Perhaps it was because he couldn't live up to expectations of being like the older brother and felt that he didn't deserve to be family.
God just wants a relationship. Like Father and Child. Beautiful, isn't it? When we pray in our austere, office-formal prayers God's probably like: what? Whatcha doing?
So this, is day 1. I can't believe I went to all 4 days. What's gotten into me? The Holy Spirit, Amen? I'll try to post the rest like this one so at least those who didn't go can read something. Also, I'm doing some research into the emo subculture. Seems to be a worrying trendy trend....
