CAN YOU SAY THIS WITH CHRIST?

INTRODUCTION--
  1. Divine authority commands us, "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God." (1 Peter 4:11).
  2. Yet, no less a person than the Apostle Paul used Bible words for his own purpose (and a little out of context). In 2 Corinthians 8:15, he was speaking of the benevolent work of the church, showing that generosity flowed both ways between churches that have compassion, but he confirmed his thought with words from the Old Testament that had to do with the gathering of Manna....."As it is written, 'He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.'"
  3. Many sayings came from the mouth of Jesus which we could not repeat in our own finite condition, since he was deity, but many of the things he said could be repeated by us, because they have to do with His relationship to God.
  4. We have Paul's admonition to do this, in Colossians 2:6-7. "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."

LESSON-- Can we say, as Christ did...?

  1. "I must be about my Father's business." Luke 2:49
    1. God is our father (by adoption, or the new birth), as He was of Jesus.
    2. The father's business caused Jesus to say....
      1. "Behold, I have come---To do Your will, O God" Hebrews 10:7. (Compare John 5:30 "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.")
      2. So, Jesus once said, "Father.....not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42).
    3. It is every Christian's duty to do the Will of the Father. Matthew 7:21
  2. Jesus also said, "The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him" (John 8:29).
    1. Another benefit Christ had, which we can share is expressed by Him in John 15:10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."
    2. Also, see John 14:23 "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."
  3. Another worthy statement of Christ we can imitate is in John 5:17 "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."
    1. One of the fields in which Jesus worked was teaching.
      1. He said, "....as My Father taught Me, I speak these things" (John 8:28).
      2. But we are all taught by God. John 6:44-45 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me."
      3. He also said, "All things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15).
      4. But evangelists are charged to do the same. "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).
    2. What good does it do to teach only part of the truth? See Paul's example in Acts 20:26-27 "Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God."

APPLICATION-- We should repeat these assertions of Christ, in order to later say with him, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God" (John 20:17).
  1. Philippians 2:13 "It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."
  2. 1 John 2:3-6 "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked."