by Bill Brady

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”

Father gave.

• He gave that which was most precious to Him.
• Father gave His Son.

His Son gave up His nature as God to be born.

• He then lived a life of giving of Himself.
• He then gave His life.
• God gives.

Fathers give. 

• It’s what good natural fathers do.
• It’s what maturing spiritual fathers do.
• Because they are united with the Godhead who gives.

Father works and is working.

• Can anyone say that Jesus stopped working when He left His carpenter shop?
• He didn’t retire.
• He simply changed careers and went into His Father’s family business.
• And got to work at His new job.
• “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

Jesus’ new job was more work than His old job.

• Think about it.  🙂
• He did both jobs from rest.
• But both jobs were work.

Jesus didn’t retire after His death.

• He didn’t stop working.
• He is still working.
• He just moved into a new phase of His career, of His destiny.

Doing mandate after mandate as a spiritual father is hard work.

• Some of it physical.
• Some of it spiritual.
• All of it from rest.
• But all of it work.
• From union with Yeshua in His continued work.
• A father can say, “Yeshua is working and so am I.”

Our work is from rest.

• Without worry.
• Without striving for position.

The world sees a person’s work as their identity.

• We meet someone for the first time.
• What is one of the first questions that they ask us?
• What do you do?
• By which they mean, “What kind of work do you do?”
• And we answer, “I am a __________.”
• And we fill in the blank with our job title.
• The world defines our identity by the work that we do.

The old wineskin does this too.

• “I am a ________________.”
• And one then fills in the blank with one’s gift or office.
• One works within the old wineskin to find identity by what one does.
• You can go to school to get a degree that will give you identity from what you do.
• Secular or religious identity.

Most careers have a ladder that we climb into ever increasing identity.

• Entry level.
• Supervisory.
• Management
• Or whatever categories a particular career has.

It is called a “career path.”

• A path to higher and higher identity as a ___________ (fill in the blank).
• And to increasing honor in our job or career.

Work is honorable and so are careers.

• We are commanded to work.
• But we are not to work to become someone with increasing honor.
• We are someone in Christ and we have honor.
• We work because of who we are.
• And not because we want to be honored.

We are all asked to give up our secular and religious identities.

• Not necessarily to give up our jobs.
• But to give up our job as our identity as who we are.

Jesus gave up His nature as God to be born.

• To work with Father.
• Both before and after His ascension to the throne.

This all comes down to humility. 

• We don’t get identity or honor from our work as who we are.
• Our work brings us honor from standing alongside Father doing what He is doing.

Fathers work and give.

• It’s what they do.
• Because it is who they are in Him.

Fathers grow in honor.

• By working with Father.
• Not by working to grow in honor.

“Love one another as I have loved you.”

• How did Jesus love us?
• By giving Himself for us.
• We are to give ourselves for one another.

Fathers give.