John 10 Part 5
A Pattern of Selflessness
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The Lord is consistently selfless in all He says or does. As we study to learn What Makes Jesus Tick we understand His focus is not on Himself but He is always reaching out to humanity. His heart yearns that all would men and women would tap into the eternal benefits of knowing Him. He demonstrates God’s intended pattern for human attitudes and behavior, His pattern for relationship with the Father. He’s given us, His people, the Holy Spirit to empower us to gradually fit into that pattern.
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| https://www.apparelsearch.com/ pattern_maker.htm |
My paternal grandfather was a pattern maker/cutter in the garment district of New York City. I’m not sure how the process worked. My educated guess is that he had to turn the designers drawings into the patterns for each part of the garments, and the various sizes, the garments would be made for. He then cut the fabric so those operating the sewing machines could make the clothes. He found that by crumpling up the pattern before laying it to cut the fabric less cloth was used. Though this became the standard for many years, I tend to think it was cheating the consumer.
We can compare that process to God
creating man in His own image. God
created perfect designs, perfect patterns
and perfect everything. He breathed life into everything that has breath. Life
in Eden was absolutely perfect and there was no death. Adam and Eve had a wonderful, loving friendship with God; there’s
nothing more perfect than that. Then Eve and Adam fell for the enemy’s lie
and all of creation got totally messed up. Gradually death came to everything. Life
became for a limited time. Even the character of all the animals changed, weeds
and thorns began to overwhelm the garden. Worst of all, their relationship with
God was never so wonderful again.
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| https://www.truebibleteaching.com/ component/content/article/35-science/ 326-19-creation-of-adam-and-eve.html |
God sent His Son to restore the closeness
of relationship between Himself and mankind that existed before the fall, and
to defeat death. Everything Jesus said or did was to that end, culminating in
His death, burial and resurrection. Follow me as we dive back into John and
watch the pattern, this process, unfold. The pattern is no longer crumpled up
because the Father extravagantly weaves the fabric of our being.
John
10:10a The thief does not come except to steal, and
to kill, and to destroy.
We see what the thief did in the garden
in this first part of this verse. This was and will always be the enemy’s
intent. The source of all the evil we see in the news every day is very
obvious. Christians must,
Ø be
vigilant in our obedience to the Father,
Ø be
steadfast in clinging to the cross
Ø never
believe the lies of the serpent,
Ø flee
the appearance of evil.
Matthew
10:16 [A Hard Road before Them] “Listen
carefully: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise as
serpents, and innocent as doves [have no self-serving agenda]. (AMP)
1
Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all
appearance of evil. (AMP)
The second part of the verse shows us
that following Jesus brings us closer and closer to complete restoration of the
life that was stolen. We appreciate the abundance that comes when we return to
right relationship with God. Holy Spirit leads us as He helps us conform to the
Pattern of Selflessness.
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| https://www.quora.com/ Is-Israel-land-really-fertile |
John
10:10b I have come that they may have
life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John
10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
gives His life for the sheep.
15
As the Father knows Me, even so I know
the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay
down My life that I may take it again.
18 No one
takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and
I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
John
15:13 Greater love has no one than
this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
These verses beg the question, “Who are
you living for?” OR, is your attitude “What’s in it for ME?”
In John 10 Part 4 (https://lnkd.in/dgDX7Q6)
I wrote about Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knowing His sheep. Here, later in the
chapter, He has more to say on that. We see him now back at the temple and the
Jews still arguing about Jesus being the Messiah. They ask Him again,
24
Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in
doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
We can hear the cry of His heart in His
response in the following verses. Jesus wants everyone to know Him and thus
know the Father. Compelled by selfless love, Jesus desperately wants them to:
Ø BELIEVE
Ø have eternal life,
Ø have a loving relationship with Himself,
His Father and consequently with one
another.
Ø be His sheep in the Father’s hand
John
10:
25
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and
you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness
of Me.
26 But
you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27
My sheep hear My voice, and I know
them, and they follow Me.
28
And I give them eternal life, and they
shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29
My Father, who has given them to Me, is
greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
30 I and
My Father are one.”
Since the day of Pentecost, God has been
fulfilling Joel’s prophecy of pouring out the Spirit on all flesh. When we
receive that supernatural Baptism of the Spirit we are empowered to do those
works referred to in John 10:25. They are demonstrations of God’s love and power
and continue to bear witness of who Jesus is. Their purpose is that people
would get saved from their sin, and they would accept the salvation only
available through our Lord Jesus Christ, the risen savior. Then they too will
live according to the Pattern of Selflessness
God created us to pattern our life after. That pattern can be summed up in the
following verses.
John
3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.
John
15:13 Greater love has no one than
this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
John
14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes
in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he
will do, because I go to My Father.
Prayer:
Father, grant us divine appointments with those you came to seek and to save.
Give us opportunities to demonstrate, with your supernatural power, the Pattern
of Selflessness that reflects Jesus to all we come in contact with. Cause those
that oppose You, and everything that is good and righteous in our nation, to
have a confrontation with Your matchless love through your people so that they
might turn from their wicked ways to the loving Savior. Amen
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