2Co 1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. (ESVST)
Are you a “yes” person or a “no” person? What motivates you in life? Is it a “yes” or a “no?”
How about God? Is He “yes” or “no” or both? Your answer says a lot about your image of God. I say we explore the question.
What do we know about God? I have written many posts about knowing God. I believe our entire existence temporal and eternal is for the purpose of knowing Him. This is what Jesus says:
Jn 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESVST)
This journey of knowing Him is characterized by all kinds of blessings we desperately need in our lives.
2Pe 1:2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (ESV)
Jesus gives us understanding about God. He reveals the truth of God. He is our eternity.
1Jo 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (ESV)
We discover who God is through and in Jesus.
Jn 14:6 Jesus said to him, “ I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (ESVST)
Jesus is the exact representation of God. He is God. He is the entirety of God. Nothing of God exists outside the nature of Jesus.
Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (ESVST)
The enemy wants to deceive us into believing God is something other than Jesus. This is a disturbing verse that gets my attention.
2Co 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (ESV)
So with this understanding that Jesus is what God looks like and is God’s exact nature, read this:
2Co 1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (ESVST)
So is God a “yes” or “no” God? Is it not plain? Ok how about one more.
1Jo 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (ESVST)
We’ve come full circle. Knowing Him is eternal life which is knowing that He is a “yes” God. Can you see it?
The law is all about “no.” Go look and see. The Law of Moses and all the statutes and regulations and precepts are based on the word “no.” The law is perfect and is from God. But the law is not God. God is Grace. God is love. God is “yes.” The “no” of the law was for us because we needed it. It is not a reflection of God’s nature but is a reflection of our nature. We needed law because of poisoned fruit. Jesus brings us the cure. Jesus brings us freedom. Jesus reveals to us who God is so we can stop hiding in the bushes. We must stop hiding and living in fear of punishment from our Father in heaven. Only then can we see His “yes.”
Everything in religion is about the word “no.” “Don’t do this and don’t do that.” God makes it clear that His desires are different.
Col 2:20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (ESV)
And just before these verses God says this:
Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority (ESV)
It is time to stop with the “no” and instead live in the “yes.” In the next few posts I want to look at what the “yes” of God looks like. There are many opposed to the freedom found in Jesus. There are so many teachings that mix law and Grace. That is mixing “no” with “yes.” Jesus set us free from all that. He brought us the “yes” of God and proved it when He said “yes” to the cross. We get to live in the anticipation of His “yes” which is His nature. He is infinitely resourced and wants to see all of us grow powerfully in our identity in Jesus. There are so many things we get to do. Religion wants to control people by telling them what they can’t do. When we can see that God says “yes” and empowers His “yes” and resources His “yes” we will begin to live like He intended, free of “no.”
Yay God! or better YES GOD!
Lance
alancetotheheart 