Now three times in the New Testament we find the word, ABBA, Daddy, Poppa, Pappa, Father, and one of those three times we see it used in the mouth of Jesus. In pleading and pitiful terms, during the darkest hours of His passion in the garden, Jesus moves into the very circle of holy fatherly intimacy and pleads Mark 14:36 "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will." NKJV. When you read these verses, you feel that it is intimately holy, almost embarrassing to read, yes, it is like coming in on a love scene between a man and his wife, like seeing a mother cosset her dying child in her arms, like the last goodbye at a hospital bed, for the depth of intimacy is such that it makes you feel out of place, an intruder on unique love, yes, it makes you want to leave the room as you seem to encroach on a deep and personal holy intimacy that is not yours to gain sustenance from. It is personal, it is unique, it is not for you, and for you to stay would make you nothing but a perverted voyeur.
So with us, the use of ABBA, Daddy, poppa, father, is also a unique and personal experience, it is holy, it has depth, is has meaning, yes, it is a key to closeness that only experience allows the use thereof. In other words, there is a time and place for the use of this most holy and intimate of words.
So then, such public misuse if this term, of 'Daddy, and all other 'Daddyisms', is indicative of immaturity, and in the mouth of the so called mature, it might also bear the marks of falsehood. Yes, such public use of Daddysim by men on a platform, by men in public, is like a teenager groping in public, like married folk that should really get a room, like X factor contestants gushing over Simon Cowel, yes, like little loons that need to take life more seriously, yes, public 'Daddyisms', for men especially, is something that makes them look silly. Now hear me now, for our Master and greatest man that has ever lived, the last Adam Jesus, the first new man Jesus, uses this term in deepest intimacy, in both private and in public, on the former it is a depth of of personal intimacy, in the latter, I suspect, was a level of shared intimacy with his most closest of friends. So should we, especially in our culture. When men so publicly flaunt this most intimate of terms, to the watching world of men, it is silly, soppy, unattractive.
Real men are Romantic. In the right place. Real men are vulnerable. With their lover and their friend. Real men don't act like love sick pimply teenagers, gushing like an X Factor loon on the public stage, snogging in public like pitiful prat, way out of their emotional depth. Daddy, Papa, are terms of right expressions, keys of deepest intimacy, whose best use is in private, for I tell you, the Holy Spirit and the adoption birthed in us, like young gulls, fat fledglings searching for sustenance, will CRY OUT ABBA, DADDY, PAPPA...This will happen, it must. But where it happens and how, is a mark of our real possession of the same and indicative of our maturity in God. Grow up men. Grow up! Save your 'Daddyisms' for the sacred places.
None of these things are the answer to our malady. NONE! The only answer is CONVERSIONS. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THEM! Yes, and we need them now. All the farting around over therapeutic deism dressed up in a goaty beard and carrying a pint of lager will not do the job. We need conversions NOW. This means we need to get back to the BASIC PREACHING ON THE FULL GOSPEL TO PAGANS! WE NEED TO GET OUT THERE. Let us not miss this simple answer. Without God convicting people of sin through the preaching of His word, and the preaching of the Word taking place in the WORLD then we are doomed. No amount of 'Father Hearting' it, no amount of 'Father Wound Healing', no amount of parenting classes, no amount of 'how society in the sixties got us here', no amount how to become a better husband, no amount of ANYTHING EXCEPT CONVERSIONS will stop the two monsters of demographic certainty and statistical inevitability in bringing a final desolation upon the church.
I applaud, no I most honestly and humbly bow in admiration to EVERY EFFORT MADE in this area, however, do not be misled, UNLESS WE GET CONVICTION AND CONVERSIONS WE ARE DOWNRIGHT BLOODY DEAD.
No comments:
Post a Comment