What Great NT Men Had In Common
God’s Family Plan 12 of 24
The great New Testament men had two things in common - they worked with their father and obeyed their father. Note how Jesus affirmed both points in His two brief stories:
Jesus said… ‘A man with two sons told the older boy’, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he regretted what he said and then went. Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. Which of the two did the will of his father? They replied, ‘The first’” (Mat. 21:28-31).
Then Jesus later said… ‘A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same. Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, 'Surely they will respect my son'… But they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.' (Mat. 21:33-37).
Jesus told both stories for different purposes but in both stories Jesus demonstrated the honor of adult sons obeying their fathers, even at the cost of a son's life. And also in both stories, Jesus showed how sons were working with their fathers.
As seen in Matthew 4:18-22 and Luke 5:7-11, the men that Jesus called to be with Him and change the world were brothers working together with their father in their family fishing business, both Andrew and Peter and James and John.
How did Paul say that Timothy "proved himself"? To the whole church at Philippi Paul wrote (Phil. 2:22):
"You know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son with his father, he has served with me."
Now look at the most perfect son/example in the world, and how a son honors his father. Jesus honored both His earthly father as well as His heavenly Father.
Jesus honored His physical parents as He always “was obedient to them” (Luke 2:51). One of the main reasons God places the 5th Commandment in the highest position after honoring God Himself, is because fathers and sons are the greatest picture here on earth of God the Father and His Son.
Look how Jesus honored his Father. No father that I know has ever asked his son to suffer unjustly and die for others who may or may not even love and appreciate him after that! But that is exactly what Jesus' Father asked His Son to do.
And don’t think Jesus wanted to naturally do that. He asked the Father to not have to do it three times but always said, “Not my will but Your will be done.” What an amazing example for a son. Solomon said (Prov. 23:26):
My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.
If your not willing to give your heart to your father you won’t begin to understand what Jesus meant to follow Him (Mat. 16:24):
If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
Am I willing to do whatever it takes to deny myself and take up my cross to honor my father as Jesus did? Do you realize Jesus' whole life was dedicated to denying Himself to only do what His Father wanted (Rom. 15:3):
For even Christ didn’t live to please himself.
How many of the following verses can we say have been true with us and our relationship with our father? Or, how many will we let be true with us and our father?
So Jesus explained, ‘…He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does’ (John 5:18-20).
So Jesus said, ‘…I do nothing on my own but say only what my Father taught me’ (John 8:27-29).
But I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father (John 14:31).
I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love (John 15:10).
But Jesus said to Peter, ‘…Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?’ (John 18:11).
Jesus prayed more fervently, and He was in such agony of spirit that His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood… He knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine’ (Luke 22:44, 41).
It will not be easy to always obey our father. It was not easy for Jesus. But you may say, that was Jesus and He was God. If we use that excuse to not follow Jesus' example to honor our father the same way Jesus did, then we can use that same excuse to not follow any example of Jesus for any area of our life.
But Jesus was not the only example of a son honoring his father to the point of death. What about Isaac, Abraham's son? Isaac quietly submitted to his father in tying him up on an alter for sacrifice! Isaac became the picture of Christ’s sacrifice. The son that sacrifices the most in honoring his father as unto the Lord, will be today’s picture of Jesus and His Father.
The Apostle Paul said (Phil. 2:8-11):
Jesus humbled himself in obedience to God his Father and died a criminal’s death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted Him…
Does the Bible command us to honor and obey any human on earth more than our father? Yet millions of men for centuries have honored and obeyed their military commanders, even to the point of death! And they are honored for that.
What about honoring our father that much? Our father and mother are the only two people on earth we are commanded to honor by God in His Ten Commandments.
Many sons and daughters are more respectful and obedient to an employer than their father. Most sons or daughters never even think of doing some business with or under their father. However, most sons work hard helping build up some other man’s business, never thinking how they might do that with their own father.
What about those sons who gladly submit to their sport’s coach? They may sweat blood and tears for years under some coach, which they will probably never see again after finishing school! What about working that long and hard under our father which could benefit the rest of our life. Jesus sweat drops of blood just contemplating what His Father was asking Him to do (Luke 22:44).
God said (Mal. 1:6):
A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am a father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve?
It’s interesting, God did not tell us to honor our earthly father the same as we honor Him, but rather to honor Him the way we honor our earthly father! Think about that. God assumes we’re greatly honoring and serving our earthly father.