"Father Knows Best"

By Jay Pearson

Happy Father’s Day this Sunday morning. I’ll be 75 later this month and I want to share some things that might seem a little scattered, but welcome to 2020. I remember a show called "Father Knows Best" on TV. Well, I’m not that guy, but I know who is. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father by him, he knows best. No other entity know better.

A few weeks ago I shared a lesson in church called, "Trust the Lord and Do Good." I made a reference to minding our own business and not trying to do God’s business.

Job 40:1-2
1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

Too often we tend to instruct God on how to do his job even to the point of telling him when to do it. Sure we try to sugarcoat it as a request, but God is not fooled by sweetness. He requires obedience and trust. Trusting and obeying requires effort and focus from us.

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Today or any day that we allow distraction to pull us from the traction of that purpose, trusting the Lord and do good, we find ourselves judging that distraction instead of fulfilling the purpose. Simple put, we are trusting situations and self instead of the Lord. Our focus becomes what is wrong with the world and not what is right with God. Judging people, politics, religions, and lifestyles associates us with the distraction and frankly is not our job assignment. Our assignment is "Trust the Lord and do good." The Father knows best.

When I was younger and living in Indiana, I did a lot of off-roading. Big tires and lift kit helped me maintain traction and get where I wanted to go. When I lost traction in the mud I would slide off the trail or sit there spinning my wheels and going nowhere. That is distraction, a lost of traction toward my purpose that got me nowhere. When we are distracted from our assignment or purpose, we are focusing on the noise around us and not the still small voice of God.

The world might portray someone as, "Cool, they are just like me," or "He is not too bad", or "He is going straight to hell, and soon." Pretty soon I find myself agreeing with the multitude and judging the contest before the final bell – and I’m not even the referee! That is not my call. Looks are deceiving. I’m not taking my tattooed body to heaven, if I had one. The only part of me going to heaven is the gift from God.

Now let me share a parable depicting what the kingdom of heaven is like. Notice the relationship between the householder and the laborers. May we all mind our business. The Father will absolutely mind his and the perfect timing of it. The Father knows best.

Matthew 20:1-16
1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

I can visualize the penny representing eternal life. In whatever way that parable speaks to your heart, I know this one thing.

Hebrews 7:25
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

After reading this parable and the above scripture, please reflect on these hypothetical examples of the lives of others.

1) A teenager accepts the Lord and walks with Lord faithfully for 60 years before going to be with the Lord.
2) A 30-year-old soul accepts Jesus and walks with the Lord faithfully for 3 years and then goes off the path and walks his own way for 20 more years. Then the Lord opens his eyes and heart to repentance from his dead works and the Lord refreshes him to a faithful walk.
3) This soul walks his own path for 75 years not realizing what his is missing and walking in worldly prosperity and sin. Then with his body stricken with age and bedridden, he reflects on life. The Lord out of mercy, grace, and compassion opens his eyes to the truth. He accepts Jesus prior to his last breath and is saved. Then he goes to be with the Lord. Much like the others in the eleventh hour of the parable.

I venture to say they will all live with the Lord a penny’s worth. But this one thing I know:

Hebrews 7:25
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them

The hour one believes is the hour the Father opens his eyes. No one is without hope until the last bell.

The Father knows best.

 

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Presented June 21, 2020 in French Settlement, Louisiana