Page 68 - Christ in You - The Hope of Glory

Me.”

John 8:28-29
"When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing
on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. And He who
sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that
are pleasing to Him."

John 14:31
“But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the
Father commanded Me.”

John 17:4
"I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You
have given Me to do.”

Yahshua did not come to earth to serve himself or to pander to the desires of men. He
came to fully satisfy the desire of the Father. As much as Yahshua loves mankind, He does
not have a man-centric viewpoint. Yahshua lives to do the will of the Father. In another
place He said, “I was always beholding the Father.” In declaring this, Yahshua was letting
His disciples know where He placed His focus. He was not living for man. He was not living
for self. He was living for the Father.
If we would be conformed to the image of Christ then we must also adopt such a view.
This is not usually how the saints are presented with the gospel. The gospel presentation
today is predominantly man-centered, and in order to grow to maturity the saint must lay
aside this selfish perspective and begin to seek the will of the Father above all other things.
To become God-centered in our thinking we must have our minds completely
overturned. No longer can we judge all matters by what is in it for us. We must discern what
Yahweh’s desire is concerning every event. This is true of salvation and the gospel of Christ
as well. Salvation is almost always viewed from a man-centered perspective, but we must
realize that Yahshua went to the cross out of obedience to the Father. Although Yahshua
loved mankind, He loved His Father more. The Father had a desire that He longed to see
fulfilled. He had a work for His Son to accomplish, and out of love for the Father, Yahshua
went to the cross. Though salvation touches man deeply, it primarily exists to fulfill a desire
of the Father. Yahweh wanted sons after His own image and likeness.
If we are to “put on Christ,” then we must have the same attitude that was in Christ.
We must seek the pleasure of the Father above all else. As we already read in Scripture, all
things were created for Yahweh’s pleasure, man included. The New Testament is filled with
verses that reveal the call to bring pleasure to God as the chief duty of man. This message
of the sons of God having a focus on the pleasure of their Father is everywhere, but it has
been obscured by poor translation of certain Greek words.
The word for pleasure in the Greek is ‘thelema.’ The King James Version of the Bible
has translated this Greek word three different ways, as ‘desire,’ ‘pleasure,’ and ‘will.’
‘Pleasure’ is the most appropriate rendering in the majority of occurrences. Sadly, the
popular English translations have most often chosen to translate this word as ‘will.’ Doing
so changes the entire complexion of what is being spoken. It is one thing to say man is
called to do God’s will. It is quite another to say He is created to do God’s pleasure.