{"id":725,"date":"2017-07-05T06:33:46","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T10:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=725"},"modified":"2017-07-04T17:18:54","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T21:18:54","slug":"o-father-make-us-like-the-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/o-father-make-us-like-the-son\/","title":{"rendered":"O Father Make Us Like the Son"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Church<\/a><\/p>\n

As Christians, how are we to relate to God\u2019s Law?<\/strong> We know that our obedience to God\u2019s commands could never make us right with God. The Law reveals our sin and shows us our great need of salvation. But the Law cannot save us. Yet, we are called to follow Christ, who is both the great Law-giver and Law-keeper. We are called to be imitators of Christ. Paul encouraged the church:<\/p>\n

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).<\/p>\n

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma (Ephesians 5:1\u20132).<\/p>\n

Then Jesus said to His disciples, \u201cIf anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me (Matthew 16:24).<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven\u201d (Matthew 5:17\u201320).<\/p>\n

How then, especially in light of Jesus\u2019 teaching and fulfillment of the Law, are we to relate to the Law as Christians?<\/p>\n

This was the question I had in mind when I wrote the hymn \u201cO Father Make Us Like the Son.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hymn had its beginning on Thursday morning, April 16, 1992 at the Grandy\u2019s on Seminary Drive in Fort Worth, Texas. Several men from Heritage Baptist Church had gathered for Field Education and breakfast with our pastor, Dr. Fred Malone. That morning we studied chapter 8 from John Murray\u2019s book, Principles of Conduct<\/em> on the Law and Grace. I was especially intrigued with the truth that God is at work conforming us to the image of His Son.<\/p>\n

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).<\/p>\n

We are called to be like our Savior. One day when Jesus returns and we see Him face to face, we shall be like Him.<\/p>\n

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:2\u20133).<\/p>\n

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).<\/p>\n

It is our hope and aim to be like Jesus. How then can we be made like our Savior, without loving God\u2019s Law? To be like Jesus is to obey God\u2019s commands and delight in doing His will. Certainly, we are not bound by all the ceremonial and civil laws that foreshadowed and prepared the way for Christ\u2019s coming. But God\u2019s Moral Law, especially manifest in the Ten Commandments, is to be a rule of life for all Christians. Jesus died to free us from the Law\u2019s curse and condemnation, but not from its blessing and benefits.<\/strong> We are not to see the Law as a rigorous covenant of works to gain God\u2019s favor and acceptance, but as a rule of life revealing God\u2019s character, holiness, and goodness. Our efforts to obey the Law are done in gratitude and love to Christ, who has perfectly fulfilled and exemplified it for us.<\/p>\n

I finished writing the hymn early in the morning on the Lord\u2019s Day, April 19, 1992 and sang it in the morning worship service at Heritage. The hymn is prayer that God would work in us and conform us to the image of Christ.<\/p>\n

O Father Make Us Like the Son!<\/strong><\/p>\n

O Father, make us like the Son
\nThat we may walk as He,
\nDelighting in the Law of God
\nAnd bringing praise to Thee.<\/p>\n

Our Lord\u2019s great joy was loving God,
\nObeying His commands.
\nHe lived a holy, perfect life,
\nFulfill\u2019d the Law\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

O Father, clothe us in the Son
\nHis righteousness we need
\nThat we might be declared as \u201cjust\u201d
\nFrom condemnation freed.<\/p>\n

O Father, we adore the Son;
\nHe is our righteousness!
\nFor we can now obey with hearts
\nOf love and thankfulness.<\/p>\n

O Father, may we love Thy Law
\nAnd walk within its light,
\nAnd love the Gospel that can turn
\nIts rigor to delight.<\/p>\n

We long to be made like our Lord,
\nArrayed in truth and grace,
\nAnd we long for the day when we
\nShall see Him face to face.<\/p>\n

O Father, finish in each heart
\nThe work that was begun.
\nPrepare us for the Lord\u2019s return,
\nO make us like the Son!<\/p>\n

Words \u00a91992, 2017 Kenneth A Puls<\/p>\n

Download the lyrics and free sheet music<\/a> for this hymn, including an arrangement of the tune ST. MAGNUS for classical guitar.<\/p>\n

More Hymns and Songs<\/a> from Ken Puls Music<\/p>\n

More Hymn tunes<\/a> arranged for classical guitar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Christians, how are we to relate to God\u2019s Law? We know that our obedience to God\u2019s commands could never make us right with God. The Law reveals our sin and shows us our great need of salvation. But the Law cannot save us. Yet, we are called to follow Christ, who is both the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,22,102],"tags":[15,98,14,27],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hymn","category-music-for-worship","category-songwriting","tag-gospel","tag-hymn","tag-law","tag-sanctification"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-bH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":727,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions\/727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}