Are you a son of God?

(Romans 8:12-39)

Who are God’s Children?

It is often said that all of us are God’s children. President Obama recently said as much at a prayer breakfast, and many people say the same: all humanity are children of God. Is this true? Well, in a sense yes: in the sense that God created us in His likeness. Paul says this in Acts 17:28-29 when talking to the Greeks on Mars Hill – he was trying to explain that the true God could not possibly be like their gold, silver and stone idols, if we are in any way like Him. However, the Bible is clear that the only people that can call God Father are those that believe in His Son, Jesus. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name," (John 1:12)

The fact is that there is only one natural-born son of God: Jesus. God was His Father in every sense of the Word: remember that God, not Joseph, was Jesus’ biological Father. "The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)
We on the other hand are natural-born enemies of God (5:10; Col 1:21). To become children of God, to be able to call Him “Father”, we must be adopted: "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”" (Romans 8:15)

Adoption in the time of Paul’s writing looked a little different than it does today. It was finalized with a very formal ceremony which included 7 witnesses. The adopted child lost all rights – and all debts – associated with his old family, and inherited all the rights of a legitimate son of the adopting father. He was every bit as much a child of this father as were his new siblings. In fact, if he became the oldest son in the new family then he gained the superior privileges that went along with that. If, when the father died, anyone questioned the adopted son’s share in the inheritance, one of the witnesses would be called in to verify that the adoption was valid. In our case, that witness is the Holy Spirit: "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God," (Romans 8:16)

So God is my Father…
So now I am a son of God. His loving choice of me was settled before time began - "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will," (Ephesians 1:5), and has big implications for me here and now.
We are accustomed to calling God “Father” – perhaps too accustomed. I know that I address God as “heavenly Father” quite often in my prayers, but I don’t often stop and think about what that means. Paul didn’t take it for granted: of his 13 letters, 13 of them begin by referring to God as Father. Jesus Himself taught us to address God as “our Father.” God is not just my sovereign Lord, but my Father. Think about that for a moment. You and I have the God of the entire universe for a Father! I’ve tried to think about what this means for me, especially in the context of Romans 8. What does it mean for me to have God as my Father?

Provision

As a child of the Most High God I have a Father that provides for my physical needs, who gives

me my “daily bread.” The following verse leaves little doubt as to this: "Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" (Matthew 6:25-26)

This does not mean that the children of God do not sometimes suffer poverty and hunger, rather it means that we need not worry about such things. We will have precisely what we need, although sometimes what we need is hardship; there are plenty of examples of this both in Scripture and Christian history.

In addition to this, we have complete spiritual provision. We have the spiritual armor that we need to fight sin, we have the Holy Spirit Himself within us to sanctify us, we have the gifts and abilities to accomplish all that God puts in front of us, in fact, “we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.” God is the kind of Father who provides for our most important needs – the needs of our soul: "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”" (Luke 11:11-13)

Growth
"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;" (Romans 8:28-29)

What good is God working towards in my life? Prosperity? Success? Personal achievement? Popularity? These verses show the big picture is none of these things. When God is at work in my life it is always with a view to me becoming more like Jesus. If you’re a little disappointed about this it is only because you don’t know what’s good for you. All these earthly goals fall way short of being “summorphos” (morphed) into Christ-likeness. You and I have a LONG way to go in this morphing, and it is the best and highest thing we can hope for. It certainly is God’s highest goal for us. So when does this happen – when am I to become Christ-like? Well, it happens in the past, present and future – just like our salvation.

  • When we were saved-justified, we became righteous in the eyes of God. We also became new creations, infused with spiritual life, rightful children and heirs of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, ambassadors of Christ, and temples of the Holy Spirit.
  • Now, as members of God's family, we are being saved-sanctified. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2) "But we... are being transformed into [Christ's]image from glory to glory." (2 Corinthians 3:18) Something about us is changing as we are "being renewed... according to the image of the One who created us" (Colossians 3:10)
  • Finally, we will be saved-glorified, and "we know that when He appears, we will be like Him." (1 John 3:2) In the day of the full revelation of Christ to the world, we will be made fully like him. Fully conformed to his likeness. "Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly." (1 Corinthians 15:49) Romans 8:23 says that we wait "eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." To the Philippians Paul wrote that Christ "will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory" (Philippians 3:21) and that "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6) When Christ returns for His children, His children will be transformed fully into His likeness. The process will be incredibly complete and we will be perfect!


Love

How can God prove to us the “deep love with which He loves us”? Well, "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) Don’t doubt for a moment that your Father loves you. "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God." (1 Jn 3:1) This is not the emotionless outworking of a logical plan by a God that doesn’t really want to get involved personally. This is love. Read this excerpt from Psalm 103, and see how God feels about His children:

  • "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness… He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust." (Psalm 103:8-14)

People who say that the God of the Old Testament is an angry God aren’t reading much of the Old Testament. When God formally introduced Himself to Moses, he said of Himself, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”" (Exodus 34:6-7) Let’s not run to the opposite extreme and look upon God’s love as weakness – Moses certainly didn’t: "Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.” His love is fierce, selective, uncompromising, and permanent. However, He is a loving God – love may the most significant attribute of God’s perfect character. These are not the words of an impersonal, uninvolved God, "My heart is turned over within Me, all My compassions are kindled." (Hosea 11:8) Paul described Him as “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort," (2 Corinthians 1:3)

When God sets His love on a person it is always undeserved, and it is always forever. Nothing can overturn the outworking of His love toward us – the chain of events described in v30 will be unbroken: "These whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified." Nothing can interfere with this because “God is for us” (v31), He has already paid an unthinkable price for us (v32), and He has seen to the hard part already – our justification (v33). Furthermore, Christ not only died for us, but He intercedes for us to this today (v34 – see more on that here). Yes, “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

As the song goes, “How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure…”


Sons of the Devil

Before we finish, we must also consider a natural consequence of God’s elective love: not all believe in Jesus as the Son of God, and therefore not all are His children. But whose children are they then? Look at the Pharisees: they claimed that God was their Father, yet they lied about Christ and even sought to murder Him. Jesus said to them, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.” (John 8:44) There are only two options here: if not a child of God you are a child of Satan: "The children of God and the children of the devil are obvious." (1 Jn 3:10)

So what kind of father is the Devil? Does he love his own? Does he care for them as a compassionate, understanding father? Look back to his first interaction with man, in Eden. His true character was revealed here: he lied to Adam and Eve, he twisted God’s words, and he brought about mankind’s corruption and death. He lies to this day, telling us that God doesn’t really mind sin – that He understands after all, or perhaps that God doesn’t exist – “Go ahead and do what you want, nothing bad will happen!”

Being a child of Satan does not mean you are a member of some devil-worshipping cult. It simply means you are in the majority. It is said in Revelation that he “deceives the whole world.” His children are immersed in a world of his distortions, no more aware of them than a fish is of being wet. He is the kind of father that, when asked for a fish, would gleefully give his child a snake, and when asked for an egg would happily provide a scorpion. His gifts to his children are sinful pride, deceit, lying, self-absorption, self-worship, and self-gratification. The fruit of his “gifts” are depravity, dishonor, degradation, and eternal damnation. This father is our enemy, and he overpowers man all too easily. “Armed with cruel hate – on earth is not his equal.”

Sons of God

"By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." (1 John 3:10)
Let me put it plainly: if you are not a child of God you are a child of the devil. You need adoption! Christ has overcome Satan, offers pardon for your sins against God, eternal protection for your soul, and adoption into the family of a truly loving Father. Are you a son of God?

Comments

Karen Antonini said…
Awesome!! Romans 8 is my favourite chapter, and how blessed we are to be loved SO much by such an awesome infinite GOD!! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Alan.

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