The Right to be Children of God

Intro

I don’t remember being born, but I am told it was an unpleasent experience

Forcepts were involved (I was not born ready)… I was really early… don’t want to do that again

To be “born again” has become a Christianese buzzword

Are you born again? What does that even mean? Why do we use that prase?

The Apostle John begins to lay the groundwork of this idea in the Prologue of his gospel (John 1:10-13)

Read it and weep… I mean pray

The World Did Not Know Him (v. 10 - 11)

All the sudden, Jesus is here!

Verse 9 = “was coming;” verse 10 = “he was in the world”

Kinda skipped over the part with angel visits, immaculate conception, Roman census, mangers and swaddling clothes, angels and shepherds, crazy star and gifts from magi...

The Word (Jesus) was in the world; he arrived

What an incredible moment!

That the Word, through whom the world was created, would actually be in the world He created

But the dark irony is that this monumental event went unnoticed and unrecognized by many (“the world did not know him”)

He went unrecognized; people were looking for something different, certainly not a baby born in a lowly manger!

Are we at risk of missing out on what God might be doing because we are not truly looking?

On a more personal level, Jesus was not just overlooked, but rejected

“His own people did not receive him” (v. 11b)

The Jewish people; Messianic expectations were high, but Jesus subverted many of those expectations

He was not a political figure or military leader… he was someone dedicated to establishing the kingdom of God

In the end, it was the religious leaders and the masses of his own people that shouted, “Crucify him!”

Yet we should be slow to point any fingers; are we at risk of missing out on what God is doing because we are looking for something different?

We Can Receive Him (v. 12)

But, there are those who DID receive Jesus; we can receive Him

“Receive” = Means to accept; to welcome in hospitality

*Talk about Karen’s grandparents helping and hosting stranded people on the last corner into Manitou*

John explains that to receive Jesus is to “believe in His name” (v. 12)

Ok, but what does that mean?

“To believe in a person’s name is to believe in the person, because the name stands for the person. Receiving him involves accepting the teaching and revelation of God he brought” (Colin G. Kruse)

Names in the culture of the time were tied into the person (not like crazy millennials)

*Tell “Jathan” joke by Matt Taylor*

To believe in Jesus’ name is to believe in who He truly is

It is to believe that Jesus is the Messiah (Cf. 1 John 5:1)

More than that; Jesus is the Name above all Names

Cf. Isaiah 9:6.

Jesus is all these things… and more!

One more point of clarity: what do we mean by belief?

Belief to the apostle (and to all of us) is not just a mental acknowledgement of who Jesus is, but a wholehearted trust in who He is

*Talk about Silas jumping in the pool at swimming lessons*

We all have the opportunity to receive Jesus with open arms, and trust in who He has revealed Himself to be

Born of God (v. 13)

When you receive Jesus, when you believe in His name, you are given the “right to become children of God” (v. 13)

“Right” = ability or privelege

We do not have the ability to become children of God on our own; we do not have the privilege to become children of God on our own

It is something we cannot acheive and do not deserve

HE gives us the right/ability/privilege

It is only the work of Jesus, who desires to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, who desires to give us a gift that we do not deserve

The Apostle describes this process as being “born of God” (v. 13)

An utter transformation; later described as being “born again” to Nicodemus in John 3.

Cf. John 3:1-8.

*Show video clip from The Chosen*

This is a spiritual transformation

Not of blood (descendants of Abraham), nor the will of the flesh (sexual desire), nor the will of man (husband’s decision)

But born of God; made spiritually new

Unless you are born of the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God

When you are spiritually reborn, you are a child of God

This is the great promise of our passage: That God has done all things necessary (in Christ) to adopt us into His family

Cf. Galatians 4:3-5.

Jesus was born so that we may be born again

The Christmas story is not merely about a baby, but about our own re-birth and firm identity as children of God

Our adoption into God’s family gives us a transformed spiritual identity that can NEVER be stripped away

Who are you? What is your purpose in life? Where is your hope? All of these answers are found in the fact that we are children of God

You did not earn it; you cannot unearn it

*Paraphrase the parable of the prodigal son and highlight the father running out to greet his son*

This spiritual re-birth gives you eternal hope that persists beyond the grave

As sons and daughters you are also co-heirs with Christ, sharing in the eternal kingdom that He has established and will one day complete

If you feel like a failure, if you feel hopeless, if you feel threatened or overwhelmed, if you feel less-than-loveable, rest in the fact that you are a child of God

Conclusion

There is a progression of thought in John 1:10-13.

The invitation is to receive Jesus (as He has been revealed to be), to believe in His name (trust in who He is declared to be), and be born again (adoption as sons and daughters)

Have you received Jesus?

Do you believe in His name?

Are you a child of God?

If you are unsure of any of your answers to these questions, I would love to talk to you more

Because the hope of the Christmas story is that Christ was born so that you may be born again

Pray