DAY 3 – What Do We Do Now?

Overview

On Wednesday, we used our detective skills to interview multiple eyewitnesses to discover who God is.

On Thursday, we used our deductive skills to analyze clues that revealed the identities that God gave us.

Now, we need to know how to put all of this information together and decide what to do with it.

So, detectives, how do you think we can tie all of this together?

Let’s lay out what we know so far.

God is:

1. Merciful (ties into goodness)

2. Gracious

3. Patient

4. Love

5. Faithful

6. Forgiving (ties into peace)

We are:

1. Created in His image

2. Loved

3. Restored (ties into joy)

4. Adopted children

5. Agents (ties into self-control)

6. New Creations

Hmmm, this is a lot to put together, isn’t it? I think I know what may help us. I have one more clue that I want to share with you, and when you have it, let’s see what you deduce.

The Final Clue

In the Bible, God compares Himself to a gardener, and his followers are compared to plants… specifically trees.

Take a look with me at the very first psalm:

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty awesome to me!

Now, what do we know about trees? (let the kids guess out loud: the start as seeds, they grow, they are pruned, they bear fruit).

Good! Did you know that is exactly what God says about us when He compares us to trees?:

Matthew 7:17-18

So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Now, if God is the gardener and you are His tree that represents His handiwork (because we are created in His image, right?), do you think you think He will help you be a bad tree or a good tree?

That’s right! You are meant to be a good tree that bears good fruit. Have you ever heard about bearing fruit before? Now, we are not literal trees, so we wouldn’t expect to grow apples from our armpits, right?

But, we are told that we will bear fruit, right? So, if it’s not physical fruit like apples and oranges, then it must be spiritual fruit. Have you heard of spiritual fruit before? Well, let me share that with you:

The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Wow, I don’t know about you, but those fruits sound awfully familiar, don’t they? Let’s take a look at those again:

1. love

2. joy

3. peace

4. patience

5. kindness

6. goodness

7. faithfulness

8. gentleness

9. self-control

Why… those look a lot like God’s attributes and our identities, don’t they?

God is love and we are loved by God.

God restored our relationship by dying on the cross to remove our sins. We should be pretty joyful every time we think about that, shouldn’t we?

Because God is forgiving, we have peace with Him.

God is patient and slow to anger. If He is that way, we should be patient with each other, shouldn’t we?

God is kind… showing us a grace we really didn’t deserve.

God is good… being merciful and giving us what we didn’t deserve… adoption!

God is faithful to us, even when we aren’t faithful to him. Understanding his faithfulness helps us to be more faithful.

God deals with us in a gentle way, loving us as sons and daughters and encouraging us to be less sinful and more like Him.

And, because we represent God to others, we can learn to control ourselves and act in a way that brings Him honor and glory.

Conclusion

So, how can our client know who God is? In two big ways:

1. We can know because of the Bible – God told us who he is and people in the past who knew God have written down their eyewitness accounts of Him.

2. Because we live in a relationship with Him every day, and that changes us – then God reveals Himself to others through us, as evidenced by the spiritual fruit we produce in the way we live.

Maybe to sum it up in an easier way:

1. The Bible confidently describes who God is through human witness

2. We display who God is by the way we live our transformed lives as His children and agents.

So, now you have a new mission. Now that you have discovered these exciting truths, you have to live them out. Before the night is finished, I want you to make a list of as many people as you can think of that you are excited to share your discoveries.