I Am A Child Of God
Notes
Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Scripture Reference: Galatians 4:1-7
Context
Context
We are going to take a break from The Gospel Journey that we have been in.
Today, we are going to start a new series and this series is going to focus on answering just one question: What does it mean to be a Christian?
This term… Christian… it gets tossed around a lot within the church today, but when I tell someone that I am a Christian, what does that really mean? What would I say, if after telling someone that I was a Christian, they replied, “OK… but what does that mean?”
We get this term Christian from Scripture. Originally, it was a derogatory title given to those who were followers of Jesus. The title means “Christ-like or Follower of Christ”. It was a title given to mock or scorn those in the early church.
26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Did you know that the term Christian is only used in Scripture 3 times: once here in Acts 11, another time in Acts 26:28 where King Agrippa tells Paul “You almost persuaded me to become a Christian.”, and then once more in the book of 1 Peter 4.
With that being said, we can not fully understand what it means to be a Christian by looking at only these three verses. In order to get a better understanding of what it means to be a Christian, we must also look at other titles that is given to followers of Christ throughout the New Testament.
In this series, we are going to get into the Word of God and see what God has to say. Who does God say I am?
That is the title of our series: Who Am I
The answer to this question, “Who Am I”, cannot be answered with a single word. The truth is, the Bible says quiet a bit about who we are in Christ, and I hope to explore most of those things as we go throughout this series. It’s important for us to know who we are in Christ. How can we ever fully embrace our new identity in Christ if we don’t even know what all makes up that identity?
So each week, we are going to look at a different identifying characteristic, that when put all together, we can say, “This is who I am in Christ. This is what it means to be a Christian!”
The first title that we are going to dig in to is this: I Am A Child Of God.
1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,
2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Let’s pray!
Content
Content
I AM A CHILD OF GOD!!!
That’s just sounds good coming off the tongue doesn’t it! Amen!!! I am a child of God!
You know sometimes, it is good to just sit there and repeat that to yourself. Maybe you’re having a bad day, maybe its been a rough couple of weeks, or maybe your just feeling a little down. Just sit there and repeat that to yourself. Each time you say it, just take a minute or two to think about the significance of that statement. Then say it again. When you get your mind focused on this most important truth, the worries and stress of this life just seem to melt away.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
The weight of that statement just seems to overpower everything else that is competing for space in your mind and drives it out. It is a solemn reminder of who are and who God has called you to be. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, then you have every right to remind yourself, and your enemy, exactly who you are.… I AM A CHILD OF GOD!!!
Now why does that statement carry with it so much power? 3 things…
I Am Adopted
I Am Adopted
In this text Paul is explaining for us the relationship between a child and a Father, at least how it was understood in their day.
1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,
2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.
Paul is simply stating that a child, though he may even be a child of royalty, has no claim to what is already his, until the father of that child deemed it to be so. If this child was the rightful heir of money, land, buildings, or possessions, he could not claim any of those things until the father released those things to him. It was rightfully the fathers, until the father felt that the child was old enough, mature enough, or ready enough to responsibly handle and care for that which was his inheritance.
This means, that even though that child might have had a very large inheritance, he was no different than a slave, at least in regards to accessing that inheritance. Therefore, this child would remain under the tutelage of guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father. Once that appointed time came, he would then have access to all that the Father had ascribed to him.
Now in the beginning, mankind had it all. In the Garden, God had given Adam and Eve the right to everything that man could have had. There was nothing in the physical realm, or even in the spiritual realm, that was prohibited. They enjoyed all the fruit of the Spirit to the full; they dwelt in the presence of the Lord daily; and they had no concept of evil or sin.
But once they committed mankind’s first sin, everything changed. Their sinless perfection was now marred which hindered their relationship with God, they were banished from the physical paradise that God had created specifically for them and were forced to dwell in a land that was as fallen as they were, and they also were in bondage to sin from that day forward.
God had created mankind for so much more, but they proved to Him that they were not mature enough to handle that inheritance at this time. So God placed mankind under a tutor, a schoolmaster if you will, called the Law. The Law was there to teach us and train us. It was there to help us understand God’s will so that one day mankind might be restored into fellowship with Him as He designed them to be.
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
This went on for centuries, until the time appointed by the Father finally came:
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
God decided that it was time for us to come out from under our tutor and step into our inheritance. So Jesus came, He lived, He died, and He rose again. And all of those who believe and trust in Him as their Savior can be adopted into the family of God.
I AM A CHILD OF GOD!!!
Think about that. When we look at the account of Adam and Eve, we read about a fall, but when we look at the account of Jesus, we see a restoration. In Christ, we are redeemed. In Christ, we are set free from the tutor and step into that which God had ascribed to us all along. There is no longer a go-between. There are no more signs and symbols and shadows of things to come. That person has come and His name is Jesus, and He came for you and for me, and for all who would believe on His name. And to those who do, we are adopted into His family.
I am no longer a slave to fear, for I am a child of God!!!
We take on the name of God. We have royal blood flowing through our veins. We have been adopted by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our Father is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. His Words have the power to give life and He has spoken that Word over us, awakening the spiritual part of us that has always been there, but has been dormant. And in that spiritual birth, we take on a new nature that is in tune with our Father. Praise be to God!
And this awakening leads us into a relationship with Him. That leads us into our next point:
I Am Adopted, but I am also Adored.
I Am Adored
I Am Adored
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
Being a child of God means that we also get to experience the greatest love this world has ever known.
God has always loved us, but it is only when we lean into Him that we truly experience that love and begin to understand it. Apostle John says it this way in 1 John 4:19:
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
And once we experience that love, we finally realize that it is the greatest resource on the planet. It is a greater resource than food, greater than water, and greater than air. A healthy adult who has access to clean water can live somewhere between 30-50 days without food. The average adult can survive between 3-5 days without water. The average individual can survive between 3-5 minutes without air. But not one single person can live even a second without the love of God.
And once you begin to experience that love being poured out upon you, you begin to crave it. It is more addicting than the greatest high one could ever imagine. It is more addicting than all the money in the world. It is more addicting than all the power in the world. It drives you to your knees in a desperate search for more.
It is a craving that cannot be satisfied. There is no lid to this jar. It just keeps pouring in, and pouring in, and pouring in. It never stops. Why? Jeremiah tells us:
3 The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
God’s love is truly everlasting. His love is so boundless, that John states in 1 John 4:16:
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Love is part of His very nature. He is not a loving God because He loves us… No… He loves us because He is love. It is who He is.
His love is so boundless towards us that Paul was compelled to write in Romans 8:35
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing can keep God from loving us… absolutely nothing. He always has and always will have a love for mankind that goes beyond our comprehension.
It is out of this love that He sent Jesus:
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And when we hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and learn of this great love of which He loved us, we begin to lean into this love, and it just grows and grows, and keeps on growing until we finally get to experience it in all its fullness in eternity.
And notice what it says here:
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
God has sent forth the Holy Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” It is not only that God loves us, but God puts His love in us, so that we reciprocate that love back to Him. We do so in a very limited way, mind you, but we do it nonetheless.
It is a relationship. We love God because he first loved us. And in that love, we desperately seek Him out.
This term, “Abba, Father” is equivalent to when our children today use the term daddy. I know it depends on where you come from as to what term you use, but here in Tennessee, we don’t use the terms “Mother and Father” when speaking to our parents. We use the terms “Momma and Daddy”. Those are deeply personal terms. Those are terms that are only used by a child to their parents. They are terms of endearment. They are terms of passion.
When a little one falls down and scrapes a knee, they yell out for daddy to come make it better. When we trip over our own feet, and some of us are very clumsy Christians (I say us including myself), and fall down and get hurt, we can cry out “Abba, Father!” I need you. Spiritually I have fallen and scraped up my hands. “Daddy, please come help.”
And the picture that He is painting here is that God will come to where we are, help us to our feet, clean up our wounds, take us up in His lap and squeeze us tight, give us some Fatherly advice on how to not make that same mistake again, and then let us loose to try again.
Oh how God loves us!
My life verse is 1 John 3:1
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
God’s love is so amazing. There is nothing like it in all of the world.
But being a child of God gets even better!!!
Not only am I adopted… Not only am I adored… I am also assured!
I Am Assured
I Am Assured
7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
This verse says that we are heirs of God through Christ. An heir is someone who is in line to receive an inheritance. That means that you and I, and every person who has been truly born again, are heirs of God.
Galatians–Colossians (King James Version) F. The Sixth Proof of Justification by Faith: Christ and the Fullness of Time, 4:1–7
In the ancient world the family was based on a Roman law called “patria potestas,” the father’s power. The law gave the father absolute authority over his children so long as the father lived. He could work, enslave, sell, and if he wished, he could pronounce the death penalty. Regardless of the child’s adult age, the father held all power over personal and property rights.
Therefore, adoption was a serious matter. Yet, it was a common practice to ensure that a family would not become extinct by having no male children. And when a child was adopted, three legal steps were taken.
1. The adopted son was adopted permanently. He could not be adopted today and disinherited tomorrow. He became a son of the father—forever. He was eternally secure as a son.
2. The adopted son immediately had all the rights of a legitimate son in the new family.
3. The adopted son completely lost all rights in his old family. The adopted son was looked upon as a new person—so new that old debts and obligations connected with his former family were cancelled out and abolished as if they never existed.
This means that when God the Father adopts me into his family, three things happen:
I become a son forever
I immediately gain all rights of being a legitimate son in this new family I have been adopted into
I am also immediately separated from all legal requirements that tied me to the old family that I used to be a part of.
Isn’t that wonderful? Amen!!
We are heirs of God through Jesus Christ.
What exactly is this inheritance that we are now a part of?
I immediately gain access to His presence.
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
21 and having a High Priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
I am immediately indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who tunes my heart to the things of God.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
The Holy Spirit begins to work on our hearts and mold us into sons and daughters that mimic our Father.
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
I am a recipient of the promise of eternal life.
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
To be a child of God means that I am adopted into the family of God; I am Adored by my heavenly Father; and I am assured of a future home in glory where I get to dwell in His presence for the rest of forever.
Commitment
Commitment
