The Heart of a Child of God

I want to thank you guys for being here tonight. I’m blown away by the Deacon’s ministry at Wildwood and the servant hearts you guys have. Many of you have reached out to me on numerous occasions to ask if I need anything and it honestly means the world to me.

I feel honored to be with you guys tonight and appreciate the opportunity to come and speak on the topic of “The Heart of a Child of God”

Children are talked about in many places throughout God’s Word:

says that Children are a gift of God.

, talk about how Jesus values children.

talks about how God uses children in His Kingdom.

The overall intention of the four topics tonight are to talk about drawing closer to God and all four of these subjects are extremely important for us to understand and apply to our walk with Christ.

My prayer tonight is that we will dive into God’s word and look at what it means to come to God as a child, and how that affects the way we view God.

I want us to look through several places in Scripture that teach us the concept of approaching God as a child and living out our life with a childlike faith.

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, th

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

A Child belongs to their father.

This is Paul’s introduction to his letter to the church at Ephesus and he begins addressing the church by discussing the truth that they have been adopted by God through Jesus Christ.

I think the two words we need to look at in this passage are adoption and inheritance.

The word adoption as it appears in the text means placed in a position and rights as one’s own child.

Paul teaches this idea to the church at Ephesus that they have been adopted through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will.

The other important concept we see regarding being a child of God is the word inheritance we see in V. 11 and V. 14

The word inheritance as it appears in this passage means to be chosen or appointed.

One commentator notes that it’s those who are God’s portion have their inheritance in him.

Being a child of God means we are sealed by the blood of Christ and our identity is now found in Jesus. Our adoption is sealed and secure through Christ.

I think the first truth we must understand and know tonight is that as a believer and a follower of Christ, we belong to God the Father.

That’s a concept I often remind myself of.

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I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when Jesus teaches the model prayer in that we see we are to address God as our “Father in heaven.”

It’s a reminder of who God is, we recognize him as having authority,

Praying to God in this way and beginning our prayer this way reminds us that God has authority in our lives’ but adding heavenly to the beginning reminds us that He is sovereign over all.

I think also when we address God as our heavenly father, it reminds us that we are his children.

I think it’s so easy for us to lose our sense of awe and wonder in who God is because we use the phrase “Heavenly Father” so flippantly. I normally begin my prayers by saying the word “Heavenly Father” but what I neglect to think about is what exactly that means.

I think Paul’s aim to the church at Ephesus with his greeting to them is to remind them not only have they been adopted but it also talks about receiving an inheritance and that is a reminder of the benefits we receive as being children of God.

Looking at the theme of adoption, we can define it as a “Legal transfer from one family or situation into another family”

with me.

This concept is used to describe our relationhship to God because by His grace and mercy we have been adopted by God through Jesus Christ.

I have a very close friend who recently adopted a 3 year old boy. Before that, he adopted a 1 year old little girl. I would talk to him about the adoption process quite a bit, in fact I showed up to court the day they adopted their little girl, but what I find interesting about the adoption process is how the birth certificate changes.

Once a child is adopted, they are given an amended Birth Certificate with the new parents names replacing the original parents and the child’s name is changed.

What I find interesting about that is that it’s almost like the original parents names are erased and that child legally belongs to the adopted parents, It’s almost like the child’s history has been erased and they get a new start with a new family.

I compare that to our relationship with God because before we were adopted into God’s family, we were spiritual orphans. We were hopeless and helpless in need of redemption and through Christ, we are adopted into God’s family as a child.

We now belong to God. We are his and He is our heavenly father.

Those children that my friend has adopted are safe and secure with their new parents now and have a chance to succeed because they are loved and will be taken care of.

Romans 8:14–17 ESV

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Romans 7:14

For believers, we were slaves of sin. God adopted us and gave us the Holy Spirit to walk in and live by.

Paul reminds us through this passage that we belong to God and that is proved by the fact we have received the Spirit and we are heirs with Christ which means all that Christ claims as his will belong to all of us as well ultimately referring to eternal life in heaven.

We need to remember the process of redemption and adoption must first take place but nonetheless we are His children and we will receive His great blessings as his children on earth but especially in eternity.

So that’s the first mark of a child of God that we belong to God and He is our father.

Turn over to :12

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

A Child Depends on their father

Galatians 3:26 ESV

for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

I think once we belong to God as his sons, we can’t lose sight in our dependence of him day after day.

talks about God giving us the right to become children of God. Our adoption didn’t place because of our good works or anything besides the grace and mercy of God.

Understanding that truth causes us to be dependent on the Father each and every day and laying down our pride to follow our heavenly father.

What we must understand is that a child

That’s harder for guys because we have the mentality that we can do it all, fix it all, and not rely on anyone else.

It drives my wife crazy when something brakes around the house or needs to be repaired. Instead of calling someone, I want to fix it which normally ends up in me having to call someone to fix a bigger mess than before.

If we were to look into the life of a child, we would see a person who is dependent on his/her parents for everything.

What are some things that a child depends on their parents for?

The same way a child is reliant upon their parents is the way we should depend on our heavenly father for everything.

One of my favorite passages is

This is the passage where Jesus is teaching on not being anxious and he points to Birds and Grass. He says if your heavenly Father takes care of simple things like Birds and Grass how much more will he take care of you.

Just as a Father takes care of their children, God will take care and supply for the needs of his Children.

We must depend on Him knowing that our lives’ are in his hands.

Our family went to the beach a couple weeks ago and we had the best time. I was excited to see how my son Isaiah would react as this was the first time we have been to the beach since he started walking.

That kid absolutely loved every minute he spent on the beach but his favorite thing to do was to run into the ocean as fast as he could.

Now, as a good father, I stayed within two feet of him at all times because I didn’t want anything to happen to him while playing in the water.

When I was with him, I thought about this concept of bing a child of God and our dependence on Him.

You see, Isaiah knew that I was within reaching distance of him, He would often get knocked down by the waves but after being knocked down, would always reach his hand up for me to help him up.

I think about that and think that’s exactly how our dependence on our heavenly father should be. We oftentimes get knocked down and we struggle from time to time but we should have a child-like dependence on God knowing that he is right there with us at all times.

This concept is used to describe our relationship to God because by His grace and mercy we have been adopted by God through Jesus Christ.

Matthew 18:1–6 ESV

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Jesus uses a child as an object lesson teaching on who the greatest is in the Kingdom.

He uses a child to give the disciples a picture of what it looks like to depend on God.

Children were not looked at with much esteem in the First Century.

I think it was probably humbling for the disciples to hear the teaching from Jesus because it took away all forms of pride they may have had.

Jesus doesn’t say the greatest in the Kingdom are those with the biggest list of accomplishments, the ones who gave the most money, etc. but rather those that find their dependence upon God.

He say’ “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of God”

I think a life that honors and glorifies the Lord will come naturally from having a child-like faith.

Humility leads to great things. Pride leads to destruction. To have a child-like faith is to lay down our pride and our list of accomplishments to relying on God and knowing that everything we have belongs to Him and has been given to us by Him.

Proverbs 16:18 ESV

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Having a heart of a child of God is living a life of full dependence on our heavenly Father.

Turn to

Ephesians 5:1 ESV

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

The final truth about the Heart of a Child of God I want us to look at tonight is that a

A Child imitates their father.

This verse tells us to imitate God and walk in love as Christ loved us.

God desires that we live as children who imitate Him.

For me, growing up I wanted to be just like my dad. I had a great relationship with my father. He wasn’t perfect because no one is perfect but I always thought my dad was the greatest.

He oftentimes would neglect yard work in order to spend time with my sister and I. He would take me to ballgames, in fact, he took me to my first Braves game when I was 9 years old.

He taught me how to throw a ball, how to mow a yard, the value of hard work. He took me to the Golf Course when he went. I looked up to my father and learned so many valuable lessons from him growing up.

Growing up, I looked up to my father so much, I wanted to be like him. I watched the way he treated my sister and I, I watched the way he treated my mom. I always wanted to grow up and be like me dad.

Although I had a loving dad and a dad who invested in me spiritually. He did not have the same upbringing. His dad was a hard nose, self dependent type of guy.

My dad didn’t have the same upbringing I had because he decided not to be like his dad.

I say all this to say some kids have fathers to look up to and some do not but in both cases, as children of God, we are called to imitate our heavenly father who is perfect and Holy.

The good news for us as children of God is that we have a heavenly father to look up to and to model our lives’ after.

Matthew 5:48 ESV

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

As children and disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to live a life striving and imitating a perfect father.

We can know him through His word and have intimate fellowship with him.

It’s funny because if my dad were here tonight or if you had a conversation with him, you would see many similarities between us. My friends always thought it was crazy how much alike we are.

That came from spending valuable time together. Like I said earlier, my dad did everything with me growing up so I spent countless hours with him.

The same way goes with spending time with our father. We will imitate Him the more time we spend with him.

My prayer constantly is that I will live a life honoring and pleasing to the Lord, and that only comes through having times of devotion and time with God through the study of His word.

Jim Rohn “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

I believe that’s an accurate statement because I feel that those we spend the most time will rub off on us and we will become like those people.

That’s why God’s Word tells us in

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Paul is warning the church to stay away from those who deny God by denying the resurrection because it will lead them away from the purity of the Gospel.

As a child, our dependence on God should push us to spending time with him and when we spend time with him it causes us to be like him.

One of my closest friends is a police officer in Knoxville and growing up that’s the only thing he ever wanted to do. His father passed away of a heart attack when he was in middle school and he was also a police officer.

Just as says’

Ephesians 5:1 ESV

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

I think my friend looked up to his father and wanted to be just like him when he grew up and he did exactly that. In fact, he’s worked his way up to detective and is being promoted up.

Grasping this concept of being a child of God will help us in our walk and journey with Christ.

God makes it clear in his word that we are to approach him and worship him as a child.

Our identity in Christ is now that we are sons of the living God and as a son we should live our walk out constantly imitating our father.

At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s something we can force ourselves into. When we humble ourselves and recognize our dependence on God, then we will naturally live a life that God desires us to live.

A Child belongs to their father.

A Child Depends on their father.

A Child imitates their father.

Let’s pray.

The Heart of a Child of God

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