SoulShift: Slave to Child
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How is your soul?
How is your soul?
I hope that you have taken some time to think about your soul and where you are at with God.
DTR Conversations
DTR Conversations
Have you ever had one of those?
These are those uncomfortable conversations that we often have when we are dating someone.
DTR means Define the Relationship.
When we have the conversations, it is often because one or both people in the relationship is unsure about where the relationship stands.
Are we dating? Are we in love? Are we just friends? Am I just in the “friend zone?”
The purpose of the conversation is so that both people in the relationship know where exactly where the relationship stands.
When is the last time that you have had a DTR conversation with God?
When is the last time that you have evaluated where you are at with Him?
Today we are going to talk about another shift that happens in our soul when we become a follower of Jesus!
Let’s refer back to the scriptural reading from earlier.
So, remember what is happening here.
Jesus and His disciples were walking along.
As they are walking, the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest among them.
Jesus asks them what they were arguing about about.
They didn’t answer Him, but of course, Jesus knew what they were discussing.
36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
Matthew’s version says this a little differently, he says:
3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
The interesting word here that stands out is the word “change”
The Greek word is “strephomai” which means to “turn around” or to “come to believe”
So, Jesus tells the guys who have been following Him for two years that they still need to change the way that they were thinking. They needed to change.
“It is a message that even the most devout among us need to hear.” - the authors of the book
Similarly, a few days later, this topic came up again.
13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
Jesus was indignant - you know what this word translate to? Irate! Jesus was irate and said:
15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
There are two key notes here:
Jesus is painting a picture of how He feels about children
Jesus paints Himself as someone who gladly accepts children.
And not just as a physical means of affection - but them as a whole
In fact, He says that unless we become like little children, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
2. The disciples needed to change - they needed to become like the little children!
As we saw last week, the disciples and Jesus were of two different minds.
The disciples were trying to keep the children from Jesus and Jesus was telling them unless they become like children, they won’t see heaven.
Jesus paints Himself in a Fatherly way here and tells the disciples that they must become like children.
This isn't the only time that Jesus refers to this Father/Child like relationship
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
and, most popularly
9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
So, this relationship of father/child is common in scripture.
The disciples, as well as us, need a shift in our soul from:
Slave to Child
Slave to Child
We don’t however desire becoming “like” children.
In fact, do you remember how the serpent tempted Eve in the garden?
3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
So, Eve saw that the fruit was desirable and she wanted to become like God, full of wisdom. Thus, she ate the fruit!
Rather than being like a child, full of faith and dependance on God, she wanted to become like God, full of wisdom.
This desire to be grown, and full of knowledge started in the garden and continued ever since.
Jesus is saying that we must become like a child, if we want to enter heaven.
So, let’s talk about this shift from slave to child.
Slave to Child
When I first thought of the thought of being a slave, I was a bit bothered.
For some reason, the word slave didn’t sit right with me.
When we talk about being a slave to sin, I am okay with it.
But these Soul Shifts are what takes place after we already accept Christ and His gift of forgiveness, or freedom!
So, how can we still be slaves.
Well, then I realized something.
The idea of being a slave here is not something on God’s end, it is on our end.
We are the ones that make ourselves slaves, not Him.
It’s about our perspective.
Often times, after we become saved, our passion and fire dies out.
And this is a dangerous place.
We become legalistic about our faith.
We start trying to please God.
The thing about God as a Father is that His goal for us is not that we please Him, but that we love Him.
Now, this is where it gets a little challenging today.
Does the Bible talk about pleasing God?
Absolutely!
Some of the things that we do please God.
What I am saying though, is that just because we can do some things that please God, doesn’t make it the goal.
The goal is to love God!
And, when we love God, we follow His commands, which please Him!
What happens when we are a slave, is we try to please Him.
We start making lists of all the things that we have to do in order to please Him.
Now don’t throw things at me just yet....
We try to do things like:
Going to church
Tithing and give beyond our tithes to those in need
Pray before meal or in a routine
Reading our Bible
Here is the problem though, are these bad things? No.
Do these things please God? Yes.
The problem isn’t doing these things, the problem is the why?
Why do you go to church?
Why do you give?
Why do you pray?
Why do you read your Bible?
Is it because you are trying to get a star on your Sunday School chart?
Is it because you want to feel better about yourself?
Is it because you are afraid that God will strike you dead if you don’t?
You see, this is legalism. This is a slave-like mentality!
This is like the disciples keeping the children from coming to Jesus.
I mean, He is the Son of God. We have important things to do. And the things that we have to do are good. He is too tired from doing all the good things to be around....children...
But Jesus says, unless you become like one of these children....
We need to shift from being a slave to being a child.
When we shift to being a child a few things change.
We are dependent upon Him.
We admit that we don’t know everything
We admit that we don’t have everything figured out, but we still believe.
We can find our true identity.
Rather than trying to find ourselves in the things that we do, we just accept who God says that we are.
For some of you, this stresses you out! It should.
It’s not about what you do, it’s about who you are.
As a slave, “You tell Jesus who you think you are, and [as a child] He tells you who you really are.” - Steve DeNuff and David Drury
There is a beautiful story that Jesus tells that helps illustrate this idea found in:
Luke 15:11–32 (NIV)
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”
There is a plot line here that most of us know. We see and understand what its like to be the rebellious son. We understand the Father’s love. We understand the forgiveness. And we understand the jealousy.
But, there is also another story here.
It is a story about being a slave verse being a child.
The prodigal wanted to come home as a slave. Yet, he was accepted as a son.
We do this with God.
We sometimes come to Him as mere slaves. If I could just be in your house, I would happy.
But God says, you are my child. I love you. I want you! I want the best for you!
Jesus says
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
The prodigal is amazing. He was rebellious one that was greeted back as a son.
But the other brother had the same mentality.
He had been with the father the whole time, and thought of himself as a slave.
As a child of God, we had access to the Father and all that He has!
Worship Team
Before, I mentioned some things that we do to try to please God.
When we accept that we are a child and no longer a slave, we do these things because we love God, not because we are trying to please Him!
We go to church to be a part of the bride of Christ!
We give because we believe in the power of God when we give to His church and His people. We believe in His ministry!
We pray because we want to have a conversation with our Father!
We read scripture because we want to get to know our Father better!
When we are a slave, we approach God with timidity, but He says to “approach the throne of grace with confidence (Heb. 4:16)
When we are a slave, we feel condemned for our sins, but as a child, we are free and there is “no condemnation” (Rom. 8:1-2)
When we are a slave, we say that we are sinners, but as a child, He says we are saints (Phil. 1:1) (Rom. 1:7)
As a slave, you thought you were timid and lazy, but as a child, He gave you a “Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7)
As a slave, you try to please God, but as a child, you love God!
Some of you here this morning, need a shift in your soul.
Maybe you are not a child of God. You haven’t accepted His gift of salvation.
The Bible says that to be a child of God all you have to do is admit that you are broken. That you are living in sin.
You need to confess that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Confess your sins to Him, and He will forgive you.
Some of you have been a child of God for a while, but you don’t act like it.
You act like a slave trying to please Him when you need to accept that you are a child and love Him.
If one of these is you this morning, I encourage you to come up and pray.
You can pray right where you are, but if you come forward, I promise we will pray for you.