Title: Live As God's Children
Bible Book: Romans 8 : 12-17
Author: Jerry N. Watts
Subject: Christian Living
Objective:
Introduction
We are all God’s children! Have you ever heard this statement? It sounds good, it seems right, it feels good, but there is absolutely no Biblical truth to it. Today across this nation there is a widely held view that everyone is in the family of God and people will get irate to suggest otherwise. Were we to follow this line of thinking to its logical conclusion, we would be required to conclude that Hitler, Stalin, Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Bundy, Dahmer, and Tim McVeigh are all God’s children. (Now don’t misunderstand; each one of these and others could have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and become a child of God “If” they would come to God on His terms).
We are all God’s creation but not necessarily God’s Children. Speaking of Jesus the Apostle John writes, “To all who received Him (Jesus), He gave them the “Right” to become Children of God.
There exists only two ways to become a part of anyone’s family, you can be born or adopted. Some argue that we are born into God’s world so we are automatically His. But Jesus said, “You must be born again.” By the way, when I am born again, into the family of God, I am immediately adopted by God the Father. This is important because a “birth child” is in the blood line and has particular rights; however, an adopted child has an entirely different set of rights. When you are born and adopted into a family, you have the best of all worlds and this is exactly what God wants for HIS children. Don’t you want to make sure you are His?
Let’s do a couple of things this morning, first; let’s nail down being in the family. I just mentioned that Jesus said, “You have to be born again.” Every person must be born of the spirit. In Acts 2 Peter was asked and In Acts 16 Paul was asked “what must I do?” The answer is “repent and believe.” Have you done this? Will you do this? This is your invitation to be in the Family.
Abraham Lincoln signed the “Emancipation Proclamation”, do you remember who it was that became “emancipated?” It was the slaves. Now, those who had been brought to this country and sold as a piece of property were free.
Remarkably, some of these did not leave their masters and plantations but stay on and signed on as slaves. In fact, many made fun of these who stayed on. Why? They were freed by and from the law of slavery, yet they CHOSE to continue to live as a slave.
As we said last week, when we are a part of God’s family, we are set free! We are set free from the law of sin and death. We are set from the power and penalty of sin and we look forward to the day we are free from the presence of sin. If we are indeed free and are God’s child, then why not live like it.
From our scripture allow me to suggest 5 ways in which will help us Live As God's Child.
I. Be Logical
It never ceases to amaze me how we attempt to think logically about everything but our faith. Truth is, when taken in its totality, the Bible is always logical. I would argue that you can take any Biblical experience or story and if viewed from the proper perspective, it will be completely logical. Whether making blind see, raising the dead, or healing the sick, it is all very logical “If” Jesus is God’s son.
So, what is so logical in our text? Look at verse 12. It says, “We are not obligated to the flesh, we owe nothing to this world.” Think about this. What has this world given to you and me? It offers us hurt, pain, heartache, loss, it gives us bodies which deteriorate, and at some point down the road it even promises death. And seemingly, it is this world to which we seemingly give so much of our allegiance. Why?
May I offer a couple of reasons? First, it is our flawed way of thinking. I hate to say it and you’re tired of hearing it, but we can trace this “way of thinking” all the way back to the Garden of Eden. God said no, the world said yes, we came down on the side of the world and it’s been that way ever since. Eve saw the fruit and simply had to it, couldn’t say no, it was like “if it’s in sight, I have to take a bit.”
This is the ploy of the enemy and to live the way He wants is totally makes no sense and defies logic. Let me illustrate.
Suppose you wanted to buy a car and needed financing. So you go to a bank and fill out the required paper work to secured financing for your car. After looking at your application, the loan officer says, “I’m sorry; you don’t qualify for this loan.” As you are considering your option and explaining this to a friend, surprisingly he says, “Let me loan you the money.” And because you need (or want) the car so much you agree to accept his loan. Now you are enjoying your car when the first payment comes due. Who do you pay? Do you pay the bank or the friend? Obviously and logically, you pay the one to whom you owe the debt.
When it comes to living life, doesn’t logic insist that, as one who has trusted Christ, we not live like the world? Rather,
II. Be Spiritual
Look at the contrast given here. If you live like the world, YOU will die, But if you live by and in the Spirit the evil deeds will die. In America, there is a brand of Christianity which is Biblically unrecognizable. It asks little, costs little, expects little, and requires little, and attempts to redefine Biblical Christianity. Above everything else, to believe in Jesus for your forgiveness and your eternity is to think on a different “plane” than the world thinks. Now hang with me to get this. The Bible tells us to put off, put away, & to death the very things which this world embraces.
Ephesians 4 tells us to put away lying, bitterness, anger, wrath, insult, slander, wickedness, rotten talk, and lying. Paul writes to the church at Colossi to “put away whatever in you that is worldly” and then follows with an impressive list which speaks to every area of our lives. Let’s read Colossians 3. Don’t miss this truth; survey after survey after survey in America reveals that there is no discernable difference between those who “claim” to be believers and those who do not. The divorce rate, pre- marital sex, and pregnancy out of wedlock, are all basically the same. It seems to me that when the Bible calls us to be separate it is speaking of our lives, and our motivation.
If we are to live as God’s Children we must “set our minds & our eyes on things above and not on the things of this earth.
The old song says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” Until our focus is on Him, we cannot be spiritual, yet the call is give to put to death the deeds of this world and live according to the Spirit. By the way, we’ll know when we become Spiritual because the fruit of our lives will be Spiritual fruit.
III. Be Practical
Admittedly, I am a pragmatist. And I get this from my study of the life of Jesus. Jesus always started with the practical and normal then He moved the thinking to powerful and extraordinary. When He healed the lepers, He sent them to the Priest which is where they would have gone anyway. When He taught about being lost and found (saved), In Luke 15, He used very practical thoughts (I.E. a coin, a sheep, and a son) to communicate profound truths. When He was criticized by the church people for hanging around the non-church people, His response carried the air of being both logical and practical.
Watch how practical Paul is. In verse 14, in essence he writes, “God’s children are controlled by God’s Spirit.” Now think about that. The antithesis of this statement is “those who are not controlled by God’s spirit are Not His children.” Whoa! That’s gotta hurt! This is the paternity test for the believer.
This is not about what “I’m” saying! This is about what the Bible is teaching. You see, we can “say” we have been born again, are part of the body, and members of the family, but the truth “comes out in the wash. “ I checked on that phrase this week and was reminded that means that something is revealed.
Practically speaking, if we are His children, we will be led daily by His Spirit and people will notice. His Spirit will affect every decision you make, every word you speak, and every phrase you hear. It will all be filtered through Him.
IV. Be Personal
To me, this is one of the most profound and attractive reasons to trust Christ. In most belief systems, god is not an up close, personal God, rather he is far off and you can only “Hope” to and fearfully attain his heaven one day.
But Jehovah God is different. The other gods want us to initially seek them, Jehovah took the first step in the person of Jesus and came looking for us. Additionally, in Christ we become God’s Son, so there is no reason to “fear” Him because we have been both born and adopted into His family and have the relationship wherein we can say, “Abba, Father.” Now there is no accurate translation for “Abba” but it is so deeply personal that we get the idea of “daddy.” God wants us to be personal with Him. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we can experience a daily walk with the Father. This relationship gives us much.
What would happen if I were to show up at the White House to see the President? (We’ve asked this before) But what if my last name was Bush and I was George W’s Son? My relationship gets me special access. As someone who is personally related to God, we have personal access. This access only comes through our personal decision to trust Christ. Remember, to those who received Jesus, God gave the right to become Sons of God.
V. Be Thankful
When we are led by God Spirit and are in God’s family an incredible thing happens, we become “heirs” and “joint-heirs” with Christ to the Kingdom of God. Consider this, in Christ we have access to the Father and are included in God’s will and testament. God’s will is not written for when HE dies, but when this world is dead and gone. You want something for which to be thankful? Read the Revelation. The only person the Revelation frightens is the one who have no relationship with God, no internal hope of Heaven, and no inheritance waiting; rather, they are hoping God grades on the curve, that He will consider the good things they have done, and that they will get in by the skin of their teeth. For the true believer, they know that this world and all her wealth pale in comparison to glories yet to be revealed in Heaven.
Conclusion
How can I be truly thankful when I try to let the Lord lead me and all I get is bad treatment - no one ever appreciates my commitment or my work? Here is an old story about “Living As God’s Children.”
An old missionary couple [Henry C. Morrison] had been working in Africa for years and were returning to New York to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions.
No one paid any attention to them. They watched the fanfare that accompanied the President's entourage, with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man. As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his wife, "Something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us."
"Dear, you shouldn't feel that way," his wife said. "I can't help it; it doesn't seem right."
When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of the President's arrival, but no one noticed this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East Side, hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a living in the city.
That night the man's spirit broke. He said to his wife, "I can't take this; God is not treating us fairly." His wife replied, "Why don't you go in the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?"
A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face was completely different. His wife asked, "Dear, what happened?"
"The Lord settled it with me," he said. "I told him how bitter I was that the President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and simply said, 'But you're not home yet!'"
