Hi Everyone
We've started proper on the "Who I am in Jesus Christ" series and this is the first part, on who we are as God's sons. When I say "sons" please understand that I refer to daughters as well. Us guys are part of the bride of Christ too, after all!
I recommend downloading the audio to listen to to get the most of this Bible Study. As you are blessed, do share this around with your friends!
Blessings!
Chris
Know Who You Are
Philemon 1:6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)
Our faith is effective when we acknowledge every good thing that is in us because of the finished work of Jesus.
Psalm 103: 1 A Psalm Of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (NKJV)
David blesses God for the work done in his life by God, praising Him and exhorting all to forget not all His benefits: Forgiveness of sins, healing of diseases, redemption from destruction, God’s lovingkindness and His tender mercies. We are satisfied with GOOD THINGS.
Paul puts it to the Corinthians this way:
1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. (NKJV)
The Spirit of God makes it such that we might know the things freely given to us by God.
We are Sons
If we are sons and God is our father, then we must consider carefully what it means to be a son. How does God treat His children? If we don’t understand this, we won’t understand how to be sons!
“The Prodigal Son”
For us to understand Sonship, a good place to begin is what is traditionally known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Once you have gone through this teaching, I suspect you will find that the name of the parable as is common in Christiandom is actually not very accurate.
Luke 15:11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.
The younger son asks for the inheritance. A man can only give an inheritance when he is dead and gone, so the young man is really insulting his father, telling him he'd rather have him dead.
The man did not quarrel with his son, but instead divided HIS LIVELIHOOD - this is not spare cash the man had. It was his bread and butter. Such was the love of this man, so unquestioning. It also brings us to think about the largess of God and the unending riches He possesses.
Note also that he divided his livelihood to THEM i.e. the older son was also blessed here!
13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
The younger son takes it all, goes off to a far country. He wanted to have NOTHING to do with his family. He didn't just spend the money on something silly nearby. He wanted his father to not know anything about the life he wanted to live. In effect, it wasn't just that he wasted money, but in fact, in spite of his father's kindness, he wanted to live a life in rebellion against what his father might have wanted. It was a willful and rebellious act.
14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.
Unlike his father, this young man wanted to do things HIS way but didn't know how. I don't think for one moment that he had planned to be broke. I think if he had the wisdom to make more money from what he had, he would gladly have done so. So 2 things appear here 1. He wanted to make it big ON HIS OWN but 2. He had little wisdom in himself to do this. This left him in a very bad state.
Hitting Rock Bottom
15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
He was now stranded in a far country and had no choice but to feed the worst things a Jew could imagine - PIGS! Would he have changed his thinking if he was feeding, say, sheep?
16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
We might say this is terrible, but until we realize what we were made for, any life on earth is like a Jew among the pigs. The greatest enemy of the Best is the good enough, because in this case, the good enough is so far from the best. 930 years of Adam’s life on earth in the flesh in the midst of the fall is NOTHING compared to eternity in the presence of Almighty God.
This man was so hungry that he would have eaten what the pigs ate - EWWW! That is where our own "righteousness" leaves us. We in ourselves don't even realise it but where we were before we were saved was like a Jew wanting to eat PIG FOOD! This is really the ROCK BOTTOM. BTW this is where we all are without the Lord, only that some of us haven't yet had the V17 experiences of coming to ourselves, much to our own peril.
David put it this way
Psalm 84:10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (NASB95)
The Father wants much to save His people, but many have gotten used to the swine pit.
Realisation
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
This was the only part of the story where we can give some credit to the son. Like him, it is only when we have realised our own terrible state, our so temporary and miserable lives on our own that we call upon the Lord. Life in the flesh is at best short and mean, no matter rich or poor, well or sick. The faster we realize this, the better.
It was NOT because he was sorry about a moral wrong that he had committed - It was only for his stomach's sake, and the realisation of how much more even the servants HAD TO EAT than he had. He was not thinking about his father - he had only his own good in mind. God is so good to us that even when we come back to Him for our own needs, our satisfaction, He willingly accepts us wholly. Taste and see, He invites.
Likewise, if there was no hell, and life was good, I doubt many of us would ever have a hunger for the Lord which is so instrinsic to a relationship with Him. Pro 1:7 , Ps 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.
Religion ☹
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
Man will attempt in his own way in his attempt to find meaning in the meaningless life of earth. We think we need to serve God, become His slave or otherwise perform some sort of penance to regain His acceptance. He did not understand the infinite mercy his father would show him. We likewise find it hard to plumb the depths of God's love for us, preferring to think that there must be something we can do to earn God's favour and His love for us. This is what the world calls “religious”. Religion robs us of relationship for we relegate our status from sons to servants, even though God has made us sons.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. We need to know that God is an infinitely good God who absolutely loves us.
Christianity ☺
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
Two things the man did right. 1. He came back. 2. He accepted the father’s love.
Throughout this whole episode, his father was scanning the horizon, looking out for the day when he would see his son, hoping against hope that he would return. That's why his father saw him while he was a great way off. What is the father's reaction? Not anger, but compassion. He RAN and fell on his neck. Mind you, sonny boy here didn't exactly smell of roses. And he did not even get a chance to kneel, grovel or snivel before him. He only got past half of what he had planned - he never got to tell of his plan to become a servant. Like for us, God doesn't really care what state we return to Him in or what we say or do. He only cares that we came back to him on our own free will.
Restoration to Sonship
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
Some people will talk about the father’s forgiveness of what the son did. No, the father did not even listen to the son's planned speech. He was more interested in RESTORING his son, to make him every bit like Himself, the Father, again!
Like the father, God's forgiveness was already completed in the Cross. God doesn't even have to judge or forgive anymore. In the light of Jesus' sacrifice for our sins, the only thing that mattered was that he showed up and received love.
The father was going to make the young man HIS SON again. It never changed. The older son tried to be a servant, but that, too was not what the father wanted. He wants sons. Sons do work for the father, they do serve, but that is in response to the father's goodness.
The Father is calling out loudly to his servants - bring out the finest robe. Jesus is the finest robe, for we are clothed in Christ. Jesus is our Robe of Righteousness. Our righteousness is TERRIBLE but we look good when clothed in Christ (Gal 3:26-27 ). God CANNOT wait to cover our shamefulness with His robe of righteousness. The Father put the ring on his finger, signifying authority - this son was restored, once again acting his father's behalf. He cannot wait to put authority back in our hands again.
23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
Note that the father did not call for the celebration because his son was feeling sorry for what he had done. He did not say that his son who was a sinner now no longer sins, or that my son who did wrong has asked for forgiveness. No. the father was overjoyed for only one reason - the son he thought he had lost was found - the same son he ached nights over thinking he might be dead was, in fact, alive and here with him. God's greatest joy now is not to hear us grovel and snivel, not to wait to hear us confess. He only wants one thing, that we have a change of heart and learn that being with Him and Him alone is the best. All else does not matter.
What's important to note here is the extremely personal and intimate nature of Father God towards each of His people, every person who ever lived. The problem today is no longer sin, now that Jesus Christ had died for the sins of the world. Romans 5:6-8
The Older Son…
25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
This other brother also did not understand sonship. He approached his father from serving and law-keeping. He represents the religious people, like the Pharisees. Even the servants had an idea of the father's heart, saying that his brother had returned safe and sound. But not for this guy...
The Angry Servant
28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
He was angry and pouted, bitter with the father that his service and command keeping had not warranted more rewards. This man thought the father needed his service and law-keeping. It never occurred to him that all the father wanted was a relationship with him, that any service arises out of love (1 John 4:19), that like Adam, God wants relationship. He also needed to know that any service outside of love profits nothing. (1 Cor 13:1-3).
31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ” (NKJV)
At the end of the story, we see that both sons had a completely misconstrued idea of who the father really was. Of the two, we see that one did come to realise and enjoy the goodness of the father. Sinners that Jesus ate with came to Him and enjoyed His mercy.
Like good fruit comes from healthy trees, service to the Lord comes from a healthy relationship with Him. The more we are nourished by His love, the more we love.
We Are His Sons
Galatians 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)
We were made into sons by the finished work of Jesus on the cross. No longer are we servants, but have the privilege of enjoying personal relationships with God as His sons.
All This Because of the Cross
John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (NKJV)
All these are benefits brought on us by grace, through the finished work of Jesus. They are enjoyed through faith in the Word.
We will be seeing more of these in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
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