How do you see God? Here’s a couple of songs you may know, they are in the song book; “Praise my soul the King of Heaven, to his feet thy tribute bring” and “Before Jehovah’s aweful throne, Ye nations bow with sacred joy; know that he is God alone, he can create and he destroy.”
Often we think of God as out there somewhere, the King in heaven, that was my view for quite some time, one of my favourite songs contains these words;
“Behold He comes! Riding on the clouds!
Shining like the sun! At the trumpet call
lift your voice! It’s the year of Jubilee!
And out of Zion’s hill salvation comes!” (Sing this)
How do you picture God? Is he a huge man with white hair and a flowing beard, with piercing eyes, holding bolts of lightening in his hands, who speaks with a booming voice, and when he speaks forth it’s like thunder, and when he does speak forth, we will be left trembling in terror at what he has said.
This is one picture of God, is this picture of God realistic? Is this how God wants us to relate to him, in fear and trembling?
In the last couple of weeks we have been looking at Paul’s letter to the Romans chapter eight and ‘what life in the Holy Spirit is about and how God travels with us on the journey.’
Two points have been discussed over the last couple of weeks they are:
• God works all things for our good as we take on the attributes of Jesus
and;
• That we have life and peace through the Spirit of Christ as he lives in us
The verses 14 -17 point out another three things that occur when the Holy Spirit lives in us.
a) That the Holy Spirit himself testifies that we are God’s children; and as such are b) heirs with Christ sharing in his glory and c) that we can now call God Father or more appropriately “Abba Father”.
We have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, or can have a relationship with the Holy Spirit and in doing so we have a place of privilege.
1) In verse fourteen, Paul makes it clear why this is so, he says “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
This is not a gender issue; we all become children of God, as we are led by the Spirit of God, when he lives in us.
About being children of God, we know that Jesus is the only begotten or true born son of God. Jesus himself spoke about who his brothers were, we read in Luke 8:19-21 that Mary and Jesus brothers by birth had come to see him. When he was told that they were outside waiting for him, his reply was, “…My mother and my brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” (Luke 8:21). Jesus was not rejecting his family, but he was pointing out the importance of living by the word of God.
It should also be remembered that Jesus said this prior to the Pentecost, and that those who live according to the Spirit, because they have the Spirit of Christ in them, no longer live according to their old nature but are in fact putting God’s word into practice.
So these followers of Christ have received the Holy Spirit. They are privileged to have an intimate relationship with God himself.
With that relationship come the fruits of his Spirit and gifts of his Spirit, but more about that another day. What does Paul call the Holy Spirit in these verses?
2) The Spirit we have received is referred to by Paul as the ‘Spirit of sonship or adoption.’
About adoption! In the time of Pauls writing this letter adult adoption occurred. (Ben Hurr) If I was a wealthy man who had had no children to pass on my inheritance to, I could choose a favourite servant or the son of a friend or relative and ask that person if I could adopt them. They would take over my name, my estate, any title, all of the rights of sonship that could be passed on to them would be. Interestingly, this would be the person being adopted’s choice; it would be a free will adoption. Here’s an interesting case of adoption.
In 1721, a wealthy Irishman offered to adopt Charles Wesley and make him his legal heir. The 13-year-old boy refused the offer, choosing to continue his way through school under very difficult circumstances.
This turned out to be one of the most momentous decisions of life. The boy who was adopted in place of Charles became the grandfather of the Duke Wellington who defeated Napoleon. The young Wesley achieved immortal fame through his hymns as, The Prince of Hymn Writers
( Libronix Digital Library system; Illustration 5326, What If Wesley Were Adopted ) and as one of the founders of the Methodist church.
So we are adopted by God, if we chose that adoption, its our choice, it is up to our free will, but then how do we know we are God’s children.
3) Well the Spirit himself testifies that we are sons and daughters of God.
The truth of the matter is we have been adopted by God as we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and saviour. We have that adoption, we are now living as God’s children, with that adoption comes freedom, freedom from fear; we do not have to fear God. We no longer fear him because we have him living in us. We have an intimate relationship with God himself. (SBI) He’s no longer out there somewhere, he lives in us.
The Old Testament is full of references to how wise it is to fear God. For instance Psalm 22:23a; “You who fear the Lord, praise him!” and Psalm 103:13 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”
The Hebrew word for fear also translates to worship. (Repeat) It is good for us to remember God’s Holiness and to revere him as Holy; and we are able to worship him with every molecule of our being as we celebrate his gift of life for us.
But Paul points out something that occurs because we now have sonship; because we are now sons and daughters of God, you may think this is no big thing but, but we can call God Father, we can call God, Dad. We have an intimate relationship with God himself. (SBI)
Call God Dad, really?
4) Yes really! Because we have the Spirit of Christ abiding in us we can call God Father, in fact Paul says, we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’
Abba the famous Swedish rock group is another story, the word “Abba” as used for God, as used by Paul is an Aramaic word, it is a word that is a term of endearment that would be used in a family, like we would call our fathers, “Dad.”
Interestingly this word is only used in the New Testament and it is a word that is used with much more familiarity than any Jewish person would have used to refer to God prior to its use by Jesus and Paul. We hear Jesus talking to God as ‘Abba Father’ in the garden of Gethsemane, Remember the name of God was not spoken by Jewish people as his name was too holy and here is Jesus praying in the garden and calling him Dad. This was a time when Jesus was in immense pain and overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Jesus needed to have this one to one talk with his Dad.
We too can have a child - father relationship; we do have a child - father relationship with God.
This is the relationship that God desires with us, that of father and child. Not the sort of Father who abuses his place of privilege but the sort of father who is loving, kind and forgiving, the sort of father who would take us to be heirs of his kingdom along with his only true born son. We have that adoption. One thing he insists on, think about this! One of my sons has the job of dealing with the rubbish, it’s his chore. One thing our Father insists on is that we take out the rubbish.
Not just that, but the sort of father who would send his Spirit to live in us, so that we can live in his Power and take on the attributes of his only true son.
And like his true born son, we have the privileges of sonship, of his children. We have an intimate relationship with God himself. (SBI) With that comes an inheritance.
5) We are heirs of God’s kingdom along with Jesus; as Christians we have already gained partially in that inheritance. We have that knowledge through the leading, the friendship, the guiding and comfort that the Holy Spirit brings us, as he lives with us. Paul mentions that “we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:17)
This does not mean that there are issues or doubts about sharing in his glory or that we need to suffer to gain our inheritance. Paul points to the fact that while so many Christians are currently suffering, they can be joyful in the knowledge that they are already members of God’s Kingdom, they share in his glory. I think we can think of it this way, as a passport holder can gain access to a country – as those who have the Holy Spirit with us, we have that assurance of access to sharing in eternal glory with Jesus.
This is God’s plan that we share in Jesus glory, we already have an intimate relationship with God himself. (SBI)
If you are then a child of the King of Kings what does that make you? The answer is clear; the Apostle Peter says it this way, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” You are not just a priesthood, but a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Do you live that way? Do you live in that knowledge? You are called out of darkness and God’s light is wonderful, live in it, live in it, you belong to God! If you’re not living that way is it time to?
So how does living this way look? By not returning to the ways of the old man or woman, teenager or child that you were, putting aside the desires for pay back, casting aside the fear, the anger, the hatred, the need to be number one; taking on the duties of a royal priest, living a worship filled life, prayerfully interceding for others, helping your friends and neighbours, the sick, feeding the hungry. I can go on and on it comes down to this that God wants his children to be like his son, Jesus, to live holy lives that bring glory to him.
You may be thinking I’ve never known life this way or God this way, how is it possible to have an intimate relationship with him or I don’t even understand God beyond the great God of Heaven or some cosmic concept.
Be assured God is the King of Heaven, he is also the man Jesus who suffered and died so that we can be set free from our wrongs, he is the Holy Spirit who when we ask God, is sent to be with us forever. We can have a relationship with him.
The power, the love and forgiveness of God are available to us all, no matter who or what we are or what we have done.
For those who are living in the knowledge of their being a child of God, are you going about your Fathers business? Is there something more he is calling you to?
I started talking about a song that says God is the King of Heaven, in that song is a verse that reads – we sang it earlier.
“Father like he tends and spares us; well our feeble frame he knows, in his hands he gently bears us rescues us from all our foes.”
Do you want to have a relationship with God that is life changing; do you want to be able to call him Dad?
If so we have here a place of prayer. If you want to know God in this way intimately as your Heavenly Father, as your ‘Abba Father’ as your Dad, I would ask that you come for prayer, at this place we call the mercy seat on this side and someone will come and pray with you. If others want to come for prayer and just be left alone to pray please come to this side.
Let’s sing “Praise my soul the King of Heaven.”
Benediction:
We serve a Risen Saviour,
We serve a Heavenly Father,
We serve the Spirit of Christ,
He lives within our hearts,
Therefore be strong in heart, be assured of your salvation,
Live in the Fathers Kingdom, right now and always. Amen
If you have read this sermon please rate it ta, Andrew.
