We continue in our series Dare to be Different and this month our focus is different family.
Its been a while but I want to start with a couple of questions:
Do you know who you are?
Do others know who you are?
Maybe the questions seems a little odd... I mean each of us knows who we are don’t we?
We know our own name, we know where we live, we know what we like, what we dislike, what motivates us, what switches us off. We know what makes us happy and what makes us sad.
Looking around the room each of us knows other people and maybe something about them.
Do you know who you are?
Do others know who you are?
If you are in Christ, if you have repented and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour then the Bible is clear about who you are. You are a Chosen Child of God.
1 JOHN 3:1-2, ‘How great the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.’
We are children of God!
We are made children of God through a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
In Christ and Christ alone we ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven.
Jesus has paid the price to restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:14-18, For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:14-18)
Before we are saved by Jesus, all of us are sinners.
We are born into an imperfect world.
A world damaged by rebellion against God. A fallen world.
All of us were born with sin inherited from Adam and Eve.
Sin is described in the Bible as transgression of the law of God (1 John 3:4) and rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7; Joshua 1:18).
Genesis 3 describes Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God and His command. Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, sin has been an “inheritance” for all of their descendants, all of humanity.
Romans 5:12 tells us, When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
This passed-on sin is known as inherited sin. Just as we inherit physical characteristics from our parents, we inherit our sinful nature from Adam.
The book of Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27; 9:6). Genesis 5:3 tells us, When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him—in his very image. He named his son Seth.
Each of us has the image, the likeness of Adam. When Adam fell into sin, the result was every one of his descendants also being “infected” with sin. King David lamented this fact in one of his Psalms, in Psalm 51:5 he wrote, For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
David’s mother had inherited a sinful nature from her parents, and they from their parents, and so on.
David inherited sin from his parents, just as we all do.
Even if we live the best life possible, we in our natural state are still sinners as a result of our inherited sin.
Being born sinners results in the fact that we all sin.
Notice the progression in Romans 5:12: sin entered the world through Adam, death follows sin, death comes to all people, all people sin because they inherit sin from Adam. Because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), we need a perfect, sinless sacrifice to wash away our sin, something we are powerless to do on our own.
Thankfully, Jesus Christ is the Saviour from sin! Our sin has been crucified on the cross of Jesus, and now “in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
God, in His infinite wisdom, has provided the remedy for the sin we inherit, and that remedy is available to everyone who comes to Jesus. Through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is possible for all who believe and trust in Him.
Let me remind you You are a Chosen Child of God.
You are a child of God, you are saved, you are forgiven, you are assured of a place in Heaven, but you are still a work in progress, you and I are not perfect yet, yet when God looks at you, when God looks at me, He sees the perfection of His Son.
The truth is while we are still in this world, there will be times when we still think and behave like sinners.
We can be very nice when things are going well for us. If something, or somebody, creates conflict with what we want, we can quickly stop being nice. When we get angry with somebody, or say something negative about somebody, we are being ungodly and we actually choose to sin.
As much as we try not to, we all stumble, we are not perfect. Yet, God continues to love us, care for us, provide for us, forgive us.
We are all sinful by nature, but sins power over us has been broken by Jesus death and resurrection. We are children of the living God, we are redeemed, we are sanctified, we are justified, we are saved.
If we know who we are, we also need to ask:
WHAT DO WE LOOK LIKE?
ARE WE CLOTHED IN THE RIGHT WAY?
It is easy to fall into the wrong patterns of behaviour. God calls us, spiritually speaking, to clothe ourselves differently. Listen to the Apostle Paul in COLOSSIANS 3:12-13, Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
As chosen children of God, God calls us to show tender-hearted mercy, to be compassionate in the same way He is constantly merciful to us.
Does your life demonstrate compassion?
God calls us to be kind towards others. God calls us to love others. God calls us to be gentle and show patience.
As a child of God, is there space in your hearts to care about others, to love others, to be gentle and show patience? This is how we are meant to look, this is how we are meant to be. If you examine yourself honestly, spiritually speaking are you clothed in the way God wants you to be?
If you are not clothed in the right way, will you dare to put on different clothing?
All of us must dare to wear the clothing of compassion, kindness, and humility.
The Apostle Paul is telling us what to wear in a spiritual sense here, but this theme actually begins back in verse 8 when he lists some of the old spiritual clothes we should take off and throw away. COLOSSIANS 3:8-10, But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behaviour, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him.
I used to have some really old t-shirts at home, I only ever wore them indoors, Hanna hated it when I wore them. They were old and looked terrible. They had stains, and marks and even a few holes, but they were so comfortable! I think Hanna must have thrown them away when I was not looking.
Those old T-Shirts illustrate the kind of mindset we can have when we need to deal with sinful traits we need to discard. We like them. They feel so comfortable because we are so used to them. But, in reality, they are sinful and must be discarded.
God, speaking through The Apostle Paul is trying to tell us what a Chosen Child of God should and should not wear.
It is true to say that God is far more interested in what is on the inside of us than He is in what is on the outside of us. God focuses on what is in our hearts. We judge a book by its cover or a person by how they look. God, on the other hand, judges a person by what they feel.
We look at the outside and God looks at the inside. 1 SAMUEL 16:7, But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Paul is taking this one step further. What he is saying is what a follower of Christ shows on the outside is a pretty good indicator of what they really are on the inside.
Jesus was making this same point in MATTHEW 7:16, when He said,You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?
All of us must dare to go through our spiritual wardrobes and throw away any items that do not show we are followers of Jesus and then we must replace them with items that show we are chosen children of God.
Many of us know the Bible from front to back, we know all the right words and actions to say and do in church,
but when it really matters do we dare to share the love of Christ with others? Do we wear the right spiritual clothing when we are outside these four walls?
The purpose of today’s message is to remind us that as children of God we must dare to be different in our words, our deeds and our actions.
God has called, God has commanded us to be different, and if we truly love Him, if we truly follow Him, then we must surrender our very lives to Him and be different.
Our example is Jesus. Philippians 2:5-11, You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honour and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is the foundation of our faith.
His sacrifice is what has set us free from the penalty of Sin.
His death has brought us life.
His resurrection is our assurance of eternal life.
He has made a difference in your life. Dare to let Him continue His work in you.
As we come to our time of Communion, we remember again that Christ has shown His love and grace to us,
He was willing to die for us while we were still sinners when we did not know Him, when we were still His enemies, when we were lost and dead in our trespasses and sins He took our punishment, He bore our shame,
He sacrificed Himself so that we could be forgiven.
He has shown and continues to show His love for us, and if we are really serious about calling ourselves Christians, if we are really serious about following God’s commands to us, then we must dare to show His loving grace to the people around us.
As we take communion together, thank God He has chosen you, He has saved you, He has set you free from the punishment your sin deserves.
As we thank Jesus for all He has done, may each of us commit our lives to Him again and seek to Dare to be Different for His honour and glory.
Amen
Audio for this sermon is available at: https://sermons.estuaryelim.church/20190317_aam_dean_courtier(chosenchildren).mp3
