Summary: If it is a noble birth to be born of a king, what is it to be born of the King of Kings?

When I was a student at Bethel, Lavonne and I were invited as

honorary guests to a banquet held each year for students near the

top of their graduating class in the colleges and law schools of St.

Paul. I was delighted with this opportunity, and it was with a real

sense of satisfaction that I put on my best clothes, and headed for the

hotel in downtown St. Paul to meet my sponsor. Each student was

the guest of a sponsor who bought their tickets, and we were to be at

the same table with our sponsor to give the whole affair a personal

touch.

Lavonne and I walked around a bit and marveled at the beauty of

the setting. We were quite excited to be in such an expensive

atmosphere. We were always several hundred dollars behind in our

bills that we owed to Bethel, and so our experience of eating in fancy

hotels was somewhere around zero. When we splurged, we went to

The Flame Burger instead of McDonalds. The point is, this was a

unique and exciting experience, and we were impressed.

Then the pin and bubble met. Our sponsor found us at the

appointed place, and we introduced ourselves. Then he said that his

family was from such and such a line of descendants going back for

centuries, and his father was some prominent person in the

community. Then he asked where my family was from, and what

my father did. I was surprised by the question, and puzzled. I didn't

see the relevance of it at all. I stammered out something to the effect

that my father worked in a meat packing plant, and that all I know

about my ancestors was that my grandfather had been a farmer.

There was a wall between us immediately, for he had apparently

expected to spend the evening comparing which of us had the most

dukes in our family tree. I thought it was rather unmannerly of

him to wave his pedigree before us before he found out if I was also

a nobleman like himself. The result was a rather boring evening,

probably typical of other such encounters of pauper and prince.

The point of all this autobiographical introduction is that I in my

first encounter with strong family pride was made to feel

embarrassed. His boasting of his superior heritage made me feel

aggravated. In analyzing the situation I have concluded that the

problem did not consist in his pedigree, but in his pride which was

expressed in a self-exalting manner.

Certainly there is a legitimate pride to be had in one's ancestors

and line of decent, but one must be aware of the dangers of a false

pride. Plutarch wisely said, "It is indeed a desirable thing to be well

descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors." In other words,

if we can be grateful for a good heritage, and avoid assuming the

credit for it, as if we merited such a heritage, then we are within the

bounds of true dignity. Wordsworth put it:

True dignity abides with him alone

Who in the silent hour of inward thought

Can still suspect, and still revere himself,

In lowliness of heart.

True dignity is characterized by a grateful humility, and not boastful

pride. This is where men fail and allow their good heritage

to be a liability rather than an asset. They become proud and make

others feel uncomfortable when, by humility, they could use such a

noble heritage as a subject on which to express gratitude, and to

cause others to also count their blessings. A good heritage is only of

value if it makes you a better person yourself. Even a pagan poet

can see the worthlessness of a noble family tree as an end in itself.

Juvenal said to one who was falsely proud:

Your ancient house! No more-I cannot see

The wondrous merits of a pedigree;

No, Ponticus, nor of a proud display

Of smoky ancestors in wax or clay.

Sir Thomas Overbury adds this remark against the boasters:

"The man who has not any thing to boast of but his illustrious

ancestors is like a potato, the only good belonging to him is

underground." Unless there is fruit above ground in one's own life,

you merit no praise or credit for your family tree, and if there is

fruit in your life because of them, the glory is to be shared with them

in grateful humility.

Now you might say that I have spent a lot of time proving a point

that might be of use to those of noble birth, but what good is this to

us who have no noble pedigree, and who have every reason to be

humble because there is nothing of note of which to be proud?

What good is this to those who may have a few horse thieves

hanging from their family tree? It could be many of us would be in

the same situation as the man who paid a lawyer 200 dollars to trace

back his ancestry, and when it was completed, he paid him 2,000 to

keep it quiet.

None of this really makes a difference, for John wrote to persons

whose ancestors were pagans or slaves, and yet, in as clear and

forceful language as possible, he tells them they are of exceedingly

high birth as Christians. John is saying that Christians have a

heritage so rich and noble it makes the chain of the succession of the

kings of England look like a string of paupers in comparison. We

would have to coin a new word to express it anywhere near

adequately, for if it is a noble birth to be born of a king, what is it to

be born of the King of Kings? This is what John says in 2:29 is the

case with those who are righteous through Jesus Christ-they are

born of God. He goes on into chapter 3 to dwell on the marvel of it.

It is simply amazing and astounding John says that we should be

called the sons of God, or more accurately, children of God. What

pedigree can match that?

In the battle for producing the greatest pedigree a man in

Scotland thought he had cleverly reached the ultimate, for he had

this as his epitaph.

John Carnegie lies here,

Decended from Adam and Eve.

If any can boast of a pedigree higher,

He will willingly give leave.

Another with different wording took the same approach:

Nobles and heralds, by your leave,

Here lies what once was Matthew Prior;

The son of Adam and Eve:

Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?

We do not know if the Bourbon's or Nassau's can meet that

challenge, but we know that anyone who has been made righteous

through Jesus Christ, even if their ancestors were slaves, and they

themselves are slaves, can claim a higher and holier heritage, for

their genealogy goes back, not just to Adam and Eve, but to their

Creator, and the God and Father of Jesus Christ. Our family tree in

Christ contains all the saints of God from the beginning of time.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the Prophets, Christ and the

Apostles, are all in our spiritual ancestry. We have two family trees,

and two genealogies-one natural and one spiritual. By the new birth

we becomes members of the greatest heritage and greatest

family-the family of God.

If anyone has basis for boasting in a marvelously noble birth and

rich heritage, it is the Christian. Yet, he cannot boast in pride, for it

is all unmerited, for it is all of grace. We did not choose Him for our

Father. He choose us for His children. We only love Him because

He first loved us. No matter what comes to the Christian he should

be one who is perpetually and humbly grateful that he has been

made a child of God. God forbid that we take this great truth and

abuse it as men do with their earthly pedigrees. The glory belongs

to our Father and not us. A holier than thou attitude in the

Christian is offensive for the same reason that the family tree

boaster is offensive. This attitude is a display of self-centered pride

that acts as if one was worthy of his heritage.

John makes it clear that the wonder of our being children of God

does not at all lie in us, but rather in the love of God. Paul

recognized this also when he said, "God forbid that I should glory

save in the cross of Christ." If anyone had a good pedigree going for

them it was Paul, but he counted it as dung that he might know

Christ. John makes it clear that those who are truly children of God

will be so grateful and humble that they will give themselves

completely to the task of being Christlike in purity. The Christians

pride is in his Father and his Savior, and this makes all the

difference in the world between an effective witness and a holier

than thou attitude that drives people away. The Christian is to look

down his nose at no one, even though he be of the most noble blood

in history. To be pure as Jesus was pure is to be free from the pride

that demands respect.

In the third century there was a devastating persecution of the

Christians in Carthage by Decius the Emperor. Christians were

sought out, imprisoned and killed. At this same time a plague struck

and was also taking many lives. Cyprian, the leader of the

Christians, called upon them to minister to the heathen people who

lay sick and dying, and he gave as his reason for urging such action

this statement: "We must be worthy of our birth. Now are we

children of God."

Cyprian understood John and recognized that children of God

are known by their conformity to the only begotten Son of God. We

are already children of God, and have the greatest heritage possible,

but there is still a greater hope yet to come, for when we see Him

face to face we shall be like Him. In other words, Christlikeness is

the ultimate goal of the believer, and that being so, John says the

proof that one is really a child a God heading for that ultimate goal

is seen in the fact that he is right now striving to be Christlike. If

Christlikeness is really our hope for eternity, we will be aiming for it

in time, and purifying ourselves as He is pure.

J. R. Lowell wrote concerning those who boast of a great

heritage, but who do not live worthy of it.

They talk about their Pilgrim blood,

Their birthright high and holy!

A mountain stream that ends in mud,

Methinks is melancholy.

It is doubly sad for one who claims to be a child of God to let the

pure stream of living water end in mud. We must be worthy of our

birth. We are children of the King of Kings. How we live before the

world will determine how they feel about our heavenly Father. Our

concept of the Father has been determined by the life and love of His

Son the Lord Jesus. Our goal is to be like Him that the world can

know God as we know Him. John says the world will not recognize

us as children of God, for they do not know the Father or the Son.

They will persecute and kill, but if we persist in being as pure as

Christ under all circumstances, they will eventually see our good

works and glorify our Father in heaven. We are poor branches of

the family tree if men do not admire the whole tree because of us.

May God help us to live lives worthy of those who are called

children of God.