Romans 8:15-17 – Do You Work for Your Father?
I’m going to give you 2 scenarios that sound almost alike but very different. This is scenario #1. Jimmy, an orphan, from a foster home, is fishing by himself on the end of a wharf. As many curious ten-year-olds would, he leans over the edge to look at the minnows swimming around in the water. He leans over too far and falls in. Unable to swim, he frantically splashes and screams, trying to paddle to a ladder. Just as he goes under and bobs to the surface again, a strong arm reaches down, grabs him up and sets him on the wharf. He is soaked to the skin and close to tears, but without the cocky attitude that allowed him to risk hanging over the edge. His rescuer scolds him about being so careless, turns, and walks off.
Now, this is scenario # 2. Jimmy, an orphan, from a foster home, is fishing by himself on the end of a wharf. As many curious ten-year-olds would, he leans over the edge to look at the minnows swimming around in the water. He leans over too far and falls in. Unable to swim, he frantically splashes and screams, trying to paddle to a ladder. Just as he goes under and bobs to the surface again, a strong arm reaches down, grabs him up and sets him on the wharf. He is soaked to the skin and close to tears, but without the cocky attitude that allowed him to risk hanging over the edge.
Sounds like the same story, doesn’t it? So what’s different? This time the rescuer firmly but gently pats him on the back, burping out the water he has swallowed, carries him to the showers to wash away the saltwater, and dries him off. Then he drives him to the mall, buys him new clothes, and takes him home with him, introducing him to his father and family. They feed him a hot meal and invite him to live with them. This wonderful loving provider mentors the newly adopted boy in the family’s beliefs and makes him one of his heirs. He’s delighted as the boy participates in the activities of his new family. Jimmy finally has a family has a home, a father, and brothers who love him. He is secure in his new father’s love.
Here’s the difference between the scenarios. In the 1st, we saw what it means to be rescued. In the 2nd, we saw what it means to be loved. (Illustration from a SermonCentral contributor...) And that’s what we will see in our Bible passage today. Let’s read 8:15-17.
As we have been going thru Romans 8, we have seen what salvation is meant to be: freedom, victory over sin, pleasing God, not living to make ourselves happy, and the hope of things getting better. And last week, we just barely touched on one more element in salvation: being children of God. Today’s verses help us see that more clearly.
Paul says that when we came to the Lord, we got a new spirit. But this spirit was not like what we had before. There was a change in our lives when we came to know the Lord. There was something different, not just in how we acted but in who we became. We received a new spirit, a different spirit. Well, what spirit is that?
Commentators believe that this passage is about moving beyond being God’s servants to becoming God’s children. I’d like to have a look at each of these situations. First, what does it mean to be a God’s servant? That, in itself, is not a bad thing. After all, Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10 – “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” A servant is simply one who aims to please another, or at least, to do the will of another. It is the servant’s job to wait on their master.
And in the context of Christians, we are God’s servants, He is our Master. We take orders from him. What He says, we are to do. Where He sends, we are to go. For all He has done for us, there is nothing He asks that is too big for us to do. We deserve nothing, and He’s given us everything we need. There is no part of our lives we deserve to withhold from Him. Paul prayed for the believers in Colosse: “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way…”
But, as good as it is to be a servant of God, Paul says this about it: that it contains in it a spirit of bondage to fear – v15a. Fear is a powerful thing. It can cripple a person. And I propose that a servant would have 2 fears. The 1st fear that a servant would have is the fear of punishment. Nobody likes to be punished. I think of one mother who decided she would put the fear of a speeding ticket in the speeding drivers going past a local elementary school. Every morning she would park her car in front of the elementary school and point her black hair dryer - shaped like a radar gun, out of the window at speeding cars. The effect was dramatic as drivers slowed down fearing they might receive a speeding ticket.
Well, if you are merely a servant, there is nothing holding back a master from punishing you. If he doesn’t care about you, why wouldn’t he punish you?
And I think the other fear a servant has is just as real: the fear of failure. To try and to mess up. To try to change something and end up in defeat. To be worried about what others will think or say about us when they see what we have done.
And I don’t think that’s any different in the spiritual world. Some of you don’t try to read thru your Bibles in a year because you failed last time you tried. Some of you don’t come to prayer meetings because you are afraid of praying out loud, for fear of what others would think. Some of you don’t share Christ’s love using words, because you are afraid of rejection. It was Aristotle who said, “It’s easy to avoid criticism: all you have to do is say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.” Fear is a strong influence is how some of you live out your faith.
Well, the good news is that we are not just servants. We are not hired hands. We are not people off the street God called in to work, only to send us home afterwards. No, even better than working for the master is being children of the father – v15b.
There are some major differences in attitude between being a servant and being a child. The text points out a few: 1) It’s an intimacy issue – v15c. No mere servant could be that affectionate with his or her boss. Yet the spirit we received at salvation gives us the opportunity to call God our Father. Even then, not just the stoic “Father”, as if He were some far off, distant biological dad who never comes close to his kids. No, we get to call Him Daddy, a close, intimate and personal name. What a child would scream out at 2AM after a nightmare, that’s Abba. What a child would holler across an airport when they saw their long awaited parent, that’s Abba. When a child cuddles up on their father’s lap, that’s Abba. The best memories you have of your father growing up, that’s how God wants you to see Him.
Another difference in attitude between being a servant and a child is this: 2) God lets you know where you stand – v16. An employer does not have to have an emotional connection to you, but a father does. God wants you to know that you are safe when you are saved. I don’t believe that once you are saved, you can never change that. After all, the story of the prodigal son tells us that a child can walk away, lose all rights and privileges, and be considered “lost” and “dead” by the father. But I want you to know that a believer’s relationship with God is stronger than a whim or flight of fancy. Your relationship with God is not based on whether you “feel” saved today or not. Your relationship with God is rooted in your faith in Jesus to be the answer to all your life’s issues. When you steer away from that resolve, God lets you know. You don’t have to wonder where you stand in God’s eyes. The Spirit applies the truth of the Bible into your heart, and lets you know. That’s love.
And one last difference in attitude between being a servant and a child is this: 3) you don’t have to work for God’s blessings – v17.
You see, an employee has to work to get paid. A servant has to do his master’s bidding to avoid punishment. But a child doesn’t have to work to get the father’s good things. A child gets what the father gives because of nature. That’s what it means to be an heir. It’s not a matter of working to please the father, though a good child by nature wants to make the father happy. It’s not a matter of trying to earn the father’s good graces. The child is entitled to them, just because of the connection to the father.
You see the difference? Under the old spirit, the spirit that make us slaves to fear, we felt we had to work in order to make the Father love us. We felt we had to earn the Father’s favor. We felt condemned if we messed up. We felt shunned if we made a mistake. We felt we could never be good enough to get the Father’s approval, but we tried anyway. This is how it used to be.
But unfortunately, for some of you it still is. You live in fear of what God will think of your performance. You panic over other people’s opinions of you, instead of living in God’s forgiveness. And in the process, you wind up knowing about God, but not knowing Him. As employees, as servants, as slaves, you really don’t know your Boss. To you, He is distant, far-away, untouched by your real needs. You may have the biblical answers on issues, but you wonder if there isn’t something more to it all.
What you need is not more answers, but what you need is an experience. You need to decide to know Him. You need to decide that opening the Bible only on Sunday’s won’t really help you know Him. You need to know that skipping Sunday school, refusing to be taught, is a pride issue, and God resists the proud. You need to realize that prayer meeting is a better view of church health than Sunday morning is. After all, “You can tell how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning. You can tell how popular the pastor is by who comes on Sunday night. But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.”
And as I have heard Karl Ingersoll, another Grand Mananer and pastor of Fredericton First Wesleyan, say, “The measure of the greatness of a man’s love for God is not found in his attention to the things he has to do, but in his attention to the things he doesn’t have to do.” That is, your salvation doesn’t depend on your going to Sunday school, prayer meetings, or having regular devotions. But, knowing God as your Father instead of as your boss might. Do you want to go past the have-to’s and get to the want-to’s? Then decide to.
