What it means to be a child of God

Jeff Miller

Father’s Day: Being a Child of God

Romans 8:14-17

Intro: Good morning. Happy Father’s Day. I’ve been revisiting some older sermons, and today, I’d like to do that again. It’s an old Father’s Day sermon I’d like to go back to. It is on what it means to be a child of God, and the passage I want to read from is Romans 8:14-17. 

Before I read this, I wanted to let you know why I chose this particular topic. See, we hear so many times that we are a child of God. In fact, we hear that everyone is a child of God––and I’ll explore that in a few minutes. But we hear that God is our father so many times that it’s gotten dull. But if we take the time to really examine it, we’ll find that it is incredibly life-changing. 

So let’s take a look at what Paul has to say about it.

Romans 8:14-17

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons[a] of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Central Truth:  So what he is saying in a nutshell is that we are not just saved or forgiven. It goes beyond that. God becomes our father. It’s not a figure of speech or metaphor. We are literally just as much a son or daughter of God as Jesus is. Of course we are not ‘little gods’ though believe it or not, some people will preach that from the pulpit. There is a popular preacher who was exposed for having actually said something similar to that a week or two ago. He actually said, “I am God almighty.” 

What he was saying is that he has the power of God within him so much that he ‘becomes’ God. Maybe he meant that as a figure of speech, I don’t know but I hope so. 

Although scripture says in 1 John that we will be like God when we see him face to face, that does not mean we will become god or little gods. Jesus is the only begotten son of God, we are adopted children of God. Bible.org puts it this way: “To call Jesus “the only begotten Son” means that he is fully divine and eternal. He is God the Son.” But we are human, adopted sons and daughters of God. 

Point 1: The sermon today is about what it means to be a child of God, but first, what makes us a child of God? Who is a child of God?

If you were to google “Child of God quotes,” on the Internet, you would come up with some right conceptions on what it means to be a child of God, and some misconceptions on what it means to be a child of God, by well-meaning people. For example:

“God is not upset that Gandhi was not a Christian, because God is not a Christian! All of God’s children and their different faiths help us to realize the immensity of God.” Desmond Tutu

Many people believe that we are automatically “children of God,” just by being human or by having been made in God’s image. That’s not the case. That’s not what this verse says. We must be born of the Spirit. That’s what makes you a child of God. 

Relevant Magazine placed this concept as #3 in its list of “7 Unbiblical Statements Christians Believe.” 

Here’s what it had to say:

“Although God has created everyone, not everyone relationally belongs to Him. Only those who have repented of sin, placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and possess the Holy Spirit of God inside of them can claim Him as their Father: 

Galatians 3:26-29 says

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ … If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” 

This verse in Galatians goes along well with our text in Romans. Let’s look at the next point in Romans at the beginning of verse 15: “But you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons”

Point 2: If Diana and I were to adopt a child, the child would not have my DNA, right? Jesus, being the only begotten son of God, shares God’s DNA, or in other words, God’s divine substance as God—as one of three members of the Trinity. As I’ve said before, we are children of God as much as Christ is, but we don’t share in his divineness. As an adopted child would be in every legal way just as much my child as Caleb, Rose and Evelyn is, we are in every legal way just as much a child of God as Jesus is – we are members of a literal family of God. 

In the fellowship hall in this church 25-30 years ago, during the church’s monthly dinners, we would pick out old songs to sing, and the somewhat out of tune piano would play “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God.” And I thought of it as a figure of speech. But it isn’t. It’s real. It’s literal.

Three of the gospels record a time when Jesus was teaching to the crowds, and there were so many people that Jesus’ earthly family couldn’t get to him. So they sent someone to tell him, “Your mother and brothers are here and want to speak to you.” Then Jesus pointed to his disciples and to everyone around him and said, “These are my mother and brothers and sisters.” It kind of leaves you dumbstruck. It seems so rude and disrespectful, doesn’t it? But it was just the opposite. He saw those whom he was with just as much as his family as his own mother and siblings. 

The writer of Hebrews put it this way: (2:11) “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

We just said The Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus taught his disciples. It begins with “Our father.” Jesus included himself, and you and I in this prayer. He didn’t teach us to say “the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He taught us to say, “our father.” That means our relationship with God should be the same as Jesus’ relationship with his father. But what was that relationship like? 

While we ought to call God ‘father’ with reverence and fear, but we can also call him father with loving affection. Look at the verse 15 again:

“but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father.” 

Paul repeated this to the church in Galatia, saying in chapter 4 vs. 6: “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 

Do you remember when Jesus called God, “Abba, Father?” In the Garden of Gethsemane. Here, in these two verses, Paul is saying that we can call God ‘Father’ the same way as Jesus did. But do you know what Abba means? Notice each verse has ‘abba’ and ‘father’ separated. It’s together, but two separate words. Why? Because it’s technically two different words. According to Biblehub.com, Abbá – “Father,” is also used as the term of tender endearment by a beloved child – i.e. in an affectionate, dependent relationship with their father; “daddy,” “papa.”

We, as children, now have the right to call God “daddy.” Isn’t that amazing? It’s the kind of relationship God intended for us to have with him. 

How many of you fathers would rather have your child call you “father?” Wouldn’t you rather have them call you “Dad or Daddy?” I would. I have written a Christian fantasy story, and when I had Caleb read it, he found one thing in particular annoying about it. It’s the fact that I have the main character refer to his father as ‘father.’ Not Dad or Daddy. Well, the father is a king, and it just seemed appropriate. But in all reality, no one calls their father ‘father.’

Here’s another aspect of Jesus’ relationship with our abba. If God made us prefer an affectionate relationship with our children, it only goes to serve as an example of God’s heart for his children. A perfect, affectionate love. Didn’t God have a perfect, affectionate love with Jesus?

Three of the Gospels record the Father saying at Jesus’ baptism, what? “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.” God also said this at the time of the transfiguration. See, God was bragging about his kid.

I do this all the time on Facebook. I’m sure you’ve seen me brag about my kids all the time on social media. I know you do it all the time. It’s what we do as parents. 

Point 3: Let’s go back to our verses in Romans. Verse 16 states: “16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,” What are we heirs of? 

Matthew 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Jesus told us that Heaven will be our inheritance from the Father. In other words, God’s kingdom will be our home by right of who we are as God’s children. 

We talked about the second coming in a sermon series not too long ago, Revelation 21 paints a beautiful picture of this:

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

As children, we get to live with God. We get to live where our father lives. We get to live with our adopted family. His home is our home. What he has is given to us.

Not only have I been talking about the second coming lately, but Dad and I have been talking about Jesus’ parables too. If we look at The Prodigal Son, found in Luke chapter 15, we read a story about a son who leaves home, squanders his inheritance, and with remorse, returns home. It is a wonderful story of the Father’s love for us. Notice the love of the father when the son, who sinned terribly, came home. This is a quote from Bob Leroe:

“It seemed unlikely to this young man that his father would allow him to return, even as a servant…but he had reached the point of desperation. With nowhere else to turn, “He got up and went to his father”. He was dying of physical hunger, and was hungry and thirsting for righteousness.
What kind of reception would he receive? Would he be cast out, abandoned by the father he rejected? Some Bible teachers say this story should be called “the Parable of the Compassionate Father”. The father runs to meet his son half-way, and lovingly embraces him. This is a vivid picture of grace. It was the hope of mercy that brought this son to repentance and forgiveness. God offers the kiss of reconciliation when we turn to Him.”

Benny Hester in his 1985 classic song, “When God Ran” put it this way: 

Almighty God
The Great I Am
Immovable Rock,
Omnipotent powerful
Awesome Lord
Victorious Warrior
Commanding King of Kings
Mighty Conquerer
And the only time
The only time I ever saw Him run
Was when He ran to me
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
Said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice
He said “Son, do you know I still love you?”

Conclusion  God loves his children. Even when they have gone astray. In the beginning of the story, the son squandered his father’s inheritance. At the end, he received his inheritance back. 

I had forgotten about this until I reread my sermon. About three years ago, during one of my rides, I had to take a man to a counseling appointment from Conesus to Warsaw. This is about a 30 mile drive one way and takes about 40 minutes. I had taken him on a ride a few times before, never on quite this long of a trip. But he is crippled, he had suffered a lot in life. Got into a car accident, which may have had something to do with his disability, I’m not sure. Over time, he lost both of his parents, turned away from God, and got into drinking. But a few years ago, he got his life turned around, back to the Lord. But he struggles a lot with depression and self worth. I told him what I had recently learned about what it means to be a child of God. I told him that God looks at him with the same love he has for Jesus. That Jesus looks at us as his brother. That we are just as much a child of God as Jesus is. I told him that out of all of God’s creation—all of the splendor of the universe, all of Heaven and earth—we are his prized possession. We are the crown jewel of all of God’s creation. 

After a while, he said to me, “can we turn around now. I think I’ve had my counseling session for the day.” I haven’t seen him in a long time. I have no idea whatever happened to him. I don’t even know if he lives in the same place he did before or if he is even still alive anymore. But I’m glad I had the opportunity to say something encouraging to him.
Do you know someone like him? Do you know someone who needs to be reminded they are God’s prized possession? 

This is such an important topic. This answers “The big question of the meaning of life.” I believe the very meaning of our existence is tied to this. God had a begotten son, but he wanted more children. So, he created children that he could adopt as his own. Whether or not he could create divine children, I don’t know. But we are not divine. We are, however, through the blood of Christ, adopted as sons and daughters of God, brothers of Jesus and heirs to the kingdom. The cross paid for our adoption. 

Here is another set of song lyrics. If you listen to Family Life Network, you’ll know this song by Third Day. They haven’t played it in quite a while, but it goes like this: 

We are the saints
We are the children
We’ve been redeemed
We’ve been forgiven
We are the sons and daughters of our God

Children of God, sing your song and rejoice
For the love that He has given us all, ooh
Children of God, by the blood of His Son
We have been redeemed and we can be called
Children of God

Prayer: Lord, I pray for everyone in this room. May they be reminded that they are a child of God. Lord, would you put someone on their heart that needs to be reminded that they are God’s child. That they are loved, that God has a plan, a purpose, a life, a reward, an inheritance for them. I pray that this congregation would be encouraged with this message, and I pray that you would let them be encouragers with this message as well. Amen.