LIFE AS A CHILD OF GOD

Romans 8:14-25
April 9, 1995
Bob Bonner

One of my favorite comedians is Bill Cosby. Of all his comedy sketches on life as a child, my favorite has to come from his album, “TO MY BROTHER RUSSELL, WITH WHOM I SLEPT”. This sketch takes place in the evening with Bill, who probably is about eight and his brother Russell, who is probably four, being put to bed for the night. If you have ever had to share a room with a sibling, then you know what kind of shenanigans can go on at night, with two little boys sharing not only the same room, but the same bed. And in this sketch, Bill includes them all. He has the two boys jumping on their bed as though it were a trampoline, until the bed breaks. He has them fighting over whose side is whose on the bed they share. There are water fights and parents coming in several times threatening to kill them if they don't be quiet and go to sleep, and so forth.

But one of the lines that sticks in my mind takes place just after their Dad has come in and threatened to bring in "the you-know-what", the belt, if they don't quit fooling around and go to sleep. Dad leaves the room, and now the boys start having a quiet discussion as to whose fault it is that they got in trouble. The climax of their discussion comes when Bill says to Russell that he is really not a member of their family. That Russell had been left on their door step. And since Bill is the older brother, he knows the truth.

As one can imagine, having your family ties questioned can be rather shocking, especially to a little child. Particularly, when the older brother threatens to have you sent back to the orphanage if you don't do what he says! Here, you have enjoyed a sense of belonging, a sense of family and being loved, and the thought of being ripped away from your father and mother and handed over to strangers is terrifying.

It is no less terrifying for the Christian who loves God wants to live an obedient life before the Lord, but finds himself struggling with sin, and hearing the voice of the accuser, Satan, deep within his heart telling him or her that he or she doesn't belong to God. Satan raises doubts as to one's salvation or of being loved and accepted by God.  He wants us to believe that God couldn't possibly forgive us for our sin. Satan wants us to doubt and worry about our future of living forever with God. And these doubts most often come when we are struggling with sin or failing to live as who we are in Christ, holy ones, set apart to serve Jesus.

This next section of the Book of Romans is written to reassure the follower of Jesus, that regardless of the war with sin that rages within the heart of every believer, if they know Jesus, they are part of God's family. And being a part of God's family today also means that we have an eternal future with God. 

In these verses, Paul will show us several privileges that we can count on and experience today as a part of God's family as well as several evidences that reveal that we are apart of God's family. Furthermore, when we are in the midst of a struggle between the flesh and the spirit, the best way for us to find victory in this struggle is to remind ourselves who we are in Christ and to whose family we now and forever belong.

Let's look at verses 14-15, and I want to point out some significant expressions that point to the believer's ties to the family of God. "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’"

It's a sign of our times that we even need to mention this point, but this expression "the sons of God" is a generic term that refers to both sexes. This expression refers to something that is true of our spirit, which is sexless or has no gender. So what is true of the human spirit is quite different apart from what is true of the body. Our bodies are male and female, but our spirits have no gender.

The first thing to note right off from this passage is that not all people are children of God. According to Galatians 3:22 we are only sons or children of God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. Paul writes, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." John 1:12 also says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, {even} to those who believe in His name,..." Faith and commitment to Jesus Christ as one's savior and Lord is what makes us children of God and nothing else... not works or raising of our hands or joining churches, etc.

The scriptures use two different terms that describe how we are made apart of God's family. One term is that which is found in John 3 that states that a person can be "born again". John 8:41 takes about being born into the family of God rather than into the family of the devil.

This term "born" carries with it the idea that we actually share His nature and resources. Peter put it this way, in 2 Peter 1:4 "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of {the} divine nature,..." Hence, we are as much a part of God's family as if we had originally been physically as well as spiritually born into it. And we are now, born again into it by the grace of God.

The second term that describes how we are made apart of God's family is found in our verse here in Romans. It states that we are "adopted". Paul uses this concept of adoption as children of God in other passages of the New Testament.

To many folks today, this idea of "adoption" may not seem like a very significant or worthy or enviable position to be in; but in Paul's day, to be adopted was an extremely significant honor. A son who was adopted, was done so to perpetuate the father's name and to inherit his estate. An adopted child was in no way inferior to a natural born child and might well enjoy the father's affection more fully than a natural born child because the father specifically chose to share his life, name and wealth with this adopted son.

This reminds me of a true story told by a first grade teacher, named Debbie Moon. She and her class were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had different color hair than the other family members. One child suggested that he must have been adopted. At that point, a little girl, named Jocelynn Jay said, "I know all about adoptions because I'm adopted." Another child asked, "What's adoption?" And Jocelynn said, "It means that you grew up in your mother's heart instead of her tummy."

And that's what Paul is driving at here. By using the term "adopted", Paul is communicating the fact that we are not naturally apart of God's family. But God loved us so much that He took us out of one horrible family and put us into His. He was not obligated to adopt us, but He chose to out of His love. He uses this term so that we will never take for granted the fact that it is by His grace that we are in His family. 

In summary, then, of what these terms assure us of, is this. If you are a Christian, then you are a child of God, born and adopted into His family. 

Now, as a chosen, beloved child of God, what are some of the privileges that we have received from our heavenly Father that we can claim for our lives? Well, there are several that I am simply going to list here. And as a child of God, you receive all the privileges of God being your Father.  Such as: 

A. God protects you.
Isaiah 27:5; Luke 18:1-8; Psalm 41:2; 2 Thessalonians 3:3

B. God provides for you. Matthew 6:33; 7:7-11; Luke 11:10-13; Galatians 3:5; Philippians 4:19  

C. God plans for you.
Proverbs 16:19; Jeremiah 29:11 

D. God hears you.
John 9:31; Acts 10:31

E. God claims you and openly acknowledges that you are His to all the heavenly powers that be.
Romans 8:38-39

F. God chastens and honors you. 
Hebrews 12:5-11; John 12:26

All of these privileges are true of you, simply because you have been made His child. What a great deal. It's all ours, when we put our trust in Christ as our savior and Lord. Now, if all of this is dependent upon one being a child of God, what is the next obvious concern of Paul's readers? The concern is this: "How can I be sure that I am a child of God and have all these privileges?"

In these verses and the one's to follow, Paul gives us four very practical tests that give us four levels of assurance that we are indeed children of God. First Paul tells us in verse 14, that "if we are being led by the Spirit of God we are sons of God." And "being led by the Spirit of God" basically means that one has submitted to and under the control of the Holy Spirit, not trusting in one's own determination or abilities. It means we are not putting our agendas before God's agenda for our lives. It is the deep realization that we exist for Him and not the other way around. God is not our puppet.

What are some of the signs of one being led of God? There are several things that the scriptures say that God is going to do when He comes into a life. The first is that God will open up the believer's eyes to all truth. In other words, His word will come alive. John 14:26, tells us, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."

I trust that you have all had the experience where you have been reading along in God's word, the Bible, and all of a sudden something just leaps off the written page at you and touches you right where you live. It's not just the observation of some knowledge, but it is something that goes right to your heart, speaks to an issue that you are facing in life. Furthermore, it confirms deep with in you that God cares about you and you are His child. It is His spirit speaking to your spirit. It's not something that necessarily happens every day, but it does happen the more we get away by ourselves with Him and study His word. This is one evidence of what Paul means by being led by the spirit. His word comes alive to you.

A second example of being led by the spirit is seen in 1 John 3:14. It reads, "We know that we have passed out of death (spiritual death) into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death." In other words, we have an awakened love for other believers around us. We enjoy being with them, care for them, find ourselves beginning to encourage other believers, even people who once may have been our enemies. Whereas before, you may not have had any room in your life for going to church, you begin to start looking forward to worshipping at church with them.

Three to four weeks ago, I had the privilege of introducing a gentlemen to Jesus Christ. He had no desire of ever going to church. He is somewhat of a loner. In fact, he has told me that it has taken a lot for him to even feel comfortable meeting alone with me on a weekly basis to study the word together. I have not pushed him into coming to church, but instead I have invited him to come and simply prayed for God to show him his need to be with other believers. This past weekend, when 20 or so men got together to pray and worship over a couple of days, he showed up. Mind you, he never heard any of the hymns or praise choruses we spontaneously sang together, but nevertheless, he stayed. When we left, after the prayer summit was over, he came up to me to thank me for inviting him, and then added something to the effect, "I'm giving the idea of coming to church some real consideration. I enjoy being together with these men."

Well, I know that it was not just that he enjoyed being together with someone doing some male bonding thing. The way he said what he did, I could see on his face, that he had enjoyed being with other believers. He had a real love for these men who 24 hours before were complete strangers. That is evidence of a man who has turned his life over to Christ and is being led by the Spirit.

Although there are more, allow me to point out just one more evidence of someone who is being led by the Spirit. That evidence is that there will be "fruit of the Spirit" revealed in the life of the one who is being led by the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 spell out what the fruit of the spirit are. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Mind you, these are not merely human manifestations, but they are supernatural and leave their lingering marks on other people, Christians and non-Christians alike. The more we walk with Christ, the more He lives his life out through us. And unbeknownst to us, as 2 Corinthians 2:14, tells us, the sweet aroma of Christ, like a spiritual perfume whose identity comes from Christ, moves through our spirit and touches the spirits of others. Again, this happens to those who are being led by the Spirit.

So, being led by the spirit is the first evidence that one has become a child of God. A second level of assurance that we are children of God is mentioned in verse 15. It is an internal emotional response. Paul states, "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’"

Before we became Christians we may have been afraid of God and hence afraid to even pray to Him. But once a person is born again and becomes a child of God, that person is aroused to pray. Have you ever felt that you just had to pray, that you just had to get away and be with the Lord? That's a mark that you have been born again. Once we are saved and know that God the Father loves us, we are aroused from our hearts to pray and to call God "Abba" which is an intimate Hebrew term for father. This is an emotional level of assurance.

In verse 16 Paul tells us of still another level of assurance that we are sons of God. Paul writes, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God".  This is the deepest level of assurance that touches that unseen part of our being, our spirits. We just know that we know that we belong to God. No longer are we afraid of God. Instead, we feel at peace with Him. That's what enables us to cry out "Abba, Father". This is what Paul means in Romans 5, when he speaks of the "love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." You may back slide or tend to wander away a little bit, like the prodigal son, but you can never deny the reality of that relationship with God, although you may even be living in sin. His Spirit testifies with our Spirit. In fact, it is this very thing, the spirit's prompting of our spirits that will eventually bring us to our senses, to confess our sins and move back into a closer relationship with God.

In verses 17-18 Paul goes on to introduce the next and even greater and deeper level of a relationship with Christ that verifies one's son-ship. This next point takes verses 17-28 for Paul to explain it. We will only look at part of it today, and leave the rest for next week. 

Paul begins, "and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with {Him} in order that we may also be glorified with {Him}. 

Notice that there are two things here that we share in with Jesus as sons of God: first, we share in His suffering. Paul tells us over in Philippians 1:29, "For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake”. 

The second thing that Paul says that we share in with Jesus is His glory. Suffering on this earth is also tied together with the glory to come, as a result of being related to Jesus Christ. Most of the passages in scripture that deal with suffering also have the idea of glory attached to it. 2 Corinthians 4:17 is a good example of this. It reads, "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,..." 

The important thing for us, as believers, to realize is that both the sufferings and the glory are privileges given to the believers. Glory and suffering are part of our inheritance that comes to us as children of God, living in this fallen world. What tremendous hope this offers to those of us who may find ourselves in the midst of the pressure cooker of life; whether it be physical stress, or emotional pressures or spiritual battles. These pressures are not for nothing. They are producing something good for us now and later in glory.

Jesus, right up front, told His followers that suffering would be part of the program if they submitted their lives to Him. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus said, "Blessed are you when {men} cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. "Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward [glory] in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Hence, one of the marks that validates our "son-ship" is that we begin to see the spiritual connection between suffering and glory, between the hurts and the hallelujahs. Nothing helps us more to endure suffering than a clear view of the glory that is linked to it. And that is what Paul is getting at in verse 18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." When we learn of the promises of God and what He says awaits the faithful who stand steadfast and serve Him, the sufferings or pressures we face today can't compare to the glory and privileges and earned positions of honor we will hold in eternity. Paul wants us to understand that there is an incomparable glory that lies ahead of us, and yet it is linked to the suffering we will experience here on earth. 

Now the reason that Paul tells us all of this is so that as we live in this beguiled world that makes it tough on us to live for Christ, as we face deceptions, doubts and pain, God wants us to know that He has not only made provision for us to make it here in the god-forsaking society, but that He has also promised us something much greater in the future. There is coming a day when all the hurt, heartache, injustice, weakness, and suffering of our present experience will be explained and justified and will result in a time of incredible blessing in our lives. 

Hence, if we remember who we are, and believe it, right here in the midst of a troubled world, then two things will happen: 1.) We will endure the suffering and even triumph in it, because we see the glory that is to follow. 2.) We will live like children of God and it will be easier, by faith to say no to that which we know is evil.

In these next verses, we will see two specific realms in which this principle of suffering being tied to glory is illustrated in life itself. The first illustration of suffering and glory being tied together is identified in verses 19-22, where we see suffering and glory tied together in creation itself. Paul writes, "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God."

The words "waits eagerly" is a word that pictures a person standing on their tip toes, craning forward waiting with great anticipation for something exciting to happen. Paul continues to explain why we straining our necks to look forward as to what's coming. He says, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God."

Creation is waiting for something to happen, but it is doing so because it is linked with mankind. Creation fell with man. The environment fell out of balance. It was man's sin, our greed and selfishness that has caused the pollution of our waters and the destruction of our forests. 

Do you see the expression, "slavery to corruption"? This is an accurate description of what scientists call the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This law identifies the fact that everything in our universe is going from order to disorder. Everything is in the process of decaying or running down. Even though something might appear to be growing, eventually it dies. Much of the time, it dies quicker than not because of man's destruction of his environment. 

Paul's argument here is that because man is the key to the problem, only when mankind is glorified and totally delivered from the problem of sin, will nature be delivered as well. The prophet Amos, looking forward to that day when the creation will be set free, that period of time know as the millennium prophesied in 9:13-15, "Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, When the plowman will overtake the reaper And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; When the mountains will drip sweet wine, And all the hills will be dissolved. Also I [that's God, not mankind] will restore the captivity of My people Israel, And they will rebuild the ruined cities and live {in them}, They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, And make gardens and eat their fruit. I will also plant them on their land, And they will not again be rooted out from their land Which I have given them, Says the Lord your God."

Amos see that creation will be restored to such a great fertility that he harvester cannot get the grapes off the vine before the plowman comes to sow new seed. The grapes are so abundant and heavy that the hills drip with their wine.

Now in anticipation of the day that nature will be delivered, Paul says that "nature groans," but it is a groan of hope, not hopelessness. Look at verse 22: "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now". Just like a mother giving birth groans and is in tremendous pain, yet she anticipates the glorious arrival of a new life. In the same way, so all of creation is anticipating the new world to come.

But not only does nature groan, waiting for the glory of the restored creation to come, so do we as Christians, in the midst of our suffering, groan while we await for the glory to come. Our bodies groan and so do our souls. Look at verse 23, "And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, [that's a reference to our spirit's being born again, but not yet the rest of us] even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for {our} adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." We groan inside because we know that there is something better that our heavenly Father has for us. We know the pain and pressures we face every day in this life are not what God has in store for us and we can hardly wait for what is coming. We have a great hope.

Why do we groan? Because our souls are faced with the ravages that sin makes of our lives; both our physically lives and of our emotional lives. We groan as we experience living with the consequences of wrong choices we have made and the suffering that goes along with them. 

Every time we groan physically and soulishly, or groan emotionally because of conflicts in our relationships with others, it is a reminder to us of the promise of the glory to come. Nothing will transform our attitudes in the midst of suffering more than reminding each other of the very real hope in what is to come. I wait eagerly for Jesus to come again. But in the meantime, as I keep looking up with hope, I serve my Lord, groaning at times, for just a little a longer.

Like the earth, my groaning is not a groaning of despair, but a groaning of hope for deep down I know that something better is coming. Paul puts it this way in verses 24-25, "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it." 

And this really answers the question of why boredom is a most unchristian like attitude. When a Christian sees that suffering is tied to glory, then the Christian sees that everything, even pain and heartache is not without purpose. Boredom has been defined well as, "an attitude of enduring, waiting for something better to come, but seeing nothing meaningful in what you are going through at the time, or seeing nothing meaningful to invest your time in." [FROM GUILT TO GLORY, VOL. 1, Stedman, p.242]

As you look over these verses on your own, let's remember what a tremendous hope we have, even as we live for the Lord, serving Him this day in a fallen world. Let's remember what privileged people we are to be God's children, literally chosen by Him, before the foundation of this world to spend eternity with Him.

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