When considered in worldly measures, each one of us is insignificant.
Each individual is only one of approximately seven billion people living on earth today.That ratio is even worse when we consider all who lived before us and all who may live after us.
Historically, it is unlikely that any of us will make any lasting impact on earth.If the world still stands in one hundred years, there will be almost no one living who will remember any of us.
Our time on earth is so short that life is "just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (Jas. 4:14).
However, none of us is insignificant because of one great, prevailing truth: we are children of God.
The connection with Almighty God gives every person's life tremendous meaning.Indeed, every person has this connection with God the Father, "from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name" (Eph. 3:15).
Because God is our Father, we matter.Regardless of how little we are esteemed by others, God knows us and loves us.This makes us important.
If we have the proper reverence for God, then we must also have the proper regard for all of God's children.No child of God is to be discarded as worthless or insignificant.
In this second lesson of the series, we will consider what it means to be a child of God and how this blessed privilege should affect all that we do.
WHO IS A CHILD OF GOD?
In one sense, all people are God's children.
Man was created in God's image (Gen. 1:26-27) so that Adam is described as "the son of God" (Luke 3:38).Because all people have descended from Adam, we are all God's children.
Therefore, there is "one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all" (Eph. 4:6).In this way, God's fatherhood over all men is universal.
Indeed, God is "in all," and there is evidence of God in each individual (Rom. 1:19).Consider Acts 17:28-29, where Paul taught the Athenians about the God whom they did not know:
28"...for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'29Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man."
Because God is the "Father of all," we must have respect for all men due to our reverence for God.
Sadly, in the likeness of Adam all men have marred this relationship and separated themselves from God due to sin (Gen. 3; Isa. 59:2; Rom. 3:23).Because of this, God becomes as the father of the prodigal son, looking for his children to return to Him (Luke 15:20-24).
In a special, privileged, blessed, spiritual sense, only believers in Christ are children of God.
In this sense, simply being born in the flesh does not qualify one to be a child of God.Instead, one must believe in Christ and be born of God as stated in John 1:12-13:
12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Scriptures often describe children of God in terms of the promises given to Abraham and faith such as Abraham had.
In Genesis 22:18, God promised Abraham, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
That promise was fulfilled through Jesus Christ and those who have faith in Him.Notice Galatians 3:7-9:
7Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.8The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the nations will be blessed in you."9So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
Consider also Galatians 26-29:
26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.
Thus, we become children of God by being children of Abraham through his seed, Christ (Gal. 3:16), in the likeness of his faith.So then, Romans 9:8 says, "That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants."
HOW DO I SHOW THAT I AM A CHILD OF GOD?
The foremost sign of a child of God is a true love of God's only begotten Son.
Love for Jesus comes naturally to a child of God, just as Jesus said in John 8:42, where He told the unbelieving Jews, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me."
Jesus is the Son of God from eternity, but we have come to be God's children by adoption through Jesus (Eph. 1:5).Therefore, we must love Jesus, who is our elder brother by whom we are saved.
A child of God loves his brothers and sisters in Christ.
Consider a few of John's words about being born of God and loving our brethren in Christ:
1John 4:7 -- Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
1John 5:1 -- Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
Just as the members of a natural family love one another, so also the members of God's household love one another.Those who do not love one another simply do not know God (1John 4:8).
A child of God proves his love for God by obedience to His Father in holy conduct.
"Like father, like son" is an old saying that indicates how a child bears a likeness to a parent.This is true for children of God according to 1Peter 1:14-19:
14As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."17If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 18knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
A child of God does not live in open rebellion against God and continuous sin.Any person who does so is a child of the devil (John 8:44).Notice 1John 3:9-10:
9No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.10By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
A child of God shines as a light in the world in order to honor his Father.
As children of God, we are in the world to uphold the family name and honor our Father in heaven. Consider the instruction of Matthew 5:16, where Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
A clear distinction must exist between the children of God and others in the world.The evidence of our Father should be evident by our conduct as Philippians 2:14-15 indicates:
14Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.
CONCLUSION
The very fact that God has recognized us as His children in Christ is evidence of His great love."See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are" (1John 3:1).What a great blessing it is to wear His holy name and be associated with Him!
Lord willing, in the next lesson we will continue these thoughts as we consider what it means to be an heir of God (Rom. 8:16-17).
