Today is the 7th Sunday of Trinity, that long season in the church calendar when we celebrate the fact that God is a Trinity. The season when we remember that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in a perfect relationship of love – three divine persons who comprise the perfect ‘family unit’, you might say.
The great news in our Bible reading in Romans today is that we can become part of this perfect family. It tells us that every person who becomes a Christian becomes one of God’s children. It tells us that when we put our faith in Jesus Christ we become an adopted son or daughter of his Heavenly Father. Verse 16, in particular, tells us that the Holy Spirit “testifies with our spirit that we are children of God”.
But what are the advantages of being adopted into God’s family? As we look at Romans 8 today, I think we can identify three great privileges of becoming a child of God:
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- Firstly, it means we can call God our Father
- Secondly, it means we’re being made into the family likeness
- and, thirdly, it means we can look forward to a future inheritance.
Let’s look at each of these in turn.
Christians can call God ‘Father’
Last Friday I took my last assembly at our Primary School before their Summer break. Before I began, I was introduced to the pupils by the headteacher, as ‘Reverend Weston’. But one pupil present addresses me by another name – as ‘Daddy’. That pupil was of course my youngest daughter, sitting cross-legged on the third row! She can call me Daddy because she has a much closer, deeper relationship with me than any of her classmates. She doesn’t have to wait until I next take assembly at school to meet with me. She doesn’t need to ask permission to talk to me. She knows she can approach me at any time, wherever we may be.
Wonderfully, our Romans passage today reminds us that we can enjoy the same relationship with God. Christians can call God our Father. We can enjoy the same level of access with God that a child enjoys with his or her human father. As Verse 15 put it, Christians can call God “Abba, Father”. Abba is an Aramaic word that is close in meaning to ‘Dad’ or ‘Daddy’. A word that conveys love, trust and total dependence.
This is great news, isn’t it? It means that as Christians we don’t approach God as a distant Creator, as a stern Judge or as a ‘Headmaster in Heaven’. On the contrary, it means we approach him as a loving Father. As someone who knows us intimately. Someone who loves us dearly. Someone on whom we can totally depend.
When Christians call out to God, he doesn’t look down on us as merely creatures or as anonymous offspring, but as his beloved children, his own sons and daughters.
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- This is a truth that should give us great confidence that our prayers are heard.
- A truth that should inspire us to pray more frequently to our Heavenly Father.
- A truth that should encourage us to pray more often with our Christian brothers and sisters.
Do join us on Wednesday mornings, for example, at our 9am morning prayer service, as we seek our Father’s blessing on our ministry here at St John’s.
Christians are being made into the family likeness
As well as being able to call God ‘Father’, Christians are also being made into the family likeness. As we all know, family members often have a physical resemblance to one another. The same eye or hair colour, similar facial features, a similar height and build etc. People instantly recognise me as my father’s son for example – we are both tall, thin and thinning on top!
But did you know that the same principle applies to spiritual relatives? As Christians’ our actions and attitudes, rather than our physical appearance, will begin to show a family resemblance to Christ – our spiritual ‘brother’.
In verse 14 today we’re told that if we’re children of God our lives are ‘led’ by the Spirit of God. And as he leads us the Spirit will make characters more and more like Jesus’. Over time, the Holy Spirit will conform us to Christ’s character and convince us we are God’s children. He will ‘sanctify’ our hearts and minds and assure us that we are adopted children of God.
And so the second great encouragement we should take from Romans 8 is that if we’re children of God, we’re being made in the family likeness by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Christians can look forward to a future inheritance
As Christians, we can all look forward to a future inheritance from our Heavenly Father. This is the great news found in verse 17 today: “If we are children, then we are heirs. Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory”
Those words assure us that every Christian waits with great hope to a glorious heavenly inheritance. We should expect to share in some of Christ’s sufferings whilst here on earth, but as God’s sons and daughters;
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- We can look forward to sharing in Christ’s resurrection life.
- We can anticipate the ‘redemption’ of our bodies.
- And we can expect a place in his Father’s coming kingdom – a new creation free from death, disease and decay. A place of glory, not groaning, says Paul in verse 22.
Conclusion
So, as I finish this morning, I hope we have come to realise that we Christians are more than mere creatures. We are not only God’s offspring – we are his children – adopted sons and daughters of our loving Lord:
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- As God’s children we’ve the privilege of being able to call him Father;
- As God’s children we’re being made in the family likeness by his Spirit; and
- As God’s children we’ve a great inheritance to look forward to too!