Who Do you think you Are?
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· 35 viewsDo we act as Slaves, Friends or Children of God
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· Who do you think you are?
· For myself I could be many things
· Husband, father, Son, brother, Uncle, Pastor Teacher.
· These are all ways I could identify myself.
· However there is a concern with where you get your identity from,
· If your get your identity from your career, what happens if you loose your job?
· Let me suggest that there is a greater source to attain your identity,
· That’s from the one who gave it to you!
· You have an Identity in Christ that is secure, but sometimes it can be difficult to walk in it,
· To walk in your identity you must 1st know your identity.
How do you mainly identify with God? As a
(a) servant of God,
(b) Friend of God,
(c) a son or daughter of God?
· This is a very important Question,
· I believe when you come to Christ you come as a servant
· As you grow in your relationship you transform into a Friend
· As you grow in the Spirit you become a son or daughter
· It’s God’s desire that everyone behaves as His Children,
· However it’s a process we are to walk in.
· I contend that many, many modern Christians are stuck as Servants of God,
· Now let me be clear this is not a salvation issue, servants, Friends, and Children are all saved
·
· Its more how you approach God, and How you are able to receive from Him.
Servant of God
(NLT)
15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
· It’s clear God never intended us to behave like slaves, However it’s what we knew
· We were slaves to sin, then as an easy transition we became slaves to righteousness
Friend of God
12“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14“You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17“This I command you, that you love one another.
· No Longer Slaves, but now Friend, because we know what the Master is doing
· If you don’t know what God is doing, you are most likely still acting like a slave
· God has called you to know His will and desires, and to partner with Him in bringing them about on earth.
Son or daughter of God
Top 10 reasons why you are a son& daughters of God first and foremost
1 The Holy Spirit says so. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Rms 8:15).
2 Do you really need more reasons? Come on now! Paul thought no. 1 above was such an important truth that he said it twice. “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, ‘Papa! Father!’” (, MSG).
God Himself calls you son. (You wouldn’t want to call God a liar now would you?) He is the one who makes it possible for you to call Him Papa!
3 The Bible says so – in many places (see , Rms 8:14, , for starters).
4 The Old Testament prophets longed for the day when God’s people would be called “sons of God” ().
10 [a]“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’
They thought it applied to the Jews, but Paul says it includes “even us whom He also called” (Rms 9:23).
Jesus came to reveal the Father ().
This is what makes the new covenant new. Sonship – not servanthood, not friendship – is the pinnacle of redemption.
Not even Adam and Eve were identified as sons! Because of Jesus we have come closer to God than when we started out in the Garden. How awesome is that?!
5 We are to be servant-hearted, not servant-minded.
Someone with an orphan spirit readily identifies themselves as a servant of God.
It sounds noble, but it insults the cross and the Spirit of grace.
Servants work for wages but we live under grace and there are no wages under grace.
Sons are shareholders, not employees.
We don’t work because we have to, but because we are wholly invested in the success of the family-business.
6 A servant doesn’t know his master’s will, has to be told what to do, and then relates to God on the basis of what he does.
If he does good, he thinks God loves him more.
How sad, how utterly tragic to be enslaved to such a lie.
A mature son is nothing like that.
He has the mind of Christ (),
is clothed with His righteousness (),
and relates on the basis of the Father’s love first shown to him ().
A servant waits on God. A son does what he sees His Father doing ().
7 Servants suffer from performance-anxiety.
Even friends may worry thinking they have to pound on doors in the middle of the night merely to borrow something ().
But sons need not worry, for our “heavenly Father knows we need all these things” ().
Our Father – not our master nor our friend – delights to give good gifts to those who ask Him ().
You’re not on the outside looking in.
You’re warm and secure in bed with your Papa (see ).
8 True, Abraham was a friend of God () and w
() and we are revealed to be friends when we do what Jesus says (). This is a good thing and something to treasure. But sonship is better by far! Sons have “full rights” of access that friends lack (). Sons have an expectation of intimacy that servants and friends do not enjoy. My kids are with me 24/7 (it’s the school holidays). In contrast, I only see and enjoy my friends occasionally. Wouldn’t you rather walk with God enjoying His presence continuously? As a son you have full rights to do so!
e are revealed to be friends when we do what Jesus says ().
This is a good thing and something to treasure. But sonship is better by far! Sons have “full rights” of access that friends lack ().
Sons have an expectation of intimacy that servants and friends do not enjoy.
My kids are with me 24/7
In contrast, I only see and enjoy my friends occasionally.
Wouldn’t you rather walk with God enjoying His presence continuously? As a son you have full rights to do so!
9 Sons are heirs.
I have an inheritance and it’s the entire planet (Rms 4:13).
All the cattle on all the hills and all the blessings of Abraham are ours, paid for with Jesus’ blood. Indeed, we are co-heirs with Christ ().
Our share is no less than Christ’s!
· (10) What will it take to fix this broken, poisoned planet? A revelation of the sons of God (Rms 8:19)!
In the garden God gave us a planet to keep.
We lost it, Jesus got it back, yet we still act like it belongs to the devil. It is OURS! “The earth he has given to man” ().
Jesus paid a high price to redeem this planet for us. Creation is not waiting for the church to rise up. Neither is creation waiting for God’s servants or His friends to rise up. Instead, creation waits for the mature sons of God to rise up and say with authority “this is my planet; hands off devil
10 If you’re still having trouble wrapping your head around this, look to Jesus. Did Jesus describe God as His (a) Master, (b) Friend, or (c) Father?
That’s an easy question. Under the obsolete law covenant, God was Master. Under the Abrahamic covenant, God is our Friend. But under the new covenant in Jesus’ blood, God relates to us as our Father!
· And don’t water this down by saying that God is “all of the above.” He’s no more “all of the above” than you are “all of the above” to your own children. My kids will serve many employers and have many friends, but they will only have one earthly father and that’s me. I am thrilled beyond words to be identified as my children’s father because it is my unique privilege. I hope they will be equally thrilled to be identified as my children. It makes my heart soar when they call me Papa. I’m less thrilled when they call me “your majesty.”
· He is your Father and my Father! Yes I serve Him and yes He is my closest friend. But service and friendship stem from my secure position as His adopted son. There’s nothing I enjoy more than being with Him, knowing Him, walking with Him and talking with Him. Every day with Him is an adventure!
· When you have a revelation of your sonship, it will change the way you pray. You will pray for the smallest things, because if it matters to you it matters to Him. But you will also ask Him for big things, because God has promised you the nations. You won’t hold back like a waiter or a friend – you’ll come running in to Papa knowing that He loves to give good gifts to His children.
· Paul prayed, and so do I…
· …that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. ()
· I am accepted…
I am God’s child.
As a disciple, I am a friend of Jesus Christ.
I have been justified.
I am united with the Lord, and I am one with Him in spirit.
I have been bought with a price and I belong to God.
I am a member of Christ’s body.
I have been chosen by God and adopted as His child.
I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
I am complete in Christ.
I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ.
· I am secure…
I am free from condemnation.
I am assured that God works for my good in all circumstances.
I am free from any condemnation brought against me and I cannot be separated from the love of God.
I have been established, anointed and sealed by God.
I am hidden with Christ in God.
I am confident that God will complete the good work He started in me.
I am a citizen of heaven.
I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.
I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me.
· I am significant…
I am a branch of Jesus Christ, the true vine, and a channel of His life.
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit.
I am God’s temple.
I am a minister of reconciliation for God.
I am seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm.
I am God’s workmanship.
I may approach God with freedom and confidence.
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.