“Which
Child Are You?” By Brother Kenneth Ray November 11th,
2012
Growing up, if you attended Sunday School,
or Vacation Bible School, or a youth retreat of some kind, you may have
heard
the song, Father Abraham. It
goes
something like this: Father
Abraham
had many sons Many
sons had
Father Abraham. I
am one of
them, and so are you, So
let’s just praise
the Lord.
Think family—a mother and father, or
maybe just a mother or just a father, maybe you were raised by an Aunt. You could be an only
child, or have one or
more siblings. An
only child has a little
of each parent, but is still its own self.
In a family of several children, each child is
different, and tends to
play its own role in the family. They
may be happy, serious, curious, adventurous, or grumpy, and yet have
the same
parents. Some
children are more
demanding of attention, of time, of wants and needs.
Some are affectionate, and like to
cuddle. Others are
loners, and are more
independent. A
child may be a follower
or a trailblazer. A
child may be one
that listens, or that causes trouble, or is stubborn.
One child accepts, another defies.
One obeys, another needs to be made to
obey. 1
John 3:1-2 …Beloved,
now are we the sons of God…
First of all, to ‘bestow’ means to
give. So God has
given us a way to
become His children. So,
how do we
become children of God? We
take His name
through a process known as baptism.
Acts 2:38 describes the
process: 1) repent
2) baptized in Jesus
name for the remission of sins (have you heard the expression, ‘forgive
and
forget?’ Well, remission is the ‘forget’ part). 3) receive the gift of
the Holy
Ghost. By this, we
are adopted into
Jesus Christ. Romans
8:15-17
…ye have received the Spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father…
That sounds good for us; it is a great
deal, if we look at it from our end.
But
what did God get? In
order to answer that
question, we need something to compare against.
What does God expect? Exodus
20:3 Thou
shalt have no other gods before me. John
14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
You know that God wrote the Ten
Commandments the first time. Moses
broke
the tablets, so Moses had to write them the second time, but there were
no
revisions. Are you
tender-hearted
or hard-hearted to God’s wishes and expectations?
Maybe you are like David, and His Word is a
lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path (Psalms 199:105). Maybe you are like Jonah
and make decisions
based on feelings and emotions that you may regret later or that you
may not be
able to face up to. Maybe
you are like
the younger son who wanted his part of the Father’s goods that would
come to him. How
old was he when he did that? I don’t
think the Bible really says, but he was old enough to be fully aware of
his Father’s
rules, guidelines, and expectations, and he did it anyway. Maybe you are like the
older brother who got
his feelings hurt—are you walking around feeling sorry or upset because
of the
actions of others?
When a child is born, they often look
like one parent or the other; as they grow, they may change. When God looks at you,
does He see one of His
own, or one of many? Do
you have joint
custody—Jesus and the world?
It is normal, when a child is
growing up, that there are years of rebellion—almost every child
rebels. There are
also years of restoration—the child
receives understanding of the effect caused by their actions. Jesus sees your potential
and wants the best
for you. He wants
you and I to love Him
and to be loved by Him. He
wants the
very best for each of us. It’s
like n
those movies with Greek warriors—what’s that movie with Brad Pitt? Troy.
Remember how they prayed to whichever Greek god they
believed looked out
for them and they were solely devoted to that god, and that god took
care of
them? God wants
that sold-out devotion
forsaking al others. God
wants you to
run to Him; make a change in a particular area.
God wants to look at you and say, “My beloved son
(or daughter). That
one is mine.” He
wants to be able to say to you, “Well
done, thou good and faithful servant.” Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
|
|
|
