Children of God

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:13-17

It is virtually second nature for Christians to refer to God as “Father,” undoubtedly due to the prevalence of similar references to God throughout the New Testament.  Jesus in particular consistently referred to God as “Father” – perhaps most famously in the opening of the “Lord’s Prayer” – and throughout His teaching revealed that God was not just His Father, but that God longs to be “Our Father” as well.  Hence it should come as no surprise that the title of “Father” is such an integral part of God’s tri-partite designation.

As common as the title of “Father” is in the New Testament, though, it only appears in a handful of Old Testament passages…and then primarily as a metaphor.  This is significant because the emphasis which Jesus places upon addressing God as “Father” indicates that something has changed: whereas before we could merely conceive of God as a “Father figure,” now we are told to call upon Him as “Our Father.”  It underscores the fact that on account of the finished work of Christ, our broken relationship with God has finally been restored:

That being said, the key point about calling God “Father” is not merely that it’s possible thanks to Christ, but that it is in fact a prerequisite for entering into His Kingdom.  Why is that?  Because becoming a child of God is what it means to be “born again”:

Being “born of God” means that whereas there was once only innate resistance and hostility towards God, we have been given new hearts that are now capable of loving God and honoring Him as our Father.  It’s a spiritual transformation that alters our eternal destiny, for being God’s child not only means that we are members of His extended family, but that we have likewise become citizens of the Kingdom:

Indeed, the New Testament is clear that the only way to enter into God’s Kingdom and thereby escape His wrath is to become His child.  Not on the basis of our own merits, but by virtue of receiving the One whose worth is beyond measure:

So while the necessity of becoming a child of God is clearly not in question, another question remains: what does it mean to be a child of God?  Put differently, while claiming to be a child of God is one thing, how do you know if you actually are one?

Trust and Obey

There is a lot we can learn about what it means to be a “child of God” simply by applying what we already know about children in relationship to their earthly parents.  For one thing, just as children are completely dependent upon their parents to care for and protect them, we too are wholly dependent on God to provide for us.  Furthermore, whereas children’s wisdom and understanding is nowhere near that of their parents, that deficiency pales in comparison to the unbridgeable chasm that exists between our knowledge and the mind of our heavenly Father. 

In short, children are both vulnerable and innately trusting, which is probably why Jesus used them as exemplars of what it means to enter into the Kingdom of God:

Perhaps the most important aspect of the parental relationship, though, is the child’s obligation to both recognize and submit to the rightful authority of their parents.  For just as children were expected to obey and honor their parents, when Jesus spoke about God as our heavenly Father it implied the same kind of honor and deference that is clearly due to our earthly parents per the Mosaic Law:

In fact, not only was wisdom understood to be obedience to your parents, but disobedience and rebellion against your parents was tantamount to evil and severely prohibited:

Thus in the same way that children are expected to obey their parents, as children of God our heavenly Father expects us to obey him.  To do otherwise is to dishonor and shame Him, just as the prodigal son did when he took his share of his father’s estate and left home.  And so earnestly seeking to do the desires of our heavenly Father – i.e. obedience – is perhaps the best indicator that we have indeed become one of His children:

Indeed, it is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of obeying God when it comes to professing Him as our heavenly Father, because even if Jesus had exclusive claim to this “parental” relationship as God’s only begotten Son, our obedience would still be expected for the simple fact that God is also The Lord Almighty.  He expects all people – children or otherwise – to humbly obey Him, and any act of defiance or disobedience constitutes a futile challenge to His authority as well as His power.  Every creature is therefore obliged to obey Him as their rightful Sovereign and Master; consequently, it should come as no surprise that the theme of obedience features so prominently in the pages of Scripture:

In short, there’s a simple reason we don’t call the Ten Commandments the “Ten Suggestions” – as the Lord, God gets to make the rules.  Period.  And since He is Lord above all other authorities and powers, God not only expects us to obey Him alone, but He is justifiably offended whenever we don’t: 

Again, even though the Kingdom of God has not been fully realized upon the earth, that doesn’t mean that honoring and obeying God is somehow optional.  For as Paul reminds us, every knee will eventually bow, and each tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…to the glory of God the Father.  In other words, choosing to defy God is ultimately pointless and self-destructive, because He reigns supreme regardless of whether or not we accept His authority.  And on that day when the King finally comes to establish His eternal Kingdom,  its citizens will joyfully proclaim this reality as they willingly bow before their Savior; the rest will acknowledge Him because they will be given no choice but to kneel before the Lord.  The former are God’s children who will inherit the Kingdom, while the latter are those whose defiance will condemn them for all eternity.

If You Love Me…

It should go without saying that as the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, God alone is worthy of our complete and utter loyalty.  He expects us to answer whenever He calls, and then to carry out His will without deviating to the left or to the right.  That’s what it means to serve a King, after all, but there’s supposed to be more to our deference than simply discharging a solemn duty to obey and honor our Lord.  For as our Father, God not only deserves our faithful obedience, but He desires our trust and devotion…just like that of a child.  As such, our obedience should not be merely offered out of obligation, but in response to the love and affection that we have for Him:

While this connection between obedience and love may come as a surprise to some, it shouldn’t.  We need look no further than the opening of the “Lord’s Prayer,” whereby our first concern is for our Father’s glory: that His name would be hallowed, that His Kingdom would come at last, and that His will would be done on the earth as it is in Heaven.  And since the Kingdom of God refers to the condition where God’s reign is willingly embraced by all, these three petitions are really just different ways of praying for the same thing.  So perhaps the reason that so many Christians find the link between love and obedience foreign to their thinking has more to do with the silence of our pulpits…rather than Scripture:

Interestingly, the passage from Luke highlights the fact that intimacy with Christ and obedience to Him go hand-in-hand.  We see this from the way in which Jesus repeats the title of “Lord,” which in Hebrew culture was a way of calling attention to the close, familiar relationship that existed with the other person.  It is an intimate form of address that is used by God at the burning bush…

…by Jesus in the Upper Room:

…and ominously at the final judgment, when many will claim to know Christ even though their disobedience proves otherwise:

So here’s the critical question: if we are saved by grace, through faith – which of course, we are – then why is there such an emphasis on our obedience?  Doesn’t that make salvation somehow contingent upon what we do…or don’t do?  For that matter, doesn’t the requirement to render our obedience to Christ effectively nullify the “free gift” of the Gospel itself?

Belief in Action

There is a commonly held misconception that underlies the apparent tension between faith and obedience, namely the notion that salvation is not about works.  On the surface, this assertion would appear to be irrefutable; after all, our confidence before God is not predicated upon anything that we have done, but in the knowledge that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24, NIV)  Salvation is an utterly gracious gift from God precisely because it cannot be earned:

These truths notwithstanding, our status as a child of God is nevertheless completely based upon works; moreover, that’s actually the “Bad News” that makes the “Good News” so glorious!  Because in the final analysis, we are given the choice to stand before God on the basis of our own works – the good, the bad, and the ugly – or those of Someone else.  The problem which is common to both “Jew” and “Greek,” of course, is that we have all fallen short of the mark.  Indeed, since perfection is the standard by which our works are measured, all it takes is one transgression to make us unacceptable to God…regardless of how much “good” we may have done.

Thus when Paul says that “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight,” it’s not that there is no correlation between justification and works per se; rather, his point is that our works are inherently incapable of saving us since we all have disobedience on our accounts: we have all sinned and therefore fall short of the glory of God.  The one exception is Jesus Christ, and only by putting our hope for justification in what He has done – putting our faith in Christ – can we one day stand before God and receive the gracious pardon, the gift, that none of us deserve.  In other words, being saved by faith means trusting in the promise of God to forgive us on the basis of what Christ has done, rather than relying upon our own merits. 

Furthermore, it is faith in God’s promise to forgive us of our sins that has always been the basis of salvation, even under the Old Covenant.  Let me say that again: David was saved by faith.  So too was Noah, Daniel, Isaiah…  After all, doesn’t Scripture say that “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”?  The difference is that whereas our faith has a name and looks backward to what Jesus Christ has accomplished, theirs looked forward to the One whom God had promised would one day defeat the Serpent. 

That being the case, the animal sacrifices which God required under the Old Covenant did not somehow earn His grace and His mercy; rather, they served as visible expressions of faith in the promises of God.  They were acts of obedience which pointed forward to Christ’s eventual sacrifice, even as they reflected an inner belief that God would have mercy upon the one who offered them:

In other words, the reason that God was pleased had nothing to do with the sacrifice itself – something even David understood:

So in light of all of this, where does our obedience come into play?  Not surprisingly, Paul answers that question as well:

Read that passage again so that you don’t miss what Paul is saying.  Quite simply, while our salvation is not “a result of works,” it is nonetheless what motivates us to “walk in good works” once we are in Christ…once we have become a child of God.  Our works, our striving to do God’s will, flow from the gratitude and love that we feel for our adoptive Father who has made it possible to be counted as His child through what Christ has done.  Look again at Paul’s letter to the Philippians, where he urges us not to try and earn our salvation, but rather to respond in obedience to God because of our standing in Christ:

Sadly, Ephesians 2:10 is the dynamic that is missing throughout much of modern-day Christianity, in particular the American Church.  We are so caught up in being “saved by faith” that we fail to realize what that means in practical terms.  Once again, though, any confusion stems from our own inattention to the Word of God and a corresponding lack of clarity from our pulpits:

Being a “child of God” thus has little to do with being “religious.”  It’s about submitting to God in all things, following wherever He leads, and doing whatever He asks.  It’s about a life of devoted service – not grudging compliance – and the sincerity of our faith is seen through our readiness to put others first, to forsake the familiar in favor of the unknown, and to leave behind the comfortable on the basis of God’s promise.  Hence “believing in God” is of no value unless that belief translates to a changed heart and life; moreover, being a “child of God” is about believing your heavenly Father and then acting on the strength of that belief.  For it is through our willingness to trust and obey that we put our faith into practice:

In short, saving faith is belief in action, whereas belief without action clearly exhibits a lack of faith.  And this is why James refers to Abraham, who demonstrated the authenticity of his faith by doing whatever God asked of him: his obedience validated his spoken belief.  For as James reminded us, faith without works is just talk…and talking does not honor God:

Just to be clear, it’s not that our acts of obedience do anything to improve our standing with God; rather, our actions give testimony to the Spirit that is at work within our hearts.  That spirit is worldly and selfish by default, but for those who have been born again and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they will produce fruit that is in keeping with the Kingdom of God.  So while our works are incapable of earning us salvation, they are nevertheless the hallmark and evidence of our faith:

As God’s child, then, how can we discern what our Heavenly Father expects?  How do we know if our lives are pleasing to Him, or not?  The primary way that God communicates His will for us is through His written Word, which not only reveals our Father’s character but also shows us the way of righteousness versus that of evil.  It is the standard that gives us the principles by which we are supposed to live, but as the Pharisees recognized, sometimes principles can be difficult to apply in practice.  Thus His will for us is not always clear.

Fortunately, though, God has not left us without an Interpreter.  We have been given a Helper to assist us as we strive to please and honor our heavenly Father, which brings us to the next part of God’s tri-partite designation: The Holy Spirit.