Paul: His Life and His Teachings Conducting Ourselves as Children of God
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No.53 Paul: His Life and Teachings - Conducting Ourselves as Children of God (Part 1)
No.54 Paul: His Life and Teachings - Conducting Ourselves as Children of God (Part 2)
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Let us start this lesson with how we became children of God. In John 8:44, Jesus said to His audience, who were Jewish, that they were of their father the devil. First, because they do the desires of their father the devil – which is very critical in terms of doing the “will of God.” Second, because they are lying – as the devil is the father of lies, his offspring are lying children. Before being born again, we are also the enemy’s children. For us to become the children of God, we must go through the process of “adoption” through faith in Jesus Christ (cf. Eph.1:5). In the natural, if one is adopted, we would think that they would be grateful. However, another thing has been happening in the world of adoption. We are seeing adopted children break the hearts of their adopting parents, by trying to get back to their abandoning parents and treating them as if they were the ones who raised them up. Sometimes, the ingratitude is so much that they even abandon their adopting parents. Others stay with their adoptive parents not because they love them but because of some other ulterior motives.
To be adopted means we are no longer under obligation to live according to the flesh. Romans 8:12-29 and Galatians 5:16-17 tells us how to live “appropriately” now that we have been adopted into His fold. To live appropriately is to live in the Spirit, and to live inappropriately is to live in the flesh. It doesn’t matter according to 1 Corinthians 13 if one operates on all kinds of gifts, if they don’t have love or if they are not living in the Spirit, they are nothing. Today, we see people faking the operation of the gifts of the Spirit to a certain extent, especially in the area of prophecy. A believer then feels competing obligations to the Spirit and to the flesh. One, he is alive to, and the other one, he is dead to. This is very important for Christians to understand. Even though we are already dead to sin, the possibility of its practice – indeed the strong temptation, is still very real and must be continually put to death (Rom. 8:13). This leads us to this conclusion, that even though we are dead to sin and we are new creation, we still have to put to deal with the flesh and its tendencies.
Just as the wages of sin is death, “those who are living according to the flesh, must die.” The New creation restores our relationship with God. He is our Father once again. It is in this relationship that we share in the power of God to destroy the works of sin and the power of sin in our lives. We received the Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” Our sonship, that is, God being our Father, means that we are being led by the Spirit of God. What the Holy Spirit does is empower a Christian to say “no” to the sinful practices of the body when they are being tempted to do the works of the flesh. We are already empowered to say “no!”
When we don’t say “no” we are not being led by the Spirit. Sonship is restored relationship. Abba is the same intimate relationship that Jesus addressed the Father. We are called to call Him Abba. The implication of this intimate relationship is staggering. We are co-heirs with Jesus. We are heirs of God. Now this implies that become partakers of His sufferings; and this sharing results in being glorified with Him!
The glory we share with Jesus is the glory that Adam lost when he sinned. This glory is what sinners lack. It is the image of God in Adam. With this promise of glorification, Paul is reaching back to the original creation. He is looking back to the total restoration of God’s creation. This glory is going to be revealed to us. The same glory that He crowned Adam and Eve with in the original creation will be given to us, with modification or upgrade. The blood of Jesus and our new birth, the elimination of Satan (the tempter), and being co-heirs of Jesus. We are not divine but we share in the nature of Jesus as Second Adam. This is so because we died, we were buried, and we were raised or glorified with Him! That is the same body we are going to have. Just like Jesus, The Second Adam, we will not be tempted nor sin again. The deal is done, the benefits are sealed.
Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. So, we don’t have to surrender to temptation for we were given the ability to fight it back. The Holy Spirit helps us in our prayers. He even intercedes for us and His prayer leadership are according to the will of God. As we await for our glorified bodies, truly, God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Praise be to God!