My Fathers Son

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.  Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.  And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.  Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.  Little children, let no one deceive you.  He who practices righteousness is righteous,just as He is righteous.  He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the begining.  For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.  Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, becaus ehe has been born of God.
1 John 3: 1-9 NKJV

There is a dear friend of ours, a man we do not see very much of anymore.  This man also was among my first friends in the congregation when I first started attending the local church.  His testimony was truly one of our Lords redemption in his life.  For God had guided him from a life on the streets to the doors of this church, and I'm glad He did.  I can never say just how many lives he affected in his time there, all I know is that he had  a big impact on my own life.  What got me to thinking of our friend recently was a discussion which we have had in our Sunday morning group.  This discussion focused on the topic of sonship in our Lord.  What is this connection between our friend and sonship?  Well, for the longest time, while we were still within our congregation setting, my friend would often refer to God as "Daddy."  In his prayers he would ask "Daddy" for His assistance or protection.  In casual conversations, he would often refer to just what his daddy was doing in his life.  For me, basically a newcomer to this congregation, this indeed seemed strange.  For I had never in my life up until then heard someone refer to God in this way.  It turns out that he wasn't very far off the mark in his comments.  There are a number of places in scripture where we believers are refered to as "Children" of God.  Well, is not a child a son?  One thing which may trip us up is the very fact that Christ Jesus is often refered to, and rightly so, as the Son of God.  Yes, Jesus is the one only begotten Son of our Lord {John 3:16}, but those who have now placed their trust in Christ have also secured for themselves a share of the inheritance of Christ {Romans 8: 16 - 17}.  Indeed, we are now heirs of the kingdom of God.  Sounds like a son to me.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we shoould be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
Ephesians 1: 3-7 NKJV

Of course, if we being sons, then that relationship which we now share with our heavenly Father is akin to a father and son relationship.  What does this mean for our relationship in our Lord?  Well, the best way which I have used to comprehend this is that of a father and son.  Unfortunately, for many who have come from broken homes, that father and  son dynamic may be forever changed.  Having come from a childhood where my own father was absent, one can only imagine just difficult it has been for me to comprehend how I could possibly ever call my heavenly Father daddy.  For daddy is a term of endearment, and is far from how I regarded my own earthly father.  But God IS NOT my earthly father.  No, for He who placed His call on my heart did not do so only to leave me.  This father and son relationship is the TRUE relationship.  The loving Father and His young son.  This begs the question as to how our Lord handles His side of the relationship.  It is a question we have discussed lately as well.  Well, as with any young child, we sons of God will certainly understand what our Father will tell us, to a point.  For there is definately a difference in how a young child will understand teaching compared to that understanding of a maturing young man.  When a son is young, he will often require feeding.  However, as he gets older, he will feed himself.  I believe that this fits our anology of we sons of God as well.  Indeed, new christians may need to "Be fed" the word of God.  However, as one matures, he will hopefully actively seek out our Lords teaching on his own.  This is all part of the process of maturing.  As the apostle Peter tells us, as newborn babes we should desire the "Pure milk" of the word of God {1 Peter 2:2}.  Indeed, we are our Fathers Sons.

~Scott~

~Sons~