And they all asked, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” (Luke 22:70)

What would you say if they all asked, “So are you a child of God?” Would you have to pause and take inventory before you answer?  Or would you say, without hesitation, “Yes. It is as you say. I am a child of God.” It is mostly with those who paused that I want to share because the uncertainty that necessitated that pause might masquerade as humility in light of the grandiose nature of the claim;  “A child of God?!” One might react, “Really now! That’s just a few thousand notches above my pay grade. I wouldn’t dare think of myself so presumptuously!”  This particular line of thinking betrays something that needs to be confronted. It is our identity which is foundational to life in Christ. (Note: Please do not confuse identity in Christ with self-image. Identity is something eternally larger.)

 So, are you a child of God?

Perhaps our pointed question is provoking these kinds of thoughts: “I’m a pretty good person. I have not hurt others.” Or, “I attend church regularly. I give when the plate is passed.” Or possibly, “I am an elder.” Or, “I lead worship.” All of these responses evade the question and they each reveal a faulty foundation; nothing built upon these notions can stand. I truly hope you are still in pause-mode because I would like to share some really good news while your heart is in attendance.

First I must share some news that may strike you as bad; we can’t play the piano well or regularly enough to please God. Neither can we be good enough or give enough to please Him. Our titles, no matter how hard we worked for them, our characters no matter how well we have polished them, have zero merit with God. His standards are so infinitely high! Outside of Christ, the purest thought, the most noble deed are defiled. An ancient prophet said it like this…

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. (Isaiah 64:6)

Initially, it’s not good news to learn that we have been standing on shifting sand. Its even worse (initially) to discover that, as one apostle put it;

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

It is a glorious day though if we are moving from pause to prostrate – that place of humility where authentic God-life can germinate, where we have grasped the nature of our personal bankruptcy before God and find ourselves positioned to receive good news. Even though; We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us having turned to our own way; 

the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

This is the greatest news ever announced in the realm of man. All our sins, ranging from deficient good works to the most heinous of crimes were all laid upon the Son of God so that we could become the children of God. And it is not just our deeds – the old nature itself (in-Adam), which we all share, was crucified in Christ! If the idea of being righteous or having any righteousness in ourselves has grasped us as absurd, we have received the first stage of a gift – the gift of repentance. Repentance is a work of grace in the human heart. It is our heart agreeing with God, saying, “I was utterly wrong. I was 180 degrees out of sync with You – thinking I might have been good enough to win your approval and get to heaven.”

If it were not for the conspiracy between the world, the flesh and the devil, it would be simple. But…

The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

It’s simple because the new foundation of identity is a gift and gifts cannot be earned. Even an iota of attempted payment undoes the gift – undermines the foundation. Again the apostle weighs in;

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

For those who believe this in their hearts and are willing to confess it with their mouths, the old foundation is demolished and a new foundational identity is established. A couple of Jesus’ intimate friends put it like this;

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ( John 1:12-13)

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15-16)

Going from having the identity of one alienated and condemned to becoming a child of God is not just merely good news. It is stunning, scandalous, revolutionary news! Some will accuse us of fanaticism and arrogance when they hear us say, “Yes, I am a child of God.” Atheists and agnostics will scoff, “You deluded fool. You have simply played a convenient psychological trick on yourselves, inventing a God to cope with the predictable angst of being nothing more than an evolved piece of cosmic nothingness.” But we know better. Recall;

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

A cross is a fashionable symbol to wear around the neck today but what does it symbolize for the wearer; that, “Jesus (among other gods) is just all right with me — Oh yeah.” (as the song goes)? When the Cross was in use, during the Roman Empire, it was the unmistakable symbol of torture and death. If one failed to submit to Roman authority, the cross served as the reminder of who was in charge. The gift is free to us but it was not cheap. God had to come to earth and take upon Himself the wrath that was due you and I. The wrath of God, expressed in the brutality of the Cross was absorbed by God, in Christ in behalf of all who would believe and confess. This is the basis of our good news. It was supremely costly! The extravagance of the gift betrays the value the Giver places on the anticipated recipients. This is why John says;

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16)

When one first-century group heard this message…

they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:37-38)

Father, I pray that your good news might be preached with the same punch it had when it first escaped Peter’s lips. May all those You are calling to Yourself pause to reconcile these eternal matters in the core of their being. May the simplicity and the clarity of your good news pierce the darkness that has been cast over this earth and upon our hearts. Prevail among those of us working to please You. Convey to us the futility of our labors as well as the glory of Your gift. May the Bride of Christ face off with her enemies with bold declaration; “Yes, absolutely, we are the children of God.” Amen.

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