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Children of God

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Post  Jesusismylord Sun 15 Nov 2009, 5:02 pm

Children of God By Fergus Davar

Hi people, today (15/11/09) we celebrated Children's Day in our Church. Well Children's Day in India is observed on 14th November but we celebrated it on the closest Sunday, since the whole Church gets together then. Most of you will know this but incase you don't then the reason why Children's day is celebrated on 14th November is because, our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was very fond of children & since his birthday fell on 14th November, we celebrate his birthday as Children's Day in India.

Yes, this post is from the sermon I heard at Church today. Let me start by asking, when are we known as children of God? Let me give you a real life example, consider an orphan, when he gets close to someone who has a parent, then that same someone's father, out of love, will call that orphan "son". Similarly Jesus is the real begotten Son of God & being God's Son, he is of the same substance as God & when we hold on to Jesus in faith and obey his teaching, he calls us friends.

John 15:14-15
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

When we come this close to Jesus, in faith then and only are we called children of God.

Galatians 3:26
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Let's move on to Mark 10:13-16

Mark 10:13-16
13 Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples scolded the people. 14 When Jesus noticed this, he was angry and said to his disciples, "Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it." 16 Then he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on each of them, and blessed them.

To give you some background to this verse, I would like to tell you that prior to this piece of scripture, the Pharisees were in an argument with Jesus trying to trap him on what the Law of Moses taught on divorce. So when the parents brought their children to be blessed by Jesus, the disciples scolded them because according to the disciples the discussion of the Law was more importing than the blessing of children. However the disciple's reaction to the people, who brought children, angered Jesus (verse 14) because the disciples couldn't see that the argument on divorce was a trap, the Pharisees were not looking to learn from Jesus but they had already come prepared with what answer the question would yield. Jesus however sees the genuine intention of those bringing the children and he leaves the Pharisees aside and tends to the children because according to Jesus there can never be anyone insignificant who does not need his attention.

You need to note what Jesus says in verse 14 & 15,

The kingdom of God belongs to such as these (children)
Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.

Now the first point, says that the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these, which is referring to children. The second point goes on to say that we need to receive the Kingdom of God just like a child. So what are these children like qualities that we need to have. Here are some qualities of children with parallel references to Christian life as per the Bible.

1. Full of life: Those who have children at home will know that the house never gets lonely when children are around. Children are always up to something, always keeping their parent hands full all the time. In terms of scripture, full of life implies that we Christians ought to be alive in Christ.

Romans 6:11
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

1John 5:20
We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we know the true God. We live in union with the true God in union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life.

2. Innocent: The reason why children by nature are curious is because they know very little of what is good and bad. They almost completely rely on their parents for guidance. Just as children are innocent to what is evil, we ought to be the same way & we also need to rely completely on God and not on ourselves.

Philippians 2:15
so that you may be innocent and pure as God's perfect children, who live in a world of corrupt and sinful people. You must shine among them like stars lighting up the sky,

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. 6 Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way.

3. Love each others company: I have been to many parties where children will just walk up to any kid and ask them if they would like to play whatever. I as adult would never even in my wildest dreams, think of walking up to a complete stranger to ask him to play with me. Here is some scripture instructing you to love one another.

John 13:34 (Jesus' Word)
And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Romans 12:10 (Apostle Paul to the Church of Rome)
Love one another warmly as Christian brothers and sisters, and be eager to show respect for one another.

4. Stress busters: Yes, some may say taking care of children is a hassle but believe me any loving parent who comes home from a hard day's work, is time upon time amused with the mischief his child gets up to at home or may be at school. This not only reduces stress but the parent often remembers it even when the child grows up and gets married.

Matthew 11:28-30 (Jesus' Word)
28 "Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest.
30 For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light."

5. Never worried: The only time I have seen a child to be worried is when he is going to receive a spanking. Sometimes even that does not worry him. In fact when I see parents taking their children to school for examinations, the parents look more worried than the children. Here is something to relate this to, once a dad tucks his son into bed and then goes to bed himself. The kid bangs on the common partition wall and says "Dad, I am thirsty, may I have a glass of water?" to which the dad replies "Son, you've just had water before bed time. Go to sleep". After a minute the son bangs the wall again "Dad, am thirsty" & dad replies "Go to sleep, I said". After sometime again, bang, bang on the wall & "Dad I want some water" to which dad replies "Go to sleep unless you want me to come there and spank you". Then there is pin drop silence, after about 3 to 4 minute bang, bang, bang on the wall again & the son says "Dad while you are coming her to spank me, can you get me a glass of water". I have quoted some relevant scripture below about getting rid of worry.

Philippians 4:6-7
6 Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. 7 And God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus.

6. Honesty: Children wear their hearts on their sleeve. If a child is sad/happy/angry/scared, he will show it & will tell you the same on asking. Children do become shrewd as they grow up but before that happens they are people who talk just what is in their heart; they do not talk with the intent to deceive. What they want they will plainly ask for & by themselves will not use deceitful means to get what they want. The kind of honesty that you often seen in children is often of the type where they will tell you what they feel of a situation without much thinking & sometimes that is really amusing. Here is one more story, once a social worker in the neighborhood intended to talk to the people using something practical. He took 4 glasses, in each one he put a worm, then in the first glass he poured hard alcohol, in the second he put lit cigarettes, in the third he put drugs & in the fourth he put water. All the worms except for the one in the water died. The social worker then looked at the people and said, so what can we conclude from this? A child raises his hand and says "if you have alcohol, cigarettes and drugs then you'll have no worms". Here is some scripture on being honest

Luke 8:15
15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

7. Faith filled: Children will believe anything their parents tell them, right from Santa clause to the Boogie man to the Tooth fairy. They are not wired to question the notions that their parents feed them with. They happily accept, believe and put into action what their parent tells them & if their parent tells them that they would be rewarded with a pair of foot ball shoes / a cricket bat for doing well in whatever then children go on as though they have already received it, they believe without question. This how we must trust God, when we pray to and believe that he will provide us with what we need without doubt. Here is another story, once a Pastor of a local Church was conducting a prayer service. He asked his congregation to bow their head and ask God for their needs and desires. Suddenly, there is a loud whistle that echoes in the hall of the Church. The Pastor then notices a mother slapping her little son. After the service, the pastor approaches the family, the mother apologizes for son who whistled during the prayer but the boy quickly replied "my desire was to learn to whistle, so I asked Jesus to teach me to whistle & I immediately gave it a try". Here is some relevant scripture.

Matthew 7:7-11
7 "Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to those who knock. 9 Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread? 10 Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish? 11 Bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

8. Staying close to one another: When I was a child, I still remember what some of my childhood friends told me, which I do not believe now but I did when I was small. I did that because they were my close childhood friends. In the same way just as children trust one another, believers must have close fellowship with one another.

Acts 2:44
All the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belongings with one another.

9. Humility: Children have a complete lack of pride. It show when you correct them, they very quick to say sorry. They have no self pride or prestige & this helps them be very forgiving.

Matthew 18:1-5
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, asking, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?" 2 So Jesus called a child, made him stand in front of them, 3 and said, "I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven. 4 The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child. 5 And whoever welcomes in my name one such child as this, welcomes me.

Since I have spoken so much about being like a child, I would like to emphasize that the Bible does not say become a child it says be like a child especially where humility, honesty, fellowship etc. are concerned. To emphasize this caution I would like to tell you that the Bible does say that we need to be mature where the understanding of our faith in Jesus is concerned.

1Corinthians 13:11 (Apostle Paul to the Church in Corinth)
11 When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I have grown up, I have no more use for childish ways.

I would like to close this post, with a quoting from John 1:12 & 1 John 3:1. This is something no man from any religion in the world can say with conviction. This is a privilege for ONLY those believe in Jesus; that is to be called sons/daughters of God.

John 1:12 (he is Jesus)
12 Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children.

1 John 3:1
1 See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God.

By Fergus Davar (Saved by HIS grace), just a pen in His Hand.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com CHRISTIAN WRITERS
Jesusismylord
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