Children of God
Born again
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[1] John 3:6
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 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
since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 1 Peter 1:23
Regenerated
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Tit. 3:5
Quickened
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved—Ephesians 2:5
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, Col. 2:13
Sons of God
and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Cor. 6:18
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Gal. 3:26
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2
A New Creation
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Cor. 5:17
Who’s your Daddy?
As people a large part of our identity is based in who our parents are. When we are growing up a large part of who we are and how we act is rooted in how our parents treat us, what our parents do for a living, how much time we get to spend with our parents, and other items related to those things. As we get older we begin to develop our own identity; however, that is based on the start that we already God from our parents. The trend continues as we often times will define ourselves off of our parents, finding all of our differences between their views and ours. The same processes may happen regarding thoughts, faith, actions, work-ethic, and tastes. The point is, our identification with our parents is a very strong connection indeed.
As Christians, we find that we have been “born again” when we put our faith in God. It is said of us, at that point, that we are children of God. Does this mean that our earthly parents are no longer our parents? Of course not! God designs for us to continue and love and honor our parents even once we have been called His child.
Why does this matter?
So what does this mean practically for us? Are any earthly parents perfect? No, decidedly not. Most people can talk about their parents faults, flaws, errors and mistakes all day and night. Much of our identity and many of our insecurities will stem from the faults of our parents. We may be concerned that we will absorb some bad habit or character trait that they exhibit; such as a bad temper, an alcohol or drug addiction, or their general demeanor. We may be still hurting form wounds that they inflicted. Words harshly spoken, or abuses of all nature that may have been made. Or simply the fact that the love we need cannot be supplied by them. What is the solution to all of this? Is it to write down a list of everything that you are angry at your parents for? Every failure? Every hurt? Every misspoken word? Probably not. All this will give a person is a sense of Justice, not healing. Fortunately there is amazing news for us who are in Christ.
Children of God
In God, by the riches of His grace, we have as Him, a Father. We are His children. He doesn’t see us through the imperfect eyes of our human parents, but through the perfect love of the Creator God. In Christ God wiped away everything in us that may cause disappointment. When God looks at us He sees us being conformed to the image of Christ, and beloved and pleasing to Him. So when we confront the issues of our past we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our Father in Heaven is pleased with us, our Father in Heaven loves us, our Father in Heaven has forgiven us. It is furthermore true that our Father is not afraid of our failing because HE is the one who has created success in and for us through the person of Jesus Christ!
Born Again
In John 3 Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, a well educated and influential teacher of the law, and He tells Nicodemus that we must be born again. This phrase “born again” has the sense of a new kind of birth. It is not a redo of the birth that we had from our mother, it is a brand new kind of birth. This birth is spiritual. Our physical birth gave us physical life. The new birth gives us spiritual life. A new creature is made and created.
Being born again is very important because all of our old man, everything that existed in our old life was death, broken, ruined and ready for destruction. The person that we were before we put our faith in Christ was not built to last for eternity. There is much more to you than you know. The believer in Christ isn’t just a renewed person, he or she is a new KIND of person altogether!
Regeneration
The creature that we are from our spiritual birth IS built for eternity. This movement from being spiritually dead (separated from god) to being alive (in a permanent relationship with God) is also called “regeneration”. Titus 3:5 tells us about this process.
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Tit. 3:5
“Regeneration” here means new birth, or born again. We find that this is not because of anything that we did but by His mercy and that the Holy Spirit is the agent that washed us and in which we were re-created.
Did you feel that?
This wonderful blessing of the riches of grace are like the others that we have studied so far: it is not rooted in feeling or experience. If we didn’t know that we were born again from Scripture we may not ever have put it together on our own. The reality of all of these things that the Lord tells us about ourselves is that they are true of us REGARDLESS of our feelings or experience at the moment. So why study them? Do they make any difference?
Just as we are saved by faith alone so we must walk by faith alone. Our lives are a continuing journey of learning what the Lord says and learning to put our faith more and more into Him. Salvation came by believing that Christ’s sacrifice was powerful to save us and restore us to a relationship with God. Our Christian life is a process of growing to believe what God has already done in Christ and has said to be true of us.
Application
This is an amazing vital truth, and the applications are innumerable, as this truth will have an application in every area of our life, every situation we face and every relationship we are involved in. But here are some thoughts to get you started with.
- Your Identity – anytime you find yourself wondering who you are, and who you are to be, you can realize that you already know who you are: you are a child of God.
- Your Security – When you are overwhelmed with insecurities and fears you can trust very surely that the Lord is going to take care of you because He has claimed you as His child at His expense.
- Your Value - You need not ever be concerned, worried, or despairing about feeling unloved, undervalued, or un cared for. God has called you His child, and as the perfect Father, He loves His children. You are greatly loved.
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