CHILD OF GOD
Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17
“All
those led by God’s Spirit are God’s children.”
The
passage from the gospel of John is so familiar to us, that I thought I would
preach on Paul’s letter to the Romans instead. I don’t know if that frustrates you
or elates you, but let’s see what happens!
The question that pops out at me from this section of
Romans is this one: Do you know who you
are? Perhaps you’re thinking right now, “That’s silly; why are you asking that? I know who I am, and YOU know who
I am!” I would say that you’re half right. It is possible, probably probable,
that I know who you are more than most of you know who you are.
How many thought of your name first? There’s something
about you that is much more important than your name. It’s whose child you are:
You are a child of God. “Maya Angelou once told an interviewer, ‘"When I
found that I knew not only that there was God but that I was a child of God,
when I understood that, when I comprehended that, more than that, when I
internalized that, ingested that, I became courageous."[1]
Can’t you just hear her saying those words, deep
voice, the rhythm and pause of a poet, the wisdom of a saint, a speaker of
Truth.
Paul wants the Romans—and all followers of Jesus
Christ—to live up to their heritage as Children of God. Not an impersonal God
have we, but a loving, interpersonal, invested, sacrificial parent who gave his
only begotten Son to the world—the place of the flesh—so that all the other
sons and daughters would inherit the greatest gift God has to give: eternal
life.
That’s what it says in John 3:16. Children of God
should not perish, God desires that all of his children have everlasting life.
What does it mean to be a child of God? The first
thing, perhaps the most important thing, is that God will forever watch over
and care for you. Being a child of God is not a sometimes-on, sometimes-off
relationship. No, being a child of God is being in a permanent relationship
with the Almighty. You cannot leave it, even if you wanted to. God never, ever
let’s go.
Paul writes of our adoption by God, but it’s not the
kind of adoption with which we are familiar. In Roman society adoption gave a
child the full rights of a biological child. So when the parents died, their
estate was divided among all the children, biological and adopted alike. Paul’s
point is that since we are children of God we are also heirs to all that God
has to give.
To be a child of God also means that God knows exactly
who you are—you do not have to be born again for God; you are a child of the
God who knows you—inside and out, hair by hair, cell for cell, gene for gene. I
wish God did not know me through and through sometimes, but that’s what repentance
is for, that’s what my brother Jesus accomplished on the cross, and that’s why
grace is such a gift…we do not deserve it, but God desires to grant it.
There is one Father Boyle, a Jesuit, who works with
gang members in East Los Angeles. This priest has put together a team of
physicians trained to use lasers to remove tattoos. The process of tattoo
removal is extremely painful—they say it’s like having hot grease poured onto
their skin. So why do they want it done? Why did Father Boyle call in the team
of doctors?
Think about this: when a tattoo is removed from an
ex-gang member, it’s like the member is having his or her slate wiped
clean—they’re set free, perhaps you could even say, they are born again.
There’s nothing about going back into a mother’s womb
to be born again, it’s about being transformed, receiving not a new lease on
life, but a new peace in one’s life. The tattoo gives way to a birth mark—God’s
mark imprinted on the heart of each person who endures the pain that it will
take in order to be transformed. In Father Boyle’s mission, the young men and
women receive a new identity—child of God.
One more thing about being a child of God: true
freedom is knocking at your door. There’s a common retreat activity called,
“Speaking Truth to Lies.” Participants
are asked to write down on index cards two or three lies about themselves that
they needed to get rid of. Not lies like, My hair is blonde, or I’ve lost 30
pounds in 30 days. “These are lies we live our lives by; lies that we die
little deaths by:”[2] “I
don’t have a problem with alcohol or drugs.” “I grew up in a loving home”; “My
marriage is fulfilling.”
These lies hold us captive when God created his
children to be free, to speak truth about God and about themselves.
Friends
these lies mess up our understanding of who we are. They keep us obligated to
living in the flesh, according to the flesh, which means we will die for a LIE!
That is about as absurd at Nicodemus trying to figure out how to be literally
born again. Listen, The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirt that
we are God’s children, and one by one a child of God.
Write this on your hearts! I am a child of God: God is
in a permanent relationship with me; he is always watching over me. God knows
me through and through, better than I know myself. If I ask for forgiveness, he
will grant me grace. God gave me my true identity; his mark is already on me. I
belong to God always and forever.
Child of God, God wants you to be brave in this world
so that you can share his love with those who don’t yet know who they are, let
alone whose they are. It’s a lightning-strike, exhilarating moment when we
realize bone for bone, double-helix for double-helix that one is a child of
God. When we understand that, when we comprehend that, and more than that, when
we internalize that, ingest that, we, like Maya Angelou, will find courage—the
courage to heal, the courage to love, the courage to “cry out, Abba, Father”
(Romans 8:15b), “I am your child!
“Teach me the things of heaven that I will, in broad
daylight and not under the cover of darkness, rejoice to preach the good news
of John 3:16, for that’s what it truly means to be a beloved child of God! It’s
so good to know who I am!” Amen.
May 31, 2015/First Parish Federated
Church of South Berwick, ME / The Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
