Slaves, Sons, Heirs

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Intro

This morning we will be continuing to look at Romans 8. Over the last several weeks we have been looking at the Holy Spirit and the impact of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Although I have only been following Jesus for about 12 years, I have to agree with Pastor that the Holy Spirit has often been neglected and forgotten in our churches. And if the Holy Spirit has been acknowledged in our circles, He is depicted as an impersonal force or just a lighting rod to receive things from God. There was a book that came out while I was in college called “Forgotten God” that explored how much we have regulated the Holy Spirit into the back burner of our lives and ministries.
However the New Testament church was a church that was alive in the power of the Holy Spirit. I am not just speaking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, though I am convinced we need the baptism in the Spirit more than ever these days. I am not just talking about the other spiritual gifts, though I believe that God intends us all to be operating in the gifts of the Spirit. The New Testament describes a life full of the Spirits power, not only in gifts, but in boldness to be witnesses for Christ, to live a life free from the power of sin, to be able to hear the voice of the Lord leading us and giving wisdom through His word. Teaching us. We often settle for so much less that God has promised us through His Spirit.
Specifically this morning I want us to take a look at what Romans 8:14-17 the “Spirit of Adoption”. Paul goes to great lengths to be sure that this truth is understood and clear to the Roman church. As we walk through this passage this morning we will see that Romans 8:14-17 shows our progression from Slaves to Sin, to Sons of God, to Heirs to the Kingdom.
Pray

Slaves

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again

Right from the beginning of the passage, Paul makes a very direct and powerful statement: those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
That word “led by” is ago which carries this idea of being lead or brought along. Have you ever been brought along somewhere. Has your child ever taken you by the hand and pulled your somewhere? Or has someone ever escorted you to a destination? This is the idea that Paul is using for the Spirit. He has this idea that for a Christian, the Spirit is our guide or escort through our life. He is bringing us along in the way of Jesus. And if this is true of you, if the Spirit of God is leading you then Romans tells us that we are God’s children. Being children of God is crucial to this text, and we’ll get around to there, but first I want us to look at Romans 8:15 first:

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again

Do you hear that? The Holy Spirit doesn’t make us slaves, so that you live in fear again. Again? Why again? I believe this is rooted in the Genesis story because later in Romans 8 (18-23) Paul connects the idea of God’s children and creation.

So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground

I don’t really have time to dive too deep into these passages right now, but when God created the world it was good because it was under God’s rule and humans were ruling with God. All was well when they were lead by God. However, we know from Genesis 3 that the serpent questioned God’s word by asking “Did God really say?”. He was attacking the truthfulness and faithfulness of God’s word, and caused both Adam and Eve to choose apart from God. You see we were designed and meant to be ruled by God and to rule alongside of Him. The irony is that in our attempt to be rid of God and make our own choice, we came under the rule of a different authority: sin and death.
Because of this they became cursed because they no longer were under the rule of God. They now were under the law of sin and death. The half truth that the serpent under delivered what he told Adam and Eve, because sin will always under deliver what it promises, and they became slaves. The ground they were meant to work now worked them, and the desire to rule that God gave mankind was now twisted and used to oppress people and spread injustice.
just read the book of Genesis, or really the entire Bible for that matter, and you will see Genesis 3, the fall of man and the rise of sin, on repeat over and over and over again.
Now circle back, this is why Paul is addressing that the Spirit of God isn’t going to put you back into slavery. Because all that mankind has known is a world full of sin that under delivers, destroys lives, and keeps us down. But this is not so with God. The Spirit causes us to live how God always intended us to live.

Sons

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

Let’s move Romans 8:15-16. Paul says instead of we have been brought into sonship. He is pulling on a concept that is very powerful and was common in the Roman world.
In the Roman culture of the day, the fathers of the household had almost limitless power over his children. He could force marriages or divorces, they could abandon them during infancy (which a Roman child was considered an infant until around age 7), or disown them. A child was not a legitimate son unless the father gave the right for the son to call him father.
However, adoption in the Roman culture gives us a powerful picture of our relationship with God. In Roman culture, the adopted person list all rights of the old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate child in the family. He became a full heir to the father’s estate.
Paul is saying that God has adopted those who have believed the Gospel, and has given us full access to God and His Kingdom. We gain all the privileges and responsibilities of a child in God’s family. Because of this, our identity is rooted in being a child of God. There no longer is a need to live in fear of being abandoned or left along, because God has given us the Spirit of adoption! Listen to what Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy

As children of God we are chosen by Him. We didn’t stumble into God’s family by mistake, we were chosen! Once we were fatherless, but now we have a Father. However, it gets better. Look at the end of Romans 8:15
“And by him we cry, “Abba, Father”.
Abba was the Aramaic word for Father and it was an affectionate term for the father. Jesus taught us to pray to God as our Abba, our Father. But this Father isn’t a cold, distant father. He isn’t a father who is too busy for us, or one that we don’t know. God is a Father, an Abba, who is deeply loves his children, and is deeply affectionate to his children.
I know that we can often impose our experience of our earthly fathers on to God our Father. But hear this word this morning, God is the great and true Father. Despite whether your father on earth was a bad or great Father, God is infinitely and categorically different. He is deeply moved and affectionate to His children.
The Spirit testifies to this truth to us continually. We often feel like we aren’t worthy. Or we doubt if we are saved. Or we are unsure if we really are God’s children. But Romans 8 tells us that the Spirit of God who resides in us, continually testifies to us that we truly are God’s children. This a permanent proclamation that will not change, we are God’s children.
“All too often a believer may come to the point of doubting his salvation because his sanctification has proceeded so slowly and so lamely. The Spirit, however, does not base his assuring testimony on progress or lack of it in the Christian life. He does not lead us to cry, “I am God’s child.” Rather, he leads us to call upon God as Father, to look away from ourselves to him who established the relationship” - The Expositors Bible Commentary: Frank E. Gaebelein)

Heirs

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Let’s read this last section in Romans 8:17
Remember the illustration of the Roman adoption. In Roman culture, the adopted person list all rights of the old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate child in the family. He became a full heir to the father’s estate.
Paul is saying that God has adopted those who have believed the Gospel, and has given us full access to God and His Kingdom. We gain all the privileges and responsibilities of a child in God’s family. The glorious reality for the children of God is that God intends to restore the ruling and reigning relationship that was shared in the Garden of Eden.
I truly believe that we undersell what the age to come will truly be. It seems like we are going to have responsibility and some kind of ruling/reigning with God.
We will worship for eternity, but remember what that entailed in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve worshipped God by obeying, working that land, and caring for creation. They advanced God’s image and rule all over the world. Their entire life was their worship. I had a friend once tell me that age to come won’t be a diminishing of anything that is good in this age. I love that.
As God’s adopted children, we are heirs to that kingdom. That glorious kingdom where there will be true justice, and all things will be made right. We will be with God. And somehow, we are co-heirs with Christ. That is OUR inheritance.
But there is a cost for our future inheritance. This isn’t like scratching off the lottery ticket and we suddenly are rich. Paul tells us that we will be co-heirs with Christ “if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory”.
We often in our society are looking to alleviate and avoid suffering. The idea of suffering is a scary prospect in our society. Although I don’t think the Bible says that suffering in and of itself is good, Scripture does teach us that suffering is not a waste. Christ Himself told us that we will suffer when we follow Him in our world, but He has overcome. That means that we can also overcome through Him.
Paul calls us to consider our suffering in light of eternity:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God

Notice that Paul doesn’t say suffering isn’t real, or isn’t hard, or isn’t painful. But Scripture calls us to adopt a view of the age to come in Christ that puts any and all suffering in a light that looks awfully dim. No matter how great the suffering may be in our life here on earth, it doesn’t even begin to compare to the future that we are destined for through Jesus.

Conclusion: The World Needs God’s Children

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God

I want to end by looking at Romans 8:19-21
Creation is eagerly waiting for the sons and daughters of God to inherit the future that is promised by God. It was not only mankind that suffered in the fall in Genesis 3, it was the entire creation. We can see this all over the world. As we look at pictures of times past, we can see the beauty fading from the world as cities are built up, and landscapes are changed. We have a world who hungers and thirsts for justice and things to be right, but nobody can agree on how to achieve it.
This is where I think it is so pertinent for us as the people of God to live as citizens and representatives of the age to come. Because we know the way to the glorious future that everyone truly longs for deep in their heart. We have been given the commission to make disciples and welcome more people into this inheritance and future. The world needs Christians to live like God’s children. To live like heirs to this future Kingdom.
Although we know that the world will never truly be redeemed and liberated from the curse sin until Jesus returns to establish his kingdom, we have an opportunity to live now like His kingdom is already here. If we do that, we can see more of God’s kingdom advance in this world, and we can see more of the lost souls in this world find their freedom and sonship in God.
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