Walking With God part 4

Who are You?

Introduction:

1. Ask the congregation; Who Are You?   Let them answer!!!
2. March of 2002 82% of Americans would claim to be Christian
1. From the “Pew Research Council” 2,002 people surveyed.
2. In 2000 it was 85%.  These numbers also include different divisions within Christianity, including Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Latter-day Saints, African Indigenous Churches and others.
3. I couldn’t find a statistic for True Evangelical Born again Believers.
3. The term “Children of God” in our circles has become such a common term that it isn’t always understood.
4. Even in our world “God’s children” has become a common description. 
1. Unless the person is an Atheist most people would say that we are all God’s children and if you are good enough you will go to heaven.
2. We know that this isn’t the case…

                                                              i.      We are not all “Children of God”

                                                            ii.      We were not born into God’s family.

                                                          iii.      We were born SINNERS

                                                          iv.      God in is great love and mercy Adopted you into his family.

1. My home pastor would always use the illustration of his own family.

                                                              i.      His mother died at his birth.

                                                            ii.      His step-mother adopted him.

                                                          iii.      She didn’t have to accept him, but she chose to adopt him and love him as her own

                                                          iv.      When we have children, we don’t get to pick them they are born ours, but if you were adopted or if you have adopted a child you actually selected that child or your parents chose YOU.

                                                            v.      He always said how much that meant to him that she chose to adopt him because he understood that she didn’t have to.

                                                          vi.      This is the same thing that God did for you…  He chose YOU!!!

1. So when you think of it that way, who adopted you, whose child are you, that is the answer to the question “Who Are You?” #. If you asked Prince William who he was, I doubt that he would say “I am a Student”.  He would say:
1. “I am the son of the Prince of Wales”
2. “I am 2nd in line to the throne.”
3. “I am going to inherit everything my father will have someday.”
2. That is who he is…  And that is who you are…
1. You are the son or daughter of the King, the living God.
2. You are an inheritor of the kingdom that is to come.
3. We are “Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod”

                                                              i.      To quote “The Family of God”

1. So that is who you are

                                                              i.      You are a child of God. 

                                                            ii.      Not because you were born his child and now he is stuck with you but because He saw you and loved you so much that he adopted you into his family. 

                                                          iii.      By doing this He wrote you into his will.

                                                          iv.      One nice thing about his “Will” is that we don’t have to wait for him to die to receive it, or we would NEVER get it.

1.      We are heirs right now and when we die we will then join Him in all his glory.

Read 1 John 3:1-7

Outline:

I         “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called Children of God!” (1)

A      John begins by reminding us that it is a great privilege that God has called us His Children

1        Why has he done that?

2        It is because of His great Love

3        He looked at me and loved me.

4        Even before I knew Him as my Savior.

5        While I was still His enemy.

6        Rom. 5:6-8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

7        Why?  Because He is Love!!!

8        The Bible gives us many attributes of God and we could list many of them but The Bible also says that God IS Love.

9        So when you come to God whether it be here tonight for a service or when you go to him privately to confess your sins you are going to a God who Loves you passionately

a         We should not fear Him.

b        So many Christians will say that they know that God loves them but then act like they don’t believe it.

B       Because of his Love and only by his love can he call us his Children.  He has named us after his son; we are his, joint heirs with Jesus.

C       There is something in a name.

1        We have lost that in modern times but in times gone by parents very commonly named their children for attributes that they hoped they would develop

a         For example:  faith, hope, charity, grace

b        Even today parents will name their children after Bible names.

2        Names do matter and even Christ renamed Simon – Peter which meant Rock!

3        God has called us his Children with the desire that we will grow into the character of his Son.

John Continues:

II      “And that is what we are.” (1)

A      What a statement.   Think about that for a minute… Isn’t it amazing that God would call us his own?

B       We are children of God, as his children we are following in his footsteps

C       That is why John says:

III   “The reason the world does not know us is because it did not know him.” (1)

A      We are his children.

B       Sometimes we think that when life gets really tough that God has abandoned us.

1        “If he really loved me, everything would be OK all the time.”

2        But that is not the case.

3        John 15:18-21 This is Christ Speaking:  “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.  They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.”

4        The world hated Jesus, it killed him.  And now we are in his family.

a         As we become more like him, the world will hate us more and more.

b        This should be our goal… to be more like Jesus.

IV   “But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (2)

A      One day, if we are children of God, we will be like Jesus.

B       We will share in his love, his joy, his grace, his freedom, his sensitivity, his creativity, his appetite for wonder, etc. 

C       We will be like him, perfect!

Application:

God has adopted us into his family.  He has called us his children.  You and I are        children of the King.  How then should we live?  Three things should flow from         this wonderful act of God.

I         Live in purity!  John Says:

A      “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure…  No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.” (3 & 6a)

1        If we are truly God Children we are to live in purity – that is to say that we are to do our best to be just like Jesus – Perfect.

2        We know that that is impossible this side of the grave, but that should not stop us from trying our very best.

3        We will all sin but the idea here is that we should become less sinful.

4        We should “Sin Less” as a sign of the wonderful work that God is doing in each and every one of his children.

5        Phil. 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

B       What are the sins that you struggle with in your own life?  Pride? Anger? Greed? Bitterness? Un-forgiveness? Lack of Love?

C       Ask God to show you.

D      Ask Him to forgive you.

E       Then ask him to help you become more and more like him by the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

II      Live as Family!

A      Think about this…  If I am God’s child, and you are God’s child, then that makes us… family, right?

B       What does it mean to be a family?

1        We’re supposed to treat each other with love, friendship and generosity.

2        We’re supposed to spend time together, doing things together.

3        When things go wrong, we should be there to for each other.

4        When we disagree we’re supposed to forgive each other.

C       Parents I am sure that you would love it if your children would ALWAYS act this way with their siblings!

D      Why would God expect any less from his children than we do of ours?

E       Now I know that it would be difficult for all 100 of us here at Nottingham Baptist Church to do this all the time, I mean to do things together all the time but we are capable to be there for each other.  To encourage each other.  To love each other.

F        So let’s be a Family!

III   Live with confidence!

A      Do you think that Prince William skulks around wondering if he is going to be ignored, or picked on? 

1        Being the son of the king or future king has its advantages

2        He knows who he is and that gives him confidence.

B       Let’s go back to where we started.

1        Who are you?  Who am I?

2        We are children of the King.

3        We aren’t destroyed by the things of the world.

4        We aren’t defeated by other people, circumstances, not even by our own mistakes and failings.

5        We aren’t frightened of the future.

6        We aren’t even scared of dying.           WHY NOT!!!

a         Because we are children of the king.

b        We’ve been chosen, adopted by God into his family.

7        It is a fact that is so amazing that when you really grasp that concept your life will never be the same again.  God picked me!  I am his son.

8        Not because of who I was but because of who God has made me, and who he is making me into.

C       Illustration of the Golden Gate Bridge…    Eternal security!!!

1        1st part, no safety equipment, 23 people fell to their deaths

2        Then they had a safety net, 10 men fell but were saved.

3        Also 25% more work was done after the nets and safety equipment was used.

4        Why?  Because they had confidence on their job.

D      We should have a great confidence being God’s Children, that is who we are!

Let’s close by singing Hymn # 282 “The Family of God”