Part 3 Freedom and Sonship
Fatherhood & Sonship
Freedom and Sonship
Bruce Billington
Sons and Heirs
Galatians 4:6 – “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Why did Paul not say “sons and daughters” here?
In Biblical times the eldest son received a double portion of the inheritance when the parents passed away. With this came a lot of responsibilities which included looking after the family and making financial provision for them.
It was the role of husbands and fathers to provide for the women of their households. The women often gave birth to many children and were constantly involved in the role of caring for and nurturing them – often in a communal basis with the other women of their tribe. Although it was not forbidden, it was not common for them to be income earners.
When a marriage took place, most women were joined with the family and tribe of their new husband and so became a co-inheritor with him. They were not excluded at all. The men did most of the labour, bringing food and income to the family while the women nurtured the children and took care of most of the household duties.
But these roles were not rigid or enforced. In Joshua 15 we are told that Caleb’s married daughter came and petitioned Caleb for an inheritance which he granted. This was despite the fact that Caleb had 3 living sons – Iru, Elah and Naam (1 Chronicles 4:15).
In the New Covenant, God stepped in and radically declared that men and women are one in Christ, equally privileged and exalted co-heirs together (Galatians 3:28; 1 Peter 3:7).
The hearers of Paul’s message of the day understood sonship and all that it entailed, so hearing that God had given both males and females the status of sons would have come as quite a surprise.
In God’s kingdom, both men and women receive the full inheritance through faith in Him. We, who were once slaves, are not only sons, but heirs of God.
As sons of God, we don’t receive just any inheritance. Ours is far better than any worldly or material inheritance in both its scope and its span. The scope of our inheritance is the very kingdom of God. John Piper writes,
“Our inheritance as children of God includes at least this: the world and all that is in it; God himself as our final and ultimate portion and reward; and new, glorified bodies that can enjoy more fully and deeply God and his gifts with no hint of idolatry.”
By referring to sonship for both males and females the New Covenant scriptures are ensuring both genders get the fullness of the inheritance, that, in the Old Covenant was given only to the eldest son.
Part 3 Freedom and Sonship
The Issue of Freedom
John 8:36 – “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Often, we measure our freedom by the number of restraints that have been removed from us. Although this sounds good, it actually stops in the place where it should start.
In the Kingdom of God, we need to consider freedom on the basis not just of what we are free FROM but what we are now free TO DO!! When we become a child of God, we become a whole new creation with a new sense of identity; a new sense of belonging and a whole new sense of purpose. We become part of the family of God and our identity gets built from the role of sonship.
To quote Peter we are now A CHOSEN RACE, A ROYAL, PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; (1 Peter 2:9).
Being a new creation means we can DO things that have never been done before. The world has never seen or experienced anything like us before. The Holy Spirit is given, and the life-giving process of transformation, or being formed into the image of Christ, begins to work in us – at this point Jesus is able to say to us
“If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father” (John 14).
Our true identity in life is found in Christ, in the form of sonship and gets built into us as we journey with Him and grow in maturity.
Son V Slave
A slave is never free. He or she can be sold at any time to a new owner and the slavery continues. But it is different for a son. Once a son always a son – and when a son comes of age he can act in the household with authority.
Why? Partly because his father has empowered him to do so – but it goes further than that – he knows the way of the Father. Only sons know the way of the father – slaves don’t.
This is not about sin!! Yes – sin enslaves us – but if we take upon ourselves the mantle of a son – as given to all who are in Christ – we have full authority over sin and the powers of darkness. But this is not the end or even the means to the end – sin was defeated so we can be free to do the will of the Father.
In John 8 Jesus does not dispute the fact that the people are the descendants of Abraham. But He states that it is not enough to claim anything on the basis of who our parents are or may have been. Flesh and blood cannot reveal the heart of the Father to us.
It is only Jesus who can call us and empower us to be a demonstration of what He gave His life for – which is the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the true Son of God and God’s true sons and daughters recognise that, bond to Him and endeavour to be like Him. We need to understand that Jesus forgives sin but despises hypocrisy – may God help us know the difference.
Our Identity
As a result of this, our identity has been deliberately placed somewhere. It is not in the ways of the world, or our sexual preference, or in what we like, or the things we own – or even what we put on Facebook. It is only found in Christ and grows in us as we embrace His ways as sons of the Father.
John 1:12–13 – “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John here reveals that those who believe in the Father through the Son, are no longer born of the flesh and subject to the law, nor are they subject to what has happened in their family through past generations. Their primary identity is that they are the beloved children of the heavenly Father and the fruit of their lives will now reflect this.
It is from here that we draw our identity which is based on a true intimate relationship with the Father. If we are to embrace His offer of sonship, we need to make our relationship with Him consistent with that.
In a good home, children talk confidently and trustfully to their loving parents with whatever is on their minds. We need to do the same in our relationship with our Father. Yes, we need to share our hardships and challenges with Him, but we should also share our joys, achievements, and delights with Him as well because as a loving Father He desires to be intimately involved in every aspect of our lives.
Bring Him your requests by all means – but don’t only do that – that’s what servants do with their masters. We are sons and daughters – we need to become bonded to God in a two-way relationship of love and respect. We pour out our hearts to God as we do with all those whom we are in a covenant relationship with. We don’t coerce God – we try and both talk and listen and see if we can line our heart up with His. We are called to a mission – a lifetime of working with Him as Father, to achieve His purposes in our lifetime.
Get To Know Him
If God is truly our Father and we are His sons and daughters, we need to get to know Him. This takes time. It is like any friendship or relationship – we have to invest in getting to know one another. The more we get to know God the more we will love Him – the true essence of this is when we love Him, not for His gifts or His grace or what He does for us. We just love Him because of His beauty and majesty and holiness and that He never changes. We love His presence and never want to be without it.
As this unfolds – not only do we get on a journey of discovery of who God is – we also discover who we are – we are now on the way to becoming the person God always intended us to be. God is working to build sonship into us.
Listen to this.
Romans 8:14-17 – “14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Our identity is proclaimed right here. We are freed from a merely human, powerless, or meaningless life – TO – a life of purpose and calling.
We are here by divine appointment and divine assignment (John 1:12; Ephesians 2:10). We are here by command of our Father and told by Him to occupy until He comes which means we are the present custodians of this planet. This was always God’s intention for humanity. It can now be achieved in this lifetime and our identity is discovered as we do it.
We have the same inheritance that the Son has. All that belongs and is available to Him is also available to us today. God includes us in His plans and purposes, and listens to our requests and suggestions. He communes with us and gives us insight to His nature, character, and His ways.
This means that the relationship that the Son and the Father have always enjoyed together has now been extended to include us and the Holy Spirit is testifying constantly to our spirit that we are the sons of God (V16) – how does He? – well it is easy because He lives within us – He goes everywhere with us – we don’t have to find Him – He is right here.
Conclusion
The Father knows who you are – all of creation knows who you are – even the devil has some idea of who you are – so it is time each of us truly discovered who we are and what we are empowered to do and then we need to get on with it.
We must understand that we are now creators of the world not products of it. We are empowered to bring change to it. We don’t have a spirit of slavery anymore (V15). We are a new creation and the whole of creation longs for us to rise up and be released into this and then release it – this is our mission and calling.
Every day we are called into a fresh and intimate relationship with Father and every day we are empowered from this to be life changers. When we meet with others, we can bring life to them in all sorts of ways. We may not be aware of it, but it will happen regardless. His life flows through us – and the whole of creation cries out for this to be expressed. The heart of God is bound up in this fact.
“I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:18).
This is the true essence of “who am I?”.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington