The Blessing of Sonship
The Blessing of Sonship
Bruce Billington
Introduction
In this message we are going to cover the second blessing that Paul mentions is Ephesians 1. It is about our destiny as the sons of God.
Ephesians 1:5-6 – “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
What does it mean to be a son of God?
The last verse in the Old Testament is Malachi 4:6. It says,“He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
This sets the scene and the foundation for the New Covenant. This Covenant will be based on the relationship between a Father and a Son. It begins with God the Father’s relationship with Christ the Son but extends beyond that, to us.
When Jesus enters this scene and is baptised, the first recorded words we hear from God the Father are: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
It is important to note here, that the commendation of the Father comes to the Son before Jesus has done anything. This was at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, not the end. The Father’s pleasure in each of His children is based on who we are, not what we do.
We see right from the start that the essence of this Kingdom is love – a love that extends through the Father and His Son – it reaches out to all who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
Explanation
The word “sonship” in the New Covenant applies both to male and female. It is not a gender term – we tend use it exclusively because part of it refers to what the first-born son was given in the nation of Israel. Obviously, it extends further than that, but we cannot remain relevant to the Old Covenant unless we use it this way.
- Abba Father
Jesus’ favourite term for addressing God was “Abba”. This is a very warm Aramaic word that is inadequately translated in English as “Dear Father”. No translator has even touched this word – it is so unique that it is always left in its Aramaic language. It has no perfect equivalent in any language and no description is sufficient to express it.
It referred to such a close, intimate relationship with God that when Jesus proclaimed it, the Jewish leaders accused Him of blasphemy and were seeking to kill Him (John 5:18).
Their reason was it implies a oneness with God that no one before Christ had ever been given, and in Jewish thinking, a oneness that no one ever could be given. It is very different to being a most favoured people or race. It actually denotes being part of the Trinity.
Nowhere before, in either the Scriptures or Jewish literature, had this word been used to address God. The concept of sonship is unique to the New Covenant. No one, before the coming of Christ, was given the right to call God Father and no one would have dared claim that.
Yet in Matthew 11:27, Jesus not only claims the right to address God as Father Himself, but also introduces Him to His followers, in the same way. All the love, grace and favour Christ shares with the Father is made available to all those in Christ as well.
This is beautifully expressed in 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.”
This is the gift given to all who have accepted Christ – it is not a blood thing – it is a choice thing made by God and offered to us. It is bonded by love and caused by God coming down from above and saying “I desire to make you my true son (or daughter).
With the title sonship comes not only intimacy and relationship, but it also means that we are made partakers of the Divine nature and all that stands for. It is a wonderful act of love and grace that is totally undeserved.
1 John 3:1 – “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”
Galatians 3:26 – “we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
God wants nothing less for us than to enter into such a relationship with Him. Yes, we are called to serve, and even to enslave ourselves to Him, but only after knowing Him as our Father, the one who has called us forth as sons and daughters.
The Apostle Paul took this wonderful truth and developed it in some depth in Romans 8 and Galatians 4. He makes the point that because we too can call God “Abba,” we also share a common sonship and a common inheritance with Him in Christ. It means all that Christ is and enjoys before God is also granted to us. All that Christ is entitled to, we are entitled to as well.
The Prodigal Son
This concept is beautifully illustrated by Jesus, in the Parable of the prodigal son – Luke 15. The son takes his inheritance, goes out and squanders it on frivolous things and then, when it is all gone, ends up working with pigs in a foreign place. He decides to come home and ask his father if he could become part of the hired help.
Luke 15:20-21 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.An important point to observe here is that the father runs to his son, embraces and kisses him before the son offers his confession not after. The father is not stimulated to offer grace by the actions of the wayward son. The grace offered is not conditional – it comes from the Father’s heart and is unconditional. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
Notice how the son does not ask to become a hired servant here, because, after such an offer of amazing unconditional grace, any attempt to refuse the restoration, or make any offer of compensation would be an insult. The father’s acceptance is given unconditionally. The son realises he is totally dependent on the father’s mercy. His only appropriate response is “I am no longer worthy to be your son.” The father’s welcome is clearly an outpouring of grace and a visible demonstration of love.
After the older son complains about the way the father accepted his wayward brother, the father says.
“But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found.’” (V32).
The key to the Parable is the love of the Father for all humanity. At any time, anyone can approach Him with the desire to come back home – to the place God always intended us to be. The parable demonstrates that sonship clearly trumps servanthood.
Sonship Trumps Servanthood
Although the New Testament teaches extensively about servanthood, we need to understand that our privilege of being called to be sons comes before God calls us into servanthood.
The pleasure He draws from us comes from our being before our doing. God does commend us for our actions but as Jeremiah 17:10 tells us, He also searches our hearts for the motives that lie behind everything we do. This is to do with our being. It holds a higher place in the Kingdom of God than what we do. The main point of difference between sonship and servanthood is very significant, as outlined in the second key principle that we will now have a look at.
Key Principle 2 – Sons receive an inheritance – servants receive wages.
Those who embrace servanthood alone, are always seeking rewards as opposed the true sons who are seeking to build up the inheritance, knowing that they are joint heirs of it. The rewards, although beneficial, take on a much lesser importance. Here are two insightful questions to consider:
- How often have you done something and then expected the Lord to bless you because of it?
- How often have you consciously or unconsciously sought rewards or acknowledgment from people or from God, for your actions or activities?
Such an attitude reflects the heart of a servant. Sons do not need to be rewarded because they know they will be the ultimate heirs to all things.
What Are Wages ?
Wages include such things as popularity, acceptance, self-glorification, fame, materialism, financial rewards, promotion, healing, power, and anointing.
Now, used in the right way, these things may be okay in themselves, but they should not be what motivate us or what we receive our identity from. We have something far greater.
Revelation 21:7 – “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”
Significantly, the final consummation of the ages will bring us into the ultimate relationship with God: that of a son. Sonship is the ultimate state for humanity and the ultimate role that can be entered into with God.
Conclusion
This great blessing is that we are offered the deep privilege of the Father making us as sons – we are offered true sonship that is no different than the special relationship Jesus demonstrated with the Father when He came to earth.
The Gospels have a wealth of teaching both about the relationship of the Father to the Son and about how a true Son relates to the Father. Speaking to this Jesus says, in His great prayer to the Father in John 17, that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me (V21).
All Jesus teaching on this subject was drawn from His earthly experiences. He demonstrated it all at our level. The greatest thing Jesus desires is for us to come into the same relationship with the Father that He had on earth – and of course still does. It is as relevant today for us as it was then for Him.
God bless,
Bruce Billington