This reading comes from Romans chapter 5 and 8.
Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.
In Romans 5 verse 8 we read,
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood,
much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
for whom we have now received reconciliation.
Then in chapter 8 verse 14 we read,
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons,
by whom we cry, Abba, Father.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
This is the word of God. Amen.
Great. Thank you so much, Justin, and good morning, everybody.
It is wonderful to be back with you this morning.
If you don't know me, my name is Kevin, one of the leaders here,
and it really is a joy to be able to speak to us this morning,
to bring us God's word.
I am very excited for what we're going to be looking at this morning.
I have been praying for us all week.
As Angie said, we prayed for us as a church this morning,
and I really am full of excitement and anticipation as we look at God's word today.
I wonder if you would just join me as we pray for a few minutes.
Let's come before our Father.
We don't need to hear my words or opinion.
We want to hear God speaking to us,
and let's ask him to speak to us from his word.
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father.
Thank you, God, that you, the creator of the universe,
you're the one who billions of years ago brought the universe into being,
who hung the stars in space, God,
the one who knows infinitely more about our universe and our galaxies,
the way the cosmos works than we ever will.
And yet, God, you come to us this morning,
and you invite us to call you Father.
God, we pray to you this morning.
We so need you.
Every one of us, God, needs you in a variety of ways.
We need you to minister to us, to speak to us,
to encourage us, to remind us of your love,
to build us up, to bring us back to you.
God, we come before you this morning because we need you.
We don't come to hear a prep talk.
We don't come to hear a motivational speech.
We don't come to listen, to go through a religious motion or activity.
We've come to encounter the living God
and to have you speak to us from your word.
And so, God, I pray, won't you send the Spirit of Jesus into our hearts today.
Won't you fill us and flood us with the love of God the Father,
Christ the Son, Holy Spirit.
Won't you open our eyes to see you and to see ourselves in you.
God, for those of us that don't know you this morning,
won't you draw us to yourself.
God, with so much going on in our world, in our city,
so much uncertainty, this morning we come and we find our rest in you.
As Angie said earlier, God, won't you arrest any sort of orphan mentality in our hearts
and bring us back into the heart of the Father, we pray.
God, come and have your way this morning.
We pray this in your wonderful and your gracious name.
Amen.
Now, we are going through the series, Gospel Orthodoxy,
and we are using the imagery of the human body,
just as the human body needs a skeleton or framework
in order to bring strength and mobility and ability to it.
In the same way, for those of us that are followers of Jesus,
we need a theological framework, a skeleton,
a backbone that is strong,
in order for us to be spiritually healthy and vibrant.
A human body that has a brittle skeleton or backbone
is one that is not going to be very mobile or healthy in the long term.
And in the same way, when we neglect or are not strong in understanding the Gospel
and who we are in God, what Christ has done for us on the cross,
it can lead to a spiritual superficiality.
And so we're going through this series because we want to be those that are rooted and anchored
and are spiritually healthy for decades to come.
Now, as we start off, I want to ask us just two questions.
For those of us maybe that are not followers of Jesus,
maybe you consider yourself a spiritual seeker or a skeptic,
maybe you're still exploring the claims of Christ,
I want to ask you this question.
What do you think Christianity is all about?
If someone says,
Christianity, what comes to your mind?
Maybe for those of us that are followers of Jesus,
because I want to ask you this question.
How do you think God feels about you right now?
We'll come back to those questions in a bit.
Two weeks ago, Chris spoke to us about the great doctrine of justification,
which says that for those of us that have come to Christ in faith and repentance,
that's the key.
God, we are no longer in the category of sinners.
We are in the category of the righteous.
We are no longer in the category of guilty or condemned.
We are under God's grace and we are righteous because Christ's righteousness has been given to us,
credited to us.
God accepts us not on the basis of our spiritual or moral performance,
but on the basis of Christ's perfect performance,
which he accomplished for us on the cross.
And then last week, we looked at the great teaching of redemption.
The fact that we are no longer under slavery or bondage,
either to the penalty of sin or to the power of sin in our life,
either our own sin or those that have sinned against us,
but we have been set free and how Christ is going to return one day to set us free,
even from the very presence of all that is broken and defective in our hearts,
in our souls, in our bodies, even in this world.
Christ has redeemed us.
And as we sang earlier,
the curse of sin has been broken because Jesus died on the cross for us.
And this morning, we're going to look at this teaching,
the Bible's teaching regarding reconciliation and adoption.
So let's look again at our passage in Romans chapter 5.
And this is what Paul writes.
He says,
God shows his love for us in this,
that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Since therefore,
we have now been justified by his blood,
much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,
much more now that we are reconciled,
shall we be saved by his life.
More than that,
we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
This morning,
we're going to look at the Bible's teaching regarding reconciliation.
And the Bible teaches us this,
that prior to coming to Christ in faith and repentance,
the condition of natural mankind,
men and women,
our natural condition,
apart from justification,
apart from redemption,
is not one of neutrality,
but actually one of hostility,
one of enmity between us and God.
Now that may come as a surprise to us,
because we live in a time and an age
when we consider belief in God to be a very personal matter,
a very private matter,
something that is applicable to me if I want it,
but if I'm not interested in me,
then it has no relevance in my life.
It's completely irrelevant.
It's something that is maybe true for you,
but it's not universally irrelevant or applicable to others.
We may often hear people saying,
well,
if you want to be religious,
that's fine for you,
but that's got nothing to do with me.
In other words,
we tend to think that our lives are fairly neutral,
and that if you want to practice faith or have belief in God,
well,
that's an add and extra that you want to add onto your life to the extent that it benefits you.
And so we think,
you know,
some people do yoga,
some people go hiking,
some people eat yum cha,
some people go to church on Sundays.
That's kind of our version of extracurricular activities.
In other words,
we live in a time when we view life apart from relationship with Christ as neutral,
and faith in God is a kind of extracurricular activity,
something that we add onto our lives to the extent that it benefits us.
But that's not what the scriptures say.
Jesus would teach us actually the natural state of man and woman outside of relationship from him is rebellion against God and his authority.
We've rejected God's rule.
We've rejected his reign in our lives,
and we are now at enmity with God.
God is the creator of the whole universe,
the sovereign God,
and as such,
he has created rights over his universe,
created rights over our lives.
And he's made us to be in relationship with him,
to know him and to love him.
But as human beings,
as sinners,
we've rejected his rule.
We've rejected his authority.
We've said,
I don't want you to tell me what to do,
how to believe,
how to behave.
I want to be my own authority.
I want to have my own way in life.
And so we've rebelled against his authority.
In a sense,
we've committed mutiny,
and we've said,
I will be my own God.
I will determine who I am,
what I want to do,
how I want to behave.
You,
God,
take a back seat.
I don't want you in my life.
I want to be my own God.
And the result is,
not just in neutrality,
there's an enmity.
There's a hostility
in the relationship.
Look at verse 10.
Paul writes,
he says,
wow,
we were enemies
at enmity with God.
But that's not the way
that God has designed us.
That's not the way
that God wills
for things to happen.
God designed us
to know him
and to love him,
to be in deep
and meaningful relationship
with him,
to flourish
and to be alive in him,
to experience his love
and to be satisfied in him.
And so the great message
of the gospel,
the whole point
of the Bible
is that God
so loved the world
that he sent
his one and only son
to reconcile us to him.
Look at how Colossians says it.
Paul writes this
and says,
and you,
me,
us,
we who were once
alienated
and hostile
towards God.
He has now
reconciled us
in his body
by his dead
in order to present us
holy and blameless
and above reproach
before him.
Paul writes it
in 2 Corinthians.
He says this,
if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation.
The old has passed away.
Behold,
the new has come.
All this is from God
who through Christ
has reconciled us
to himself.
That is,
in Christ,
God is reconciling
the world
to himself,
not counting
our trespasses
against us.
And when we go back
to our Romans 5 passage,
we see the same thing.
Paul almost assumes
that the readers
understand that
this is what Christianity
is all about.
This is why Jesus came
to reconcile people
to God.
He says in verse 10,
since while we were
enemies of God,
we were reconciled
to him by the death
of his son.
Now,
much more,
much more now
that we are reconciled,
we will be saved
by his life.
Verse 11,
and we rejoice,
we delight in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ
through whom we have
received
reconciliation.
Prince,
notice who took
the initiative
in this reconciling
relationship.
I remember a few years ago,
I was talking to someone
in a church
and two people
were not getting along
and I said to the one person,
why don't you go
and have coffee
or lunch
with the other person
and talk things through?
And this person
said to me,
I've got no problem,
I'll talk through
things with them,
but they need to come
to me first.
If they take the initiative,
I'll sit down with them.
Friends,
in this hostile
relationship with God,
who took the initiative?
Well,
look at what Paul says here.
While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
While we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God
by the death of his son.
Friends,
while we were shaking
our fists at God
and pushing him away,
God sent his son
to die on the cross
to receive us
and to welcome us
as reconciled children.
of God.
Friends,
this is the great message
of the gospel.
This is what the Bible is about.
This is what Jesus
has come to do.
Friends,
the great point
of our justification,
Jesus has removed our guilt.
The point of the doctrine
of redemption
that Christ has liberated us
from the bondage
of slavery to sin
is so that we can be reconciled,
that our enmity
can be done away with,
that we can be reunited
with God.
This is the gospel.
This is the great hope
of the gospel.
Now,
as a side note,
it's important to see
this is why Christians
practice reconciliation
within our own relationships.
Certainly,
as followers of Jesus,
there's times
when there's misunderstanding,
there's miscommunication,
there's hurt,
there's offense.
Friends,
sometimes we experience
relationships that are
strained or even broken.
But as Christians,
we pursue reconciliation.
And the reason we do that
is because this is
the very foundation
of the gospel.
This is the foundation
of our identity in God,
that God has reconciled
himself to us.
And so Ephesians 4 says this,
Just as God in Christ
forgave you,
so forgive one another.
This is why we practice
reconciliation.
Now,
as wonderful as this is,
in many ways,
this is only half the story.
The good news,
as good as this is,
is that this is only
a small part of what
the Bible says
about our relationship
with God now.
Because two people
who previously were
at enmity with one another,
where there was once
hostility,
can be reconciled,
they can apologize
and say sorry,
but that doesn't say much
for the state
of their relationship now.
What is the state
of that relationship?
Well,
look at what
the New Testament says.
The New Testament
has very clear language
to describe the state
of this reconciled relationship.
Look at what he says.
Look at what the Apostle John says
in John chapter 1.
He says,
God so loved the world
that He sent His Son
to reconcile us to God.
John says,
To all who received
the Son,
Jesus Christ,
to those who believed
in His name,
He gave the right
to become children
of God.
Paul writes in Romans,
he says,
Romans chapter 8,
for you did not receive
the spirit of slavery
to fall back into fear.
God is not a taskmaster
or a judge
or a boss
cracking the whip over us.
No,
you have received
the spirit of adoption
as sons
by whom we cry,
Abba,
Father.
The spirit Himself
bears witness
to our spirit
that we are
children of God.
The word Abba
is the Aramaic word
for Daddy,
Dad.
Sometimes when I come home
in the evenings
after work
and get home
at 6.30 or so
and as I open
the front door
my two daughters
can hear that I'm home
and from time to time
they'll run
from the other side
of the apartment
crying,
Daddy!
And they'll run
and jump into my arms.
That's what this word is.
Daddy!
Abba!
Dad is home.
God has given us
the Holy Spirit
confirming that we are
not just reconciled,
not just neutral,
we are sons and daughters
of God.
We now get to call Him
Father.
Galatians says the same thing
when the fullness
of time came,
Jeremy read this to us
a few minutes ago,
God sent forth His Son
to redeem those
who are under the law
so that we might receive
adoption as sons.
And because you are His sons
and His daughters,
God has sent the Spirit
of His Son
into our hearts
that we may cry out,
Dad!
Abba!
Father!
Friends,
justification says
that we are no longer
under guilt
but under grace.
If redemption says
we are no longer
subject to slavery
but we are free,
reconciliation says
we are no longer
at enmity with God
but have been welcomed
into His family
as sons and daughters,
into His family
as children.
Friends,
the good news
of the Gospel
is that
it's not just that
in Christ God
has forgiven us
of our sins,
as wonderful as that is,
that my sin
which was as vast
and as deep
as the ocean
has been enveloped
by God's profound love
for me
in His forgiveness
and His mercy.
The great declaration
of the Gospel
is true as all that is
is that despite
my hostility to God,
despite my enmity
with God,
I who once was
at enmity with God
have been welcomed
into His family
as a beloved son
and now I get
to call Him
Father.
And friends,
if you are in Christ
that is true
for you as well.
John writes this
in 1 John chapter 3.
He says this incredible verse,
See what kind of love
the Father has given us
that we should be called
children of God
and this is what we are.
Friends,
this is one of the great points
in Jesus' parable
of the prodigal son.
He tells this amazing story
of a son
that doesn't have much regard
for his father.
He's at enmity
with his father
and he thinks to himself,
Actually,
it would be better
if my father were dead
because then I would inherit
some money
and I could go off
and live my own life,
do things that I want.
Well, I'm under my father's roof.
He tells me what to do.
He tells me how to behave.
Actually,
I wish he were dead.
I could get the money.
I can go and be free.
And so one day
he eventually says,
Listen, Dad,
you and I know
that I hate you.
Our relationship sucks.
Actually,
you are dead to me.
It would be better for me
if you were dead
then I could get the money
and go and do my own thing.
Why don't you just give me
my inheritance
so I can go off my own way,
live my own life?
The father,
for some reason,
says,
Okay,
I guess if that's your heart,
I can't change you.
Here,
take your inheritance.
And so the son
takes this inheritance
and skips off into the country
to go live free,
to go do what he wants to do.
And he's living it up
and he's partying it up
and he's buying friends
and all sorts of things.
But eventually,
he realizes
that the father
was actually right
and he gets to the end of himself
and he's begging for bread
on the street.
He can't get a job anywhere.
He's come to the very end of himself
and he thinks to himself,
Well,
I'm no longer a son.
I told my father
that he's dead to me.
But at least I know
that on that farm,
if anyone comes looking for work,
my father will never turn them away.
Let me go back
and sell myself as a slave.
And so he goes
and he makes his way back
to the farm
where he grew up.
And he's practicing the speech
saying,
I know that I said you're dead to me.
Will you take me in
as a servant on your farm?
And as he's walking home,
the father sees him
in a distance.
And the father's heart
is moved with compassion.
And he picks up his robes
and he,
in great shame to himself,
he runs down the road
and he throws his arm
around this prodigal son.
And he says,
My son, my son,
it is so good to see you again.
Welcome home.
And the son says,
No, no, no,
I'm not your son anymore.
I've come to sell myself
as a slave.
Is it possible
that I work on your farm
as a servant?
And the father says,
Shh!
My son,
my son whom I love,
welcome home.
And the father says to the servant,
quickly,
kill the fattened calf.
My son who was once dead
is alive.
The father welcomes home.
Friends,
see what kind of love
the father has given to us,
that we should be called
children of God.
And this is what we are.
Friends,
where once there was enmity
and hostility,
God has thrown his arms around
you and I
if you are in Christ.
And he said,
My son,
my daughter,
I love you.
Welcome home.
J.I. Packer
is one of the greatest
theologians
of the last century.
He died just a few months ago
in his early 90s
and he writes this.
He says,
What is a Christian?
The question can be answered
in many ways,
but the richest answer
that I know
is that a Christian
is one who has God
as father.
If you want to judge
how well a person
understands Christianity,
find out how much
he or she makes the thought
of being God's child,
of having God
as father.
If this is not the thought
that prompts and controls
your worship,
your prayers,
indeed your whole outlook
on life,
it means you do not understand
Christianity very well
at all.
Father
is the Christian name
for God.
Friends,
if you're a Christian
this morning,
how do you think
God feels about you?
Friends,
I know that
many of us
grew up
with difficult relationships
with our parents.
Friends,
you may not find
that description
that God is a father
or that comforting.
But consider
the longing
of your heart.
There's not the fact
that you long
to be approved
and affirmed.
There's not the fact
that we long
to hear our parents
speak those words
of us.
Tell us that they're
proud of us,
that they love us,
that they're for us.
Does that
longing to be accepted
and affirmed
and approved,
does that not suggest
that this is how
things ought to be?
Friends,
in God the Father
we have
the perfect Father
who is tender
and compassionate,
who is exceedingly
patient
and long-suffering,
who never loses
his temper,
who is never
disillusioned
with us.
A father
who knows us
better than
we know ourselves
and yet who
loves us
to the utmost.
This is who
God is.
This is what
he's done for us
in Christ's death
on the cross.
Now,
like all other
doctrines
that we've looked
at the last few weeks,
the Bible says
that in Christ
we have received
adoption
as children of God.
But this is both
a status that is given
as well as a lived
experience
for us to enjoy.
It's a status
that's conferred
upon you
the day that you
put your faith
in Christ.
You've been transferred
from the category
of hostility,
enmity,
to the category
of beloved son
or daughter,
child of God.
Being God's child
is not a relationship
you need to earn
or cultivate
through your good works.
It is a status
that is given to you.
Remember how
John said it
in chapter 1,
to all who receive him,
who believe in his name,
we are given
the right
to become children
of God.
It is put upon you.
You are God's child
if you are in Christ.
And yet like all the
great doctrines of Scripture,
this is not just meant
to be something
that we intellectually
understand in our head,
not just a theological
badge we can articulate.
This is meant to be
something that shapes
our lives,
that shapes our
lived experience.
As J.R. Packer said,
it's to shape our praise
and our worship,
indeed our whole
outlook of life.
In fact,
so important is it
that Christians
operate and live
from this place
of understanding
of being God's children,
that God says
he gives us
his Holy Spirit
almost expressly
for this purpose.
Look at how
Paul writes
in Galatians 4.
He says,
God sent forth
his Son
to redeem
those who are
under the law
that we might
receive adoption
of sons.
And because of your sons,
God has sent
his Spirit
into our hearts
so that we might
cry out,
Abba,
Father.
One of the reasons
God gives us
the Holy Spirit
is so that
in the day-to-day
reality of our life,
as we're in the marketplace
and at work
and at university,
as we're at home
looking after children,
God,
the Holy Spirit
who lives within us,
helps us to pray
and to cry out
and to call out
to God
as our Father.
Friends,
as you go to work tomorrow,
as you're making deals
and pricing deals,
as you're sitting
under a job
performance review,
as you're applying
for jobs.
Friends,
as you're looking
for a romantic relationship
and somebody to date.
Do you do so
knowing that God
is your Father?
Now,
similarly to what we said
about reconciliation,
the reason Christians
have always been
at the forefront
of fostering
and adoption
in our cities,
looking after
vulnerable children
of our city,
is because in many ways
this is one of the
foundational understandings
of what it means
to be God's children,
to be a Christian.
This is so central
to the Gospel.
So as we are
adopted by God
into His family
vertically,
so we live out
the Gospel horizontally.
And Christians
have always been
at the forefront
of fostering
and adopting
the vulnerable
children in our city.
Now,
at this point,
it's important
to clarify
a common misunderstanding.
This awesome truth
that God,
the eternal,
awesome,
merciful God
is our Father,
cannot be said
of every human being.
This is something
that is given
to those who are
in Christ
through faith
and repentance.
That those who have
put their faith
in Christ
and trusted Jesus
as their divine
sin bearer.
The idea that all people
are God's children
by birth
is actually not found
in the Scriptures
anyway.
Galatians 3 says this,
you are sons of God
through faith
in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said,
and no one comes
to the Father,
in other words,
no one gets to experience
God as Father
except through me.
To be declared
a child of God
is not a universal status
that is conferred upon
all people
by way of birth.
It is a gift
that is received
by being born again,
the supernatural gift
of God.
To all who receive Him,
who believe in His name,
He has given the right
to become children
of God.
Friends,
if you're not a Christian
this morning,
let me just speak to you
for a second.
At the heart of Christianity
is this declaration
that apart from Christ
we bear our transgressions
and our sins.
That we are,
there's a breakdown
in relationship
between us and the God
who made us
to know Him
and love Him
and experience Him.
But God so loved the world,
God so loved you,
that He sent His only Son
to end the hostility,
to reconcile us,
that we may know God
as our Father.
Friends,
the heart of Christianity
is that Jesus died
on the cross.
God became man
to die for you.
So that you will know Him
and experience the love of God.
That God the Father,
the one who knit you together
in your mother's womb,
the God who made the universe,
will be able to welcome you
into His family
as a son or a daughter
to pour His love upon you.
This is what Christianity
is all about.
A few weeks ago,
Chris shared this amazing quote
by Richard Lovelace.
We've shared this so many times
at Watermark.
I want to read it one more time.
It says this,
For most Christians,
we intellectually know
that God accepts us
because of what Jesus did
on the cross.
But in our actual
day-to-day existence,
most of us still rely
on our spiritual
or moral performance
to assure us
of God's love
and acceptance.
We know in our heads
that God loves us,
but actually,
we don't feel it
in our hearts.
Friends,
in the same way,
most Christians
intellectually know
that God loves us
and accepts us,
that God is our Father
and we as children.
But in our actual
day-to-day existence,
we live as spiritual orphans
because we do not understand
what the Scriptures say
when it says
God welcomes us
as fathers.
Again,
J.I. Packer
says this,
The most pressing question
one can ask of oneself
is this,
Do I as a Christian
know my real identity?
Do you know
that you are a loved
child of God,
that God is your Father,
that Heaven is your home?
Say it over and over
to yourself,
first thing in the morning,
last thing at night,
as you wait for the bus,
as you're on the MTR,
any time when your mind
is free,
and ask the Holy Spirit
that you may be enabled
to live as one
who knows
that it is utterly
and completely true.
This is the Christian secret
of a happy and a blessed life.
Even more so,
this is the secret
of living the Christian life.
This is the secret,
the Godward life.
Earlier this week,
I was talking to
a friend of mine
who grew up in Hong Kong.
He was born here,
and at the age of
two or three,
his parents moved
to the U.S.,
and he stayed behind.
He moved in
with his grandparents,
and he was raised
by his grandparents
here in Hong Kong.
Around the age
eight or nine,
he moved to America
to be reunited
with his parents,
but his parents,
being Chinese immigrants,
worked exceedingly hard
to provide for the family,
and so in many ways,
they weren't very present
in his life
as he grew up.
And so when he got
to college
and then started working,
he realized
he wasn't the smartest
kid in the class.
He didn't have the most
natural gifts and talents,
but the one thing
he did know
was being Chinese,
he could outwork
everybody else.
And so if his classmate
put in four hours
for an exam,
he would put in eight.
If a colleague
worked ten hours
for a presentation,
he would work twenty.
And so you achieve
great success
by just outworking
everybody else.
But he says
underneath this desire,
this drive
to be successful,
was this longing
to be affirmed,
to be approved,
to be accepted
by his superiors.
All his life,
he had wished
that his parents
had spoken
these words
of affirmation
and love over him.
And when he didn't
get it from his parents,
the next best place
was to get it
from his boss,
his colleagues,
his industry.
And so for fifteen years,
he just worked
extremely hard.
He was fairly successful.
He gained the approval
and the recognition,
the acceptance
that he so desperately
wanted of those
around him
that he had never
previously had.
And he transitioned
from the marketplace
into ministry
and even there
as a pastor,
he still lived
like an orphan,
always longing
to be loved
and accepted
and affirmed
and approved.
As I was speaking
to him this week
on the phone,
he didn't know
what I was talking
about this week
and he said
these words to me.
He said,
A few years ago,
he changed jobs
and worked for
a new boss employer
and this boss employer
isn't the most verbal person
full of communication.
And he said
that it absolutely
crushed him.
Though he was
exceedingly hardworking,
he just doubled down
and worked even harder.
All to hear
these elusive words
of,
You're doing so well.
You've done brilliantly.
But those words
never came.
Eventually,
he hit a wall
and absolutely burnt out
as he worked himself
to the bone
just to hear
these words,
You've done well.
Well done.
About two years ago,
he eventually
came to the place
where he realized
I'm an orphan
and I'm treating God
with an orphan mentality
and for the first time
in his life,
started to come to God
as Father.
Friends,
if you're a Christian
this morning,
are you living
like an orphan
and sure of God's
love and approval?
Jack Miller describes
the orphan mentality
like this.
He says,
Orphans always have
to look out for themselves
and can depend on no one.
Orphans must always
be strong
and protect themselves
from being taken
advantage of.
Orphans struggle
to feel weak
or to be weak
and vulnerable.
Always need to be
accepted,
belong,
understood.
Orphans crave
to be loved
but doubt they ever
will be.
Orphans always feel
on the outside
looking in.
Orphans never come
to a place
of rest.
Friends,
do you know that
God is a Father
who knows you.
He understands you
better than you know
and understand yourself.
And He loves you
and He accepts you.
He won't take advantage
of you.
He's gone out of His way
even sending Jesus
to the cross
so that you and I
don't need to be
on the outside
looking in
but can be brought
into His family
and experience His love.
Friends,
I know that many of us
today still carry
deep, deep wounds
from our past,
from our childhood,
from things that
our parents said
or didn't say.
Friends,
for some of us
you've never ever heard
your father
or your mother say
I love you.
Well done.
Friends,
some of us
most of the time
all the words
we heard from our parents
were just pointing out
where we'd gone wrong,
where we failed,
where we weren't
good enough.
Friends,
some of us
have never heard
our parents say
I'm proud of you.
You bring me
such joy to my heart.
Friends,
if you're in Christ
this morning,
if you've been,
if you've put your faith
in Christ,
God the Father
has welcomed you
into His family.
He's adopted you
as His son,
His daughter.
He's given you
full rights and status
as a child of God.
You're not a stepson.
You're not a halfson.
God the Father
throws His arms around you
and says,
my son,
my daughter,
I love you.
With you,
I am well pleased.
Now,
Father,
pours His love upon you.
Your failings
have been put on Jesus.
Rather than pointing out
where you've gone wrong,
God says,
my son,
my daughter,
I've loved you
with an everlasting love.
I'm so pleased with you.
Friends,
this morning,
if you're a Christian,
you have been reconciled
with God,
no longer
at enmity with God,
but a son,
a daughter,
with God as our Father,
Christ as our older brother,
the Holy Spirit in our hearts,
crying out with us,
Abba,
Father,
don't live as an orphan
anymore in this world.
Don't fight for an identity.
Strive to be at rest.
Come to your Father.
Come home to God.
See what love,
what kind of love
the Father has given us,
that we should be called
children of God,
and so we are.
let's pray together.
Oh,
Father God,
we come before you this morning
because we need you.
God,
we need you
through the personal
Holy Spirit
to pour your love
into our hearts
again freshly.
God,
we hear these words
and for some of us
we cannot believe them.
Automatically,
there are a thousand
defenses going on
in our mind
that says,
but not me.
Everybody else,
sure,
but surely not me.
The things that I've done,
not me.
God,
I pray
by the power
of His Word
won't you break
into our hearts
and flood our hearts
with the Father's love.
Christ,
won't you
minister to us deeply.
God,
for those that
have never heard
the words of the parents
saying,
I love you,
I'm proud of you,
I delight in you,
God,
I pray that you will
write those words
in our heart
in a deep,
deep way.
Christ,
for those of us
that feel
nothing but
disappointment
or even hatred
towards ourselves,
won't you set us free?
Christ,
won't you come
and show us
what does it mean
to be your children?
God,
we need you.
God,
and I pray
that as we,
that this won't just be
something we think about
and reflect on today.
I pray,
God,
that every day this week,
tomorrow,
as we wake up
and go to work,
I pray as the university
students go back
to class tomorrow,
as scholars go back
to school,
that God,
we will go
knowing absolutely
rooted and secure
in the love
of the Father,
knowing that we
wake up tomorrow
as your sons
and your daughters.
God,
come and minister
to us,
I pray.
Come and write
this truth
in our hearts.
Bernard's going
to come and lead us
in a time of communion
now.
Friends,
I want to just say
that I'm sure
many of us
could do
this and pray
afterwards.
Don't run off
after service.
Join a breakout room
and let's pray
for one another.
If anybody needs
or would like
prayer in particular,
please reach out
to us.
We would love
to connect with you.
If you want to pray
today,
we can meet up
with you,
we can minister to you,
we hear for you,
we're a family.
Let's make sure
that we let God
minister to us today.