The Family of God

The Family of God

For the Christian, God is our perfect Father. God is our perfect Father. And this is just like we heard, this is really good news for students in this gathering right now, adults who either don’t or have not had a dad, or maybe you don’t or have not had a good loving dad, it’s good news to hear that God is our perfect Father. And you know that’s good news, even if you grew up under or have now a great dad because it’s still good news because God is a lot better than him. He’s so much better than him. He’s infinitely better than your good dad. God is perfectly loving, perfectly kind, perfectly wise. God always knows what is best for us. God is perfectly powerful. He is never unable to act on His children’s behalf. God is perfectly knowledgeable. He knows everything about our lives. There’s nothing hidden from Him, past, present, future. God is perfectly good.

God is all Loving

So Christian, this perfect, all powerful, all knowing, all loving, sovereign God of the universe is your dad. He’s your father in heaven. See what kind of love the Father God has given to us. Some translations say, “lavished on us,” that we should be called His children. I love that phrase, “What kind of love?” Some translations say, “What manner of love?” Or, “Such a great love.” So the word in the original language of the New Testament occurs only seven times in the New Testament, and every time it’s used, it implies astonishment, amazement.

Originally the adjective meant, “Of what country?” So think about it, it’s like John is saying, the father’s love is so unearthly, so foreign to anything else we know or experience in this world. It’s otherworldly. Christian, God has otherworldly love for you. Right where you’re sitting, don’t let this just go to other people generally, right where you’re sitting here, other campuses, God is your heavenly Father. You belong in his family.

Salvation through God’s Family

So follow this, salvation is not just God as judge, sitting on a bench and declaring you forgiven of all your sins as if that’s the end of the story. Yes, when you place your faith in Jesus, God as judge forgives you of your sins, but then He rises from the bench, comes down to where you are, takes off your chains and says, “Come home with me as my son or daughter.” God says this to you. God does this for you. That’s otherworldly. That’s so foreign. How’s that even possible?

Well, second truth, Jesus is our perfect brother. Jesus is our perfect brother. Now, that feels almost inappropriate to say because we think of Jesus as Savior, our Lord, our king, not as our brother. But listen to what the Bible teaches. Hebrews 2:12 and 13, “For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why He, Jesus, is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of congregation I will sing your praise.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again, ‘Behold, I and the children God has given me.'”

Listen to how Jesus refers to His disciples after He rose from the dead. In Matthew 28:10, “Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee.'” My brothers there, “‘They will see me.'” John 20, “Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers,'” God the Father, ‘Go to my brothers,’ “say to them, ‘I’m ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” In Mark 3 35, he says, “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister.”

Jesus as our Salvation

The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is the unique Son of God, God in the flesh, but He’s also our perfect brother who made it possible for us to be adopted into the family, which is what 1 John 3 is all about. You look at the descriptions of Jesus here, 2:29, “He’s righteous.” Chapter 3:3, “He’s pure.” Verse 5, we learn that in, “Him there is no sin.” He’s perfect, righteous, pure, totally without sin. Sin is nowhere to be found in Jesus’ nature. He is totally unlike us. He is our perfect brother who came. Verse 5 says, “to take away sin.”

Look at verse eight. Huh? Follow this. The reason the son of God appeared. Why? Why did Jesus, the Son of God, our perfect brother, appear? The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Huh? Think about that. The whole point in that verse 1 John 3, is teaching the devil’s work is sin. That’s what the first part of that verse, verse eight says, the devil has been sinning since the beginning. Since Genesis 3, the devil has been tempting men and women, every single one of us, to turn aside from God’s way to our own way, tempting us to turn away from God. Leading us away from life to death, that is the devil’s work. And Jesus came to destroy that work forever.

Jesus is Our Family

How did He do that? Well, that’s 1 John 2:1 and 2, which we’ve already studied. “Jesus Christ, the righteous, is the propitiation for our sins, not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus came, He lived without sin, and then He died to pay the price for sin as a propitiation, a sacrifice for our sin. Then three days later, He rose from the dead and victory over sin and the devil. That’s a good big brother to have, one who has conquered death and the devil. And the Bible teaches at all, who turn from their sin and trust in Jesus are welcomed into the family as children of God.