This Is My Father’s World
Exercising Our Right As Children of God
By Ed Fernandez
John 1:10-13
“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
______________________
The beginning of our text is one of the saddest statements you can read in Scripture. It’s like hearing the sad voice of a parent whose feelings have been hurt because her child has disowned her. I actually heard a story about a Filipino mother who made every sacrifice to put her daughter to college. She worked as a labandera (a laundry woman). Washing clothes was not easy—she did it manually! With her blistered hands, she worked herself to death. She denied herself of things she herself needed and gave almost all of her earnings to her daughter. But something happened that deeply hurt her feelings. On her daughter’s graduation day, she went as proud parent expecting to share the joy of their accomplishment. But because she didn’t look as nice as other parents, her daughter disowned her in front of her friends saying “I don’t know her” and then pushed her away.
If you were this mother, what would you do? Well, what could you really do other than cry? But what if the story goes on… that one day this mother found out that she is actually an heir to a huge fortune? If you were the mother, what would you do? Disinherit the daughter? Not give her any right to your new-found wealth? Disown her and tell her she’s no longer your daughter? If you say yes, I’ll understand.
Here’s another story. A man came in a poor neighborhood. Many reject him. But some welcome him and receive him. Then people discovered that this man is a very wealthy man. Those who receive him have been adopted to his family. So now they enjoy the lifestyle of the rich because they have become a part of this rich man’s family. This story is really the story of the human race. Those who reject Jesus are those who do not believe in him as “God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side” (John 1:8). But those who receive him are those who believe in his name, Jesus, which means “God is salvation.” And to those who receive him, Jesus gives “the right to become children of God.”
I would like to believe that we are here worshiping this morning because we have received Jesus as who he really is: the Son of God through whom the world was made. And we believe in him as the One God sent to be our Savior. We believe that Jesus was made flesh to save us from sin and death and to make us alive in him. If what I’m saying is true, that we have truly received Jesus and believe in him, then according to our Scripture text, we’ve been given “the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Let’s parse that statement. To have been given the right to become God’s children implies that before we received and believed in Jesus we were not children of God. It was when we received and believed in him that the right to become children of God was given to us. The concept is that of adoption. Before we received Christ and believed in him, we were not God’s children. But when we received and believed in Christ, the right to become children of God was given to us. Now that right conveys not just the fact that we are God’s children but also that as God’s children we now have certain privileges that only rightful children of God can enjoy. What are those privileges?
Because the Christian life is believed to be a spiritual life, Christians normally think that whatever privileges they have must all be spiritual. Indeed, the Bible says that God “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3b). What we need to understand, however, is that when the Apostle Paul said it, it is likely that he believed that these blessings in the heavenly realms actually affect earthly living. The Jews believed that whatever happens in heaven affects life on earth. The prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, also known as “The Lord’s Prayer,” conveys such idea: “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10b). Now the strange thing is that although it’s easy for us to believe that whatever is done in heaven is done on earth, yet we often think only in terms of the spiritual, perhaps because we don’t want to be regarded as “materialistic.” And so when we think of our privileges as children of God what comes to mind are only spiritual or heavenly things and we tend to regard material things as another part of life and separate from our “spiritual” life. But I think that whenever the Bible talks about “spiritual” or “heavenly” things that it does not necessarily mean that these “things” have nothing to do with material things or earthly living.
For some reason I don’t really understand some Christians have a low view of earthly life. If you really think of it, that type of thinking is quite strange. Why? Take note the Gospel of John begins with God’s act of creation through Jesus. Now what is creation all about? Is it the creation of spiritual things? No! It’s about the creation of the material world and everything in it! In this scripture text, God did not create some spiritual world where he put some spiritual beings. What God created was a material world, the world we live in! And when Jesus came to save us in this fallen world, he came in the flesh! Now that tells me that our God values the material and physical creation so much so that even God’s way of saving us was done through the Word–Jesus, who was made flesh–through whom the material world was created!
Having pointed that out, we can say for sure that earthly life is not to be regarded as “low” life. It’s not OK to say it’s OK to live a not so OK life in this world for anyway we’re going to heaven when we die. If earthly, physical life is not that important, why did God create us physical? Why didn’t God just create us spiritual and placed us immediately in heaven? Why bother creating the physical when after all it’s not that good? The fact that God created the world and said that it was “good” tells us that life on earth is of great value to God and, therefore, we must value it as much! Since earthly life is good, then we must live life to the full and live a great life! And that my brothers and sisters is the challenge. And it’s quite a challenge because there are forces in this fallen world that oppose us and try to pull us down.
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The life that we are to live to the full is to be lived in a world where there are “thieves.” These thieves might be people who, for some reason, try to steal our dreams. In the past I warned of greed and selfish ambition. I still do. But that does not mean we are to be content with “ordinary” life. Jesus came not so that we may have ordinary life. He came that we may have life to the full! And where do you think we are to live this life? In some place out there in space? No! We are to live life down here on earth! I know we’ll ultimately go to heaven where some of us say we have a “mansion” (which, by the way, sounds like a materialistic heaven to me). But for now, we are to live life on earth. What kind of life? A full life! So please, don’t wait till you get to heaven before you live life to the full. We are to live a full life right here and now! The challenge is, How?
I think one of the biggest hurdles for living a full life is conquering our way of thinking that may have been shaped by some theology that tells us that life on earth is something that we have to tolerate until we get to heaven. And until we overcome this, we cannot really begin to do things that may help us reach the goal of living a full life. As we have said earlier, life on earth is of great value to God. That is why God sent Jesus who came in flesh to save us from sin and death and to make us alive in him. You see, God has already made us alive in Christ as we learned in Ephesians 2:4.
But why is it that some still live a life that lacks the abundance and joy? There may be other situational reasons that are beyond our control and we cannot really do anything about them. But here’s my observation as far as believers are concerned: although God has already made us alive, for some reason some are not really doing something about the life in Christ that they have now. So they live like dead people! We need to remind ourselves that God saved us in Christ for a purpose. And what is the purpose? Ephesians 2:10 clearly spells it out: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” True, works cannot save us. And indeed the previous verses say, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (vv. 9-10). We are not saved by works but we’ve been saved to do good works!
Now doing good works is what we need to do to live a full life. But why is it that many of us are not successful? Well, perhaps the reason is because we easily forget that we who have received Christ and believed in him have been given the right to become God’s children. But why is it that many of us do not really exercise our right as children of God! Because we think that we are “not of this world.” In a sense that’s true. But when we say that, remember that we simply mean is that we are not living in a realm that is influenced or controlled by the evil one. Sometimes people refer to it simply as “the world” when speaking of “the world of the evil one.” The devil may have some influence in the world, but the physical world does not really belong to the evil one.
The truth is that the world was created by God through Christ. It is Christ’s world. That’s why we are told that Christ “came to that which was his own.” This world is God’s world! It is our Father’s world! And because we have become God’s children, we have inherited the world! As Jesus said of those who listen to him and follow him like a meek lamb that follows a shepherd, “ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5, bold mine). So as God’s children, we’ve been empowered so that we can live a victorious and full life in our Father’s world!
So here’s the bottom line: This is our Father’s world. Therefore, as God’s children we are to exercise our right in this world. Like the Apostle Paul and his company of evangelists we are not only “servants of the Most High God” (Acts 16:17), we are also children of the Most High God. We are not ordinary people. We are a special people. As a people who have been made alive in Christ, we are God’s masterpiece. As such we are meant to live a beautiful life. But we have to get to work! As God’s masterpiece we are not to be like static statues. We are a people who have been empowered by God in Christ to accomplish our special missions in the world. But can we succeed? Yes! Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Let me end this message with an inspiring video called “Noah – Stepping out on Faith” with Chris Seay. Please click pic below to watch the video.
"In the world, but not of the world."