Gospel Orthodoxy - Reconciliation: From Enemies to Children of God

This reading comes from Romans chapter 5 and 8.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or your own Bible.

In Romans 5 verse 8 we read,

Romans 5:8

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.

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.

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.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

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.

John 1 · chapter mention

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,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

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.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

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.