YOU BELONG TO A DIVINE FAMILY.
God has told us who he is. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And yet, he is one God. All the efforts to explain how this works end
up making a false confession about God. We
simply take God at his word. The Trinity
is a mystery that we won’t ever unravel.
We do not get to alter God to our own understanding or liking.
God reveals himself to us in terms of a
family. The Father is the source of
life. Granted, mothers give birth, but fathers
produce offspring. A father gives his name
to his children, protects, disciplines, and provides for them. It does not always work out that way in a
sinful world, but that is God’s design. God
the Father has a Son, begotten from eternity.
That does not mean God the Son has a birth date, as if he did not exist
at one point. God the Son was begotten in
eternity. In eternity, there is no time,
calendar, or clock. In regard to the begetting
of the Son, the point is not when, but what. The relationship is expressed. There is God the Father and God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit—all eternal, all divine, all equal in glory, power, and majesty,
all united in will and purpose.
Now, the Lord does not reveal these things
just to satisfy your curiosity. He
reveals these things for your blessing.
God tells you these things so that you can belong to his divine family. St. Paul reminds you, “you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons”
(Romans 8:15). If you have been adopted as sons,
that means you and I are not natural-born members of God’s family.
You and I had a different father.
This is evident by the fact that we do not naturally do what God tells
us to do. The Bible teaches us, “Whoever
makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning
from the beginning. …By this it is
evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:
whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God” (1 John 3:8,10). God’s Law tells us what is righteous. We often agree with it when we apply that Law
to other people. But when we apply that
Law to ourselves, there are always reasons why, for us, it is different. God says we should not lie, but we think
covering up evil is a greater good than the truth. God says that a man and woman sharing a bed
is to be reserved for marriage, but as long as we say we love each other, our
feelings are enough to overrule God’s word.
We are outraged when other people are rude or insulting. But when we are, it is okay because someone
deserved it. We exonerate ourselves by
declaring, “Well, in my case, it’s different.”
But the only thing different about it is that it is you. We are fools to think this actually works,
but the sinful heart is good at buying lies.
This is why we have a spirit that makes us a slave to fear. Guilt produces terror. Mental gymnastics to bend around God’s Law
don’t change that. God’s Law is good, but
we cannot keep it, so we become angry and fearful. We are enslaved to the fear of death, of judgment,
and of God. This is not the life God the
Father planned for us to have.
Therefore, God acted to bring you into his divine family. In baptism, he drove out the unclean, sinful
spirit which is enslaved to fear and death.
He gave you his Holy Spirit who gives you peace and life. Now, you belong to a divine family, as St.
Paul says: “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’” (Romans 8:14-15)!
You belong to a divine family. The Holy Spirit has shown you that God the
Father is not a vindictive, spiteful deity.
He does not want to destroy what he has made. At the same time, he cannot dismiss the sin
that infects us. Therefore, the Holy
Spirit has revealed to you what God the Father has done for you. You know the verse well. “God so loved the
world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God
the Father does not want to lose you to sin and hell. He chose to free you from sin, fear, and
death. So, God the Father gave his only
begotten Son for you. God the Son was
given into the world as a man. Then God
the Son gave himself to death in exchange for you. In exchange for your sin, he gave his innocence. In exchange for your death, he gave his
life. In order to secure your place in God’s
family, he was forsaken by the Father.
In order for you to be acquitted, Jesus was found guilty of all sin. Therefore, you will not perish, but have eternal
life. So, fear not; God’s pardon and
peace are yours.
Now you belong to a divine family. “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’” (Romans 8:14-15)! You know that
you are led by the Spirit of God because you believe his words and
promises. You know that you have been adopted
as sons of God because God did this to you in your baptism. Adopted children don’t choose their parents;
the parents bring the children into their family. If you are sons of God, you share the status
with the only begotten Son of God. So, God
the Father has made you full-fledged members of his divine family. This is why you get to call on God in terms of
endearment, “Abba! Father!” The Triune God is not some distant,
disinterested deity. He is your dear
Father in heaven. The Son is your
beloved brother. The Holy Spirit dwells
within you to preserve you in God’s good care.
You belong to a divine family.
You can hear these words, and you confess
them. You can even boldly proclaim them
with new hymn that is worthy of becoming a favorite: “God’s Own Child, I
Gladly Say it; I am baptized into Christ.” It confesses what we are, and it confesses
why that is true. But it doesn’t often
look like it. It usually doesn’t feel
like it. We are all too familiar with
our failures and weaknesses. We wonder, “How
can I consider myself a child of God when the deeds I do are done poorly or begrudgingly?”
St. Paul gives a surprising
answer to those questions: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).
The Holy Spirit testifies that you are a child of God based on divine
promises. The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit that a godly life is good and right. The Spirit himself works with our spirit to
put off sin and to will and to do what is right. And the Spirit continually bears witness to
the only place frightful sinners have hope—in God the Son who takes away the sins
of the world. He points us to God the Father
who is our Abba, our dear Father who is endeared to us. Your place in the divine family is not teetering
on the brink of losing it at any moment.
The Triune God assures you that your place is secure, even if you
struggle or stumble. For, the Triune God
has been pleased to pay a great price to adopt you into his family. You belong to the divine family.
“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” (Romans 8:16-17). Since you are sons of God, you are heirs of
God’s kingdom. For an inheritance to be
given, someone has to die—which is what Jesus did for you. But Jesus is risen. He lives and reigns over his kingdom. Since you are united to him, you will be raised
from the dead to live and reign with him as heirs of heavenly glory.
You belong to a divine family. This means you have also been set apart from
this world. The world is still enslaved
to sinful, selfish ways. The world hates
God’s word and denies that God actually has anything worth applying to their lives. You are free from that, and it will show in
your life, in your speech, and in your attitude. The Spirit works with your spirit to delight
in God’s word and to live according to it.
You will not be the only one
who notices that you are different. Many
in our world will notice it too, and you may feel their hatred for it. Jesus was despised, and those who are his
brothers and sisters will be too—to what extent varies in time and place. Some live in a very real danger of their
lives. Others are simply mocked for taking
God and his word seriously. You will
suffer to some extent as Jesus did. There
will always be enmity between the offspring of God and of the devil. But fear not.
You have a divine family who holds you dear and will not let you perish. If you share in his sufferings, you will also
share in his glory. Glory awaits.
The Lord God has made himself known to
you. He is not just a father; he
is your heavenly Father who has given you life, who provides, protects, and
disciplines you. No matter what you
might endure, he remains your good and merciful Father in heaven. He is God the Son who has become your brother
in the flesh. He laid down his life so
that yours would be redeemed. He makes
you heirs with him of the resurrection to life and glory everlasting. No matter what you might endure, he remains your
Savior. He is God the Holy Spirit who
reveals God’s word and wisdom and will.
He dwells within you so that—no matter what you might endure—you are the
Lord’s now and forever. He remains the
Lord and Giver of Life.
The Triune God has made you his own. He is not a nebulous God, and he does not give nebulous blessings. He has given you the family name and entrusted you with the riches of his kingdom. Cherish your place in his family, as well as your fellow brothers and sisters. For, we are all beloved of the Lord and heirs of unending glory.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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