Sonship is the relationship between a Father and Son. We use this relationship to get many things in the world, starting from school education to inheriting all the property from our Father. Some people take the Business from their Father to pass to their Son, Likewise politicians sons inherit their fathers legacy to become next generation politician.
In the Bible we read many times that we Christians are Children of God. How can we be a children of God? Paul writes about Sonship in Ephesians, that tells the history of how we got the path to God’s Children and characters of Sonship.
In this post we will understand two things on Sonship
Path to Sonship
Characters of Sons
Path to Sonship
Paul explains our path to Sonship in Ephesians
'For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ' Ephesians 1:4-6
1. Sonship before the creation of World : We read “'For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight”, First he chose us before the world was created, God’s purpose to choose us and wanted us “To be Holy” and “Blameless”
Blameless: If you read Genesis 1 and 2, we see God creating the universe and creating man in his own Image. He wanted to create something that’s perfect and blameless that’s why he choose to create man in his own image
'So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. ' Genesis 1:27
Holy: The world that God created was Holy he created the Garden of Eden and instructed not to touch the tree of Life alone, but thru Satan Adam was deceived and fell into Sin. Man in his own desires moved from Holy to Unholy due to the sin he committed against God.
2. Sonship thru Jesus : Even though we were sinners, God’s love for mankind was so much he gave his only son Jesus to die for this world, he lived and grew like us to know the challenges of this world ( Luke 2:52) and he conquered Death (Curse of Sin) thru the blood of Jesus Christ. This is what is explained in Ephesians 1:5 “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ”. Thru Jesus we have got the Sonship and we are called Children of God if we believe Jesus is God.
3. Pleasures and Will of God : We read “sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will “ God choose first to send Jesus as his Son
Pleasures of God – He choose to give us the pleasures of God thru Holy Spirit, we have the same holy spirit that was given to disciples and apostles given to us freely in the blood of Christ – We read about what this Spirit can do and the fruits of Spirit
'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ' Galatians 5:22
All of his pleasures for us is to fulfil God’s Purpose and to be Holy.
Will of God – Paul explains the will of God in context to Sonship is to get the wisdom of God to know his plans and understanding for us.
'that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ' Ephesians 1:8-9
All of wisdom and understanding is given to us to be holy and blameless in the world, to understand Satan’s plans and schemes so that we guard ourselves not to fall in the trap of Sin.
God takes great pleasure in seeing believers grow in holiness as He works in their hearts to make them more like Himself. We read this in Philippians 2:13
'for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 'Philippians 2:13
Characters of Sonship
If you look at yourself and reflect back on your physical looks, you will have many characters of your Father or Mother or your grandparents. Similarly if we call ourselves as Sons and Daughters of God, We need these 6 Characters that are must called characters to be called as “Sons or Daughters of God”
Servant Attitude
Humble Attitude
Grace of God
Wisdom of God
Faith of God
Love of God
1. Servant Attitude – Jesus is our Master, we need to have a servant attitude like him. Compare that Servant attitude to the world we live (Master / Servant relationship) - Servants obey their master, Servants are dependent on thier Master, they get the wages from master thru which they satisfy everything in the world(Food, Clothes, Shelter and others..). Master also rewards his servant with a bonus based on how faithful and sincere they are.
If our worldly masters are so much faithful, imagine our God who is the Master of Abundance. He is even more compassionate than our worldly masters, he knows what we need and he will take care of us. So depend on Jesus for everything and obey what Jesus tells you to do. Show a servant like attitude to him to be sincere and faithful to him not matter what situation you go thru.
'Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. ' John 12:26
2. Humble Attitude: God opposes proud, He expects us to have a humbling attitude in us, he explains this in Galatians 6:4, where we should look at our own actions and not let pride come to us, instead we should be humble towards what we received from God, As children of God pride can come in quickly without we realizing that all the works in our life’s is thru God, but we will be deceived by Satan to make us realize that it’s not God, it’s our own actions that makes us to the place where we are and we stand prideful in front of God.
'Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, ' Galatians 6:4
3. Grace of God : God’s purpose to create humans was to be Holy, but we Sin due to the struggles between the Flesh and Spirit. Once we sin we become un-holy, but God has been merciful to us and has given “Grace” thru which he still gives us another chance to come close to him and ask for his repentance so that he can wash us and free us from Sin, this will take us to the path of his Holiness.
'In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ' Ephesians 1:7
4. Wisdom of God : God’s purpose is that we be Holy, but Satan tries to deceive us with his Sinful plans, God choose to give his wisdom to us to make us understand his plans and he will give the wisdom to strengthen us to fight the battles that we have against Satan.
'His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ' Ephesians 3:10-11
5. Faith of God : Faith is one of the key characters for us to have the sonship, as humans we tend to trust in what we see, but Jesus defines Faith
'Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 'Hebrews 11:1
God expects us to have Faith in Jesus in time of trouble, he will help us and find a way for us. Faith in God means – trusting God when the situation we face is against us and only God can make a big change. The more we trust on what we do not see, he will give the endurance power to come out of the situation and he will give strength to fight the battles thru perseverance and build character in us, which gives Hope in Jesus. Its explained in Romans
'Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. ' Romans 5:1,3-4
6. Love of God : Love for God is one of the key Characters, if we don’t have love for God and his attitude to serve others with Love, the rest of the characters does not matter. This is explained in 1 Corinthians 13, Refer to my earlier post “Agape” on God’s Love.
'If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. ' 1 Corinthians 13:3
'Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ' 1 Peter 4:8
Summary
Remember God choose us prior to the world was created, His purpose was to make us Holy and Blameless in his Sight
If we call ourselves as followers of Christ ~ also called as Christians, we have inherited the Sonship thru Christ Jesus
Let’s Pray to our Lord Jesus to give us these 6 Characters to each one of us
Ask God to show which of these characters that you lag in your life and to give that character in abundance to fulfil his purpose to be holy.