[English Sermon 영어 설교]
Sunday, October 6, 2024 - Sermon by Rev. Jinkook (Danny) Sohn
Abba, Father (Romans 8:14-18)
2024. 10. 6. 주일예배 설교- 로마서 강해 18
본문: 로마서 8:14-18
제목: 아빠, 아버지
설교자: 손진국 목사
The passage we read today from Romans 8:14-18 presents us with a great truth. What is it? It is the fact that those who believe in Jesus have become children of God.
1. Those who believe in Jesus are children of God.
[Rom 8:14] For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. Anyone who believes in Jesus, receives the Spirit of God, and is led by Him is a child of God.
How great is this glory? How great is this grace? It has been said that the greatest blessing a human can enjoy in this world is the blessing of Emmanuel, being with God. The reason that calling that Emmanuel God our Father makes this blessing truly a blessing is that God desires His people to come before Him not as servants, slaves, or subjects but as sons, daughters, and family members, calling Him Father. Look at verse 15 today.
[Rom 8:15] The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, “Abba, Father.”
For those who believe in Jesus Christ, God is not someone we should fear or be afraid of; He is the one we can call “Daddy, Father.” God desires and delights in our calling Him “Daddy, Father.” (I hope there is no misunderstanding here. Many people think of "Daddy" in the same way that young children use it to call their fathers. They say that the relationship should be intimate, just like how children address their fathers as “Daddy.” Of course, the father should have an intimate relationship. However, the “Daddy” here is not the English word “daddy.” This “Abba” is written in the Greek pronunciation of the Aramaic word for father. This Aramaic "Abba" was not a word only used by children; it is also a word used by adults. Look at the English. 'Abba' expresses the Aramaic word for father.)
Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it touching? Isn’t it grace? We are not the sons of kings. We are not the children of presidents. We are not the children of ministers. We are not the children of conglomerates. Whose children are we? We are the children of God.
In the Lord's Prayer, God is introduced as, “Our Father in heaven.” This means that God is the God who is in heaven. What does this mean? It means He is a God who cannot be approached by those who belong to the earth, a God who cannot be approached by those who belong to the flesh, and a God who cannot be approached unless the issue of sin is resolved. Were we not like that? We belonged to the earth, we belonged to the flesh, and we were bound by sin and death. Yet one day, we were able to call that glorious God our Father. Who? We. Me, who is unqualified. We are able to call the glorious God who created the heavens and the earth our Father.
[John 1:12] Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
[Gal 4:5-6] to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
What kind of relationship is it when we call God Father? “Father” is an object of intimacy as well as respect and trust for children. Here, we need to think about the role of our earthly fathers. Are they fathers? Our earthly fathers should serve as a channel through which children can know something of the heavenly Father.
However, many fathers play the opposite role. They act in ways that hinder their children from approaching the Heavenly Father.
In the book "Healing the Inner World" by Pastor Jeong Taegi, there is a story about a man who cannot call God his Father. He wants to pray, but he can’t even say the word ‘Father’ without feeling choked. It is painful for him even to go to church. Moreover, he has suffered from inferiority and frustration for a long time and even contemplated suicide. Although he got good jobs with the help of his maternal family, he couldn’t last even a month in any of them. There was nowhere to accept him when he would burst into intense anger over the lightest reprimand from his boss. The root of his problem was a deep resentment towards his father. He had been made to stand holding a pillow at the dining table in front of the family for getting poor grades in elementary school. It was difficult enough to be hungry, but the shame of being the older brother in front of his younger siblings inflicted a fatal blow to his self-image. He had to suffer such shame every time he received his report card, and whenever he wanted to start something, he would hear, “What can a loser like you do?” At some point, he began to see his father’s figure in those above him, and he became pathologically hostile at the slightest criticism.
In particular, Korean fathers, perhaps due to the influence of Confucian culture or military culture, often exhibit authoritarian behavior. They do not treat their children with respect. They speak harshly. They can be violent. There is a lack of gentleness. There is a lack of intimacy. As a result, children lose intimacy, respect, and trust toward their fathers.
Some families have a father who, upon returning home from work, rings the doorbell, and everyone rushes out to hug him and greet him warmly. On the other hand, some homes are such that when the doorbell rings, the children hurry to tidy up the mess on the floor. In such homes, the father is a disciplinarian and a watchman. Growing up under such a father makes it awkward to call God “Father” later, and they end up having incomplete intimacy, respect, and trust in God and always become wary and suspicious believers.
I urge fathers, including myself, to treat their children with respect. Let’s treat them with love and compassion. May we recover the image of fathers who can be intimate, respectable, and trustworthy to our children. I also hope that all of us become children of God who approach Him with intimacy, respect, and trust.
[Application] Am I intimate with my earthly father? Or do I find him scary or uncomfortable? What feelings arise in me when I call God in heaven “Father”?
2. God has adopted us as sons.
[Rom 8:15] The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Here, the "Spirit of adoption" in Greek is "huiothesia" which means 'the act of being received as a son,' that is, 'adoption.'
In other words, we were not originally sons, but we have been adopted and have become sons. It is God who has adopted us, and we have become adopted sons.
At that time, the system of adoption was more common in Rome than in Israel. In particular, wealthy individuals, when they had no heirs to inherit their property, would adopt someone they liked as a son and pass everything onto him. Therefore, this was a well-understood concept among the church members in Rome.
What does it mean to be adopted? The moment someone is adopted as a son, several things immediately happen to that new son: First, any debts and legal obligations he had are transferred to the adoptive father. Second, he is given a new name and becomes the heir to all the adoptive father's possessions. Third, the adopted son has new obligations to honor and please his father.
A film that illustrates this well is the Academy Award-winning film "Ben-Hur," which won 11 Oscars. In it, the main character "Judah Ben-Hur" was a Jewish nobleman. Due to an accident caused by his brother's mistake, the family falls into ruin, and Ben-Hur is sold into slavery, rowing on a ship. Then, the new Roman commander, Quintus Arius, boards that ship, and it is attacked by pirates. Ben-Hur saves Arius' life during the attack. Arius, in front of the Roman Emperor, gives Ben-Hur a ring that symbolizes social status in ancient society, thus adopting him as his son. After becoming the adopted son of the commander, Ben-Hur returns to his homeland, Judea, and meets his childhood friend, the Roman commander Messala, who had destroyed his family. When Messala tries to capture him, Ben-Hur shows him the ring. Seeing the ring and recognizing Ben-Hur’s changed status, Messala can do nothing. In the end, Ben-Hur takes revenge on Messala through a chariot race, and on the day Jesus Christ is crucified, he comes to believe in Jesus. This leads to the healing of his mother and sister from leprosy, and his family is reunited.
Those who believe in Jesus are adopted as sons of God by Him.
Before becoming adopted, what was our condition? Ephesians 2:2 states that we were children of the devil and sons of disobedience, subjected to wrath.
If you believe in Jesus, your status has changed. Your belonging has changed.
[Rom 8:15] The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, “Abba, Father.”
We are people who have received the Spirit of adoption, that is, the Holy Spirit. We can approach God and call Him “Daddy, Father.” To cry out means we have been given the right to demand. If we are adopted but do not cry out or ask our Father, we live without using or enjoying many privileges that have already been given to us.
[James 4:2-3] You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Now that we are children of God, we should ask our heavenly Father.
[Matt 7:11] If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
What is the good thing? It is that God is with us. It is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in Luke, the same message is written:
[Luke 11:13] If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
There are many prayer requests asking to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.” However, it seems that many do not actually ask for it. What did the Lord say? He said He would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
[Matt 7:7] Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. God has promised to give to those who are His children. What should we ask for?
[Matt 6:33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
I hope all of you, as adopted children, use the privileges given to you and fulfill your obligations.
[Application] Do you believe that your identity has changed because you believe in Jesus? Are you asking for what you should as a son of God? What have you not received because you did not ask?
3. We are co-heirs with Jesus.
[Rom 8:17] Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Where is Jesus right now? He is seated at the right hand of God.
[Mark 16:19] After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.
The right hand signifies authority and glory. Jesus is the one who receives all authority and glory.
[Phil 2:9-11] Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Being co-heirs with Jesus means we receive the same authority and glory as Him. When? When we go to the Lord. Until when? For eternity.
But what about while we live on this earth? Jesus sat at the right hand of God after finishing all His redemptive work on earth. While on earth, although He revealed God's glory through His works, He primarily suffered. He obeyed God until His death.
[Phil 2:6-8] Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
The result of obeying until death to fulfill God's will on earth, enduring the sufferings of the cross, is eternal glory. There is no glory without suffering. No cross, no crown.
We tend to avoid difficult things on this earth. We do not want to engage in tasks that are challenging or troublesome. We only want to do things that seem good or that we like. What do we let go of? It is not our self-assertion or ego we let go of; we often put down the crosses we are supposed to bear. We even pick and choose which crosses to bear.
(I heard a testimony from a pastor of a large church in Korea about going to heaven. He was shown a very nice house and thought it might be his, given his big ministry. So he asked, “Lord, whose house is this?” “That house is for a pastor I hold very dear,” the Lord said. “Who is that?” When he asked, the Lord seemed to know his inner thoughts and said, “It is not your house; it is for a pastor who is currently serving in a rural area.” The Lord then showed him a pastor who had come to a small village church as a young minister. After serving for a few years, he thought, “Now I should go to a big city and serve,” and packed his bags. But when he looked at the remaining congregation, he thought, “What will happen to them?” and unpacked his bags again. After several years, he faced the same dilemma but chose to stay again for the few remaining members. He continued to serve faithfully in that small village church. The Lord explained, “This house is for the pastor who has carried the cross I entrusted to him until the end.” The pastor who shared the testimony said he felt immense shame.)
What are you pursuing? Is it something impressive? Is it something abundant? Is it something that looks good? Or is it the cross that seems unremarkable and unfruitful but is entrusted by the Lord?
It is normal not to want to bear a cross. The cross I want to bear may not be the real cross. The ministry I want to do may not be the ministry that God has entrusted to me.
Why do we only want to do what we like? Why do we put down the cross of suffering? We feel that the suffering we experience now is greater than the glory we will receive later. But remember verse 18.
[Rom 8:18] I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
We must overcome the sufferings of this world while looking forward to the glory that will be revealed to us.
Today, as children of God who call Him “Daddy, Father,” may we bear the cross to fulfill the Lord’s will on this earth and participate in the sufferings and glory of Jesus, being co-heirs with Him.
[Application] Am I letting go of my ego or my cross? What is the cross I need to bear again today?
[Romans 8:14-18]
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
하늘소망교회(담임 손진국 목사)는 뉴질랜드 오클랜드 북부 실버데일에 세워진 한인교회로 '하나님의 마음으로 사람을 살리는 교회'입니다.
Hope of Heaven Baptist Church (Senior Pastor: Rev. Jinkook Sohn) is a Korean church established in Silverdale, Auckland, New Zealand. It is a church that saves people with the heart of God.