Inheritance Sermon #3: Our Glorious Connection to God:
Key Verses: 1 Peter 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.”
Back in my youth ministry days I taught the teen-agers a simple song that packed a theological wallop. The chorus repeated these lines:
I’m just wrapped up, tied up, tangled all up in Jesus.
I’m just wrapped up, tied up, tangled all up in God
(Danny Lee, 1972, Manna Music).
It was fun to sing along with the actions, and the faster the better. The words are simple, but the message is deep. In fact this little song has everything to do with our inheritance. Our multi-faceted connection to God is the very essence of our glorious inheritance in Christ.
We humans tend to be insecure about our spiritual connection with God. But God has taken great pains to address this spiritual insecurity. The Bible is full of metaphors describing how completely and irrevocably we are wrapped, tied, and tangled all up in God. Consider these examples:
• We are God’s possession, purchased with Christ’s blood (Ephesians 1:14).
• We are God’s adopted children (Romans 8:15).
• We are God’s spirit-born children. He made us his natural-born children, sharing his spiritual DNA by planting within us the “incorruptible seed” of his Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:23).
• We are betrothed to Christ, chosen to be the Bride of Christ (Revelation 22:17).
• We are living stones in a building whose foundation is Christ (1 Peter 2:5).
• We are the sheep of our good shepherd (John 10:11-16).
• We are soldiers in the army of Christ (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
• We serve as a nation of priests with Jesus as our high priest (Hebrews 4:14, 1 Peter 2:9).
• We are branches connected to Jesus, the true vine (John 15:1-8).
• We are the body whose head is Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:22, 5:30).
• We are disciples who follow Christ (Matthew 28:18-20).
When I visited Russia in 1996 I purchased a matrioshka or “nesting” doll, which is perhaps one of the most commonly purchased Russian souvenirs. The nesting doll provides a good visual image of the ways we have been wrapped up in Christ and in God. The common nesting doll contains seven dolls starting with a large doll that comes apart in the middle revealing a smaller doll inside, and each doll comes apart to reveal a yet smaller doll until you discover the smallest doll, about the size of a pea. As you put them back together you understand that the smallest doll is covered up and protected six times over.
When I brought my nesting doll souvenir home, I had no idea how popular this toy would be with my grandchildren. They played with the dolls so often, and so enthusiastically, that some of the dolls are now cracked or broken, and held together by scotch tape. But the toy still sits on our shelf, full and complete. Each doll is hidden securely within the whole.
This offers a visual of the security we have in Christ. Inevitably we get cracked or broken. We often fear we might fall apart entirely. But regardless of our condition, we are always hidden securely in Christ. Colossians 3:2-3 reminds us, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
We have inherited a condition of supreme safety. We have been covered twice over, hidden in Christ who is in God. Let us set our minds on things above by examining some of the ways we are wrapped up, tied up, tangled all up in God.
1. We are God’s Children
Years ago, some friends of ours decided to adopt an infant son while they were serving as missionaries in Chile. They had tried, unsuccessfully, to have a baby for several years, so we were very happy when the adoption announcement arrived in the mail with a picture of their new son. We were astounded to see that they had enclosed with it the birth announcement for their biological son. As it turned out, the son they adopted, and the son they had unexpectedly conceived, arrived only a couple of months apart.
This double blessing is similar to our twofold connection to God as our father. Through Christ, we inherit the status of God’s adopted and spiritually begotten children. Both of these processes make us God’s sons and daughters, but there is a shade of difference between them that we don’t want to miss.
Adoption is needed because we are not born physically into God’s family. The default condition for each of us is that of being a child of Adam’s race. By nature, we inherited our DNA from Adam and Eve, who separated themselves from God through their own sin. From birth, we inherit their physical and spiritual condition. This concept is presented by the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:12-20 where he states that sin and death came to all men through one man. He goes on to proclaim that, through Jesus Christ, grace is available to all mankind, potentially.
I used the word “potentially,” because this grace is effective only where it is welcomed. A much-needed grace is offered freely as a gift to whoever desires to receive it. And by means of receiving that gift, God provides His Holy Spirit, which is called a “Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15). The Spirit enables us to call God “Abba,” which is a name of endearment in Aramaic. In the English idiom this name would come closest to “Daddy!”
The beauty of adoption is that, by choice, a loving person does whatever it takes to make an unrelated child their own. Though they do not share DNA, they will consequently share all familial connections from that point on. By adoption, the child becomes a son or daughter of the adopting parent and a brother or sister with the same rights and privileges as any to any natural born siblings. The adopted child inherits anything and everything the parent chooses to bequeath.
The Apostle Paul gave a similar metaphor in Romans 11:17-24 when he talked about grafting believing Gentiles onto the tree that had once been exclusively Jewish. In this metaphor, branches from a wild olive plant were grafted onto the Jewish rootstock while some natural branches were lopped off. What was not native to the original rootstock was grafted by choice of the owner of the olive tree. Both adoption and grafting reveal God’s willingness to take what was not his own by nature, and to make it his own.
Despite the permanency of adoption, many adopted children develop a curiosity, sooner or later, about the people who brought them into the world in the first place. Even though they may adore and appreciate their adoptive parents, they can’t help but wonder about their natural parents.
No child of God will need to pursue these questions. God did something more than adoption: something only God could do. God planted his own DNA into his adopted children. 1 Peter 1:23 alludes to this mystery. “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” The word used in the Greek text for seed is the word “sperma” from which we get our word “sperm.”
This elucidates Jesus meaning when he told Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 KJV). God begets and births new life when he plants his Holy Spirit into our spirits. This is the implantation of His own godly nature, his spiritual DNA, within us.
The following passages state the case for our begetting and birthing as new creations by the grace of God: John 1:12-13; John 3:3,7; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; 1 Peter 1:3,23; 1 John 5:1,18. Our loving Father has done all that can be done to make us fully his children. I love the way John put it in his gospel introduction: “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” (John 1:12-13).
Our inheritance in Christ is so much more than connection to a new religious philosophy. Through faith in Christ, God literally gives us new identity as his adopted children and new birth through the enlivening presence of his Holy Spirit. Our nature connects with God’s nature, enabling us to do his will (2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 2:13).
What bond could be more secure? Having paid for our adoption with the precious blood of Christ, God will never un-adopt us any more than he would ever un-birth us. We are able to call God “Daddy” all the days of our lives, with confidence that our place in his family is absolutely secure.
2. We Enjoy The Indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit
Key Verses: Ephesians 1:13-14 , “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.”
Throughout the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would make periodic appearances, but the presence of the Spirit was always temporary in duration. During Jesus’ ministry on earth, the presence of the Holy Spirit was upon Jesus as evidenced at his baptism when the Holy Spirit came upon him visibly in the form of a dove (Matthew 3:16-17, Mark 1:9-11,Luke 3:21-22,). And at the Last Supper, Jesus explained to his men about the coming ministry of the Holy Spirit. He said to them, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me… It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you…” (John 15:26, 16:7)
So what does the Holy Spirit’s presence do in the believer? Consider the ministries the scriptures enumerate for us:
Counselor/comforter: The Greek word (paracletos) literally means “to come along beside”. When Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit to his men at the last supper he used that name to describe the one he would send back to them after he left (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit is called a counselor/comforter because that is a major part of his ministry within us. We can literally seek advice and comfort from the divine presence living in our bodies.
Teacher: After calling the Holy Spirit “the counselor”, Jesus went on to tell his men that the Spirit would teach them all things and bring to remembrance all that he had told them (John 14:26). Jesus also called the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of truth”, which lets us know that the Spirit teaches us God’s truth.
Guide: The Spirit is able to reveal God’s will and His plan for us if we are in tune with his attempts to communicate with us. Because the Holy Spirit is our guide, we are commanded to “walk by the Spirit” and promised that if we do this we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16, 25).
Witness: Jesus explained to his men that the Holy Spirit, which came from the Father would bear witness of him (John 15:26). The Spirit is able to give testimony concerning Christ. In fact, Jesus said that the Spirit always pointed to Jesus and not to Himself. (John 16:13-15)
Helper: The Holy Spirit can help the Christian to overcome sin in his life because it is by the Spirit that we are enabled to put to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:12-13).
Intercessor: At times, we are unable to express ourselves adequately in prayer. This is when the Holy Spirit takes over and prays to the Father for us. How reassuring to know, that God has planted an intercessor within us, who intercedes for us constantly. The Father and the Spirit are in constant connection in our behalf (Romans 8:26).
Seal of Ownership: When God saved and regenerated us, the Holy Spirit was placed within us as a seal of ownership. We are God’s unique possession, and the Spirit’s presence within us is the proof of that blessed condition. In fact the Holy Spirit is called the down-payment of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30). Some may wonder how God will know that we belong to him when we arrive in heaven. The presence of the Spirit within us is the official seal of our son ship in God’s family (Romans 8:9-11, 16).
3. Joint Heirs with Christ
Key Scripture: Romans 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.
Because of our connection with God we have inherited an equally profound interconnection with Christ who is God’s son. We are told about this interconnection in Romans 8: For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 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 (Romans 8:15-17). You will notice that this verse mentions the Father, Son (Christ), and Holy Spirit. This is one of several New Testament scriptures that refer directly to all three persons in the Godhead. Not only does this reinforce the teaching about the Trinity in the Bible, but it also allows us to see that interaction with each person automatically involves the other two. Though we might pull them apart for the purpose of literary examination, we cannot actually separate them. Interaction with one is interaction with the whole. There is no way, for example, to pray to the Father to the exclusion of the Son and Spirit. You might seemingly accomplish a feat like that in your mind, but not in reality.
So far, we have looked at the ways we are wrapped up in God, and focused on the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Now, we will give attention to the ways we are connected inextricably to Christ himself. The Apostle Paul referred to God’s ministry among the Gentiles (that includes us) as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). From this verse we are introduced to one of our important connections to Christ, namely, the fact that Christ is in us.
Christ in You
Having looked at the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we know that God planted Christ into us in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us in direct connection to our own spirits. In fact, the Holy Spirit’s presence is synonymous with Christ in us. What does it mean to have Christ living inside you? It means that everything God might ever demand of us he will perform within us through the presence of Christ. As Paul said, Christ in you is the hope of glory.
You in Christ: (Seated with Christ)
It is meaningful to know that Christ is within you, but we also need to see that we are with and in Christ which places us where he is. So where is Christ? We know that he is seated next to the Father in the throne room of heaven (Ephesians 1:20-22). So if we are in Christ, then where are we? Ephesians 2:6 tells us, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…” What does that mean? It means that though our physical bodies are here on earth, our spirits enjoy the heavenly perspective of being seated with Christ in the heavenly places. This means that our eternal lives have already begun. Because we are in Christ we are secure in our connection to him by being with him in heaven. Is this really true of us? Consider Paul’s statement in Colossians 3:1-3 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” This is not a matter of playing mind games. Our real lives are hidden with Christ in God. Because he is in us, what happened to him 2,000 years ago also happened to us. Because we are in him, we are, in essence, seated next to him in heaven. Talk about a heavenly perspective! We don’t have to worry about losing salvation when it has already begun for us. We can visualize ourselves as already with Christ in heaven!
Conclusion:
From what we’ve seen today our divine inheritance includes a strong and meaningful connection to God the Father as His dear child, a connection to the Holy Spirit as a down-payment on all that we are to inherit, and a connection to Jesus Christ as joint heirs who enjoy the presence of Christ living within us, and who are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. We are truly blessed to have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (all three) as part of our glorious inheritance.
