The Honor of Being a Child of God 1 John 3:1–7; Acts 3:11–21; Luke 24:36–49 

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father, and from His Son, our Brother and our Lord, Jesus Christ.

We’re going to talk about the honor it is be a child of God, based on our Epistle, especially verse 1, See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

In Baptism, God has made you His dear child. This is omething that really irks the devil. The devil and the fallen world want you to disown your Heavenly Father – they want you to denounce your baptismal birthright, and forfeit your Heavenly inheritance.

What a foolish, nearsighted thing it would be to throw away the hard won blessings Christ has given you. But that’s what the world keep telling you do, hoping that if they repeat it enough, and apply enough pressure, you’ll acquiescence, and become godless and secular, with no real faith and hope.

Jesus knows about pressure; he endured the devil’s temptations for Him to ignore the needs of humanity -- to renounce His mission to save the world, which meant He wouldn’t have to suffer and die.

Instead, Jesus ignored temptation’s call to put Himself first, to put His needs before yours. He didn’t give in to the pressure, the temptation to disobey His Father and forsake the world that only He could save.

He didn’t lose His courage and faith; He remained a faithful child of His Heavenly Father, and followed through on what His Father had sent Him to do. 

Talk about pressure: Jesus took the weight of the sin on the world upon Himself, and suffered the punishment for all. 

Has there ever been a Son so faithful to His Father, and so good to you? Never.

What Jesus did is not only our redemption, it’s our example to follow in life.

One of the ways children learn, is by watching, seeing it done. Jesus shows us, God’s children and His brothers and sisters, how it’s done, and how it’s done right. He’s our big brother who went before us and did it first, and did it perfectly.

In this lifetime we can never be so good and faithful as He, but we can learn to be better, to love our Father more, and love our brothers and sisters more.

We can learn to lust for and run after the things of this world, less. 

We can learn with the head, and the heart, and the hands, because that’s how the Holy Spirit teaches us: not just to think better, and believe better, but also to do better; to better practice what we know and believe.

It’s a life-long process, perfected at last in Heaven, but with God’s help, we’re getting better at it now on earth.

The Holy Spirit gives us the right faith, faith in Christ, that we might have the right attitude, that it’s an honor to be a child of God, and to live in a way that brings glory Him.

The Holy Spirit gives us a right frame of mind, that we might do the things that are becoming of a child of God, the things that honor and glorify our Father.

In our Gospel, Jesus appeared to His disciples and opened their minds to understand what the Bible had said about Him. This gave them the right frame of mind to be His witnesses to the world.

In our reading from Acts, Peter said to the crowd who had just seen him heal the man who couldn’t walk, Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come.  

In other words, that the Holy Spirit might come to you, and refresh your soul. As Psalm 23:3 says, He restores my soul.

Peter was doing what Jesus told and empowered the apostles to do in today’s Gospel: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

Jesus, your God and Savior, died and rose, so that in Baptism, you would become His brother, a child of His Heavenly Father, that you might have a place with Him in His Father’s home. 

Jesus invites you, “Come into my Father’s home; enter with me into His eternal glory!”.

Repenting and believing in His death and resurrection for you, you’ll share His glory and His home, but not His throne -- that belongs to God alone; but you will share in the many blessings and never-ending joys of Heaven with Him.

And in Baptism, through the gift of faith, you share with Him in the blessings of His home on earth, His Church, His loving family for you now. 

Here on earth, He gives you His Word to teach you to have the right frame of mind in this confused world; He gives you His body and blood, that you might have peace in your heart in this troubled world; and He gives you the absolution of your sins, that you might have a clear conscience in this guilty world -- not that you’ve never sinned, but that they’re all cancelled, blotted out, dispersed and dissolved.

All this so that you may have the greatest honor that can bestowed upon you: to be called, and made, and confirmed as a child of God. This is an honor of the highest order. 

In Baptism God lifts us to the highest status available to us; to be His own dear children. Living in this gift of highest honor, let us strive to bring glory and honor to the One who gave us this greatest of gifts. Let it be our purpose in life to live in a way that honors Him

In one of the classes I teach, student have to craft a personal mission statement, so that they have a better grasp of their purpose and identity in life. As an example, I share my personal mission statement with them: Living in God’s grace, I will strive to honor Him in all I do, especially by serving others with the love and knowledge of Christ. And then I break it into 3 phrases: 1) Live by grace, 2) honor God, 3) serve others.

First, is living in God’s grace. Without that I can’t do the other. Without God’s grace in our lives, there’s no honoring Him.

First God honored us, by making us His children, that we might live lives that honor Him. God is honored when we serve others as He serves us.

We dishonor God when we live as if we don’t belong to Him, as if Christ never died nor rose for us, as if He hasn’t redeemed and sanctified us, as if His Holy Spirit doesn’t live in us, as if His image is not within us, as if He has nothing to do with us and we have nothing to do with Him.

1 John 3:10 says, 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, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

As we repent in our hearts, God forgives us for the times we’ve dishonored Him. As we’re enlightened by His Word, and empowered by His Spirit, we grow in this highest of honors, to be the royal children of the King above all kings.

There are all kinds of awards and accolades and honors in this world. None compares to the honor of being a baptized child of God; nothing is more honorable than living the way God calls us to live, the way Jesus has showed us to live.

Let us be dedicated to a life that reflects Christ to the world, that bears the fruit of godly love to give to the world; a life that gratefully and humbly and courageously and joyfully shows the world how honored we are that God has made us His own dear children. And let us tell the world that He would do it for all, all who repent and believe and receive the honor of being His child forever. 

And as we live in this great honor, His peace, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our risen Lord and Brother. Amen.