✠ Psalmody: Psalm 48:9-10; 1; Psalm 31:2b, 1a; Psalm 65:1, 4b; Psalm 18:27, 31a; Psalm 34:8
✠ Lection: Jeremiah 23:16–29; Romans 8:12–17; Matthew 7:15–23
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
God the Father tested Abraham. He said to him, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Also, willingly did Isaac do all that his father asked of him, even as he saw that he was to be the offering upon the mount of the Lord’s provision. He bore the wood as he ascended. He lay down obediently upon the altar of sacrifice that his father had prepared. He was willing to die at the Lord’s command. Both Isaac and Abraham were willing to face earthly death in order to obey their Father in heaven. That son who ultimately wasn’t sacrificed is a picture of the only Son, Jesus, whom the Father loves, as He bore his cross up to Calvary. On that holy mount, outside Jerusalem on that Good Friday, the Father’s hand was not stayed and the only-begotten Son of God perished for our sake.
In Isaac, in Abraham, in Jesus, we see sonship being drawn out to different blessed conclusions. It is a state-of-being described by St. Paul as he says, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Led by the Spirit, the term sons is for you to embrace regardless your sex, for sonship is one way in which the saying is applicable, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” That one is the blessed position of sonship, and in the service to the heavenly Father of sons, as sons, true joy and happiness are to be found. As we have received the Spirit of adoption into one, holy, eternal family, let us consider what it means to be sons.
As sons of God, dear brethren, we are debtors. Yes, even as sons, we owe a debt, not to the flesh, but to God. We are debtors because of what we have received, not as though God is exacting from us what He has invested, for that amount we cannot repay. But God has given bounteously to each and every one of us. We are debtors because of the freedom into which we have been delivered, out of bondage to sin, death, and the devil, and into the marvelous light of Christ. We are indebted because this great act of mercy came at a great cost. Beloved and redeemed people of God, dear sons, you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. Indeed, you belong to Him in body and spirit. Such a redemption isn’t a trade from one slave master to another, but a gathering by washing and the word into a family that has been freed from evil and the powers of darkness. In Christ, we are now children of the light, thus His love controls us as debtors to what, to Whom, is entirely good.
As sons of God, we do more than slaves do, not out of obligation, but out of a desire that is of the Father above. True sons do not begrudge their father’s commands, desires, works, or intentions. Our sonship becomes true when we live in it; when we seek to do the work of sons and not of slaves, loving the Father because we are His and His heart and mind become ours. Sons do not find good works guided by the commands of the Father to be akin to bondage, but opportunity to engage in what the Father Himself is doing to us and among us. The commands that you shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself bring more and more delight to those of His household year after year unto all eternity. The good son gives freely of his freedom in heeding the voice of his Father, while the bad son shows himself to be even less than a hired servant.
As sons of God, we have been given a great gift in which we may have unshakeable confidence all our days, for it is the loftiest of positions to be had both now and forever. To be a son is one thing, but to be one of God is another, for that means that we belong to a Father Who can never be moved. None of the earthly pursuits of man, none of the gains of pleasures in this life will ever measure up to the wealth gained in being made co-heir with Jesus Christ our Lord and in calling God our Father. If confidence for everyday is what you desire, confidence that can endure any and all trials and tribulations, confidence that can shine brightly even in death’s face, then cry out, “Abba, Father!”, confident in Him, confident in His divine acts that have made you, and keep you, His. His house is yours, so trust that you receive in it bounty from heaven that strengthens you in body and soul unto life everlasting.
As sons of God, we know what we may expect to come. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. We know the future. We see it in our Brother; not the temporal details of what this afternoon or next Thursday may bring, details upon which we hang too much of our mental and spiritual well-being, but the true and sure everlasting future is what we know and expect. We know where we are going and are but given to trust in our Father as to the intricate path through this vale of tears on which He will lead us there. All things needed to be known are known. He is our Abba. He is our Father. All things needed to be withheld are withheld from us so that we not try to become God, but live now as sons who are free under the mighty hand of a gracious and omnipotent Father.
All of these benefits are rooted in God’s own love for us. We love because He first loved us and He showed us by sending forth His own beloved, only-begotten Son. Fulfilling His Father’s desire and command in perfect, willful, delightful obedience, the Son of God came to make us children, sons, heirs. Recall these two stanzas out of Dr. Luther’s hymn “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice,” for in them we hear of Jesus’ pure and blessed obedience and the reward He gained for us by it:
God said to His beloved Son:
“It’s time to have compassion.
Then go, bright jewel of My crown,
And bring to all salvation.
From sin and sorrow set them free;
Slay bitter death for them that they
May live with You forever.”
The Son obeyed His Father’s will,
Was born of virgin mother;
And God’s good pleasure to fulfill,
He came to be my brother.
His royal pow’r disguised He bore;
A servant’s form, like mine, He wore
To lead the devil captive.
Abba, Father, bless us always to live in our gift and benefit of heavenly sonship in Christ our Lord!
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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