GOSPELS 3 IDENTITY AS A CHILD OF GOD

 GOSPELS 3 OUR IDENTITY AS A CHILD OF GOD.

Luke 4:1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.
It was into the farthest extents of the dry and almost uninhabitable region of the wilderness area where Jesus went, to come head-to-head with the powers of darkness and overcome the temptations of the devil in his time of forty days of prayer and fasting. He would have travelled beyond the low hills of scrubland down into a lifeless wasteland near Jericho where the Jordan river runs into the dead Sea, which is one of the lowest places on the earth. 
That is where John the Baptist lived his life of prayer and fasting amongst a community of zealous Jewish disciples and from where John went out to prepare the way of the Lord.

Moses and Joshua and Elijah also prayed and fasted for forty days and nights in wilderness areas. Moses and Joshua in their prayer and fasting went to Mt. Horeb, where the Law and Commandments would speak God’s word to humanity through Israel. It was the highest place in the Sinai wilderness – and that can speak to us of the highest pathway for mankind to hear God and to obey him in the Old Covenant of the Law. Elijah in his prayer and fasting would hear the still small voice and speak the prophetic word of the Lord to Israel and to humanity on that same high mountain where the law was given – another picture of the highest means of God’s voice speaking to mankind – through the Old Testament prophets. 
But Jesus in his prayer and fasting took humanity to the lowest depth of the earth in Jordan of the Dead Sea to speak God’s living Word against the power of sin and disobedience to all of Mankind, taking the sin of humanity into death and overcoming darkness for us. Jesus took his humanity, on behalf of our humanity from the lowest place on earth to fulfill the highest achievement of humanity in fully obeying the Law and Commandments without ever sinning. Jesus killed off sin as being the ruler over the soul of mankind to bring us into new life. He came from the highest place in Heaven to the lowest place on earth to bring us into the highest place of life with himself.

A very interesting feature of Luke’s Gospel is that before he writes about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, he gives the genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Adam, back to the beginning of humanity, testifying that Jesus is one with us in his humanity in the first Adam. And the Bible also refers to Jesus as the last Adam and the life-giving Spirit. When Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to give us his life giving Spirit. 
So we are one with Jesus in the first Adam and we are one with Jesus in the last Adam as we become a life-giving Spirit with him (1Corinthians 15:45). Matthew is the only other Gospel writer that shares the same story of the temptation in the wilderness – and he is also the only other writer that gives us a genealogy of Jesus, except that his genealogy only goes back to Abraham – the root of the olive tree of Israel, not of all of humanity. We have been grafted into that tree by faith (Romans 11:17), but more than that, we have been implanted into Jesus the Vine (1Peter 1:25 – born again of the seed (logos)of God) and we are his branches (John 15:1) and bear the fruit of his life, not just Abraham’s faith – which we have also inherited. We’ve got Jesus the last Adam to go back to.

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry afterward. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
He shall give His angels charge over you,' and 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"(he quotes the beautiful Psalm 91 to Jesus) Jesus said to him, "It is written again, You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"
Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

The first two temptations are prefaced by ‘If you are the Son of God’ – tempting Jesus to prove his identity of his being the Son of God. They were both temptations about Jesus doing something in his own strength. The first temptation was about human appetites – having what you want when you want it – rocks into bread – make it happen. Jesus served his Father, not his appetites.

The second temptation was about human performance, skill and achievement, even showmanship – leaping off the spire of the temple and declaring that God would send angels to save him (Psalm 91:11). This temptation of using a self-selected Scripture for your own advantage for fame or glory or a spiritual image is taking the name of The Lord in vain and Jesus was having none of it, and he left a judicious warning for all of us.
The third and final temptation was about Jesus being tempted to have something – in fact ‘have everything’ – all the kingdoms of the world and their glory - by letting darkness rule in the heart. This final kind of temptation can start off in a person desiring to have enough money to have enough power to have enough freedom to have as much control over their own lives as they want, and even power and control over other people – that is the power of the world – the political agenda.

So having things and doing things is not what gives us an identity, and having power over other people does not mean that we have great stature, and wanting those things for ourselves does not give us power over temptation but puts us in the way of temptation.
Jesus has empowered us with a different kind of power, and as far as temptation goes Jesus has told us that in him we can overthrow powers of darkness (Ephesians 6). But as far as our identity is concerned God has given us the greatest power on earth, becoming the sons and daughters of God under and within his power.

John 1:12 ‘But as many as received him, to them he gave the power to become the sons of God (brothers and sisters with Jesus – technon - children), to those that believe on his name: When we receive Jesus we pick up that authority and liberty to start ‘becoming’. We start off as children being told how to do the right thing and then we grow into grown up sons and daughters on a journey volunteering to do what pleases the Father. The Bible says that the journey of becoming grown up sons and daughters is through being led of the spirit. 

Rom 8:14. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (huios – developing into grown up sons and daughters). For you no longer need to see yourselves as slaves to fear, but you can choose to see yourselves as having a loving Father that has made you part of his family. 
What we are pursuing in our lives is ‘becoming grown-up sons and daughters’.
In these days there is such vast emphasis on individuality and autonomy for a child to determine their own course, that parents have little say in determining the course of a child’s life (and in fact they can get into trouble for telling a child what they should and should not do). This was not always the case, but today things are horrifically different. However, I believe that God is doing something in these days to put things back on track in the hearts of individuals and in families, and that includes in the family of God. Jesus wants us all to have a spiritual and relational family base to live within, with him, and this is only fully done through him. It is through the son – the real big brother, that we become developed sons and daughters. Jesus’ ministry was not just for us to have  forgiveness of sins and go to Heaven, but to develop family purpose. He modeled sonship to us and he develops sonship and daughtership in us. The ministry of the holy spirit is to bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. That leads to us coming to know where we truly belong and what is our true identity.

If we are living a life of togetherness with God and recognize that he is with us on the journey of our life and bringing his future to us. Then we will no longer become anxious to find out what is going to happen next in our lives. As we grow as sons and daughters it becomes simpler to us, because we are less inclined to say, “I wonder why God allowed this or that?” And we begin to see that the compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life, and that God is divinely shaping us into agreement with his good will for our future. We can now trust in the knowledge and the wisdom of God, not in our own abilities. But a wilful and self-determined purpose of our own can destroy the simplicity and the calm, relaxed peace which should be the life experience of the growing up child of God.

A beautiful outcome in all of this is that when we focus on ‘becoming sons and daughters’ we also start really becoming brothers and sisters. When we start caring for one another as brothers and sisters the Father starts doing things that create something on this planet that Jesus prayed for when he prayed to the Father for us - when he was on earth. “I am not praying for these alone but also for the future believers who will come to me because of the testimony of these. My prayer for all of them is that they will be of one heart and mind, just as you and I are, Father—that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. (John 17:20