Who do you say that I am?
Son of God
Theme Verse: "Who do you say that I am?" Matthew 16:15
Readings: 2 Samuel 7:13-14, Mark 1:10-11, Matthew 17:5, John 3:17-18, John 10:22-37, Romans 8:14-16, John 1`:10-13, Philippians 2:6-11
Optional: Exodus 4:22, Luke 2:49
Memory Verse: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" Mark 9:7
As we saw last week the titles "Son of Man" and "Son of God" are commonly used by Christians to say in a short hand way our belief that Jesus of Nazareth was not only the promised "anointed" one/Messiah but both fully man (human being) from his birth in Bethlehem and fully God from all eternity. There have always been heresies (false teachings) trying to simplify this mystery by dropping one or the other of Jesus' two natures.
As we saw last week, the word "son" has several meanings in the Bible and so do "son of man" and "son of God". However Jesus is the only one who is the heavenly "Son of Man" referred to in Daniel and the "one and only" unique "Son of God". (It may be helpful to review the uses of the word "son" from last week.)
Perhaps the best explanation of HOW this took place is in Philippians 2:6-11 (probably an early Christian hymn). It says that God the Son (who is one God with Father and Holy Spirit) "emptied himself" of the powers of God that did not fit with being a real man--like being able to be everywhere at the same time--and humbled himself to put on our human nature "made in human likeness" and was "obedient even to death-even death on a cross!" Remember how Jesus said, "I lay down my life...No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." (John 10:17-18 ) His resurrection body was familiar yet different and when he returned to heaven he again took up those powers of being God again. Now he can be with everyone of us wherever we are. During his earthly life, God the Father guided Jesus, as he wants to guide us, by the Holy Spirit. The difference is "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God; to him God gives the Spirit without limit." (John 3:34) He obeyed God even though he was tempted just as we are!
Jesus occasionally uses both titles to describe himself. Jesus is careful to say "one and only Son" to distinguish between himself and other ways of using "son of God" (John 3:13-18 ). The words "only begotten" are to show that Jesus the Son was not a creature/creation but the Creator. But "begotten" does not mean that he had a beginning in time (creature) OR was the child of a father physically as we are and as the pagan gods were always being described as behaving. In understanding the unity of God an important verse is "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Remember how Jesus said, "The Father is in me and I am in the Father." (John 19:38 ) and "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30).
In the Old Testament "son of God" could refer to the King or his son who was in line for the throne. (2 Samuel7:13-14). God speaking to King David about his son Solomon who would be king someday said, "He is the one who will build a house for my Name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he will be my son." God has just called David his servant (vs.5,8 ) and then calls the future king his son! The King of Israel was considered both. Jesus, the Son of God, and descendent of David, is the King whose Kingdom will last forever.
Sometimes "son of god" was considered a royal title in the ancient Middle East, moving from Egypt and the east to the Greek and Roman Empires. Example: Alexander the Great was called "son of Ammon" and "son of Zeus". Octavian referred to himself as "God", "divine son". This usage included the word "Lord" and caused many to be killed when they called Jesus "Lord" and refused to call the Roman Emperor "Lord" and worship him. Sometimes outstanding people and craft guilds saw themselves under the patronage of various gods and called themselves "sons" or "children" of that pagan god. (Eerdmans Bible Dictionary, p.l.961)
A nation could be called that. God calls Israel "my son" (Exodus 4:22). "The LORD says, 'Israel is my firstborn son." In Isaiah 1:2 God says, "I reared children and brought them up but they have rebelled against me."
Remember what we learned last week, that "son" or "child" can sometimes carry the idea of a similar character or behavior, a special relationship and one who is obedient to the father.
Part one: Jesus as "Son of God"
At Jesus' Baptism, God the Father speaks from heaven about Jesus as His Son. "As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'" (Mark 1:10-11) Again at the Transfiguration when Peter and John were present, "a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!'" (Matthew 17:5) Even as a boy of twelve, Jesus had a special sense of God as his Father. (This is not a common way God was referred to in the Old Testament When Mary and Joseph found him in the temple after a three day search, Jesus said to them, "Didn't you know that I had to be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49)
It is interesting that when Satan was tempting Jesus (God allowed this testing to prepare Jesus for what was ahead) he kept saying, "IF you are the Son of God", prove it by doing what I say. Jesus rejected that temptation and answered in terms of what God had said. The Son was obeying his Father. One of the ways that Satan tempts us is to put a twist on what is true.
Jesus usually referred to himself as "Son of Man" and referred to God as his Father, his Abba (an intimate family term like Dad or Daddy). In John 10 he speaks of God as his Father and then uses the term "I am God's Son" (John 10:36). He also says, "I and the Father are one."(vs.30) This is going way beyond what is meant by the King being God's son. Jesus also said, "Even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles that you may learn and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father." Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. John 10:38-39)
Now look at John 3:16-18 about God sending his "one and only Son" into the world, not to condemn it but to save it. What Jesus is saying here is that he is the unique Son of God who was "with God" and "was God" before he was sent into the world. He has a unique and eternal (no beginning) relationship with the Father--they are one. In John 8:58, Jesus says, "Before Abraham was, I Am." Jesus is also like the Father. He told his disciples, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:6-7, 9b) He also has a relationship of obedience to the Father. "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself, he can only do what he sees the Father doing because whatever the Father does the Son also does". (John 5:19) Jesus ties this unique oneness with the Father to the "Son of Man" (see Daniel). "He has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the "Son of Man". (John 5:26-27)
Jesus has always been the Son of God but it was clearly revealed to us by his resurrection. He was "declared to be the Son of God with power...by the resurrection from the dead." (Romans 1:4)
Part two: Through faith in Jesus we can become 'sons/children of God'.
" He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 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 1:10-13)
Not only did Jesus call God his Father, (not common in the Old Testament) he taught his disciples to call God "Father" and not just as a solitary relationship but as "our Father".(Luke 11:2, 13) God adopts those who receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord (Romans 8:15) and we become part of God's family- the "household of God" (Ephesians 2:19). Jesus is Head of the church, his Body, his Family. God wants us to have the relationship with him as Father and child. He wants us to become like his Son Jesus and he wants us to obey him and do His will as Jesus did. He does this through the Holy Spirit.
Isn't it amazing that the Holy, righteous, all powerful God who made the universe not only loved us enough to send Jesus to rescue us from sin, wants to have us become his children!!! "Behold what manner of love is this, that we should be called children of God."(1 John3:1) There is nothing automatic about it---we have to choose to respond to God's invitation and keep on choosing Jesus and the Father.
Now reflect and respond to the Words the Lord has given the teachers about being children/sons and daughters of God.
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know him." (1 John 3:1) A word received: I came to show my father's love for you.
"Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2) A word received: I have given you a Spirit of adoption so that you can know me as your father.
"And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure." (1 John 3:3) A word received: I AM calling you to purity of heart so that you can see and know my father. (See Matthew 5:8 )
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." (Romans 8:14) A word received: I want you to be led by my Holy Spirit.
"For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" (Romans 8:15) A word received: "Abba, Father" is not just a cute title -- it is a relationship I want you to have with my father.
"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26) A word received: I want you to come to maturity of faith. I want you to be sons of my father in word and deed.
"And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!'" (Galatians 4:6) A word received: Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah's spirit -- the portion of an eldest son. I want you to have that same fervent desire -- the desire to be my son and receive that "double portion" as Elisha did. (See 2 Kings 2:9)
Ideas for little children's lesson
1. Remind them that the words "son" and "Son" can mean several different things: It can describe a person's character and behavior (like sons of thunder or son of peace). It points to a relationship and it indicates who or what a person obeys. Or it (son of man) can just mean a human being.
2. One of the ways Christians use "Son of Man" and "Son of God" is to point to Jesus as both a fully human being and also fully God (in one Being with God the Father).
3. Remind them that God is a Spirit and can be everywhere at the same time--with Natasha in Schenectady and with her cousins in Brazil and the Philippines. Jesus couldn't do that when he lived on earth but he can now.
4.Just as "Son of Man" in Daniel points to a king in heaven who is also a man like us, so Son of God points to Jesus having a special- "one and only" relationship with God. He has God's character, a unique relationship and was totally obedient and in agreement with God the Father while he lived on earth. Remember Jesus said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9-10. Jesus proved this not only by his miracles but by his resurrection from the dead--and ascending back to heaven.
5. God wants to adopt you and me as his children (sons--and daughters). John 1:12 says of Jesus, "Yet to all who have received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
Jesus taught us that we can call God "our Father" if we belong to Jesus. That makes us part of his family, the church. God the Father, our "Abba" (Daddy) wants us to have a personal relationship with him, to become like his Son Jesus in our characters and behaviors, and to obey him. We will need the Spirit of God/the Spirit of Jesus to be able to do this.
6. Use words received adapted to the children.
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