John says that we are now called children of God:
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:1-2
I had a young Muslim man ask me a few years ago: What does that mean that we are called the children of God?
Here are a few thoughts in response to his question:
First, not just anyone is considered to be a child of God. John explains a little bit later in the chapter that we can know who is a child of God and who is a child of the devil, of Satan. Those that do not do what God says, or those who do not love their brother or sister in Christ are those that are children of the devil. But those that believe that Jesus is who he said he is, those who believe in his name and who love one another are among those that are God’s children.
In Hebrew, the name of Jesus is Yeshua, and it specifically means “The Lord is Salvation”. So if we believe in Jesus’s name, we believe that Jesus is Lord. He is king. He is the king in the kingdom of God. The Lord of the entire universe.
And we believe that he is our salvation. In him, we can be saved from destruction, from the righteousness of God that will one day come to judge and bring wrath upon those that he finds to be unrighteous. But in Jesus we can place our faith for salvation. We can look to him as our righteousness, replacing our unrighteousness as he has taken the punishment for our sins upon himself upon the cross.
So if we believe in the name of Jesus and placed our faith in him, we have taken the first step. A result of having believed is that we now desire to do what Jesus has commanded us to do. And what is his command? His most important command is the same most important command that God had given the Israelites: Love. Love God, most importantly. But John reminds us that the command that Jesus gave to his disciples is that they were to love one another.
So, do you want to be a child of God? Then the way to do that is to love your brother or sister in Christ. This is a command directly from Jesus that isn’t necessarily easy, but it is simple. This is our calling, that if we desire to live as children of God, we must believe in the name of Jesus Christ and we must love our brother and sister as Jesus commanded us to do.
Second, to be a child of God means that we have a whole new identity. Talking with my Muslim friend, I tried to help him understand that we are no longer called to be servants of God, as Islam defines Muslims to be. No, instead, we are called to be his children.
This is a significant difference. A servant is one who serves, but has no real position or status within the family of God. He has no inheritance. He has nothing that he receives from the Father except for work or compensation for the specific work that has been done.
A child, on the other hand, finds his identity within his family. He carries the name of his Father. That which the rest of the family enjoys, the child enjoys. Who the family is, the child is. The servant will not necessarily receive any inheritance, but the child is a natural heir. In this case, an heir to salvation that will give us eternal life. A life that will be lived forever. Not eternal punishment, but eternal life with the Father, with the Son, and with the Holy Spirit.
And third, speaking of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, what did they have to say about us as his children?
Looking back to the prophecies of Samuel, Paul says that God calls us his children:
I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
1 Corinthians 6:18
And Jesus calls us his brothers and sisters:
Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
Hebrews 2:11-12
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
And the Holy Spirit says that we are no longer slaves (or servants), but instead now children of God:
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to 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 8:14-17
So now, as my Muslim friend did, we have a choice. Do we want to be a child of God? Or do we prefer to remain a servant?
If you want to be his child, you can. If you want to enter into the family of God, you can. If you want to be called one of his own, you can. But there is one way. And only one way. By believing in the name of Jesus Christ and loving your brothers and sisters within the family that has now adopted you to become a part of it.