Transcribed by Beluga AI.
This is a passage I hope they can hold close to them as they are about to go on their mission trip.
Luke 10:17.
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Luke 10:17-24, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, we pray for these two men and for all of us to understand the greatness of our salvation, that because we have repented and put our faith in Jesus Christ, our names are written in heaven. And we pray that that realization would cause overflowing of thanksgiving more than what we can do for you and do on the mission field. We want to fix our heart on this truth.
May it not be intellectual. May it be something that hits our hearts, that we would be overwhelmed with thanksgiving. How could sinners like us, who deserve hell, be included in heaven with you? We pray for more revelation, not just about salvation, but all of life, all of Christian life, all of life that we live here on earth. We pray for more Holy Spirit revelation. Pray that you teach us in this time. Fill us with the Holy Spirit now.
Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Thank you.
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Let me start with 1 Corinthians 13:9. At the end of the chapter, verse 9.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:9-12, ESV)
Today I want to talk about the greatness of the title that all of us have been given. And what do you think that title is? What is the greatest title in the universe?
Yes. Yes. Amen. Child of God. Child of God.
If you think about it, the greatest title that Jesus has for himself is Son of God. And we are called child of God, lowercase S, son of God, daughter of God. Just an amazing thing that we are considered children of God. So the first step in growing into this identity as children of God is we put away childishness.
When we were a child, we thought like a child, we spoke like a child, we reasoned like a child. And to just sum up, what does it means to be a child is you are self-centered. You only think about yourself, everybody is there to serve you, and you are the center of your drama. Everything is either for my good or something I can ignore. This is a childishness that, as we grow up in our faith, we need to put aside. This selfishness, this narcissism, this pride. We need to put this aside when we grow up to be a man.
But as it says in our main text, we might be confused that, you know, Timothy graduated, Oliver graduated, Amy graduated, Caitlin graduated. And when you’re a graduate of undergrad, the first thing people ask you is, what do you do? And if you have no answer, then you feel a little bit ashamed.
Like I’m in between my next thing. I’m going to grad school. I haven’t started. I’m looking for a job. I haven’t secured it. It’s a very nervous and insecure place to be. And what people are really asking is, what is your title? Are you a software developer? Are you a teacher? Are you a professor? Are you a business CEO? What are you? Because that is how the world evaluates us. It is our title, what we can do.
And even as a missionary, we might be confused and bring in that mindset and concentrate on what I am doing for the Lord. And God says in his word, don’t focus on what you do. Even in churches, we bring in this mentality that the world has, which is to flaunt our titles. Even in the church, and especially Korean churches, we invent titles that don’t exist. And every, there’s every.
Depending on who you’re married to, your age, there’s a, there’s a title for everything, what committee you’re leading. I just want to give you some passages to discourage that mindset of elevating people based on what they do, even in a church context.
So let’s look at Matthew 23. Matthew 23. No, Matthew 25. Sorry. No, I’m sorry. It is 23. Matthew 23. It is hard to preach without notes, but I’m trying. Matthew 23. Start in verse 5.
5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:5-12, ESV)
So this emphasis in a man-centered approach to life, whether it’s in the church or outside the church, is to focus on titles. And Jesus says, let’s get rid of that mindset. There’s only one teacher, there’s only one father. You don’t have even the pastor. You don’t depend on the pastor, you don’t depend on the senior pastor. You don’t depend on the prophet, you don’t depend on the apostle.
You don’t depend on people because you have one teacher. And Jesus says, I, I am he. So why don’t you ask me questions and let me teach you?
But we don’t like that. We want to be the teacher. We want to be the Spiritual father. We want to give ourselves these titles of pastor and spiritual leader. And isn’t that the mindset of the scribes and the Pharisees? They want these things because they want to be recognized by their title, the same way that people in the world want to be recognized by what titles they have in the world. We bring this mindset into the church.
And Jesus says, what are you doing? If you depend on somebody else, then likely you will not depend on me, the teacher. And so Jesus is very clear here. We’re all brothers. You might call me pastor. You don’t have to call me pastor if you don’t want want to, because I am your brother. I’m not above you.
I might have an office. I might have an assignment here. But you don’t have to call me Pastor Ray. You can just call me Ray. I am totally fine with that. I don’t need any special honor from men. Because God says in his word, we honor only Jesus Christ. God the Father, God the Spirit, and especially here, he highlights God the Father and himself, God the Son. And so what do we do? We humble ourselves. That is what it means to be a child of God. We humble ourselves. We humble ourselves.
Not only do we have the teacher, Jesus Christ, we also have God the Spirit. 1 John, verse 2. Let’s look at that together. 1 John 2, verse 26.
26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 John 2:26-27, ESV)
So not only do we have Jesus the teacher, capital T, we also have the Holy Spirit. The anointing that is in us, that teaches us not just spiritual life, but teaches us all of life, teaches us about everything.
And so if all you have, if you’re on a deserted island, all you have is this. And you are, and you are filled with the Holy Spirit. And you have no pasture in front of you. You don’t have a phone, you don’t have Internet, you don’t have YouTube.
All you need is this and the Holy Spirit. You have all that you need to be taught everything that you need in life and in spiritual life. But we don’t believe this, do we? Many people do not believe this. And so they depend on other people. They depend on themselves. They depend on their intellect.
Even when we read the Bible, like we can, we can read Luke 10 and say, oh, I should. I should be thankful that my name is written in heaven. And it’s just intellectual. We read that and we apply. Okay, I should give thanks. And I learned something. Oh, this is what God’s word says. And I should say it, and I should give thanks. Today, in today’s prayer, it’s different.
20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20, ESV)
When, through Revelation, you understand why this is so true and it hits you in your heart. And like Matthew, when he says something that he’s thankful for, it’s not just in his head. You know it’s coming from his heart. You know it’s coming from his heart. And that is what the Holy Spirit does. He takes things that are just in our head.
If we stop there, it is just information. But once it starts dropping down and filling our heart, it becomes a revelation that now we can live a different life. And now we are growing into what it means to be a child of God who is so thankful in life that I have my name written in heaven. So although I am unemployed, out of school, out of a job, I don’t know what the future holds.
If this truth sinks in, there’s no shame in saying, oh, I’m looking for a job. No big deal in your heart, because my name is written in heaven. You might look down on me. You might feel sorry for me. I’m okay. My name is written in heaven.
And so you can test yourself as you go through an uncertain period. Uncertain period, as my own son is going through, not knowing what’s going to happen after the mission trip. And people ask him, and he might feel small and insecure, but I want him to feel no. If your name is written in heaven, everything else in life is just gravy. It’s just icing on the cake.
You might have a good job, you might have a not so good job, you might have a lot of money, you might have no money. Everything in life is just icing on the cake if you believe this in your heart, if you believe I am a child of God whose name is written in heaven.
And Jesus is so thankful that these 72 who’ve come back that like little children, the revelation has come. He wouldn’t be thankful like this if it stayed in their head. But he perceived that these 72, they got it, they got the point, the message that they heard, that they intellectualized, it came down into their hearts.
And that’s why Jesus rejoices, because these things are hidden from the wise and understanding. All of life, especially if you’re an Asian. All of life is so driven by academics, and everything in life is. You need to learn it. You need to memorize it. You need to regurgitate it. You need to add, you need to process information, write about it, and be a critical thinker. Everything is your effort and your mind and your intellect.
And if you’re born with a high IQ, then you have an easier time. If you’re lower IQ, then you struggle. But through effort, you can achieve quite a bit. And this is the world’s approach, and this is those in the world who achieved wisdom in this world through effort and through learning.
And that, that is what Jesus is contrasting here. You cannot understand anything spiritual with the same approach of I need to study this in my brain. I need to read commentaries, I need to get a PhD in theology, and therefore I’m an authority. And now you need to listen to me for the rest of your life because I know more Bible than you.
This mindset that because I studied more this book and I have a degree to validate myself and I have a title to make you listen to me, Jesus says, this is not how it works. It doesn’t work this way. Spiritually, anything I know is not because I studied it and I understood it in my mind. I humbled myself like a child, like I did earlier this morning when I didn’t know what to preach. I just sat there on my face and I said,
Lord, what are you speaking to me? And he spoke in my spirit. The greatest title you have, Ray, is child of God. Why don’t you preach that? And that is a revelation that only the humble will receive. Only a humble person will receive this type of revelation in their heart. That my worldly accolades, achievements mean nothing. My mission trips and spiritual ministry accomplishments mean nothing. What matters is I am a child of God and I rejoice in the fact that my name is written in heaven. And only if I stay humble like a child will I receive additional revelation.
As soon as I get puffed up, as soon as I become proud, as soon as I think I understand this Scripture because I read the Bible cover to cover 10 times, as soon as I have this mindset and I think I’m all grown up now and I don’t need the teacher, Jesus Christ, I don’t need the abiding anointing of the Holy Spirit, who teaches me all things.
As soon as I depend on myself, I’m growing in the wrong way, and I’m cutting off revelation. I just got to get back on my face again and say, I know nothing, Lord. I have nothing, Lord. I depend on nothing, Lord. Except you. Please speak to me. Please speak to me. I’m just a child. I can’t even feed myself. Please speak to me, Lord. I need a word for today. I need a manna for today. Holy Spirit, please help me. I have decisions to make. I don’t know which way to go. Teach me, guide me, counsel me.
People who are proud do not pray much, especially about the small things, because they think they got it. I know what’s best in this situation. They only pray about the big stuff because they’re proud, because they’ve grown in the wrong way. But if you’re a child, you can’t even feed yourself. You can’t even get from point A to point B. This is how we’re supposed to remain and depend and grow into this childlikeness.
We put away childishness. We put away selfishness. We put away pride. We put away the world’s ways of doing life. We abandon all of these things. We say, we acknowledge. As it says in God’s Word, I see dimly through a mirror. I don’t know which way to turn. There’s so much I don’t understand in life. Even though I’ve been a Christian for 30 years, I feel like I’m still a two-year-old.
It’s okay. You just humbly admit where you are because your spiritual age doesn’t always match the number of years you’ve been a Christian. And so there are many seasons of life where we’ve stopped in our growth, or we’ve regressed, we’ve backslidden.
I might be a Christian in name only for 30 plus years, but in actual spiritual growth, what is it? What is my age, Lord? Even if I’m a spiritual father in my 30s, 40s, 50s, do I ever outgrow the fact that I’m a child of God? Do I ever say to my Heavenly Father, oh Father, you don’t have to worry about me, worry about somebody else. I got my life figured out.
I’m a grown up now. So is that, is, is that what I’m supposed to grow into? A spiritual father who thinks this way and depends on my academic intellect and all my Bible knowledge and all the sermons I preach and my ministry experience? That’s so that would be a reason for Jesus to grieve.
But if he understood, if I understand how spiritual life works, I’m just a child. I humble myself and I rely on the teacher, Jesus Christ, and I rely on the anointing of the Holy Spirit to teach me not just spiritual life, but all things.
I truly am a child who’s put away childish things, self-centeredness, and pride. I depend on Jesus. I hold on to him. And through him and through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I grow as a child of God.
And even when I get to heaven, guess what? This title remains. I’m still a child of God for all of eternity. I will never outgrow this title of child of God. Every other title you kind of, you kind of outgrow.
Like in earthly life, you’re, you’re an infant and you grow out of that. you’re an adolescent. You grow out of that. you’re a young adult. You grow out of that, you’re an adult. Everything you grow out of in human life and as a title, like if you are a secretary and 50 years later you’re still a secretary, you might feel like, well, I never grew out of my title. And people might look down on you.
But so there are levels in work. We want to get to that director, that senior vice president. We want to get to the C suite and the executive board of a company. There’s levels to this thing. But this title of child of God, it is the greatest. Because you will never outgrow it for all of eternity. Praise God for that.
If you can understand that no matter what title the world gives you or whatever title the church gives you, if you understand your primary identity is, I am a child of God. I rejoice that my name is written in heaven.
Not what I do, but who I am. I’m not adding to anything by what I do. That just flows out. But I don’t focus on what I do. I focus on who I am, my identity as a child. Think of how easy life will be when people look at you and say, that’s all you’ve done. You say, what do you mean, I’m a child of God? That comment, it just rolls right off. You look down on me. I’m a child of God.
I’m not affected by your comment. I’m okay. I’m a child of God. I haven’t accomplished much in life. I understand. It’s okay. I’m just running my race. I’m fulfilling the assignment the Lord has given to me. It could be big, it could be small. It’s not up to me the same in the world. I have a title in this world. It may not be impressive. It’s okay. I have the greatest title that will be with me for all eternity. I am a child of God.
Think of how free you will be if this truth is revealed to you and it hits you in your heart.
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, last week we celebrated Father’s Day and we said, abba, Father, you’re loving and you’re firm. And the flip side of that, Lord, is we are children of God. It is the greatest title, the greatest identity that we could ever have. We will never outgrow it for all of eternity.
For those of us who are hearing this and it’s still in our brain, but it’s not hit us in our hearts. We pray for revelation, Lord, as we humble ourselves in your presence. Please, we want this revelation to hit us in our heart so that everything changes.
Let the Pharisees and the scribes of this world elevate themselves through titles. It happens even in the Church. We elevate one another through titles. And you are asking us to humble ourselves and receive the greatest title. Child of God, lowercase S, son of God, daughter of God. It matches Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. But we’re in some ways at the same level as him.
We are siblings in Christ. What an amazing truth he is. Jesus is our older brother. We’re in his family. We thank you. This is possible because of what you did, Jesus. You died on a cross. You took on all, all of our sins. You became sin for us. You were cursed on that tree so that the wrath of God would pass over us.
Thank you for Your Body that was broken and Your Blood shed. We come in our brokenness. We ask that this revelation would hit us during this time, as we close out this service. This amazing truth that we are children of God. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.