In this lesson, students learn how they became children of God.
Matthew 18:3 “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The key to greatness in the kingdom of heaven is humility. In fact, Jesus tells us that no one can even enter this kingdom without humility.
When we hear about humility in the Bible, we usually think about the humility that strikes us when we are confronted with God’s law and our great transgressions against it. And that is certainly a part of entering the kingdom of heaven. But notice that Jesus speaks of conversion first. Conversion refers to the whole process of becoming a child of God. You are first beat down by the law, but then you are brought back to your feet by the good news that Jesus has paid for all your sins. When we hear that, we are exalted in Him. But after that, Jesus still tells us to be humble. So this humility is an act of sanctification. It means we repent daily of our daily sins and humbly look to Christ to provide us with all we need including and up to the greatness of living and reigning with Him in His kingdom.
We show this humility because Jesus first gave that ultimate example of humility. He had no sin, yet He turned and looked upon our sinful condition. He humbled Himself to live among us and to become sin for us. Because He so humbled Himself, He has risen from the dead and has been exalted over all things. Therefore through our humility and through childlike faith, we will also be exalted to the greatness of eternal life with our Lord.
1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
The advantage of having a photograph of a person, a landscape, or building is that it is a lasting and unchanging image. We can look at it, study it, and ponder it over time in order to better appreciate every detail.
In this verse the apostle John speaking by the Holy Spirit gives us a picture of the love of God, inviting and encouraging us to look at it and to study it. It is a picture drawn with only a few words, but, oh, what a magnificent picture it is!
It is the love of the Father, God the Father, the Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Lord of all history. He is the one who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20) He is the one who is able to make all things work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
This is the love that God the Father has bestowed on us: that we should be called His children. Notice that it is not just that we are calling ourselves His children, making a claim for ourselves that we are His children. He Himself calls us His children.
The complete details of the picture that John sets before us here are to be found throughout the Holy Scriptures, where we learn of how God the Father bestowed His love on us and made us His children. We see the love of the Father in the prophecies of the Christ and in His coming into the world in the fullness of time in fulfillment of them. We see it in the flawless life that He lived as a man, taking our place under God’s law and fulfilling it for us who were unable to fulfill it because of our sinful nature. We see God’s love in Jesus’ willing offering of Himself on the cross by which He has taken away our sins and reconciled us to the Father.
To be called God’s children—what a high and blessed standing we enjoy as believers in Christ. Beholding this evidence of the Father’s love for us gives us joy, peace, and confidence through all the stages and changing circumstances of life.
Devotion
Acts 2:37-39
37 Now when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Gentlemen, brothers, what should we do?”
38 Peter answered them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your[l] sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
The Old Testament name Joshua, and New Testament name Jesus both mean salvation. We were on the path to death, in fact, we were dead in trespasses and sin. But we got turned around (that's what the word salvation means) into the right path toward heaven. We repented (another word for turned around) of our sins and God faithfully forgave us our sins.
In today's lesson, we will see how even a famous pastor of Jesus' time needed to learn how we become children of God. Jesus gave Nicodemus many pictures to show salvation. By faith, he received the gift of the Holy Spirit--eternal life. That same promise is to all and received by all who believe.
Our old self--old Adam--still wants to walk the way it was going. But our new self knows that way is only to death. So our new self through the Holy Spirit walks the New Way to eternal life in Jesus.
The lesson
3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above,[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above.[b] 8 The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.
10 “You are the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these things? 11 Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.[c]
14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but[d] have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. 19 This is the basis for the judgment: The light has come into the world, yet people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 In fact, everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, or else his deeds would be exposed. 21 But the one who does what is true comes toward the light, in order that his deeds may be seen as having been done in connection with God.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbBmpaDBizA
Christus und Nicodemus, by Fritz von Uhde (1848–1911)