Children of God… | Sunday, March 13, 2022

You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 14:1-2)

In a culture that worships personal autonomy, what does it mean to belong—body and soul—to God as His chosen child?

A Counter-Cultural Mindset

Years ago I was listening to one of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell, on a podcast. He likes to write his books in coffee shops, and he described an experience in a coffee shop in Pasadena—near what I'm fairly sure was Fuller Theological Seminary. He overheard two young women talking about relationships. One was excited about a budding relationship and its potential to lead to marriage, but she said she wasn't sure what the Lord wanted her to do; she needed to pray about it to find out if it was God's will.

Gladwell has some background connection to Christianity and the church, so he wasn't shocked by the idea of praying for God's will. But it struck him as genuinely unique, because that is simply not how people think in 21st-century Western culture. We live in a culture that prizes independence and autonomy in the extreme. We say things like "do you," "be true to yourself," "follow your heart," "I've got to be me," "I need to chart my own path."

I remember driving my young daughters to school as they sang Elsa's song "Let It Go" from Frozen. One line stood out: "It's time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through; no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free." That encapsulates the worldview that dominates our culture. With that mindset, the idea of submitting your will, your decisions, your desires, and your path to another is the height of foolishness.

I thought of another Disney film, Moana, and its song "How Far I'll Go." Moana, daughter of the chief, knows what she ought to do for her tribe: "I can lead with pride, I can make us strong; I'll be satisfied if I play along—but the voice inside sings a different song." She feels called to cross a line she shouldn't cross, and of course she crosses it—and fixes everything, because that's how things work in our culture. Whether you are Elsa or Moana or a kid growing up in elementary school, the message is the same: don't let anyone hold you back.

So many in America in 2022 would shudder at the thought of saying, "I need to ask God what He wants me to do, and He may want me to do something I don't want to do." For our culture, submitting your will to God and possibly hearing "no" would be "inauthentic." But the mindset of those two girls in the coffee shop is exactly the right mindset for a child of God. It is counter-cultural, but it is right. And that raises the question: what is a child of God? Am I a child of God?

The Children of the LORD

That is certainly what Israel was. In Deuteronomy 14:1-2, Moses says, "You are the children of the LORD your God... For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth."

This is remarkable. This is the first and only time the words "children of the LORD" or "children of God" appear in the Old Testament. The idea is common in the New Testament, but here it stands out. Israel is often called "the children of Israel," but now Moses says, "You are the children of the LORD your God"—a separate, holy people chosen out of the world to be God's special treasure. Powerful, beautiful words.

In Christ, this is true for the Christian as well. Peter writes, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). Paul writes that God "chose us in Him before the foundation of the world... having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself" (Ephesians 1:3-6). These passages teach a simple, important truth: I am a chosen child of God.

Aren't All People Children of God?

I've had conversations where someone insists that every single person is a child of God. But according to Scripture, the answer is no. All people are the creation of God, but not all people are the children of God. Israel was selected out of all the peoples on the earth to be a special treasure, a holy people covenanted in relationship with Him. In the same way, you and I, if we are Christians, are chosen in Christ Jesus. Only those whom God has selected to be His people are His children.

How Do We Become Children of God?

How did Israel become God's chosen people? By birth into the family of Abraham. And why Abraham? Because Abraham became a child of God by faith, as he put his trust in God. In very much the same way, you and I become children of God by the new birth through faith in Jesus Christ.

The new birth comes from Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Nicodemus was baffled—how can a man enter his mother's womb a second time? But Jesus taught that this new birth comes about by faith, by trust—not merely acknowledging a truth mentally, but entrusting yourself to someone. That is the setting of the most famous words in the Bible: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Paul echoes this: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26). John opens his gospel the same way: "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born... of God" (John 1:12-13). So how can I know that I am a chosen child of God? I know it because I have trusted in Christ.

If you don't know that you are a child of God, you can know with certainty—not wishful hoping—by trusting in Christ Jesus, not in yourself, your good works, or your religiousness. Wherever you are watching this, you can know you are God's child if you trust in Jesus, who bore your sin on the cross. Call out to Him in prayer: "Lord, I believe in You, and I entrust myself to You." If you have received Him, then you are a child of God, chosen by Him, a royal priesthood, His own special people.

A New Relationship with God

What does it actually mean to be a child of God? It means, first, that I have a new relationship with God: He is my Father. I know the word "father" can be a quagmire of painful associations because of bad examples in our culture, but that is how God reveals Himself in Scripture. Judging by what Scripture says—not our misconceptions—since God is my Father, I can trust that He will take care of me, provide for me, and protect me.

I grew up with a great earthly father who provided for and protected our family. Yet as good as that example was, the Father revealed in Scripture far surpasses it. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that your Father in heaven knows the things you have need of and will take care of them, so we need not worry.

Second, being a child of God means I have special access to Him. Paul writes, "Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father" (Ephesians 2:18). My children don't have to ask my secretary or another pastor for permission to enter my office; they come in boldly at any time. That is the access I have to God. Hebrews tells us we can "come boldly to the throne of grace" to obtain mercy and grace in our time of need. In ancient times you could not enter a king's throne room uninvited and survive—but as God's child, I come boldly before His throne.

A New Relation to the World

Third, this new status means I relate to the world differently. Deuteronomy 14 gives two clear ways the children of God are to live differently: what we do to or with our body, and what we put into our body.

First, what we do to our body. "You shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead, for you are a holy people to the LORD" (Deut. 14:1-2). The principle is simply this: as a child of God, I am no longer the lord or master of my body. Could anything be more counter-cultural in America in 2022—and in progressive, agnostic California—than saying, "Because I'm a child of God, I am no longer the governor of my own body"? Yet that is what this passage teaches.

This isn't only Old Testament. Paul writes to a Corinthian church in a culture not unlike ours: "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?... He who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body... Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you... and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:15-20). This is a challenging principle: this body is now God's possession.

What About Tattoos?

This passage points back to Leviticus 19:28: "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the LORD." Some Christians use these verses to declare that believers should not get tattoos. We have a huge body-art culture today—I recently pulled off the freeway next to a bus called "the tattoo bus," tattoos on wheels. So is the Bible teaching, "Thou shalt not get tattoos"?

I don't have any tattoos, but not because of this passage—I've just never been interested. As we work through the passage, I don't think it's the letter of the law we need to focus on, but the underlying spirit. A key to interpreting these verses is the phrase "for the dead." There was some ritualistic, idolatrous practice involved in this cutting and marking. So I do not believe this is necessarily addressing the modern practice of tattooing. Sincere Christians disagree, and that's my opinion from studying it.

You cannot make a dogmatic statement for or against tattoos from this passage. But you can make this statement: I am not the master and lord of what I do to my body. That means I need to bring issues like tattoos—or anything else—to the Lord in prayer, subjecting my decisions, desires, and will to Him for His direction and input through His Word and through trusted, wise brothers and sisters. "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6). This is exactly what struck Gladwell about those two young women.

God Has a Say in What I Put Into My Body

The second principle in Deuteronomy 14 is that God gets a say in what I put into my body. Again, look for the spirit, not the letter, as Moses lists the clean and unclean animals: oxen, sheep, goats, and deer may be eaten; the camel, the rock hyrax, and the swine may not; creatures with fins and scales may be eaten, but not those without; clean birds may be eaten, but not eagles, vultures, owls, and the like. "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God" (Deut. 14:3-21).

The principle is this: as a child of God, I am no longer the lord or master of what I put into my body. Obviously this deals with the dietary laws of Judaism—eating kosher. Does this mean I, as a Christian under the new covenant, must keep kosher? You certainly may if you wish, but that is not the focus, and the New Testament makes clear these dietary laws are not extended to non-Jewish Christians. You don't have to keep kosher. So can you eat bacon? I think you can—that bacon burger is probably fine.

The larger principle is that when I became a child of God by faith, the status of my life changed. At the very least, God gets a say in what I do to my body, with my body, and what I put into it. This is where the practical questions come. Is it okay for a child of God to smoke tobacco? You need to ask your Father. To consume alcohol? Ask your Father, and consult the Scriptures. To partake of "shrooms"—the argument being they grow naturally? Ask your Father, and find out what Scripture teaches. To smoke or ingest marijuana? Again, ask your Father. I have strong opinions on each of these, and I'm glad to discuss them, but the point is that we children of God need such a relationship with Him that we can boldly go to His throne and ask, "God, what do You want me to do in this situation?"

There Is a Line—For God's Children

To an outsider, even considering such questions seems absurd. Our culture says you must be your authentic self; no one tells you what to do; you captain your own ship; no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free. And this is taught not only to adults but to our children through pop culture. When I heard my four-year-old singing "no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I'm free," I thought, that's not the philosophy I want my kids learning. It started a conversation: that's not how we live, because I'm a child of God, bought with a price, and there are rules and guidelines my Father has put in place for my good. There is a line—and that line is for God's children.

Notice the two grounding statements in this passage. Verse 2 and verse 21 both say, "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God." That is the basis for God governing what I do to and put into my body—because I belong to Him. And notice these commands are for God's people. Four times the text says "unclean for you" (vv. 7, 8, 10, 19). These weren't rules for every person in the world, because not everyone is a child of God.

In fact, verse 21 explicitly says these are not requirements for those who are not God's children: "You may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner." The foreigner—not a child of God—could eat what was restricted to Israel. As a child of God, I have a new and different status, so I relate differently to the world.

More Free or Less Free?

Does this mean I am less free as a child of God? In one sense, yes—and in another, no. Before you became a child of God by faith, you were free in regard to righteousness, but you were actually a slave of sin. Paul writes, "When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin... you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:20-23).

Before Christ, you could put anything you wanted into your body and do anything you wanted with it—but you were a slave to sin, living in bondage leading to death. Now you have been set free, bearing fruit to holiness leading to everlasting life. You were bought with a price; therefore honor and glorify God with your body and spirit, because they belong to Him who made you His child.

Don't Distance Yourself From Others

There is one final, crucial caution. A pitfall in taking these principles seriously is that we can begin to distance ourselves from others—inside and outside the church—who do not hold them. Churches have divided over people saying, "You're not really faithful unless you avoid this entertainment, or those beverages; you're only holy if you do these things." We each stand individually before our Father on disputed matters, and we should not judge others by the standards we have set for ourselves.

Paul addresses this in Romans 14: "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another's servant?... For God is able to make him stand" (Romans 14:1-4). If one believes tattoos are okay and another doesn't, it isn't your place to be the judge. Don't divide a church over keeping kosher, the day of worship, the mode of baptism, the manner of communion, or whether one watches sports or listens to secular music.

There are clear matters—adultery and sexual immorality are sin, and Scripture speaks of church discipline for those. Scripture clearly says, "Do not be drunk with wine," so getting drunk is sin. But if God has given you a personal conviction—say, that alcohol is off-limits for you—then walk in that conviction, yet do not judge another by it. If you long for God to convict someone else, then pray, and He may reveal it to them.

We must also be careful not to distance ourselves from those whom God desires to reach. In Acts 10, God desired to reach the Gentiles, but the Jews looked down on them as unclean, largely because they ate unclean meats. Peter received a vision about these unclean foods so that he and the early Jewish Christians would realize they were not to distance themselves from those God was seeking to reach. The principle is simple: as a child of God, I should not distance myself from those whom God desires to make His children.

Yes, we are to be in this world and not of it, because my body has been purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, so God has a say in what I do to it and put into it. And yet, the same Peter who received that vision wrote, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). God chose you to be His own and to carry the good news to those who have not yet received His grace. So do not separate yourself from those God wants to reach through your witness. He wants to reach others through your life with His mercy and grace.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray as we close that You would do work in us—that we would come out and be separate from the things of this world that are not honoring and glorifying to You. Lord, if there are certain things in our lives that we need to cut out or cut off, give us the strength by Your Spirit to do so, that we would walk in a way that brings glory and honor to You. But Lord, help us to be a light to other people, not to separate ourselves and distance ourselves from the people You want to reach. God, use Your people this week to shine as a light to those who are in darkness, bringing Your grace and Your mercy and Your good news. For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.