How Does God Educate His Children?
The Nature of Discipleship For the Heirs of God
by Gary L. Cox
How does God educate his heirs? This question, surely, is one of the most practical questions one might ask as a parent who educates his own 'heirs' at home. The idea of educating one's heirs may seem somewhat tongue-in-cheek for most if one only considers his earthly station. However, it is far from lofty when considering the fact that children are an inheritance from the Lord (Psalm 127:3). Furthermore, God has proclaimed that his adopted children are his heirs and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). In short, being an heir of God, and raising the children that he has given as an inheritance begs consideration of this question.
The first practical consideration of child training is God's sovereignty as Father. To be an heir of God implies that one is receiving from God his planned purpose and will; the heir receives what God has chosen for him. The child of God must understand that his training and education as an heir-apparent is determined and appointed by God and not the heir.
The second consideration springs from the first: the heir must submit as a bond-servant to God and the program he has planned. The heir is a child and under submission to the appointed training program exactly as if he were a mere servant.
The third consideration is that the education, or training program has a clear goal in the mind of God: the future revealing or conferring of his glorious inheritance upon the heirs at the appointed time (Rom. 8:18-19). It is important to understand that the practical outworking of God's present plans and goals have a more distant objective (heaven) than this present time. Our inheritance is not here, so our education must not be designed as if this present time were the exclusive final objective.
Notice these ideas in Galations 4:1-7.
Now I say, [That] the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, …that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ .
God is actively involved in the development and training of his heirs.
God's heirs ought to give the fullest attention to his training program so that they might fully benefit from it. The New Testament calls those who are engaged in God's training program disciples (Matt. 10:24). In addition, the godly Christian will teach and train his own children and implement the elements of discipleship in his home. While no discussion can encompass the entire scope and detail of practical discipleship, one must allow that the Bible is primarily a discipleship manual. In it we may readily find consistent teaching for the disciples of Jesus Christ. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible speaks of God's program in history to bring man back to God's glorious inheritance lost by sin. The Bible, therefore is the essential textbook for educating and training disciples.
When men develop training and education programs, they routinely focus on acquiring knowledge and skill. However, we are warned in scripture that knowledge 'makes people arrogant' (1 Cor. 8:1, GWT). But God's heavenly training of disciples travels substantially along the path of suffering. The Baptism of Jesus is with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matt. 3:11). It is this baptism that disciples preach to all nations, yet this outreach must first begin in the homes of true disciples. By the power of the Holy Spirit and the purging of holy fire, Christ trains his own joint-heirs.
Every child of God possesses the Holy Spirit who enables the believer to wait patiently in present suffering because of the future promise of a glorious inheritance in Jesus Christ. This promised manifestation of the sons of God is a revelation of their future glory as the children of God. However, it is the present patient endurance of suffering together with Jesus Christ that makes up the bulk of the training of those who are his joint-heirs. God trains his adopted children now for a later revealing of their inheritance in glory.
How does one know if he is being trained by God?
The greatest evidence that one is a full-fledged adopted child of God and, thus, a joint-heir with Christ is to experience God's chastisement (KJV) upon himself. This chastisement is the nurture and admonition of the loving Father (Heb. 12:5-11). The Greek word translated chastisement is paideia which means the whole education and training of a child. It is important to recognize that the term is used to denote formal instruction as well as the chastisement of correction. However, it is remarkable that the aspect of correction from sin is the most common sense of the word as it is used in the New Testament.
Discipleship is primarily a correction of the flesh from dominating the motives and actions of the child of God. Jesus taught his disciples that in order for them to come after him, three things were necessary: self-denial; taking up one's cross daily; and following after him as an attendant or disciple (Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23). These three things mark the training of the true disciple. Self-denial precedes the cross because it is self that must die upon that cross. And without one's own cross born upon him, one can never pursue and follow after Jesus Christ as a disciple.
Jesus Christ's disciple training program is composed of at least six fundamental elements of sonship: the promise of sonship, preserved in his Word; the power of sonship, faith, which receives and gives the believer the authority to be called sons; the path of sonship, which is to be led by the Spirit in everyday matters; the proof of sonship, which is the the witness of the Spirit of adoption; the patience of sonship, which is suffering together with Christ in this present time, and the possession of sonship, the receiving of the full inheritance and glory of the children of God with Christ.
The first element is the promise of sonship.
For the promise, … [was] …through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law [be] heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: …Therefore [it is] of faith, that [it might be] by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed (Rom. 4:13-16). And if ye [be] Christ's, then are ye …heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29).
The promise of sonship is preserved in his Word. God has promised that all men may be His heirs. The promise of sonship is to all, but it is conferred only upon those who believe. The importance and power of the promise of sonship has been discussed previously. In short, sonship is the essence of belonging to God as Father whereby his love gives one identity and his purposes give direction on the path of life. None of God's chastisements can ever make sense until they are received as correction to a son who is loved. Those who are not God's children will not have his attendance upon their training. In addition, those who are not God's cannot rest in any way under the earthly trials of suffering, because they have no future hope of glory; only in this life do they have hope (1 Cor. 15:12-19).
The second element is the power of sonship.
As many as received him, to them gave he power (authority) to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God ( John 1:12-13 ).
The power of sonship is faith. Faith receives Christ as Lord of Glory and gives the believer the authority to be called a son of God. Faith activates God's promise of sonship and makes it effective upon the one who believes. Faith marks the birth of the adopted child into the family of God. It is important to recognize the relationship between faith and receiving Jesus Christ. At the moment grace permits one to see Christ for who he is, grace at once compels the believer to abandon himself and receive Christ into that place of first love and obedience. Thus the disciple will follow Him.
The third element is the proof of sonship.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:15-16). And because ye are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father (Gal. 4:6).
The proof or evidence of sonship is the the witness of the Spirit of Christ (the Spirit of adoption) with the spirit of the believer (see also Eph. 1:13-14; 2Cor. 1:22). The indwelling Spirit wells up within the spirit of the child of God with the confirming cry of 'Abba, Father' (John 7:37-39). This witness of the Spirit is not a mere intellectual assent to ideas, it is a deeply felt bond of belonging as a child to the Father. The confirming proof of adoption is the inward witness that goes out from the Holy Spirit and is received in the spirit of the believer. This 'knowing', or witness of sonship is both certain for the believer (it is real authority granted by faith), and essential (it is necessary for confidence to endure suffering with Christ). It is impossible to endure difficulty or suffering without the internal swelling of confidence that one is a child of God and that his trial is a deliberate expression of God's love and care for him as a son or daughter.
The fourth element is the path of sonship.
The righteousness of the law [is] fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. …Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. …For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Rom. 8:4, 8-9, 14).
The path of sonship is the path of being led by the Holy Spirit and not the flesh in everyday matters. If power to be the sons of God is granted to those who receive Christ by believing on his name (John 1:12), this power is expressed by the indwelling Spirit of God, whom the disciple has received after believing upon the name of Jesus Christ( Matt. 3:11; 1Cor. 12:13). The indwelling Spirit becomes an authoritative guide for the sons of God. His presence is the guiding light of sonship, giving power and direction in the way of life.
The fifth element is the patience of sonship.
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. …For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it]. (Rom. 8:17, 24-25).
The patience of sonship is realized by present suffering in expectation of future glory. The sharing together of sonship with Christ in this present time is experienced by sharing in his suffering. Adoption as a son provides the lawful position of being an heir of God. The share of the adopted child is a joint-share with Jesus Christ. This share is experienced in both the present and the future. In the present, it is a portion of suffering with him in patience. In the future, it shall be a share in his glory.
Hope is the comfort of sonship: God's sons hope in the promises of his glorious inheritance. It is important to recognize that it is the hope of glory that activates genuine faith in the children of God. The believer is enabled to suffer in this present time because of the hope of glory he has with Christ. The patient saint waits, or suffers, in expectation of the promised inheritance of sonship.
The sixth element is the possession of sonship.
But …the Spirit …shall also quicken your mortal bodies. …And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; …that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:11, 17-21).
The possession of sonship is receiving the full inheritance and glory as the heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. It is only at the final revealing of the 'glorious liberty of the children of God' that the present purposes and designs of God's discipleship program through suffering will brighten by the understanding of God's perspective.
All training and education must take its cue from this promise of hope in future glory. If some aspect of training has no bearing upon the believer's future hope, then it cannot draw out true faith and it is an antagonist against the purpose and training of God. On the other hand, if training directed by God has his glorious purpose in view, that training cannot be shirked or thrown off without jeopardizing that glorious purpose. Because of the certainty of God's purpose in glory, no form of difficulty or suffering that can be judged as too hard. All of God's ways work together for that greater good in glory. This good justifies God's wisdom in giving saints suffering.
If God's suffering has real purpose for the believer, then it follows that the believer must take a serious and practical look into his own life and discern the specific areas of suffering that make up his personal training as a disciple of Jesus Christ. The serious believer ought to be asking the question, 'What is God lovingly touching in my life to disciple me as his own child?' (Heb. 12:6-7)
The Practical Training of Sonship
Sonship to God brings his direction into the practical affairs of this present life. Suffering must be received by faith and results in patience in daily living. Faith includes thanksgiving and glorifying God (Rom. 1:21). It demands patient waiting upon his future purpose. It operates out of repentance; that is faith embraces future Kingdom motives in every present matter. The believer accepts delay in the satisfaction of personal expectations because he chooses to embrace God's greater purpose to be revealed in future glory. Faith actively manages the groaning and travail of suffering by using the means and spiritual provisions given to him by the love of God and the indwelling Spirit (Rom. 8:26-39).
The practical question is, “How do we order our every day lives in light of our inheritance with Christ?” What is the believer called to do? How ought he to plan and order his affairs in this present time so that he plans in harmony and not in competition with the plans and purposes of God? Men naturally order their lives around successful and satisfying living in this present time. Earthly success requires removal of suffering and demands an end to waiting, this present time demands glory now, not later. Discipleship requires self-denial and taking up of one's cross instead of one's cause. The greatest part of Christian training is patiently enduring suffering brought to us by the sovereign purposes of God.
It is God's reasoning that by only by suffering can his sons learn to hope in the 'glorious liberty of the children of God' (Acts 14:22). A son's parallel set of plans for this present time cannot and will not be honored by God. The objective of sonship is to deliver the lost creature from the bondage of corruption the glorious liberty, not to manifest some sort of success in this present time (Rom. 8:21).
It ought to serve as a practical plan for the saint to study the various forms of suffering that God has sovereignly subjected him. Upon discovery of these forms of suffering, The objective must be to reckon the sufferings of this present time as not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in him (Rom. 8:18).
There are two general forms of suffering that God has subjected his children. The first form of suffering is the groaning for deliverance from the curses the earth incurred because of Adam's sin (Rom. 8:19). These appear in Genesis 3, at the fall of Adam and Eve, and Genesis 9, after Noah's flood. The whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. The whole creation is waiting for deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
The second form of suffering is the groaning for redemption caused by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The children of God who have the first-fruits of the indwelling Spirit groans within themselves until now. The children of God are waiting for the final adoption by God, that is the redemption of their body. This suffering shapes the growth and development of the saint as an instrument of God in this world today.
Let us remember that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has foreordained that we should walk in them. And let us so walk.