Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.
— Jeremiah 31:20
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
— John 1:12
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
— 1 John 3:1-2
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
— Matthew 18:4
A Song of degrees of David. LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.
— Psalm 131:1-2
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
— 1 Peter 1:14
Why We Should Follow God As Dear Children, by Jonathan Edwards. The following contains an excerpt from his work, “Childlike Respect to God”.
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.—Ephesians 5:1
II. Why we should follow God as dear children.
First, the excellencies of God so brightly discovered in the gospel call for such an obedience. God is infinitely worthy of it: no other but such an ingenuous obedience can be answerable to the divine excellencies and the gospel discoveries of them. Indeed, no obedience can be answerable in degree, but there is no other sort of obedience that can be answerable and suitable as to kind.
God, upon the account of His glorious excellencies revealed in the gospel is worthy of our highest esteem and most exalting thoughts. Upon the account of the beauty of His holiness and the riches of His grace therein discovered, He is most worthy of our love and complacence. The manifestations therein made of His awful majesty call for such a humble awe and reverence. The clear discoveries made in the gospel of His all-sufficiency encourage and demand our trust and affiance.
Second, God is in the gospel calling of us to the relation and privileges of children. “To as many received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God” (Joh 1:12). He treats us as children; He is exercising towards us the love, tenderness, and (sympathy) of a father. He is manifesting (Himself) fully and freely, not as to servants, and exhibiting Himself to us as the proper object of our filial respect. He is entering into covenant with (us) and stands engaged thereby to do the part of a father to us; (He) is engaging to instruct, to guide, to protect, to defend, to deliver, and to take care of us as a father; (and He) is promising never to leave nor forsake us.
(He will) bring us to His own house, even heaven, that we may dwell with Him there in His immediate and glorious presence, and as it were to sit with Him at His table throughout the days of eternity.
Seeing (that) God is dealing with us as children, we ought in all our dealings with Him to respect Him as a father and transact with Him with a childlike spirit. And our obedience should be the free and ingenuous obedience of children—not the forced obedience of slaves or the mercenary obedience of hirelings.
Third, Christians are united to the Son of God; therefore, their spirit and obedience should be filial. The only begotten and dearly beloved Son of God is of a filial spirit towards the Father; He has it in the greatest fullness and highest perfection. Christians, therefore, seeing that this Son of God is their Head, and they are His disciples and His members, should be of the same disposition towards God. “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, whereby ye cry, Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6).
The Son of God, while upon earth, gave us a perfect example of this filial obedience. He was obedient even unto death, and the principle of His obedience was His esteem and honor and most ardent love, a childlike reverence and entire affiance. Seeing, therefore, that Christians are His followers and His members, they ought to perform a like obedience to God.
Fourth, we are not under a covenant that yields any occasion for a servile or mercenary obedience. We (are not) under a covenant of works; we (are not) justified by our own obedience. The proper condition of our escaping eternal death and our acceptance with (God) to eternal life is not our own either perfect or imperfect obedience, but faith in the Son of God, Who hath satisfied and obeyed.
If the proper condition of escaping eternal damnation and of obtaining God’s favor were our own obedience, or if we were under a covenant of works, it would naturally expose the fallen creature to a servile, mercenary spirit. We should continually be under the power of a spirit of bondage and the prevailings of slavish fears of wrath and be in danger of being principally influenced by that in what we do. The spirit of bondage would be in danger of prevailing over and keeping down more ingenuous principles.
But the case is not so. We have justification and eternal life offered to us freely, only upon condition of our hearty acceptance of it through Him Who has wrought out a perfect righteousness for us.
Now therefore, seeing that salvation and the favor of God are free, our obedience should also be free. The wonderful grace of God manifested in this covenant should move an ingenuous respect and gratitude to God, and the love of Christ should constrain us. “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2Co 5:14-15).
III. The influences that characterize our obedience as dear children:
First. Upon these accounts, the Christian should be influenced in his obedience more by a gracious, childlike respect to God than by any other respect: more than by fear of wrath, more than for any temporal interest, more than credit and esteem amongst men, more than by mere custom and education, or any other principle whatsoever.
Second. As the future reward consists in enjoying God, so desiring and longing for that, and obeying from a hope and expectation of that, may arise from love, which is a main part of the filial temper. Surely, the Christian that serves and obeys from a desire and hope of the happiness of enjoying God obeys from a gracious respect.
Third. As obedience that is from respect to the promised reward may be from a childlike trust in God, a trust in the sufficiency of His power and grace to perform the wonderful and glorious things that He has promised, and a trust in His faithfulness to fulfill His promises, (so) the obedience that arises from filial confidence is evangelical. The obedience of the Son of God was perfectly filial, but this was partly from respect to the reward His Father had promised Him. “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2).
Fourth. It is a plainer and more universal rule to try whether our obedience be gracious or no, to enquire whether it be done from a childlike respect than whether it be done with an aim to God’s glory. To do things from a desire to glorify God and an aim to this glory is one way of performing obedience from childlike respect. But he that obeys from a desire to enjoy God and to see His glory obeys also from a childlike respect. He that obeys that he may approve himself to God and do what is well-pleasing and acceptable to Him expresses his filial respect another way; and he that obeys as entirely trusting in His promises obeys from filial respect another way. That is the essence of holy obedience: that it be done from a gracious respect, which way soever that gracious respect exerts itself.
IV. Use: Let all be exhorted to seek after such a childlike disposition towards God (so) that we may perform such an obedience to Him. We are all professing Christians and enjoy the gospel that affords these arguments that have been mentioned why we ought to be of such a spirit and to perform such an obedience. Let these arguments therefore be effectual with us, to persuade us to seek such a spirit and to seek more and more of it. And let us further consider these following:
First, how much more honorable such an obedience is than a servile or mercenary obedience. As it is more honorable to be a child than a slave or a hireling, so is filial obedience more honorable than those other kinds. It is a great honor to us that God is inviting us to come to Him and transact with Him as a father, that He that is “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity” will accept of filial respect and obedience from us (Isa 57:15). And this renders this obedience especially honorable: it is such an obedience as Christ, the only begotten Son of God, performs.
Second, how much more amiable. It is that which gives obedience its loveliness: it (is) performed with such a free and ingenuous spirit, with love and delight. Such an obedience is amiable, as it is suitable to the glorious excellencies of Him Who is the object of it. It is this filial spirit that renders it amiable in the eyes of angels and of God Himself.
Third, how much more pleasant. When obedience is performed with a servile spirit, it being not with good will, it comes off heavily, as a grievous task. The commands of God are like chains and a way of obedience a mere prison to one of such a spirit. Whereas to one of a filial spirit, it is as meat and drink. A childlike love to God makes His commands not grievous. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1Jo 5:3). Yea, it causes it to be a reward to itself. It renders obedience a pleasure—yea, the sweetest and most exquisite kind of pleasure.
To endeavor to get the knowledge of the excellency of God as it appears in the face of Jesus Christ, or as He reveals Himself in the gospel, begets a filial disposition. By seeing the glory of God as the Son reveals it, we shall derive to ourselves the Spirit of the Son. Let us therefore be much in contemplating the holiness, the marvelous love, and grace of God appearing in the gospel, as joined with infinite majesty and strict justice.
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