My Beloved Son by Pastor Sam Adeyemi: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Levelling Up: The Inheritance Question

This series has been running on the theme: level up, it's yours. Galatians 4:1–2 — a child who inherits everything is not better off than a slave until they grow up. Even though it is technically theirs, they cannot access it until they reach the age the father has set.

A 10-year-old child asks for a Mercedes-Benz for their birthday. The parents can afford it. What is the answer — yes, no, or not yet? Technically the car could be bought. Practically, it would be the keys to a coffin. Most of the things we are praying for will not answer to prayer alone, but also to maturity.

The Baptism as Bar Mitzvah

At the River Jordan, as Jesus came out of the water, the heavens opened. The Spirit of God descended as a dove. God spoke: "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."

In Jewish culture, this was a Bar Mitzvah — the public placement of a son. A father trained his son in character and in the family trade until the son's sense of judgment matched the father's. Then he brought the son out publicly and announced: this is my son. His word is my word. His signature is my signature. The Greek term is huiothesia — the placing of a son. There are five words translated son in the New Testament; huios is the most mature.

God was bragging publicly before heaven and earth: this is my huios — my mature son. Even Satan understood. His first temptation began: "If you are the huios of God..." He knew what that meant — that Jesus now carried authority to draw from heaven's account.

The Proofs of Maturity in Jesus

Philippians 2:6–8 — though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. He gave up divine privileges, took the humble position of a servant, humbled himself in obedience to God, and died a criminal's death on a cross.

Hebrews 5:8 — even though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.

The proofs:

• Humility — he did not leverage his equality with God
• Submission — John 5:19: the son can do nothing by himself but what he sees the father doing
• Obedience — John 8:29: he always did the things that pleased the Father, to the point of dying on command

The objective of raising a huios is that the son's judgment becomes exactly the same as the father's. Jesus achieved that perfectly.

What Spiritual Maturity Produces

The Christianity that only promises the soft life — shy about sacrifice, never mentioning that the Christian life can include suffering — produces babies, not mature sons. Romans 8:29 says the whole creation is groaning and waiting for the manifestation of these mature sons of God.

Maturity produces love — the kind Jesus walked in. Matthew 5:43–48 (Message Bible): love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with prayer. This is what God does — he gives sun and rain to everyone, the good and the bad. If all you do is love the lovable, where is the growth?

The disciples eventually followed this example. Peter was executed. Paul was executed. Thomas was killed in India. James was executed. The story does not end there — but the path of maturity is the path of the cross before the crown.

Philippians 2:9–11 — therefore God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all names. You will not obey God in vain. The same God who exalted Jesus — who gave him a name at which every knee bows — will exalt those who embrace the same path of maturity.