Serve and Equip

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Helping Our Children Grow in Godly Love

10. Learning to Be Comforted Together Through Faith in One Another

In our last topic, we saw that one of the ways we show the love of Christ is by learning to comfort one another. Today, we will look at another way we show our children how to show the love of Christ to one another. In Romans 1:12, we read, “That is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.” In this verse, we see that we are encouraged through the mutual faith we have in one another. To be comforted together, through faith in one another, is to encourage one another by the mutual faith we have in one another as well as our joint faith in the Lord. We want to help our children develop this mutual faith in their lives. That will be the focus of our topic today.

The word that is translated “faith” is used two hundred and forty-four times in the New Testament. In most of the passages where the word is used, it speaks about faith in God or faith in Christ. The key thought in most of those contexts is to have faith or confidence in the Father, or in Christ. However, in Romans 1:12, we see that we are to have a mutual faith in one another. This means that we are also to have confidence or trust in one another as Christians. This brings us to the question, What makes it possible for us to have confidence or trust in one another as Christians? The key to understand the answer to that question is found in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, where we read: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” We see some key principles in these verses.

Now, we receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation, because the Holy Spirit is our down payment and guarantee of our eternal life. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” In the same way, our physical and spiritual children receive the Holy Spirit at the moment they place their trust in Christ as their down payment and guarantee of their salvation. We will see why this makes it possible for us to have trust and confidence in one another once we become Christians.

Second, we see that we are not our own. In 1 Corinthians 6:13, we see that our body is not for fornication but for the Lord. 1 Corinthians 6:15 says that our bodies are the members of Christ. Then, verse 19 says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We need to help our children grow in their understanding of what God means when He says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that we are not our own. We do this as we help them learn to understand and apply verses like Romans 12:1-2 in their lives. Those verses say, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” We help them understand that the goal of God for their lives is transformation.

Third, we see why we are not our own. We see that we are bought with a price. Hebrews 9 describes the old tabernacle and temple and compares it to the new tabernacle in heaven. Hebrews 9:11-12 says, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” Christ made that eternal tabernacle possible by purchasing our eternal salvation with His own blood. That was a very expensive price to pay for our salvation. That is why, before we get to the eternal tabernacle, we are to realize that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit here on this earth, because He is the down payment on our eternal life.

Fourth, we are to glorify God in our body. We are to use our bodies, that Christ purchased with His own blood, to bring glory to Him. We want to model for our physical and spiritual children what it means to glorify God in our bodies. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” In addition to the things we eat and drink, we see that everything else we do is also to bring glory to God. Our children will only learn how to bring glory to God by the things that they do as they see us bring glory to God by the things we do. They will learn, from our example, whether our example is good or bad. We will either show them how to glorify God, or we will show them the consequences of rebellion.

Fifth, we are to glorify God in our spirits. During the times we are yielding our spirit to the Holy Spirit, our spirit will bring glory to God. Romans 6:16 says, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” As we yield our human spirit to the Holy Spirit, we are walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit. Then, our lives will bear the fruit of the Spirit, as recorded in Galatians 5:22-23, which says: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” The Holy Spirit is the One who produces this fruit in the lives of Christians who are learning to yield to the Holy Spirit.

Sixth, we see that, once we become a Christian, both our body and spirit belong to God. As Christians more fully begin to understand the fact that both their body and spirit belong to God, that understanding begins to change what motivates them in their lives. When we were trying to control our own lives, we were controlled by fear. As we grow in our understanding of the fact that our body and spirit belong to God, our lives become led and motivated by the love of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” Christians who understand the love of Christ feel free to yield their lives to Christ and let the love of Christ flow through their lives. That is why it is so important to show our children, by our walk, what it means to be led by the love of Christ. They will see the love of Christ flowing through our lives.

One of the things that happens as Christians have their confidence and trust in Christ is that they begin to realize that the Holy Spirit is able to work through the life of each Christian. That is what actually produces the mutual faith we have in one another. We begin to expect the Lord to work through the lives of other Christians, just as He works through our lives. That means that we will begin to view other Christians as partners in ministry. In his letter to Philemon, Paul describes the change this makes in our relationship with other Christians.

Verses 15-17 of Philemon say, “For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.” Paul said that Christ had changed the status of Onesimus and Philemon. Previously, Onesimus had been an unfaithful slave. He had run away from his master, Philemon. Paul said that Christ had changed the status of Onesimus from that of an unfaithful slave to a beloved brother. Paul wanted Philemon to understand that Onesimus could have a ministry to Philemon and Philemon could have a ministry to Onesimus.

However, we see a second example of the change the Lord makes in our lives in these verses. Paul said that if Philemon counted Paul as a partner, Philemon would receive Onesimus as he would receive Paul. Paul was modeling for his spiritual son Philemon that he now treated Philemon as a partner in ministry. He had great faith that Philemon would now treat Onesimus as a full partner in ministry just as Paul treated Philemon as a full partner in ministry. We are to help both our physical and spiritual sons and daughters become “adult sons and daughters” who become full partners in ministry. We model this change in our attitude when we expect the Lord to work through the lives of our adult sons and daughters to minister to us, and with us, as full partners in ministry.

As we encourage one another by this mutual faith that we have in one another, we will see the Lord work in our lives through the things we learn from our spiritual and physical sons and daughters because we treat them as full partners in ministry. May the Lord richly bless you as you help both your physical and spiritual children become “adult sons and daughters” and full partners in ministry by your trust and confidence in them.

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