'They shall be called the sons of God.' Called? By whom? Christ does not
say, but it should not be difficult to ascertain. It seems to me that to
suppose that it is by men degrades this promise, instead of making it
the climax of the whole series. Besides, it is not true that if a
Christian man lives as I have been trying to describe, protesting
against certain evils, trying to diffuse an atmosphere of peace round
about him; and, above all, seeking to make known the Name of the great
Peacemaker, men will generally call him a 'son of God.' The next verse
but one tells us what they will call him. 'Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you
falsely for My sake.' They are a great deal more likely to have stones
and rotten eggs flung at them than to be pelted with bouquets of scented
roses of popular approval. No! no! it is not man's judgment that is
meant here. It matters very little what men call us. It matters
everything what God calls us. It is He who will call them 'sons of God.'
So the Apostle John thought that Christ meant, for he very beautifully
and touchingly quotes this passage when he says, 'Beloved! behold what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called the sons of God.'
God's calling is a recognition of men for what they are. God owns the
man that lives in the fashion that we have been trying to outline--God
owns him for His child; manifestly a son, because he has the Father's
likeness. 'Be ye therefore imitators of God as beloved children, and
walk in love.' God in Christ is the first Peacemaker, and they who go
about the world proclaiming His peace and making peace, bear the image
of the heavenly, and are owned by God as His sons.
What does that owning mean? Well, it means a great deal which has yet to
be disclosed, but it means this, too, that the whisper of the Voice
which owns us for children will be heard by ourselves. The Spirit which
cries, 'Abba, Father!' will open our ears to hear Him say, 'Thou art My
beloved Son.' Or, to put it into plain English, there is no surer way by
which we can come to the calm, happy, continual consciousness of being
the children of God than by this living like Him, to spread the peace
of God over all hearts.
I have said in former sermons that all these promises, which are but the
natural outcome of the characteristics to which they are attached, have
a double reference, being fulfilled in germ here, and in maturity
hereafter. Like the rest, this one has that double reference. For the
consciousness, here and now, that we are the children of God is but, as
it were, the morning twilight of what shall hereafter be an typesetting
meridian sunshine. What depths of divine assimilation, what mysteries of
calm, peaceful, filial fellowship, what riches beyond count of divine
inheritance, lie in the name of son, the possession of these alone can
tell. For the same Apostle, whose comment upon these words we have
already quoted, goes on to say, 'It doth not yet appear what we shall
be.'
Only we have one assurance, wide enough for all anticipation, and firm
enough for solid hope: 'If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ.' He must make us sons before we can be called
sons of God. He must give us peace with God, with ourselves, with men,
with circumstances, before we can go forth effectually to bring peace to
others. If He has given us these good things, He has bound us to spread
them. Let us do so. And if our peace ever is spoken in vain as regards
others, it will come back to us again; and we shall be kept in perfect
peace, even in the midst of strife, until we enter at last into the city
of peace and serve the King of Peace for ever.