Like Father Like Son: John 5-6; Ephesians 2:8-10

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10, NASB).

This article is about how the believer becomes more Christ like. It is about how a son becomes like his father. You see, I have been meditating on the issue of what does the scriptures say about who can be a Christian, and who can be a leader, a minister if you will, in the Christian church. When I read the words of Paul, I find that Paul makes a distinction between those that walk after the flesh and those that walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5 is a prime example. I asked myself. Does Paul exclude those that live according to the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21) from being members of the church? Is the church reserved for those that walk according to the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). How does a person come to the point in their life when they live in the Spirit?

Thinking about the questions just preceding us, somehow I begin to think about my relationship with my father. Am I like my father? I remember that when I was a little boy my family members called me “little red Taft.” Taft is my father’s name. My father has dark skin, and I am fair skinned. I look like my father with one exception, we have different skin colors. Now, too many of us Christians all too often judge people by what we see. If a church member looks the part and acts the part we conclude that they are who we think them to be. I suggest that we remember the words of the Lord to Samuel when Samuel is trying to choose which son of Jesse that should be anointed king of Israel. “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart’” (1 Sam. 16:7, NASB). At an early age I look like my father. Have I in fact become like my father, and if so, how did I become like my father?

At some point I decide to write this article about how we become Christ like; and how much like Christ do we have to be to be a member in God’s church. In trying to decide on a title for this article I remember hearing somewhere, “Like father like son.” I cannot remember when and where I heard this so I Google it. I discover that there are several books and more than one movie that address this issue. I discover that one Japanese movie released in the year 2013 is about a man learning that his son is not his biological son. However, the man keeps the child and over the course of many years the boy becomes a son to the man.

I want to suggest to us that we become sons and daughters of God in the same way. You see all of us live because God creates a man and a woman that have an intimate and right relationship with God. They are His son and daughter. The man and the woman sin, and as a result they lose their relationship with God. They are driven from the Garden. Time and space will not allow me to explain fully this concept that we human being have life, but we are not born with eternal life. We are not born sons and daughters of God. You see as the movie suggest, we become sons and daughters of God by entering into a right relationship with God. The Gospel of John helps us to see this point.

John 1 begins by telling us about the relationship between God and the Word (Jn 1:1-3). John tells us that the Word became or was made flesh and lived among us (v. 14). Notice what John says about our relationship with the Light that gives life. “He was in the world and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came unto His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children (sons, KJV) of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:10-13, NASB). Did you get that? Only those that receive Jesus Christ are sons and daughters of God. Only those that are born of God, the Spirit, are children of God. Jesus provides us with the example of what the relationship between the Father and the Son is like; especially in John 5-6.

The Father and the Son are one. The Father loves the Son. The Father and the Son work; the Son does the work that the Father gives Him to do. The man Jesus is the Son of God. Paul tells us that “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15, NASB). Again John tells us that the Father has put judgment into the hands of the Son. It is through the Son that we have eternal life. “‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (Jn. 5:24, NASB).

The moment that we receive the Son we have eternal life. Does this mean that we instantly receive the Spirit and begin to live a perfect life? When I think of my own life with my father I conclude that I am my father’s son by birth. I have certain potentials because I share with my father some genetic traits, and I have his DNA in me. I become like my father through growth and development. I become like my father through experienced relationship with him.

I do not remember much about my father in my early life; only a few scattered memories of a few incidents. As I grow older I become more involved in the life of my father. I begin to be around my father more and more. I learn more and more about my Father and about his life. My father is a sharecropper. He works on a farm. He owns two horses, Charlie and Dan. They are very important to my father because of the work that they do. These two horses are loved by the children in the family because they are gentle, easy to be controlled by the children and anyone that can keep their balance can ride them because they obey verbal commands.

When I am about six years old, my first year in elementary school, I begin to be around my father more. My two older brothers work with my father in the fields. After school I often go to the fields and observe them work. They invite me to be with them, and they begin to show me what they are doing. They allow me to participate in the work based on my limited abilities. I watch my father and my brothers as they work. I begin to want to do what I see them doing, but I am too small. I am not strong enough to do what I see them doing. I do not possess the skills to do what I see them do. Yet, in spite of my limitations my father takes me with him. He teaches me and sometimes he allows me to learn things on my own. While I am growing in strength and skills my father is available to help me to sort through problems. He teaches me principles and values to live by. He is an example of right moral character and ethical behavior. Now, I reflect on my life with my Father. I am surprisingly coming to know just how much like my Father I have become. This brings me back to the questions asked at the beginning of this article.

Does Paul call for people that do not live up to certain standards to be excluded from the gift of salvation and membership in the church? Do we have the right to judge people based on what we see? When Paul gives us a contrast between the works of the flesh Galatians 5:19-21) and life in the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), what is his purpose? Are these rules to reject and eliminate persons that are not yet able to live up to certain standards? If our answer to these questions are “yes” exclude those that do not measure up, how do we respond to Paul’s admission in Romans 7 that he finds himself in a constant battle between doing the things of the flesh and doing the things in the Spirit?

When I meditate on Ephesians 2:8-10, I conclude that Paul is saying that we become sons and daughters of God by the grace of God. We are not born into the family of God fully matured and neatly packaged to look like God. When we are born again we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s DNA. We are given God’s character traits. As children in God’s family, the life and teaching of Jesus Christ begins to help us grow in Christ likeness. Thus, Paul is not giving us rules by which we judge people and exclude them from church membership. Rather, Paul gives us standards that we ought to try to live by. He gives us goals that we ought to strive to attain to. We are not saved with everything that we hope to become. Life without Christ is simply giving in to the desires of the flesh. Life for the believer is a struggle. There are growing pains. The believer goes through stages of development, growing in strength and gaining new skills. This is the reason that Paul tells us that we are saved by grace to do works prepared for us to do. We become like our Father in heaven. Like Father Like Son.