Put On Christ and Represent God’s Family

Paul declares that the children of God come into God’s family by faith in Christ Jesus. Faith, not good works, church membership, kindness, or personal effort, brings a sinner from being a child of wrath into the family of God. Christ alone is the way to the Father, and the person who has the Son has life. The Spirit of adoption then gives believers the right to cry, “Abba, Father,” not as strangers trying to earn a place, but as children who truly belong.

God’s adoption rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ, not on the changing performance of His children. The family name remains secure even when a child stumbles, but the family name also carries a responsibility. Paul calls believers to represent the family well, because a saved life ought to show something different than the old life. The old man with anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, and lying must be put off. Christ calls His people to put on the new man, renewed in knowledge after His image.

The image of clothing presses the point home. Christ takes sinners clothed in filthy rags and gives them robes of righteousness. Christ also calls His people to keep putting on mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forgiveness, thankfulness, and above all charity. Charity is not shallow affection. Charity is agape love, a sacrificial love that thinks of others and binds the family together in peace.

Paul says that those baptized into Christ have put on Christ. The phrase does not point to water baptism here, but to being immersed in a new position. Christ erases the human hierarchies that make people think they matter more or less because of ethnicity, wealth, gender, status, or background. The royal garment of Christ gives every believer the same standing, the same family crest, and the same inheritance.

The church shines in a crooked and perverse nation when Christ is seen in His people. The darker the night gets, the brighter the light ought to be. A long face is a poor signboard for Jesus, and a dirty bulb cannot shine like it should. Christ calls His ambassadors to put off sin, put on Him, and let the world see the King of kings.

Paul finally declares that those who belong to Christ are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. Christ is the promised Seed through whom all families of the earth are blessed. God does not merely give just enough. Christ gives eternal life, abundant life, and an inheritance greater than human imagination. Christ takes what is broken and shattered, gathers the scattered pieces, and makes them new.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Faith alone brings sinners into God’s family. Faith does not improve a sinner enough to earn a place at God’s table. Faith receives Christ, and Christ gives the right to become a child of God. The difference between life and death is not religious activity, but whether a person has the Son. The Spirit then gives real assurance that the adopted child belongs. [05:39]
• 2. Adoption gives a secure family name. God does not adopt His children on probation. Christ’s finished work establishes their place in the family, even while their daily conduct still needs correction and growth. Sin does not become harmless because grace is secure, since a child’s life bears the family name before a watching world. The call is not to earn sonship, but to represent the Father well. [11:54]
• 3. Put off sin and put on Christ. The old life cannot simply be emptied out and left vacant. Anger, wrath, maliciousness, corrupt speech, and lies must be replaced with mercy, humility, patience, forgiveness, and sacrificial love. Christ Himself is the new garment believers are called to wear. Holiness grows as His character increasingly covers the life. [16:38]
• 4. Christ makes one family from fragments. The robes of Christ make earthly status unable to determine spiritual worth. Different colors, backgrounds, and stories remain, like stained glass, but Christ joins them into one picture that displays His light. Satan divides by making differences ultimate. Christ unites by making Himself the primary identity of every believer. [30:42]
• 5. Christ makes broken people genuinely new. Brokenness, regret, and a bleak past do not place anyone beyond Christ’s restoring power. Human programs and good works cannot create a new creature. Christ takes what is left, gathers what has scattered, and makes it new through His grace. The invitation remains open to come just as one is.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:10] - God’s Family and Earthly Family Pain
• [02:27] - Knowing You Have Eternal Life
• [04:17] - Children of God by Faith
• [05:39] - Jesus Is the Only Way
• [07:36] - The Spirit of Adoption: Abba, Father
• [10:47] - Representing the Family Name
• [12:10] - Put On Christ
• [14:14] - Put Off the Old Man
• [16:38] - Charity: The Bond of Perfectness
• [19:48] - Shine as Lights in a Dark World
• [22:01] - One Family, One Royal Garment
• [25:47] - Heirs According to the Promise
• [29:32] - The Ground Is Level at the Cross
• [31:44] - Fitly Joined Together in Christ
• [34:12] - Christ Makes Broken Things New

Bible Reading

Galatians 3:26-29
“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” [00:34]
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” [00:45]
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” [00:45]
“And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.” [00:59]

Colossians 3:8-14
“But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” [14:17]
“Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”
“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” [16:38]

John 14:6
“Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” [05:39]

Romans 8:15-16
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” [07:10]

Observation questions

1. According to Galatians 3:26, what is the one way Paul says people become children of God?
2. What old patterns does Colossians 3:8-9 specifically tell believers to put away, especially in their speech and treatment of others? [14:17]
3. What qualities are believers told to “put on” in Colossians 3:12-14, and which quality is called the bond that holds everything together?
4. In Galatians 3:27-29, what differences does Paul name, and what shared identity does he give to every person who belongs to Christ? [22:32]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does Paul connect being a child of God with faith in Christ rather than with good works, religious effort, or church involvement? [03:57]
2. What does it mean for believers to cry, “Abba! Father!” instead of approaching God as fearful strangers trying to earn a place in His family? [09:41]
3. Paul says believers have “put on Christ,” while Colossians says they must put off the old self and put on the new self. How do these truths show both a secure identity in Christ and an ongoing call to live differently? [15:29]
4. How does Paul’s teaching that believers are one in Christ challenge the ways people measure worth by background, money, ethnicity, status, or personal history? [30:42]

Application questions

1. Is there any place where you are tempted to base your standing with God on your recent performance—either feeling proud when you have done well or hopeless when you have failed? How does faith in Christ alone change that struggle? [11:54]
2. When you pray, do you usually come to God with the confidence of an adopted child calling on “Abba, Father,” or with the fear of someone trying to earn His attention? What burden could you bring honestly to Him this week? [09:50]
3. Which “old self” pattern most needs to be put off in your life right now: anger, bitterness, malicious thoughts, careless speech, lying, or something similar? What Christlike response could you put on in its place? [16:38]
4. Is there a relationship in which you need to practice patience, forgiveness, humility, or sacrificial love? What would one clear step toward peace look like this week? [16:45]
5. People are watching to see whether Christians truly have hope in a dark world. In your ordinary routines, what may be keeping your light dim, and how might putting on Christ make His joy more visible? [18:56]
6. Are there differences in the church or in your community that tempt you to keep people at a distance? How can you treat another believer more clearly as a brother or sister who shares the same standing and inheritance in Christ? [24:48]
7. Is there a part of your past, regret, brokenness, or present situation that makes you feel beyond repair? What would it look like to bring those scattered pieces to Christ, trusting Him to make you new? [34:35]