Our Inheritance

What would you do if you knew you had a priceless inheritance waiting for you? If you knew you had an inheritance and knew it was priceless, what would you do? Well, as I am sure you know, in Jesus Christ have been promised a priceless inheritance. 1 Peter 1:4 (NLT) “…we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” We have a priceless inheritance given to us by God through Jesus Christ. And what is this inheritance? This inheritance is life, flourishing life, abundant life in the kingdom of God where righteousness and love and peace are at home. This is our inheritance.

In this world, righteousness and love and peace are not at home. If those things were at home in this world, they would not have put our Lord to death. The fact that our Lord was crucified in this world is proof that righteousness, love, and peace are not at home here. As Jesus himself said: My kingdom is not of this world. So, we have this inheritance. But, like all children who have been promised an inheritance, we have to wait for it. And for us, that means we have to wait for it in this world where righteousness, love, and peace are not at home. So, here is a question for us, “What do we do while we wait for our inheritance?”

One of the interesting things about inheritance is that inheritance is given. Children don’t work for their inheritance, someone else does the work. Right? Their parents and grandparents do the work. The same is true for us. Our inheritance is given to us, as a gift. Someone else did the work. Our Lord did the work.

Now to be clear, we are not born natural children of our Heavenly Father. We are natural born children of the world. By the "world" we don’t mean God’s beautiful and bountiful creation. By the "world" we mean the way of life that is contrary to God’s will for humanity. We are born into a world where humanity lives contrary to God’s will. We learn the ways of this world as soon as we hit the ground running. Our Lord, on the other hand, is begotten of the Father. He is the only begotten of the Father. Through him we become children of the Father not by birth but by adoption. We are born children of this world, and it is only by God’s grace that we become adopted children of the Father. John 1:12-13 (NRSV): All who receive him (that is all who receive Christ), all who believe in his name, he gives the (ability) to become children of God…”

Or again, Romans 8:14-17 (NRSV): For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God…you have received the Spirit by adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if (we are) children (of God), (then we are also)…joint heirs with Christ.” By God’s grace, we are adopted as children of God. Natural born children might feel that they have a right to their parents’ inheritance, but we are adopted children of the Father. We understand that our adoption is a gift, and so is our promised inheritance.

Our inheritance is life, flourishing life, abundant life, never ending life. And because this is our inheritance, we guard it, we cherish it, and we would never trade it for anything. Jesus once asked, “What would it profit a person to gain the whole world and yet lose his life?” And the answer is, nothing.

Imagine a family that has a priceless inheritance which they will pass on to their children. How do they protect the inheritance? How do they guard that inheritance to ensure that not only their children will receive that inheritance, but also their grandchildren, and so on? How do they protect this priceless inheritance? Well, one thing they must do is raise children who grow to maturity. They must train their children to be prudent and wise so that when they receive this inheritance, they won’t squander it.

God has given us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee, so that we will grow to maturity and be fully prepared for the weight of glory that we will inherit. Paul once said he never ceases to pray that Christ's followers will be filled with knowledge of God’s will, so that they will have spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that they may lead lives worthy of the Lord, growing in knowledge and strength and always giving thanks to the Father. Why, give thanks? Because the Father has enabled them to share in the inheritance of those who live in the light (Colossians 1:9-13).

Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. Well then where is it? That’s what the Pharisees wanted to know in Luke 17. When is your kingdom coming, Jesus? He replied, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed.” People will say, “Look, here it is!” or "There it is!" Jesus said, “Don’t set off in pursuit. Don't go there.” Well, why not? He said, “For the kingdom of God is within you.” We, my friends, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the living God lives within us. That kingdom where righteousness and love are at home is already living within us. The Holy Spirit is God’s down payment (as Paul put it), so that we will know that we are God’s children, so we will know when this world passes away, which it will, we will be with him.

But until then, the Holy Spirit helps us to grow into maturity, protecting our inheritance, nurturing within us the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. These things, these fruits are not at home in this world, but these things are nurtured within us so that when we get to that place where these things are at home, we will be at home there as well. So, what do we do while we wait for our inheritance? We grow into maturity, we grow into the measure of the stature of Jesus Christ. To the glory of the Father, Amen.