Pastor David Jang
Where should prayer begin on a day when we have once again done something we promised ourselves we would never do again? Even as we confess our wrongdoing, we may hesitate to call ourselves God’s children. Pastor David Jang, founder of Olivet University in the United States, addresses this question through the grace of adoption in his sermon on Romans 8:14–17. Even after receiving the grace of becoming God’s children, we continue to struggle against sin and grow in holiness through sanctification. The assurance that we are his children sustains us in that struggle.
Adoption: The Grace of Calling God Our Father
Paul calls those who are led by the Spirit of God the children of God. Here, adoption refers to the grace by which God welcomes us as his children in Christ and makes us heirs who will share an inheritance with Christ. Those who once lived under the dominion of sin now belong to God and enter into a new relationship with him. The depth of this change is revealed in the words that allow us to call God “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). As we approach God in prayer, we do so with the intimacy and confidence of those who have been welcomed as his children.
If we think we must earn this standing through our spiritual performance, our assurance of being accepted as God’s children can waver whenever we look back over the day. We draw near on days when we have lived according to his Word, but when we fail, we may feel we can no longer even call ourselves his children. Yet our standing as God’s children rests on the salvation Christ has accomplished. Our identity as God’s children is the foundation on which a holy life begins. On that foundation, believers can acknowledge their shortcomings and ask their Father for specific help.
The assurance that we have been accepted also matters when we confess our sins. If revealing our wrongdoing feels as though it will lead to rejection, we begin looking for excuses and reasons to hide. Faith that we can approach our Father helps us acknowledge the truth even in the midst of that fear. In prayer, we can speak honestly about what we have done wrong and why we keep making the same choices. Growing in intimacy with God also means entrusting ourselves to him without concealing our failures.
This relationship carries both dignity and responsibility. Our identity as God’s children leads us to consider how we treat our bodies, how we speak, and how we relate to others. When we are tempted to surrender to a familiar sin for the sake of immediate satisfaction, remembering whom we belong to gives us a standard for our choices. As we learn to value ourselves in light of God’s grace, our sense of responsibility to treat our lives with care also deepens. The joy of bearing the name of God’s children becomes a desire to live in a way that honors that name.
Why Sanctification Continues After the New Birth
Alongside adoption, we must also consider the new birth. If adoption refers to the standing and relationship we receive when God accepts us, the new birth is the work by which the Holy Spirit gives us new life. Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born of water and the Spirit (John 3:3, 5). We cannot attain this new life by correcting our faults until we have made ourselves worthy of salvation. From the beginning, salvation depends on God’s love and grace.
Jesus goes on to teach that eternal life is given to those who believe in the Son of Man, who would be lifted up (John 3:14–16). This sermon locates the foundation of the new birth in Christ, who accomplished salvation through his cross and resurrection. To look to the cross is to acknowledge the weight of our sin and entrust ourselves to the Lord who bore it. Even on days when we are anxious about how long our resolve will last, faith can rest on what Christ has accomplished. The Holy Spirit makes the grace of that salvation a reality in the lives of believers.
Pastor David Jang emphasizes both the standing we have already received as God’s children and the ongoing process of sanctification. Even after we have been justified and become God’s children, remaining sinful inclinations and deeply ingrained habits continue to unsettle our lives. Sanctification is the process of battling that sin with the Holy Spirit’s help and becoming more like Christ in our thoughts and actions. A believer’s struggle with sin, therefore, does not in itself mean that the believer has not been born again. Even those who have received new life must continue to learn and obey as they seek to live in a manner worthy of that life.
Holding these truths together allows both assurance and repentance to take their proper place. If every failure leads us to question our salvation as a whole, we can become so focused on our weaknesses that we stop asking God for help. Conversely, if we use the claim that we are saved to justify recurring sin, we turn away from the Holy Spirit’s leading. Assurance of salvation gives us the strength to acknowledge our sins honestly and return to obedience. We can offer both a prayer confessing today’s shortcomings and a prayer of thanks for the grace we have already received.
The Holy Spirit’s Leading Is Revealed in Everyday Obedience
How, then, does the Holy Spirit’s leading become evident in everyday life? This sermon draws attention to a personal relationship in which we hear and follow God’s Word. If we have experienced a moment that deeply stirred our hearts, we should also examine how that experience shapes our words and actions. Paul speaks of putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, calling believers into a concrete struggle against sinful habits (Romans 8:13). Growing in holiness involves asking for the Spirit’s help and making choices that actually reject sin.
For example, there are moments when we want to add explanations to conceal something we have done wrong. Setting the record straight may be embarrassing or require us to accept responsibility. At such moments, obedience takes concrete form when we examine, in the light of God’s Word, what we are trying to protect and stop making self-serving excuses. Choosing to refrain from belittling someone or to make time for a person who needs help moves us in the same direction. The guidance we seek in prayer meets the small decisions of everyday life.
As we follow God’s Word, we also have to correct ideas we once believed were right. We move from deciding on the outcome we want and asking God to approve it toward listening and learning what he desires. When it is difficult to let go of our plans, we can bring that difficulty into prayer as well. Those who rely on the Holy Spirit learn to discern the Lord’s will, examine their own desires, and respond to the Word they hear. In this process, freedom becomes evident in the strength to resist the pull of sinful habits.
If we try to draw this strength from willpower alone, we can quickly become weary. As the image of the vine and the branches in John 15 shows, believers bear fruit through their relationship with Christ, the source of life. Meditation on Scripture and prayer are times for learning what we must put aside and how we should love, and for asking for the strength to put these things into practice.
This transformation also shapes relationships within the community. The sermon connects the washing of feet in John 13 with daily repentance and a life of serving one another. Those who know that they too need to be washed have no reason to feel superior when confronted with another person’s failings. In relationships where people address wrongdoing honestly, seek forgiveness, and help one another get back on their feet, the grace they have received finds expression in their responsibility to love. Those who are learning holiness together can serve their neighbors and share the gospel they have received.
The Hope of God’s Heirs Endures Through Suffering
Even when we live according to this love, hardship still comes. Paul links his declaration that we are heirs of God with suffering together with Christ (Romans 8:17). The fact that our standing as God’s children and our suffering appear in the same sentence keeps us from judging God’s love solely by our circumstances. Those whom God has accepted may still experience loss as they obey and rejection as they serve. Such experiences do not remove the basis for calling God our Father.
Here, Pastor David Jang emphasizes our union with Christ, which connects suffering and glory. Those who follow Jesus’ path of humility and service are with the Lord even amid the hardships they encounter along the way. The hope of God’s heirs rests on the resurrection of Christ, who conquered death. It is in the light of this hope that we can understand why Paul considers present suffering alongside the glory yet to be revealed (Romans 8:18). The promise that our present pain will not have the final word sustains our faith.
That hope also shapes the way we carry out the tasks entrusted to us today. It gives us a reason to remain honest even when no one notices and to keep serving even when we do not receive the response we had hoped for. We can confess our weary hearts to God without hiding our pain or trying to prove how strong we are. Instead of assessing each day only by what we have gained, we begin to ask whose guidance we have followed. The grace of being God’s children keeps our lives on course even amid suffering.
Prayer on a day when we have failed to keep our resolutions can begin here as well: by confessing our wrongdoing specifically, asking for the Holy Spirit’s help, and choosing one thing we need to put right. The grace of being able to call God our Father gives us the courage to repent and to entrust to him the parts of our lives that still need to change. Today, with the assurance that I am a beloved child of God, what can I confess, and how can I put his Word into practice?
Dr. David Jang has proclaimed the gospel in various regions of the world through field missions and digital media ministry, and as the fruit of that ministry, many people devoted to the Great Commission have been raised up. Based on this missionary vision, Olivet first began as a small church school for missionary training. Later, in order to provide more systematic theological education and cultivate missionary leaders, Olivet Theological College and Seminary was established in Los Angeles and Seoul in 2000.
As the school grew, Dr. Jang officially founded Olivet University in San Francisco in 2004. In the diverse and dynamic environment of San Francisco, Olivet expanded its educational fields beyond theology to include music, journalism, art and design, and technology. The university also strengthened its educational capacity by recruiting faculty members, including Dr. William Wagner, and in 2005 moved to the former UC Berkeley Downtown Extension campus, further solidifying its foundation as a university.
In 2006, Dr. Jang transferred the presidency to Dr. David James Randolph in order to focus more fully on missionary work, while continuing to lead global missions as International President. Olivet University later received institutional accreditation in 2009, added a language education college and a business college, and continued to grow as a Christian educational institution for world missions by expanding its degree programs and international partnerships.
David Jang Official Website: www.davidjang.org
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