INTRODUCTION: One early summer morning, a baby was born to a 15-year-old drug addict, a girl who unfortunately was not ready to be a mother. She tried to walk the line between being a teenager and an adult, but the teenager in her won out, because she was still just that, a teenager. The situation went from bad to worse, the courts got involved and the boy was removed from the home and placed in a foster home. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of navigating the sea of madness that often is the adoption process, the boy was adopted by a loving family, taken in as one of their own.
BACKGROUND: Stories like this make us smile, not only that, they are part of the fabric of our society, today in America there are more than 2.5 Million adopted children. For the orphan, who is often unloved, unwanted, untouched and unnoticed, the word “Adopted” is a game changer, it is a word that offers a hope, a future, a chance to be normal and above all, the opportunity to be loved.
Adoption is one of the deepest realities in the universe. I say “universe” and not “world” because adoption is really “out of this world.” It is bigger than this world; it is bigger than the “universe” because it is rooted in the very nature of God… (Romans 8:14-17)
THE ADOPTION IS OF GOD
• Adoption is the word the Bible uses to describe the relationship we can have with God.
• It is the kind of relationship that He longs to have with us, He wants to be our father and He wants us to be His children – therefore He makes adoption possible
• In the first century Roman world (when Paul was writing) an adopted son was a son deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his property
• An adopted child had no less status or rights than a natural “legitimate” child – even some of Rome’s rulers were “adopted” (Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Trajan and Hadrian)
• The adoption was part of the eternal plan of a plan of God, it is His idea, His purpose, it was not a ‘plan B’; it was not an afterthought
• He didn’t discover that one day, contrary to His plan, mankind had somehow sinned and been orphaned, so He came up with the idea of adopting them into His family. No, Paul clearly says that He planned it (Ephesians 1:4-5).
• Before the creation of the world, and before we existed, God looked at us in our need, and looked at his crucified and risen Son as the sufficient answer for our sin, and for that reason and to that end He “ ; predestined for adoption.” It happened before the creation of the world
• Our adoption is not based on our fitness, worth or physical characteristics, it is rooted in God’s eternal purpose and divine nature.
• This means that our adoption is not fragile, tenuous or uncertain, as is often the case in our adoption processes… we probably all know people who have suffered loss due to a failed adoption
• God will not adopt you and then find out that you are not worthy, or you will not be what He expected and He will dis-adopt you, He will not reject you by returning you, which is also a sad reality in our adoption processes – with God there is safety with God! our adoption!
ADOPTION IS THROUGH JESUS
• Before the foundation of the world God saw that we would be sinners and planned the death of his Son so that our sins could be forgiven and our broken relationship with God restored.
• In this there are two things that we must take note of
• (1) Not all people are adopted children of God, in a generic sense God is the father of all, but only those who believe and are covered by the redeeming blood of Christ are “Adopted” ;
• Although God is sovereign over all things, He in that sovereignty gave each of us free will and part of that freedom is our right to refuse adoption.
• In many adoptions, the child is asked if they want to be adopted by their future parents.
• This was the case for our friends Kim and Misty Turner; the court asked the children if they wanted them to be their parents – God asks the same of us!
• (2) Although it may be true with human adoption, we were not cute little orphans that God was drawn to and fell in love with – we were enemies, we were slaves of the flesh, being against God, tainted with the attitude of rebellion
• “Being enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son.” (Romans 5:10)
ADOPTION HAS IMPLICATIONS
• (1) Paul here contrasts the fear of a slave with the affection of a son – we are no longer “slaves!”
• The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to change our groveling fears of God into a trusting, happy, peaceful affection for God as our father.
• The Spirit stirs up in our hearts a response to God’s love that cries out: “Abba! Dad!”
• Paul uses the word “weep” and the Aramaic word “Abba” because both point to a deep, affectionate, personal, and authentic experience of God’s fatherly love.
• “Father” is the language of a “child” not a “slave,” in fact, among the Jews, slaves were forbidden to use the term “father” when addressing the head of the family
• What really matters is “whose we are,” not “who we are.” Being adopted makes us “Children of the King!”
• (2) God adopted us in our unworthiness to make His glory shine! God’s action in adopting us is radically God-centered and God-exalting
• The glory of God is what we were created to see and enjoy for all eternity in a perfect relationship with Him, nothing else will satisfy our souls.
• We are adopted by God not so that we can rejoice that God made a lot of us. We are adopted by God so that we enjoy doing it a lot of Him
CONCLUSION: Adoption is near and dear to my heart; for two reasons, first because I am an adoptive father, and I know what it is to give oneself to another. Second, because I am an adopted child, I was offered hope, a future, a chance to be normal, and a chance to be loved. The first story I shared this morning which is my story, I was that kid. If we are truly honest, we have a hard time understanding what it means to be “adopted” by God, we always have and always will. Each of our lives changes when we realize that we are children of the King. Once we were hopeless orphans because of our sin, but God offered us a hope that does not disappoint, he offered us adoption as his, have you been “adopted” today?