Romans 8: 12-17

Theme: Justification Part Three, Adoption

BECOMING PART OF THE FAMILY

Sometimes it is hard to become part of a family. Most of us are born into a home where we are wanted. But, some are not. Some are born into homes where the mother cannot or will not take care of the child. In that case, the child is often put up for adoption.

I admire people who adopt children. In our world of troubles, that is one of the bright lights. What a wonderful story it is for someone to take a child that is not wanted or cannot be cared for and make that child their own.

However, there has been a lot of bad press about adoption in the last few years. On the one hand, parents adopt children and find out that they have severe emotional and psychological problems. Some are uncontrollable. And you hear horror stories of parents who are unwilling to go through the tough times and they give up the child that they adopted. What can be more sad than a child given up a second time?

We are also seeing on the news where the birth father or the birth mother change their minds and want their baby back, even after the adoptive parents have had the child for several years. In the March issue of Reader’s Digest, the cover article is about a boy whose mother gave her son up for adoption. A few weeks later, the biological father tried to take the baby away from the adoptive parents. In the story, the facts of the case are so convoluted that you don’t really know who should get the boy. (Reader’s Digest, March, 2001, 62071) In modern life, adoption is complicated.

But, the biggest controversy is the selling and auctioning of babies to the highest bidder. Some of this takes place over the internet–babies treated like commodities. While there are legitimate adoption agencies, there are a lot of lawyers and others who are getting in on the act because there are big bucks to be made. Many are acting as brokers of foreign babies. The cover story on this week’s U S News and World Report is called "The Adoption Maze." The story centers around an American couple who adopted a 9-month-old baby girl from the Baby Home No. 2 in Novosibrisk, Russia. To adopt the little girl cost the family about $30,000.00. One adoption agency made a profit of $937,515.00 on net revenues of $4.1 million. (U.S. News and World Report, March 12, 2002, 62-66) All of that money is made off the heartache of babes without parents, birth parents who won’t or can’t keep their child and adoptive parents who want, more than anything in the world, to have a child.

Becoming part of a family can be a costly, complicated and painful event for some. Becoming part of God’s family is also costly, but God Himself has paid the price. We are all like orphaned children. Sin was that mother whom we trusted. But she left us in the cold. Sin has its day of pleasure but a price is paid and the price is the destruction of our soul. We become addicted to it. How can we not sin? We slavishly serve our master and yet we are always left out in the cold.

One theologian has said that we are all illegitimate children, but God has loved us anyway. "Now wait a minute preacher, I'm not that bad," you might say. See, that is the illusion isn't it. We have heard the worldly myth about the goodness of humanity until we believe it. We are shocked when someone suggests we are a sinner. We really hate it, that is why preachers have such a rough time in modern literature, no one like a person who reminds us we are sinners. But we preachers know from experience how sinful we are.

Isaiah, the great 7th century BC prophet was a holy man. But one day as he worshiped in the temple, he came into the presence of God and he felt destroyed. He was in the presence of pure holiness. Isaiah knew that even after serving as God's preacher, he was a sinner. Only God Himself could make him truly a part of the family of God.

We are all sinners. We fall so short of God’s expectations. How many of us really love our neighbors as our selves? How many of us really have no other gods before God? Or, will we let home and hobbies and relatives and work and everything else come before God and His church? Let's be honest, we are all sinners, some of us are saved sinners and some of us are not.

But the really exciting news is that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Because the work of Christ on the cross, God calls us into His family to be His children. Paul said that before we were saved we were slaves, slaves to sin and death. Such slavery caused us nothing but fear. But now we have a new relationship. It is not a master and slave relationship. It is not even one of fearless leader and simple followers. We have the highest status accorded to us, we are called children of God. We have received the spirit of adoption as sons. This means that the Spirit has enabled us to be sons and daughters of God.

The word adoption is a beautiful word. In the first century an adopted son was deliberately chosen to be an heir. Often, a man who has no child would seek consent from a father, who was either a slave or a poor freeman, and gain permission to adopt his son. The biological father would be compensated and the promise would be made that the son was be well-taken care of. In fact, he would be the heir of the rich man’s estate. The adopted son was in no way inferior in status to a born child and may enjoy the father's affection more fully than a natural born child. And he was protected by Law, he could never be disinherited.

God has chosen us to be His children. He has loved us deeply and has sent his Spirit into our lives and made us his children. We have a family relationship with God. Prayer is talking to our Heavenly Father who deeply loves us.

Paul says that our adoption causes us to cry out Abba, Father. Abba was what a Hebrew child would call his father, it is akin to the word "Pappa." The Biblical scholars say that the word reflects a very personal and intimate yet respectful relationship. If we are careful with our understanding of the word, it can be seen as the first babbling words of a baby who says "dada." In other words, it is that innocent, sweet, close, intimate word that only a child can use. Perhaps the only way we can understand it is to hear it in the voice of a child. A child is so small and so limited in her knowledge and yet her father is so big and knows all things and is in control. Such a powerful person she calls dada – baby talk – because of that special relationship of Father and daughter. I am not so sure that we adults should be addressing God as Dada, but I think Abba Father would be appropriate, for we are still so small and He is our God. It is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we are able to call God Abba Father. And it is the Holy Spirit of God who gives us the confidence to do so.

Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to bear witness with our spirit that we are sons of God. We don't need miracles to make us believe. We don't need the fever pitched excitement of a football game to be reminded. All we need is the Spirit who bears witness to our spirit within us that we are God's children.

Paul puts the icing on the cake. If we are sons and daughters of God that makes us fellow heirs of Christ. As coheirs with Christ, all things that belong to the Father belong to us. Jesus is our substitute and we die with Him and we are raised to new life with Him. Our life is in Christ and He inherits it all for us. We have eternal life. We are given the right to be in the presence of the Father forever. We will be like Jesus and will have resurrected bodies and will be made whole. Just let your imaginations soar, our Father is the maker of the heavens and the earth and we are his heirs.

God’s adoption is clear and final. There are no legal complications. No one can challenge it in court. No one can take your inheritance away. God secures us in His family and we belong to Him forever. The perfect Father makes us the perfect family.

We have looked at this wonderful doctrine called justification from three different angles. We see that we are declared just before God’s law. We are put in right relationship with God. And now perhaps the easiest of all to understand, God has adopted us. We become part of the Family, the family of God.