What are some beautiful words
to you? In the Christian community I
bet that I would hear works like: salvation; redemption; creation; and
holiness. Does adoption come to mind?
For most of us, adoption may not be something we dwell on in our
lives. However, as an adopted father,
adoption has become a beautiful word for me.
Beautiful not only in that God chose me to be His son but also in that
Val and I chose adoption to grow a family.
Throughout our 17 years with our two awesome children many have asked us
why did we adopt? Simply stated: Val and I adopted because God moved us to
grow a family in this way.
With November being designated
as Adoption month I want to share some thoughts on God’s movement to grow a
spiritual family.
One man in the Christian
community reflects, “Adoption is the mainspring
of Christian living… apex of Creation…goal of redemption.” What a high view of the doctrine of
adoption! Is it warranted? Let’s learn together as we consider Galatians
3:26-4:7.
Gal. 3:26-4:7
26
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for
all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave
nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are
Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
4 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no
different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 He is subject to guardians and
trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were children, we
were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 4 But when the time had fully come, God
sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we
might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the
Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a
son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Even as an adopted father, I
sometime forget about the love expressed by God in adopting me into His
family. I often allow my circumstances
and relationships to rob me of enjoying my sonship.
All of us who know Christ at
times and to some degree fail to experience the freedom and joy of our
adoption. Often we let our
circumstances, our relationships and even our expectations to rob us of the
reality of the intimacy and freedom we have in the gospel. We continue to live as slaves instead of as
his precious and delighted in adopted children.
Even though we are rich in the gospel, full and forever adopted children
of God, with complete access to the Father, we continue to go back again and
again relating to Him only through our record, performance and moral merits. We fail to realize our awesome inheritance.
However, Paul here in this
passage wants to remind us, those who believe and trust Jesus Christ, that we
can enjoy our adoption regardless of what is going on in our lives.
Dr. Robert Peterson, Adopted by God shares about a true and
tragic story of a minister who rescued his son.
He and his 7 years old son were fishing from the bank of a Lake in
Smyrna, TN. His son, David, slipped on
the bank and fell into the lake. His
father jumped in the water and pushed his son towards the rock and the boy
climbed to safety. But the father could
not swim. Before his son could return
with 2 fishermen, his father had disappeared.
Later his body was found about 25 feet from shore in 16 feet of
water. This story pulls our emotion in
opposite directions. We are thrilled at
the father’s heroism in risking his life to deliver his son from death. But we are saddened at the awful cost of the
deliverance. Our grief grows when we
understand he left a wife and 2 other children.
There
is a much greater deliverance than the one just recounted.
Our adoption has come at a
great price. Gal. 4:4-5 reminds us of
the Son who delivered us, and this too pulls at our emotions (saddened at the
death of the Son but also overjoyed at what comes to those He rescues).
4 But when the
time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to
redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
- Our need of redemption
(Gal. 4:1, 2) – we were in slavery to the Law. To redeem means “to release a slave from
his or her owner by paying the slave’s full price. Here in this verse the “slave master” is
the Law. Before our relationship
with Christ, our status was one of a slave. We were not his children. We are “under” the law legally in that we are obligated to
be righteous before God or we are lost.
But we are also “under” it spiritually
in that our hearts are helplessly fixated on trying to fulfill it in order
to win God’s favor. It is a burden,
impossible to satisfy. So in a
sense we belong to the law—we are under its control.
We are also
slave to sin, needing to be redeemed.
Our sinful condition constituted our need for redemption.
- The price of redemption
(Gal. 4:4, 5) – Jesus in his perfect obedient life and death on the cross
releases us from the bondage to the law and sin as the slave is released
from the bondage to his master. Jesus pays the full price of the
law. Jesus completely fulfills all
the law’s demands on us—he fulfilled anything and everything we owe. There is nothing left to do or
pay. Jesus freely gave himself as
the ransom to pay the payment of our sin.
He died to set free those who believe on him and to make us God’s
children.
We cannot pay
for our redemption. There is nothing we
can do to make us acceptable to God or to earn his favor. No one can keep the law so as to merit God’s
favor. No one is good enough. As a result, the curse of the law hangs over
the head of every lawbreaker—you and me.
The curse of the law is ready to strike each of us what we deserve—the
wrath of a holy and just God.
We need a deliver, one who can do for us what
we cannot do for ourselves. It
cost us
nothing; it cost Him everything. He took
our curse, our penalty, and our judgment that we deserved and placed it on
Himself.
- The result of redemption
(Gal. 3:26-29, 4:5) – Jesus brought for us “the full rights of sons.” Through Christ we receive “the
sonship.” A legal term that refers
to a “Graeco-Roman (but not Jewish) legal process in which a childless
wealthy man could take one of his servants and adopt him. When that occurred, he ceased to be a
slave and received all the financial and legal privileges within the
estate and outside in the world as the son and heir.” Though by birth and nature he is a slave
without relationship with the father, he now receives the legal status of
son. What a metaphor for us.
Both our freedom
from liability and rights as sons are to all who trust in Jesus Christ. He not only legally transferred our record to
Himself and His record to us, we are made part of the family. “In order to remove our
legal status as sinners deserving condemnation, he gave us legal status as sons
deserving great wealth and honor!” (Keller) They give us a complete picture of what
Christ has accomplished for us. He both
removed our curse we deserve and gives us the blessing of sonship he deserves. God’s honor and reward is just as secure and
guaranteed as our pardon.
For example, “Jesus’ redemption is not just like receiving a pardon and release from
death row and prison. Then we’d be free,
but on our own. Jesus has also put on us
the Congressional Medal of Honor. We are
received and welcomed as heroes, as if we had accomplished extraordinary deeds.”
(Keller) We do not earn sonship; it is
not a prize to be won; his fatherly acceptance of us is not based on our
record. Christ has provided it all.
This is true
with our adoption of Samuel and Amanda.
They did not earn their adoption into our family. No, we provided it all for them to be called
a son and daughter of Jeff and Val Rickett.
Even the metaphor “have put on Christ” or “clothed themselves”
in 3:27 shows the result of our redemption and adoption and denotes:
- Our primary identity is in Christ – Our clothing tells people who we are. To say that Christ is our clothing is to say that our ultimate identity is found not in any gender, social or cultural classifications, but in Christ.
- Our close relationship
with Christ.
We need clothes and they are kept closer than any other
possession. We rely on them for
shelter every moment and they go almost everywhere with us. This reminds us of our moment-by-moment
dependence on and daily awareness of Christ.
- Our imitation of Christ. We take Jesus into every area of our
life and change our life in accordance with His will and Spirit. We are dress like Jesus, put on his
qualities, virtues, and actions.
- Our acceptability to God. Our clothing is worn as adornment. It covers our nakedness. To say that Christ is our clothing is to
day that in our Father’s sight we are always loved, accepted, and welcomed
because of Christ’s work and redemption.
I will never forget that
day. It was a long and hard day of
ministry. I was feeling frustrated and
discouraged. It was early in my ministry
experience and I was wondering what in the heck did I get myself into. So as I arrived home that day and enter the front
door, I was deeply surprised at what happen next. I saw my 1 yr. son and I was filled with an
overwhelming sense of joy. I moved
towards him, picked him up and began to express great love to him. I shared
with him what a great delight he was to my heart, how I was so pleased that he
was my son, and I would never stop loving him.
Friends, enjoy your adoption
for God delights to be your Father and call you his children!
Warmly,
Jeff
