Adopted into the Kingdom

Joel Hayworth

Romans 8 • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Romans 8:14–17

Adoption

Children of God

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Transcript

Introduction

Did you know that in the United States of America, 135,000 children are adopted each and every year? 62% of these adoptions take place within 1 month after the birth of the child or children. It is estimated that there are between 1 and 2 million couples in the United States that are waiting to adopt a child meanwhile there are approximately 1.3 million abortions in the US alone each year. This is not a sermon that is going to be hell, fire and brimstone, however these numbers should shake us to our core. Only 4% of unwanted or unplanned pregnancies end with the child being placed for adoption. As Christians, we must do something about these numbers! As we are going to continue in our study of , we see that Paul transitions from talking about “No Condemnation” and in verses 14-17 he begins to talk about our adoption into the Kingdom of God. As we looked at last week, this is only the case for those of us who are “in Christ Jesus”. It is my prayer that our study today will illuminate our eyes into the beauty of being adopted into the Family of God in addition to seeing how we reign with Christ. With that said, please open in your copy of God’s Word to

Romans 8:14–17 NASB95

14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Romans

Congratulations, you’ve been Adopted! (14-15)

As someone who was adopted as a child, I thank God each and every day for the situation that I was blessed to end up in. My parents were unable to have their own biological children and had been searching for a child to adopt for quite a long time. I was born in October to a young woman who lacked the time and desire to care for a child, much less one born with a cleft pallet. Because of this, my birth parents gave me up for adoption. As one thing led to another, my parents would end up getting me within a couple of months from my birth. I was brought from a situation where I was an inconvenience to a place where I was an answer to years of prayer. By the grace of God, He willed this to happen. It is easy for me to look back at this and see adoption in a very positive light because I know that I would not be where I am at today without this process unfolding. The strongest foundation, though, for adoption is not in the act of humans adopting other humans, but in the King of the Universe adopting humans to be a part of His family. Adoption is at the very heart of the Gospel message and is something we see Paul use time and time again in his letters. In he writes,

Galatians 4:4-5

Galatians 4:4–5 NASB95

4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

There are times in which we see that as Christians, we are “born again” and this is certainly talked about in Scripture ( come to mind), however there are other times where Scripture talks about Christians being “adopted”. But he chose to speak of us as adopted as well as being children by new birth. This is the most essential foundation of the practice of adoption.

In Roman society, that Paul found himself in, adoption was something very common throughout the empire. Adoption was something very different than it is in our world today, though. Adoption took place for a variety of reasons, it could be used to pay off a debt owed by your father to another man. It could be a way for your parents to give you a better future by having a wealthy person adopt you. A prominent family without a child would often adopt as well. In Roman culture, though, people who were adopted were immediately freed of all previous debts. They were completely under the authority of their new father. They shared equally in the inheritance as the father’s biological children (this is a key aspect for Christians as we will see in just a little bit). Finally, the son did not come into their inheritance until the father passed away (this is different to what we see in Jewish custom as we see the story of the Prodigal Son in ). We see that adoption is quite different for people back in the 1st century than it is for individuals today. It is important for us to know these differences, though, as we begin to study what Paul has to say about our adoption into God’s family because in Paul’s day it was as if the adopted person had not existed prior to their adoption! Debts? Cancelled. Crime? Wiped away! Mistakes? Corrected. If you are adopted by Christ, you are a new creation! Our previous life is gone, done, cancelled. You are, in literally every sense of the word, a Child of the King.

In verses 14 and 15, we see that Paul is contrasting adoption and slavery. He reminds Christians that in turning to Christ, we are no longer slaves to fear! We receive the Spirit and are adopted as Sons (and daughters) of God. As I mentioned above, in Roman custom, adoption meant a complete severance of all relationships that existed prior to your adoption. Your family, gone. Your brothers and sisters, gone. Your friendships, gone. Everything that existed prior to your adoption into your new family is gone and is replaced. Your new father exercise authority over you and you have all the privileges and responsibilities that his biological children have. Think about this in our Christian lives, we are adopted into the family of God! Instead of facing condemnation as rebels of God, we now face no condemnation because we are “in Christ”. We are adopted into God’s family and we experience the privileges that are associated with that call. What are some of these privileges? We saw in verse 11 of that we have the Holy Spirit in our lives because of this fact! We also see throughout Scripture that we experience life and we have the hope of eternal life because we are Children of God now.

Not only are we adopted into the family of God, but we also see Paul state at the end of verse 15 that we cry out “Abba! Father!” In adoption, not only is the adopted son a part of the family but he is just as much a part of the family as the biological children. In reading about adoption this week, I read dozens of stories about parents who were told that they were not able to have biological children so they adopted. A couple of years down the line though, by a miracle of God, they had a biological child in addition to their adopted child. In reading about these stories, though, each and every one of these couples stated that they treat both their children the exact same and in some cases, people aren’t even able to tell that one of their children is adopted! This is the case we find ourselves in as adopted children of the King. Not only are we a part of the family, but we can have an intimate relationship with our Father because the term “Abba” was used primarily within the family circle and in prayer. Paul used this word specifically to highlight the relationship that adopted children have with their newfound Father - a personal and loving relationship. This is crucial for us to remember today. It can be easy for us to think that God is some distant, far off creator due to what our world tries to tell us each and every day. It can be easy to believe this lie whenever we fail to dive into God’s Word and spend time with Him. We are adopted into His family.

What is the big deal about being “adopted”, you might ask? First, Adoption is costly. We see in Scripture that the cost of being adopted was the very death of Jesus Christ. Going back to , we see that we are redeemed because of what Jesus Christ did. To redeem something means to obtain or set something free by paying a price. We redeem things every day! Whenever we go to Kum and Go or Steak and Shake and use a rewards card, we get points that eventually we can redeem to get a free item such as a milkshake or soda. What shows us is that there was a price to be paid - our sin. And the only way that the cost could be paid was the death of Jesus Christ. There was a huge cost and Christ paid it so that we could be adopted into God’s family. This is good news! We know that adoption today is costly as well. We know that it costs money to adopt, yes, but it also costs emotionally and physically as well! Those of you who have raised children know the worrying that transpires as your children grow older. The restless nights that you endure while your children travel and move out on their own or go off to college. Praise God that people are willing to face the uncertainty that comes with raising a child and all the costs associated with doing this. God’s cost to adopt us, though, was infinitely greater than any cost that we will endure adopting and raising children today.

Secondly, Adoption changes the legal status of the child. We know that if a child is adopted today, he or she will legally become a child of their new parents. This process can often be long and strenuous, though, and the “red tape” can appear to be never ending in many instances! We see in our heavenly adoption a similar story, though. God cannot have any part of sin. He detests sin and cannot stand it. With that said, though, He did do something. His own justice and law demanded that we be punished and excluded from his presence for our sins. Righteousness was required and punishment demanded. God had to satisfy his justice and his law in order to adopt sinners into his family. This he did by the life, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. Even though this was costly, Christ’s death on the cross paved the way for us to become adopted into the Family of God. As complicated as adoption can be nowadays, Jesus Christ completed every legal demand whenever He took our place on the Cross of Calvary.

The second “big deal” about us being adopted

Third and finally, Adoption brought us out of a very bad situation. God did not save you because you were so loving, cute and deserving of salvation! states that we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. We were ugly and rebellious individuals. We were not easy to deal with. God, as we know, hates sin and rebellion and we are called “children of wrath”. This isn’t a good situation to be in, is it? The beautiful news, though is that God adopted us as we are. We are not told to become perfect and then we can become adopted sons and daughters, no, we are adopted as a rebellious and wicked individual. Think of the greatest cultural and economical barriers that people cross to adopt children today, maybe its a very wealthy family in New York city adopting a girl from the streets of Calcutta, India. There are many barriers that are crossed whenever this girl is adopted, right? There are infinitely more barriers crossed whenever God adopts us, as sinners, into His family! Often times we are quick to point out our differences as human beings and even as Christians. One thing that should unite us more than anything else is that we are sinners, yet we are all a part of the same Family because we are adopted as sons and daughters of God. Regardless of how you might feel, this should bring about a dose of encouragement!

Benefits of your Adoption (16-17)

We’ve spend a considerable amount of time this morning talking about what our spiritual adoption looks like in verses 14 and 15. Now we will begin to see what the benefit of being adopted by God truly is. Verses 16 and 17 show us that if we are children of God, we are also heirs of God. Not only are we children of God, but as was the case in Roman society, as adopted children we share in the inheritance of our newfound Father. We are going to share in what our Father has. Not only that, though, as we see that we are co-heirs with Christ! This means that we will share with the inheritance that God gives to Christ. This is great news for gentile believers like you and I today because we are not the original “children of God” if we look at our Old Testaments. Israel was the chosen people and we see God tell Abraham that he would use his seed to bless the entire world. Praise God for this truth because we have been blessed by hearing the Word and responding in faith.

If we dive into what it means to be “co-heirs” with Christ, we see that Paul sees a link between suffering and glory (next week’s sermon from !). Paul states that “we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” In our world, we love to receive good things without the effort, right? We have talked about this often in Sunday school as we have been studying the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon states here that “he who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves abundance with its income.” Solomon shows how all these works of the flesh are vanity. We can pursue these things and think that they are the “thing” that will make us happy at long last but whenever we get that raise, promotion or extra zero in our bank account what do we find? It was all for nothing because we are still empty inside! Our world wants immediate results and “good” things to happen without putting in the work. The amazing thing about adoption is that this is exactly what we find! We are given something so good that we don’t deserve at all! Paul makes the point in verse 17 that we will suffer, though, and our world attributes suffering with punishment or a bad thing. They say that “if your God is all powerful then you shouldn’t be going through a difficult time. Just pray harder!” The fact of the matter is that Jesus Christ suffered. We will suffer as co-heirs with Christ. Christ got suffering and death. We will get suffering and death. However, Christ also got glorification and resurrection. We will also share in glorification and resurrection!

Think of beauty and the beast. What happened to the castle whenever the prince was turned into the beast? The castle became old, ugly and dark. As the story plays out, though, and the beast eventually turns back into the prince, what happens to the castle? It returns to its beautiful, vibrant self! Likewise, whenever Adam sinned everything fell because of sin. We see that the ground is cursed because of the choice Adam and Eve made. What do we see in , though? We see that there will be a new heaven and a new earth because the first heaven and earth passed away. There is coming a day when the creation will be raised to glory just as the castle in beauty and the beast is raised to glory whenever the beast turns into the prince. Whenever we are adopted, there is suffering that will transpire. The thing that we must keep in mind whenever we suffer, though, is that we are co-heirs with Christ. If He suffered, we will as well. We see that creation will be raised to glory because Christ was raised to glory.

There is a warning in this verse, though. It is not explicitly stated like those who are children of God. The warning is for those who are not children of God. Those who are not co-heirs with Christ. The warning for these people is that they are under condemnation. They are walking dangerously close to the edge of a canyon and many people have no idea how close they are to losing their lives (both earthly and eternal) because they have no idea where they stand before a holy and just God. God cannot tolerate sin in heaven. The beauty of adoption is that Christ’s righteousness becomes our righteousness. We are made co-heirs with Christ and we share in His suffering and death, but we also have the hope of one day sharing in His glory and resurrection! This message must be shared outside of the walls of this church! What good is it for us to have the answers to the test and not tell our friends who are at risk of failing? We would be terrible friends! We must share our faith with those around us.

As we saw briefly today and will look at more in-depth next week, there is a link between our present suffering and our future glory. As the age old hymn says,

“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.”

Later on the hymn boldly proclaims that our sin, not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and we bear it no more! There is a link between our suffering and glory to come because of our greatness…? No. Because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary! The greatest benefit of our adoption is that we are no longer slaves to fear but we are given a spirit that confirms that we are in fact sons and daughters of God.

Conclusion

Last week we saw that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Today we see that there is no condemnation because we are not only in Christ Jesus but we are co-heirs with Christ Jesus and because of this, we are adopted into the family of God! May we never get to a point that we lose sight of what He has done by saving mankind and by saving you and I. We cannot lose sight of salvation and adoption into the family of God. The God of the Universe adopted you and I. How cool is that? says

Ephesians 1:4

Ephesians 1:4 NASB95

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

Before the very foundations of the earth, He adopted us. Before we were even a thought to our parents, we were known to God. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. I want to end with this though. We will never be separated from God because He chose us. This is the adoption process, right? Adoption is where a person gives a child all the privileges of their own children. Adopted children were almost more honored than biological children because there was honor in being adopted. You weren’t simply born into the family, you were chosen into the family. Some might bring up “losing your salvation” at this point. Well, let’s answer that question, Adoption is God choosing you just like Adoption today is a set of parents choosing a child. This changes the legal status of the child and you are now a “Child of God”. We see that the Spirit Himself testifies of this fact that we are “Children of God”! We see in that

Ephesians 1:13–14 NASB95

13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

The King James uses the word “earnest” instead of pledge in verse 14. An earnest money contract is when a person states that they desire to purchase a plot of land and they place a check to go along with this contract. If the rest of the money is not present at closing, the person gets to keep the property and the earnest money. Is there “earnest” money on your salvation? You best believe it based on and . It is the 3rd person of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit! This means that if God does not “show up” at closing, He therefore loses the 3rd person of the trinity. The only way that you can “stop” being a Christian is if He stops being God! Praise God that it is not up to our obedience or us passing a “test”. Praise God that we are Adopted into His Family.

If Scripture says that you are filled with the Holy Spirit and are a child of God and even then you can lose your salvation, it means that God stops being God. Praise God that it is not up to our obedience or us passing a “test”. Praise God that we are Adopted into His Family.

What should our reaction to adoption be? Simple. Praise God. We are co-heirs with Christ and we receive all the benefits that Christ received. We know that we will suffer, but we also see in verse 17 that we will be glorified and resurrected because the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in each and every one of us. That should be reason enough for us to lift high the name of Jesus!