Adoption

One of the things that sticks out in my childhood is the day of March 9th, 1998, the day of my adoption. On that day, because of an unexpected blizzard, my mom, my dad and I wound up taking the train into the Cook County courthouse in downtown Chicago. On a normal day, the ride on Metra into downtown Chicago from my hometown of Wheaton would have taken about 45 minutes. However, because of the blizzard, which resulted in the switches along the tracks freezing up, the train trip took nearly 2 and ½ hours. Anyway, to make a long story short, after an interview with a judge, permission was granted for my parents to finally adopt me after many years of waiting.

Although I had been raised in the Phillips family since I was taken in as a foster child when I was 7 months old, and was considered their child, I wasn’t officially made their child until that day. With that, came a change in name, from Donielle (“Donnie”) Dean Ecford, to Caleb Donnell Phillips, my parents officially became my parents and my brother, Aaron, officially became my brother.

And, this is just a picture of what God does to the unregenerate person whom He saves through Christ. In fact, just on Friday, Al Mohler, the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on his blog: “The adoption of any child is a portrait of God’s grace. Just as every earthly marriage points in some way to the marriage supper of the Lamb, every adopted child is a pointer to the Gospel.”

It’s first worth noting that in response to the claims of the Pharisees that God was their Father: “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me…You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.’” (John 8:42 & 44)

That being said, Paul writes to the Christians in Galatia: “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:4-7)

Similarly, Paul wrote in Romans: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:14-17)

And, in Epehsians: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:3-7)

Now, this adoption has implications for the believer.

As Paul noted in Galatians 4:7 and Romans 8:17, we enjoy an inheritance. According to Titus 3:7, we are “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Plus, according to James 2:5, we are heirs to the Kingdom of God. Peter describes our inheritance as “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…” (1st Peter 1:4)

Furthermore, we also read the words of Jesus: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” (Matthew 25:31-34)

Now, with all this being said, there is a another aspect to our adoption as sons (and daughters) of God: discipline. Yet, interestingly enough, God’s discipline is actually seen as a sign of love.

Throughout the Old Testament, we read of God’s judgments on Israel, including the invasions of the Babylonians and Assyrians. We see a picture of this in Ezekiel 20:33-49

“Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.” (Psalm 94:12)

In John 15:1-2, we read Christ’s words: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”


Furthermore, we read: “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.’ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:4-11)

And, in His rebuke to the Church at Laodicea, which Jesus Himself describes as “lukewarm” (Rev. 3:16) as well as “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17) says: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” (Rev. 3:19)

The last thing I wish to touch on is, as we’re adopted by God, those who are Christians are our brothers and sisters in Christ, whom we love.

To quote John Newton, the author of the hymn “Amazing Grace,” regarding the love that transcends even family and denominational lines: “The children of God, who therefore stand in the relation of brethren to each other, though they have too many unhappy differences in points of smaller importance, agree in supreme love they bear to their heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ their Saviour; of course they agree in disliking and avoiding sin, which is contrary to the will and command of the God whom they love and worship. Upon these accounts they love one another, they are like-minded; and they live in a world where the bulk of mankind are against them, have no regard to their Beloved, and live in the sinful practices which his grace taught them to hate. Their situation, therefore, increases their affection to each other. They are washed by the same blood, supplied by the same grace, opposed by the same enemies, and have the same heaven in view: therefore they love one another with a pure heart fervently….It extends to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, cannot be confined within the pale of a denomination, nor restrained to those with whom it is more immediately connected.”

Therefore:“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1st John 2:9-11)


“By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother….We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” (1st John 3:10-11 & 14-16)

With this, I’d like to close with a quote from Al Mohler: “The wonder of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is this — not one of us is worthy of adoption. In our sinfulness, not one of us has any claim on the Father’s love, much less a right to adoption. But, the infinitely rich mercy of God is shown us in Christ, in whom believers are adopted by the Father. And this adoption, thanks be to God, is eternal and irreversible.”