PARENTAL REFLECTIONS ON ADOPTION YOU RARELY HEAR
• Adoption starts with a traumatic painful event that is never forgotten, though it is redeemed.
• The Holy Spirit does a miracle. Yes, you can love an adopted child as much as a biological one.
THE MIRACLE OF ADOPTION IS MUCH LIKE BLENDING SEVERAL RECIPES INTO ONE FOOD DISH. YOU MUST PEEL ONIONS. YOU MUST CRY. YOU HAVE NO ASSURANCES OF HOW IT WILL END. YOU TRUST GOD TO MAKE UP FOR YOUR HUMAN FAILINGS.
• When we are baptized, we put on Christ like a new set of clothes.
• Baptism is not like circumcision in that it by nature doesn’t create a physical marker of division.
• Nor is gender division necessary for the marker.
• No single set of clothes (uniform) reflecting “us” vs. “them” matters anymore.
DIVISIONS THAT NO LONGER MATTER IN CHRIST’S FAMILY
• ETHNIC / RELIGIOUS HERITAGE: “no Jew or Greek”
• ECONOMIC DIVISIONS: “slave or free”
• GENDER DIVISIONS: “male or female”
YET, DON'T MISS . . .
• God’s sovereign purposes are worked out in these divisions.
• Some of these divisions are created by God and part of our created nature.
• Some of these divisions are results of sin. God keeps graciously bringing us back to His intent.
• We are on a journey as Christ-followers trusting that our church family is becoming a model of what life will look like in the final Resurrection.
ETHNIC / RELIGIOUS HERITAGE: “NO JEW OR GREEK”
• Divisions begin in the Tower of Babel in which human pride and desire to control brings the consequence of linguistic division (Genesis 11).
• These divisions led to humanity “filling the earth.”
• Ethnic pride is consistently confronted in Jewish history, i.e. Ruth.
• In the historic development of the Jewish people, we see the seed of Abraham becoming Christ and His people.
• They are the tastiness of Gospel messages displayed in language and culture (Matthew 28; Acts 2, 10, 11).
ECONOMIC DIVISIONS: “SLAVE OR FREE”
• Paul lists slave trading (some translations will say kidnapping) in one of his “big” sin lists (1 Timothy 1:10).
• The Exodus story shows the brutality of slavery and that God and His people are liberators.
• The Jubilee Year and Jesus’ stated mission in Luke 4:18-19 show economic justice as part of God’s will.
• Yet, many instructions and seeming tolerance of slavery in Bible.
• Seems God works with matters far less than His intent to bring best of bad situations (Matthew 19:8).
GENDER DIVISIONS: “MALE OR FEMALE”
• Gender distinctions are created by God. “Male and female He created them, (Genesis 1:27).”
• There are specific instructions about how these distinctions are to be lived out (Deuteronomy 22:5; 1 Corinthians 11; 1 Timothy 2:8-14).
• Yet, frequently the Bible confronts the exploitation of women (Numbers 27:1-11).
• Women lead at surprising moments when God’s voice must be clearly heard (Judges 4, 5; Esther; Acts 21:9).
ADOPTION
ADOPTION IS THE HIGHEST PRIVILEGE THAT THE GOSPEL OFFERS: HIGHER EVEN THAN JUSTIFICATION... TO BE RIGHT WITH GOD THE JUDGE IS A GREAT THING, BUT TO BE LOVED AND CARED FOR BY GOD THE FATHER IS GREATER.
// J. I. PACKER, KNOWING GOD
• Before God was a Creator, He was a Redeemer through His adoption plans (Ephesians 1:1-11).
• Our adoption story begins as we who follow Christ are part of Abraham’s seed. We are family despite our different DNA.
• As children, we are subject to a slave’s guidance (the Law).
• Though we are promised the full inheritance of sons, we practically live like slaves.
• This is not only to rule keeping but controlling spirits of our age and place.
• When time was at the most perfect moment, God sent His Son, born from a woman, to a time under the rule of Law to redeem those from Law.
• As adopted children we have the Spirit of Jesus living in us.
• We speak to God with intimacy of the first sounds of a baby.
• Abba, Tata, Baba, Daddy
• We many times still carry the wounds of our past—wounds, disabilities, and habits.
• We move from a relationship that is one of slavery to one of family.
• This should be our hunger.