Summer of Adoption - Pt 2 - Our Adpoted Identity
Summer of Adoption • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewWalking in our adoption as His Children
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GREET EVERYONE-
If I have not had a chance to meet you; My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NEXT SUNDAY - TWO THINGS
Back Drive - 50 or so Back pack will be here in the worship space with school supply lists - Pick a back pack up - fill it with the school supplies and being it back next Sunday - These back packs will support the students of Mountain valley elementary School - students who do not have ready access to the supplies they need to flourish in School —
Also next Sunday - New Member Classes begin - IF you have ever wondered how the Bible speaks to the idea of membership in a local church connecting with others, looking arms together and how do we as the people of Stonewater apply the biblical frameworks in membership this time of exploration is for you.
Whether you are considering joining in membership or just would like to know this is a great time of learning and fellowship -
There is an app for that - Sign-up on the app or the QR codes on the wall calendars.
LOOKING AHEAD SUNDAY AUG 13th - Prayer Sunday - This is a call to join together in prayer at 9:00 before worship - for all of us to pray and to beseech GOD on behalf of His church, On behalf of Others - on behalf of The Advance of His kingdom and His gospel. SO mark your calendars for the 13th and lets pray together.
SMALL GROUP FACILITATOR TRAINING - SATURDAY AUG 19 -
IF you have in the past and will do again or you are desiring to or thinking about facilitating a small group this up comming small group season that kicks off here in september - We want to spend some timne together walking through three sessions on what it is to facilitate a small group -
Saturday Aug 19th from 8 am till about noon we will cover all three sessions - Breakfast and Lunch will be provided.
There is an app for that - So enroll for this class -
RE:ENGAGE Video
LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES IF YOU HAVE ONE AND
Open it to Paul’s The Letter to the Churches in Galatia - Galatians 3:24-4:7 today as we continue exposing what God has spoke to all of humanity through the Bible about our Adoptions in our summer teaching series “A summer of Adoption”
I want us to read a couple passages of the Scriptures although we will be focus on the ones in the letter to the Galatian Churches.
TRUTH
5 I will give in my house and within my walls
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Romans 8:10–17 (ESV)
10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 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!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 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.
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
3 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, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
PRAY -
ENGAGEMENT
It is such an interesting journey fostering and adopting kids.
One of the most interesting things are the things that you lean about yourself in the journey.
In the learning of self one of the frameworks is what you learn about your self through other people including the new children in your care.
AS we also do as natural parents - Our kids sometimes teach us more about ourselves that we are teaching them about life it seems sometimes.
One of those things is how easily we take certain words or phrases for granted.
Or we don't really understand the importance of the words that under normal circumstances we use a generalities?
Let me fill in some blanks here.
We have had 4 additional boys in our home for the better part of the last three plus years.
Here is the funny thing.
They do not look alike.
Each one of them has a completely unique look from the other.
As we have been out in public, gone to parent school functions, come to church, gone out to eat, been to our own extended family functions.
There is this one question that has happened over and over again that really has opened me up to the reality of my own adoption in Jesus and possibly our collective Adoption in Jesus.
and It seems for a while that this question Popped up nearly everywhere we went.
That question was “Are they Brothers?”
It was seemly a question that fit the circumstances but at the very same time seemed a little strange.
Many Many times people would ask that about all 4 of them when they were all in foster care.
“Are all of them Brothers?”
I never took offence by the question becasue it made some sense to me - They were asking Origin Questions?
“Are they Brothers?” meant do they have the same biological origins?
DO they come from the same Mother and Father?
SO in that sense it made sense.
But here is where it kinda collided with me a little -
In my house we don't use the word Step
WE are a blended family and we don't use the term “step kids” step brother” Step Sister”
additionally WE did not use the word Foster in front of any of those terms either.
We were simply mom and dad not foster mom and dad and there were simply brothers not foster brothers.
and “sons” not foster kids or foster sons.
From day one moment one they were our sons for how ever long God would have them as our sons.
You might say that is cool =
But after the Adoption was completed
Andrew and Xavier were actual full and complete brothers the same question would come at us.
Are they Brothers? -
and a lot of people have asked that question.
and we say “absolutely they are brothers” and then the clarifying question.
“Are they REALLY brothers?”
as if to ask “are they supposed to naturally be together?.
“do they really belong together?”
You see if you look at our adopted kids Andrew and Xavier they do not have very many if any physical similarities.
SO it makes sense, with adoption not being a normal part of our lives that people would ask questions of origin and natural connections.
But here is the issue - When we ask that question what we are doing in a sense is lessening the validity of adoption.
Because the moment the adoption was done - These two were more bothers that they had ever been before -
At a minimum they had the same last name, the same parents - Same mom, Same dad, Same family of Origin.
At maximum - Same heritage Same family tree becasue they had been grafted in -
You see the question “are they brothers” after adoption Also brings in the question of Identity.
It is an Identity question - A question of Belonging and identity.
If an adopted child were to ask “are the other adopted children in this family really my brothers or my sisters?
Although as parents we would answer yes the reality the child is dealing with an Identity problem.
TENSION
The problem that many have today in the culturalized and unbiblical idea of church.
What that has brought to many in the church and in fact in many ways and in many places the church has an identity problem.
The Church in large order does not see our need for Adoption.
The Church does not consider ourselves once we were orphaned and now adopted.
We at some level large and small refuse to see ourselves as once being an orphan -
living in constant danger, with fight or flight as our basis of existence, abused and neglected by the world, unloved, or loved in the most twisted and depraved way, orphans at every level. BUT NOW
Adopted, Loved with divine perfect love, safe and secure no matter what the circumstances, with everything we need for life and purpose in Christ Jesus.
and Because we refuse at levels both large and small to see ourselves like this -
We come to worship with other adopted children of God the Father through faith in Jesus Christ and We have an Identity problem -
because we ask the very same question about each other - Are we brothers and sisters?
and in that we ask “do we belong together?” “DO we have the same Origins?”
Those questions indicate that we have an identity problem.
We don't really know who we are, who we belong to, who we are connected with, and consequently we don't know what to do in each others company.
and when that uncertainty comes in we loose our ability to work and act and live and love as a healthy, loving, nurturing, people who heal - WHo are kind - WHo are family - Good family- The kind of people who love others including and especially the difficult to love.
Church - Loved ones here me on this -
Until we embrace our Identity as once orphans now Adopted Children of God -
We will not be the family that God had called us to be.
We will not live the abundant life that He came to give us.
We will not impact the world like he commanded us to be when He called us salt and light -
We will not be the church that God has called his church to be.
MY PRAYER FOR THE MESSAGE
That our adoption as orphans into a new family would be come so real to us - That we would live with each other and love each other in such a way that none of us would every ask “Are we brothers?” or “Are we Sisters?” DO we belong together as family?
That all of us by our actions would know it more than we know we belong to our biological families.
and when the outside world looks in they would say “that is the most loving, nurturing, healing family I have ever seen. “They are true brothers and sisters”
And our lives together would open the doors for eternal conversations that would allow us to point people to Jesus and Say “it is all becasue of how much He loves us”
BACKGROUND -
When we look at the beginning of the letter to the Galatians there is an interesting thing that we might notice.
The Holy Spirit caused the Apostle Paul to write to a plurality of assemblies -
Remember that the word church means “assembly of the called out ones”
Assembly of called out people.
People called out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Paul says in Gal 1:2 “To the Churches in Galatia”
It is written in the plural” Churches”
Although there is some debate in the academic world as to the actual location of these churches -
All in all there were 7 cities with multiple assemblies that God allowed Paul to influence in His life.
If you have ever wondered about the time line of your Bible - and when letters, gospels and accounts were written -
This is one of the first - if not the first!
This letter was written to these city churches about 15 years after Jesus was raised from the dead.
It would correlate with Acts Chapter 14 and 15 in the time line of the first centruy Church.
Paul writes this letter to the church in that area becasue a report has reached His ears that - people were being influenced by false teachers who were teaching a false Gospel
A gospel that said “you have to become Jewish and follow the Law of moses before you can become a christian.
You see - most of the people that lived in Galatia were gentile people. People who did not know anything about Moses, the Law or the Old testament -
People who were really far away from God their whole life. People who had no Idea of who Abraham, Issac or Jacob were - nor the God called I am in other words YWHY -
In fact Galatia had been a Roman province for the last 200 years and more than likely all of the people were trapped in the demonic false religions of the Roman Parthenon and really far away from God.
Paul goes there - Shares the Gospel - Saved by Grace through faith and plants assemblies of Jesus followers called churches.
and Here is what happened - When these false teachers came and said that you have to do something make yous salvation valid and real
There is something that not only you can do but must do to be saved -
These former false God worshipers began to have an identity crisis.
Who do we belong to -
Jesus by faith? or
Jesus through moses by works?
Here is what Paul says to undo this identity issue.
UNPACKING
VS24
before the Jesus came and saved us by His grace through His gift of faith - “the Law was our guardian”
Now when Paul says “our” he is referring to the Jewish people. He is not including his readers in the word “our” -
his readers and hearers of this letter are gentile - Non Jewish people.
How many Gentiles do we have this morning?
Yea all of us - So this is for all of us.
Before Jesus came the Law was the guardian for the Jewish people.
but when Christ came and did what He did so that we might be justified by faith -
By what?
By faith - Faith is another word for Trust.
VS25
But now Trust has come - Faith has come -
Paul then uses the word “WE” and he begins to included these former pagan worshipers who are now Jesus followers - Saved by grace through faith.
“WE” meaning “WE all” are not longer under a guardian.
VS26
Paul explains why we are not under the Law of GOD - Paul actually uses in previous verses the words “Held captive” and “imprisoned” under the law.
Now loved ones - Don’t misunderstand me or Paul or the word of God here -
Paul was not saying that the 10 commandments - the ethical laws of God were imprisoning - or holding any one captive -
Here is why - Jesus validated 9 out of the 10 and is declared to be the Lord and master of the 10th.
What Paul is referring to are the sacrificial laws - the Laws that were there to remove our guilt and make us right with God - The laws that were required to do over and over and over again.
These are the laws of protection the laws of guardianship.
IT was these very same laws that these false teachers were trying to institute among the Galatian churches - to which Paul was saying “Ahhh NO!”
Paul says “why” we are no longer under this guardianship -
Because of Christ - Jesus is the sacrifice of God - The sacrifice to God and the Sacrifice for our sins - He has done once and for all what the sacrificial laws and rituals could never do -
ONCE and DONE -
“Because You are IN CHRIST you” and he is pointing to the people in these churches - You are all SONS of GOD -
Church - if you have ben saved by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit - Given the Gift of Faith by God himself because of his astonishing Grace - The Church - Loved ones - Know your IDENTITY
You are and ADOPTED SONS and Daughters of GOD -
AND what is the means of your adoption? Regeneration of the Holy Spirit
And What is the Validation of your ADOPTION?
Faith through Trust.
Paul then Clarifies this.
VS27
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ -
There is a qualifier to being Children of God -
There is a qualifier in being adopted
Immersion in Christ - This is what Baptized into Christ means:
Christ being your all in all
Christ being your all sufficiency for everything -
Christ being in you and living his life through you -
Christ being the pursuit of your life -
Immersion in Christ -
WHY- Because he is all together worthy of all of our praise.
VS28
one of the most misused passages of text in all of western Christianity -
I wont terry into the misuse of this only to say what God was saying when He propted Paul to write this by the power of the Spirit -
Here is the Text -
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
What God was saying to us through the Apostle Paul was that in Christ we are all adopted - Children of God - Heirs to the promise - Heirs and coheirs with Christ -
You see Jews were Heirs and Greeks were not - heirs of the promises God
Salves were not heirs - but free men, slave owners were heirs - Heirs of their families fortunes
Males were heirs - Females were not - Heirs to the fathers budsiness, family resposibiities - and other family leadership responsibilities - Females were not - Especially unmarried females -
Paul was saying - In Jesus all are heirs -
All are Abraham off spring -
All are Heirs according tot he promise.
This passage of text has nothing to do with diversity - Has nothing to do with eliminating Roles, or backgrounds or cultural influences -
What it does speak directly to is we are all offspring of Abraham - We are all family -
We are in fact Brothers and Sisters because of our Adoption and we belong together.
The Promise that was given to Abraham is The Blessing of many nations and many people through the natural offspring of Abraham and that is Christ Jesus
God in the flesh reconciling the world to Himself.
CH4VS1
Paul circles back to add more depth to his previous point about being under the law and in the first 5 verses of Chapter 4 what the Holy Spirit would have Paul do is make a rational understanding to these roman people, who had no Idea of the Old Testament, but were being influenced by false teachers who were trying to get them to be Jewish first.
He wanted to make understandable the Jewish people and their up-bringing in the faith - until Christ came.
and in doing so invalidate the false teachings of these people who were claiming
“we don't belong together until you become one of us by doing what Jesus had already completed”
Here is where He begins to lands the plane in vs4
VS4
But when the fullness of time had come - God send forth His Son, born f a woman, under the Law - Jesus was Jewish -
VS5
Is he explanation of Jesus’s coming -
He came to redeem those under the Law -
He came as the Sacrifice that was owed to God by those under the law becasue they could not pay God what was owed God becasue of their disobedience against God and so Jesus came to redeem them.
So they “those under the law” might receive Adoption as Sons - Adoption as Son - Meaning that those who were Jewish would truly receive the inheritance of blessing and new life promised to Abraham when the Gospel was preached in advance to him.
Paul then Shares His joy and the joy of every redeemed Jewish person who sees a gentile person come to faith. -
VS6
and becasue we are sons - just like we are sons - Because you have been adopted just like we are adopted -
becasue we were planted, chosen by God to carry the oracles of God and ultimately be saved by God and you were grafted in to our family tree -
God has sent His spirit of His Son into our heart-
God has sent His spirit of Adoption into our hearts -
and that Spirit causes us to cry ABBA FATHER -
Paul is saying that the leaders of the Churches who are manly Jewish are Crying out or Exclaiming with intensity “Abba Father” for the salvation of people in these churches -
VS7
Paul then calls them to their Identity -
You are no longer a Salve -
You are - A son -
and if you are a SON then you are and HEIR through God of His kingdom. Co Heirs with Christ as Paul would write tot he Romans -
Not left as orphans as Jesus promised -
NEw Name New HEritage New inheritance -
This is who we are in Christ
STICKY POINT DJ AND THE WORSHIP TEAM AND PRAYER TEAM
SO of us here this morning and watching on live stream need to begin to walk with others in our collective Identity -
Some of us need to trust God with our relational lives. -
Some of us need to look at others who don't look like us, Who don't act like us - Who don't have the same cultural backgrounds as us -
Who don't have the same religious backgrounds as us -
But who are all in Christ -
and Say in word and in deed and in the Spirit of Son Ship and Adoption - We are Brothers and we belong together.
In all of the imperfections that we are - We have been set free and we are Brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is why Jesus said “they, the lost world, will know that you belong to me, How you love one another.
You see loves ones - If we have a hard time fully loving each other how in the world will we love those who are lost and headed to a christless eternity.
Adoption is our Identity -
When we walk in our adoption as Son formerly Orphans - WE will love - WE will understand that we have been blessed in a way that we can never be more blessed in -
This is why Paul spoke of when He said.
3 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, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
You see loves ones - We are Blessed to be adopted -
When we walk in that Blessing we will share that blessing with others - and we will see God move and work to Adopt others as he has predestines and proclaimed He will do.
APPLICATION OR IMAGINE
I want you to imagine with me for Just a minute -
How powerful it would be for us to love one another as Adopted Orphans - Living a life that is overwhelmed with gratitude that we have been graphed in to the eternal inheritance - Promised to God people
How powerful would our collective witness be -
How loving and welcoming and warm would our lives be to those who are far away from God.
Let us live in that Adoption towards one another every day.
PRAYER TEAM!