Summer of Adoption - Adoption our Inheritance
Summer of Adoption • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewKnowing what our Adoption as Children of God brings into our life.
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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
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4. Sat 19th Small Group Leadership Training Saturday from 8 till noon -
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Open it to The letter to the assembly of the called out ones, the Church in Ephesus as we continue exposing what Jesus says about our Adoption as His children and understanding the inheritance of Adoption in our summer series Summer of Adoption
TRUTH
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. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.
13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son.
PRAYER
ENGAGEMENT
Several years ago now, when my parents were in their earlier 70s
gathered us kids around and said - “we want you siblings, our children, to go through our possessions and pick out that things you would want to have after we die and you all come to an agreement that those items would to who ever picked that item.
In reality there is only ONE thing that I put my name on -
My grand father - My dads dad - Had a pair of old pocket watches - one of those was my grand fathers - And one of those was his fathers - meaning my great grand father.
These two old watches which are on a very simple dome glass display on my parents built-in book case by the fire place are the only thing in all of what my parents possess that I have my name on.
It a pretty funny thing - Watches - I have some what of a thing for them.
I have had many - I Prefer an analog watch - Which is the kind that has a battery or is self winding and has hands and goes tick tick tick when it counts the seconds -
I have had watches that cost less than $50 and watches that cost a lot of money.
The one I wear now days is not an expensive watch - nor is it an inexpensive watch -
Brandi purchased it about 7 years ago now and it has been flat out the best watch I have ever owned.
After our Adoption of Andrew and Xavier - Andrew began asking questions about what will he get after I die.
Andrew actually asked If he could have my watch.
I said that this watch was probably going to my oldest son
To which He replied - “well what do I get then?”
noting fills a father heart more than the kids asking about your stuff after you die.
But really, think about it.
Adopted into a large family, family got some stuff - Death is not something that is unknown - makes sense that if I am now a child of yours - is there anything for me other that your influence that I can hold on to when things change -
And change they will some day?
SO When we hear the word “inheritance” what do we think about?
There might be a long list of the things that we think about when we think about that word.
IT may be “something like the “stuff” that we receive after our parents or grand parents die.
Watches - Jewlery- Cars - Money - Realestate- What Ever is in those cedar chests that are either at the foot of the bed or up in the attack -
who knows -
You know the other thing that we inherit from our parents -
Physical features
emotional characteristics
certain physical movements -
personalities traits -
and those are ours - they belong to us -
we recieved those characteristic from our parents and they are ours to walk in becasue we walk in them.
and ya know we also look at our inheritance of stuff - when our loved ones die - as ours - ours to keep and ours to possess.
When the family gathers and the will is executed and they get theirs and I get mine then all is good and all is square and it is mine.
PRAYER FOR THIS MESSAGE
That as we walk in our adoption as orphans, Adopted children of God into the family of God, we would know that we have an inheritance - An inheritance that is unlike any other inheritance - an eternal, a divine, an everlasting, and an inheritance that has an endless supply.
It is also an inheritance that is to be treated differently thank any other inheritance.
We also have an inherited trait - as we begin to understand that Adoption is part of our inheritance.
BACKGROUND -
Paul wrote this letter, under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit - God Spoke and Paul wrote - a friend of mine used to say.
Ephesus was a place that Paul did not begin the church there but came early in the process of the team making disciples and stayed to lead the church and build the church for nearly 3 and a half years -
There were some interesting spiritual things that Paul dove into while he was in Ephesus.
7 Bothers began doing ministry in jesus name to show off their spiritual prowess -
They new about jesus but they had not surrendered to Jesus and trusted him with everything.
They were casting out demons -
now if you can cast out demons - you can draw a crowd -
But these guys - who were 7 brothers - were casting out demons in the name of Jesus that someone else knew all about.
This is what they said - We cast you out in the name of Jesus that Paul talked about.
The demon then speaks back - Rebukes the weak men and takes all 7 f them and beets them to a pulp and kicks them out into the street bloody and naked -
Now I want you to imagine your and the spouse are on date night in down town NB and your down by the convention center and suddenly you see 7 men being physically thrown out of the meeting place bloody and naked and you see a demon do it.
Were talking headlines on ever major news outlet in america.
Well it made headlines there to -
The Story says “this became know to all the residence of Ephesus.
Then - In Ephesus - what happens after is great fear of spiritual things came over them -
The Gospel was preached - Repentance came and Revival Started - A holy movement of God -
people, some of who were believers, came and confessed being involved in witchcraft and sorcery and brought their spell books and turned them in and they burned them.
about 5 and a half million dollars worth of spell books.
That’s roughly like burning 106 thousand harry potter books today.
When Paul writes this letter He is under house arrest in Rome waiting to have his trial before Caesar.
and He write this letter to deal with some false teachers named Hymenaeous and Alexander that have come in and plagued the church with focusing on debates about genealogies and myths and ideas like Asceticism which is a poverty theology and unscriptiual ideas like forbidding marriage and the spiritual importance of abstaining from certain foods.
All of which has caused this Jewish and Gentile background group of believers to suffer with harmful speculations and got them away from the advance of the Gospel by faith.
and in doing so they are thinking that winning the arguments and understanding the speculations are the prize and they are quickly becoming a divided church.
Paul begins as he does so many of his letters with reminding them of who God is and the gloryousness of the gospel.
UNPACKING
VERSE 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,
Blessed, Blessed and Blessing
three words that must be completely understood in their usage so we understand what Paul is saying -
The first blessed is different than the last 2 blessed and blessing.
When Paul Writes the first Blessed the term He is using here is word in the original language of the New Testament that means “one who is worthy of praise” “one who is to be Praised”
This is why some of your versions will say “praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2nd Blessed is a word that means “acted kindly towards”
when He uses “us” Paul is using inclusive language here to include himself and his readers and listeners -
Believers -
the Third “Blessing” that is used here is still another word that means “to bestow divine favor upon”
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has acted so kindly to us in Christ Jesus, with Every Spiritual divine favor bestowed on us, in the heavenly places.
You see loved ones we are loved - God has acted so very kindly to us in every way that He has bestowed upon His Children Every aspect of divine Favor in his character and nature all in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We cannot be more blessed - we can not have any more divine favor given to us or bestowed to us than we have in Christ Jesus.
Jesus must not only be our all in all -
Jesus must be our all sufficient blessing.
You see if we have Jesus we have all we will ever need.
VERSE4
Paul then explains the the how of the blessings -
“He Chose us”
Loved ones - God Choose us to be saved -
Any theology that Gives us the Idea that we in our natural unregenerated state - the state that we are born with - That we have the ability to choose God, with out the work God calling us, without the work of God working in us, With out the spirit of God, bringing us to new life by the power of Regeneration - Is not a biblical theology.
God Choose you to be saved -
Just like in adoption of Children - The Children done choose the adoptive parents - The Parents Choose the Children.
Now for anyone who is wondering “has God chosen me”
I have not repented - I have note surrendered - I have not confessed Jesus as Lord - Has God chosen me - Has He called my name -
Love ones it is extremely possible that he has called you name for many years now - Surrender to Jesus - Repent and turn to Him - Confess him before God and man that HE is Lord and make God’s choosing you an answered question.
God Choose us in Christ when? before the foundation of the world.
for what purpose? that we would be Holy
Holy means separate - that we would be differentiated - that we would be different from everything and everyone that is still needing Christ.
Holy means separate -
But we were also chosen to be Blameless -
meaning - without fault or guilt -
Another term the Bible will use is righteous -
But here is the way this works because we all know that there are ways and times that we can still be guilty - because we have not reached total operational perfection
You see our righteousness our blamelessness does not come from what w do or do not do -
Even though if we are in Christ we are new creatures and we will continually put down the deeds of the flesh -
the reality is there are many time and in many ways that we still miss the mark -
but in Christ - Jesus took it all -
SO as God’s children - in Christ we are holy and blameless before God. Our forgiveness is complete and our guilt has been completely removed.
VERSE 5
In Love -
You see God choose us to be His our of his great love -
In Love He predestined us - Which in the simplest terms means He choose us.
There was a time when Brandi and I choose that there would be a day when Andrew and Xavier would be our children. and we did so in love.
and Right here our text says - That before the foundations of the world “God choose that there would be a day that we would be adopted as sons.
Adopted as sons through Christ Jesus
Adopted as sons To God
You see loved ones we are saved by God - in the person of Jesus
We are saved from the Wrath of God - So we are saved From God -
we are saved To God to be adopted as his Children -
We are then saved for God - For His glory - or is kingdom - For the advancement of his Gospel.
and we are saved - Adopted according to the kind intentions of His will
VERSE 6
TO the Praise and Glory of His grace -
Important phrase to understand - To the Praise - means to the proclamation - to the approval and applause.
TO the Praise - of his Glorious
Glorious in this case is a great word.
it means Splendid appearance -
You see when something about God is revealed - IT is always revealed in gloryousness - It is always Splendid in its appearance -
And His Grace is so Splendid to behold.
and this splendid grace that is praise worthy He Blessed us with -
He Bestowed upon us
Meaning He freely gave us
This was a divine Bestoment -
one of your version will say - Which He freely bestowed -
that what the word Blessed means here - Freely divinely bestowed -
and then it says “in the Beloved” - Beloved is capitalized and Beloved is another word used to describe Jesus.
VERSE 7
Paul now begins to talk about the effect of this adoption out of God grace and what that means for those who are adopted Children of God and the Severity of the effect on our life and being and standing before God
In Him - In Jesus -
We have something - We have redemption
Redemption - The Old Song writer Redeemed Redeemed how I love to proclaim it
redeemed by the the blood of the lamb
Redeemed through his infinite mercy
His Child and forever I am.
What is Redemption - What does it mean to be redeemed by the Blood of Jesus -
It means we have been set free - Once a slave now a free man. Once a slave to sin and death now set from from that slavery.
If you are in Christ you are a new creation - Set free from sin - You relationship to sin has changed - It no longer has mastery over you. Jesus has mastery over it.
You are no longer driven by the fear of death that once ruled your life - Jesus has concurred Death in your life and you now live without the fear and manipulative effects that death once ruled your life with -
and that redemption only comes through the blood of Jesus -
and what that redemption means through His blood and how can god view us as holy and blameless -
we have 2 things
ONE - the forgiveness of our trespasses - Notice it is plural - trespasses - We have complete and total forgiveness of our sins - The areas of our acting out of our rebellion against God - We have complete and total forgiveness -
and come the back half of vs7 through is the why of our redemption -
Our Redemption our forgiveness our adoption and the granting of our inheritance is according to His riches in Grace -
Riches is a word in the original language that indicates the possession of abundance of something of great value.
So our redemption, Our forgiveness of our Sin, Our adoption and our receiving an inheritance is in accordance of Gods abundant possession of something that is of great value and that is his grace.
VERSE 8
This abundance high value grace that God possesses and has in abundance -
he LAVISHED it upon us.
LAVISHED IT - Meaning that He caused us to have this high value grace in abundance as well.
here is the phenomenal part -
it wasn't a foolish thing to do -
it wasn't a wreck-less thing to do -
it wasn't a wasteful thing to do
He did so - He lavished with his abundant high value grace in “all wisdom and insight”
Why was it wise and why was it insightful to pour out to us from His abundance of High value grace to Lavish us with an abundance of HIS High Value Grace?
VERSE 9&10
To make known to us and to all mankind the mystery of his will which is no longer a mystery and his making known his will was in accordance to his purpose which is to unite all things in Jesus and this uniting all things, this eternal plan, this redemption story, this Gospel - He set forth this plan - He accomplished this plan - He brought this plan into fruition in Christ.
VERSE 11
Then Paul declares the effect of our Adoption -
In Christ Jesus - Adopted as sons. We have obtained.
Obtained is really a word that seems to indicate that we achieved something - In the original language of the new testament it is a words that means that “we by drawing of lot and received and inheritance” -
and then Paul spends the rest of the vs 11 and all of 12 talking again about God’s sovereignty in salvation.
VERSE 13
Paul then turns to His readers and those that would hear this letter read to them when the church gathered together.
and he says Here is what happened to you -
When you heard the Gospel -
and when you believed in Jesus - When you trusted in Jesus -
When you Trusted that Jesus has redeemed you and forgiven you and regenerated you.
When you fully Trusted that -
Here is what happened to you - God saved you
and God sealed you -
and He sealed you with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit -
Church here this truth - Hear me loved ones - The Indwelling Holy Spirit - The Regenerative work of the Holy Spirit - That promise of the Holy Spirit - The work of God that brings you from being dead in your trespasses and your sin to being alive in Christ - That work
That is the Guarantee of God that you have an inheritance from God as his adopted Child -
and that promise is as good for as long as it takes until we all receive our inheritance together -
SO What is that Inheritance -
Turn to Revelation 21:1-7
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
You see eternity is our inheritance - Eternity with God with Jesus the Alpha and Omega The one who has made all things new again. No death - no sickness - no sin and pain and suffering - all of the former things of this world passing away and us with God for all eternity - This is our inheritance -
STICKY POINT DJ AS WE COME TO THE TABLE OF JESUS.
So out of the abundant highest valuable grace of God - we have recieved Adoption and that Adoption has given us an inheritance of eternity with God and In fact God his very self -
We are left with the question - Is that all we inherit from God?
No - In fact part of our inheritance is being conformed into the image an likeness of Jesus -
Jesus is the one who adopts - through Jesus we have recieved adoption To GOD.
God is an adopting God and we are recipients of His adoptive heart.
He has an adoptive heart because of the abundance of his Grace -
And just like our earthly parents where we not only inheritance the physical and material stuff they own but we also inherit the attributes and characteristics they possess and display.
God is an adopting God - and we are to be an adopting people .
And we see this in the life of the apostles - Paul calls Timothy his Child in the faith - His adopted child.
1 tim 1:18
18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
He calls Onisimus his child and he his father - Adoption in the faith -
10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.
Peter calls Mark His son in the faith
13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son.
So Here is what many of us need to here this morning and ask ourselves this morning -
When we think about walking out our adoption as once orphans - Are we keeping the abundant eternal inheritance as our own or are we adopting others until christ is formed in them?
You see we have been adopted by an adopting God have we the spirit of adoption in our hearts that crys abba father do it again?
This is why Paul says to the all of the churches in the Galatia region -
18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
Adoption - Travailing with someone until Christ is formed in them
Who have you adopted?
Who is, who are, who will be your spiritual offspring?
Many many of us this morning need to step into our inheritance of adoption and look at the opportunities that God has placed before us and begin Travailing as a woman in child birth with someone until Christ is formed in them.
APPLICATION OR IMAGINE
This week as we head into the world - Ask God to bring into your path those he would have you travail with., Those he would have you adopt as your sons and daughters in the faith.
and begin to walk in your inherited trait of adoption.
COMMUNION
Acknowledgement of our need for Jesus to prepare for the table of Jesus–
The Scriptures tell us that when we come to the table of Jesus it is a time of remembrance – A time of thinking about what Jesus has done and accomplished on the cross – A time of remembering why Jesus did what He did. And So as the people who have been called out of darkness, we take time to contemplate and to repent –
Repentance is a turning to Jesus again and again and again – In the life of a follower of Jesus it is never a once and done thing. The Bible tells us that if we agree with God “we confess” in the ways we have rebelled against God “our sin” He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and clean us from all unrighteousness.
So, to prepare our hearts to come to the table of Jesus, as a community, we spend time in prayerful contemplation, agreeing with God trough confession, the areas of our life where we have rebelled against Him, where Jesus still needs to do some work and touch us and heal us.
When we do this we encourage you to take a posture of Humility, as we spend the next minute or so in silent contemplation.
A posture of humility to you might be to stay in your seat with your eyes closed and your head bowed, you might stand with your eyes lifted to heaven and your arms and hands raised as Solomon did when he prayed, you might come and kneel here at the front or there Where you are seated – whatever that is to you, let us take a posture of humility, agreeing with God through prayerful confession the way where we have rebelled against Him as we prepare our hearts to participate in the table of Jesus.
Pause for 60 seconds in prayerful contemplation
Assurance of our forgiveness through the table.
As we come to the table of Jesus together, we are reminded of the assurance of our forgiveness. Because we openly and actively declare the Gospel as we participate in communion together. The poured out blood of Jesus and the death of His body as he joyfully took upon Him self the wrath of God that was due us.
Unity of the Table
When we come to the table of Jesus, we are spiritually united together. Paul says in this letter to the Corinthians “that Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.”
So as we come to the table of Jesus we are spiritually united together as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are also united with Jesus in his death and resurrection at His table.
Participation at the Table
BREAD: On the night He was betrayed, He gathered His disciples for a Passover meal. While they were eating Jesus took some bread; after He blessed it and gave thanks to the Father: He broke it, gave it to His disciples and said: “Take this all of you and eat of it, for This is My body, which is for you; when you do this, do this in remembrance of Me.”
Eat the Bread with Everyone
CUP: After the meal, in the same way He took the cup, again gave thanks to the Father. He took the Cup and gave it to His disciples saying, “Take this all of you and drink of this cup. This cup is the cup of my blood. The blood of the New and Everlasting covenant. My blood which will be poured out for the forgiveness of sins for many; when you do this, as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.”
Drink the Cup with Everyone
PRAYER TEAM!