NJ - Adopted into the family of God

Opening:

Good evening church today is last Sunday on the subject of Sonship and this is also the last Sunday for the year. How was your Christmas day yesterday? We had a wonderful day may have eaten a little too much but a great time remembering that our Saviour was born. Tonight we will be looking at our adoption into the family of God.

Let us open in prayer

I read a story recently that goes like this. Some years ago Collier’s Magazine published a story about a little girl in an orphanage. She was quite unattractive and had many annoying habits, which resulted in her being shunned by the children and disliked by the staff. The director of the orphanage looked for a good excuse to ship her off to some other institution. For some time it had been suspected that she was writing notes secretly to people outside of the orphanage. And then one afternoon their suspicions were confirmed. One of the children had just reported, "I saw her write a note and hide it on a tree near the stone wall." The director hurried to the tree and found the note, then passed it silently to his assistant. The note read, "To whoever finds this: I love you."

This story paints a great picture of the need that every person has to be loved.

I have a need to be loved.

We all do.

The desperation of a person to find forgiveness, love and a sense of belonging drives them until they find it. This love that is so desperately needed is freely given to us by our heavenly Father.

This month we have been looking at the topic of Sonship, that we are the children of God, adopted through the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross of Calvary, joint heirs with Him, and entitled to His promises and part of Gods family, the church!

We are going to look at the love that the Father has for each and every person and how he places those who come to Him in repentance, accepting His gift of salvation, into His family.

1John 3:1a tells us:

(1) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!

Experts that conducted a case study in America tells us that emotionally healthy people form meaningful ties with other human beings. They don’t just exchange information they share personal things. They talk about likes and dislikes / their joys and fears. They extend themselves to help others and they know how to accept assistance when they get in over their heads. When they have important decisions to make, they get insight and support from their friends.

But those same experts are telling us that there is a disturbing trend going on lately. In an issue of the American Sociological Review, researchers cited evidence that Americans have a third fewer close friends than just a couple of decades ago. More disturbing still, the data seemed to indicate that the number of people who have nobody to count as a close personal friend has more than doubled.

These findings hold for both males and females. They are consistent for people of all races, ages and educational levels. Even within families, the degree of intimacy has diminished considerably. All this information speaks of people who are feeling lonelier and more isolated than ever.

Strength Program

I have just read you some of the findings of a case study that was performed in America. As we all know Australia is also following in this trend. It is not hard for us to see this we just have to look around. We recently finished a pilot strength program in one of the Rockhampton high schools; this program is aimed at young male high school students that are becoming detached and have struggles in their life. Out of the twelve boys that we had contact with there was maybe one that still had both parents living at home.

Ps Kevin shared with us this morning that he had read 40% of sons follow in the footsteps of their fathers if this is the case then things do not look good for the twelve boy we were in contact with.

I have learnt from this that there are so many people out there that haven’t got a family or somebody to walk through life with. There are so many that want to belong, that are crying out for somebody to love them.

The beautiful thing is this, that God has promised in His word He will be a father to the fatherless He will place the lonely into a family. You can read this in Psalm 68

God’s family

The family that God mentions in this scripture is His family those that have received adoption through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus His Son. This family is complete, it should be full of love and there should be no missing parts.

God love families

It is God that designed families. He knows the importance of a family to an individual. Families is one of Oasis core values, our slogan says we are a church for the whole family. We all have a physical family that we come from; through Gods love for us He has given us a spiritual family, this is the church.

Perhaps the best way to explain this is to ask "Why do we need a physical family?"

We need a family for:

Nourishment

Love and protection

Sense of Belonging

God provides that and more when we are adopted into His family. Let us take a look at these a little closer.

Nourishment

Just as we need physical food and water, we need spiritual "food." We need to be a part of a local church of people who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. We need our souls nourished by hearing the word of God, and through our prayer life. We need to witness answered prayer.

Matthew 4:4

(4) But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.' "

Our nourishment is in the word of God it is our life.

Love and Protection

We need to know that there are people that love us, that are praying for us. We need to be reminded that if God helped them, He can also help us. He is our love and protection.

John 15:9-13 tells us

(9) "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

(10) If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

(11) "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

(12) This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

(13) Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

Sense of Belonging

We sometimes have a fear of being separated from our family. Most people do not like the feeling of being "lost in a crowd." We want to "belong." Just like a child needs to know they belong to a family, we need to belong to our spiritual family. Our spiritual family is HUGE. It begins with our local church family and extends to "all who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes, we're the church together."

Ephesians 2:13

(13) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Romans 8:14-17

(14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

(15) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "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 joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Conclusion

If we are to make a difference in our world today than we need to understand that there are people who are in desperate need for someone to love them and let them know that they belong. Through Christ we have been adopted into Gods family just as it is written in Romans Ch8. We are joint heirs with Christ that’s right heirs of God! The love that has been given to us by God we know and understand this is why it is important for us to reveal Gods love to the world.

I encourage you to remember your first love, the time when you received Gods love and the sense of belonging to His family and share it to those who need it.