Sermon Tone Analysis

Ephesians 1 1-6

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Predestined for Adoption to the Praise of His Glory

*Reflections on Being Adopted by God and Adopting Children *Jan 22, 2005

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   Adoption is one of the most profound realities in the universe.

I say “universe” and not “world” because adoption goes beyond the world.

It is greater than the world, and it is before the world in the plan of God, and it will outlast the world as we know it.

Indeed it is greater than the “universe” and is rooted in God’s own nature.

I have three aims this morning:

1) that all of us would consider and embrace the wonder of our adoption into God’s family through Jesus Christ, and

2) that all of us would support the ministry of adoption, and

3) that many married couples would consider adopting children into their family as an overflow of the inheritance that they have in Christ from God, your Father.

My assumption is that we need to understand and enjoy our own adoption by God before we can properly understand and enjoy what it should mean to adopt a child into our family.

Adoption is mentioned in Ephesians 1:5.

“In love 5he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace.”

There are three things I want to point out from this passage about God’s adopting us.

These three things are just what you would expect if you completed if you read Romans 11:36 which closes the first section of the book, “From him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever.

Amen.”

All things, including adoption, are from God and through God and to God.

That is what I see in Ephesians 1:5-6.

Let’s read it again: “In love 5he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace.”

!!!! 1. Adoption Is From God

So, First adoption is “from him”—from God.

“In love he predestined us for adoption.”

So adoption was part of a God’s plan.

It was his idea, his purpose.

It was not an afterthought.

He didn’t discover one day that against his plan and foreknowledge humans had sinned and orphaned themselves in the world, and then come up with the idea of adopting them into his family.

No, Paul says, he predestined adoption.

He planned it.

And if we ask when this predestination happened, verse 4 makes that plain: “He chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

Before the creation of the world, and before we existed, God looked on us in our need, and he looked upon his Son crucified and risen as the all sufficient atonement for our sin, and because of that he chose us to be holy and blameless.

And to that end he “predestined us for adoption.”

It happened before the creation of the world.

So the first thing you need to know about your adoption into God’s family through Christ is that God chose you and predestined you in love for adoption before the foundation of the world.

God’s love for you and its expression in your adoption into his eternal family of joy did not start in this world.

It reaches back to eternity.

So when Paul says, “From him are all things” (Romans 11:36), he includes our adoption, and means that before the foundation of the world he predestined you to be his child.

Therefore your adoption is not based on your fitness, your worth, or your distinctives.

It is rooted in God’s eternal purpose and grace.

And that means that your adoption is not fragile or tenuous or uncertain.

God will not adopt and then find out that you are not worthy and unadopt you.

He knows we are unworthy.

And he chose us and predestined us for adoption.

This is firm and sure and unshakable.

Amen

!!!! 2. Adoption Is Through Jesus Christ

    Then, Second, “All things are from him and through him.”

This is true of adoption and you can see it in Ephesians 1:5.

“In love 5he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace.”

We are adopted through Jesus Christ.

What does that mean?

It means that to be adopted by God we had to be died for.

Verse 7: “In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

Before the foundation of the world God saw that we would be sinners and planned the death of his Son so that our sins could be forgiven and God’s wrath removed.

Through that we were adopted.

Note two clear implications of this.

*1) Not all people are God’s adopted children.*

The blood of Christ covers the sins of all who believe (Romans 3:25).

Therefore believers in Jesus are adopted, and no others.

If we talk about God being the Father of all mankind, we speak very loosely and are not talking truly about those who are saved.

God is creator of all, the Father of believers in Jesus Christ.

The second implication of being adopted through Jesus Christ:

*2) We were not cute little orphans that God was attracted to; we were enemies in rebellion against God.*

That is who God decided before the foundation of the world to adopt.

Romans 5:6, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Romans 5:10, “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.”

So our adoption is not based on our being worthy or cute or attractive.

It is based on the free and sovereign grace of God planned before the world and bought for us by the blood of Christ.

!!!! 3. Adoption Is for God’s Glory

And, Third, “All things are from him and through him and to him.”

Adoption, therefore, is “to him.”

That is, it is for his glory.

You see that in Ephesians 1:5-6.

“He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.”

The goal of your adoption is that the glory of God’s grace would be praised.

God adopted us in our unworthiness to make his grace look great.

You were adopted for the praise of the glory of his grace.

God’s action in adopting us is radically God-centered and God-exalting.

I know that many hear this and think it is not loving.

How can God’s seeking to exalt himself be loving?

(because he is God)

   The answer is that the glory of God is what we were made to see and enjoy for all eternity.

Nothing else will satisfy our souls.

Therefore if God does not exalt himself for us to admire and enjoy, then he is unloving.

That is, he does not give us what we need.

We are adopted by God so that we will rejoice that God made much of us.

We are adopted by God so that we will enjoy making much of God’s grace as our Father forever.

We are adopted so that in this family the Father and the unique elder Son, Jesus Christ, will be the source and focus of all our joy.

We are adopted “to the praise of the glory of his grace.”

It will take an eternity for the glory of that grace to be fully displayed for finite people.

Therefore, we will be increasingly happy in God for ever and ever.

That is the final meaning of adoption.

!!!! Five Implications

Now, consider five implications of this for adopting children and for supporting those who adopt.

*1.

We adopt a child not for our own glory but for God’s glory.*

God adopted us for the praise of the glory of his grace.

Therefore we adopt for the praise of the glory of his grace.

The questions you ask as you ponder adopting a child who needs a family are not first questions of feasibility or affordability or compatibility.