I've Been Adopted

Galatians 4:4–7 NRSV

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Adoption day is a momentous occasion for both a child and the adoptive parents. It changes everything about the lives of both the parents and the child. I have had the privilege of being present to support an adoption – some of you have adopted children of your own, and some of you have had the privilege of being adopted into a loving family.

Dr. Jean Garton writes of how a first-grade teacher was discussing a picture of a family with her class. One of the children in the picture had a different hair color than did the other family members. A little girl in the class said maybe that was because the boy had been adopted. “I know all about adoptions,” she said, “because I was adopted.” Another little boy asked her, “What does it mean that you’re adopted?” “It means,” said the little girl, “that you grew in your mommy’s heart instead of her tummy.” Spiritually speaking our adoption began in the heart of God. It is the result of Grace! We do not deserve the blessings that we have been given as children of God. If you have accepted God’s offer of forgiveness, you are adopted by the Grace of God!

Paul uses the illustration of adoption here to describe our life in Christ. In the moment that we accept the gift of God’s grace and forgiveness, we are adopted as children of God. An heir, though, Paul points out, does not receive the full rights of an heir when they are a child. “Under Roman law (tutela impuberis, “guardianship for a minor”; Betz 1979, 202), the estates of minor heirs apparently were held in trust until they reached the age of majority. They could not control their assets or dispose of anything until they became adults.”[2]

The thing is that the minor heir owns it all – but he or she doesn’t have the control. The inheritance will not truly belong to the heir until the age that the father had set. Until the fullness of time comes, the heir is no better off than a slave. The people of Israel had been selected as God’s chosen people, but the point is that until the fullness of time came, they did not truly have the full benefits of that selection. But in verse 4, Paul says the fullness of time has come, and now that the fullness of time has come, they have received the full inheritance as a child of God.

On this first Sunday following Christmas, we are tired, and we are probably experiencing somewhat of a let down. This Sunday is typically one of the lowest attendance Sundays of the year, but hopefully there are quite a few of you who have joined us via one of our livestreams today. Paul tells us that Jesus came when the fullness of time had come, born of a woman, born as a Jew. Paul is talking to us about the purpose of Christ’s mission here on earth. He somewhat mixes his metaphors here, because he is talking about both slaves and heirs. As children, though, he points out that there is very little difference between the two. He says as long as the heir is a child there is no difference at all. That is probably a slight exaggeration, but his point is that the heir has no control until he or she reaches the age set by their father.

The first purpose of Christ’s mission was to redeem those under law.

He came “born under law,” meaning he was a Jew. He came to redeem those under the law – that is, both Jew, but also the Gentile in the way the Jews related to them.

Jesus offers redemption for us. What is redemption? Wesley Bishop says: “When I was a kid, I used to collect baseball cards, and I still have about 30,000 of them to prove it. Most of them are worth about 3-5 cents. I used to head to the convenience store with my wad of money from my paper route and buy as many packs of baseball cards as I could. One year, one of the companies had a special promotion. You could save the wax paper wrappers and send a certain quantity with some money for postage, and 6-8 weeks later you would receive some stickers. What the company was doing was redeeming the wrappers. They were buying back the wrappers. As a result, the collector would receive some stickers. They were buying back the wrappers.

“Redemption” means to buy back. In the days of the New Testament, redemption was related to the buying back of a slave from the market. When a slave was bought, there were two basic things that could be done. The slave either became the property of the one who bought them or the slave was granted freedom.

We are told here that the purpose of Jesus’ birth is to redeem those under the law – both Jews and us. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Since the wages of sin is death, we have all earned death and an eternity in hell. We have no way to redeem ourselves from this awful fate. But thanks be to God - He came to redeem those who could not save themselves. He did this, by giving His own life in place of ours. We were slaves to sin, and had no hope of a bright future. We, of course, cannot save ourselves, so he died for us as well. He redeemed us – he bought us. And, although He could have bought us to be His slaves, instead, He bought us to give us freedom!

The second purpose of Christ’s mission was that we might be adopted as God’s children.

We are now heirs – not as children, but heirs with full privilege as children of God. He sends the Holy Spirit through whom we are able to call God “abba, Father.” “Abba” is an intimate term, like our English word “daddy.” Daddy implies much more than Father, or even the word dad. I remember when my kids first started calling me dad instead of daddy – it was kind of depressing in a way because daddy held such special meaning. The word “Abba” was a Hebrew word, so it is somewhat surprising that he would use the word with these Gentile believers. It was the word that Jesus used to refer to His Father when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemene the night before He was put to death.

It was also the term Jesus used in the prayer he taught His disciples where He said, “Our Father,” or Abba Father. Although it was not their language, it was a word that they used in prayer to refer to God.

I think the reason that Paul uses the term with these Gentile believers is that He is reemphasizing that they are really children of God! They are now the chosen ones. One of the reasons for writing the letter was that there were these people that were claiming that the Gentile believers could not really be part of the family unless they became a Jew. But Paul says here that they have already been adopted – they have the right to use this intimate term to refer to their Father, God! And so do we, if we have been adopted into the family!

Let me just ask you in closing this morning – are you a child of God? Have you been adopted into the family? There are benefits to being in a family, and there are certainly benefits to being adopted into the family of God. What does the Holy Spirit say to you this morning? Is He truly your “Abba, Father?” If not, I want to offer you the opportunity to be adopted this morning. The process is not nearly as complicated as the process that the McCarrihers and others went through to adopt their children. It doesn’t require a lawyer of even a judge. When you recognize that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, all you need to do is repent of your sin and ask God to forgive you of your sins – that means you admit that you are a sinner, and you commit to turn away from the sin in your life. He is faithful – He will forgive – He will adopt you into the family.

And once you have done that, you are part of the family of God. As part of that family, it is our privilege and our responsibility to shout the good news from the mountaintops and to share that adoption is available for everyone.