The Spirit of Adoption - The Practical Part

Introduction

We enter now into our third week of consideration on this weighty and glorious doctrine of adoption as sons. We saw two weeks ago the shape that Paul’s language takes, giving this doctrine it’s foundation. Last week we considered the development of this doctrine through the course of redemptive history, culminating in the true and better sonship of Jesus Christ.

It is then by union with Christ that we are adopted as sons and daughters into this divine family. Today we want to devote our attention to the implications and applications of this doctrine to our lives.

The Apostle Paul believed and taught that all of God’s Word is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, and if God’s Word was used as it was designed, God’s people would be adequate and equipped for every good work.

By way of note, the four lines of profitability concerning God’s Word take shape in the whole person. Teaching concerns the way the Word of God renews our minds, reproof or conviction concerns the way the Word of God renews our emotions or our feelings, correction concerns the way the Word of God protects us from false teaching, and training in righteousness concerns the way the Word of God cultivates Godly discipline in our lives.

Let us then look to Romans 8:14-15 this morning that we might be equipped for every good work.

The Condition - Spirit-led

We must begin with Paul’s condition for sonship, his foundation for adoption - being led by the Spirit. As we saw three weeks ago, there are at least four ways the Spirit leads us - The Spirit directs us from one position to another, the Spirit takes us into custody, as it were, binding us in communion to the Triune God in Christ, the Spirit provides moral and spiritual guidance, and the Spirit leads us away from our old life.

In the context of being led by the Spirit then, we must understand what the Spirit is doing as He leads us.

He is leading us into greater holiness, from one level of obedience to a greater level of obedience. We understand that he has already led us out of darkness and into light, and now in the same he leads us as we grow in our understanding of and love for that light.

The Spirit has taken us into custody, in other words, we are bound by the Spirit to God. This means that we cannot be separated from God. Even though in our sinful flesh we often try pretty hard to separate ourselves from God, the leading of the Spirit means that we cannot be separated from Him. This ought to be a source of great comfort for the believer.

The Spirit leads by providing guidance, Jesus refers to the Spirit in this manner, as a helper who will guide Christ’s people into all truth. The implication is that the Spirit-led believer will have increasing moral clarity and theological precision as he or she continues in this life being led by the Spirit of God. Interestingly enough, we see many prominent pastors and leaders of churches actually decrease in the clarity. Just this week Tim Keller, a well-known pastor from New York, made some incredibly ambiguous statements online regarding the ethics of abortion. I believer Mr. Keller is an example of what it means to not be led by the Spirit, because he has continued down a path of increasing ambiguity rather than increasing clarity.

The Spirit leads by continually pulling us away from our old lives. If you are a professing Christian but continually return like a dog to the vomit of your old life before being brought into union with Christ, that’s not what it means to be led by the Spirit. True Spirit-leading is always away from your old sins and old ways of life.

This Spirit-leading, as saw, provides the basis of our sonship or our adoption. If you are led, you are a son.

The outcome - Sonship

Paul now assumes that his readers are indeed being led by the Spirit and we will operate according to that assumption as well - that we are all being led by the Spirit of God.

Paul sees sonship as a definite reality - in other words, all who are in union with Christ by the Spirit, share in Christ’s sonship. Paul develops the idea of our shared identity with Christ in the next few verses but he assumes it here. So all that we saw last week that is true of Christ in His sonship by nature, is true of us in our sonship by adoption.

Last week we saw what it meant for Christ to be a son of God, and I want to apply those same principles for us today.

Sons by Declaration

Christ was the son of God by declaration, and we also are sons of God in Christ by declaration. While we don’t hear an audible voice coming down from heaven to declare our sonship, we do have the witness of the Scriptures to testify to the reality of our sonship. Paul three times in Romans 8 alone declares that we are sons of God, and corroborates that in Romans Jr, in Galatians chapter 3. God declared that Christ was His son, and because we are in Him, He also declares us to be sons of God.

This is an important reality that I think many Christians often forget. Christians have an identity problem. How do we introduce ourselves? Hi, I’m Daniel, I’m from Santa Clarita, I work in the disaster cleanup industry. Our natural bent when it comes to identifying ourselves is to peg our existence, the essence of who we are, to our geographical location or our vocation. Interestingly enough, there is a principle here from Jewish culture that we would do well to imitate. The standard method of introducing oneself in Jesus’ time was with the word “bar.” We see this exemplified when Jesus refers to Peter as Simon Bar Jonah. That word bar is the Hebrew word for son. So the most basic form of identification for the Jewish people in Jesus’ day was as someone’s son. It wasn’t Simon from Capernaum, the fisherman. It was Simon the son of Jonah. That’s indicative of how Christians should think of themselves. We are not first and foremost our hometown, or our job, or even our family. We are sons and daughters of God. That is our primary identifier. So when I say many Christians have an identity problem, it’s found right here. So many struggles we have, so many fears, so many besetting sins, would be solved relatively quickly if we just reminded ourselves daily that we are children of God. This is not some latent, backburner reality that we can call to mind at our convenience. This is as basic as our very name when it comes to how we should identify ourselves as Christians. We are sons. We are daughters. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Sons by Descent

Last week we also saw that Christ was a son by descent, and so also we are sons by descent. The Christian life doesn’t occur in a vacuum. You don’t just wake up and get saved. Paul tells us that faith comes by hearing. So we are spiritually descended, as it were, from other sons and daughters of God. We have a heritage as Christians, and this heritage goes two ways. First, it goes backward. Look to the example of those who preached Christ to you. Imitate their Godly lifestyle. This means spend time with older believers. Look like your earthly spiritual parents in their Godly behavior. Look to follow after the example of those who came before you and deposited in you the treasure of the gospel. And secondly it goes forward. Who are your spiritual children? Who have you invested gospel truth in? Who has received the overflow of the Godly deposit that you received? Let me tell you, it starts with your biological children. If you have children, they are your first and primary mission field. Train them in Godliness. Lead them in family worship. Catechize them. There is nothing more valuable you can leave for your biological children than this legacy. Beyond your family, who in your church are you investing in? Who do you spend regular time with, setting an example of Godly lifestyles and behaviors? And I mean outside these walls and away from this campus. It’s easy to show up here and say hey man how’s life? It’s hard to clean the house, and call a family and say “hey I’ve got a brisket on the barbecue and a massive Pyrex full of mac and cheese, and I can’t eat it all by myself.” It’s hard to to hit the golf course on a Saturday with your Christian friends. It’s hard to say “hey friend, I’m heading to Costco, you want to come along?” - Wait a minute. I lied. None of this is hard! It’s a matter of discipline and intentional pursuit of relationship with others in the ordinary, so that you might share to a greater degree in the extraordinary. And you can take this to work, with your unsaved friends. My friend Ryan is the director of college ministry at Lake Hills Community Church in Castaic, and he met an unsaved guy through his work, and he started taking him to Krispy Kreme once a month to get $5 dozens. Just by being this guys’ friend, Ryan ended up getting an opportunity to share the gospel with him, and he repents of his sins, received Christ, got baptized, and is a member of Lake Hills today. Who are you passing sonship on to in your life right now?

Sons by Duty

Christ was a son by duty, and we also are sons by duty. Sonship comes with responsibilities. If we are to be faithful sons and daughters, we must take our responsibilities as children seriously. Joel Beeke gives three ways in which the sons and daughters of God should fulfill their duty as children:

Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 3: Spirit and Salvation God’s Adoption of Sons in Paul’s Epistles

As a relational and covenantal blessing, adoption has significant implications for the Christian life, according to Paul’s theology. We may summarize these implications with the words consecration, imitation, and distinction.

Paul writes that since God has said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” Christians should pursue consecration to God by separating from the world’s sins: “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 6:16–7:1). Paul’s allusions to Old Testament texts in these words (cf. Lev. 26:12; Isa. 52:11) remind us of the continuity of adoption and its ethical implications through the ages.

Paul says that adoption calls us to imitation: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:1–2 ESV). Children naturally mimic their parents; God’s adopted children must learn to trust their Father’s love and imitate his character by living like his Son.

Finally, we note that adoption implies that Christians must conduct themselves in distinction from this world. This, too, is by faith. Paul says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:14–15 ESV).

There’s a lot to unpack here, but let me just break down a bullet pointed list. Knowing, by the declaration of God Himself, that He has adopted us, how should we then live? 8 things to do every day:

We must cleanse ourselves from filthiness, both externally and internally. Just like you take a shower or bath on a regular basis, so you must also cleanse yourself spiritually. Wash off the dirt and grime of the world with the soap and water of the word, prayer, fellowship with the saints, and regular participation in the means of grace.

We must perfect holiness in the fear of God. This perfecting of holiness is a continual process that will be completed when we reach glory. As we tremble with joy before the majestic grace and mercy of God, we must discipline ourselves to walk worthy of that calling as a child of God.

We must imitate God. This is so broad and so deep, it’s difficult to quantify in just a few sentences, so I’ll leave the tough work up to my friend RC Sproul in his book Everyone’s a Theologian. “God’s incommunicable attributes, those not shared by creatures, include His infinity, eternality, omnipresence, and omniscience. There are other attributes, however, that can be reflected in created beings, as the Apostle Paul makes clear: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:1–2). Paul calls the believer to imitate God. We can imitate God only if there are certain things about God that we have the ability to reflect. This text in Ephesians assumes that God possesses certain attributes that are communicable; that is, attributes that we have the ability to possess and manifest.” Sproul then goes on to list 5 communicable attributes of God that the children of God are called to imitate: 1) Holiness, 2) Love, 3) Goodness, 4) Righteousness, and 5) Wisdom. We are called then to imitate God in at least these 5 ways.

We must walk in love. Love is a key component of the life of the Christian. Godly, Bible-saturated love for one another is a key component in our duty as children to one another.

We must walk as Christ walked. Again this is so broad and so deep that it cannot be fully quantified in a few sentences, but I will just say this: saturate yourself in the gospel memoirs of Jesus’ life. The way he spoke, the way he lived, the way he related to others, all set an example for us to follow. May our commitment be that of one of our church’s favorite songs: as Jesus walked, so I shall walk.

We must walk in peace and contentment. Do not grumble or complain, Paul says. To be children of God is to put these things away from us. But boy is it sure easy to grumble and complain. I know I do it far too much. But think about it. As a child of God, you have nothing to grumble or complain about, but everything to be thankful for. If you understand everything in your life, especially your adoption into God’s family, as an undeserved gift from him, complaints will leave your mouth and your mind very quickly.

We must walk blamelessly and in innocence before the watching world. If we bear God’s name as His children, we must represent Him well in as we walk before the world. May our lives as children be a flesh and blood testimony of God our Father.

We must shine as lights in a dark world. God is light, Jesus is the light of the word, the Spirit sheds light abroad in our hearts, therefore we must be little lights, reflections of the great light. It is our duty and responsibility as children to do this.

As adopted children, we have a responsibility to live as sons and daughters, as children of God.

This then is the practical outworking of sonship for the Christian. We are to understand and live in light of God’s declaration of us as His children, our descent as children, and our duty as children.

But as we move on into verse 14, there are additional implications and applications for us here:

Negation #1 - Sons are more than slaves

We saw 2 weeks ago that Paul is not necessarily negating the doulos reality of the Christian experience - that we are enslaved to Christ and owe him a life-debt, as ancient slaves owed to their masters. We acknowledge and affirm that, with Paul. But Paul expands on that and tells us that there is another, greater element to our relationship with God in Christ, and that is the relationship of sons to their father.

Paul is careful to explain this because the natural outworking of an understanding of God only as our master and not as our father can lead to a cold and lifeless place in the Christian experience. This is a danger of the Lordship Salvation emphasis that took center stage in certain areas of American evangelicalism in the 80s and 90s. We certainly affirm the Lordship of Christ, we affirm His reign, and we affirm Him as our master as well as our savior. But an overemphasis on God in Christ as Lord and Master can lead us to a place of cold, rote, mechanical obedience. Paul wants to make sure the Romans know that the Christian experience is to be one of vibrance, vigor, and liveliness. There is no room in Paul’s conception of the Christian life for a dour, frowny-faced relationship of compulsive obedience between us and God.

I fear that many Christians who were raised in the neo-fundamental “Bible church” slice of the pie are more slavish than they are son-ish, at least in their own conception of themselves. We must be careful to remember then that we are not only slaves, bound to obey God in Christ, but we are also sons, bound to rejoice in and love God in Christ.

We are slaves, but we are more than slaves. We are sons.

Negation #2 - Sons do more than fear

Godly fear is an admirable and prescribed trait of Christians throughout God’s Word. But Paul is again careful here to warn that the spirit of slavery only will lead to an unhealthy fear of God as a hard master, and a fear of retribution for sins. if you conceive of yourself as a slave of God only, you will surely wind up with the fear of God that resembles a quaking terror before His justice, more than the fear of God that is marked by joyful trembling before his love.

Because of the work of Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit within us, we can approach God not in fear but in confidence, knowing that we as His children and that He has demonstrated His love for us by sending His son and that He has poured out that love in our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Affirmation #1 - Sons are adopted

This seems like a foregone conclusion after all we’ve said to this point, but there is such an encouraging truth here that bears our attention for just a moment. The intent of Paul’s language here is to convey that our sonship is deeply intentional and purposeful on the part of God. As we’ve mentioned before, the trope that is common amongst adoptive parents today is true of God’s adoption of us: biological children are given to us, adopted children are chosen by us. Without being weird or fluffy, it’s important to remember that you were hand-selected. What’s truly miraculous is that there is nothing in you that makes you worth being hand-selected. Yet God did it anyway. That ought to cause us to marvel at the grace of God, and thank him for it. God didn’t stumble upon you. He chose you before the foundation of the world. There is no greater gift.

Affirmation #2 - Sons cry out to their father

This final affirmation for Paul is absolutely central, and serves as the pinnacle of this doctrine as he explains it here. The ultimate outcome of our relationship to God as our father is that we cry out to Him as our Abba.

For Paul then, the adoptive relationship of the believer to God is one that is both personal and passionate.

The title of Abba is reserved, as we have said, to the most intimate fatherly relationships. It indicates a tender intimacy that only parents and children have with one another. The picture is especially small children, who would be more apt to use this type of language, like the English word daddy or papa. The picture here of the believer crying out Abba is, I think, best illustrated by that classic piece of cinema, Frank Capra’s 1946 box office flop turned Christmas classic, It’s A Wonderful Life. Specifically at the very end of the film when George Bailey finally prays to God on the bridge, God please, I want to live again, I want to live again, and God, or at least Frank Capra’s conception of God, answers George’s prayer by returning him from the living nightmare in which he had gotten his wish to have never been born. He declares to his police officer friend with joy “Bert! My mouth’s bleedin’!” and promptly runs home to see his wife Mary and his four kids. Upon his entry into his house, he looks to the top of the stairs where three of his four kids shout “Merry Christmas daddy!” George sprints up the stairs, gathers the children up in his arms, and then the fourth, George’s daughter Zuzu, comes running out of her room, throws her arms around George’s neck, and says “Daddy!” That is the picture of the word Abba. Our relationship with God as our Father is something like Zuzu’s relationship with George. A joyful and tender affection that runs to meet our Father even as He runs to meet us. As George with Zuzu, God stoops down, scoops us up in his arms, and says “I’m never going to let you go.”

What confidence we can have then! What joy and gratitude! What have you to worry about, O Christian, knowing that you are held tight in the arms of your heavenly father?

And not only is the relationship personal as illustrated by the use of the word Abba, but it is also passionate, as indicated by the use of the word cry. It means a vehement exclamation, a shout. This is a shout of joy, of unbridled passion and love for God. We don’t mumble Abba. We don’t whisper Abba. We don’t mention Abba. We cry out Abba Father!

Do you have this type of passion in your relationship with God? Is there a filial vigor to your relationship with God? Too often we let our walk with the Lord get heady, intellectual, and cold. We are certainly to know the truth, but we are also to feel it! Some of you might say “Well, I’m just not an emotional person.” Paul’s word for you today is to get in touch with your feelings, and I don’t mean that in a weird mystical way. I would make the argument that if you don’t feel anything about God, you don’t know anything about God! If you really get who He is, if you really get what He’s done for you, if you really get that He has adopted you, you can’t keep yourself from bursting out with songs of praise. Paul sets the example at the end of chapter 8. He can’t keep from expressing his passionate love and gratitude and joy in all that God has done for him and by extension for us. This is why we sing as a church. Musical worship isn’t a concert. Musical worship is an opportunity to give poetic voice to the joy and gratitude that ought to overflow in our hearts.

And what if it doesn’t? What if I don’t feel anything? Then you must beg God to soften your heart, to help you understand more fully the height and depth and breadth of God and of all that He has done. And then at that point, do what I call fake it til you make it. Sing and pray and meditate until the emotions come, until the passion comes, until the joy comes. I know from personal experience. It might take years, but the Lord is faithful. He will move your voice from a whisper and a mumble to a joyous cry and exuberant shout.

Conclusion

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. I will close with a brief but profound summary of this beautiful doctrine from the Westminster Confession of Faith:

The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition Chapter XII. Of Adoption

ALL those that are justified, God vouchsafeth, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption: by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God;b have his name put upon them, receive the Spirit of adoption;d have access to the throne of grace with boldness; are enabled to cry, Abba, Father;f are pitied, protected,h provided for, and chastened by him as by a father;k yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption,m and inherit the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation.o