Adopted by God

Adoption Intro

I started my first job in Fargo in August of 2009. It was at OfficeMax.

We had moved to North Dakota to start churches and so my job was a means to meet people and provide for my family.

I quickly realized I would have abundant opportunity to meet people who needed a church, but more needed Jesus.

I was surrounded by lost people, until one day I had the same lunch break with a guy named Shane.

I had noticed something different about Shane, something I couldn’t really put my finger on, but something that I wanted to know more about.

So as we began to talk he asked me “So why did you move here?” to which I answered “I am a pastor and we are starting a church here.”

Shane’s eyes lit up and he said “I am a christian too!” Little did either of us know that 13 year later he and his wife and 4 boys would drive 1200 miles to come spend a few days with us.

I tell you that story because it was a moment in my life when I understood something about being a Christian, something we see in the passage we studied last week, and something that continues in what we are looking at this week.

Being a Christian means we are different, we are changed, and we are connected.

What I saw in Shane wasn’t his weird last name or his timid personality.

What stood out was that we shared the same Spirit and thus we shared the same Father.

Shane was, and is, my brother in Christ, redeemed by the same Lord and Savior, indwelled by the same Spirit, and adopted into the same family.

That is the message of Paul to us today, we are the adopted sons and daughters of God.

And just like when a family adopts a child, we who were a part of a broken situation are brought into a family of love, security, and hope.

This glorious truth is the focus of our time together today and as you gather with you small groups over the next weeks.

What does it mean to be adopted into the family of God?

Let me remind you of my 2 goals/desires/prayers in this study:

That those of us who are truly believers in Jesus will understand more fully the glorious reality of our salvation and identities in Christ Jesus. And that we would LIVE in these realities, embracing the freedom, joy, power, and hope they bring to our lives.

That those who have yet to come to faith in Jesus would be struck with the glorious goodness of our Lord and savior, will realize the hopelessness of their lives without Him, and will come to genuine faith in Jesus and RECEIVE the freedom, joy, power, and hope He brings to lives submitted to Him.

Romans 8:1–17 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. 6 Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. 10 Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you. 12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 13 because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

As last week we looked at how the presence of the Spirit in the life of a believer transforms us, today we are going to look at 3 realities of being adopted by God the Father.

As Children of God we...

1) Have been FREED from the BONDAGE to SIN.

Romans 8:11–13 CSB

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you. 12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 13 because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

I wasn’t able to spend much time on verse 11 last week, but it is such a compelling and empowering reality.

The very Spirit that breathed life, eternal life, into the lungs of Jesus. The power that raised the dead and seemingly defeated Messiah back to life. That same Spirit, that same power, makes His home inside each and everyone of us who have trusted in Christ for salvation.

The Spirit that Jesus says “guides us to all truth”, “convicts us of sin”, “produces fruit of righteousness” in us, “empowers and gives us for ministry” is the Spirit that brings life, not only to Jesus, but to us.

And as Paul continues, the Holy Spirit liberates us (frees us) from our slavery to sin.

verse 12 “we are not obligated to the flesh” means that even though we are still human, still affected by our natural inclination toward sin (the life of the flesh as Paul has stated earlier), we are no longer enslaved by it.

Romans 6:17–19 CSB

17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, 18 and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 19 I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.

The Spirit of God empowers us to be free from the POWER of sin, free from the enslavement to the passions and appetites of the flesh; and free from the constant pursuit of pleasure and fulfillment from things that will never satisfy.

We often focus our attention entirely on the penalty of our sin being paid for on the cross, and that is true, but we weren’t just saved for future glory, we have been set free to live new lives in Christ.

But it vital we understand that the power the Spirit of God gives us is an empowering and ENABLING power.

Romans 8:13 NLT

13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

The verb translated “put to death” here is in the present tense, meaning this is not something that you do once and then you’re all done with it.

Rather, this is something you must do every day. You must continually be putting to death the “deeds of the body”.

The Spirit of God enables us to fight sin and win, to battle the flesh and conquer.

John Owen, a puritan preacher from the 1600’s, wrote a book on Romans 8:12-13 called “The Mortification of Sin”

The word “mortification” is the King James translation of the same word we translate here “put to death”.

Owen had a famous saying: “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you!” Which is the summation of Paul’s argument here.

To let sin continue to live and grow in our hearts and lives is like someone ignoring or minimizing a cancer growing in their body.

Peter says it is like ignoring a lion who is ready to attack and kill us.

Sin is a destructive force in our lives that dominates us outside of the Spirit of Christ.

Paul is call us to take part in its execution through the resurrection power of the Spirit of God.

John Piper: “One of the beautiful, deep, rich, wonderful evidences of the work of the Holy Spirit that you are a child of God is that you hate your sin and make war on it. If you stay in sin, just settle in there, make peace with your flesh, live according to the devil, you’re going to go to hell. But if by the Spirit you are continually putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live forever because those who are led to do that are the children of God.”

The question is: Are you engaged in the battle, or have you given in or given up?

Romans 7 is Paul’s testimony of the fight of faith, the heart of one who desires to give up sin and live in freedom.

BUT…Do you want to be rid of sin?

To be adopted by God is to be given the gift of freedom and the opportunity to live differently.

That opportunity is rooted in a transformed identity, which is where Paul goes next.

2) Are CHERISHED by our LOVING FATHER.

Romans 8:14–16 CSB

14 For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children,

To be led by the Spirit means that we have become the children of God.

We are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters of God.

No longer fearful, but favored.

No longer strangers, but cherished children of God.

Paul is saying that to be a Christian is to know God in a different way, not as someone we have to please, someone who will judge us as good or bad, or someone to avoid.

No, those of us in Christ know God as Father, specifically as “Abba, Father.”

Paul intentionally uses the word Aramaic word for “Father/daddy” here to symbolize our relationship with Him.

It is the way Jesus spoke to Him as He was crying out in distress.

Mark 14:36 CSB

36 And he said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.”

He is a loving, caring, and generous Father, who cherishes His children, listens to them, disciplines and forgives them, teaches and guides them, and provides and protects them.

To be adopted by God means that we are no longer what we once were, we are adopted sons and daughters of the Kind, the creator and sustainer of all things. And He is out dad.

Paul wrote of this amazing reality in Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:1–10 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Then can we live the same if this is what has happened to us?

We are adopted sons and daughters of God

Bought with the high price of the blood of Jesus.

Transformed by the indwelling Spirit of God

And given the promise of a new and glorious destiny.

3) Have been PROMISED a GLORIOUS INHERITANCE.

Romans 8:16–17 CSB

16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Paul calls us to embrace out glorious inheritance.

The Spirit proclaims to our spirit our identity as children of God and reminds us of what that means.

Ephesians 1:11–14 CSB

11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

1 Peter 1:3–9 CSB

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Christians are often accused of being naive and stary-eyed dreamers.

But what is there to hope in considering everything this world has will rot, die, or turn to dust?

But God has promised us a glorious inheritance.

John Piper: “With Christ, we will inherit the earth, and we will get God himself as the capstone of all our pleasures. Even though sin tells you that you find most pleasure in stuff, you don’t. You are a personal soul, and persons and relationships are where you find most deep satisfaction. God is that person for which we are made to enjoy.”

Does that sound good to you?

Or would you rather just have a really big house here and now?

Go on nice vacations and have nice things and Instagram worthy experiences?

Would have free sexual expression, access to all the temporal pleasures this world has to offer, and take advantage of all there is here before you die and spend eternity far from the love of the Father.

The invitation in this passage is to live like sons and daughters of the King.

To have access to our all-powerful God who loves you and offers you perfect joy.

And to have freedom from shame, guilt, and the constant cycle of life destructive sin.

Do you want that? Do you have that?