Basic Theology: Adoption - Privileges of Adoption
Privileges of Adoption
Ephesians 1:4-5, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
We, as believers, were adopted in the purpose of God before the creation of the world.
There is a definite purpose of God in adopting us into HIS family.
What are the privileges and blessings which are ours as the result of our adoption?
1. Legal status of the child.
Galatians 4:4-6, But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
Legal realities pertaining to our adoption which God had to deal with. His own justice and law demanded that we be punished and excluded from his presence because of for our sins. Righteousness was required, and punishment demanded.
God had to satisfy HIS justice and HIS law to adopt sinners into his family. God made this possible by the life, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ.
This means that the status of being a son legally preceded the experience of the Spirit coming to give us the affections of sons. We are legally sons before we experience the joy of sonship. The object work of our salvation (two thousand years ago at Calvary) precedes and grounds the subjective experience of our salvation by the Spirit today.
The legal transactions precede and undergird the growth of family feelings. If the legal red tape seems long and hard, keep in mind that this tape is not yet red with your blood, but Jesus satisfied all the legal demands precisely by shedding his blood.
2. Blessed with the Spirit of sonship
Galatians 4:6, 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Romans 8:15-16, 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,
God does not leave us in the condition of aliens when he adopts us. He does not leave us with no feelings of acceptance and love. Rather, he pours his Spirit into our hearts to give us the experience of being embraced in the family. What is remarkable about these two texts is the term ‘abba’. It is an Aramaic word. Why then does Paul use it, transliterated, in these two letters written in Greek?
The answer is that it was the way Jesus spoke to His Father, in spite of the fact that virtually no one in Jewish culture referred to God with this endearing word ‘abba’. It stunned the disciples.
They held onto it as a precious remnant of the very voice of Jesus in the language he spoke.
Mark 14:36, 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.”
Therefore, in adopting us, God gives us the very Spirit of his Son and grants us to feel the affections of belonging to the very family of God.
In the mercy of God, in our families, God works to awaken affections in adopted children for their parents that are far more than legal outcomes. They are deeply personal and spiritual bonds. Adopted children do not infer that they are our children by checking out the adoption papers. A spirit pervades our relationship that bears witness to this reality. Like the other children in the family, they all cry, “Daddy.”
Praise God that he gives us both legal standing as his children and the very Spirit of his Son so that we find ourselves saying from a heart of deep conviction, “Abba, Father.”
We have received His SPIRIT. Look up Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6. Every son of God has already received the Holy Spirit of adoption whereby he comes to God and calls Him “Father”.
3. We have been given His NAME
When a child is adopted by earthly parents and is legally registered as their son, he usually takes the name of the parents. God has brought us into His family and has given us the status of sons and the privilege of bearing His name.
Ephesians 3:14-15, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
And what is the Name of names which we bear?
Acts 11:26, And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Acts 26:28, Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”
1 Peter 4:16, Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
4. We are being conformed to His IMAGE.
Romans 8:29, For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
When we become sons of God, the Holy Spirit, who enters our heart, begins to conform us, or change us, into the likeness of the Lord Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:18, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
God’s plan is that we should be like Him, and when we see Him we shall be like Him.
1 John 3:2, Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
5. We experience His COMFORT
2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Isaiah 66:13, As one whom his mother comforts, So I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
Lord Jesus gave this wonderful picture for us to understand the comfort of our God.
Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
This changes the metaphor, but it emphasises the same truth, namely, that the Lord protects and comforts us just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings.
6. We get disciplined by our Father
Yes, it’s a wonderful privilege to get corrected disciplined and trained by God.
Make no mistake about it, this is a blessing, a privilege to be enjoyed by those who are the sons of God!
Hebrews 12:6-11, For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
When God’s chastening/ disciplining/ training hand is upon us, we should rejoice!
Philippians 1:6, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
7. We should enjoy His LIBERTY.
Romans 8:19-23, For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Paul speaks of liberty from sin!
Liberty and all that has resulted from sin, which will one day be experienced by the whole creation!
This is the liberty every son of God may enjoy. Servants do not have the liberty which sons have, and we are sons!
John 15:13-15, Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
8. We are going to share His GLORY.
Romans 8:17, 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.
We shall sit with Him on His throne and enjoy Him through all eternity!
Colossians 3:4, When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Comments
Post a Comment