ADOPTION TO SONSHIP (Ephesians 1:3-8) INTRODUCTION This morning I want to preach on the act of God in adopting us into sonship through Jesus Christ. The centrality of our adoption by the Father into a relationship with Him as our heavenly Father cannot be elevated too high. It is the ultimate purpose of God s electing love, his goal in predestination, the crowning effect of Christ s work on the cross and his resurrection, the reason we are justified in Christ. J. I. Packer expressed the relation of justification and adoption in this way, Justification is the basic blessing on which adoption is founded, adoption is the crowning blessing to which justification clears the way. Justification clears the way to adoption. Last week I preached on justification by faith. As you may recall it was the Biblical understanding of justification by faith that was the storm-center of the Reformation. God brought the Biblical teaching of justification to the forefront of the church at that time through Martin Luther and others. As Martin Luther said, Justification is the article on which the church stands or falls. Justification is the act of God whereby He pardons us and accepts us as righteous based on the imputed active and passive righteous obedience of Jesus Christ to our account. God sees us as perfectly righteous in Christ Jesus. Justification is the legal act of a Judge in declaring us not guilty or even better declaring us as righteous. Justification is not an end in itself though. Justification clears the way for our adoption as sons with a new relation with God as our heavenly Father. God receives us as sons on the same basis as our justification, i.e. the righteousness of Christ credited to our account. Adoption is what God desired to accomplish through our justification. This has huge implications for how we relate to God today and how we are to live. Our brief definition is, Adoption is an act of God s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God. (The Shorter Catechism, Quester 34) It is a legal act of God s free grace. It is an act of God on our behalf because He loves us. The marvel of adoption was described this way by one preacher: What a turnabout! We were on our way to Hell. We were without God, without hope in the world. Lost, spiritually dead. Totally unable to save ourselves. Filthy with sin. Guilty through and through. August 5, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 1
Condemned to eternal death. The righteous Judge has pronounced the sentence against us according to His perfect Law, and all that waited was for us to be cast into Hell. But then - God's only begotten Son comes, and in one great transaction He not only causes the Judge who condemns us to declare us not guilty, but He also causes the Judge who had condemned us to adopt us as His own sons! What indescribable grace! What infinite mercy! The Apostle John marvels at it in his first epistle: "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God!" Unbelievable. We could not believe it were possibly true, if God's Word did not tell us that it is so. Let s seek to understand our adoption more fully. We will use the Ephesian passage as the basis of our thoughts, although there are many other Scriptures that speak to God s act of adoption. What does Ephesians say about our adoption as God s sons? ADOPTION ACCORDING TO EPHESIANS 1 First we see that adoption has been in the mind of God for all eternity. The passage says: (4) For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. [justification] In love (5) he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, No matter what your view of predestination may be it is clear that adoption was in the mind and plan of God from the beginning. What does this mean? It means that God s purpose in creation is for Him to have an eternal family. God wants to have an intimate Fatherly relationship with those who believe. God is not some cold, abstract, deity in some far off galaxy. No, He is the heavenly Father who has put His all into bringing you into a Fatherly relationship with Him. I need to speak a word about the divine fatherhood of God. There are at least three ways the Bible speaks of God s fatherhood. First there is the intertrinitarian fatherhood of God. This is God the Father s relationship to the Son of God, Jesus Christ with the Trinity. This is a unique relationship. This is the eternal relationship of the first Person of the Godhead and the second Person of the Godhead. God is not our Father in the same way in which He and Jesus Christ are August 5, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 2
related. Theirs is an eternal relationship based on them being two distinct Persons, who are equally God in the one Triune Godhead. Another divine fatherhood of God is His creative fatherhood or the universal fatherhood of God. In a sense because God is the Creator of all things, He can be referred to as the father of all mankind. The Bible refers to this role rarely, but it is implied in some Scriptures. It is based on the fact that God is the creator of all and therefore is the father of all. Our relation to God as our Father based on adoption is much, much different from that. If we just view our relationship to God as Father based on Him being our Creator, then we strip out from the relationship all the redemptive acts of Christ and we deny the unique privileges we have as adopted sons of God. The third way can be called God s adoptive Fatherhood. This is what God planned for all eternity and this is God s fatherhood to us based on the work of His Son Jesus Christ. This is the fatherhood of God that is applicable only to the redeemed. It is based on the redemptive act of Christ on the Cross and His resurrection. So the first thing we see in this Ephesian passage is that adoption has been God s goal from eternity. The second thing we see in this Ephesian passage about our adoption is that it is grounded in the work of Christ (5) adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ Then in verse 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace To redeem means to obtain or to set free by paying a price. What was the price that God paid for our freedom from the bondage to sin and our adoption into His family? It cost God the price of his Son s life. Today there are huge costs if you want to adopt a child. Some costs are financial; some are emotional. There are costs in time and stress for the rest of your life. For God to adopt you as His son the cost was much, much higher. It cost the life of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The third thing we see in this Ephesian passage about our adoption is that is in accordance with God s pleasure and for the glory of His grace. August 5, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 3
(5) in accordance with his pleasure and will-- (6) to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Your adoption as God s child is not because of anything you have done or because you are lovely in and of yourself, but only because of God s grace. And this grace has been freely given you in Christ Jesus. THE PRIVILEGES OF ADOPTION The purpose of God adopting us as His children is to grant us certain privileges that we could have in no other way. As God s adopted children we have certain privileges. What are some of these privileges? For one thing we come under the comfort and care of God s fatherly providence. Upon adoption, the believer is not left to fend for himself, but comes under the fatherly providence of God. This fatherly providence comforts and offers care to us that the world may promise but can never deliver. Jesus taught us not to worry about things like what we will eat or wear, our heavenly Father knows that we have need of them and He will take care of us. Secondly we have been given the Spirit of Adoption. This is the promised Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of adoption makes our sonship a reality in our heart and causes us to cry out to God, Abba, Father. These are terms of endearment. Our relationship to the Father is not a formal, stiff, standoffish type relationship, but a close intimate childlike relationship and the Holy Spirit bears witness to our hearts of the reality of this relationship. Romans 8:15-17 NKJV 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, (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. Thirdly, we have direct access to God as our heavenly Father. Ephesians 2:18-19 NKJV For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. (19) Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, August 5, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 4
What a privilege! We have direct access into the presence of God because He is our Father and we are his child. Fourthly, we are heirs to a great inheritance. In Paul s day the Romans had the practice of adoption. Usually it was a wealthy Roman citizen who didn t have biological children and he wanted to leave his inheritance to someone. He would find a favorable young man and go through the legal procedure of adopting him. That son would be the legal heir of that benefactor. He would have all the privileges as a natural born son and even more. In our adoption by the Father, we are explicitly given an inheritance. This is brought out in Romans chapter 8 which we read. We are heirs of God and joint-heir with Christ. Oh the privileges of sonship. There are many more. But all the elevated privileges are the reason God wanted to adopt you into His family. He wanted to bless you with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus in heavenly realms. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF ADOPTION Finally, let me mention two or three responsibilities of our sonship. Adoption is not just a blessing. God s act of adoption comes with responsibilities. A child of God is to live like one. He is to live like a child of God. WE are to imitate our heavenly Father. Paul in Ephesians 5 exhorts us to Ephesians 5:1-2 NKJV Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. (2) And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Jesus said we are to be Perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Now none of us can reach that level, but that is to be our goal. We are to live a life that is pleasing to our Father and that is a testimony that God is our heavenly Father..Another responsibility is that we are to pray to the Father. Jesus taught us this when he taught us what is called the Lord s Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven. Not only is this a responsibility, it is one of the greatest privileges. We can go straight into the presence of our holy and Almighty God, because He is our Father! Praying to the Father implies trusting the Father. We are to trust our heavenly Father for all things. This again is why Jesus told us not to be anxious and worry about the cares of this world. Our heavenly Father is able to take care August 5, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 5
of us and to provide our needs. Casting all your cares on Him because He cares for you. There are more responsibilities that come with sonship, but let me finish by painting the picture again as one preacher did in his understanding of the blessed transaction of God adopting us as his sons. CONCLUSION What a turnabout! We were on our way to Hell. We were without God, without hope in the world. Lost, spiritually dead. Totally unable to save ourselves. Filthy with sin. Guilty through and through. Condemned to eternal death. The righteous Judge has pronounced the sentence against us according to His perfect Law, and all that waited was for us to be cast into Hell. But then - God's only begotten Son comes, and in one great transaction He not only causes the Judge who condemns us to declare us not guilty, but He also causes the Judge who had condemned us to adopt us as His own sons! What indescribable grace! What infinite mercy! The Apostle John marvels at it in his first epistle: "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God!" Unbelievable. We could not believe it were possibly true, if God's Word did not tell us that it is so. And as Dottie Rambo s song If that isn t Love says: If that isn't Love The ocean is dry There's no stars in the sky And the sparrow can't fly If that isn't Love Then heaven's a myth There's no feeling like this If that isn't love Out adoption into sonship should cause us to humble ourselves before God; to give him thanks for the act of adopting us as his sons, to praise the glory of His Grace, and it should motivate us to live like we are, the children of God! August 5, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 6
Amen? Amen! August 5, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 7