Blessed in Christ

Occasionally, children will jokingly tease their younger siblings that the reason they are the way they are is because the younger sibling was supposedly adopted prior to their explicit memory development. This line of teasing typically results in the child adamantly defending his/her status as a biological member of the family. For the distraught child, the thought of adoption apparently implies some level of shame or illegitimacy with regard to their relationship to the rest of the family. Of course, this behavior is not recommended—I should know, coming from a large family. But the reality is, adoption is far from the negative connotations one might try to imply. The concept of adoption is embedded within the fabric of the gospel. Galatians 4:4-5 tells us that God sent His Son “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”  When we think about the significance of adoption, we should naturally think of God adopting humans, not humans adopting humans. Within the context of salvation, God could have easily continued with the “new birth” language throughout Scripture (John 1:12-13), but He chose to introduce this idea of adoption as well. In our text for this week, the Apostle Paul speaks of adoption in direct connection to the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3). Even before the foundations of the world, God’s purpose in instituting this work was for the praise of His glory. Adoption was never plan B for God. It’s been His design all along. Believers enjoy new birth when their hearts have been regenerated by the work of the gospel. And believers enjoy the rich blessings of adoption when they are positionally placed into the family of God. May we, therefore, live as adopted children, pursuing holy and blameless lives in accordance with our blessed position in Christ (1:4). And may we readily rejoice in our adoption as we respond with utmost praise to God since we are no longer aliens but sons!  – Pastor Nate

Sunday at Liberty