Adoption – Another in a Series on Essential Doctrines.
God created us to live in families. Of Adam, God said, “It is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18) and so he created Eve. Then out of that “one flesh” relationship children were born; Abel and Cain.
Unfortunately, after their fall into sin, tensions arose within the first family. “Cain was very angry” at God’s acceptance of Abel’s offering. Jealousy gripped Cain and he killed his brother Abel. Things escalated until the time of the flood when God was grieved at the spread of wickedness and violence. Wherever sin spreads, it leaves misery in its wake. This misery is exaggerated in the family. Husbands and wives may become bitter at each other and separate or commit adultery or just live miserable lives. Most grievously, children are affected. Some are abandoned. Some are orphaned. All are emotionally damaged by family breakdown. As a result, multitudes are lonely and hurting.
From the beginning, God’s rescue operation has included the restoration of families. But repairing human families is not always possible. Instead, God purposed to create spiritual families through adopting forgiven sinners into his own family. The instant sinners are converted they become children of God.
“To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12,13). “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Eph. 1:5).
As God’s children a new spirit is implanted within us to deliver us from fear and loneliness and bondage. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry “Abba” Father [Daddy]. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” But that is not all. We become heirs of God. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:15-17. See also Gal. 4:4-6.) This was predicted in Isaiah; see Isaiah 54:8,9 and 2 Cor. 6:18.
As adopted sons and daughters of God, we become brothers and sisters to all who are part of the family of God. Every church is meant to become a family where the loneliness, alienation, bitterness, and isolation is swallowed up in warm wave of acceptance and love. In the New Testament believers are often addressed as brothers and sisters, because that is what they are. “I commend to you our sister Phoebe…I urge you, brothers…” (Romans 16:1,17). “Tychicus, the dear brother…Peace to the brothers” (Eph. 6:21,23).
When I first began serving in an international mission, I was startled by the field leader calling me “bro”, short for brother. Although startled, it became an affectionate, encouraging word that reminded me that in our mission, as Christians, we were a family. And so it should be in every place, whether church or para-church where we serve as Christians.
In the church, God is re-creating a spiritual family that is meant to provide the support and companionship that has been weakened or destroyed by the effects of the fall. We may have been rejected or ignored by society, but “we are accepted in the beloved.” We may have been rejected by our parents or siblings. Alienated. Alone. Orphans. Widows. Widowers. Stumbling. Falling. Needy. The church is to be there to welcome us with open arms because it is the family of all the adopted. God, the Father is head of this Family. Christ is our elder-brother and Saviour. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Counselor.
In her article on community Sophie Lee quotes a number of studies outlining the toxic independence and loneliness of our modern culture. “The modern forces of loneliness, writes Derick Thompson in The Atlantic, have created a social ecosphere in which we are ‘both pushed and pulled toward a level of aloneness for which we are dysevolved and emotionally unprepared.’” She continues, “Americans are spending fewer hours socializing face-to-face than ever before. The rise in solitude seems to correlate with worsening health outcomes: Teen hopelessness, depression, and suicidal thought have been increasing almost every year in the past decade. Life expectancy in America, after rising for decades, has fallen to it lowest level since 1996…”
US surgeon general Vivek Murthy writes that the “epidemic of loneliness and isolation could be as deadly as smoking daily.” “Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr., wrote about feeling a ‘church-sized hole’ after he left the church and joined the nones” (Sophie Lee, I Don’t Remember When I Realized I Didn’t Have A Community”, Christianity Today, July/August, 2024, pp 78,79)
Sadly, when we are conformed to the world by buying into the hyper-individualistic, ultra-busy lifestyle, we lose the community that God has created for us in the church. Lee quotes Joe Hellerman; “the New Testament picture of the church as a family flies in the face of our individualistic, cultural orientation. God’s vision of the church as our first family offers a powerful antidote to the social ills of today.”
To be redeemed means not only being forgiven for our sins, but being divinely adopted into a spiritual family as an antidote to our isolation and loneliness. That adoption includes not only our future joy among the heavenly community, but membership in a church down here which is meant to be a dynamic, supportive community.
These days we receive a lot of negative comments about the failure of the church, but we rarely hear the positive side. In the west at least, we are expected at the age of twenty or so to become independent. Hopefully, our human family is there to support us throughout our lives, but usually they retreat into the background until Thanksgiving and Christmas. Does that mean our need for a community of encouragement and support should recede? The toxic nature of western independence shows that this is a myth. Our need for community is basic to our humanness as created by God.
Let me illustrate from my experience. I largely grew away from my family in the late teens when I went to university. I was converted at age nineteen and immediately joined brothers and sisters in a Bible study community and then in a church. Next, I went to Bible College where I joined brothers and sisters in a college community. I married a Christian sister and together we next became part of a mission family. Then we returned to my church family and ever since we have been part of different church families. The common denominator has been God, the Father, who adopted me into his family, automatically making me a brother to other brothers and sisters. It has been these communities that God has used for seventy years to provide the fellowship, encouragement, prayer, and support that I have needed. They have been my immediate family, my community.
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