Adoption, in Scripture, is both theological and missional. (Rom. 8:15; Jas. 1:27)
The World is Fallen (Gen. 3:16-19; Tit. 3:3; Eph. 2:1-3)
• The Fall has changed our experience of family in this world.
• There is no aspect of the institution of family where Satan is not actively working to steal, kill, and destroy.
• The road to adoption led Jesus to a cross.
God is a Father (Matt. 3:17; Gal. 4:4-5; Heb. 2:10; Hos. 1:1-3)
• Jesus came so that God could adopt us as sons and daughters.
• Christian, God loves being your Father.
• God wants His children to come to Him in prayer, remembering that we aren’t simply subjects in His kingdom, we are sons and daughters in His family.
The Faith is a Family (1 Jn. 3:1-2; Gal. 2:11-16; 3:27-29; Gen. 12:1-3; Eph. 1:3-5; Rom. 8:15-19,
21, 23)
• To come into “the faith,” is actually to be connected to a family.
What is a Christian? The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.... If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.... Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption. (J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 225-226)
• The gospel creates a family that transcends the boundaries of biology, culture, economics, race.
• “Adopted” is a verb, not an adjective. We were adopted, and now we’re God’s children.
Thanks Matt!!!
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