ADOPTION

  

I have an announcement to make, one that I’ve never made before in public or in a private setting. So here goes: “I’m adopted!”

 Is that a shock? Even a little surprise? Well, it’s true of you, too. You are adopted!

At the moment of salvation we are both justified and adopted. When we invite Christ into our life the legal question of our sin is dealt with by God (justification) and simultaneously He adopts us into His family.

For some reason we do not hear much spoken about adoption in the church. We are continually and properly reminded about the importance of justification, how God in His mercy deals with the issue of our sin — and that’s a blessing that cannot be overlooked.

But justification (the legal issue) is not the only blessing of salvation. Adoption is a family issue and the blessings of adoption are incredible. 

God didn’t have to do things this way. By that I mean He didn’t have to include adoption in the salvation/justification package. He could have cleared away our sin and proclaimed us clean and made us His servants, His slaves, from that point forward. As a Master He then would cover us, protect us, provide for us — but as servants our rights would be limited. 

God could have cleared away our sin and declared that from then on we were His friends. As a friend one has occasional visiting rights and the hand of friendship is always extended.

But God said no to both of those options because that was not what He wanted for His people. Instead, God said, “I will adopt you. I will take you into My family and you will be My son/daughter. As a member of My family you have rights, privileges and responsibilities that servants and friends do not have.”

Justification and adoption are incredible pictures of grace. God did not have to wash away our guilt — but He did, and that’s grace. He did not have to take us into His family — but He did, and that’s grace.

Adoption is about family and was conceived in love. Adoption views God as Father and He takes us into His family as His children. Being in right standing with God as Judge of the universe is a wonderful thing but being loved by God, being taken into His family and made His heir, is even greater. I do not for a moment diminish the importance of justification but I am saying that adoption takes us into a relationship with our Father that is not implied in justification.

There is a huge difference between a servant and a son. Before Calvary, Jesus said to His disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends” (John 15:15). After Calvary, Paul said to the Galatian church, “You are no longer a slave [servant], but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:7). We see this more intimate and endearing relationship with the Father underscored: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God [son or daughter] and so we are” (1 John 3:1).

We are the children of God through adoption. By Him we are given the rights of being one of His heirs. It’s because of this that we can boldly, confidently enter His presence and make our requests known. Servants cannot do that and friends cannot do that, as they do not have the rights of the heirs. But the Father has adopted us and so we become one of His children — a son or a daughter.

I am not sure why the church says so little about adoption because it’s not as though it’s a taboo subject. I don’t think I’ve heard more than passing references to adoption in all my years as a follower of Jesus.

I can honestly say that nothing has liberated me more in my spirit than coming into the understanding of what it means to be adopted by Father God as a son and an heir. Suddenly I realize why I can confidently talk to the Father, not brashly, not aggressively, but with confidence because He sees me as a son, as an heir, and He treats me as a son, not a servant.

I am not interested in going around aggressively demanding my rights from God. People who do that are nothing more than spoiled brats and need to be dealt with in that way. As a son I know my Father is going to give me a fair hearing and will help me find the best way to proceed, no matter what the issue. As a son I know that God always has my best interests at heart — He loves me!

Thank You, Father, that in love and mercy You adopted me.

WRONG-WAY CRASH!

In the last several months we have had a number of accidents in the Dallas area caused by drivers entering the highway going the wrong way and driving right into the path of oncoming traffic. The results have been disastrous.

How does something like this happen? Were the drivers drunk or perhaps high on drugs? The answer is yes, in some cases, but there were also instances where the driver simply got confused or was preoccupied and made a wrong turn. They ended up on the highway they wanted but were going the wrong direction with terrible consequences.

Jesus left many signposts to assist us in understanding the significance of the times in which we are living. In a private meeting with the men that He had mentored, Jesus responded to their question, “What will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” (Matthew 24:3-51, Mark 13:1-37 and Luke 21:7-36.) I don’t intend to extensively review these passages but if it’s been a while since you read them, I suggest that you read one of them to refresh your memory. 

In Mark’s account of this incident, he uses phrases like “Do not be alarmed” and “Be on guard,” indicating that we are to be aware of what is happening — but not fearful. That’s the balance I want to achieve in my own life. I intend to be aware of what the prophetic signposts are in Scripture, aware of what is going on in our world, and yet have full confidence that my life and my future is safe in His hands!

The questioning of Jesus occurred as He was walking out of the temple in Jerusalem. In Mark 13:32-37 Jesus tells the disciples that no one knows the day or the hour of His coming. Only the Father has that knowledge. Jesus emphasizes this point by saying, “It’s imperative that you be alert and keep awake.”

The use of the words “Be on guard! Keep awake!” (verse 33) is speaking of a person who has been awakened out of slumber. I think this verse is speaking to a lot of us who have given little or no attention to the signs of the times and should Jesus come back with us in our present condition, we would be deeply embarrassed by the way we are living. Some of us are being shaken awake by the events going on around us and by the Holy Spirit’s opening our understanding of the times.

“Therefore stay awake.” Verse 35 speaks to our need to be fully awake during the night season. In the temple, during the night, the captain of the temple guard made his rounds on a regular basis and the guards had to rise at his approach and salute him. Any guard found asleep on duty was severely disciplined, or his garments were set on fire!

Can you imagine the shock of awakening and finding your clothing on fire? Talk about a rude awakening! You are deep in dreamland enjoying your dream and all of a sudden you are feeling pain. Then it dawns on you that the pain is not a part of your dream — you are actually hurting! The pain jerks you awake and you realize that not only do you feel pain but you smell smoke — the captain of the guard has taken a candle and set your pants on fire!

This was the seriousness of finding the guard asleep when he had been instructed to stay awake and alert. There is a message here for us about becoming so preoccupied and distracted that we end up on the right highway going the wrong direction. It’s going to be like awakening and finding our clothes on fire. Some of you reading this need a good shock to the system to get you awake and alert to the times. It may seem terrible to think of having your clothes set on fire but I’d rather that happened than to sleep through the coming of Christ.

Should you think that the Lord would never do that to you, you need to think again. “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6, NKJV). God, as any father who loves his children, will chasten and train us by the use of pain or distress — that’s what scourge means. Our God is a good and loving Father!

In Luke 12 Jesus instructs the disciples not to be anxious about their lives. He teaches them that if God can clothe the flowers of the field, He will take care of His children. Then He makes the following statement, which I think captures the heart of how we should approach the end of the age: “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when He comes and knocks” (Luke 12:35-36, ESV). This is as clear an instruction as there is about being on the right side of the highway and flowing with the traffic.

THE LAST ACT OF A DYING MAN

Hebrews 11 is called the “Faith Hall of Fame.” The chapter begins with the classic definition of faith and then walks us down the hallway of fame with vignettes about some of the great heroes of faith displayed like portraits on the wall. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah and others are all beautifully pictured and briefly sketched in a sentence or two that capture their acts of obedience and walk of faith.

Verse 21 has arrested me; it reads, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff” (NKJV).

At first reading this hardly seems the kind of act to be included with Noah “building an ark,” Abraham “going out not knowing where he was going,” or Moses “leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea.” But there it is—in the midst of the “Hall of Fame” with all the others.

By the time Jacob’s life was at an end, his natural eyesight was gone but his “faith sight” was crystal clear. When Joseph brought his sons in for his father Jacob to bless, Joseph carefully arranged them so that Jacob’s right hand (signifying the greater anointing and blessing) would be upon his firstborn and Jacob’s left hand would be on the son born second. By the “eye of faith” Jacob knew that the second-born son was to be used by God in a greater way than his brother and so, even though blind, he crossed his hands and laid his right hand on the second born and the left on his older brother. Both grandsons were blessed but not in the order that tradition dictated.

The Scripture says that after blessing his grandsons, Jacob leaned on his staff and worshiped. This is a difficult phrase to translate from the original. It probably does not mean that Jacob literally stood up, leaned on his walking stick and worshiped. More likely it means that he lay back on his bed and worshiped but, frankly, exactly how it happened is immaterial. What is really important to understand is that Jacob valued his relationship with God so strongly that he went from this life into eternity worshiping. The last act of a dying man was to worship his God!

What does this say to us about the value of worship? Authentic worship is not about us, it is all about Him. Authentic worship is an act of faith, not a declaration of war, not an assertion of rights, not a condemnation of the devil but an act of faith as we express praise and adoration to God. Trite little songs and poems about dancing and jumping, about exercising our dominion and our rights, are hardly worship; at best they are expressions of pleasure and joy in serving Jesus. Authentic worship is not a performance; instead, it is a humble and unrestrained act of adoration of the Creator. Real worship is totally focused on Him and has nothing at all to do with me or you or anyone else!

What does it say to us that the final act of a dying man is worship? I believe this act of faith shows us how deeply Jacob valued his relationship with God. He had gone through some very serious challenges in his life and had seen God provide for him and his family in miraculous ways.

Jacob knew the pain of being lied to by his sons after they had conspired to kill their brother Joseph. Jacob knew the terrifying pain of believing that he had lost one son only to find out that another had been taken hostage by the Egyptians. Jacob thought Joseph was dead, but he later saw God’s magnificent, sovereign plan being unfolded by Joseph’s advance entrance into Egypt.

Jacob had seen the extremes of life: the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. He easily could have chosen to finish life as a cynical and beaten man, but instead he chose to finish his life in an act of faith, an act of worship. Maybe Jacob, in an act of faith, one more time slowly pushed himself up from his bed, and one last time took up his walking stick. Slowly, so slowly, Jacob pushed himself upright in defiance of his age and infirmity and, using his staff for balance, began to magnify the Lord with the verbal sacrifice of praise and worship. I can almost hear the tired voice of Jacob as he begins to worship and give praise to the Almighty!

I like that imagery—it is a picture that belongs in the “Faith Hall of Fame.” May we all learn to walk by faith as worshipers of El Shaddai/The Almighty!

CAN WE TRUST THE WORD OF GOD?

When we pick up our Bibles and read in the Old Testament, we are reading about the way life was 3,000 or 4,000 years ago. We are introduced to a world that most of us know little about, set in a time when life was primitive and there was very little mechanization. It is in this “old world” setting that we are introduced to the major stories of Scripture and characters such as Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Joseph, David and Solomon. Their world is interesting but very different from ours.

A close friend of mine, a dear brother in the Lord, has largely given up reading the Old Testament. He reads only the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. My friend is like many others in the church of the twenty-first century who struggle to see how the words and actions of men who lived thousands of years ago have much relevance to the world we face in 2012.

I think if we are honest, most of us would admit that at times we too have questioned how important the Old Testament is since we are no longer under the Law but under grace (Galatians 3:13).

 

My friend who has given up on the Old Testament is deeply in love with Jesus and spends large volumes of time reading and studying the Gospels and the letters of Paul. So the issue for this brother is not that he is unsaved but, rather, how can we answer the question for him, “Can we trust all of the Word of God or can we only trust and relate to parts of it?”

First, let me say that what I am talking about in this brief article is not the various translations of the Bible. I was brought up on a steady diet of the King James Version and I love that translation. However, it is no more perfect than any scribes’ writing down of dictated or copied words could ever be. Over the years I have enjoyed reading and studying the New King James Version, Living Bible, New International Version, Amplified Bible and recently I have begun doing my devotional reading in the English Standard Version.

One of the passages of Scripture that has captivated me on this subject is 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (ESV). These were among the final words that Paul shared before his life was taken by a Roman executioner. Paul knew what was coming and he wasn’t into wasting words — this is an important message for then and for now!

Paul is saying, “All Scripture” has the life of the Holy Spirit in it. “All Scripture” is valuable to us in learning how to live successfully as His children. Paul says we need it all so that we will be fully equipped for all we will face.

The Word of God that I am referring to is not one of the aforementioned versions; it was not written down by human hand several thousand years ago. The Word of God I am speaking of is that which resides in the eternity of God’s heart — who does not change, who does not lie, who knows no beginning and no end. It is there, in His heart, that we find the unchanging and pure Word of God! The message that we read and understand — with the Holy Spirit’s help — is an expression of His nature and character which is eternal and is breathed out by God from the pureness of His heart. Because the Word resides in eternity with God, its value cannot be measured by what we consider to be relevant.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, ESV).

If the Word of God comes from the heart of an eternal God, then the question we are pondering circles back on itself and asks the real question, which is, “Can we trust God?” If we cannot trust His Word to be true or relevant, then we are saying that we do not trust Him.

Lots of believers in our world today mouth the phrase, “I trust God,” but then their lack of receptivity to portions of the Word of God shows that their trust is actually a partial measure and not full. A rendering of that phrase is printed on our money and people get very bent out of shape when some suggest that it be taken off all currency. But the truth is that as a nation we do not trust God, our leaders do not trust God and, sadly, most of the church does not really trust God, either

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”Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89, NIV).

“All your commands are true. . . You established them to last forever” (verses 151-152, NIV).

We can trust His Word . . . all of it!

”For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, ESV).

KNOWING GOD

The bride was strikingly beautiful, her smile radiant and pure. The groom displayed joy and anticipation as he watched his fiancée slowly make her way down the center aisle of the church. His joy was matched by hers . . . finally they would become man and wife! Together they pledged their love to each other and only death could part them. The minister who led the couple through their marriage vows said to the groom, “You may kiss the bride,” and did he ever! Then the minister introduced the couple to their families and friends as husband and wife.

After the bridal party left the church, the immediate families and everyone attending the wedding were invited to join the newly married couple at a reception nearby.

The reception was a time of joyous celebration that lasted for several hours. Finally the newlyweds rushed out of the building and into a waiting limo. They were off to begin one of the greatest adventures of all of life as a married couple. In a few minutes the limo pulled up to the apartment building that had been the bride’s home for several years. The beautiful young woman got out of the car followed by her husband. They embraced, kissed and then each whispered to the other, “I love you so much!” The bride walked a few steps and turned to her husband, “Call me as soon as you can” He smiled, “You know I will!” And then he turned and got back into the limo to head to the airport.

Two days later, early in the morning, the phone in the wife’s apartment rang and her husband said, “I’m finally home. We were delayed in London because of mechanical problems so I didn’t arrive in Nairobi until just a couple of hours ago.” They talked for 20 minutes and then hung up, as she needed to get ready for work. The bride was a financial analyst in Chicago and the husband worked with refugees and orphans in war-torn East Africa.

With the wonderful technology available today, the couple was able to talk almost every day using Skype, Internet phone systems, e-mail and Facebook. Their marriage lasted 18 years until the husband fell ill from a bug he picked up in a remote village and died. During their years of marriage the couple talked thousands of times, exchanged gifts on birthdays, at Christmas and sometimes just because of the spontaneity of love, but they never did spend a moment together after their wedding. The wife resided in Chicago and then in Los Angeles. The husband spent his life in East Africa and never returned to the United States.

My question for you is: “Were they really married?” Legally, yes, they were married; they exchanged vows in front of a minister, pledged their undying love, she took his last name and they were never unfaithful to each other. But in reality it was impossible for the marriage to be fruitful because they never came together as “one flesh.”

While my story is farfetched, it is the way many Christians live out their entire spiritual lives. There is no possibility of real fruitfulness because they never get to know the Lord.

After the initial introduction into the family of God, which we call conversion or being “born again,” many who have taken the name “Christian” and pledged their love to Him converse with God in a measured way. They read about Him and His people in His Book and they get to know about Him but they never get to know Him because they keep their distance. There is a vast difference between knowing about God and knowing God!

“The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action” (Daniel 11:32, ESV).

 

What does the word know mean? One useful way to better understand Bible words is to look and see how the word is used in other portions of Scripture. Genesis 4:1: “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived . . .” (Genesis 4:1, ESV). In the original language, know (yada) is the same in both verses.

“I know God,” a statement commonly used by Christians, is one of the most misunderstood statements in the church today. It is possible to become a Christian but never really know Him. Many people in and out of the church know about God and in that context, knowing is called theology. But the people being described in Daniel 11:32 don’t just know about Him, they really know Him. They have a relationship with Him and out of that relationship come power and fruitfulness. One of the meanings of the Hebrew word for know that is used in Daniel 11:32 and Genesis 4:1 (yada) means to “know intimately.”

I am going to go out on a limb here and oversimplify the whole process of getting to know God. Perhaps in future articles we’ll tackle this more profoundly.

How do you get to know another person? Do you just study a biographical sketch, read a few paragraphs about his background, his family and his life experience? Is that enough to really know a person or are you merely gathering information about them?

There really is only one way to get to know a person — and it’s not via Facebook or Twitter. It’s actually meeting him/her in person, spending quality time talking, listening, observing and learning. It’s a process that cannot be hurried; it takes time but eventually you truly get to know the other person.

And so it is with our relationship with God. He talks to us through His Word. All Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), meaning it is infused with the life and power of the Spirit of God. We talk to Him through our prayer, praise, worship and obedience and sometimes we are content just to be with Him. We are quiet in His Presence and the Holy Spirit gently speaks and ministers to us. Over time we go from being Christians who know about God to being followers who know Him.  “The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.”

It is time for the church to drop the “Facebook facade” and get intimate with Him. Unless she gets to “know God,” hell is going to wreak havoc with the storms that are breaking over our world.