Adopted
Galatians 4:4-7 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, 5in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons. 6And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to shout, “Abba, Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if you are a son, then you are also an heir of God through Christ.
Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited us and prepared redemption for his people (Luke 1:68). Amen.
I took Craig and Krista through adult instruction classes five years ago. During our study, they talked about their desire to be parents. After suffering several miscarriages, Krista was not just upset and frustrated, she was mad at God! By her own admission, she was not in a good place spiritually.
God led Craig and Krista to do foster care for three children. They eventually adopted those three children – Gabriel, Roman, and Amelia. In his own way and in his own time, God gave Craig and Krista their children through adoption. Krista loves to say, “God gave me the children I was meant to have.”
Sadly, there are many couples who struggle for various reasons with having children. God doesn’t provide them a miraculous baby like with Abraham and Sarah or Zechariah and Elizabeth.
I have a friend who was moving into the Racine area several years ago. I was helping him look at neighborhoods for purchasing a house. He finally told me that the neighborhoods I was suggesting were outside of his budget. He said, “I can’t afford these houses. I need to save money because I have to buy my kids.” That was his crude, but realistic way of reminding me that his kids are adopted. It cost that married couple $50,000 to adopt each child.
I’ve learned from Craig and Krista that a couple can provide foster care for children and then adopt those children at no cost. But foster care comes with its own challenges. The children are often coming from broken homes. There can be addictions, abuse, and neglect in their background. This may cause them to be angry, anxious, and untrusting. For all these reasons, and many more, foster children can act up and be difficult.
Knowing all this, a couple may still wish to bring foster children into their home. They will be patient with them, care for them, and grow to love them. The children may even learn to trust and love their foster parents. Everything can be going great, and the parents want to formerly adopt the children … but then the birth parents want the children back. So, the foster parents’ hearts are broken.
The apostle Paul talks about adoption: “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).
We are like foster kids. We are often angry, anxious, and untrusting. We are often difficult and act up. We are just plain naughty! But who could blame us? Look at where we came from. We are the spiritual children of the devil. He doesn’t love us. He hates us. We are his slaves. He owns us. Because of our sinful nature, we are natural-born slaves to sin and the devil – forced to go along with them because their will was all we knew. And as bad as Satan is for us, what do we do? We keep going back to him. Again and again.
Knowing all this, God still adopts us. When the time was right, he sent his only-begotten Son to rescue you from the devil. He came to reconcile you to God because all your anger, anxiety, and mistrust had separated you from him. Jesus came to take all your naughtiness on him and give you his perfect behavior as your own.
Jesus redeemed us by becoming one of us. Like my friend, God had to buy his children. That sounds crude … but it’s true. God bought us back from belonging to the devil. The price was not gold or silver or anything monetary. The redemption price was the broken body and shed blood of the only-begotten Son of God who took on our human body and blood.
Sometimes when foster children are brought into the family where there are already natural-born children, there can be complicated emotions. Do the natural-born children welcome the new children with open arms? Are they going to be willing to share their room, their toys, their parents’ attention and affection? Little kids don’t think about this, but grown adults will certainly consider this: the natural-born children are going to have to share their family’s inheritance with the adopted children.
Before God made us his children – true members of his family – there was only one Child in God’s holy family. He was the only-begotten Son of the Father from eternity. But Jesus wasn’t jealous about sharing his Dad, his home, or his stuff with us. Jesus willingly did his part to bring us into his family. He left heaven to come to earth. He gave up his throne room for a stable. He was laid in a manger so he could be laid on a cross and then laid in a tomb. He was wrapped in strips of cloth at his birth, so he could be stripped of his clothing at his death, and then be wrapped in strips of cloth at his burial. He did this all out of love to redeem us and make us his brothers and sisters.
When our four daughters were born, Shelley taught them each of them to say, “Daddy” as their first word. That sounds very cute. It is. It’s also very cunning. Then when the girls woke up in the middle of the night, they would cry, “Daddy!” What dad can resist the call of his children?
It excites any parent the first time their child calls them “Mommy” or “Daddy.” That’s for natural-born children. Foster children and adopted children have had their natural parents. Again, they may have trust issues. They may difficulty belonging or believing they have a permanent home somewhere … anywhere. Can you imagine how it must warm the adoptive parents’ heart to hear for the first time their adopted child call them “Mommy” or “Daddy”?
Paul writes, “And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to shout, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). God rescued you from the devil’s clutches. Jesus redeemed you from Satan’s slavery. The Spirit created saving faith in you through your Baptism. That means you get to call the almighty Creator of the universe, “Father,” “Abba” – which means, “Daddy.”
Our Heavenly Daddy has included us – his adopted children – in a wonderful inheritance. Paul explains, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if you are a son, then you are also an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7). What are you hoping for in your inheritance from your parents? Your inheritance may include property, vehicles, pictures, and family heirlooms. All are special and important. But all those things will eventually be destroyed by moth or rust. They will all be burned up at the Last Day.
Only our Heavenly Daddy’s inheritance lasts. What does this inheritance include? It starts with forgiveness for all our anger, anxiety, distrust, and general naughtiness. This forgiveness was purchased by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also salvation and eternal life.
Three days after Jesus died, he received his glorified body as his inheritance. The disciples saw it happen with Jesus, and they realized that it would also happen to them. Because we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters, we will receive the same inheritance. Our souls will be separated from our bodies at death. Our souls will be reunited with our bodies with the resurrection on the Last Day. Our bodies that are aging and broken will one day be made whole and perfect. We are heirs of eternal life where we will receive glorified, ageless, and powerful bodies.
Our inheritance continues with heaven. That’s where the Son of God lives, and that’s where we will live eternally as the sons and daughters of God. We can look forward to an eternal existence without sorrow or pain, in the company of all those have also been adopted into God’s family. Jesus, our Brother, is preparing our place for us right now. We will receive our Daddy’s mansion to live in among his perfect paradise. We will get to share this paradise with all our saintly brothers and sisters.
When the time was right, God used Caesar Augustus to move the holy family into the right place at the right time. When the time had fully come, God sent his Son born of the Virgin Mary. God the Father sent Jesus to be the perfect Son he always wanted. This Son returned God’s love, was perfect in obedience, and unwavering in devotion. Jesus came to be everything that God wanted from us.
Jesus came to be everything that God wanted from us … by giving everything that he was and earned over to us. Jesus gave us his perfection and righteousness so that when Abba looks at us, he sees little Jesuses. He sees us wearing Jesus’ perfection and righteousness. He sees that our sins have been removed and placed upon his perfect Son.
Now, as the Father’s redeemed sons and daughters, we enjoy all the rights, the privileges, and the relationship of heirs. Just like Jesus.
Now you can walk right into God’s presence through your prayers, empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak whatever is on your heart. You can call the Lord God of heaven and earth “Abba.” In the middle of the night, you can cry, “Daddy!” What Dad can resist the call of his children? You have access to the Father … through the Son … by faith given to you by the Holy Spirit … because you are now God’s adopted sons and daughters.
This morning in our other Scripture readings, we see the miracle births of Isaac into Abraham and Sarah’s ancient family and John into Zechariah and Elizabeth’s aged family. As miraculous as those births are, our inclusion into God’s family is even more miraculous. Those were natural births. Ours is a spiritual birth. Theirs lasted for this life. Ours lasts for life eternal.
We have been purchased. Redeemed. Adopted. We are the children God has chosen to have. Amen.
I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you (Genesis 17:7). Amen.