Ephesians 1:3-14 | Sermon Resources | 10 November 2024
Sermon Summary
November is National Adoption month and this coming Sunday is Stand Sunday. Stand Sunday, held in early November every year, is an international awareness campaign regarding the needs of orphans and vulnerable children. Today I want to talk about spiritual adoption. English-Canadian theologian J.I. Packer said this about understanding spiritual adoption: “It is one matter to stand before the judge and have one’s penalty forgiven and wiped clear from one’s record, which is justification, and it is quite another when that same judge wraps his arms around the offender and takes him home to live with him. To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the father is greater… 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.” (Knowing God, p. 187, 188, 201). In the sermon, we will explore the love of a good Father who planned our adoption from before the world began, who has raised our status from slaves to sons, who has liberated us and clothed us with honor and righteousness, who has promised us an eternal inheritance, and who has given us a great purpose.
After church on January 12, Cornerstone will be hosting a special lunch called Family Hope 101 for any of you willing to consider the ministry of foster care and adoption, or willing to come alongside foster or adoptive parents at Cornerstone in ways such as bringing a meal, watching a sibling of a foster child, allowing foster parents to go on a date. You can register for this event here. Care for orphans and vulnerable children is one way that the adopted family of God can testify to the mysterious planned love of our Father in heaven, the costly sacrifice of our redemption accomplished by Jesus, and the hope for a blessed future as guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.
Discussion Questions
- J.I. Packer said, “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.” Do you think of yourself as child of God? Why or why not?
- The Bible says that God set his affection upon the New Testament people of God while we were far off (Eph. 2:13), when we were in the domain of darkness (Col. 1:13), while we were in fact children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). How does this make you feel? What might those feelings reveal about your heart?
- “Adoption, by its very nature, references a relationship that is not natural, therefore requiring effort, energy, kindness, mercy, compassion and desire to initiate and process the adoption” (Gary Senna). How does it strike you that for you to be adopted, God had to put out effort, energy, kindness, etc. for you? See also Hosea 11:1-3.
- How does God’s adoption raise our status?
- How are all three persons of the Trinity at work in our adoption?
- What are some of the privileges of adoption?
- What is the purpose of adoption? How does this tie into Cornerstone’s five year vision to see people of all life stages and backgrounds being welcomed, listened to, and enriching our worship and other areas of ministry?
- “As fragile and broken as the church has [been] and can be, it is still God’s primary vehicle for relational connectivity and His choice to eradicate what was the first negative component of His created order; the aloneness of Adam” (Gary Senna). What makes it hard to be part of an adopted family?
- While our adoptive relationship with God the Father is legal and real, fully accomplished, and fully understood in heaven, it might take a lifetime to recognize and cultivate that relationship. Why might that be?
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