Join us this Sunday! In-Person 9:00am & 10:45am, Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Join us this Sunday! In-Person 9:00am & 10:45am, Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Join us at the next Sunday worship service:
In-Person
9:00am & 10:45am,
Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Adopted Children

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” – Galatians 4:4-7 (ESV). 

I don’t think most Christians would identify themselves as sons and daughters of God. Yes, we were created by God, but do we really grasp what it means to be the adopted children of God. Grasping that God has adopted me would change everything. That means we would truly understand that God loves us with unending love. He has chosen me and called me His own. 

Galatians 4:-5 says – “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children” Verse 7 adds, “Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.”

It’s all God. Start to finish, it’s God. It’s Father, Son, Spirit, working together to make us children of God. His beloved. His precious adopted children. All we need is faith and the commitment to be His children.  We need a childlike love and a childlike faith in our Abba, Father.  

The heart of God is that His people would know they are His sons and daughters. He wants us to know who we are to Him – which is to say, He wants us to know who we are to the only One who has the authority to define us: our Creator, our Lord, our King. We are His sons. We are His daughters. If our faith is in Him, this is who we are. Over and above anything and everything else, this is who we are.

In the secular world, adoption was usually for the benefit of the adoptive parents, not for the benefit of the child. For example, a farmer might want help with tilling his land, or a childless couple might want someone to look after them in old age, or an aristocrat might want someone to perpetuate the family name. In the New Testament, the benefits are all the other way. While we may be sure that adoption gives God immense satisfaction, He never adopts in order to meet some need of His own. He adopts us because He loves us. And because He loves us, He showers upon us every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3) and fills our lives with the melody of joy and victory (Psalm 118:15).

The whole reason for Christmas is this: God wants you to be His child. God wants that kind of relationship with you. He wants you to experience the intimacy, the privileges, that come from being His child.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does knowing God as your Father impact the way you view your relationship with Him?
  2. How does viewing God as your Father impact the way you approach Him in prayer?

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