“The Gift Goes On”
Several years ago the Kalamazoo Public Schools made the national news with the announcement of The Kalamazoo Promise. As you may know, some generous anonymous donors gifted large sums of money to establish a fund that would provide students educated in the Kalamazoo Public Schools with money for attending public Michigan colleges. That’s what I call a gift that goes on. This morning we celebrate another gift that goes on – the gift of adoption.
We begin where the Bible begins. WHY DO WE NEED TO BE ADOPTED? As the Apostle Paul wrote (Eph. 2:12) “…remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, we were kicked out of the house, out of the family. We are by nature children of wrath who are disobedient and rebellious. So we need to be adopted BECAUSE WE WERE BORN INTO A SINFUL FAMILY AND WERE THEREFORE OUTSIDE THE FAMILY OF GOD. The only way to get on the family tree, said Paul, was to be grafted in – to be adopted.
So the Bible states that WE ARE ADOPTED. But just what does ‘adopt’ mean? The dictionary DEFINES it as “to choose for or take to oneself; make one’s own by selection or assent...to take or receive into any kind of new relationship…to take as one’s own child, specifically by a formal legal act.” So to be adopted means TO BE CHOSEN TO BE MOVED FROM ONE GROUP OR FAMILY INTO ANOTHER. Gerald Penix describes it well. “My wife and I waited 15 years for a child that never came by the natural way. However we were approached one day with a lead of a newborn not yet born. I remember standing in front of the judge on our day of adoption. He pointed his finger and asked of me, “Is anyone coercing you to adopt this little boy?” After we had assured him that we were doing so out of love for our son, he made this statement. “From today on, he is your son. He may disappoint you, even grieve you but he is your son. Everything you own one day will be his and he will bear your name.” Then he looked to the clerk and gave this command. “So order a change in this child’s birth certificate and may it reflect that these are the parents of this child.””
So HOW IS IT WE CAME TO BE ADOPTED? God began with the tiny NATION OF ISRAEL. He decided to love them and bring them into His family. (Dt. 7:7) “The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you…” So God went to work and freed Israel from bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt and led them into a new home, a Promised Land. The Old Testament tells the history of God’s working in the life Of this chosen, adopted people, because he loved them.
Yet we were not part of Israel so how did we get adopted? In 1st century Greek times, parents adopted children in their adolescence, after they had proven their worthiness to carry on the family’s name. But the Bible tells us that with God our Father it was different. Paul wrote (Gal. 4:4-7) “So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, GOD SENT HIS SON, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” Adoption is not free – there is a huge cost to pay. So God our Father sent Jesus to die in order to pay for our adoption. As someone said, “The price of our adoption was the emptying of heaven of its greatest treasure, God the Son, who is our Savior." On the day of His resurrection Jesus said to Mary, in the Garden, “Go to my brothers and tell them I’m ascending to my Father and your Father.” Your Father. Mission accomplished. We were adopted. In Jesus God brought us from one family into another and made us His own. We now belong to Him.
Rob Willis has pointed out that “on January 29, 2003, Athina Roussel became the richest teenager on the planet, inheriting a fortune estimated at that time to be between $800 million to $1 billion; and it all came from her grandfather, Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis through her mother. In 1988, when Athina was 3, her mother, Christina Onassis died at age 37. All of Christina’s assets were left in trust to her only child, Athina, who turned 18 in 2003 and was legally able to receive her inheritance. But she had to wait for the money until she was 18! But our spiritual inheritance is different than this. When Paul wrote Ephesians 1:5, he was undoubtedly aware that Roman law allowed for adopted children to enjoy the same rights as natural children. And because we are sons of God, we have an inheritance, and blessings, and riches that are ours in Christ. But unlike Athina Onassis, we are not required to wait in order to receive our inheritance. Adoption is the act of God by which He gives his (children) an ADULT STANDING in the family. Why does He do this? God has adopted us and given us the right of sonship so that we might immediately begin to claim our inheritance and enjoy our spiritual wealth!” We are the children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, with full rights and privileges to the family fortune. We are co-heirs with Jesus. And all because of God’s great love. What a gift.
But SO WHAT? So we’re adopted. What difference does it – should it – make in our lives? First of all, WE SHOULD THANK GOD for including uS in the family. We ought to be grateful people. Paul wrote (Eph. 1:3-6) “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” He adopted us, chose us, to live lives of praise and gratitude. We are to love and praise Jesus and God our Father.
Ryan Andris has written: “…a little orphan girl who was about 5 years old had a visitor. The Nurse had pre-warned the child that this wasn’t just any visitor. It was a lady who had severely crippled her back and her hands were withered. Her whole body was scared with deep wounds that made her look like something that belonged in a horror story. Her hair was blotched and didn’t grow in many areas and her lips were gone and she couldn’t seem to breathe normal. Now the nurse had told the little girl “no matter what you think about her remember that she is your mother”. When the mother had entered the room the child turned her face from her in a shock from what she had seen saying…”no….no….you can’t be my mom…she doesn’t look like that….how come your so ugly to look at?” The mother replied to the little girl “I know it’s hard to look at me but I am your real mother and before I leave there’s something I want to tell you. If you then decide you never want to see me again then I will understand and will leave you alone and never come back…but let me first tell you…when you were first born one day I was outside doing laundry for us. The winds were blowing hard that afternoon and while I was yet away the house had caught on fire. I knew that you were helplessly in there and as the winds blew the fire started getting rapidly bigger. The smoke was so black and dark… I had to rush upstairs and find you not knowing what room you were in because my sight had gone dim. When I found you I covered you with my arms and wrapped you as tight as I could. The only way out was through the flames. I carefully guarded you so you wouldn’t be burnt by the fire. When we got outside I had to roll on the ground till the flames that were on my body went out but thank God you were OK. I was terribly burnt to a crisp and bloodied. We lost everything and I had to give you up for adoption and now I am seeking you again.” Then the little girl said with tears in her eyes, (while holding her mother’s hands) “Mommy…. these are the prettiest hands I have ever seen….your face is so beautiful….how could anyone ever say anything bad about you and I love you so much for saving my life.” So we focus on Jesus; we look at his nail scarred hands and feet and love Him more deeply every day.
But our adoption means something more as well. It means WE MUST BE PROMOTERS AND SUPPORTERS OF ADOPTION. We, of all people, know and understand its importance, power, and beauty. BRINGING CHILDREN INTO CHRISTIAN FAMILIES IS A REFLECTION OF GOD’S WORK OF ADOPTION. God had called the Church to be in the business of adoption. When we adopt, we imitate our Father. The gift goes on through us. That’s why James wrote (1:27) “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Perhaps the simplest statement of all is 1 Jn. 4:19 – “We love because he first loved us.”
So HOW do we promote and support adoption? First, BECOME AWARE OF THE NEED. There are 143 million orphans in our world.
There are approximately 17.5 million orphans who are ages 0-5; approximately 47 million orphans who are ages 6-11; approximately 79 million orphans who are ages 12-17.
JACOB’S parents both died from AIDS. He was being cared for by his grandmother until she found out that Jacob was HIV+. Because of the stigma attached to AIDS, Jacob’s grandmother abandoned him. Jacob now had absolutely no one to look after him. He was totally alone – an orphan in one of the poorest countries in the world. Every 14 seconds, a child loses a parent to AIDS. Another child, MARTA, is an orphan. When her parents died, she was taken in by her uncle – who didn’t want to care for her. The situation spiraled downward until Marta ran away. She lived in a nearby woods with other runaway children, barely surviving. While living in the woods, Marta was the victim of abuse by the other children - until she was discovered and rescued. Marta is the type of girl who is vulnerable to being forced into prostitution. In the capital city of Marta’s country, there are 40,000 workers in the brothels – many of them children. Children just like Marta. Here’s PIERRE; he’s a slave. He works from before dawn until past dark, working to please the family that owns him. If he does not immediately obey, he is beaten. He does not go to school, has no bed to sleep in, and eats alone, away from the family’s table. He wishes he could go back to his real family – but he doesn’t know whether they are still alive. Studies show that 300,000 children live under the bondage of slavery in this poor country. Children just like Pierre.
And what about THE UNITED STATES? More than 800,000 children pass through our country’s foster care system each year. There are over 500,000 children in our foster care system right now. 129,000 of those children are waiting to be adopted from foster care right now.
Approximately 25,000 children age out of the foster care system each year, many with no support system and little to no life skills.
This brings us to this question: How many children are adopted each year? Every year since 1987 between 118,000 and 127,000 children have been adopted. More than 50 percent of all adoptions are handled by public agencies or come from countries outside the United States. More than one-third of Americans have seriously considered adopting, but no more than 2 percent have actually adopted. Only 4 percent of families with children (1.7 million households) contain adopted children. With this many orphans in the United States and in the world, we, the church, have a monumental task before us if we are to practice true religion. Clearly, we have our work cut out for us.
Secondly, WE NEED TO PRAY. Pray for orphaned children all around the world. Pray that more parents will adopt. Pray that governments will work even more cooperatively with one another. Pray that adoptions will become more affordable and less entangled with bureaucracy, while still maintaining safeguards. Pray that God will reveal to you what you can do personally; ask Him how He wants to use you and use Hope Church. Consider adopting a child – or children – financially through Christian organizations. Consider being foster parents/families. Consider legally adopting. In your mailboxes today are some prayer guides. Commit to using them.
Thirdly, we as a congregation need to consider SETTING UP A FUND to assist those who desire to adopt so the costs are not prohibitive.
Certainly there is much more to be done but these are good starting points. And if we seriously pray God will show us the way. The gift will only go on if we truly love as God first loved us. Consider two real life stories. Michael Oher was born in Memphis, TN. His dad was murdered & his mom a cocaine addict. He didn’t have a permanent address until he was 16 & went to 11 schools in 9 years. At the age of 16, he had a measured IQ of 80. Michael was staying with a friend whose son was going to Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis. The friend decided he should go as well. While at the school, Leigh Anne & Sean Tuhoy, whose daughter went there, saw him, They also saw him again on Thanksgiving break. He was walking to the gym, even though he wasn’t on the team. He just wanted to stay warm. They took him into their home & he lived there for most of his high school career. The Tuhoys owned about 60 Taco Bell franchises. One day they went into Michael’s room & found a bunch food stashed in his room. Naturally he was stashing food because he was accustomed to not knowing where his next meal was coming from. They told him he could go into any one of their restaurants & get something any time he wanted. By the way, Michael was the first round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens.
In 1952 a probation officer in New York City tried to find an organization that would assist in the adoption of a twelve-year-old boy. Although the child had a religious background, none of the major denominations would assist in his adoption. Said the officer later, “His case had been reported to me because he had been truant. I tried for a year to find an agency that would care for this needy youngster. Neither Catholic, Protestant, nor Jewish institutions would take him because he came from a denomination they did not recognize. I could do nothing constructive for him.” If the principles of Christian love had prevailed in the Bronx in 1952, perhaps a good home could have been found for that young, mixed-up lad. In fact, providing a better environment in which to grow up might have changed history. For, you see, the boy was Lee Harvey Oswald - the man who assassinated John F. Kennedy. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Will God’s great gift of adoption go on? It’s up to us. Will “We love because he first loved us?”
