So maybe you’ve heard it said, ‘read your bible’ so you tried and failed. Our hope as leaders is that all of us will pick up God’s word and come to understand the true nature of God. After all, the bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and humanity’s historical interactions with Him. The Bible details the hidden keys to the Kingdom. Hence, the reason we are reviewing a new book each week.
This week we jump over first and second corinthians and head to another of Paul’s prolific writings to a church he pastored for over three years.
This week we venture into Epic Ephesians! Seven points of interest:
1) Authored by Paul formerly Saul approximately 60-61 AD.
2) Written while under house arrest…Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome.
3) One of four Prison Epistles; the other three are Colossians, Philippians and Philemon.
4) 49th book of the Bible, 10th book of the New Testament, 9th letter of Paul’s 13 letters.
5) There are “7 ONES” in Ephesians – one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God.
6) Paul stayed and preached in Ephesus for 3 years…longer than any other single church
7) Paul writes about the blessings given to Christians: adoption, acceptance, redemption, forgiveness, holy spirit seal, life, grace and citizenship in God.
All of which are straight forward but they lead me this week to the inevitable question of: What does it mean to be an adopted child of God?
The dictionary definition of adoption is: admission to a more intimate relation; reception;
There are three aspects of every adoption: admission, reception and intimacy.
In human adoption cases, there is the birthing family, the receiving family and the intimate connection of all parties.
All are making a decision to sacrifice in a belief they are creating opportunity
All are living the altruistic value of lifting others' needs above their own.
All are sharing the ultimate in intimacy, a love that brings life over death.
Paul references adoption in his writings often. It was used, as a metaphor, to explain how Christians are brought into the family of God. He wrote that Jesus came “that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:5), and that Jesus was successful because: “You received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children” (Romans 8:15, NLT).
Let’s take a look at this rich idea by jumping into Ephesians 1: 4
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
Have you ever heard the phrase “ Gotcha Day”? “Gotcha day is a celebration of the day a family adopted a child. Some families decide to mark this anniversary on the day of placement; others celebrate on the day the adoption was finalized in court. Some people don’t like the phrase because it seems to lessen the momentous occasion. While others, understand that it’s just a light way to address an emotional event. Wherever you stand, You have a “gotcha day” with God. It’s the day long before you entered the world, God saw all of humanity as important and devised a way for everyone to be a part of his family.
To create this opportunity for adoption, God makes a sacrificial decision to give us free will so that we can choose to receive the gift of being adopted. Why? I’m so glad you asked. Let’s move to verse 5.
In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
It was out of His Love we have been given the choice to receive/accept His offer to adopt us into the family.
Adoption was not common in the Jewish world. A person’s standing was based on his birth. However, in the Roman world, the world Paul was immersed in, adoption was a significant and common practice. With few exceptions, a man had to pass his wealth on to his son(s). If a man had no sons or if he felt that his sons were incapable of managing his wealth or were unworthy of it, he would adopt a son. It was normal for older boys and adult men to be adopted. The adoptee might even be older than the man who was doing the adopting.
Paul’s writing to His church plant spoke of a committed relationship with God, through Jesus, that was greater than our own biological family. Once we receive the offer (or choose to be adopted), the relationship changes dramatically. Let’s take a look at verse seven.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us.
In the Roman world, when the adoption was legally approved, the adoptee would have all his debts canceled and he would receive a new name. He would be the legal son of his adoptive father and entitled to all the rights and benefits of a son. A father could even disown his natural-born son, but an adoption was irreversible.
Your adoption is an admission to the family of God which carries commitment of intimacy greater than that of your own blood relative. Your mistakes are forgiven, mercy is applied, grace is provided as the most powerful being in the universe claims you. He’s got you and calls you one of His own.
Now, let’s get real. The distance between our brain and our heart can seem as wide as the grand canyon. Adoption experts have found that it’s normal for adoptees to have enduring issues around identity so I believe it's normal that as we deal with a spiritual issue, we would have questions about spiritual identity. Hence, the reason I think Paul reminds us that our Christian identity is mysterious to us. We now know how far away from Christ we are in our thoughts, words and deeds. Take a look at the next couple of verses..
With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
It doesn’t take a newscast to show or a political pundit to tell us the world is falling apart. It’s been falling apart for a very long time. Sin (our selfish, self centered, pride) has been part of humanity from the beginning. However, as part of God’s inner circle now, we are privileged to know God will one day unite everything in Christ and at which point everything will be made new. As Paul wrote to another new church plant,
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (1 Cor 15:51-55)
In other words, He’s gotcha now and forever!
References: Quest Bible Overviews p:, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wiersbe) Volume II, p. 11.
https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-adoption.html
https://www.bcadoption.com/resources/articles/ask-expert-adoptees-identity
https://myworldweb.com/paul-gauguin/gauguin-where-do-we-come-from-what-are-we-where-are-we-going/
