How We Become Children Of God.

How To Become A Child Of God
(Gal. 4:4-7)

Today we will look at an aspect of salvation maybe we don’t give much thought to at all and that is adoption. There are many different aspects to our salvation in Christ but let us consider our “adoption as sons”. This word adoption gives us a wonderful understanding of our position we now have in Christ. It should make us aware of our relationship we now have with Father God. Let’s explore our relationship with God by understanding what “adoption” means and how it applies to us.
I. Adoption in Paul’s time (Eph. 1:5 – “having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will”).
First thing we want to do is have a good understanding of what adoption was in Paul’s day and age. Adoption in the time of Paul was known by the standards of Roman law and as we look at adoption in the natural we will see some analogies in the supernatural. Adoption was the legal action by which a person takes into his family a child not his own with the purpose of treating him as and giving him all the privileges of his own natural child. An adopted child was legally entitled to all rights and privileges of a natural-born child. An adopted child could not be disinherited by the adopting parents. According to the Roman legal system the person who was adopted into a family gained all the legal rights of a legitimate son in the new family, but he lost all the rights, privileges and responsibilities in his old family. By becoming a member of the new family he gained all the rights of his new father’s estate. He was now an equal with the other sons and daughters in his new family. He was a co-heir with them according to the law. He was regarded as a new person who had a new life in a new family. Another wonderful thing about the Roman law was that the old life of the adopted son was completely wiped out. All of his debts were cancelled. His past now had nothing to do with him. He was in a new relationship with a new family. I don’t know about you but reading about the adopted child gave me some fresh insight onto the truth of our relationship with God and it blessed my soul. Adoption is a beautiful analogy of God’s amazing sacrifice to save a lost and dying, sinful people and save them and by the process of salvation make them His own children with the rights and privileges that belong to those who are His children. We need to see what great lengths He did to make us, who have been saved through faith in Christ, into children of God.
II. Christ is our means of adoption (Gal.4:4-5 – “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”)
The Bible is very blunt about the relationship of mankind to God. According to Scripture we are mere creations of God and because of our sinful depravity of our souls we are seen as enemies of God. It says in Rom. 8:7, “…the carnal (sinful) mind is enmity (hostile enemy) against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” and Col. 1:21, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works…”, our sinful nature was at war against the holiness of God. So then we can see we were the sinful, hostile enemies of God not desiring to seek the things of God but our minds set on sinful living and pleasures of the flesh (Rom. 3:10-12, “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”). But in spite of our First Parents fall and the sinful condition of our souls, God provided a way of salvation through Jesus Christ. Verses 4 and 5 tells us that in God’s perfect timing and perfect will sent His Son to redeem us from the curse of sin and bring us into right relationship through Christ. God foreordained the plan of salvation in Jesus knowing full well that mankind would become sinful and fallen even before the world was created but Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, willingly purposed to become our one and only sacrifice for sin by His suffering and death on the cross. We can even see that in Rev. 13:8 where it calls Jesus the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”. We have now in Christ have become the sons and daughters of God. We are now in a special relationship as the family of God through adoption. But we are only recognized as being His children through Christ and by nothing else (Gal. 3:26 – “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus”).
III. Privileges and responsibilities of adoption (Gal. 4:6-7, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”)
Our new relationship of being a child of God allows us to cry out to God as Father, the particular term Paul uses here is Abba, and this is a term of endearment. I never called my father, ‘father’, I called him dad. Abba is like saying daddy, it shows a close personal relationship with your Father. What a privilege it is to call out to God and call Him “Daddy”. Because of our position in Christ, we are accepted, we are heard and we are recognized as His children. We have become heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus (Rom. 8:17). The rights and privileges in being a son and daughter of God are awesome. As I mentioned before, an adopted child did not have to worry about being disinherited they would always be that persons son or daughter. For the Christian once we are saved, adopted into the family of God, we are always saved, forever a child of God. If we are adopted, we are adopted for ever. If we are saved, we are saved for ever. If you are really saved, you are saved eternally. Our salvation and our adoption as the children of God is eternal and no one can break the bonds of adoption. So we belong to the family of God, and we are raised to the status of an heir of a son. No longer fearful of being lost in sin ever again and forever assured of our eternal salvation in Christ because we are forever accepted as a son or daughter of God. Another blessing of adoption was that upon being accepted into the new family that the adoptee was considered a new person with a new life and all that was in the old family was forgotten and gone. Any debt was forgiven and any part of their old life erased because of their acceptance into the new adoptive family, the adoptee’s identity was now with their new family and the old family ties were completely cut off. We when receive Jesus by faith as Lord and Savior, we become a new creation in Christ Jesus and our old life is forgiven and forgotten by the power of God (2 Co. 5:17 -Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.) I am also glad that all my sin debt was forgiven, the penalty that I had incurred was what I deserved, but Jesus Christ took the penalty for me and by His sacrifice paid the price (Col. 2:13-14 - And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross .). The great love and grace God has shown us through our Lord Jesus, our adoption made possible only through the Son. Because we are accepted as children by that heavenly adoption in Christ we have these great privileges and rights because they are ours by our Father’s will. But we must be led by the Spirit of God because we are the sons of God. We have a responsibility to show the world around us we are his children. Being led by the Spirit means we are obedient and willing children. We are to be obedient to His Word and living out the Word and His Will in our lives.
If we are thankful for our salvation and grateful for the acceptance as sons and daughters of God then we will represent our Father and show that we are truly His Children.