The Vision (5/16/13): An Heir of God Through Christ

Note:  Here are my sermon notes from the closing application of last Sunday morning’s sermon on Galatians 4:1-7:

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7).

Paul lays out in Galatians 4:1-7 what we might well describe as God’s plan of salvation (order of salvation):

1.      He describes where we were outside of Christ and apart from Christ (vv. 1-3). We were immature slaves.

2.     He describes the glory of the incarnation, God moving toward us in Christ (v. 4).

3.     He describes the miracle of both redemption and adoption (v. 5).

4.     He describes the miracle of sanctification by the indwelling Spirit of God (v. 6).

5.     He describes the present reality of our new status as sons, which pushes us to the horizons of this life and to the final stage of glorification (v. 7).  We are the true heirs of God through Christ (dia Christou).  All his riches are available to us now, however clouded, and will be revealed to us fully, as he wills in the future.

In his book Heirs with Christ:  the Puritans on Adoption, Joel Beeke writes:

God’s child is like a poor peasant who has been taken out of the mire and raised in a position as prince of the realm.  The adopted prince lives in the palace, has free access to the king, and enjoys the king’s favor, love, and protection.  The prince tells the king that he cannot comprehend the greatness of the king’s love; it is unspeakably great to him.  The king responds:  “You have not begun to see the extent of it.  Your inheritance is still coming to you” (pp. 70-71).

Thomas Watson wrote that it would be much for God “to take a clod of dust and make it a star; it is more [however] for God to take a piece of clay and sin and adopt it for his heir” (in Heirs with Christ, pp. 41-42).

I attended the Commencement Service last Friday morning at the FWCC where 19 inmates received their Associate degrees.  One of the guest speakers for the service was Doris Buffet (sister of Warren Buffet), the wealthy benefactor whose Sunshine Foundation had paid for these inmates to pursue their education.  Obviously there was a great deal of gratitude expressed to her, and she was, to her credit, humble in receiving it.  Several said something like, “Who would have guessed that someone would come along and make someone in prison like me a benefactor of her wealth?”  It was very moving.  But friends, today we can stand and say that there is a greater Benefactor than any mere human being.  It is the God of the Bible who has made himself known in the Son.  He has a Son-shine foundation!

Are you aware of your new status in Christ?  Amidst all the vicissitudes of life, do you know you are an heir of God through Christ?  If you hold this status, this position, no man or circumstance may ever take it away from you!

If you do not yet have this privileged status does Paul’s description of it not make you desire it?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Watson: "How do God's adopting and man's adopting differ?"

Image:  The Carr family of Iowa, a Christian family that has grown through adoption.

Many Christians are rediscovering both the doctrine of adoption and the practice of adoption.  In Watson's exposition of the promise given to peacemakers that "they shall be called the children of God," he describes how the saints are adopted by the Lord.  He then adds, however, this short section which offers four comparisons and contrasts between God's adoption and man's (emphasis added):

How do God’s adopting and man's adopting differ?

1.  Man adopts to supply a defect, because he has no children of his own, but God does not adopt upon this account. He had a Son of his own, the Lord Jesus. He was his natural Son and the Son of his love, testified by a voice from heaven, 'This is my beloved Son’ (Matthew 3: 17). Never was there any Son so like the Father. He was his exact effigy, 'the express image of his person’ (Hebrews 1: 3). He was such a Son as was worth more than all the angels in heaven: 'Being made so much better than the angels’ (Hebrews 1:4); so that God adopts not out of necessity, but pity.

2.  When a man adopts, he adopts but one heir, but God adopts many: 'In bringing many sons to glory’ (Hebrews 2: 10). Oh may a poor trembling Christian say, Why should I ever look for this privilege to be a child of God! It is true, if God did act as a man, if he adopted only one son, then you might despair. But he adopts millions. He brings 'many sons to glory’. Indeed this may be the reason why a man adopts but one, because he does not have enough estate for more. If he should adopt many his land would not hold out. But God has enough land to give to all his children. 'In my Father's house are many mansions' (John 14: 2).

3.  Man when he adopts does it with ease. It is but sealing a deed and the thing is done. But when God adopts, it puts him to a far greater expense. It sets his wisdom on work to find out a way to adopt us. It was no easy thing to reconcile hell and heaven, to make the children of wrath the children of the promise; and when God in his infinite wisdom had found out a way, it was no easy way. It cost God the death of his natural Son, to make us his adopted sons. When God was about to constitute us sons and heirs, he could not seal the deed but by the blood of his own Son. It did not cost God so much to make us creatures as to make us sons. To make us creatures cost but the speaking of a word. To make us sons cost the effusion of blood.

4.  Man, when he adopts, settles but earthly privileges upon his heir, but God settles heavenly privileges justification, glorification. Men but entail their land upon the persons they adopt. God does more. He not only entails his land upon his children, but he entails himself upon them. 'I will be their God' (Hebrews 8: 10). Not only heaven is their portion, but God is their portion.

God's filiating or making of children is by infusion of grace. When God makes any his children he stamps his image upon them. This is more than any man living can do. He may adopt another, but he cannot alter his disposition. If he be of a morose rugged nature, he cannot alter it; but God in making of children fits them for son-ship. He prepares and sanctifies them for this privilege. He changes their disposition. He files off the ruggedness of their nature. He makes them not only sons, but saints. They are of another spirit (Numbers 14: 24). They become meek and humble. They are 'partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4).

JTR 

Together for Adoption

The "Calling for Truth" radio program has an interesting recent broadcast on adoption, covering the spectrum from the theological doctrine of adoption to the practical practice of family adoption. On the doctrinal end, the show features an interview with Joel Beeke on his new book, Heirs With Christ: The Puritans on Adoption in which he argues, contra J. I. Packer, that the Puritans did, in fact, address and affirm the doctrine of adoption. Russell Moore, of SBTS, bridges the theological and practical, discussing how his adoption of two boys from Russia impacted his understanding of the Biblical doctrine of adoption. It also mentions a new ministry and website that combines Reformed theology with a passion for adoption, named, no less, "Together for Adoption."

JTR