March 30, 2008
Pastor David Kuhnle

       Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
       A top leader from India recently told the UN General assembly that by nature all people are "God's children." That is a nice thought, but unfortunately it is not true. Not everybody can say they are a child of God or call God his or her heavenly Father. God would like to have all people to be his children. Adam and Eve enjoyed that kind of Father-child relationship with God but sin changed all that.
       Jesus, talking to the Pharisees, said something very shocking. He said, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire." Sin cut us off from God and made us children of the devil. To have the devil as your father is to have no father at all; it is to be orphaned. We became spiritual orphans.
       God desires you to be his child. How does he make us his children again? Paul says we are "adopted." "For you did not receive a spirit of fear that make you a slave again but you received the Spirit of adoption (sonship) and by him we cry 'Abba, Father." [Romans 8:15]
       That is a perfect term to describe how we are brought back to God. In the case of an adoption, the parents come seeking a child. The child does not seek them. The same with God: he chose you. He sought you out. Jesus says, "No one can come to me unless the Father draws him." [John 6:44] This is truly good news because it means that you can be absolutely sure that you are a child of God. Go to the scriptures and find out what God says about this. Let your faith be in God's word and not in people's speculation or philosophical babblings.
       Adoption is expensive to the parents; ours was very expensive to our Father. The cost was his only-begotten Son. Paul writes, "…and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." [Romans 3:24-25] God makes it clear that he has paid the price of your adoption with the blood of his only begotten Son, Jesus. His blood redeemed us from sin and the devil's kingdom. Having been purchased through his blood, all who believe in Christ are now children of the King, and we live in his household. We have a new name, a new family, a new life.
       In the latter 1800's hundreds of thousands of immigrants poured into New York City. Families broke apart as some parents never reached America alive. Armies of young orphans as young as five or six roamed the city streets alone. They lived like animals, stealing their food, sleeping in garbage, snatching purses from elderly ladies, fighting just to live through another day. Then a young minister named Charles Brice, appalled at the desperate plight of these kids, hit upon a daring strategy to help them. Brice, with the help of others, began to write to town leaders, pastors of churches, and other individuals all along the railroad that ran west from New York. Stops were arranged, the train was advertised, and children were placed on the train with no specific destination in mind. For each child, there was simply a nearly blind hope that some compassionate person at some point along the way would adopt him or her. At each stop children were whisked into the waiting arms of men and women who wanted to adopt them. These children were given a new name, made part of a new family, and in many cases showered with all the things they had never known before: love, acceptance and security. In American history, we know it as the Orphan Train. And for nearly 100,000 children the hope of a family became a reality.
       Every one of us comes into this world in worse shape than those orphans. Because of our sin "in Adam," we are born into the kingdom of darkness as illegitimate children. But when we become Christians, we are adopted into God's own family. Christianity is not just joining a religion - it is to receive a new name, a new family, a new identity, a new Father. It is to be adopted by God! God loves you as a dear father loves his dear child. Being a Christian is not a matter of believing in a set of doctrines. Being a Christian is being embraced by the love of our heavenly Father who is our Abba.
       Two things about this: God's love is a passionate love. We see this in the word "Abba." Abba is an Aramaic word - a word of great affection - like daddy or papa. It is a word that encourages us to run to God's open arms and let him comfort us and love us.
       Secondly, there is no fear. If you see God as a distant stranger, then you see him as someone to be feared. If you see God as demanding and hard, then you are going to be afraid. But if you see your Abba - your papa - then there is no fear. One of the most exciting things one of my kids ever said to me was when we were talking about a family where the kids were terrified of their father. One of the girls said, "I can't imagine being scared of Dad. I mean, he's my daddy."
       Being members of any household has certain obligations. Same is true in God's house. Paul says in verses 12-14: "Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die." In God's household we are obligated to love one another and not live according to the sinful nature. If a Christian once adopted by God allows himself to be lured back into the streets of our old sinful nature, he will die. But if you are really a Christian, then the Holy Spirit lives in you and the Spirit is an active agent in your life. Paul goes on and says, "but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."
       By him we put to death the works of the old nature that threaten to kill us. As we allow the Spirit to lead us [literally carry us], the old way, the life on the streets if you will, becomes less and less; and life in our Papa's house becomes more and more what we desire.
       To be God's adopted children assures us of his unchanging and everlasting love for us. John wrote: "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God." Our Papa God loves us with perfect love.