The Cry of the Adopted!

There is a lot of talk that always happens in churches about being a “mature Christian.” And honestly a lot of it is a bunch of crap! The things that people usually point to as marks of “maturity” quite often have nothing to do with spiritual formation. They usually include some knowledge of the Bible with the ability to quote portions of it, and being able to have a conversation about spiritual things in which you have some new knowledge or insight to share. I hate conversations with people who define maturity this way and I get frustrated with churches that tend to facilitate this idea through their “dispensing of knowledge” approach to doing church. Just come on Sundays and hear what the master of knowledge has to say… and you will be mature! What a joke!

I think a better indication of maturity has a lot to do with how much we see ourselves as orphans adopted by God and how that plays out in this world. It has a lot to do with how we view this world and how we talk to God about it. Maybe the first mark of moving toward maturity is when a person looks at the world around them and is struck with the idea that “this is not right.” Again I want to share with you a portion of the book Adopted For Life by Russell Moore.

“The Spirit drives us to discontentedness with the status quo, and so we call out together for our Father’s attention. The Abba cry just might be the most easily misunderstood aspect of the biblical revelation of our adoption. How many of us have heard Abba described as an infant cooing out the words “Da-da” or “Papa”? This cry though, in the context of the Scriptures, is not an infantile cooing. The Abba is a scream! It’s less the sound of a baby giggling up into his father’s face, and more the sound of a child screaming “Daddy!” as his face is being ripped apart by a rabid bulldog. It is primal scream theology.”

“The Bible tells us “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Hebrews 5:7) Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is screaming to his Father for deliverance, to the point that the veins in his temples burst into drops of blood (Luke 22:39-44). That’s the Abba cry. It’s the scream of the crucified.”

“For all of the disturbing aspects of the orphanage in which we found our boys, one stands out above all the others in its horror. It was quiet. The place was filled with an eerie silence, quieter than the Library of Congress, despite the fact that there were cribs full of babies in every room. If you listened intently enough, you could hear the sound of gentle rocking – as babies rocked themselves back and forth in their beds. They didn’t cry because no one responded to their cries. So they stopped. That’s dehumanizing in its horror.”
“That’ where the Spirit is leading us, in Christ. The Holy Spirit doesn’t lead us to be the toothy, giddy caricature of a “Spirit filled” Christian. The Spirit leads us to see when we are in enemy-occupied territory, and he teaches us to rage against that machine. We’re frustrated right now when we see images of a python swallowing a pig on a nature program on television, when we see a billboard for a divorce attorney, when we hear of children swept away by a mudslide in the Third World, when we find ourselves gossiping about an acquaintance. The Spirit leads us to cry out with the rest of the universe, “O God, deliver us from this! This is not how it’s supposed to be!”

“It is through this kind of praying that we know we have “received the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Romans 8:15). Through this, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs” (Romans 8:16-17). Sometimes this passage confuses believers because we assume this means there’s an internal prompt, reassuring us that we’re really children of God. We assume this means a kind of peace in our hearts, a tranquility of assurance. It’s actually the opposite.”

“The Abba cry is a groan. Paul tells the church at Rome that because of the curse, “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” But it’s not just the creation screaming. Paul writes that “we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:26). When we recognize the groaning of the universe – and groan with it – we are confessing our own part in the curse. We recognize then, all around us, the need for a crucified Christ, and we endure suffering because we know that it is only in his shed blood and pierced flesh that the universe will be restored.”

So when is the last time you cried out to God, because you knew he would hear you and respond as a Father who deeply cares?

Love loud…risk often…hope always,
David

Adoption Is War!

God is using UCity to lead a movement of compassion for the orphan. There are ten families in our church who have either adopted or are in the process of adopting... and many more to come hopefully. This Summer UCity will send out two of our own families to lead orphan care initiatives in Mexico and Ethiopia. And God has given me a vision of ensuring that every adoptable child in the NC foster care system is adopted. I know God has called us to this task and I look forward to seeing how He accomplishes His work through us as we dive out deep... way in over our heads. The following is a quote from a book that is rocking my world... Adopted For Life. Are you ready to join the WAR?

"Adoption is one the one hand, gospel. In this adoption tells us who we are as children of the Father. Adoption as gospel tells us about our identity, our inheritance and our mission as sons of God. Adoption is also defined as mission. In this, adoption tells us our purpose in this age as the people of Christ. Missional adoption spurs us to join Christ in advocating for the helpless and the abandoned.

As soon as you peer into the truth of the one aspect, you fall headlong into the truth of the other, and vise versa. That's because it's the way the gospel is. Jesus reconciles us to God and to each other. As we love our God, we love our neighbor; as we love our neighbor, we love our God. We believe Jesus in heavenly things - our adoption in Christ; so we follow him in earthly things - the adoption of children. Without the theological aspect, the emphasis on adoption too easily is seen as mere charity. Without the missional aspect, the doctrine of adoption too easily is seen as mere metaphor.

But adoption is contested, both in its cosmic and missional aspects. The Scriptures tell us that there are unseen beings in the air around us who would rather we not think about what it means to be who we are in Christ. These rulers of this age would rather we ignore both the eternal reality and the earthly icon of it. They would rather we find our identity, our inheritance and our mission according to what we can see and verify as ours - according to what the bible calls "the flesh" - rather than according to the veiled rhythms of the Spirit of life. That is why adoption isn't charity - it's war.

The gospel of Jesus Christ means our families and our churches ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans close to home and around the world. As we become more attuned to the gospel, we'll have more of a burden for orphans. As we become more adoption-friendly, we'll be better able to understand the gospel."

All of the above is from the book Adopted For Life by Russell Moore. Many more quotes to come.