Introduction
What is your mental image of your relationship with God? A defendant before a judge? A servant before a master? A student before a teacher? All of these images appear in Scripture — but they are all incomplete without one more: a child before a Father.
The New Testament's language of adoption is one of the most overlooked doctrines in evangelical Christianity. We know we are forgiven. We know we are saved. But do we know we have been adopted?
I. Where We Started: Aliens and Enemies (Ephesians 2:1-3, 19)
Paul is unsparing about our starting point. Ephesians 2:1-3 describes us as 'dead in trespasses and sins,' following 'the course of this world,' children of disobedience — by nature, children of wrath.
Not mildly estranged. Not slightly off track. Dead. Alien. Enemy. Paul wants us to feel the full weight of the before so that we can feel the full weight of the after.
And Ephesians 2:19 announces the reversal: 'You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.'
From alien to household member. From stranger to son or daughter. That is the arc of the Gospel.
II. The Adoption (Galatians 4:4-7; Romans 8:14-17)
Paul explains the mechanism in Galatians 4:4-7. Jesus was born 'under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.' He entered our condition so He could bring us into His.
Romans 8:15 is extraordinary: 'The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father.'
Abba is the Aramaic word for 'Father' — intimate, familial, the word a child uses for their dad. This is the word Jesus used in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36). And by the Spirit, we get to use it too.
This is not metaphor. Paul is using legal adoption language from the Roman world his readers understood. Adopted children received the full rights of biological children — including inheritance. 'Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ' (Romans 8:17).
III. The Father in the Parable (Luke 15:20-24)
Henri Nouwen spent years meditating on Rembrandt's painting of the prodigal son. He noticed something that preachers often miss: the parable is not primarily about the son. It is about the Father.
The Father runs. In first-century culture, a man of dignity did not run. But the Father ran. He interrupted his own dignity to reach his son before the son had to face the village.
He calls for the best robe — a sign of honor. A ring — a sign of authority. A party — a sign of celebration. Not probation. Not a reduced sentence. Full restoration.
This is the character of the God who adopts us. Not grudging acceptance but extravagant welcome.
IV. What Adoption Changes
Appeal
What does it change for you to know that you are not merely forgiven — you are adopted? That God does not merely tolerate your presence — He calls you His child?
The invitation today is to receive what has already been given: the full rights of adoption. To stop living as a servant in your Father's house and start living as His child.