Rev. Rick Haverly
July 16, 2006
We Benefit From God’s Need
We are children of God. How many times have you heard that? Probably so many times that it no longer means anything to you. But Paul says in today’s scripture lesson that “God destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:5) And Paul is so excited about it that the English editors of the Bible have to correct the error he made in his excitement. This passage read today was actually one long run-on sentence in the original Greek. Paul was so excited that he couldn’t stop, he couldn’t pause. He just had to tell it as fast as he could. We, instead, get 6 carefully crafted and punctuated sentences where Paul, in his excitement, was too ecstatic to be careful.
God has adopted us...
Not because we were exceptionally “good looking” sitting on the shelf
Not because we were so well behaved and “good”
Not even because we were so needy it was pitiful.
God adopted us because God had such a capacity for love that God devised a way for us to become God’s children so God could express, and develop that capacity further. God rearranged the nature of our relationship with God.
And as adopted children we enter a new family with all of its challenges as well. We have siblings who help us but also who annoy us at times. For all children there is also a learning process of how to behave in this family and what our values are. Adopted children may have to learn a new language, a new culture and hopefully the parents seek to teach their children their values.
This may happen as infants and seem a very natural process. Others may be “adopted” at older ages and really need to make a shift. And it is a continual process. It may not be until we are older or more mature that we appreciate what our parents did and how beneficial their work has been for us.
Coming in and being claimed as children of God transforms us simply by being members of this new family. We need as much exposure to our new adopted parent as possible and we need to keep learning and growing.
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt---Picture worth $4.1 million?
How special to be their child. Can you imagine having such notable parents? And think of the resources they must have.
But how much more special is it to be God’s child? Sure Brad and Angelina’s children are going to have a wonderful inheritance some day. But we are allowed to share in God’s property, that’s our inheritance waiting. Are you starting to catch Paul’s excitement? As God’s children, we are heirs to all that belongs to God. Take the excitement of famous parents and multiply it exponentially
Born in Namibia. A rather skewed identity because they did have emergency medical transportation and treatment lined up should things start to go wrong.
Look at Angelina Jolie’s other children: Maddox and Zahara:
Maddox adopted from Cambodia
Zahara adopted from Ethiopia
I’m not going to hold them up as the ideal individuals. I don’t know their real motives. This may just be a fad among stars but I believe it does give some insight into God’s actions and our wonderful gifts from God.
I’m going to assume that Angelina is not adopting these children to collect zoo specimens from around the world that she can put on display, or take out herself whenever she wants to and examine them. I believe they are representative of other needy areas and people of the world. It is her stated intention that she is doing something tangible for people in need with specific individuals. And she wants to be reminded through them that the others in need are related to her family as well. They are not just strangers in need but part of her extended family and that keeps them present on her mind.
Now it could be that the children see themselves as just the lucky ones. They have obviously been claimed by very rich parents and given great privilege. They could look at it as if they deserved it more than any other children—aren’t they special and if the other children had been better maybe they could have been picked. They could thumb there nose at others and need and say,”Too bad, I’ve received the privilege and you haven’t.”
But that attitude would be a distortion of their parent’s intent. The children should really feel a connection to the people and needs of their native land. They themselves are a reminder that “those people are part of our family too.”
Likewise this wonderful new relationship we have with God as adopted children is not a privilege over and against others. We are not to sit glibly and rave about how special we are and how awful and condemned those who are not selected are. Paul reminds us that we are “Chosen with the purpose in mind to reconcile all things and all people to Christ.” Not just to get a complete collection of 144,000 or some other number or even just the “believers.” God desires to gather up all things in Christ, in heaven and earth.
As the children of God we are not just children of privilege waiting to come into our inheritance. We enter the family business. We become those who are seeking the reconciliation of all people and all things. And as we see the continued violence and divisiveness around the world we know we have a lot of work ahead of us.
Our vision of whose we are and what awaits us in our future keeps us working with hope. We know that God will fulfill the intended purpose of all creation. Our adoption is a tremendous boon and gain for us but it is also for the benefit of others.
Let us be excited about being Children of God, full of promise. And may we be reconciling everyone and all things to God.