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Written by Pastor Darrell Cooper
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Friday, 01 August 2008 12:31 |
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Romans 8:12-25
July 20, 2008 - Lindsborg Cov.
“It’s A Package Deal”
(Adoption)
Sermon
Bill and Janet were nearing the end of a long adoption process and so were delighted when the adoption agency called to inform them that they had a brand new infant available from Russia. They agreed to take him without hesitation.
A few days later they stopped by the local college and each enrolled in an evening course to study a foreign language. When they were finishing up the paperwork, the school registrar inquired,
“What sparked your interest in studying Russian?”
Bill explained proudly, “We just adopted a baby from Russia. In a year or so he will start to talk. We just want to be able to understand him.”
Today we are in Romans chapter eight. At a cursory reading of this passage it may not seem like Paul is talking about adoption here, especially if you are reading from the NIV. But he is talking about adoption. Paul is explaining how we have been adopted into God’s family.
That being the case, I thought it might help if we knew a little more about the historical background and customs of adoption in the Greco-Roman culture. Much of what I am about to share with you I learned from William Barclay.
It seems that the Jews did not have an official procedure for adoption. It simply didn’t happen much in that culture at that time. But it did occur, on occasion, in the Roman culture. Adoption, in the Roman empire, was a very serious and somewhat complicated procedure.
One of the reasons for this was the custom known as the patria potestas. The patria potestus had to do with the authority that the father held within the family. The Father had absolute power and control over his family, and particularly his children. In the early days this extended even to the power of life and death. In other words, if he wanted to, a Roman father could kill one or more of his children with absolute impunity, because of the autonomy of the patria potestus.
Furthermore, the children within this system never came of age. No matter how old they grew, they were still under the patria potestas of their father. This power could never be broken under any conditions, except one, and we will get to that in a moment.
So you can understand, then, why the tradition of patria potestus made adoption a very difficult and serious matter. In order for an adoption to take place, a person would have to pass from one patria potestas to another.
However, there was provision in the law for this to be done. It would happen in two stages. The first step was known as the mancipatio. You can hear the word “emancipation” in the word. The mancipatio involved a ceremony, a ritual in which a symbolic sale was carried out using scales and copper coins. During the ceremony, the father surrendering his child for adoption, in this case, let us say it is a son, would sell his son three times. He would sell his son the first time and then buy him back. He would sell his son the second time, but then redeem him. When he sold his son the third time, he did not buy him back. This final “sale” signified the end of his patria potestus over his son. This was the only event, short of death itself, that had the ability to break the hold of the patria potestus in a family.
So now, this son was in limbo. He had no family, no name, no identity. This led to the second stage of the transaction known as the vindicatio. You can hear the word “vindication” here. In this step, the adopting father went to the Roman magistrate, known as the praetor, and presented a legal case for transferring this boy into his patria potestas. When this process was completed the adoption was finalized.
Adoption was a very serious step to take with very dramatic and serious consequences. For example, the adopted son lost all rights and privileges of his former family and gained all the rights and privileges of his new family. If his former father was extravagantly wealthy, it was now irrelevant, because he forfeited any claim to future inheritance in his former family. But he also gains a rightful place of inheritance in his new family. By law, the adopting father could not dis-inherit his adopted son. Even if more biological sons were born into the family later, inheritance could not be denied to the adopted son. He was co-heir forever.
In the eyes of the law he was absolutely the son of his new father. For example, it was illegal for the son to ever marry one of his adopted sisters. Even though he is of no blood relation to his adopted sister, now that he is part of the family, the law makes no distinction. It is as if he is a full-fledged biological member of the family.
There was one other serious implication of adoption, and that had to with debt. If the son had incurred any debt, the moment the adoption was finalized his debt was cancelled. No matter how many or how large the debt, all debts were completely erased. In the eyes of the law he was a new person with a new identity. He had a new name, a new family, a new identity. The old was gone and he had a new life altogether, a clean slate to start all over.
Because adoption was taken so seriously, Roman law required that there be at least seven witnesses to the ceremony. This was to protect the interests of the adopted child. If a dispute ever arose, for example, over inheritance, up to seven witnesses could be called upon to testify. Any one of them could say, “No. I was there. I saw it happen. It was a legitimate transaction. The adoption is completely valid.” This provision in the law provided a sense of security and confidence for the adopted child that he was indeed now a full member of his new family, and could enjoy all the rights and privileges thereof.
Hopefully that helps us understand a bit more of the cultural customs which were common and understood by the people to whom Paul wrote this letter. Now, if you are reading out of the New International Translation, you might be wondering, “Where is he getting this adoption motif? I don’t see it here in the text.” Well, I am getting it from verse 15. If you would like to turn to Romans 8:15, I will read it first from the NIV.
It says, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The key word I want to focus on here is the word “sonship”. That is a legitimate translation of the Greek word here, but if you are reading from any other translation this morning yours probably uses the word “adoption”, which is also a valid translation. So then it would read something more like, “you received the Spirit of adoption. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
So, Paul is using adoption as a metaphor to describe our new relationship with God. His original readers would have understood the implications quite clearly. Paul is saying that we are no longer under the patria potestas (absolute power) of our old father, the devil. He has no legal claim on our lives whatsoever. We are now under the patria potestas of our new Father, God Himself.
This means that all our debts have been completely cancelled. Our debt to sin, death, and hell have been completely and eternally erased, moved away from us as far as the east is from the west. Nothing from our previous life can be held against us ever again.
Furthermore, since we are part of this new family, we are legitimate heirs to God the Father. This means that we are co-heirs with Jesus to Father’s Kingdom. In other words, everything that Jesus inherits, we inherit, both good and bad. More on this in a moment.
And just as there were witnesses to a Roman adoption, so there is a witness to this one. However, in this case there are not seven human witnesses, but one divine witness. Paul says in verse 16 that the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit that we really are God’s children. The Holy Spirit is, of course, a reliable witness, and His testimony grants us the security and confidence to know that we really do fully belong in our new family and can enjoy all the rights and privileges thereof.
So, this is a kind of rags to riches story. We go from being in bondage to sin and the devil as his slaves, to being servants of the Most High God. We become citizens of a new Kingdom, subjects of the King and Creator of the universe. This means that if you are a follower of Jesus today, if you are in Christ, then you are royalty. You are a prince or a princess. You are part of The Royal Family forever.
But the good news does not stop there. Paul goes on to point out that God is not just our King. We are not just His servants. We are His children. He is our Father. Paul uses the word “Abba” here.
Perhaps you know that Abba is a difficult word to translate because there often are not words in the daughter language to capture the full essence and nuances of the original word. Because Abba is so difficult to translate it often is not translated at all. It is, rather, transliterated. This means that it is simply lifted straight out of one language and placed into another. Abba was originally an Aramaic word, but it was transliterated into the Greek and then into English unchanged. We don’t have an adequate vocabulary to fully translate the word either. Perhaps the closest we could come would be the word “Papa” or “Daddy”. The word Abba communicates a deep sense of intimacy and tenderness of relationship. Paul is trying to help us understand God’s father heart towards His children. He invites us to address Him as “Daddy” and to relate to Him as “Papa”.
In this passage, Paul is trying to tell us that we are inextricably linked with Jesus. In other words, whatever happens to Him, happens to us. For example, as I said before, we will receive the same inheritance as Jesus Himself, whether good or bad. And there is both good and bad.
The bad news is that we will inherit His suffering. Jesus suffered much during His earthly life. For example, He was often misunderstood. Almost everyone misunderstood Jesus at one time or another. People misunderstood about His virgin birth. They misunderstood who His parents really were. They misunderstood Him as a child and as an adult. They often did not understand what He was doing in His ministry or why. And most significantly, they misunderstood the nature of His Kingdom. Even up to the very end, on the last night before Jesus was crucified, His closest friends and disciples did not understand what His Kingdom was really all about. Jesus was misjudged His whole life and suffered much from these misunderstandings.
We too will often be misunderstood. Many people will not understand who we are or what we do or why we do it. Our motives will often be misjudged and we will be held in suspicion or contempt. This is part of our inheritance in Christ.
Jesus was also rejected. He was rejected by the Roman government. He was rejected by foreigners such as the Samaritans and by many of His own people, the Jews. He was certainly rejected by the religious leaders of His day and even by His own family for much of His ministry. Jesus suffered much from the rejection of men.
We will also experience a great deal of rejection. Not only will our message often be rejected but we will be as well. We all know how much it hurts to be rejected, but that is part of our inheritance in Christ.
Jesus was hated. Some people hated Him to the point that they wanted to kill Him just to shut Him up and get rid of Him. Jesus warned us that we too will be hated. Jesus was persecuted, so we too can expect persecution. Jesus said, “No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20)
Ultimately, of course, Jesus was killed. And He asks us to lay down our lives for our enemies as well. Some of us may even be asked to physically sacrifice our lives for the sake of the very ones who hate us. All this is part of our inheritance in Jesus.
So, the bad news is that we will inherit Jesus’ suffering. The good news is that we will also inherit His glory. For example, Jesus was sinless. We too will become become as righteous as God Himself.
Jesus enjoyed the love and favor of His Father. We will experience this same life-giving relationship with God as our Father.
Jesus will inherit a glorious kingdom in the New Heaven and New Earth and will rule over it forever. We will inherit the same kingdom and will be co-rulers with Him. Imagine that! Not only will we be co-heirs with Jesus, but we will sit with Him on His throne and co-reign with Him!
Jesus gets to be with His Father forever. We too get to be with our Father (and big brother) forever.
But before we move on, I think it is important to note that Paul indicates here that our inheritance of Christ’s glory is contingent upon our inheritance of His suffering. We will share in the glory and the inheritance of Jesus, but first we must also share in His sufferings. We will reach glory the same way He did, the road of suffering.
So, in the first half of this passage, (v. 19-22) Paul is connecting us to Jesus and saying that we are inextricably linked. Whatever happens to Jesus will happen to us as well.
In the second half of this passage Paul makes another strong link. He asserts that we are also inextricably linked with the rest of God’s creation. In fact, we are so strongly connected that whatever happens to us happens to the rest of creation.
For example, creation is now in a fallen state. This is not at all the way the world is supposed to be. Creation fell, but not through any fault of its own. Creation did not fall because it did something wicked or sinful. It fell because we did. When mankind rebelled against God’s will we fell, but Creation fell with us. To use Paul’s words, creation was “subjected to frustration”. We are so connected to the rest of Creation that our fall meant its fall. That is the bad news.
The good news is that this process works both ways. Just as the fall of man meant the fall of the rest of Creation, so the redemption of mankind will mean the redemption of Creation. This is why Paul says that Creation will groan in suffering until the day when the Sons of God are revealed.
So, both we and the rest of Creation wait in eager expectation of that day. In the meantime, Paul says, we groan. Many of you can certainly relate to this. We groan inwardly, waiting for the day our adoption is finalized and our bodies are redeemed. We long for that day. In the meantime, as I said before, we often suffer. That is part of our inheritance in Christ.
But Paul says something else here that I hope will be an encouragement to you. He says that our sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. He says that the joy that is to come will far outshine whatever pain we experience now.
To describe this, He uses the analogy of childbirth. I have to step lightly now, as it is obvious that I have never given birth to a child. But Paul says that our present sufferings are like labor pains. Yes, it hurts. It can even be excruciatingly painful. But that pain is not even worth comparing to the joy the mother often feels the moment she hears her child cry. I have talked to mothers who have said that within moments of the birth of their child, not only did the pain go away, it was forgotten. As bad as it was, it paled in comparison to the joy she felt when her son or daughter was placed in her arms for the first time.
Paul says that is how it will be. We suffer now, sometimes terribly. But the moment we enter the presence of our Father, not only will the pain be over forever, but it will likely be forgotten. Whether we forget the pain or not it is not even worth comparing to the joy we will experience when God’s glory is revealed in us.
In the meantime, we groan. But we are not the only ones who groan. Paul says that Creation too groans. We see evidence of this all around us. This world does not function the way it is supposed to. Everything is twisted and broken. The genetic pool is polluted. Ecosystems are compromised and out of balance. Weather patterns are volatile. Diseases are rampant. Everything is breaking down and falling apart.
Jesus has promised to redeem us, and He died to do it. But He is not only interested in a new humanity. He is after a New Heaven and New Earth as well. Would it be too radical to say that Jesus died on that tree to save the trees? Did Jesus die for dogs and donkeys, for Oak trees and oceans? According to Paul, the answer is “Yes”. Jesus died not only for humanity, but for the rest of creation as well.
So, if Jesus died for all of His creation in order to redeem all of His creation, shouldn’t we, as His followers, care for all of His creation as well? As followers of Jesus who believe that God created and is redeeming this world, we have been given a Creation Mandate. It is found in Genesis 2:15 where we are told that we are to work the land and take care of it. God has established a hierarchy within His creation and has privileged us to be at the top of that pyramid. But He has given those of us at the top the stewardship responsibility to care for the rest of Creation under us, particularly the weak and the vulnerable.
If that is the case, then one would think that as Creationists we would be the strongest advocates in our culture to care for Creation. You might think that as followers of Jesus we would be leading the charge in the modern environmentalism movement. You would think that we would be championing the cause against pollution, for renewable energy, against greed and waste, and for the protection and preservation of species and ecosystems.
The irony, however, is that many, if not most Evangelical Christians are resistant to and even hostile toward the environment. The irony is that many of us actively oppose other people’s efforts to care for and protect the things God made. And the embarrassing irony is that many atheists and evolutionists are doing a better job managing God’s creation than His own children are. Of course, we are not supposed to worship the Spotted Owl, as I am afraid some extremists are doing, but Jesus did die for the Spotted Owl, so what should be our posture toward this creature that God loves and is now in danger? I believe this is an indictment on the people of God. We are failing to fulfill our creation mandate (Gen 2:15) by sinning against God and His creation.
Here is the bottom line: Jesus is inextricably linked to the rest of humanity, and humanity is inextricably linked to the rest of Creation. Jesus’ death and resurrection secured our redemption, and our redemption secures that of the rest of creation. Think of it like a train. Jesus is the engine. We are the body of the train. The rest of Creation is the caboose. Wherever the engine goes, the rest of the train will follow. Whatever happens to Jesus will happen to us, and whatever happens to us will happen to the rest of Creation. It is a package deal.
So, if you are in Christ today, rejoice in the glory of your coming inheritance, delight in the love of God your Daddy, and be diligent to care for the rest of what Jesus died for.
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Last Updated on Friday, 01 August 2008 14:07 |
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