Psalm 19 says that the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
I've never met a single person in my life that doesn't want their soul revived.
And God's word promises that it can do that for us.
And so what a privilege that we have the time this morning to open up God's word,
say, God, you speak, you tell us what's reality.
Give us ears to hear, give us a heart to soak that in and then live in the good of that.
Revive our souls.
May God do that this morning as we open up his word.
Let us pray to that very end this morning.
God, as much as we possibly can right now, we want to say, God, we believe that your word can actually do that for us.
Revive us.
Restore us.
Put us back together, God.
And give us ears to hear who we are and who you are and what the world is like.
God, we know that we come in as, you know, many of us redeemed and made whole again in Jesus.
But there's a lot of parts of us that are still dark and have all these clunky edges and we need help.
We ask, God, that your word would have that effect this morning.
So we invite you in the name of Jesus, God, have your way in us.
Correct us where we're wrong and where we have wrong views of you, how we have wrong views of ourselves and of the world and what life here in this pilgrimage is like.
And God, allow us to walk in the good of who you are and who we are in Jesus.
In the name of Christ, amen.
Amen.
We should have gotten a worksheet, as Mike mentioned.
If you have that, I want to invite you to, you can go ahead and put that in the Galatians passage if you have a Bible with you.
That's Galatians 4.
We're going to get to that in a while.
But you can also then put that in Galatians 4 and open up to 1 John chapter 3.
We're going to make a couple stops before we get to Galatians.
So this morning, I'm not actually going to be walking through just a single passage, more like expository preaching.
But I'm going to be speaking on a topic known as the doctrine of election or adoption.
I'm pulling an audible here.
No, doctrine of adoption or the fatherhood of God.
I don't know how you hear that when you, you know, sometimes we can be tempted to think,
Oh yeah, I know this stuff.
But we always have to come back when we think about rich theology and say,
No, I never want things like this to get old.
And I want to take the time to slowly think through this.
A little bit like my wife and I had a concrete mixer at Culver's yesterday.
Those things never get old.
Now my kids don't know that we actually had that and they're finding that out for the first time.
So they're probably going to ask on the way home to stop for that.
But you never go, Oh, I had a concrete last week.
I don't want one this week.
And you say, Yeah, I'll have another one of those.
And then when you eat it, you want to enjoy every last bit.
And God's, the theology of the doctrine of adoption, we never want that to become old.
There's so much gold here.
I think for my own personal life, this theology has probably had the most influence in severing at the root of sin.
Particularly, say, of fear of the future or fear of man or many, many others.
There's no other doctrine that gives me such a heart of rest and of worship in who God is and what he has done in the gospel.
So we really want to take our time as we think through this.
But listen to this from J.I. Packer.
J.I. Packer is now with the Lord.
He's a man that ministered for many years, preaching.
He was a professor as well.
He wrote many books, one of his classics, called Knowing God.
He has a chapter on the fatherhood of God in there.
Listen to this man, much wiser than myself.
This is what he says.
He says, What is a Christian?
The question can be answered in many ways.
But the richest answer that I know is that a Christian is one who has God as father.
If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as his father.
If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship, his prayers, and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.
The revelation to the believer that God is his father is in a sense a climax, the climax of the Bible.
Now I want to read that last sentence again.
Because that is stunning for J.I. Packer to say that.
Listen carefully to what he says.
The revelation to the believer that God is his father is in a sense the climax of the Bible.
That's an amazing statement.
We live in a time and we're in this circle where we put a lot of emphasis on justification.
We are made right with God because of the cross.
And that is, we want to applaud that.
I mean, amen to that.
Here J.I. Packer is saying there is even something greater.
Now when an old man says that, my ears go, whoa, hold on a second.
I want to listen carefully to this.
And I hope you will see why he says that very thing.
But take a look at 1 John.
We don't have to take J.I. Packer's word alone for it.
1 John chapter 3.
John, starting this chapter, he says,
See what kind of love the Father has given to us.
Now pause there for a second.
He uses this word.
He says, look at it.
Behold something.
And then he says, the ESV translates this as, what kind of love.
N-E-S-V translates that.
It says, see how great.
Because that word is, it's the same word that you find in Matthew 8 after Jesus calms the storm.
And you remember what the disciples say to each other?
Say, what sort of man is this?
Like, who is this dude?
They're not just saying like, you know, hey, what kind of guy is this?
They are terrified of this guy who actually speaks to water and wind and they stop.
And so they recognize they're in the presence of greatness and they say, who is this guy?
He is so great that we're terrified of him.
And so this is what John here says.
I want to show you something.
I want you to look at something.
The greatness of God's love.
Now, what do you think he would say?
Well, a very good answer would be to say, look at the cross.
There you see the greatness of God's love.
Would that not be a great answer?
Yes, it would be a great answer.
That's not where he turns in this passage.
You want to see the greatness of God's love?
How great a love the Father has given to us?
Well, that we should be called children of God.
And that's what we are.
The reason why the world doesn't know us is that it didn't know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now.
And what we will be has not yet appeared.
But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Obviously, I don't have time to unpack this whole passage.
But I want you to see one more thing there.
Notice how he first paints this.
The greatness of God's love is that we are children of God.
And look at the result.
He says, if you hope in God like this, what's the result at the end of verse 3?
You purify yourself.
You see, this doctrine is so practical that it actually has this holy effect on your life.
But I don't have time to unpack that.
I just find it amazing and so practical that God uses this everyday relationship that all of us walk into the world in some measure to help us try to understand what God is like.
You know, Jesus does this very same type of stuff as he's teaching.
Matthew 7 and the Sermon on the Mount.
Remember, he's teaching the crowds and he says,
Now, hey, if one of your sons comes to you and says,
Hey, Dad, can you give me some bread?
Are any of you going to look at your kids and say,
No, here's some stone.
Or if your son comes to you and says,
Can I have some fish?
Are any of you going to give him a scorpion?
The obvious answer is no.
And Jesus looks at the crowd and says,
Now, you who are evil,
If you would never do that to your kids, but you would give them good things,
How much more would the Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask?
You see what Jesus is doing?
He's trying to use this everyday relationship that you walk in life in.
And he says,
God is like that in some measure, but so much greater.
And so that's how I understand how Jesus would have us to look at everyday relationship,
Father, child, and then look upward.
Now, the hard part is,
Is many of us come to the world in all sorts of different settings.
For some people, the idea of God being Father is not immediately pleasant.
I mean, some probably in this room have had absolutely terrible dads.
Maybe they walked out real early.
Maybe they did things that are atrocious.
And that can make it difficult to begin to think of God expressing himself as Father.
But I want to assure you,
One of the ways that we can think about this is to look at negative examples and say,
God is nothing like that.
Because we all know what a good father should be like.
And others of us have had good fathers.
But even those are failing people.
They stumble.
And so they can give us good pictures of what God would be like,
But God is always greater.
Okay, so we're going to just mess around, or not mess around,
We're going to look around at this doctrine.
First, I want to explain it, walk you through it.
And then we're going to simply reflect upon it.
So here's how I would define the doctrine of adoption.
I would say it like this.
Everyone who is justified before God in Jesus,
Or every Christian, everyone who is born again,
However you want to phrase that,
Is transferred into the family of God.
Whereby we have a new relationship with God.
When is father and child.
So everybody who is justified before God in Jesus,
Is transferred into the family of God.
Whereby we have a new relationship with God.
One is father and child.
Now one of the key things to that,
Is to recognize that when we talk about the doctrine of adoption,
Or the fatherhood of God,
We're talking about something new that happened.
It can be common in the culture,
To talk about how God is the father of everybody.
Of all people.
Now in a sense,
You could say,
Okay, well God created everyone,
So he's master over all.
Or the father of all.
In one sense you could say that.
But when the scriptures talk about the fatherhood of God,
Or the doctrine of adoption,
It is not talking about all mankind.
It is talking about people,
That are justified.
That have been brought into the family of God.
There is something new that happened,
That wasn't true of you before.
In fact, we just looked at this in Ephesians 2.
So why don't we actually turn back there,
If you have a copy of the scriptures.
I'm not going to look at the whole passage,
But just,
It's good to see,
Who we really were.
Ephesians chapter 2,
Beginning in verse 1,
Read the first three verses only,
And you were dead,
In the trespasses and sins,
In which you once walked.
Following the course of this world.
Following the prince of the power of the air,
And the spirit that is now at work,
And the sons of disobedience.
Among whom we all,
Once lived in the passions of our flesh,
Carrying out the desires of the body,
And the mind,
And were by nature,
And look at that phrase,
Children of wrath.
And in case you're wondering if that's you,
Like the rest of mankind.
Everybody.
That means all the little babies that are coming into the world.
All your nephews,
All your grandchildren,
All your own children,
And you sitting here,
And myself,
All of us,
Were by nature,
Children of wrath.
Or Jesus talking to the crowds,
Remember he says,
Well you are of your father,
Who?
The devil.
Imagine watching Jesus have that teaching.
You want to know who your dad is?
It's the devil.
Lines right up here with Paul.
You're children of wrath.
Or Colossians 1,
That we are under the domain of darkness.
Or Romans 5,
We are enemies of God.
You see,
People come into this world,
I came into this world,
Not just like me and God just didn't get along.
We were enemies of God.
Ephesians 2 goes on,
Without God,
Without hope in the world.
This is all throughout scriptures.
It's not a pretty picture.
Can we just say that?
And that's a very bad place.
Because Psalm 5 and Psalm 11
Declare that God hates the boastful.
Wages a sinner's death.
This is a terrifying picture
That the scriptures actually paint.
Jesus describes the place
Where people will go,
Where the wrath of God is poured out.
At a place where there's weeping
And gnashing of teeth.
I don't know if you've ever seen
Someone just so distraught,
Where that actually kind of captures
A little bit of the flavor.
Somebody sobbing so deeply,
That it just affects you to the core.
This is what it will be like.
Utter darkness for those people.
And Paul and Jesus
And the writers of scripture
All agree.
That is who we come into the world as.
Can you agree with me
That that's bad news?
Yes.
Good.
And that is why the gospel
Is such great news, right?
Because the gospel says
That he who knew no sin
Became sin for us
That we,
Who were children of wrath,
We would actually be
The righteousness of God.
That we,
Our sins,
Though they are crimson,
That we will be made
Fully clean,
Pure,
And forgiven.
And that,
Brothers and sisters,
Is the idea of justification.
We are declared
Right with God.
And we are given
A righteousness,
Not our own,
But it comes from outside
And is given to us.
But that's not
The end of the story.
That's not
Where the gospel stops.
It gets even better.
So let us go to
Galatians 4
And see this
Unfold a little more.
Hey, that was a rhyme.
I got little kids.
I read a lot of
Dr. Seuss books.
So Galatians 4,
Let's read that again.
He's using this metaphor here
Of guardians and children here.
He says,
I mean that the heir,
As long as he is a child,
He's no different
From a slave.
Though he is the owner
Of everything.
But he's under the guardians
And messengers
Until the date
Set by his father.
In the same way,
We also,
When we were children,
We were enslaved
To the elementary principles
Of the world.
He's lining right up
With his other letters here,
Right?
We're enslaved.
Which is bad news.
But then the good news,
Verse 4,
But,
When the fullness of time
Had come,
God sent forth his son,
Born of a woman,
Born under the law.
Why?
To redeem those
Who were under the law.
That's justification.
Right?
To bring us out
From that enslavement
And to redeem us.
And bring us
Into this
Being declared
Not guilty.
But look at where he goes.
Look at the next phrase.
So that.
That's an important phrase.
She says,
We were redeemed
From under the law
For something.
There's a purpose to this.
Or in Ephesians 1,
It says that this,
What he's about to say
Was actually
Predestined for us.
He says,
So that
We might receive
Adoption
As
Sons.
Now,
Paul is writing
To a community
That is aware
Of what adoption
Is in the culture.
There was such a thing
Known as adoption
In the Roman world.
It was a little bit
Different than we
Practice today,
But there was some
Similarity.
So typically
In adoption
What happened
Then
Is if
It was typically
A very wealthy man
Who didn't have
Any sons.
So,
You know,
You passed along
The inheritance
And everything
To the sons.
But if a man
Was very wealthy
And he had no sons,
What he would do
Is go out
Into the community
And find
A man,
Usually a younger man,
Who he could then
Bring into his family
And pass everything
Along to.
Now,
When that would happen
That young man's
Everything that
Was true about him
Was severed.
So if he had any debts
They were gone.
If he had any ties
To anything
Totally cut off
And he was transferred
Into this new family
Whereby he had
Full rights
To the whole inheritance.
And so Paul
Directing us to this
Is saying
This is something
Of what's happened here.
All your ties
Have been cut off
And now you are
Part of this
Inheritance.
So we practice
Something like that
Here still, right?
So our youngest
Child, our son
Is adopted.
And I remember
This was a couple
Years ago
When
On adoption day
We had to go
To the courts
In the city
And stuff
And I didn't know
I was going to be
Called to the stand.
But the judge
Looks at my wife
And I and says
I want you to
Come up here.
So my wife
Throws me up there.
And so I go up
And the judge
Starts asking me
Questions like
What my wife's
Birthday is
And stuff like this.
And I don't know
If that was like
I don't know
Why she was doing that
And she was trying
To trick me or what.
But I was so nervous
That I could hardly speak.
But I got it right.
And then she turned
And she looked at me
And she said
Now Mr. Allen
Do you understand
That if you
Adopt Dupree
He will have
The full rights
Of the inheritance
Equally
As your biological children?
And in my heart
At that moment
I said
Yes!
That's the gospel!
Yes!
Everything!
And that's what's
Going on here.
You're being cut off
From your old family
A child of wrath.
You're a child of the devil.
You're being totally
Separate from that
And put into this
New family
Where you have
Full rights
Of the inheritance
Of almighty God.
Now
The way the gospel
Does this
Is quite amazing
Because now
You think in that culture
If this man
Is wealthy
And he's going out
To find someone
To pass his name
Along to
Who do you think
He's going to look for
In the community?
He'd probably look for
A guy like Mike
Or Billy
Or Matt
And he'd look for
The cream of the crop
Maybe
Mike says no
Regardless
You get the point
Right?
You're going to look
For somebody
That's going to do
A good job
Now
Who does Jesus
Run after?
He goes into
His enemy territory
Those who
Have no business
In receiving
Any kind of goodness
From God
And he goes
Right into enemy territory
And says
Now you're mine
And he brings us
Right into
The family
I mean
That
Is amazing
And then he continues
And because
You are sons
God has sent
The spirit
Of his son
Into our hearts
Crying
Abba
Father
And many have pointed out
That that word
Abba
Is this term
Of endurance
Like a
Like a daddy
Daddy
Father
Now
Some believe
That this
Even kind of
Stating it this way
When there was an adoption
In the Roman world
You had to have a witness
Someone to confirm
The adoption
So it's very possible
That's what Paul
Is putting this together
Like this
Now who's the witness
Of this adoption?
The spirit
Who's been given to you
The Holy Spirit
Who cries out
Yes you actually are
There has been an adoption
Crying Abba
Father
And so you are
No longer a slave
But a son
And if a son
Then an heir
Through God
So J.I. Packer
In his chapter
He further says this
To raise the distinction
Between adoption
And justification
He says adoption
Adoption is a family idea
It's conceived in terms of
Love
And viewing God as father
See in adoption
God takes us
Into his family
And fellowship
He establishes us
As his children
And heirs
Closeness
Affection
Generosity
Are at the heart
Of the relationship
To be right with God
The judge
Is a great thing
But to be loved
And cared for
By God the father
Is a greater thing
Now I think that's
An important point
To consider
To be right
With God the judge
That is great
Is it not?
I mean that's the picture
You're in the courtroom
And you are
You are guilty
As all get out
And the judge
Looks at you
And says
Not guilty
Righteous
But adoption
Then is the picture
Of the judge
Coming off the bench
Coming down
To his enemy
With his arms out
Says
And you're coming
Home with me
You're coming
In my living room
We're gonna
Sup together
You're mine
Full inheritance
Never fear again
Never alone again
Because you're mine
You see this
The doctrine of adoption
Is meant to spark
Thoughts of generosity
And God's kindness
And God's care
And love
And support
You see
In theory
In theory at least
You could just be
Forgiven by God
But not actually
Cared for by him
Right?
And that would still
Be wonderful
I mean to go through life
And know that you're
You're not gonna be
Judged by God
That would be fantastic
Now that in a sense
Would be enough
Right?
But oh
Much better it is
To be loved for
And cared for
By the living God
Now there's
Something interesting
That happens
When you come
Into the New Testament
As well
Because this
Whole idea
About God
Being father
It's there
In the Old Testament
It's 15 times
Is the numbers
That I have
That God is father
Israel is
God's children
God's people
Are his children
15 times
In the Gospels alone
Matthew, Mark, Luke
And John
165 times
This whole idea
Really comes flying forward
That we are children of God
And the way it really flows
Jesus starts going around
And he starts
Doing his teaching
And the language
He starts using
Is
I say what my father says
I'm teaching
What my father is teaching
And he starts calling
God his father
And the people
Don't like it
Because they're not
Used to that
Right?
I mean how do you pray
In the Old Testament?
How are the people
Thought to pray?
What are the psalms?
How do they pray?
Oh, Yahweh
Our Lord
Our Master
Oh, Yahweh
Oh, Lord
Our Lord
Right?
Now when Jesus says
This is how I want you to pray
What does he say?
What's the very first words?
Our Father
And the people
Don't like that
Because that's so intimate
And then Jesus
Not only goes around saying
He's my father
But then he says
That almighty God
Sovereign
All wise
All grace
Full of grace
All knowing
He's not only my father
But he's your father
If you would come
Through me
What an amazing picture
That almighty God
Comes after rebels like us
And says
I want you in my family
And I'm going to give you
All of me
The question we have to ask ourselves
Is that the way I live my life?
When you woke up this morning
Is it more likely
That you feel like
You're entering into the world
As a precious son
Or daughter of God
Or as maybe one that God is
He's kind of putting up with you
Sometimes gets sick of you
Wouldn't mind sometimes
If you kept your distance
Truth be told
We're all like that at times
Right?
We think that God
Views us like that
So what do we do with this?
This is where we'll pull out
The sheet here
I want to give you
A couple tools
That you can take
To try to reflect on this
So there's some wonderful material
Called the Sonship material
Started by Jack Miller
Who's now with the Lord
World Harvest Mission
Puts this out
It's called Sonship
This is where I get
This worksheet from
A portion of it
And then I kind of
Just made it a lot bigger
And such
But the whole idea of that
Is that Jesus
In John 14
Looks at his disciples
And he says
He promises them
I will not leave you
As orphans
Right?
But I'm going to send
My spirit to you
And so this
They kind of have this
Comparison of whether or not
You're viewing life
As if God has actually
Orphaned you
You know
Orphan is one
That their parents
Have left them
Or if we're actually
Entering into the world
Today
As people who really
Believe that God
Is our father
And we are children
Of God
So the way
The document is set up
Is that
There's obviously
You know
A statement
On one side
That is
This is how children
That believe
And live in the good
Of being children of God
Think
Then the other side
Is these are
These are the way
People think
Of when they
When they act
As if they're
Orphaned by God
Now
The hard part
About doing the sheet
Sometimes
Is it feels like
It's either
A or B
Right?
It's like being
At that eye doctor
A, B
I don't know
I think they're
Kind of still
I don't know
Somewhere in the middle
And that's what
You feel like
When you do it
And that's okay
It's just
Trying to set up
Two different sides
And say
Do you lean
One way or the other
Now
You have to know
Ahead of time
You are going to be
On the orphan side
Quite a bit
If you're honest
With your heart
And that's
This part of the point
Of doing this
Is to expose
The areas
In your heart
So you can go
Before God
And say
God
There are areas
Of my life
That I actually
Act
In my heart
That you aren't
A good father
And so I need you
To teach me
And instruct me
And I want to live
In the good
Of who you are
So if you go
Through this whole sheet
And you are always
On the left side
It's
Probably worth
Talking with the people
Around you
And saying
Do I live like this
Because they'll
Probably tell you
That you don't
Okay
So you will
End up on the orphan side
Quite a bit
And that's okay
That's good
Like we want God
To expose that
So let me just
Walk you through
A couple ways
You can do this
Because one of the ways
I like to do it
Is when I find areas
That I'm more living
Like an orphan
I want to think
About the natural
Family
And say
God help me
To think about
The family
And give me
An illustration
Of what a good
Father would be like
Or a negative
Illustration
What a bad
Father does
Because you're
Not like that
And help me
To learn that way
So I'll walk
Through a couple
Examples for you
So I'm going to
First I'll read it
And kind of give you
Some illustrations
So let's take a look
At the first one there
People who are living
As if they're children
Of God
Are confident
And hopeful
In the unknown
Tomorrow
Knowing their wise
And gracious father
He's going to be there
With complete control
But those who are living
As if orphaned by God
Are generally fearful
And they're sidelined
By the unknown tomorrow
Doubting God
Is going to be there
In wisdom
In grace
In power
And look at number six
Those living as children
Of God
They regularly take risks
For the kingdom
They know the outcome
Is not ultimately up to them
And they're not afraid
But those living as if orphaned
They rarely take risks
For the kingdom
Because the weight
Of the unknown outcome
It's overbearing
It's too fearful
Now I don't know
If you're here
And you generally
Are anxious over the future
Where you don't really like
To take risks
For the kingdom
I would put myself
In the camp
I am generally anxious
About the unknown tomorrow
This is one where I tend to
Camp out
And so my illustration
That has helped me
Over the years
Comes from one of my oldest
Tali
She was just two
And we were
My wife and I
We were reading with Tali
Through the story of Joseph
And how he gets
You know
Shipped down to Egypt
And such
And he never knows
What's going to happen
And obviously
You know the end of the story
And what those
Who meant it for evil
God meant for good
Right
There's this whole sense
Of trusting God
God was with him
So we were trying
To illustrate this
To our daughter
And so we put blindfolds
On one another
And did that
Kind of
You know
I don't know
Maybe you call it
A trust walk
Or whatever
So first we put
A blindfold
On my wife
And my daughter
Grabs one hand
And I grab the other hand
And we're walking
And my wife
Around the apartment
And of course
You'd think
My wife is kind of
Like this
Right
And I mean
I've been married
To the woman for years
And she still doesn't
Trust me to walk
Around the apartment
But whatever
I did the same thing
When they put the blindfold
On me
Because it's scary
Right
We're old
If I run into something
I might not recover
For a couple weeks
Right
But the amazing thing
Happened
We took the blindfold off
She was now ready
For her turn
She puts the blindfold on
We each grab her hand
And the little girl
Without
She can't see anything
Just
She has
She doesn't have
A hesitation
In her step
What so ever
And why is that?
Because she is
Absolutely confident
Without any hesitation
That mom and dad
Will take care of it
I don't have to fear
What's in front of me
They're not going to
Run me into something
I can't handle
They have this together
Because that's her
Whole world
Right
I mean when Jesus
Says to kind of
Become like children
There's something like that
Right
Kids trust their parents
Of course
When it's safe to
Right
If they're in a safe home
And it's those moments
That I just want to say
God whisper that
In my ear
Constantly
Every day
That's what you're like
That's what you want
From me
And I can do that
I can trust you like that
Wouldn't that be freedom
If you could enter
Into tomorrow like that
With that sense of freedom
I don't have to worry
About tomorrow
I don't have to worry
About what's going to
Happen this week
Or next month
Or that thing
That's on your mind
That you're a little bit
Nervous about
Or about your kids
You say
God
Take me
I'll
Whatever you want
I will do whatever
You call me to do
Now truth be told
Part of the problem
Is we think
God is pretty stingy
We think our fathers
Is kind of lazy
Or maybe
He doesn't have
The kind of power
That actually says
He does
Right
I mean that's what
We think about God
We don't want to say
That out loud
But that's what
We think in our heart
Right
I mean
One of my
Favorite meals
Is like a pasta bake
Or lasagna
Or something
Right
Too lazy to make
Lasagna
So I make pasta bake
It's a little bit easier
So I make a pasta bake
And I love pasta bake
When it first comes out
Of the oven
I mean it is
Fantastic
Now very few things
Are better than pasta bake
Right out of the oven
But you know what's better
Than pasta bake
Right out of the oven
Pasta bake on day two
I love leftover pasta bake
Always have
Now this is what
Typically happens
We're having leftovers
Of pasta bake
And my wife gives me
The bigger portion
Because I'm the
Biggest in the family
And one of the kids
Looks over at my plate
They're done with theirs
And they ask me
If I can have some of mine
Do you know what I do
As a dad?
You would want me
To say that I give it to him
But I don't
I say no
That's daddy's portion
Daddy's bigger
He needs that
I need energy
Because I'm
I'm kind of stingy
And selfish
That's what Jesus says
Right
You even though
You're evil
You still know
How to give
Some good gifts
To your kids
How much more
If God is perfect
And God's not stingy
And God is all powerful
Will he not give you
Everything you possibly need
Because that is the type
Of father you have
He's not like Dan
He is so much better
You see how practical
Of a doctrine this is
If we can really let this
Say God
Just put this deeper in me
I want to live free
As a child of God
Alright well let's do
Another one quickly
Let's go down to
Number 12
It says
If you're living
As a child of God
Those people are
They're free
To try at a task
And fail
Knowing their significance
It's not in their performance
Their father loves
To just watch them try
They don't have to
Perform anything
Those living as orphans
They're generally
Terribly embarrassed
When they fail in a task
They fear that people
And or God
Will be embarrassed
To be associated with them
I'm going to
Number 27
It's linked to this one
Those living as
Children of God
They rejoice
In the accomplishments
Of others
They genuinely
Encourage anyone
Less successful
As they are
But people living
As orphaned
They live ranking
Themselves with other people
Which produces
Either pride
Or depression
When they're outdone
They are miserable
But when they're
Better than other people
Life is good
I don't know if you
Ever walk into a room
And you kind of
Rank yourself
Pretty quick
Judge how you stand
Before other people
I don't know
If you care about
The opinion of other people
I do
I mean
Embarrassingly
I play a lot of softball
I play every day
If I could
I'm generally
Super nervous
If my family
Comes to a game
Now this is sad
I just turned 40
This summer
And
I'm embarrassed
If I hit a weak
Like ground ball
And my kids see it
Because
I've
I've gotten
In my
In my default mode
Is to
To think that
Maybe my kids
Would think less of me
If they saw my performance
And I want them
To be proud of me
So I want to shine
For them
Now that
That is sad
Is it not
I mean to be 40
And still like that
I don't want to be like that
Now I'm standing up here
And like
I look out here
And I
I look at expressions
And I'm like
I hope these people
Like this
Because I want them
To like me
And I hope that
They tell me
That they like
My sermon
And
And it's sad
And now I've kind of
Made it an awkward moment
Right
For afterwards
You don't want to say anything
But this is how we live
Right
We
We want people to like us
So we're thinking
Do you like me
Is this good
Are you okay
And
That
Is it not that enslaving
The things that you will do
To get people to like you
Or the things you won't do
Just so people like you
That is enslaving
And I think
One of the greatest cures
Is to really rest
And
Almighty God
Actually views me
As his precious child
Then that is enough
Oh
If I could really
Just hold on to that
This is a couple weeks ago
My kid
My older
Girls are in volleyball
My youngest is in soccer
I was over watching
The girls play volleyball
And
They're
Learning how to
Hit the ball
Like
Serve
The ball over the net
So they do this
Underhand thing
So my
My youngest
Or my
My youngest
Girl
So
She's eight
She
She actually is right handed
But
I don't know
They were teaching her
To hit left
Lefty
So she's
She's serving the ball
Trying to get it over the net
Right
And I'm watching this
From
You have to stand in the hallway
And this
She
She would take the ball
And
Right into the net
You get the picture
Right in the net
Right
And I'm sitting there
Watching this
My heart is just
I mean I'm loving this
This is beautiful
I love it
And I thought to myself
Man
I wonder if
If somebody
Like leaned over to me
Right now
And said
Something like
You see that girl
Hitting that ball
Into the net
That is
That's embarrassing
You know what I
I thought
You know what I'd say
At that time
I'd say
There is nobody
That hits the ball
Into the net
Like that girl
Isn't that awesome
I love it
She
I could watch this
All day
I love it
Right
Because I don't care
If she's successful
Or not
It doesn't matter to me
She's my girl
And I love it
I don't care
If she's great
Like does accomplishments
Or not
That's not going to
Earn my favor
At all
And so one of the ways
We try to teach our kids
The youngest almost has this
So this is the pattern
I'll do with them
I'll say
Dupree
Do you know
That dad loves you
He says yes
Good
Dupree
What could you do today
That would make daddy
Love you less
As a four year old
He generally thinks
Well maybe
If I'm naughty
You're going to love me
And I say
No no no
There's nothing you could do
That would make me love you less
Nothing at all
But Dupree
What could you do today
That would make me love you more
Again
He's four
He thinks
Well if I obey
If I do good
No no no
There's nothing you could do
That would make me love you more
So Dupree
Why do I love you
What's the answer
Because
Period
Because
That's it
I love you
Because I love you
And that's exactly how God speaks to his people
In Deuteronomy
I love you
Because I love you
There's nothing else
I love you
Because you are in Christ
And you are my son
Or my daughter
That's it
Don't try to add to that
There's nothing more to put into that bucket
I love you
Because I love you
And I'm crazy about you
And I love to watch you
Like you like to watch your grandparents
Or
I guess you could love to watch your grandparents
Your grandchildren
Or your kids
You just
You just delight in them
Because they are
They are yours
Do you know
That if you are in Christ
That's the way God views you this morning
You
With all your flaws
God is not disappointed
That he called you into the family of God
He's not wishing
That he would have chose somebody else
Yes
He knows about your flaws
You are beautiful in his sight
Wouldn't it be freeing
If you could really hear that from God
Wouldn't it be freeing
To walk into a room
And not have to rank yourself with people
Oh I think this doctrine can help
Move us in that direction
Now I got to start wrapping up here
So I just got to close with this
If you take the time
And have you know
Over the next week
Or couple weeks
To work yourself through this sheet
I do have to point you to one
Because this can be dangerous
If you kind of
Mishear some of this stuff
I want to show you number 34
There's a reason why that one is
At the end there
People living as children of God
They move toward God
After they sin
Knowing that their father's arms
Though God may be grieved by our sin
His arms are open wide
With forgiveness
And grace
And power to help
But those orphaned by God
They keep distant from God
After they sin
They hope that their self-pity
Will pacify God
Afraid that running to God
That might be abusing God's grace
Or he must be annoyed by them
Now this one is worth reflecting
One of my children lied to me
It was so painful
To realize
That this precious little girl
Could lie to me
And I remember
When she
You know I didn't
Force her to
To tell me the truth
I just knew that she lied
And she wasn't confessing yet
And she went up to her room
And you know
I was hoping that she was
Sulking up there
Of course not
Right
But that's the way we treat adults
Right
We want adults to pay like that
But you don't to your kids
As a parent
There's a longing in the heart
That says
Come on honey
Come back
Come confess
I am waiting
And I am willing
And I am longing
For that restoration
Of relationship
Don't think my arms
Are giving you the stiff arm
No
They're wide open
Come to me
I'm your daddy
I have love for you
Only love for you
Restore it
Come on
Now you go through this sheet
I hope you hear that
To be free
That it's okay
If you're on the orphan side
God is saying
Come
It's okay
I know who you are
I'm mindful of your frame
That you're but dust
Bring it to me
I can handle it
Let us walk this road together
Imagine
Your world
Tomorrow
This week
If you could just enter into it
Say God is my father
He's crazy about me
Crazy about me
There's things coming up
That I'm a little bit nervous about
But God can handle that
There's situations
That make me deeply sad
But God is with me
And I can handle
He can handle this
Imagine your church
Filled with people
Like that
And growing in that
And ministering this truth
To one another
Saying
No, no, no
No
God can help us through that
What would God do
In our life
In this pilgrimage
If we could just
Each day
Get more and more
May God do that
For us
By his grace
And kindness
Let us pray
Together
God what mercy
You give us
In the doctrine of adoption
Just a few moments
We had to kind of
Meditate over that
God
And I ask that you
Would allow it
To bear fruit
In our hearts
God would you
In kindness
Give each of us
Just one step forward
Even
To say
Okay
I think I hear you
And I want to embrace
That more
God
That you really are
A father to me
You really care
And you can really
Hold me
And you really
Run after me
Even when I go
Astray
I pray for anyone
Here who
Who actually
Doesn't know you
As father
Who has never been
Brought into the
Family of God
Would you now
Open up their eyes
To see that
There is
Hope
There is a love
That you provide
As father
That nothing
In the world
Can provide
Nothing we want
To chase
Can provide
The love
And care
That you give
Would you bring
Them redemption
Open their eyes
To the gospel
Of Jesus
And bring them
Into the family
And for us
God
Prepare us
For the week
Ahead
That today
And tomorrow
We would walk
As children
Of the living
Reigning
God
In Christ's name
Amen