A Part of God's Family: Romans 8:14-17

No one gets to choose whether or not to be born.  No one.  Birth is an involuntary event in our lives.  Our parents made that decision for us, and this also means that we didn’t get to choose our family.

We did not get to choose our father.
We did not get to choose our mother.
We did not get to choose our siblings.

Like it or not, we are stuck with our families for better or for worse.  For those of us who were born into relatively stable, happy families, we can consider ourselves blessed.  I was extremely blessed to have a family who loved and supported me–who gave me appropriate discipline but was never abusive; who knocked me down when I became too prideful and built me up when I was feeling down.  After the typical sibling rivalries with my sister, we grew close and still maintain a very good relationship.  I value highly my family.

But not every family is like this.  In fact, there are some families where the exact opposite things happened.  There are some families where people are abused physically and mentally.  There are some families where children are ignored; unloved; and the minimum of care is given to them.  There are some folks who have good relationships with their mothers but horrendous relationships with their fathers and vice-versa.  There are some families where brothers and sisters war with each other for attention and affection and, if the parents die, for whatever monetary gain they can appropriate.  When such things happen, the term family takes on a very, very negative meaning.

And it is with such matters in mind that some well meaning theologians and pastors have commented that the church should do away with any sort of language that talks about our community as a family.  Because some folks have had negative experiences with families, we shouldn’t talk about ourselves as a family.  Because some folks have had negative experiences with abusive fathers, we should not talk about God as the Father.  To a lesser extent, the logic follows that because some folks have had a negative experience with mothers, we shouldn’t refer to God as Mother either.  I know that the intent here is well meaning, but that then means we will have to disregard some very important pieces of scripture that reveal to us the nature of God and our relationship toward Him.

One of those pieces of scripture is in front of us this morning.  It’s a very small paragraph from the eighth chapter of the book of Romans, but these few sentences are profound in what they say about our relationship with God in Jesus Christ.  Paul begins with these words, “14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”  This is not an inclusive statement.  It is an exclusive statement.  If you are not led by the Spirit of God, you are not a child of God.  But if you are led by the Spirit of God; if you have Jesus as your representative; if you trust in Jesus’ actions instead of your own actions when it comes to being right with God; then you are a child of God.

These words hearken back to the story of the Exodus when God was leading the people of Israel by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.  God adopted the Israelites as His children and was leading them to the Promised Land.  They were under His care.  They were under His provision.  However, at this time in biblical history, the family was limited.  Only those who were circumcised and descendants of Abraham were allowed in.  No one else could be added.  Until Jesus. When Jesus came into this world and made us right with God through His death and resurrection, the family of God became open.  No longer was there any physical restrictions to entrance into the family.  Didn’t matter if you were circumcised or not.  There were no longer any blood line restrictions to entrance into the family.  Didn’t matter if you were a Jew or not.  Entrance into God’s family was not by physical birth–it was by spiritual re-birth.  It was by a heart that came to trust in what Jesus accomplished in His life, death and resurrection.  For all of us who here today call ourselves Christian, we became a part of this family because of Jesus; because we place our trust in Him.

What does this mean?  Verse 15, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’   I heard a heart wrenching sermon illustration this week as I listened to a pastor preach on this text.  A family had traveled to Russia to adopt two boys.  When they entered the orphanage and were led to their sons, they were disturbed by what they didn’t hear.  For you see, the orphanage was quiet.  It was full of babies.  Full of infant children laying in their cribs.  But they made no noise.  They rocked themselves back and forth, but there was no crying; no cooing; nothing.  The pastor explained: whenever infants get no attention, they learn not to cry.  They simply stay silent because their cries do no good.  These children had learned that no one cared.

The couple were led to the two boys that they would eventually adopt.  They spent several days with those boys giving them attention and affection.  Finally, the day came that the parents’ dreaded.  They would have to leave these two boys and return to the United States as they awaited the final paperwork to be handled.  They hugged and kissed the boys and told them their goodbye’s.  And as they walked back through the silent orphanage, one of their boys let out a blood curdling cry.  For the first time in his life, their son-to-be knew he was loved; knew he was cared about; and he cried out for his family.

When we receive the Spirit of God, we do not fall back into fear and subdued quiet.  We do not worry about whether or not we are saved.  We do not worry about whether or not we will ever get to heaven.  We have a Father who cares.  We have a Father who loves.  We have a Father who provides.  We have a Father who grants us every right and privilege that comes with being His child.  And so we cry out to Him.  We yearn for Him.  We yearn for His presence.  We yearn for His touch.  We yearn to experience holy time with Him.  And so we cry out, “Daddy!  Father!”  For you see that’s what Abba means.  Abba means Daddy in Aramaic.  We have the privilege and honor to come before the creator of the universe with no need to use majestic language.  We don’t have to pray saying, “Heavenly Father.”  We don’t need to flatter God by saying, “Almighty Creator of the universe.”  We can simply say, “Daddy.”  This is the spirit of adoption that we have received.

Of course, some may ask, “How do you know?  How do you know that this is true?”  Paul answers, “16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”   There is no scientific proof for this occurrence.  There is no legal document that is produced to show that God has adopted us.  The sign and seal of this transaction takes place in the very depths of our hearts.  The Holy Spirit and our own spirit testifies to whether or not we are children of God.  Deep down in the recesses of your heart, you come to sense the Spirit’s presence.  You come to sense the Spirit’s affirmation.  You come to realize your adoption into God’s family as the Spirit of God confirms and affirms you.

Now, you may say, “Pastor, I haven’t felt this.  Am I a part of God’s family?  Am I a Christian?  If I don’t sense the Spirit of God in me, am I doing something wrong?”  There are two things to consider: first, I think we must all ask ourselves what we are trusting in at any given time in our lives.  We must examine deep within our hearts and ask ourselves, “Am I putting my trust and faith in Jesus and His action?  Am I being led down the path to trust the things of this world?  Am I looking to Jesus for my safety, security, and hope, or has money, possessions, the government, or some other such entity clouded my thinking?”  The world will try to pull us away from Jesus, and during these times, we oftentimes lose our conviction that we are indeed children of God.  Secondly, if we have examined ourselves and found that indeed we are trusting in Jesus, we must be patient and be quiet to hear the Spirit’s voice.  Patience is not a virtue that many have these days in this world of instant gratification.  Quiet time and space is a rarity.  Turn off the television.  Take a walk without your phone or MP3 player.  Let your heart and mind turn toward Jesus.  Practice being in Him with quiet, and you will hear the Spirit confirm you as a child of God.

And now, let us turn to the final verse: 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.  As we look at this verse, let me first make a disclaimer.  We will be dealing with the concept of suffering next week, so I am going to give that part of this verse short shift this week.  My apologies for those of you who may not be here.  I am not ignoring what Paul says.  I just know where he is going.  What I want to focus on here is that Paul says we become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

We are so divorced from the ancient world that we don’t grasp the radical nature of this statement.  You see, when it comes to the inheritance of property in our culture, we believe in splitting things evenly with our children.  I have three kids.  When Dawna and I wrote our wills, we gave 1/3 of our property and money to each child.  We believe in the concept of fairness and that each child should receive an equal share.  Most of you probably have done the same thing with your property and money.  This was not the way things were done in the ancient world.  Let me repeat that: the concept of equally splitting an inheritance was not the practice in the ancient world.

In the ancient world, a family’s power was tied to the amount of property and wealth that the family accumulated.  Therefore, when an inheritance was left, one heir was designated–usually, it was a male.  That heir received the vast majority of the family’s property and wealth.  Let’s say a family had six children.  The heir would receive 90-95% of the property, and the rest of the children would divide the remaining 5-10%.  The heir got almost everything.  Period.  In this fashion, the family could retain its power and influence in the ancient world.

Paul says that when we enter into the family of God, we become co-heirs with Christ.  Whatever Christ inherits, we inherit.  Doesn’t matter if you became a part of the family a long time ago or if you just came into it.  Doesn’t matter if you are male or female.  Doesn’t matter whatever kind of status you had in life.  You are an heir.  You have access to the inheritance.  This is how much God loves you and cherishes you as His child.  Eternal love.  Yours.  Eternal provision.  Yours.  Eternal life.  Yours.  And not only do these things happen when you die.  No.  You begin to experience them right here and right now.  When you are made a part of the family of God you can count on God’s love, provision, and fulfillment right now.

Who wouldn’t want to be a part of this family?  Who wouldn’t want to have a Father like this?  We all know that our families in this life are imperfect.  Even if you had the greatest parents in the world, they still die.  I cannot tell you how many times friends of mine on Facebook post a statement that reads, “Post this if you would like to talk to your dad or mom one more time.”  I cannot tell you how many times I have heard children–even spouses–say, “I was so mad at my parents or spouse when they died on me.”  Yes, most of these folks worked through such things, but the point I am trying to make is this: our families at some point will let us down.  They will not bring us the fulfillment that we oftentimes place on them.  They will not always be around to love and care for us.  And so we should not put our ultimate trust in them.  Hear that again because for those of us who have good families, I am not telling anyone to stop trusting their families.  What I am saying is that we should not put our ultimate trust in them.  We should put our ultimate trust in the one family unit that will not disappoint.  We should put our trust in the one Father who will never let us down.  I am saying that we should put our ultimate trust in being a part of the family of God with God as our Father, Christ as our brother, and the Spirit of God who leads us into our daily lives.  It is this family and this family alone who will never disappoint.  Claim your inheritance.  Trust in Jesus.  Be a child of God. Amen.

Making the Cut: Romans 4:9-12

I had a seminary professor who one day spoke to us about an experience he had in a small town where he served a small, Lutheran congregation.  Right across the street from his church was another small, Lutheran congregation.  By this time, each congregation was in the same synod.  My professor thought it was pretty stupid that these two little congregations remained separate especially since they worshiped with the same hymnals; at the same time; with the same liturgy; and were with the same denomination.

One day, my professor asked one of the matriarchs of his congregation, “Why don’t we try to work to become one congregation?”

The matriarch looked at him and said, “Oh, pastor, that will never work out.  We use cards to register for communion.  They tell their pastor directly.”

That, my friends, is worthy of a major face palm!!  Some of the boundaries that we draw to distinguish ourselves from others are truly stupid.

Now, before I go too further, I want to make something very clear, this is not a sermon about bashing boundaries.  There are some well intentioned pastors, professors, and Christians who proclaim that Christianity is all about destroying the boundaries that exist between each other.  They say, “Jesus was a boundary breaker, and we should be too.”  As respectfully as possible, I would like to say that these folks are absolutely, completely, totally, wrong.  Christianity is not about abolishing boundaries.  Jesus did not come to eradicate them.  He came to redraw them.

God knows we need boundaries.  Boundaries help us know what is right and what is wrong.  “Do not steal” sets up a boundary between what you do not have and what someone else has and says, “Don’t take stuff that doesn’t belong to you.”  A marriage is a boundary that is formed between a couple and the rest of humanity that says, “We have committed to one another in a special relationship–no one else is allowed this intimacy.”  Property lines are drawn and sometimes solidified with fences to show–this belongs to one person and that belongs to another.

When it comes to the human aspect of boundaries, they help us know where one person stops and another person starts.  Boundaries say, “This is me.  This is not me.”  They give us a sense of identity, and they differentiate us from the environment and other creatures.  Boundaries help us distinguish ourselves from other animals.  What is the difference between us and apes?  What is the difference between us and chimpanzees?  What is the difference between us and stubborn, hard headed mules?  A few of you are looking around and saying, “Not much.  Not much at all.”

To eradicate all boundaries would leave us with a sense of chaos.  If everything is permitted, you have anarchy, and eventually, the law of the jungle will prevail.  The biggest and strongest will rule over everyone else, and everyone else would have to survive by hook, crook or subservience.  We need boundaries, but we must be careful with those boundaries.

If we draw the boundaries incorrectly or if the boundaries have no wiggle room or play, there can be drastic consequences.  For instance, we have a boundary called the speed limit.  Not too many really pay attention to it, but it is a boundary none-the-less.  If your child has an accident and you need to get them to the hospital as quickly as possible, is it okay to break the speed limit?  Most judges would be lenient because they realize that there are some circumstances where boundaries need to be a little flexible.  If boundaries are drawn incorrectly, conflict ensues.  Property owners go to court.  Nations go to war.  People resort to harsh words or even fists.  Boundaries must be drawn sometimes with the utmost of care.

As we work through the book of Romans we have come to a place where Paul is indeed carefully re-drawing the boundaries of what it means to be a child of Abraham and a part of the family of God.  To recap where we have gone so far, Paul began his letter by showing how all have failed to live up to the expectation of God.  All have missed the mark tremendously and are deserving of God’s wrath.  Yet, instead of unleashing His wrath against us, God worked a mighty act through His Son, Jesus Christ who became a sacrifice of atonement for all sin.  We have been made right with God not by any action of our own but through sheer grace–a gift of God’s gracious giving.  And we receive this righteousness–this being made right–when we trust in Jesus’ actions instead of our own.  As Paul says, it is “effective through faith.”

Paul now has to deal with several issues in light of God’s action through Jesus Christ.  The first is: if we are saved by grace and not by any work of the Law, does that mean that the law is meaningless?  Paul quickly answers: NO, but H-E-double hockey sticks NO!  We uphold the Law.  Paul will get into this later in the book of Romans and explain what this means.  There are still boundaries, but they have drastically shifted.

Last week, Paul worked through one of those shifts digging into the history of Judaism.  He showed how Abraham was not justified or made right with God through his following of the Law.  Abraham, according to Genesis 15 verse 6 was justified when he trusted that God’s promises would come true.  This was before the giving of the Law.  Now, Paul will show how the boundary regarding circumcision has been redrawn.

Let’s take a look at the text: 9 Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, ‘Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.’ 10How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. Again, Paul digs through the scriptural history to prove his point.  Revisiting Genesis chapter 15 verse 6, Paul asks, “When did God say Abraham was made right?  Was it before or after Abraham was circumcised.”  The Jewish rabbis generally agreed that Abraham was circumcised 29 years after the events of Genesis 15:6.  Hence, it logically follows that it was not the circumcision that made Abraham right with God; it was not the circumcision that made Abraham the founder of the Jewish nation; it was Abraham’s trust in God.  Period.  If it was the only the circumcision that counted, well, then Abraham spent 29 years outside of the covenant with God.  Abraham spent 29 years without God’s blessing and promise.  Abraham spent 29 years as just Abraham and not the patriarch of the Jewish people.  No respected rabbi would dare to suggest that.  None at all.  So, Paul has this logic all sewed up.  Abraham was made a part of God’s family before he was circumcised not after.  So, what does circumcision mean, then?

Verse 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, 12and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.  Paul says that circumcision is a SIGN and a SEAL.  It is a sign that Abraham has put his trust in God–it is a response; an indelible mark that shows unequivocally that he is a Jew–a child of God.  It is also a seal of that same covenant.  It is a stamp over a signature that cannot be removed permanently holding that signature in place.  It is not a saving action.  It is a physical reminder of the promises that are made.  It is like a wedding ring.  The ring does not bind a couple together.  Their promises do.

And Paul wants to emphasize this because it has some important implications.  First off, since Abraham entered into the covenant and became the first of God’s family through the promise–and not through circumcision, then he can be seen as the father of the Gentiles who become Christians.  They are uncircumcised yet made right with God just as Abraham was uncircumcised when he was first made right with God.  Secondly, because Abraham was the first of the circumcised, he is also the father of all Jewish people.  It is extremely important for Paul to show this because Paul unequivocally wants to show that God was faithful in His promise to Abraham.  God indeed has ensured that Abraham’s descendants can be counted in the number of stars in the sky and grains of sand in the sea.  The boundary has been redrawn to do this.  The boundary of who is allowed into God’s family is not whether or not the follow the Law.  Paul’s answer is no one does, and all would be excluded.  Paul also now says that the boundary as to whether or not someone is in God’s family is also not circumcision lest some don’t quite make the cut.  (Thank you for your recognition of the brilliance of that pun.)

The boundary is whether or not a person trusts in Jesus Christ.  The boundary is whether or not someone trusts in Jesus’ redeeming action instead of their own actions.  The boundary is whether or not someone trusts in Jesus’ death and resurrection instead of any physical trait they have.  Trust in Jesus equals admission into the family of God.  Faith in Jesus Christ makes you a child of Abraham.  That’s it.  Period.  End of story.

What does this mean?

In today’s terms, the message is stark because there are those who still try to draw the boundaries hard and fast in other terms.  How so?  Tell me if you have heard these things or something like them:

∙ You can’t be a Christian and vote for Donald Trump.
∙ You can’t be a Christian and vote for Hillary Clinton.
∙ You can’t be a Christian and vote Democrat.
∙ You can’t be a Christian and vote Republican.
∙ You can’t be a Christian and drink alcohol.
∙ You can’t be a Christian and be homosexual.
∙ You can’t be a Christian and support our military.

Oh, I could go on and list many, many more–including the fact that there are some Christians who believe that only their particular denomination is the family of God.  There’s an old joke about a guy who dies and goes to heaven.  St. Peter meets him at the gate and starts showing him around.  Peter says, “Well, I noticed that you didn’t attend any particular church, so I am going to show you around up here and let you see all the different denominations.  After looking them over, you can decide which one you want to hang out with.  St. Peter points out the Lutherans, and they are all drinking beer and dancing having a great time.  The guy looks at them and thinks, “Well, that looks like fun.”  Next, Peter points out the Baptists many of whom are drinking beer and dancing for the first time while shouting out Amen! with great frequency.  The guy, thinks, “Well that’s cool too.”  And so Peter goes about continuing to point out each group.  Finally, Peter comes to a big wall.  The guy asks, “What’s up with the wall?”  Peter replies, “Shh.  Keep your voice down.  That’s the Missouri Synod.  They think they’re the only ones up here.”

These boundaries are not the correct boundaries.  It is in our nature to draw them and say who is in and who is out.  But we must remember something–God’s boundaries are the most important boundaries, and He has gone to great lengths to admit as many people into His family as possible.  He has gone through great pains and sufferings to welcome as many to the table as He possibly can.  He has done this because He loves the world and the people in it.  He does not want to see them perish.  We know this because Jesus unequivocally said, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.”

And that God justified the ungodly.  That God justified you and I when we were ungodly.  God justified us when we were most to be pitied.  And so we seek to proclaim that justification to others.  We seek to help them trust in Jesus and His action.  For God wants all to be in His family.  All.  We do not seek to condemn people for their differences–for their different boundaries.  We seek to help them to see how God has rewritten them to make a place for them.  After all, God has redrawn the boundaries, for you.  Amen.