My 27 years as the senior pastor of Covenant Life Church were filled with countless joys. Among my happiest memories are the times parents introduced me to their newly adopted children.

Covenant Life, like so many churches, is filled with stories of parents willing to travel to distant lands, to invest thousands of dollars, and sometimes to enter dangerous and impoverished countries with one purpose in mind: to adopt a child.

Meeting these children was a unique joy. Each time I met these adopted children, I felt God’s pleasure. Each time I admired the selflessness and compassion of these parents. And each time I was reminded of the Savior “who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

In each of these instances I was reminded of God’s love—for me! Just as human adoption is deeply personal, the doctrine of God’s adopting grace is deeply personal. It is assuring. It reminds me that God loves me. “Adoption is a family idea,” wrote J.I. Packer, “conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection, and generosity are at the heart of the relationship.” *

Do the words closeness, affection, and generosity describe your experience of God? If not, perhaps you are more aware of your sin than of the adopting grace of God. If not, perhaps you are more aware of justifying grace than of adopting grace.

In order to experience more of the affection of God, the closeness of God, the generosity of God, I recommend you study the doctrine of adoption until you are assured of and secure in the love of God.

And for the next few weeks we will study this topic on the blog in order to experience the affection and closeness of God.

That God is my Father and has welcomed me into his home is a truth so profound and awe-inspiring that I cannot help but be moved when I meet a child who was once an orphan but has now been transferred into a warm and loving home. Human adoption reminds me of God’s adopting grace. And perhaps the best place to begin our study of this doctrine is to hear the story of one couple’s journey to adopt two Russian orphans. Next time we will.

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Note:
* J.I. Packer, Knowing God (IVP, 1973), p. 207

Over the years I have talked with many genuine Christians with a similar problem: they are uncertain of God’s love for them. They simply aren’t sure. Often these individuals are very aware of their own sin and failures. But at the same time they are very unaware of God’s love for them. They view God as simply tolerating them, frustrated with them, even eager to punish them. In light of God’s holiness and their sinfulness, they ask: How can he love me?

Perhaps this describes you?

Yet Scripture tells us that God’s love for sinners like you and me is passionate and personal. It is an initiating love, a love that moved God to send his Son to the cross as a substitute for our sins. And now, by trusting in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, we become children of God. God has become our Father! This is stunning! And we will spend the rest of our lives (and eternity) seeking to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love. And this love is uniquely revealed in his adoption of sinners into his family.

Any resource that will focus our attention and our affections upon the doctrine of God’s adopting grace is much needed. And while there are a few excellent books on the topic, something has been missing. We need appropriate worship songs on this topic for use in our corporate gatherings and for our personal devotional worship.

That is why I asked my good friend Bob Kauflin and his team of Sovereign Grace songwriters to write songs on this important topic. And they came through big time with a new twelve-track album called Sons and Daughters.

You can download one of the songs for free (“Completely Done”).

I highly recommend this album. This album is a means of preaching the gospel to yourself. It is a tool to remind yourself of God’s adopting grace. It will help convince you of God’s passionate and personal love for you. Listening to the truths of these songs will help clear away any suspicions you have of God, and help you to contemplate his love for you, evidenced nowhere more clearly than in the death of his beloved Son.

Among other roles, Dr. Russell Moore is the preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church and serves as Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Moore has written and contributed to a small stack of books, including his latest—Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches (Crossway, 2009).

C.J. was deeply honored to pen the foreword, which follows.

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I was adopted when I was eighteen years old. I wasn’t an orphan, the way most people think of that term. I wasn’t an abandoned child. But I was in a condition far more serious: I was a stranger to the family of God, a slave to sin, and an object of the justified wrath of God.

And I didn’t even realize it until my friend Bob began to share with me the good news that Christ died for my sins. As I listened, God opened my heart to understand and believe the gospel. I turned from my sin and trusted in Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death for my sins. In that moment, I was adopted into a new family. God the righteous Judge became my merciful Father.

And if you are a Christian, if you have trusted in Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice on the cross for your sins, you too have been adopted.

It would have been extraordinary enough for God simply to redeem us, to forgive our sins, to declare us righteous. But he does not stop there—he makes us his children (Gal. 4:4–7). Christian, if you have ever wondered whether God loves you, wonder no longer. God the Father has adopted you as his son or daughter through the person and work of Christ. Here you will find the richest proof of God’s personal, particular, and passionate love for you.

I was reminded of my own adoption many times during the twenty-seven years that I had the privilege to serve as a pastor at Covenant Life Church. Covenant Life is filled with parents who traveled to distant (and sometimes dangerous) countries to adopt a child or who adopted a child in the U.S. Meeting these newly adopted children was a unique joy for me. Each time I felt God’s presence. Each time I admired the adoptive parents’ selflessness and compassion. Each time I was reminded of the Savior’s death for my sins so that I might be adopted by God the Father. Each time I was reminded of God’s love for us, displayed in the gospel.

And I had a similar experience when I first read Russell Moore’s story of adopting two boys from Russia. A mutual friend sent me the magazine article in which Russell first shared it, and it deeply affected me. I admired Russell and Maria’s compassion and love for these children, their selfless willingness to travel such a distance to adopt these boys, their eagerness to welcome Benjamin and Timothy into their family. Even more than that, every time I read their story, I am poignantly reminded of God’s love for his adopted children.

I’ve introduced many others to the Moores’ story, and I’ve personally re-read it several times, but I’ve never read it in private or in public without tears. I don’t think you can read this book without being moved. In fact, before you turn to the first chapter, you should make sure tissues are close by (or if you’re a guy, get ready to use your shirtsleeve).

I am so grateful that my friend Russell has written the book you hold in your hands. I want many more people to read this story, to be amazed at God’s love displayed in the doctrine of adoption, and to consider the possibility of adopting children themselves. You may not agree with all of Russell’s conclusions, but his book will challenge you to carefully consider both the doctrine of adoption and its implications for your life.

So I commend to you my friend Russell Moore’s example and his book. In these pages you will not only encounter one couple’s adoption of two Russian children; you will encounter your own adoption. May we all become freshly aware of the adopting grace of God toward undeserving sinners like us.

C. J. Mahaney
Sovereign Grace Ministries

Ian McConnell grew up in North Philadelphia, the oldest of six boys in a “rough-around-the-collar” Irish-Catholic family. Today, by God’s grace, Ian is an urban church planter and the lead pastor of Grace Bible Church in Philadelphia. On July 5, Grace Bible Church will celebrate their adoption into the Sovereign Grace family of churches.

At our 2009 Pastors Conference, Ian shared his passion for urban church planting and told the story of his path into Sovereign Grace. You can listen to the 14-minute audio clip here:


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The audio recording of C.J.’s first message at the 2008 Resolved Conference is online.

God As Father
C.J. Mahaney
Galatians 4:1-7
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Palm Springs, CA
1:15:23 run time; 34.6MB MP3

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Pic by Lukas. 

 

The audio recording of C.J.'s second and final message delivered at the New Attitude conference is now online.

God as Father: Understanding the Doctrine of Adoption in God's Word
C.J. Mahaney
Galatians 4:1-7
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Louisville, KY

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