The Beauty of Adoption: Part Six

Instructional Point Three- The Beauty of Christ in Adoption– Christ’s cross has allowed a way for the believer to partake in these blessings and privileges that we can have from the Spirit that cries, Abba! Father!

A.Illustration- what does the Bible give us?
Follow with me as I read verse 17, “and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” God will treat those that are adopted as His family. Then also as “heirs”, meaning that we are sons of the heavenly Father. Now what is great to dwell on here is that we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Christ as the son of God has full the honors and glory of heaven, and to this we are united with Him.

B.Application- what does this mean?
What this means is that we, because we are now joint heirs with Christ, can be sons with Christ of God. Now we must be careful first of all when saying this. Christ is the Son of God by nature, but as far as believers, we are sons only by adoption. Both of these still give the idea of sonship which exists in both adopted believers and Christ, the son. What is of most importance of this idea of being co-heirs with Christ is that we are only co-heirs with Him if we have evidence that we are united to Him. This is shown by what follows, “that we suffer with him.” First I must make clear this does not mean we suffer to the same extent in which Christ did. This means that we must suffer like that of Christ in the fact that we will endure hardship from the world. Being united in this kind of suffering will lead to the end of the verse when it says, “that we may be glorified together.” In adoption must also suffer like Christ being separate from that of the world, but we do have the victory being adopted, and the hopes of being glorified like that of Christ.

C.Interaction- What would that look like?
This makes Christ look beautiful in that because of his cross and good news, his brothers can suffer in the same sense to bring Him greater glory and greater obedience. Paul writes this section, I believe, because he wants to make mention of Christ to make this an encouragement to the believer. God’s inheritance is ours because of this adoption that Christ enabled us to have. This adoption is not doubtful; it is certainly 100 percent paid in full by the cross of Christ. The fact that we have to suffer is only an added blessing in becoming adopted: the fact that we get to suffer for being a part of the family of God, to relate with our brother, Jesus Christ should show us the ultimate suffering, the cross which Christ bore so that we could become a part of this adoption. This is how God governs his family, to enjoy partnership with Christ, in suffering for Christ! What makes it beautiful is that we can look towards our supreme sufferer, Christ, for hope, glory, and that that is where our inheritance lies, in the cross that He overcame to allow us to enter in to this adoption. The fact that we can walk down even a slightly similar path that Christ did should help maintain our focus as adopted heirs towards him and not shift our focus from him, like it so often does.