by Garrett Glende

Last week we looked at what happens in justification, the act of God in which we are declared righteous before Him. As tremendous as this doctrine may be, it still does not secure us all the benefits of Christ’s redemptive work. Justification only deals with our relationship with God in a legal sense, but the personal aspect of redemption comes when God adopts us into His family.

Throughout the Bible, we are told that God saves sinners into His own family and calls them sons and daughters. In other places, those who believe in Him are said to be “children of God.” John writes, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). The distinctive nature of adoption is that God initiates an intimate relationship with sinners. In this verse John is directly connecting the love of God to our adoption. Thus, adoption is first and foremost an act of love by God. There is no work done by us in this process. Just as a human family adopts a child, God is the one who initiates the work and sees it through. Grudem calls God’s part as Father “the role that conveys the highest privileges of fellowship with God for eternity.” While He is still our creator, judge, and Lord, the reality of God as our Father is what allows us to take part in a vast amount of blessings.

One of these privileges is that, as adopted sons and daughters, we get to be a part of a new spiritual family with our new brothers and sisters. This idea of a family should be at the center of our relationships within the local church body. We see this played out in the life of the church when Paul tells Timothy to “not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity” (1 Tim 5:1-2). The bond that has been created through our adoption into God’s family brings the whole body into deeper relationships with one another, even to the point where older men are treated like fathers and younger women are to be as sisters. Because we are all members of the same family, shouldn’t our interactions be distinct from those of the world? There should be a noticeable difference in the way that relationships within the church function. Being united in Christ and adopted by God, even the most opposite of people can experience deep Christian love and fellowship. The person who has nothing in common with us is still our brother or sister in Christ. We should love, serve, and genuinely care for this person because they are truly a part of our family. Sadly, this is not often the case, as the socially awkward and less personable people are left out and uncared for. We hear of another church member’s struggles, but our hearts do not grieve appropriately. A brother or sister experiences a great joy, but we fail to rejoice with them. Would this be the case if we truly saw them as members of our family? God has uniquely created and chosen each one of us to be a part of a local church and placed us in relationships with people for a reason. We now have a special opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others so that they would be encouraged in their Christian walks and learn to know and love God more. So the next time we all walk into church together, may we not forget that we are gathering with God’s family, our very own brothers and sisters.