Series: The Book of Ephesians
Title: Adoption
Bible Passage: Ephesians 1:5-14
1. Believers have gone through a status change, from sinners to saints and are left in this world—“in Ephesus”
2. To fulfill their purpose in this world, God has enabled them with spiritual blessings
a. Election—a careful choice when God knew fully well the other options
i. Chosen unto God
ii. To be different from the rest iii. To be blameless before God iv. To be God’s children
I. Adoption (verse 5 … He did this by predestining us to adoption as his legal children through Jesus Christ)
1. God the Father adopted the believers to be His children who were not originally His children
2. According to the rules of adoption, the adopter becomes the new father
3. When the adoption is complete, the former father has no authority over the adoptee
4. The adoptee does not have any obligation towards his/her biological father but is loyal to the adopted father
5. The adopted child takes the position of a natural-born child with regard to matters related to the family
6. The adoptee acquires a new status, privilege, and inheritance—adoption comes with a lot of benefits
7. “Unto Him” signifies an entry into a privileged position “through Jesus Christ” cf. Eph 2:4-8
a. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us,
b. 5 even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!
c. 6 and he raised us up together with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
d. 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus
8. “According to the good pleasure of His will”
a. When God brings out His plan, He takes delight in it
b. In other words, God is abundantly happy to have you and I as His children
II. Adoption happened with two important steps:
1. Redemption
a. The believers were once “sons of disobedience” and “children of wrath” (Eph 2:2-3) and their old father was devil (cf. John 8:38, 44)
b. As a result, they face two predicaments: first, their continued life of misery and second, God’s punishment for their sin and transgression
c. This requires an intervention—a release from their slavery/predicament (snatching away from a cruel situation!) and cancellation of sin’s obligation
d. In such situations, release of a slave requires a payment (a price)—we call this process “buy back” or “paying a ransom”
e. God took care of it “through His blood”
i. It is the cost of the ransom (cf. Lev 17:11; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 18-19) that secured their release of the captive
ii. God has been propitiated in Christ’s death
iii. The obligation/punishment has been taken care—it is the release of the captive
f. The Father’s act of believers’ redemption points to “the riches of His grace”—the overabundance of grace
g. This redemption and freedom are not for self-consumption, but to benefit God
h. It is to understand God’s plan (verse 9-10), which is “to unite under one head all things in Christ, the things in heaven and things on earth” (verse 10)
i. Christ is both the redeemer and uniter of all things in heaven and on earth
2. The Holy Spirit, the seal of God’s ownership on those adopted (verse 13)
a. The word “seal”refers to “a seal of security,” “a seal to authenticate,” or “to denote identification of ownership”
b. This “seal” points to God’s inheritance
i. This seal is per God’s promise (verse 13b, Ezek 36:26-271; 37:142; Joel 2:28-293; Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8)
ii. It happens at the time of:
– Hearing the Gospel
– Responding to it
c. It assures the security of the believers that they belong to God
d. The Holy Spirit sealing is just the down payment (verse 14; cf. Gen 38:17, 18, 20)—it’s the guarantee of future inheritance
Principles:
1. A lack of proper understanding of the Father can foster slave mindset in the believers—we call this “the older son’s” mindset
2. A lack of proper understanding of the richness of the new relationship, the believers may long for their previous life of slavery, which we call “return to Egypt tendency”
3. Though the previous father knows that the believers are safe in the hands of God the Father, when occasions permit, he will try to usurp his authority on those who are already redeemed
4. Every believer is an inheritance of God the Father, who claims His rightful ownership over them
Take Away:
Live as a child of God who is your Father by renouncing slave mindset and leveraging your status change