Romans 8:22-39

Good Day!

 

I love the Biblical metaphor of adoption.  God uses some 20+ metaphors to describe the gospel in ways that we can understand it.  Having adopted 3 children so far, the adoption metaphor is near and dear to my heart.  But currently we are just weeks away from the labor, birth, and delivery of our first “biological” child.  I am beginning to understand in a more tangible way the “groaning as in the pains of childbirth”.  There is such an anticipation of this new life to begin, yet we are aware that prior to that new life are 9+ months of discomfort, pain, and struggle.  It is interesting that having pain in childbearing is a direct result of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin because our life on earth is filled with similar experiences of discomfort, pain, and struggle yet with the hope of new life with God in heaven! 

 

In both adoption and in natural birth, the child did nothing of any merit to warrant being included in the family.  The choice and work to be included in the family was the choice and work of the parents.  This too is comparable to spiritual things.  God is the one who chose us and did the work to redeem us!  God is the one who in all things works for our good!  He didn’t even spare His own son for us!  God foreknew, predestined, called, justified, and glorified us!  The Spirit intercedes for us helps us in our weakness.  And Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  We can say with the apostle Paul, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  

 

God loves us like a parent loves a child.  Think of all the good things earthly parents do for their children.  My mom was the mother of three sons, I feel bad for her now.  We were mostly good kids, but we must have driven her crazy at times.  But even when we were driving her up the wall (as she put it) she still loved us.  Even when we left the house, went away to college, got married, and moved to a state that doesn’t root for the Vikings, our parents still love us.  Nothing can separate us from our parent’s love.  And nothing can separate us from God’s love for us either.  

 

Some may balk at this idea because we want to think we played some part in our salvation.  We want to think that we brought something of merit to God.  We want to try to balance the scales.  That way we can feel better about ourselves and the things we have done for God.  In the business world, a person can work their way up in the company by being competent and by doing excellent work.  Yet even the CEO can lose their job if they stop performing at a high level.  There is always some sense of being motivated by fear.  In the business world, you are a slave to performance.  Now compare this illustration with the biblical illustration of a family.  I don’t really have any fear of not being a Berge if I mess up or do something stupid.  Yet I work hard to please my parents because I am motivated by love and am eternally grateful to them for keeping me alive and well fed for the first 18 years of my life.  This is a much better illustration of our relationship with God.  We have complete trust in Him and in His love for us!  No matter what comes our way in this life, we know that God will get us through and also we have eternity with Him to anticipate. 

 

Won’t some people abuse the gospel though as a permission to sin?  Check out Romans 6:1-4 for God’s answer to that question.

 

 God Bless,

 

Pastor Adam Berge