RESTORED Week 8 - No longer an orphan

Watch the Video for Week 8: “No longer orphans.”

Scriptures Mentioned Today

• 1 John 3:1
• John 14:18
• Romans 8:14-17

Your Notes from the Teaching

As symptoms help a doctor identify a disease, so does identifying the ways that orphans think help us see what orphan kind of thinking remains in us. Did any of the characteristics of orphans resonate with you? If so, don’t fret – you’re in good company. Every one of us whom the Father adopted came into the family some of that same mindset – at least in how we relate with God as our Father. Here is a list of those characteristics we shared during the teaching. See if you find any of these in your way of thinking about, or relating to God or His people. Orphans… • Get their identity from what they do not just whose they are. • Struggle with sibling rivalry – can become jealous when others are blessed or praised. • Believe everything must be earned – don’t trust things given for free (“there must be a catch.”) • Are prone to victim mentality (I’m not responsible for my actions because someone made me do it.) • Are self-preserving, and find it hard to be generous and open-hearted: Will avoid intimacy – especially with God. • Will sabotage relationships before there is a chance to become disappointed or rejected. • Never feel truly accepted – always feels like an outsider in group settings • Are afraid of the father’s discipline -- waiting for the hammer of justice and punishment to fall. Do any of these describe how you relate with God and His people? Perhaps it’s more than one? Don’t worry about it, just confess it to God. He knows about it, and He knows why you do it. Talk about this with your cohort, and pray for God to heal what he reveals.

I have called you by name; you are Mine! (Isaiah 43:1)

A few years ago, I was talking with a young girl who had just been adopted by her foster family. Her face was still wet with tears, and her smile crossed her entire face. “They actually did it!” she exclaimed to me. “They chose me. I have their last name now. I really have a family!!!”

Her sentiments reflect a strange truth: being adopted is special in a different (and perhaps even

more profound way than being born and raised in a biological family. Even though the latter is the most ideal for countless reasons, there is something extra special about being chosen, as adopted kids are. Imagine living in an orphanage, or in foster care, hoping one day someone will love you enough to say, “I have chosen you, and now you are my child. You are the same to me as one born from my own womb.”

We learn from scripture that Jesus is God’s “only begotten son.” (John 3:16) This just meaning that Jesus was the only natural born son of God Himself – not created, but rather emerging from within God like a baby emerges from his/ her mother’s womb. We humans, on the other hand, were created from the dust of the earth in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27), and were adopted into His eternal family.

Since God makes no mistakes, He made the right choice when He chose and adopted you to become His child. You carry His name, and you are looking more like your Father every day! In moments of weakness and failure, and in moments when we struggle to trust our new adoptive Father in Heaven, it helps to remember this truth. Like Jesus said: “You did not choose me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16).

He has called you by name. You are His. And there’s nothing you can do to change His mind about that.

Soak in that truth for a while.

“What about sin?!?” an elderly saint asked after hearing us share about the overwhelming grace of God. Her concern was not an overly religious, justice-oriented one. Just a sincere concern that we may give the impression that it’s now okay to just do whatever we want – no matter how harmful to ourselves and others (which is why sin is, well, sin). Interestingly, Paul was accused of that very same thing, and expressed his frustration in the letter to the Romans: “why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), "Let us do evil that good may come"? (Romans 3:8)

We would rather be accused of preaching grace too strongly then going back to the dead works of striving under dead religion, but what about sin?

In our passage from Romans 8:14-17, we learn that we have a spirit in us that cries, Abba, Father. This Spirit is given, not just to comfort us in our adopted status, but also to conform us to the image of our Father! For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. We have not forgotten that there is a Way to live a life of righteousness in Christ. We have just traded in a failed way (hard work/ religious striving) for a new and better way (being led by the Spirit).

We will do a deep dive into what being led by the Spirit looks like in day to day life soon but for now, here are some helpful tips in being led by the Spirit of God:

1. If you feel an “impulse” to do something righteous (or avoid doing something unrighteous) follow that impulse.

2. If you feel deep regret (even grief) after engaging in sinful behavior – take it as proof that the Spirit of God is at work in you! Repent quickly and ask God for help.

3. Study and memorize the Word of God – it will renew your mind, and teach you what the Spirit of God sounds like when you read what He has already said.