GOD'S GREAT NEWS for MAN'S GREAT PROBLEM - Romans 1-8

An Orphan and Her Adopting Father

Some years ago, I took a ten-day journey to Indonesia to teach a pastors' conference. The man I stayed with on my visit was a famous pastor in West Timor, named Pastor Eli. He and his wife were highly respected leaders on that island: she was related to Indonesian royalty, and he had been a famous boxer before he came to Christ, and a dynamic visionary since, establishing numerous churches on his own island and several nearby islands as well.

About ten years before I was in Indonesia, there was a large-scale civil war on the island of Timor. East Timor, which was largely communist, was battling against West Timor, which was more westernized, more democratic. During the civil war on Timor, Pastor Eli had joined up with the West Timor army as a chaplain. One day during the height of the war, Pastor Eli was visiting some troops stationed in East Timor when he went into a small East Timorese village. Off to the side of the road, he spied a starving, half-clothed two-year-old child laying in the grass. He stopped his jeep and went over to her. He gently gathered her tiny figure in his powerful arms, the muscled arms of a former boxer. He inquired about her in the village. He discovered that her parents had both been killed. She was an orphan, left for dead. Moved by a great compassion, he took this half-dead child back with him to his home in West Timor. He and his wife nursed her back to health in their own home.

Later, once she was on her feet, they adopted her into their family. By the time I visited them in 1988, I saw before me this amazingly gracious and beautiful young girl named Etta. Her smile is one of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen: a bright row of white teeth. It is a winning smile, a carefree smile, a joyous smile. I will never forget how Pastor Eli adored that child. I couldn't tell who beamed brightest when she was gathered into his lap: joyous daughter or proud father. There was something awesome about this child: snatched from death, gathered up by a strong and compassionate father, healed, fed, cherished, and finally adopted into a position of honor in a famous family. I wish I could describe how much she was loved and accepted by her new father. The glory of Etta's adoption will shine in my memory for the rest of my life. In fact, I think she is the best living illustration I've ever seen of what Paul proclaims to us today in Rom. 8:14, 15: how we believers are placed into God's family as adult sons, children with great honor and respect. We are not orphans doomed to die, but beloved children gathered into the strong arms of a Father who will never let us go, who accepts us unconditionally as His beloved, who gives us His great Name. May our God open our eyes to receive and bathe in the love of such a remarkable Father.

Yearning for a Father

This passage today speaks to one of our deepest heart cries as human beings. No matter who we are or what our background is, each of us has a deep well of desire reaching to the underground of our soul. Each of us yearns for a Father. Each of us hopes to have a father's blessing, a father's approval, a father's acceptance, a father's unconditional love. Fueling our desire is the raw fact that most of us received little or none of these blessings from our earthly fathers. Many of us grew up in a home like the one Reba McEntire sings of in the song The Greatest Man I Never Knew:

The greatest man I never knew
Lived just down the hall
And every day we'd say hello,
But never touched at all.
He was in his paper,
I was in my room.
How was I to know he thought I hung the moon?

The greatest man I never knew
Came home late every night.
He never had too much to say;
Too much was on his mind.
I never really knew him,
And now it seems so sad,
Everything he gave to us took all he had.

Then the days turned into years
And the memories to black and white.
He grew cold like an old winter wind
Blowing across my life.

The greatest words I never heard
I guess I'll never hear.
The man I thought could never die
'S been dead almost a year.
Oh, he was good at business
But there was business left to do.
He never said he loved me;
Guess he thought I knew.

What a heartbreak!! What a heartbreak because these pained words describe so many of our homes, so many of our earthly fathers' failings. But over and against the lack of relationship Reba described for us is the depth of eternal relationship with a marvelous Father as Paul describes it in Rom. 8:14, 15.

The Crowning Image of our Identity in Jesus Christ: Adoption as Sons - 8:14, 15

Thus far in the book of Romans, we have been presented with three very powerful images of our deep, eternal union with Christ: the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 6:1-11, the image of a bond-slave relationship with God in 6:15-23, and the image of our marriage to the risen Christ in 7:1-6. But here in 8:14, 15, Paul presents before us the coronal image of our relationship with God as God our Father sees it from His fatherly perspective: our indwelling Holy Spirit is the Spirit of our adoption as adult sons into the royal family of God. Let me encourage you to meditate on these two verses and what they say about God's incredible eternal commitment of fatherly love to you ... it will undoubtedly change your life!!

Paul begins in vs. 14 by saying "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." This is Paul's transition between the definitional truths of Rom. 8:4-11, where the Christian is defined as the one indwelled by the Spirit of God, and his most powerful proof of the sonship of the Christian in vs. 15. Paul has been making it very clear that the Spirit is the key to the Christian life thus far in Romans chapter eight: He is the key to our new life in Christ in vs. 2; He is the key to our freedom from sin and death in vs. 2; He is the key to our mysterious fulfillment of the Law in vs. 4; He is the One by whose presence inside we are defined as Christians in vs. 9; He is the key to our daily experience of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ in vs. 10, 11; and He is the key to our victory over sin and temptation, when we face it not alone but in intimate communion with Him. The Spirit is indeed the key to the Christian life; His presence is the defining truth that brings Christ home to us, making us Christians indeed. It is these definitional truths that Paul encapsulates in a final definitional truth about the Christian in vs. 14: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."

Being Led by the Spirit

But just what does it mean to be led by the Spirit? Don't we all want to know that? To develop our understanding of what it means to be led by the Spirit, I want to look at the firstborn Son of the Father, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ defines the man who is led by the Spirit, and Jesus by definition is the first and foremost Son of God. The text which displays Jesus' infilling with the Spirit, His divinely defined Sonship as a result of that infilling, and His being led by the Spirit, can be found in Matthew 3:16-4:1: "And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him [Mark says literally "into Him" in Mark 1:10], and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.' Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." God illustrates in His firstborn Son exactly the truth Paul tells us here: God's Sons are defined as those infilled with the Spirit of God, and that Spirit of God within them leads them to walk as sons of God. It is interesting to note that the immediate leading of the Spirit was into the wilderness of suffering, which is also where Paul is leading us to in vs. 17.

So, this is how Jesus was led by the Spirit as the premier Son of God. But what about Paul? Paul understands this principle from intimate personal experience. We studied in Rom. 1:8-15 how Paul had for years been yearning to visit Rome and strengthen the Roman believers. He had made plans in that direction, and he had dreamed many dreams about preaching in the center of the known world. All roads led to Rome, and Paul thought his road did too. But Paul had not yet gone to Rome, for one reason: he was a man led by the Spirit, and the Spirit had not yet given him the okay to travel to Rome. Against all human reason, the greatest preacher of his age had been denied the greatest platform. But the Spirit knows best. Had Paul traveled to Rome, he might not have written the greatest statement of the gospel of God ever recorded: the book of Romans we are now studying!

Paul's ministry was characterized by the leading of the Spirit. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Acts 16, when Paul wanted to go anywhere but west, while the Spirit had ordained that westward to Macedonia he would go. Luke describes the torturous process whereby they were led by the Spirit in Acts 16:6-10: "And they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and when they had come to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them." Thus, Paul was led by the Spirit in not going to Rome, but writing to them instead; and Paul was led by the Spirit in going the one direction he did not expect to go ... westward into Macedonia.

From the lives of Jesus and Paul, we learn what it means to be led by the Spirit. First of all, the leading of the Spirit begins when the Spirit indwells the believer, and the believer lets the Spirit have control. Like the person riding a tandem bicycle with Christ, the leading of the Spirit happens when Christ takes the lead seat and directs the journey. Our control is lost, but we gain Christ when we let the Spirit lead. Second, the Spirit often leads where man by himself would not choose to go, if left to his own wisdom. Jesus was immediately led into the trackless wilderness of Judea, to fast for 40 days and then be tempted by Satan. Apart from the leading of the Spirit, He would most likely have stayed in Galilee. The Spirit also led Jesus day-by-day, month-by-month, year-by-year toward the cross: and at the end Jesus cried out to God that that cup would pass from Him. Paul desperately wanted to go to Rome to preach; but the Spirit led him to write an epistle to Rome, and in the end Paul wound up in Rome to witness and be martyred there. I prayed a great deal about my next pastoral assignment, and coming to the South never entered my mind ... until that day I spoke to Tom on the phone. In the flash of an instant, I knew this was where we were to be. Not my plan, but God's best. Sometimes it takes several false starts and many hours of prayer to discern the leading of the Spirit; sometimes we know His leading in the twinkling of an eye. The leading of the Spirit is like the indwelling of the Spirit: we know it to be true, but the mechanics of it are mysterious to us; we know the fact of His presence changes our lives eternally, and the fact of His leading demonstrates that change in space and time. Being led by the Spirit is as much a mysterious fact as being indwelled by Him.

In the end, the mysterious fact of being led by the Spirit becomes living reality in our lives when we listen to the Spirit's leading and obey Him. It all boils down to hearing and obeying the Spirit. Jesus listened to the Spirit and went to the wilderness to win the victory over Satan; Jesus listened to the Spirit and obeyed Him in the garden of Gethsemane, winning the victory on the cross. Paul listened when the Spirit said "No!" to north and east on his missionary journey, but when the vision came he heard and obeyed, going west to Macedonia. The Spirit is leading the sons of God; that is a fact. We must listen to Him, and obey Him, taking up our cross and following Jesus Christ by the Spirit.

Finally, the leading of the Spirit is perhaps the ultimate defining characteristic of the son of God. Jesus alluded to this in His quizzical conversation with Nicodemus in John 3:6-8: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Those led by the wind of God's Spirit blowing in and through them to refresh the world are indeed sons of God, born of the Spirit, born of God.

And how wonderful the leading of the Spirit is!! Hopefully you all know that one of my highest goals in life is to truly love my wife. I pray all the time that I might love her in word and deed. This week, I prayed that the Spirit would lead me to remember the 12th anniversary of the day I asked Blythe to marry me. I asked her to marry me underneath blooming wisteria in a park in Palo Alto at sunset on March 31. So, I prayed on March 30 and when I got up on March 31 that the Lord would remind me to pick some wisteria sometime during that day and surprise Blythe with it. As I was driving home that afternoon, the Spirit reminded me to pick some wild wisteria growing near the junction of Batesville and Woodruff roads. I pulled the truck over and picked the wisteria. Then I hurried home, and was able to sneak through the door and place the wisteria on Blythe's pillow. About half an hour later, Blythe was in the bathroom near our bed, and she called out to me, "Guess you forgot ..." and I answered her "Him you have not seen ... (the theme from last week's Easter message)." She thought I was being obscure, so she said, "Guess you forgot ..." once again. I said, "Him you have not seen." Then she came out of the bathroom, put her arms around my neck, and again said, "Guess you forgot something." But then I silently directed my eyes toward the wisteria on the pillow. Her face beamed!! It was the perfect romantic moment, and the Spirit of God led me into it and orchestrated the whole event far more perfectly than I ever could! I say this not to brag in any way, because I know how far short I so often fall. I have come to know my Lord is the best romancer, and by following His leading, I find that I have the joy of loving my wife. The leading of the Spirit is mysterious and glorious.

Sons Live Beyond Fear

Paul moves from the definitional truth of vs. 14 to paint a stark contrast in vs. 15. Verse 15 draws the contrast between a fictional, rhetorical "spirit" and the indwelling Spirit of God. Paul initiates this contrast by telling us, "For you have not received a spirit of bond-slavery again unto fear." This first "spirit" is the antithesis of the Holy Spirit. This is virtually identical to Paul's rhetorical device in II Tim. 1:7, with his reference to the "spirit of timidity." Paul tells us of this rhetorical "spirit" in order to illustrate for us what the Holy Spirit is NOT.

The Spirit of God is the opposite of a spirit of bond-slavery to fear. Paul returns to the familiar imagery of bond-slavery, but in this case in its negative aspect, where the bond-slave remains enslaved to a tyrannical master out of fear of the master's wrathful displeasure. I heard this week of a pastor and his wife who are struggling with his slavish mentality regarding God, and her son-like responsiveness to God. The pastor believes God to be a potentate of harsh judgment, greatly to be feared. His wife has come to know God as a loving Father, full of forgiveness and grace. In that home lives a slave who works as a pastor, and a woman who relates to God like a prized son; one who is free in a Father's love, and one who is bound by fear.

It compels me that Paul isolates one descriptor that utterly contradicts the indwelling Spirit of God: a spirit of bond-slavery unto FEAR. Paul tells us that the opposite effect of what the Holy Spirit produces in a person is FEAR. The person who walks in fear, whose thoughts are filled with fear, whose decisions are motivated out of fear, who lives life hedging his bets against the "what if?" scenarios the enemy constantly weaves for us, is not walking/thinking/deciding by the Spirit. Rather than being free in the Spirit, that person is locked in bondage to fear, constrained by his or her own fleshly limitations. When I consider Christians today, we are primarily a FEARFUL people: we are fearful of rejection for our faith; we are fearful of our future in such a wicked world; we are fearful that our country is going down the tubes; we are fearful for our monetary future with the deficit growing; we are fearful of the power of the gay lobby; we are fearful, fearful, fearful. But in this fear we walk not according to the Spirit, but according to the flesh. We live like slaves of a tyrant rather than sons of a gracious King.

But when we come to know the realities behind the great LOVE poured forth within us through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5), we discover the only perfect Fatherly love. And it is the perfect love of the Father for us, poured out into us like a mighty flood, that is brought home to us by the person of the indwelling Spirit. And this perfect love of our Father for us casts out all our fear. The rest of the passage describes the love of the Father for the adopted son, that perfect, eternal love that casts out all fear. In sum, we have not received a spirit of bond-slavery unto fear ... but the true Spirit of God embodying a perfect Fatherly love casting out all fear.

A friend of mine tells a wonderful story about this transition from fear to the joy of the loving father seen here in vs. 15. He was travelling in Israel, visiting Jerusalem. One afternoon they were relaxing by the pool at the hotel. My friend noticed a little Jewish boy swimming in the pool with his father. The father and son had been frolicking and playing water games in the pool together. Then, during one of the games when the boy was at one end of the pool and the father at the other, the father was called out of the pool for a message. So, the father got out of the pool and went a little distance away from the pool to talk with someone. But the son, left alone in the pool, swam to where the father had been just a few moments before. Not seeing the father, and being in a strange place all alone, the boy began to be afraid. He looked around, and still couldn't spot his father. He started calling the familiar Hebrew name for father: "Abba?? Abba??" He looked frantically all around the pool. Then he spotted his father's back, and all fear departed. "Abba!!" the boy cried as he got out of the pool and ran toward his father, who then turned around and gathered him into his arms. The boy embraced his father tightly, saying "Abba!" one more time in his ear. From the fear of abandonment and isolation to the joy of intimate relationship with our Abba. This is the transition brought about in our lives by our indwelling Spirit, who leads us always to our Abba.

Paul transitions into the last half of vs. 15 with the powerful contrast between the slave who is fearful and the son who is loved: "For you have not received a spirit of slavery unto fear again BUT you received a spirit of adoption as adult sons in whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" The contrast between the rhetorical "spirit" of the first clause and this true Holy Spirit is forcefully indicated by the strong alla in Greek. So, who was the Spirit we received? He is a "spirit of adoption as adult sons." That is the literal term. But what does it mean?

The Glories of Adoption as Adult Sons

In order to understand just what this strange term means, we will have to determine what "adoption as adult sons" meant in the Roman culture of Paul's time. For this, I will use two examples. First, for the exhaustive background, I will refer to William Barclay's commentary on Romans. Then I will describe the scene painted in Ben-Hur regarding Judah Ben-Hur's adoption into the family of the Roman Admiral Arius.

To quote [extensively!] from William Barclay: "Roman adoption was always rendered more serious and more difficult by the Roman 'patria potestas.' The 'patria potestas' was the father's power over his family; that power was absolute; it was actually the power of absolute disposal and control, and in the early days it was actually the power of life and death ... No matter how old he was, he was still under the 'patria potestas' in the absolute possession, and under the absolute control, of his father. Obviously this made adoption into another family a very difficult and a very serious step. In adoption a person had to pass from one 'patria potestas' to another. He had to pass out of the possession and control of one father into the equally absolute possession and control of another. There were two steps. The first was known as 'mancipatio,' and it was carried out by a symbolic sale, in which copper and scales were symbolically used. Three times the symbolism of sale was carried out. Twice the father symbolically sold his son, and twice he bought him back; and the third time he did not buy him back, and thus the 'patria potestas' was held to be broken. After the sale there followed a ceremony called 'vindicatio.' The adopting father went to the 'praetor,' one of the Roman magistrates, and presented a legal case for the transference of the person to be adopted into his 'patria potestas.' When all this was finalizeded then the adoption was complete. Clearly this was a serious and impressive step.

"But it is the consequences of adoption which are most significant for the picture that is in Paul's mind. There were four main consequences. (i) The adopted person lost all rights in his old family, and gained all the rights of a fully legitimate son in his new family. In the most literal sense, and in the most binding legal way, he got a new father. (ii) It followed that he became heir to his new father's estate. Even if other sons were afterwards born, who were real blood relations, it did not affect his rights. He was inalienably co-heir with them. (iii) In law, the old life of the adopted person was completely wiped out. For instance, legally all debts were cancelled; they were wiped out as if they had never been. The adopted person was regarded as a new person entering into a new life with which the past had nothing to do. (iv) In the eyes of the law the adopted person was literally and absolutely the son of his new father.

Similarly, the movie version of Ben Hur provides us with profoundly stirring visual images of what it meant to be adopted into an upper class Roman family. Through a strange turn of events, Judah Ben Hur, a Jewish galley slave on a Roman warship, saves the life of the Roman Admiral Arius during a massive battle at sea. The Romans won the battle, so Arius returned to Rome a hero. During his great victory march through Rome to the seat of the Emperor Tiberias, Judah Ben Hur rode beside him on his victory chariot. Then, shortly thereafter, Arius appears before the entire senate and the Emperor to plead the case for releasing Ben Hur as a slave and adopting Ben Hur as his adult son. The Emperor and the senate acquiesce to this public defense made by Arius. Then, the next scene shows a huge gala celebration thrown in the expansive main hall at Arius' house, complete with musicians, dancers, Roman dignitaries and a huge throng of Arius' friends and family. At the height of the festivities, Arius commands that the music stop, and he calls Ben Hur forward. He then tells the whole audience how this young man has given him great joy, the pride of a father in the accomplishments of a son by winning the chariot races in the great Circus of Rome, and he tells the audience that the entire reason for the huge party is that this young man has now been officially adopted into Arius' family. Young Arius then steps forward, and his new father takes his ancient family signet ring off his finger and places it on the finger of Young Arius. From that moment forward, all the great power and wealth and lands of Arius in Rome belong to and will be inherited by Young Arius. At that open declaration of adoption, Young Arius is publicly identified with his new father by his new father, and is given the father's ancestral ring. Nothing could be a more powerful public statement of love and acceptance for the newly adopted son.

Before we move on, let me say a word to the women. The beauty of the imagery of adoption is that it applies equally to women and to men. The picture here is of adoption as adult sons, and what that meant in Paul's culture, applied equally to the female believers to whom Paul was writing as well as the male believers. The picture here is one of unconditional acceptance, public displays of love and approval, and overwhelming demonstrations of a new father's commitment to the adopted son. This applies to both men and women in the family of God, so don't be put off by the idea of "adoption as adult sons," as though that only applied to men. The principle behind it applies to both men and women equally!!

Now, having laid out these examples of adoption as sons from Roman times, what do they teach us?

o The father adopting the adult son publicly purchased him (like the
public display of the cross), publicly argued for the adoption before
the Roman government at whatever level, and then publicly
presented the new son as a full-fledged adult member of the family.
The PUBLIC commitment on the father's part is highly significant.
This father WANTS this son!

o There was a total, legally binding break with the previous family. The old
life of the adopted person was legally wiped off the books. Judah
Ben Hur, a Jewish galley slave, became Young Arius by Roman law.
All debts were cancelled; it was absolute newness of life.

o The adopted son was accepted as a full-fledged member of the inner circle
of the family, regardless of the blood line of previous or future sons,
and was guaranteed by the law to be a co-heir.

o In the eyes of the law, the new son was a son literally, absolutely and
eternally. There was no way to break this tie. There is no break in this
literal, absolute and eternal sonship!

o Implicitly, there is the solemn expectation that the adult son will assume
the responsibilities of this new position!

Thus, in this grandest of all the images Paul has thus far presented to prove our identity and intimacy with God through Jesus Christ, we now see the grandeur of God our Father's public commitment to us, public advocacy on our behalf, how He initiates the public ceremony identifying us with Him, how all our breaks with former family (sinful humanity) are broken, how our old life is utterly wiped clean, how the adopted son is in the inner circle of the new family as a joint-heir, and how this new sonship is literal, absolute, and eternal!!!! In light of all this, let the new son step forward to assume his new responsibilities, with dignity, honor, joy and resolve!!! This is the final image whereby Paul coalesces much of what has been stated thus far in Romans, and by this image we are installed forever with great honor in the inner circle of God's family!!!! What a concluding image to present here in the final chapter!!! What an unshakable basis for the doctrine of our eternal security as adult sons forever placed in the inner circle of the royal family of God!!!

Last Father's day, I came across this tribute written by a daughter for her father, entitled Adopted Love: "I am a statistic of sorts. The man who raised me is not my biological father. When I was newborn, my 'real' father left us and remarried shortly afterwards. My mother was faced with the task of raising a child alone. I am sure that first year, no matter how good a baby she said I was, was taxing and emotionally draining. But, God allowed my mother to meet the most wonderful man in the world. He was a widower who had a four-year-old son. The met, fell in love, and got married. We were an instant family. Of course, because I was only 15 months old I don't remember not being part of the family. Daddy was always Daddy and Harry was always my brother.

It wasn't until I started school that I noticed a difference. People who knew I had a 'step-father' and 'step-brother' weren't always very kind. One boy in particular seemed to enjoy having this great knowledge about my family. He would tease me and make cruel comments. His remarks hurt, but I knew my "Daddy" and my "brother" loved me. Then a wonderful thing happened. I was adopted! The man who had chosen to marry my mother, who had let me call him Daddy, who had loved me like his own, gave me his name, legally! No longer was I pretending to be a Rowe, now I really was one. Now I really belonged to Daddy. All the benefits, all the responsibilities, all the honor of belonging, they were mine. And Daddy, my gracious Daddy, kept on loving me, just like he always had. Isn't that just like God?" Yes it is!!!

Conclusion: Our Hearts's Desire Met in our Father God

We have spoken today of one of our hearts' deepest desires: to know the unconditional love and acceptance of a father. To have a father's blessing. Little Etta found a father's love in the arms of Pastor Eli in Indonesia. Reba's heart song yearned for her father to say the precious words, "I love you." In these two verses today, our Father God in heaven, our "Abba!," tells us very simply: "I love you, My beloved child." I cannot say it better than the children's song we often sing in a round in Sunday School:

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us,
Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us ...
That we should be called the sons of God
That we should be called the sons of God.

Behold our Father's perfect fatherly love and acceptance of us, forever, into His royal family circle. Behold His love, bask in it, rejoice in it, and step up to follow the leading of the Spirit by listening to and obeying Him as befits the royal prince and princess of so great a King!

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