American Church in Paris -Sermons

American Church in Paris - Sermons

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A New Family

by Dr. Christine E. Blair, Associate Pastor

21 July 2002--- Ordinary 16

TEXT: Romans 8:14-17; Hebrews 11:8-16, Mark 3: 31-35

© 2002 C. E. Blair

Have you noticed how after you've had certain life experiences, some passages of scripture jump out at you with new emphasis and deeper meaning? That's what happened to me with all the adoption passages in the New Testament when we adopted our child almost 7 years ago. Many of you know our story: we went to China to get our baby daughter, an orphan, when she was 5 months old.

Gillian was placed in my arms on Dec 4,1995, and instantly, life changed for her. In just a few seconds, she went from:

the bottom of the planetary food chain to the top;

from thin rice milk to iron enriched soy formula;

from polluted water to purified water;

from one of the most repressive countries to one of the freest;

from being an outcast, to belonging.

In many ways our story as Christians is similar:

The Bible is full of references to adoption; the Christian story is a story of adoption and new citizenship. It is the story of how, in one quick instant, through baptism, we are adopted and made a full-fledged member of a new family.

So today I want to explore this central biblical idea with you, the idea of adoption through baptism to be made fully God's children. In adoption we receive: a new name, and a new family, and with those 2 things come an inheritance, a new citizenship, and a new culture.

First, however, I have often wondered: why do we need to be adopted by the God who created us, who birthed us (as Isaiah often put it), who is already father and mother to us?

In order to answer this question, we need to understand the group Paul is writing to: he is writing to people in Rome. They are not Jews, not already part of God's covenant of salvation. They had been running after false gods and powers and forces in the world that were leading them away from God and God's ways of acting. To them, this is incredible news: they too can join God's special family and turn their lives around, and thereby become direct recipients of God's love and God's promises.

You see, salvation for the Jews in not in question – it is assured; it is in great question for the rest of us, non-Jews. I stress this point, because today is the national day against anti-Semitism in France. Let us remember that those of the Jewish faith were, and continue to be, the first of God's children. The rest of us have to be adopted more formally.

In many ways, our lives today are like those of the ancient Romans to whom Paul wrote; many of us are seduced by the gods and forces of this world. We chase after financial security, good homes, and fine things; we worship nation and tribe instead of the one God -- thinking that these will make us happy. But we miss the mark: although financial stability, a decent place to live, good government and tribal heritage can all be good things, they are not to be worshiped. We need to return to our God and be adopted back into the family of faith, that we too might inherit that which is really lasting and eternal.

Thus we are offered this new chance to be adopted by God, through our baptism. Because of this adoption we get a new name and a new family and these have all sorts of interesting implications for our Christian life.

New Family with a New Name

Through our baptism we become part of a new family and a carry a new name that we must live up to:

So it was with our daughter: we named her, we went to court and got her a new birth certificate with us listed as her parents; she is now a Steinmetz-Blair, and she is expected to rejoice in that fact (which she does) and act in a way to honor us, her parents, which most often she does.

And so it is with us.

As I Peter tells us (2:10), "once [we] were not a people, but now [we] are God's people"; through our baptism we bear the name of our Lord, the Holy One, the very Son of God, the Christ: we are called Christians.

We have been added to a vast, loving family, and issued a new birth certificate that says that we have God as our parent: our baptism certificate from which we have received the name of "Christian." Our family has been very diverse from the beginning, as is evident from the beginning of the church at Pentecost, when Jews from all over the world who were in Jerusalem – Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Asia, Mesopotamia, Rome, etc. – all heard the gospel in their own language and became followers of the Christ.

Today also people from all over the world have become part of this family known as Christian. This church in Paris demonstrates the diversity of Christians more than any other I have served. Look around, your family is here: from Cameroon, Togo, Nigeria, Kenya, and from all over Africa; from the Philippines, China, Japan, and all over Asia; from Australia and the South Pacific and the Pacific coasts and all over North and South America; from France, and Britain, and Spain, and all over Europe... What a family! How rich in culture and language and knowledge, and best of all, how rich in the love of God! What a wonderful family to belong to! Wherever we go, we can find relatives and receive their love and help.

Now, when you are in a family you have to live in a way that brings honor to the family. In fact it is through love and compassion towards each other that we will bring honor to God and spread the news of God's love. Jesus said it bluntly: "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13: 34-35) Not only through our love, but also, Peter says, through our mercy and our honorable deeds (I Peter 2:10, 12) is how we live up to the name of "Christian" which we have now been given.

The interesting about being part of such a family is that, like being born, we don't have much choice: God put us together, and even when we see things differently and disagree we must find a way to get along and be a healthy family together. We in this church have managed, most of the time, to do that: to value our differences, learn from and care for each other. But it never hurts to be reminded how important our care for each other is!

An Inheritance

With a new family and a new name comes the resources, wealth, and inheritance of that family. Our text today in Romans proclaims that we "have received a spirit of adoption"; with our spirit we call God "Abba, Father" and are God's children, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Our daughter Gillian, who in China had little future and no inheritance now will get all our property upon our death. But even during her life she gets good housing, clothing, health care, the chance to live and travel in other countries, and good education. Even more, she gets our love, our affirmation of her personhood and her gifts which will give her confidence and power all her life.

So it is with us children, heirs of God, coheirs with Christ. We inherit all that God has to offer us: the power of the reign of God, the hope of the future, but also the love and affirmation and power necessary for life abundant now – even as we may share in the sufferings of Christ. We have all the riches, opportunities and love that come with God's inheritance.

Are you stunned yet? Have you grasped the magnitude of God's gift to us?

A Citizenship

Yet there is more: in addition to a new family, a new name, a rich inheritance, we receive citizenship in a new country.

Gillian has, for better or worse, inherited the culture of America: she likes American fast food, talks English like an American, relates to her parents like an American. She is verbal, independent, strong-willed, and spoiled with material goods like most Americans.

This new citizenship is probably why our hearts are restless, dissatisfied somewhat with all human governments and with any country in which we live. We are like Abraham, who in Hebrews 11 is described as looking "forward to the city hat has foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

We too are looking for our true homeland; we are a citizen of a different nation, the nation of God through our baptism. We long for the culture of God's city, a culture of love, mercy and justice for all. And this is the culture we are to cultivate and exhibit in our personal lives and in all our gatherings.

We have looked at what we get as adopted children, from the child's point of view. Now a word from the parents' side:

The adopted child is a gift entrusted to the parent for special care and love; as such a parent I know that I could not love more deeply, richly and fiercely than I love my daughter.

This is how God, who both birthed and adopted us, feels about each one of us. We are precious and loved, loved fiercely and tenderly, by God.

Rejoice in your baptism and in the family of which you have been made a part. Rejoice, and praise God, in all that you are and do.

Amen.

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