You don’t often hear sermons about adoption. As someone who grew up attending church, I cannot remember hearing a single one. And as a kid, I never gave adoption much more than a passing thought. Never once did I consider the deeper role that adoption would play in my own family or the deeper meaning it would reveal concerning my relationship with God. But as an adoptive father, I have found that the theme of adoption has gripped my life and my thoughts in ways I never imagined possible.

Adoption is not simply a creation of mankind. It is more than a method for growing a family. And it’s more than a way to stop the biological clock from ticking so loudly or a bandage to soothe the ache for a child. It is more than simply providing a home for a waiting child. At a deeper level the church itself has an innate culture of redemptive adoption.

I have often told my son that – out of all the children in the world – we got to pick him. I tell him that so that he will know how special we think he is and to remind him that we love him deeply. But those words occasionally come ringing back in my ears to remind me that God picked me just like that. We often forget that fact as we go through life at a breakneck pace. And we often think about God from a self-centered perspective, thinking that we made the choice to be His, but in reality, we didn’t choose God, He chose us.

The apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the church at Ephesus that God chose us and predestined us to adoption before the beginning of time. “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm in Christ. For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will – to the praise and glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly beloved Son” (Ephesians 1:3-5 NET).

God chose us before the foundation of the world.  Before the world was even created God put together a plan that included you and me. He knew that we would choose to sin, therefore ruining our chances at having a relationship with Him. We would orphaned ourselves from God by choosing to embrace sin. God also knew that He would have to send His son, Jesus, to get us out of our mess. Through relationship with Jesus, we are adopted into God’s family. John Piper says that “Adoption is bigger than the universe!” Adoption not only happened before the creation of the universe, but our adoption was the intended purpose of the universe.

Scripture gives us a picture of our adoption day in Christ: “And when you heard the word of truth – when you believed in Christ – you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13 NET).

This concept of our adoption being sealed (or completed) immediately reminds me of the day that my family went to court to complete the adoption of our son. The judge made an official declaration to the world that our son was ours alone and belonged to nobody else. He put an official seal of approval on our adoption. The Bible tells us the same thing – God declares that we are His children by putting His seal of approval on our adoption.

God Cares about Orphans

God makes it clear in His word that He has a heart for the orphan:

“He is a father to the fatherless and an advocate for widows” (Psalm 68:5 NET).

“I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you” (John 14:18 NET).

“The Lord protects those residing outside their native land; he lifts up the fatherless and the widow, but he opposes the wicked” (Psalm 146:9 NET).

“You defend the fatherless and oppressed so that mere mortals may no longer terrorize them” (Psalm 10:18 NET).

God cheers for those considered underdogs: orphans, widows, foreigners living in a strange land. And He cares for those who have nobody else on their side or find themselves oppressed or coerced into difficult circumstances. Orphans around the world are still being exploited every day. Slavery, sexual exploitation and physical abuse are real issues for orphans who have nobody to look after them. UNICEF puts the count of orphans at 143 million children world-wide. Many of those have been orphaned by disease or war. There are 129,000 children waiting for adoption from foster care in the US right now.

God Calls His People to Care about Orphans (… that means you too!)

God care about orphans, and asks his followers to care about them too.

“You must not afflict any orphan or widow” (Exodus 22:22 NET).

“Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for the orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27 NET).

“Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless! Vindicate the oppressed and the suffering!” (Psalm 82:3 NET).

“Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow!” (Isaiah 1:17 NET).

What does that mean for you? You may doubt your capability to adopt, give or serve. But the options are wide open to you. God does not looking for specific qualification from His servants, but simply a willingness and availability to serve. Look at these different ways that people are serving orphans with HISchild Orphan Care Ministry right now:

• Some have been called by God to adopt.
• Some have been called to serve as foster families.
• Some cannot adopt or foster but serve adoptive and foster families in many ways.
• Some donate funds so that others may be able to afford adoption.
• Some donate funds to assist orphanages with operating costs.
• Some travel overseas to serve orphans around the world.
• Some will volunteer to serve foster children and orphans in other creative ways.

Pray for God to reveal to you how you should be serving orphans. The truth is that God wants you to serve orphans in any way that you can. Your prayers will not go unanswered.

Each of us can play a different part in serving orphans on God’s behalf. I know it’s not realistic to think that every family has the means and resources to adopt or to take foster children in their home. But I firmly believe that more could be done … more should be done … and that more will be done. The good news is that there is a growing movement toward orphan care ministry within the Church today.

Adoption is a reflection of what God has done for us by saving us. And for orphans worldwide, it’s more than a new beginning or a chance to experience a forever family. It also exposes orphans to the God of the universe and a chance at an eternal spiritual family.

About the Author

Kevin Harris is an adoptive father and an advocate for children in difficult circumstances. He is the lay leader for HISchild Orphan Care Ministry at Christ Chapel. He enjoys spending time with his family and also volunteers with the Men’s Ministry and Children’s Ministry at his church.

About HISchild Orphan Care

HISchild Orphan Care is a ministry with the primary goal of rescuing the orphan from desperate circumstances. We do this by ministering to families through the adoption and foster care life-cycle as well as directly supporting programs to assist orphans around the world. HISchild also oversees Abba Orphan Rescue Fund, which is an adoption matching grant program for Christ Chapel families pursuing adoption. Contact HISchild with an email to HISchild@christchapelbc.org for more information about how to serve orphans and support adoptive and foster families at CCBC.

You may be surprised to hear this, but it’s already mid-October! That means Operation Christmas Child is approaching fast. We have a big need this year for helpers to make Operation Christmas Child a success. We have doubled our goal from last year. We have set a goal to get 2,500 boxes distributed, filled, returned, and delivered to the OCC Distribution center in South Fort Worth.

We need 20 volunteers before Nov 1 to make Operation Christmas Child a success!

We have five tables to staff during the month of November, as well as volunteers to help move boxes back and forth from storage.

Sunday, November 1 – Kick off Sunday

Sunday, November 8 – Continue distribution and start collecting returned boxes

Sunday, November 15 – Last big push for distribution

Sunday, November 22 – Last day to return boxes

Monday, November 23 – Deliver boxes to the OCC distribution center

If you would like to help with OCC this year, please send me an email with the subject: OCC2009 and let me know that you’d like to help out. I’ll put you on the notification list to let you know about a logistics meeting later this month and get you signed up into a specific slot for service.

In HIS Service,

Kevin Harris

HISchild Ministry Lead

Email: HISchild@christchapelbc.org

Phone: 682-233-1593