Why Christians Should Care About Adoption

STATE OF ADOPTION

(Series Schedule)

Good morning. My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here at Renovation Church.

We are finishing our challenging series today called, “Those We Do Not See”

And we’ve covered some very heavy topics so far.

And today, for our final topic, we’re going to talk about adoption.

Adoption is a really important Biblical concept.

Not only from how we relate to God, but also because of God’s own heart for adoption.

But before we get there, I want to talk to you a bit about the current state of adoption in the United States…

…as a heavy emphasis in this series has been to bring you the latest research.

Adoption rates in the United States are actually significantly down from the 1970’s

In the 1970’s adoption peaked at 175,000 adoptions per year

And according to the National Council for Adoption

In 2019, an estimated 115,353 children were adopted in the U.S.

In 2020, that number dropped to 95,306

In 2022, it had further dropped to 80,598.

In 2023, the drop continued to 76,970

There are lots of different reasons for why adoption is declining so sharply in the U.S.

Certainly abortions, as we talked about in week 1, play a huge role

The invention of widely available birth control plays a significant part.

So does reproductive technology.

In years past, adoption was one of the only options for couples who dealt with infertility

But now there are lots of different infertility treatments and reproductive technologies, so more couples are able to have their own biological children than ever before...so thus are less likely to adopt.

Adoption also continues to get increasingly expensive

And additionally, the number of U.S. couples adopting internationally (from another country) is down, in fact it’s way down.

International adoptions have declined more than 90% since the early 2000’s

In fact, in MN in 2023, there were only 29 children adopted from a different country in the entire state!

Why is international adoption so dramatically down over the past 25 years, you ask?

A lot of it has to do with U.S. laws making international adoption harder

And honestly, a good portion of the reason is because many countries (like China) now have their own domestic solutions for adoption, whereas previously they had to rely almost completely on international adoptions.

And so adoption is kind of in a tough state overall in the U.S. right now.

Many of you can remember growing up in school and having a number of friends who were adopted….

But if you were to ask a 10 year old today how many of their friends are adopted, some of them might even find it difficult to name one

And so what do we do about this? Especially because there are still plenty of kids in need.

BECAUSE GOD CARES ABOUT IT

I’m going to give you two reasons this morning on why Christians should care about adoption.

And the first is this:

WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD CARE ABOUT ADOPTION

#1: Because God cares about it

We could end the message right there, but I’ll say more.

One of the things you can’t miss in the Bible is God’s heart for those we do not see.

Whether that be the unborn or the poor or even the fatherless or orphan.

And in fact, God speaks often about the fatherless.

(Psalm 68:4-6a) – NIV

4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,

extol him who rides on the clouds;

rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.

5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,

is God in his holy dwelling.

6 God sets the lonely in families

(Deuteronomy 10:17-18) – NIV

17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.

And there are A LOT of verses in the Old Testament that say the same thing about God caring for and defending the Fatherless.

In the New Testament, we read this from James, the brother of Jesus

(James 1:27) – NIV

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD CARE ABOUT ADOPTION

#1: Because God cares about it

And so, for much of church history, the church (that is the body of Christian believers) has taken adoption quite seriously.

And it has often been the Christians in history that are taking in the needy and those not seen and raising them.

And so I just want to encourage every married couple in this church to pray about adoption.

Now, it may be that isn’t the Lord’s will for you

And that’s okay. I want you to be in the Lord’s will.

But it’s not going hurt you to pray about it.

Even if you already have kids.

And I want you to pray about as well if you’re dealing with infertility as we talked about last week.

Often couples won’t let themselves go there mentally or in prayer…

…because it feels like they’re giving up if they do…like they’re waving the white flag.

And I hear you, but the number one thing you want to do as a Christ follower is find God’s will, and do it.

Not just to accomplish your own plans.

So be willing to pray about anything.

And I want urge those of you dealing with infertility to look deep into your heart and ask a hard question I’m about to share with you.

In my research for this series, I interviewed a number of people, and one of the most powerful interviews I did was with a couple from our church who dealt with infertility for 7 or 8 years.

And as the woman was sharing her part of the story with me, she recounted a conversation that she once had with her mom.

And the question her mom asked her is the question I want you to think about.

This woman told me that her mom decided to be rather frank with her one day, and she just said, “Can I ask you a question: What do you really want? Do you want to have a baby or do you want to be a mom?”

Because at the end of the day, having a baby, will only take up a tiny percentage of your entire journey of motherhood

And you can still have all of the rest of that journey…if you adopt.

And so they decided to pursue adoption.

And a little over a year ago, they adopted a wonderful baby boy.

And this woman, now a year into motherhood said to me, “Deep down, I realized that my deepest desire wasn’t ultimately for a biological child, or to give birth, it was to be a mom”

And I tell you what, I couldn’t stop wiping my tears through this interview…and let the record show that I am not a crier

But it was so powerful to see her on the other side…and see the joy she had as a mom.

And for many of you in this room, I want that for you.

And I want it for these kids that don’t have parents.

And there are many ways to pursue adoption.

A lot of adoption in MN today actually happens through the Foster Care system…from foster to adopt.

Certainly, one option is domestic infant adoption.

And of course international adoption.

And even as we said last week, there is Embryo Adoption.

We mentioned that there are currently 1.5 million frozen embryos from IVF in storage in the United States right now.

And the majority of them will eventually be discarded...their lives will be taken.

And so embryo adoption is where the couple who made that embryo (that life) puts their embryo up for adoption, and then the adopting mother has that embryo implanted in her uterus, and the adopting mother is the one who gives birth.

And if you’re ethically nervous about that, I don’t think you need to be.

These children have already been conceived, and you are no more endorsing their process for conception than someone who is adopting a child from an unwed mother or any other situation.

And with 1.5 million frozen embryos and only a few thousand embryo adoptions happening a year, you’re not creating a market for further demand at this point

Embryo adoption is also not as cost prohibitive as ordinary adoption…

…and it also gives an adoptive mother an opportunity to carry a baby and even be in charge of prenatal care to help further ensure a healthy baby.

If you go our Series Resource page on our homepage or through our app…

You can find agencies for embryo adoptions, traditional adoptions, foster care, a book recommendation, and more.

Also, if you want to talk to someone from our church who has adopted before, just email our office and we can get you in contact with someone who’d love to talk to you.

And I’m not saying adoption is easy. I don’t want anyone to hear me wrong.

It is not.

And the long, hard road doesn’t end on the day your child enters into your home either.

Many of these kids will have many challenges stemming from deep questions about why their parents couldn’t care for them or, in some cases, didn’t even want them.

So study deeply what you’re getting into and significantly prepare for the journey ahead

But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.

Seek God’s will.

BECAUSE WE WERE ADOPTED

So… we should care about adoption, firstly because:

WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD CARE ABOUT ADOPTION

#1: Because God cares about it

#2: Because we were adopted

There are a lot of verses in the Bible that point out that we are God’s child, but a few go even further

Ephesians 1:4-5

Page 798

Verses like we’re about to read point out that we aren’t just God’s child, but when we come to Christ, we are adopted

(Ephesians 1:4-5) – NIV

4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Now turn back two pages to 796…

Galatians 4:3-7

Page 796

…and I want to show you a similar verse that draws this out even more in Galatians

(Galatians 4:3-7) – NIV

3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD CARE ABOUT ADOPTION

#1: Because God cares about it

#2: Because we were adopted

So look at verse 3.

Paul is saying, “Hey…before you accepted Christ…gave your life to Him…you were like a child slave under a pagan religion.”

In a second, he’s going to take it even a step further and say, “You were like an Orphaned Child Slave.

Picture that.

You’re 8 years old. Your parents have died. And the only reason you can eat and survive is because you’re a slave. An 8-year-old, orphaned, slave.

It doesn’t get much worse than that.

And THAT right there is a picture of our condition without Christ.

We are not only orphaned and lonely and on our own…

We are a slave, Paul says, to the “elemental spiritual forces of this world”

That phrase just means the spiritual culture of the world around us.

For us, in America, it would be in many ways, the idea of “Follow your heart, be true to you, and as long you’re a pretty good person, you’ll go to heaven and have eternal happiness someday”

And so God, for many people then ends up being not all that different than an indifferent slave master.

We just need to make sure we don’t get really out of line, and make sure we’re a good person.

But what does the Word of God say? Verse 5

It says that Christ came to

5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Paul is talking to both men and women in the church but using the word sonship because…

… the particular Greek word for sonship meant that a person was not only being adopted, but being given the full legal standing of the adopted male HEIR in Roman culture…

So the Bible is telling you that when you put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Leader…

…you can become a son or daughter of God.

You’re his. You’re in his family. You’ll get an inheritance from Him. It’s all yours.

I remember reading once about a family who adopted an older child from a horrific orphanage in another country.

When they brought her home one of the things they told her was that, as a member of the family, she was expected to clean her room every day just like the other kids were expected to do so.

When she heard about that responsibility, she fixated on it and saw it as a way she would earn her family’s love.

That was her framework for life she had picked up from the orphanage

She was so used to living in fear that she thought, I will earn their love and acceptance by obeying this one thing.

And so every morning when her parents came into her room, her room was immaculate (spotless), and she would sit on the bed and would say

“My room is clean. Can I stay? Do you still love me?”

And as you can imagine, her words broke her parents’ hearts.

But eventually, in time, the girl learned that even when she wasn’t perfect that her parents loved her, and that they would never stop loving her.

She was now in their family…she was their child…and nothing could change that.

And that is very the imagery the Bible is trying to get across when it talks about adoption.

And so that means that some of you have to change you how look at God.

See, God didn’t just buy you as a slave so you could now just work for Him as an indifferent master.

And yet sadly…that’s how a lot of Christians look at it.

Yes, we want to please Him, but not as a master that we seek to earn approval from…but as something entirely different.

What does verse 6 say?

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

That means…when the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us when we believe…we cry out to God “Abba”

Which means literally means “Daddy!”

Think of a 3-year old with a great father, and she sees her father coming home from work, so she shouts with glee, “Abba! Daddy!”

That’s the idea here.

And so if you’ve been adopted as a child of God, it’s time to look at Him again, not just as a new master, but even more so, as your loving Father.

And seek to please Him…not so you can earn or keep your salvation…but because you love Him as your Father.

Especially as the Father who adopted you from slavery.

That’s the Biblical imagery of adoption.

And it’s one of the reasons we want to care deeply about adoption as Christians because every one of us as Christ followers was…adopted!

And we want to take and extend that same grace (that we received) to kids that need adopting just like you and I needed spiritual adoption.

GOSPEL

I want to read you one more passage about adoption if I may

(Romans 8:15-17) – NIV

15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

So this is quite similar to Ephesians and Galatians, but here Paul emphasizes that “If we are children (true adopted children) we are heirs…and we’re going to share in God’s glory!”

Well, what is that?

It’s what the Bible calls eternal life.

It’s a life you can begin to experience now in a relationship with Jesus Christ,

But it also means you can experience eternal life in heaven.

This is John 3:16

(John 3:16) – NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This is the best news ever.

It’s called the Gospel…which literally means Good News.

It means that without God, that you are I are lost, tied to sin.

And our only destination is to perish as a slave.

And our eternal destination without being in God’s family is hell.

But God looked upon us in all of our sin, and still, somehow, loved us so much that He sent Jesus to redeem us (to buy us back…buy us out of slavery)..

And not just pay for our sin (because that’s what HE was doing on the cross…dying for our sins)…

…but adopt us into God’s family.

This is the best news ever.

And I wonder…have you truly received it. Have you truly accepted your invitation into His family and given your life over to Him?

Or are you still living like a slave trying to earn your way.