Vote: Life or Death

This article is quite shocking in itself. A couple has gotten pregnant and aren't sure if they are ready to be parents. The question they are asking themselves is not parenting or adoption; it is parenting or abortion. The adoption option seems to be missing. But instead of seeking out wise counsel, they have made an online poll and asked the public to make the decision for them.

Knowing what the human heart is capable of and how little our society values God-given life, it really isn't much of a surprise. It is especially heartbreaking to read a story like this when so many people, including me, have been waiting for a long time to adopt children. What I do find interesting regarding this story, is that as I listen to commentary on the radio or read it on the internet, everyone seems to be outraged; even pro-choice people. Suddenly a pro-choice advocate has a conscience regarding the life of the unborn child?

If the thing inside the mother is just a blob of tissue as a pro-choicer believes, then this is an amoral decision and no outrage should follow. But something inside them screams that it is wrong, and even though it contradicts their worldview, they still cry out against it. It is a child growing inside that woman. It is wrong to put this decision to public vote because it is wrong to play so carelessly with a person created in God's image.

I wonder how that baby would vote?

Adoption and the Gospel

As my wife and I are moving through the long process of adoption, we have really been struck throughout our studying how beautifully the Gospel is portrayed through adoption and how central the Gospel must be in parenting. Adoption is about bringing a person into a new life and showering him with blessings that he hasn't earned. It is a picture of God reaching into our lives of brokenness and giving us new lives as His children. The experience has made me more worshipful; and we haven't even brought a child into our home yet.

Read through this article in Christianity Today from Russell Moore, author of Adopted for Life (which was reviewed here a couple months ago). He explains it much more vividly than I could.

Christians need to make adoption a priority, not only for the children, but for the Gospel.

Book Review - Adopted for Life

How many books have you read on the topic of adoption? How many books on adoption can you even think of? There aren’t many out there; especially very few from a biblical perspective. Going through an adoption home study, our agency requires a few books to study before approval for adoption; all books which had to be borrowed from secular sources. This is quite sad considering adoption is a much larger part of the Christian life than most probably realize.

Russell Moore has, through the sovereignty of God, been drawn to see the beauty of adoption through the painful struggle of infertility. Through the battle of bringing two Russian boys into his home, God taught him much more than what at first appears to be “mere charity.” Moore weaves his adoption experience and glorious biblical truths together in his book Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches.

Moore’s first chapter, titled Adoption, Jesus, and You: Why You Should Read This Book, Especially If You Don’t Want To, sets the stage for the message of the entire book. Most who are reading this think that they have no need to read a book about adoption as they are not going to be adopting any children. However, according to the Bible (James 1:27), true Christian faith is all about adoption. Russell Moore beautifully explains throughout Adopted for Life that not only is it a priority for every believer to be involved in adoption, but that every believer has already been involved in adoption.

The truth is, adoption is all over the New Testament; it is the heart of the gospel. Those who were once enemies of God – children of the devil – have been made to be children of God, heirs to His heavenly inheritance. Every person who has truly turned from sin and surrendered to Christ has been grafted into the family of Abraham, become a brother of Christ, and given promises that can only be made to sons of God. Understanding the relationship between the gospel and adoption will only deepen your relationship with your heavenly Father. “As we become more attuned to the gospel, we’ll have more of a burden for orphans. As we become more adoption-friendly, we’ll be better able to understand the gospel.” (pg. 18)

According to Moore, being adopted means “we’re part of a brand-new family, a new tribe, with a new story, a new identity.” (pg. 36) When we turn our backs to our old life, we embrace a new life as part of a new family, with new brothers and sisters sharing a new Father. Our old life has past and we look forward to a new inheritance in heaven. No longer do we call ourselves citizens of the world, but aliens in the world who have homes prepared by our new Father. Our ancestry is no longer German, Norwegian, English, Asian, African, but we now have Jewish roots in the line of Abraham.

Adopted for Life then expands on the gospel metaphor and begins to make it applicable to every member of God’s family. As James 1:27 states that true biblical faith results in caring for orphans, Moore explains that “a culture of adoption and a culture of evangelism coexist together.” (pg. 75) Adopting children into your home isn’t about filling your family, but rather His family. “Adoption is…evangelistic to the core. When a Christian family adopts a child, that family is committing to years of gospel proclamation, of seeking to see this child come to faith in Christ.” (pg. 181) In a world that sees children as a commodity or a burden, “Imagine if Christian churches were known as the places where unwanted babies become beloved children.” (pg. 79) As we combat the drastic effects of evolutionary philosophies, Moore wonders if “Perhaps the most practical way your congregation can show Darwinism to be wrong is to showcase families for whom love is more than gene protection.” (pg. 80)

If we desire to be faithful to God’s commands - both to care for orphans and to the Great Commission – the church will make adoption more of a priority. Russell Moore gives practical advice in Adopted for Life for individual families and churches to begin to be more obedient in this ministry (i.e. adopting orphans, providing resources, offering prayer, emphasizing adoption teaching, starting church adoption funds, and embracing the church as a new family). He brings needed conviction for stagnant faith that won’t leave its comfort zone. And he reveals the glorious joy to be found in being an adopted son of the Creator of the world.

Takin' It To the Home

Jeremy started this monthly “Taking It to the Streets” column (as printed in EBC monthly newsletter) as sort of a journal to share his successes and failures in taking the gospel outside the four walls of the church as to be an encouragement to each one of us to do the same. And I am sure many people who have read through it have felt discouraged because they don’t feel they have the right gift or enough opportunities to evangelize. So we are going to look at evangelism, this month, from a different perspective; perhaps helping you realize an opportunity right in front of you.

One day as I was relating an evangelism opportunity at work to Molly (my wife), our conversation led to how I am exposed to more unbelievers so I have more evangelism opportunities. It seemed somewhat discouraging at first, but as the discussion developed, we quickly learned that she has been given a much greater evangelism opportunity; the awesome privilege to be a full-time evangelist to our children. And I have a full-time secular job that supports the mission field right in our home.

Before we address an application for you, let’s go back in time a few-thousand years to the creation of the world and to the beginning of God’s revelation of Himself. In the book of Genesis we are told that God created Adam and Eve to rule over the earth and then He tells them to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” We know that this is a more poetic way of saying, “make lots of babies.” But for what reason?

The reasoning becomes clearer as God’s revelation of His plan unfolds. The psalmist in Psalm 73:24-26 desired a good thing in finding his satisfaction in unity with God. Jesus prayed in John 17:22 that His people may be one with Him. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-18) tells us that our mission as Christians is to make disciples (Evangelism!); bring people into a relationship with the Savior. So as history progresses, we begin to see that God creating people and commanding them to “be fruitful and multiply” wasn’t simply to fill the earth with warm bodies, but it parallels the New Testament command to “make disciples of all nations.” The reason we have children is to make Christians!

For many of us, this will be our mission field. Some people are called to be foreign missionaries; some street evangelists; some full-time pastors; and most of us are called to be evangelists right in our own homes by bringing children up in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). The call to be fruitful and multiply didn’t go away in the New Testament, it was magnified; even clarified.

What a great responsibility and opportunity we have been given. We often get discouraged when we think we can’t be as bold sharing the gospel, but we are missing such a great opportunity. God has provided many of us with the fantastic privilege of being full-time evangelists right in our own homes. What other evangelist has eighteen years to teach and to model the gospel to his hearers? What greater responsibility do we have than to teach the gospel to those whose lives are completely dependent on us?

We Christians have far too easily followed the cultural norms in pursuit of the “American Dream” instead of living like foreigners in this world (1 Peter 1:1). We pursue worldly entertainment, wealth, and comfort while neglecting our call to be a peculiar people (1 Corinthians 1:18-28), sold out to making worshippers of God. The world sees children as a burden on their personal pursuits, a commodity to be set aside when convenient, a symbol of pride, or simply the next thing to do. The world doesn’t want to have too many children because it might cost too much money or interrupt career pursuits. Some will say, “A boy for me and a girl for you, then praise the Lord, we’re finally through!” We joke with people who have many children by asking, “Haven’t you figured out how that works yet?” But we don’t celebrate the honor we have to bring life into this world and to be lifelong evangelists in our home. Keeping up with the culture too easily distracts us from such a wonderful calling.

We should recognize the great blessing that children are from God and seize the opportunity God has given us to be witnesses in our own home. It was God’s created order for a man and a woman to marry and spend their marriage modeling Christ’s love for the church and making children who will come to know Jesus Christ. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should have ten kids, but you should be asking, “How can I make it a priority for my marriage to fulfill the Great Commission in the lives of children?”

Here are a few ideas to spark your creativity:
If you are starting a family, consider what sacrifices may be required to make it a priority for creating worshippers of Christ in your home.
If you have children already, ask what efforts are needed to make the gospel the focus of your parenting.
If your children are gone, seek ways to support your children’s efforts in gospel-centered parenting and also encourage those in the church who still have children.
Everyone can be involved in children’s ministry. We are kidding ourselves if we believe all of the children in the church are believers. Become a gospel mentor to them. Children’s ministry is a mission field.
Seek ways to relieve the suffering caused by children being brought into this world outside of God’s design. Can you bring a child into your home through adoption? Can you provide support to a young mom who can’t afford a child?

When we hear of evangelism, we think of “Go, and make disciples of all nations” but for many of us it starts at home with “Be fruitful and multiply.”

"these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:6-9