This last Sunday wrapped up the "Adoption" series our church, The Austin Stone, was teaching on. A three week series that delved into what it meant to be adopted into the family of God, to be coheirs with Christ, and what that means for us today. We went through how salvation isn't just being plucked from the depths of sin, how it isn't just being saved and redeemed in Him, but how it is so much more than that. We have been received into God's family. Our inheritance is one in the same with Christ.
God's heart for the orphan and the widow is so powerful and poignant that He places the calling of care for these people groups on His children. We are called to care for the orphan and the widow. To suffer with them in such a way as Christ suffers with us.
Adoption has become something the world sees celebrities doing, something that is accompanied by accolades and awe- something that maybe we see the common person unable to partake in because they cannot possibly serve the orphan on their own- with no help financially, or otherwise. But we are all called to care for the orphan. To help those that are called to the act of adoption by answering the call to give financially or to be trained in respit care.
With election day here, staring us down, my facebook wall has been exploding... How's yours holding up? A lot of my feed is people either stating "vote" or posting articles on what's important to vote about. I saw one article talking about how scripturally the abortion rights isn't something that is as important as the other issues. Here, I have to disagree.
If the orphan is so important and close to God's heart, how could a child's life being terminated because they are unwanted (they are fatherless) not be something that is of the utmost importance? Women should have rights, yes. Men should have rights, yes. Blacks, yes. Whites, yes. Asians, yes. Latinos, yes. No discrimination. But here is my question to you- why on earth is it the woman's decision to give birth to a child? She most likely already decided to create life by partaking in sex- that is most definitely a woman's right. (And if not then that act of violence against her needs to have severe consequences). She doesn't get to play a role that is strictly meant for God in heaven. I'm sorry, that is not something the state should be able to decide either. Terminate this idea that it is "human rights" to decide who lives and who dies based on who is "fatherless." Stop terminating them just because they are fatherless, motherless, parentless.
First sermon: http://austinstone.org/sermons/item/rescued-by-love
Second sermon: http://austinstone.org/sermons/item/rescued-by-love-2
Third sermon: http://austinstone.org/sermons/item/adopted-the-cost-of-love
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