Romans 8:15-17--Will Snipes (May 26, 2024)

So good morning Church. It's really a privilege to be with you. I've had this opportunity for a couple of years to speak on this weekend when Pastor Red is away. Also to invite our Fugue staff for the summer that I get to serve with to be in worship with us this morning.

So I do want to acknowledge them quickly. We are 28 people right now at Southern Wesleyan University. That's right beside Clemson if you're not familiar with that small university. We will have three weeks of camp there and then four weeks of camp at another university campus up in Eastern Tennessee.

So we will be together really for about two months most of us. I'm not going to try to name all the states. I think I did that last year and it got kind of messy. But we have people from all over here serving the Lord as part of Fugue Camps which is a ministry of Lifeway Christian Resources.

We will have about 500 students and adults a week at Southern Wesleyan for the next three weeks starting on June 3rd. So we're in a time of training. Most of them just arrived yesterday. I did want to share with our church especially for those of you that have been here.

Yesterday morning some of us had already arrived at Southern Wesleyan and we went over to Clemson because that's where the food is and we went to the Dunkin Donuts in Clemson yesterday morning and I looked up and there was Pastor Steve and Miss Michelle in the Dunkin Donuts traveling from the mountains of North Georgia where they live now down to the Columbia area for a grandchild's birthday.

And so if you know Pastor Steve and Miss Michelle they're very special people and it was really a blessing to see them yesterday morning in the Dunkin Donuts in Clemson and the timing on that was perfect.

Romans 8 and the Sermon Text for This Morning

If you have your Bibles this morning turn to Romans chapter 8 and let me tell you something really awesome as you turn to Romans chapter 8. Each week Pastor Rhett selects for us somehow some scripture reading that's something that he's brought in to our worship services that I really enjoy.

An Old Testament reading and a New Testament reading and he selects those I think well in advance and provides them to the people that are going to read them. But Romans chapter 8, the exact verses that Gunnar just shared are exactly what I'm sharing this morning in the sermon and we didn't plan that I promise.

I'm not trying to be dramatic. We didn't plan that. I can't wait to get out of church and text Pastor Rhett and say Romans chapter 8 verses 15 through 17 is exactly what God gave me to share with the church this morning and it was part of our New Testament or it was our New Testament reading this morning.

The reason why I think God led me to this passage several months ago actually, I've shared this message once with one other church, but was because there was something in here that I had heard years ago and it was tucked away in the back of my mind and I'll tell you more about that in a few minutes.

It was one of those things that I heard someone speak on and I thought I want to know more about that. And I didn't take the time to study it, to go deeper into it, and to understand more of what I had the privilege to share and teach this morning, but it was always back there in my mind and whenever I came to this passage in Romans chapter 8, I knew that there was something there that if I understood it more deeply, I would understand this passage more deeply.

And so finally last fall when it came an event that I was speaking at and this was going to be a perfect passage to share, I did go and I did study and I did find what I had remembered I had heard at some point and it was pretty powerful and that's what I want to share with you this morning.

I would encourage you also at the same time to do the same thing. If you hear something in a sermon, if you hear a verse, if you hear a point, sometimes I'm taking notes when Pastor Red is speaking and I'm thinking I want to go and follow up on that and I encourage you to do that because that's really, I believe, honoring to the Lord when we treasure his word and we want to know more about it.

Let me start by saying that for a lot of people, Romans is one of their favorite books of the Bible. A lot of times when students come to me and say, hey I want to start reading my Bible more, where would be a good place for me to start?

I will recommend that they read through the book of Romans. It's Paul's incredible defense explanation of the gospel. So Paul really starts out by explaining how lost we are, how sinful we are, this terrible condition that we're in and then everything changes in Romans chapter 3 and Paul gives us this incredible explanation of the beauty of the gospel.

So I love the book of Romans. A lot of people have said that Romans chapter 8 is their favorite chapter in the entire Bible and so I would encourage you again to spend some time in Romans chapter 8 which starts with there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus and it's just a beautiful chapter full of encouragement.

Where I want us to be this morning is Romans chapter 8 verses 15 through 17. Again exactly what Gunnar just shared with us. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead you receive God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children.

Now we call him Abba Father for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children and since we are his children we are his heirs. In fact together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory.

But if we are to share his glory we must also share his suffering. What I'd heard many years ago was something about adoption in the time that Paul was writing. It was something about what adoption meant in this culture specific to the Jewish people specifically to the Romans and future staff tucked away in the back of my mind was there something about adoption that most people don't know and once you understand that this passage takes on all new meaning and that's what I want to share with you this morning.

Two Mindsets for Approaching God: Slavery and Adoption

First I want us to see in this passage that we see two different mindsets that we can use to approach God and so what do we mean by a mindset? A mindset is what do we think of when we think of God? You know some one maybe A .W. Tozer one of those great minds said what you what you think of when you think of God is the most important thing.

And so what mindset do we approach God with? Paul gives us two here I want to develop both of them because they're they contrast really well and to understand the spirit of adoption we need to understand the spirit of slavery.

And so Paul says here you're either going to come to God with a mindset with a way of thinking you're going to approach God with a spirit of slavery or with a spirit of adoption. So what does the spirit of slavery look like?

Well the first thing we need to know I always think this is interesting slavery was rampant in the time of Jesus. There's an estimate that about 30 to 40 percent of people at this time were slaves. And so for us we're aware of perhaps slavery in other parts of the world we're aware of the tragic history of slavery in our own country but we are not on a daily basis seeing what it looks like all around us 30 or 40 percent of the people to be enslaved.

But at the time that Paul wrote these words people were very familiar with what slavery looked like. So what does Paul mean when he says we come with a mindset with a spirit of slavery? This is what we're going to identify as legalistic religion.

This is rule keeping this is dread. This is fear. This is when we come before God like a slave would come before a master. Now I mentioned the word fear in there and I do want to mention this today. It is right to have a healthy fear of God.

Does everybody realize that? Fear of God is beginning wisdom right? And so I've done some studying on what it means to have a healthy fear of God because I don't want there to be any confusion there this morning.

A healthy fear of God I love this. A healthy fear of God is realizing that I deserve punishment for my sin. So if I look at an almighty God Dentler and I say I deserve punishment for my sin and that puts me in a place of fear before you that's a healthy thing because I need to acknowledge that.

I need to know that I deserve punishment for my sin which pushes me to the gospel message that we've already talked about this morning. Another way to look at a healthy fear of God and I love this is honor and reverence and awe.

So when we look at God and we stand before him and we say yes I I have a healthy fear of you because I see how powerful you are. I see you light up the night skies with lightning and thunder. I see the effect that you can have in your your creation and speaking this world into existence and that you will not tolerate evil and I have a healthy fear of that.

That's a good thing. But in a legalistic way in a in a slave to a master way when we approach God with dread, with fear, we just think that having a religion is rule-keeping. That's gonna lead us to this thought which is also something we struggle with which is that God is never satisfied with us.

I won't ask you to raise your hands but I've been there. I'll be honest with that. I've been in a place before God a lot where I'm like God is just not satisfied with me. I just can't do enough. I just can't keep the requirements of the law.

I keep falling short. God's not satisfied with me. Anybody know why God's law was put in place? I love this. Romans 5 20 write that down. God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were but as people sinned more and more God's wonderful grace became more abundant.

That's Romans 5 20. I love to explain this to people. God's law was put into place so that we would realize there is a standard that we can never meet. So we're gonna need a Savior. We're gonna need some help.

The best illustration and the one that I love to share the most is this. I've probably done this before maybe even in the same place. Raise your hand if you've ever told a lie. If your hands not up right now you're lying.

Alright? So therefore, okay? So the standard is, you know this, the standard in God's law is don't tell a lie. Thou shalt not lie. So whether you've told one lie or whether you've told a thousand lies you haven't met that standard.

And so God's law, Ms. Ruby, is put into place to show us there is a standard that aligns with God's holy nature, that aligns with his perfection, that aligns with his character, that is a reflection of who he is and we can't meet that standard.

So I'm gonna need a Savior. I'm gonna need Jesus Christ to come and meet that standard for me on my behalf and die and take the punishment that I deserve for not meeting that standard. That's why the law was put into place.

The law was not put into place to frustrate us. The law was not put into place for God to say here's this and you could never meet it and I'm not satisfied with you. You can never do enough to please me.

The law was put into place so that we would realize we need God's grace. And the final thing that a spirit of slavery looks like is when we begin to think, and this is something I know we struggle with so listen carefully, when we begin to think that activities and good works will satisfy him.

Have to think that a slave before a master said this is nothing but rule-keeping. I approach you with dread and fear. I'm never going to be able to satisfy you and if I do have any way to satisfy you it will be through good works and and doing the right things.

And so hear this the morning this morning from Romans 11 6. Paul again, and since it is through God's kindness then it is not by their good works. For in that case God's grace would not be what it really is free and undeserved.

I love some translations of that verse that say that grace is not grace. If you have to add in good works. Gunnar I know you preached on that one here one time here. If you have to add in our good works and our activities then grace is no longer grace.

That's what Romans 11 6 says. So I want to encourage all of us this morning to not approach God with the mindset of a trembling slave. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead you receive God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children.

The Roman Meaning of Adoption and a New Identity in Christ

Now let me teach you about the spirit of adoption. First of all the Bible presents a very high view of adoption. The Bible tells us to take care of widows and orphans. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

That's James 1 27. So the Bible presents a very high view of what we think of when we think of adoption. Here's where it gets really interesting. This is what I had heard and I'm so excited to teach to you.

If God is our creator does his fatherhood over us seem a little less real or powerful if we speak of it in terms of adoption? So if we're like but you're our father but but adopted in our mind sometimes we think well adopted means it's not really your kid.

It was born to someone else. You have taken them in. You have adopted them and given them your name and taking care of them but not really your child. You know you have to be careful. Anybody ever found that when you're talking to families who have adopted?

You have to be careful in the way that you use your words, right? So does it make the fatherhood of God a little less real or powerful if we speak of it in terms of adoption? Here's what I want to teach you.

There was no process for adoption in the ancient Jewish culture. If a man died his brother automatically became the head of his household so there was no need for a legal adoption process. So to the Jewish people the word adoption is not part of what they do because if a man dies his brother becomes the head of that household.

His brother takes on that family. His brother I think actually takes on the wife as well. Takes on the children. There's no legal adoption. So the word adoption during the time and context in which Paul spoke refers to the Roman concept of adoption.

And in ancient Rome adoption had a powerful meaning. This is so interesting. Listen closely. When a child was born biologically the parents had the option of disowning the child for a variety of reasons.

So if a child in the Roman culture, in the Roman times, in ancient Rome, if a child is born biologically from the way that I understand this Mr. Bill Walker, the parents have the option of disowning the child.

How many parents are in here? I'm not talking about yours Miss Sharon. Alright. But at some point, but in this time the way I understand it you have this child and you think I didn't really want this kid.

Didn't turn out quite like we wanted. Not good timing for us. Whatever. It was not permanent. Are you with me on that? Hard for our minds to take that on because so different from the world we live in now.

The relationship was not necessarily desired by the parent nor permanent. You had the option of disowning that child for a variety of reasons. Guess what? If a child was adopted in Rome it was completely different.

So biological doesn't make sense to us. It seems almost the opposite of what we know Gunnar. But biological, you have the option to disown that child. Say this is not, I don't really want this child. Maybe somebody else.

But if a child was adopted in Rome, here's what it meant. That child was freely chosen by the parents. That child was desired by the parents. That child was a permanent part of the family. Parents could not disown a child they adopted.

Adoption was permanent. Biological was not. In addition, in this time, an adopted child received a new identity. Any prior commitments, responsibilities, debts were erased. New rights and responsibilities were taken on.

I want you to think about what that means for us as believers. Again, when Paul says, instead you receive God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. When we have a spirit of adoption. We do not have a spirit of slavery.

We have a spirit of adoption. It means we have been freely chosen and desired by our Father. Which means God looked down at Shelby Smith and God said, I desire, I choose, I want you. And it's permanent, Shelby.

We approach God with a spirit of adoption, meaning we are his permanently. He chose us and we have received a new identity. The old is gone, the new has come. I love this. Rather than diminish the beautiful reality of being children of God through creation, Paul's theology of the spirit of adoption essentially doubles up on the power and significance of God's fatherhood.

It gives us more reassurance. It gives us more promises. It gives us more confidence in who we are as an adopted child. It's a constant reminder that we are fully desired, fully loved, and we've taken on a new identity.

Co-Heirs with Christ and the Meaning of Abba Father

And I love that. So I want to share just a few more things with you and then I want to challenge, if you'll allow me, challenge our staff for the summer as they're going to be serving so many students and adults this summer.

First of all, I want to speak just for a moment about something that we hear and hear, and you've heard this before, that we are joint heirs with Jesus. That we are co-heirs with Jesus. And since we are his children, we are his heirs.

In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory. What does that mean? That's something else in here that I've read before, not quite sure what that means. I love this. Jesus is God's only son.

So Jesus is the only natural heir, right? Doesn't that make sense? An heir comes and the father gives to the son. The father gives to his heirs and he only has one and it's his son, Jesus, right? So his only son is his natural heir, but now we share in that inheritance because we have identified ourselves with Christ.

We have shared in his victory over death. When we're baptized, we show that we share in his resurrection and his victory over death and we have that newness of life. And Jesus is the first who will defeat death and live forever and we share in that.

And it also means that we share in his inheritance. What belongs to Jesus will belong to us. So what belongs to Jesus? His glory, his riches, all things, we're going to share in all of that. That's a hard one for me to wrap my mind around.

It's a hard one for me to think that for eternity I'm going to share in the glory and the riches of all things that Christ does, but I am a co-heir of Christ. I share in his inheritance. The other thing I wanted to speak on for just a moment are the words Abba Father.

Who's heard Abba Father before? Abba is an Aramaic word. It's always followed by Father in Scripture. It's in Scripture three times. The first time we see Abba Father, Mark chapter 14, Jesus cries out to Abba Father in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The second time we see Abba Father is here in Romans 8. The third time that we see Abba Father, Paul writes of it again in Galatians chapter 4. Abba, the word Abba expresses affection, confidence, and trust.

It's really just another word for Father, and so when you hear Abba Father, when you when you see Jesus praying Abba Father, when you see Paul writing Abba Father, it's really just Father Father. It's just emphasizing doubly the fatherhood of God.

It's emphasizing the affection that we have for our Father, the trust that we place in him, the confidence that we place in him, Abba Father. And I think it's awesome that Jesus prays that in the Garden of Gethsemane at such a hard time in his life.

He's saying, I still have affection for my father. I still put trust and confidence in my father. He is still father father to me, even though I'm saying to him, what if there's any other way, take this cup from me.

But not my will be done but yours. Father father. And then Paul comes along and Paul says don't approach God with a mindset of slavery. Don't approach God with a mindset of a trembling slave. Approach him with a mindset of the spirit of adoption.

Approach him with a mindset of father father. Affection, confidence, trust. And let me let me tell you this, not every person in the world, I didn't know this, not every person in the world is a child of God.

We are all his creatures. We're under his authority. We're under his lordship. We'll all be judged. But only born-again believers are children of God. And born-again believers approach him as Abba Father, Father, Father.

How Adopted Sons and Daughters Serve

Spirit of adoption. The last thing I want to share this morning is for all of us, but specifically for these awesome people over here who really have come from all over the United States to serve students and adults with their summer.

So the last thing I want to share this morning is how do slaves and sons of adoption serve? Because we're gonna serve this summer. We're gonna serve together this summer. And so I want everyone to hear this, but I want you guys to listen extra closely.

Slaves, when it comes to serving, fearful slaves perform duties. Adopted sons perform acts of love. And so I want us to think in terms of of everything that we do this summer, whether it was unloading those trucks, whether it's sitting through a lot of training on how to teach a Bible study, whether it's having a hard conversation with a student.

We're performing acts of love. We're not performing duties. Second, a fearful slave serves by dutifully obeying. I will obey because that's my duty. An adopted son joyfully obeys. Where are my parents out there again?

Isn't there a difference? I know some of you still have younger children. Isn't there even a difference when your child dutifully obeys, which you're probably happy with and you're like, I'll take it at this point in time, alright?

But isn't it a beautiful thing when they joyfully obey? I remember Pastor Rhett speaking just a few weeks ago. Didn't he speak on obey your parents? And even the difference between dutifully obeying and joyfully obeying.

And so my prayer for our staff is that we will joyfully, joyfully obey our Father this summer. Fearful slaves are motivated by fear of punishment. Adopted sons are motivated by love of relationship. So I pray that your love for the Father will motivate you to serve this summer.

And last, sounds, Melinda, kind of like a lifeway core value, okay? Fearful slaves ask what is required. Adopted sons ask, what else can I do for you? And so as we serve the church this summer, what else can I do for you?

What can I do to make your week at camp the very best? What else can I do to serve your students? Adopted sons ask, what else can I do? I'm gonna close this morning with an awesome story. I think you're gonna love it.

And from my friend Shaniqua from Lufkin, Texas, this one's extra special. So in the summer of 2022, we had a church that came to Southern Wesleyan. We call Southern Wesleyan SWU, by the way. We had a church that came to camp at SWU from Lufkin, Texas.

So they drove a long way to spend a week with us. And you were there, right? You were there, yeah. And I met a family that week named Clay and Kate. And Clay and Kate already had three children that were Clays that were teenagers.

But we had a missions, and Melinda, I think I've told you this before, we had a missions emphasis that summer. And staff, you need to hear this. We had a missions emphasis that summer, some of you are familiar with it, with a people group from the country of Columbia in South America.

So the Emberra people, we prayed for them and learned about them and gave mission offering for them for several summers. Well, while Clay and Kate from Lufkin, Texas, are with us that week of camp in 2022, the Lord speaks to them in a very real and very clear way at Fuge Camp at Southern Wesleyan University and says adopt a child from the country of Columbia.

We were watching videos, we were learning about life in Columbia, about missionaries taking the gospel there. God was stirring in them, God was working in them, and God was telling them to adopt a child specifically from the nation of Columbia.

And if you're not familiar, that's a long process, especially with an international adoption. There's a lot that has to be done. But last November, I think it was November, Eliana came to live with them.

And she's from Columbia and she's four years old and has since turned five. And Shanique was friends with her. And so am I, because I've been there. I have a couple of incredible pictures. Nick, if you can show that first one.

They also have some really great pictures. I love that picture. Obviously staged a little bit, okay, to make a great Christmas card or something. I don't think this is the first moment they met her, but I kind of want to imagine it is.

But Clay and Kate, they're three teenage kids and Eliana. And then Nick, I think we have one more that just shows the family. When I was there in February, and I was with these good people at their church, I told them, guys, I just did a message a few months ago on the spirit of adoption.

And I learned some things about what it means to be an adopted child of the Father. And they said, will you please send us the notes from that message? And so I took pictures of these pages right here and sent them to these good people.

Because I think for them, and listen closely, to know now what it's like to have a child that's been freely chosen, that is a permanent part of that family, and that has a brand new identity, and has a brand new opportunity at life.

Them to take what they have experienced with Eliana and think, that's the way that my Heavenly Father feels about me. And when we look at that first picture, that's the way we approach our Heavenly Father.

That we've been freely chosen, it is permanent. And we have a brand new identity. We are co-heirs of Jesus, and we can call Him Abba Father. And Shaniqua, I know as soon as we get out of here, you're going to be calling them and telling them, Will's been talking about you in church.

Great people, great story, great picture of the love that our Father has for us. So thank you for the privilege of sharing with you this morning. I want to pray over us and pray specifically that we would not come as trembling slaves, but we would come as adopted sons and daughters.

Let's pray. God, we praise you this morning, Abba Father, believers, children of God, who can call on a Father, Father. God, we call upon you this morning with affection, and with trust, and with confidence.

God, we pray that learning from your word this morning would change our mindset, would change our week, would change the way that we interact with others, would change the way that we approach Scripture for our future staffers, would change the way that they look at the summer before them, knowing that we want to serve you, and love you, and know you as an adopted child, not as a fearful slave.

God, I pray for our staffers, that they might have the opportunity to encourage young people this summer to share the gospel with them, to talk to them about the difference between religion and relationship, maybe to even share with them what it means to call you Abba Father.

And God, we do take a moment this morning to pray for adoption worldwide, within our own country, and within the world, knowing that if the church and the people of the churches would step up and do what you've called us to do, take care of widows and orphans, the world would look really differently.

And I pray you would stir that within this church, within other churches, that God's people would do what you've called us to do, so that we could experience and give the kind of love that you've given to us.

God, thank you for your Word. Thank you that it is living and active, and it changes us. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.