Tag Archives: Access

Adoption as Sons

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Christianity, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, LifeGiving, Mandate, Mature, Maturing, Message, Mission, Movement, Revolution, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Training, Transformation

All of the teachings I have heard on adoption focused on the benefits of being God’s adopted child but not the true maturity level where we are adopted, and the responsibilities that come with being adopted by God.

‘There are five verses in the NASB New Testament that speak to the vitally important truth on adoption, and all of them are in Paul’s epistles. Three of them are in Romans [8:15,23; 9:4], one of them is in Galatians [4:5], and one of them is in Ephesians [1:5].

It is important to note that Paul never says God adopts anyone as a child [Greek – brephos, nepios, paidion, teknon], or that once adopted the adopted person can live in immaturity and irresponsibility [Romans 11:21,22; many others]. Every reference on adoption is to the person who grows up into sonship [huiós]. No one can legally claim the benefits of adoption as sons if they have not matured into sons, and live responsibly as God’s sons.


The passage in Romans 9:4 is in reference to natural Israel who lost their inheritance [Matthew 21:43; Matthew 23:37,38] by continually rebelling against God and rejecting the One Person He sent to save them and bring them into all He saved them to inherit. In other words, God predestined them to grow up into sonship but they chose to remain immature and irresponsible so that they could behave in a way that was not congruent with the salvation the Savior brought to them. Natural Israel chose compromise over Christ and a covenant commitment to Him. We must not follow in their footsteps [See 1 Corinthians 10:1-15; Hebrews 2:1-3a].

All five of Paul’s references have the same phrase, “adoption as sons”, which is the Greek word, huiothesía [hwee-oth-es-ee’-ah]. This word is made up of two Greek words, huiós [hwee-os’ ], and títhēmi [tith’-ay-mee].

Huiós

According to Thayer’s Expanded Definition of New Testament Words a huiós is: “A person who reveres God as their Father, is a pious worshiper of God, someone whose character and life resemble God, a person who is governed by the Spirit of God.”

Paul, in Romans, defined a huiós this way, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” [Romans 8:14].

In Hebrews Paul defines huiós as a person who submits to God the Father’s discipline, including His scourging them for the removal of their carnal nature that always resists the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 12

“6 ‘For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.’ 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children [not a genuine and legal child] and not sons.

9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Paul states scourging is so we will share in God’s holiness. To share means to participate in, to accept and use. In other words, God’s discipline is to mature us in to sonship so that we will live and look like God’s Son, Jesus Christ. [See Thayer’s on huiós above]


Of course, Jesus is the Perfect Son who wholly honored the Father, worshiped Him, perfectly re-presented Him and was always led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus who modeled for us all what true Christianity is and how it is to be lived. Even Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered and He had to grow in favor with God the Father [Hebrews 5:8; Luke 2:52] – from childhood to a son!

Títhēmi

Títhēmi, according to Thayer’s, is defined as: “To set or put in [its rightful] place, to ordain, to fix and to establish. God never sets, or puts someone in place, or in a position for them to be immature and irresponsible. This precedent was started in the Garden of Eden and continues to this day.

Genesis 2

“8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”

Verse 8 reveals access and verse 15 reveals the responsibility that comes with the access. Adam was to cultivate [work to grow] and keep [protect and promote] the Garden as God’s representative overseer of the Garden God placed him in, and the planet God placed him on.

“But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” [1 Corinthians 12:18]

And in Ephesians 4 Paul writes the following, “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children [nḗpios], tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”


Children may be born but it is the sons who can be given the responsibility to govern – “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders.” [Isaiah 9:6]

It is possible to be granted access to the kingdom and all of its benefits and end up not inheriting the kingdom you were granted access to at your new birth. [See Matthew 5:3; Luke 12:32; 1 Corinthians 6:9,10; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27]

Have you allowed God to place you in a place of responsibility?

Are you being responsible with all of the responsibilities that place possesses?

Are you sure you are adopted by God?

Are you benefiting from benefits without the legal right to those benefits?

Receive and steward God’s passion, power, presence, priority, process, promises, protection, provision, pruning, purging, purity and purpose!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

A radical spiritual revolutionary

Grace Works!

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Excellence, LifeGiving, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Training

This is what we find in Genesis 6:8 KJV.

“But Noah found grace in the eyes of God!”

This is such an interesting statement. What makes it so interesting and profound is the context in which Noah found what he found when he finally looked into God’s eyes. Actually, Noah was able to see all the way into God’s heart when he looked into His eyes. God’s grace does not originate in the eyes of God but the heart of God.

The context is God was sorry that He had made mankind. The reason for God’s feeling the way He did was that His prized production became vile and violent.

“Then the Lord  saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” [Verse 5]

To understand the veracity of this scene you must understand that Noah was included in God’s description of the condition of mankind.

Grace Is

What caused Noah to look into God’s eyes when he and every other person were only interested in living their life so loosely?

I believe that we find the answer in verse 3. “But My Spirit will not strive with man forever.”

God, by His Spirit was striving with every man, but only Noah responded to God’s striving. The word striving has to do with contending with, working with, judging in the sense of acting as an umpire. An umpire oversees sports events letting the participants know what is safe and what is out, what is fair and what is foul. Striving also means to plead with and to vindicate.

What we discover in this verse is that God will, after every effort is exhausted, cease to work with man to get him to change the direction he is heading in that is contrary to God’s heart for him. Noah must have submitted to God’s dealings with him, and by submitting to God he discovered and accessed the part of God’s character [grace] that empowered him to live totally for God.

Noah’s name means rest. Noah finally stopped his striving against God and rested in the nature of God. When we find the rest of God we will discover the rest of God.

What was the evidence that Noah found grace in God’s eyes? He began working with God! Noah cooperated with God and as a result of his submitting to God, God was able to co-mission him in the primary mission to save mankind from themselves.

God’s grace enabled Noah to work for and with God, not against God! Somehow work has become a four letter word in some ‘grace’ circles. Well meaning people, I am sure, reduce grace to the ability to decide they don’t have to work, or to be productive. In other words, they have deduced that God is a-okay with their laziness and or sinfulness.

Noah [rest] worked! Noah [rest] performed a task! Noah [rest] performed his task to the standard God required of him! That is what grace does. It enables us to get God’s work done God’s way.

We must realize that work is not a part of the curse that resulted from Adam and Eve’s sin. Unproductive work is a result of the curse.

Work is a part of creation and God’s redemptive purposes for the earth!

In Genesis 3 we find two very interesting verses:

Verse 8 – “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.”

Verse 15 – “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”

Verse 8 reveals that God gave man access to the Garden and verse 15 reveals that God gave man responsibility for the Garden. There are a lot of people who have been given access but refuse responsibility. If you will not be responsible for something then you cannot be given authority over something.

That’s something isn’t it?

Friends, grace works and grace works very hard. Grace is not lazy and those who accept God’s grace also work very hard. Otherwise, it is not God’s grace.

For HIS Glory!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin