Neighborhood Study Guide

Ephesians 1:5-8

Introduction

We are walking slowly through the first chapter of the letter to the Ephesians as Paul recounts the spiritual blessings we have in the heavenly places Two major ideas are now presented in verse 5. One idea, predestination, is difficult to get our minds around. The other idea, adoption, is easy to picture, since we see examples of adoption all the time in our society. But these two ideas are deeply connected. Predestination is God's sovereign choice to include us in his family by deciding to pursue us and give us his name and inheritance. Adoption is really another way of saying that makes more sense in our experience. Adoption is a parent or parents choosing to include a child in their family, giving her their name and their inheritance. When we call it predestination it seems like an affront to our freedom - making it seems as though everything has been decided ahead of time.Yet, when we call it adoption, we see how choosing and predetermining for someone else doesn't destroy their freedom, but grants it. An orphan lacks options. A child brought into a family now has new freedom. Let's look at this idea and discover more of what it has to offer.

Initial Question 1. When you hear the word adoption, what images arise in your mind? Do you know someone who has been adopted? What has it been like for them? Read Ephesians 1:5-8

In love, 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight... Questions 1. What changes for a person when they are adopted? What do they gain? What do they lose? 2. How does the idea of adoption (someone choosing to raise another in their family) help us understand this idea of predestination? 3. Why is the little phrase 'in love' so important in this passage? What would change if that phrase wasn't there? 4. According to the passage, adoption happens through Jesus Christ. Why is Jesus necessary for our adoption? Why is adoption used as the image, rather than just 'birth'?

It is hard to overstate the implications of adoption. When we adopted our girls, I was surprised to learn that the girls would receive a new birth certificate, listing the adoption! And the other thing that surprised me was that our girls, even though they were very young, took the issue of adoption seriously. They felt different, becoming adopted! There are so many riches in this image. God's adoption of his children is the guarantee of all the blessings of God because it means that all the blessings of Christ are now their's by right, because they are now his legal offspring. Moreover, the idea of adoption helps us understand the nature of our redemption - we were not born naturally into God's family. But Jesus lived the life of a perfect son, and became one of our brothers, bringing us into God's family - he gives us the freedom of new life in God's family.

Break into 4 groups, with each group reading one of the following passages: Romans 8:15-17, Romans 8:23-24, and Galatians 4:3-7, John 8:34-35.

Questions 1. What do we learn about adoption from these passages? 2. How does understanding our adoption help us understand our relationship with God? 3. What is the difference between a servant and a child? Why is it important for us to see our relationship with God as more like a parent/child relationship than like a master/servant relationship?

Practical Questions Read the following article and ask the following questions:

How does our knowledge of orphans and foster kids help us understand our need to see God as a parent? How does our knowledge of our adoption affect the way we see the crisis of foster care and orphans in our city and our world? The average American parent spends $50,000 dollars from the time a child turns 18 until age 26. Foster children, who leave the states care at 18, get $500. These findings are among a bevy of disturbing facts contained in a new report from the Childrens' Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego. It portrays the grim trail of hopelessness facing the 30,000 young Americans -- including 300 in San Diego -- who leave the foster-care system each year upon reaching age 18. It's a trail Melissa Lechner has tread for the past several years.

When I left the foster care system, I ended up couch surfing, going from a friends house to a friends house," Lechner said. "I tried getting my own apartment with two other people. That didnt work out. I moved into another friends place. By 2007, I became homeless. Lechner is a 22-year-old Grossmont College student who works part-time as a caretaker. She has been homeless off and on since 2007. In the winter months, home has included the sidewalk in front of the downtown library. During warm weather, home for her and other ex-foster kids was the San Diego River bed. We all cuddled together in tents to keep warm, laid out our blankets," Lechner said. "I ended up with staph a couple of times because of the dirt. Churches would come out and feed us. Lechner went into the foster care system when she was 10 months old after her mother was killed in a car crash. She spent the next 17 years with 10 different foster families and in a handful of group homes. I knew it would happen," she said. "Im a foster kid. Its to be expected. Foster kids end up leaving the system and having nowhere to go. They dont give us any sort of funds to be able to get our own place. They just leave us out to dry. Evidence of the state's failure lies in the numbers. Nearly 40 percent of foster kids become homeless. Only 3 percent earn college degrees. By age 24, just 50 percent have jobs. But reform requires influence. Bob Fellmeth, executive director of The Childrens Advocacy Institute, said children have none. Children are not politically powerful," Fellmeth said. "They dont vote. They dont give campaign contribution money. Theyre not organized. Of the 1,200 lobbyists in Sacramento, theres a very, very small, tiny voice (advocating for children) and these foster kids are the tiniest of the tiniest.