I have been reflecting a lot lately on the whole metaphorical connection between earthly adoption and our spiritual adoption in Christ. Over the recent years, much has been made of the similarities between our adoption in Christ and our adoption of kids (including by Tony & me in Orphanology). And, for the record, I agree with the similarities we discuss in the book. Unfortunately, some have sought to be critical of the Christian adoption movement on these same grounds. It is as if they see us as making some sort of one for one connection between spiritual and earthly adoption. Clearly, I hope no one is making that mistake.

Sure, there are some powerful similarities between the earthly adoption of children and the gospel. I am very thankful of what the experience of adoption has taught me about adoption from the "inside" of the experience, but some of the greatest lessons have been those that I have learned as I have reflected on how our adoption of children is dissimilar or falls woefully short as true picture of the gospel.

Some days, it seems that my growing understanding of the gospel is most informed by the stark realization of how much I am not like God in adoption. I am selfish, and He is not. I am distractible, and He is always attentive. I make short-sighted decisions, and he is omniscient. In short, earthly adoption is a great illustration of the gospel, but like with any other theological metaphor, if stretched too far it will break. Just like an apple is a lousy ultimate metaphor for the Trinity because it fall so short of the thing it proposes to explain, we must concede that our limitations, sinfulness, and frailty render earthly adoption as but a shadow of adoption in Christ that gives us but a faint taste of the gospel.

So, take heart adoptive parent. Some of those tough days in your journey as an adoptive parent when you are struck face-to-face with how much you are not like Jesus, those are actually great moments of grace. They are opportunities to love Jesus more and to beg Him to shape in areas that we struggle. Those are days when a disciple has an opportunity to grow. And those are opportunities for us to put the transforming power of the gospel on display!

I would love to hear how how being an adoptive parent has taught you more about Jesus and how to follow Him. Your posts and comments are appreciated!

What would you want to see in a new book dealing with international adoption and orphan care?

I want to hear your thoughts! Please reply to this post in the comments section or email me. Your comments are very valuable to me.

Blessings,

Rick

I know this post is a little late, but I do want to recognize that May is foster care month. WIth over 500,000 children in the US foster car system and over 130,000 of them being immediately avaialble for adoption, I think this month of emphasis is a great time for churches to highlight the needs and opportunities that exist for Christians to live out James 1:27 through foster care.

This month at Faith, we have begun to host a PATH class (Parents as Tender Healers) to prepare families to become foster families. In addidtion, the leadership team of our foster and adoptive ministry has met with a representative of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) to learn how we can help kids who are in foster care or are in danger of being placed into foster care.

What is your church/ministry doing for National Foster Care Month? I would love to hear your ideas!!!

Blessings,

Rick

Sunday night in the sermon, I refered to Gordon MacDonald's 5 kinds of people from Restoring Your Spiritual Passion. I have had several people ask to get the information, so here it is...

5 Kinds of People

1. Very Resourceful People (VRPs) (Paul) - are the people who share our passion and stimulate and challenge us in our ministry.
2. Very Important People (VIPs) (Barnabas) - are those people who share our passion and who share with us in our ministry. VIPs encourage us, sharpen us as peers, hold us accountable, and collaborate with us to achieve Kingdom goals.
3. Very Trainable People (VTPs) (Timothy) - are those people who have potential for ministry, whom we can profitably train. They share our passion, and we invite them along to help them grow We train VTPs most often according to the following informal process: (1) I do, you watch, (2) I do you help, (3) You do, I help, and (4) You do and I move on to do something else.
4. Very Nice People (VNPs) - are just that, but add little to our ministry and do very little ministry themselves. They don't share our passion. They don't challenge us, and they don't contribute to our growth in Christ or to the accomplishment of our mission of making disciples of all nations.
5. Very Draining People (VDPs) - are emotional "black holes" who will easily consume most of our time and energy in ministry if we let them. These are the takers, who seldom become producers or givers. They are needy people who drain us of our strength and time who either refuse t ogrow or are incapable of growth because of some life circumstance.

A significant part of the journey as a disciple is discipline. One often overlooked discipline is managing proactively the way we spend our time and with whom we spend it. Left unchecked, most of us will spend upwards of 80-90% of our lives with VNPs and VDPs. The task of making disciples is our life's mission and is too significant for this type of waste. We must take charge of who we spend our time with as if we are managing a precious investment because we are to spend our lives well for the sake of the nations to the glory of God. Ultimately, how we spend our time and who we spend it with is an act of worship. Taking responsibility for our lives in this way is honoring the price that Christ has paid for us and acknowledging his Lordship over our lives.

How do you maximize the time you spend each week with VRPs, VIPs, or VTPs? Please share your comments!

Today, I announced that I will be leaving Temple Baptist Church to become the Associate Pastor for Equipping and Discipleship at Faith Baptist Church in Bartlett, Tennessee. It has been difficult in that we are saying goodbye to some great friends and to a wonderful season of ministry. We are so grateful for the opportunity to have served and made our home here and to have been able to see God use Temple to plant churches, make disciples, take the gospel to the nations and care for the fatherless.

We have grown and you have ministered to us, and we pray that we have served God well here with you. I look forward to seeing what God will do through Temple to make disciples of all nations into the future!

We have grown as a family (by two), and you were part of that and always will be. We have you as part of our story, and that makes me smile. Thank you!

Soon, we will be transitioning to our new assignment among the people of Faith. We are ready to get started. Me head is swimming already with thoughts of what is to come. I am so excited about the ministry that lies ahead at Faith. I can't wait!

Thank you for praying for us in the transition!

Especially since the release of Orphanology, lots of the questions and comments I have fielded from people have centered on the theme of orphan hosting. Many people are really curious or even captivated by the idea. Others are wary or even skeptical. While we are in the middle of another hosting event with Promise 139, it has given me a little perspective to revisit why I think orphan hosting makes sense. Here are some thoughts:

1. It personalizes the global orphan crisis. Most of the people who volunteer with our hosting program will never set foot an international orphanage. Through hosting, they have an opportunity to put real faces and real names with the huge orphan problem that exists across the globe. I have heard it said that "once you can see their faces and know their names, you are responsible for them." That's a pretty personal interpretation of the charge in James 1:27. In reality, we are responsible for all of them. When we come to know them, it is we that become aware of our responsibility.
2. Hosting brings hope, and I'm not talking the hope of adoption. One of my favorite stories was the 15-year-old boy who came to us as part of a hosting group. He had been profoundly neglected. He was not sent to school by his mom, and quite frankly, going to the orphanage was a blessing for him. But, he didn't see much of a future for himself. After two weeks among believers in America being loved on unconditionally and shown Christ, he said this. "I am starting to think about the future. Before I didn't think much about it. Seeing how these people love and care for each other inspires me." He had hope. Hope that a good life was possible, and that hope was rooted in Jesus because he had been presented the Good News and it had changed him eternally! He was going home as an adopted son of the King knowing that he had brothers and sisters in America who loved and supported him.
3. Hosting gives an opportunity to earn the right to be influential in the lives of kids the other 50+ weeks a year. By working well with the orphanage and other government officials, you can earn trust to begin to impact kids through transitional programs and through aid that extends throughout the year. Hosting begins the relationship, but it does not have to define it.

I could go on forever, but these are a few of my thoughts. What are yours? I would love to hear from you. You can send questions or comments at the end of this blog or fine me on twitter (@rick_morton) or facebook (www.facebook.com/dr.rick.morton)

We began in our Bible Fellowship group talking about I Timothy 6:6-21. The ends of all of Paul's letters are always interesting to me because of his tendency to try to pack final important words into the conclusion. It reminds me of the way we parents have a tendency to talk to our kids when they are heading out the door. "remember...just one more thing...don't forget." We want to make sure that they get those important last minute instructions before they go.

At the end of I Timothy, Paul had those kind of instructions for the young pastor whom he thought of like a son. It makes me pay particular attention to what Paul said because I think Paul paid particular attention to Timothy. It's not that everything Paul wrote isn't terribly valuable (it is). It's just a sense that Paul really loved this young guy, and I know he wanted to see him succeed desperately for the sake of the Kingdom. TImothy was in a difficult situation. He was in a messed up church. They had leadership issues. They had theological issues. The gospel was not their main mission or their main passion any longer, and Timothy's charge was to put things in order. It was a tall order for anyone especially for a young pastor.

Paul's warning to Timothy was one of age and wisdom. You can almost hear the urgency in Paul's voice as he calls out to Timothy to flee the senseless penchant for theological controversy and material wealth that has distracted the church he now pastors and has gotten it so far off mission. Remember, this is the same Paul who wrote to the Phillippian church about being content in every circumstance while imprisoned, chained to a Roman jailer, and paying for his own imprisonment. He understood about embracing the grace of God through Christ at a level that I struggle to comprehend. When Paul instructs Timothy about contentment, he has my attention too, because his life is an example of the fruit of the grace of God in a life yielded to living for the sake of the gospel.

Paul isn't anti-wealth or anti-theology. He is anti-selfishness. He tells Timothy,

17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” 21 for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.
Grace be with you. (I Timothy 6:17-21, ESV)

Paul reminds Timothy that money (and even theology) is a tool. Ultimately, we are given what we have and even what we think for the sake of the gospel to the glory of God. These tools are not given to us to be an end for us. They are given to be a means for us. Does that mean that we should not enjoy the things we have been given to steward over or enjoy thinking about God? Absolutely not! It just means that we should always maintain a proper perspective. The overarching concern in our lives is the gospel and being part of God's mission to extend it to the ends of the earth. That is why we are who we are and why we have what we have. It is the backdrop for everything, and we get the privilege to chase the mission in the freedom of God's grace as his child.

During yesterday morning's sermon on the Rich Young Ruler (how was the for a nice bookend to the start the morning got off to with this passage?), I could not help but be drawn to think of the couplet that the story has in all three of the synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all three record the story of the Rich Young Ruler immediately after the story of Jesus and the Children. Did it occur that way chronologically? I'm not sure, but the point is striking. On the one hand, you have this group of children who come to Jesus in simplicity, and he uses them as an example of the kind of faith that God desires. On the other hand, you have this young, wealthy man who comes to Jesus trying to justify himself and and hang on to as much of what he "has" as he can. Who does Jesus accept? The children who come with nothing but openness to him but withhold nothing from him. Who walks away sad? The guy who believes the delusion that he actually owns something and is trying to protect his stuff from the One who made it and really owns it! Ironic to say the least.

Today, I am praying that Jesus grants me the wisdom to see Him like those children did and to see the things I steward over like Paul saw his stuff.

I found this little illustration as a helpful way of putting it in perspective.

Who's rich? If we were to take the 6 billion people on the planet today and boil that down to a village of a hundred people, but keep every other statistic the same, here's what that global village of a hundred people would look like. Fifty-seven would be Asian, 21 European, 14 from North or South America, and 8 Africans. Fifty-one would be female and 49 male, 70 would be nonwhite, 30 Anglo, 70 non-Christian, and 30 Christian. Fifty percent of the entire world's wealth would be in the hands of 6 people and all 6 would be citizens of the United States. Eighty would live in substandard housing, 70 would be unable to read, 50 would suffer from malnutrition, 1 would be near death, 1 would be near birth, only 1 would have a college education, and none of them would own a computer.

How do you keep it all in perspective? I would love to hear your comments here or at rickmortononline@gmail.com

Eight years ago, Denise and I were about to celebrate a Thanksgiving that was unlike any that we have ever celebrated before (or since). A week before, we had received word that we were being invited to come to Ukraine for our first adoption, and for a week, we had lived in a whirlwind. We traveled to Ukraine with just days notice (although Denise had circled the Monday before thanksgiving on our kitchen calendar months earlier, and we had been praying for that day--that was just one of the little miracles God let us see along the way). We spent two tense days waiting through cancelled appointments and uncertainty only to finally get a referral to meet a child, a little 18-month-old boy.

Just before midnight Thanksgiving Day, we boarded an overnight train headed west to a city that quite frankly neither of us could even remember the name of at the time. It turned out to be Ternopil. We arrived early in the morning as a light snow had begun to fall. Actually, much of the next couple of hours is pretty much a blur to me. We drove around trying to find the orphanage and get permission to see the boy we hoped to adopt. Finally, we met with the orphanage director and head doctor and heard all about him, and then we met him, and that is what will define Thanksgiving forever now!

He was little and frail and sick and cross-eyed and blonde and really cute. Most of all, he is ours, and I am thankful!

I love you Bubs! And, thanks be to God that he brought us to you and you to us, and that none of our Thanksgivings will ever be the same again!

This past Friday, literally hundreds of thousands of people lined up to get into movie theaters at 12:01 am to be among the first people to see the latest Twilight film. I love a great story as much as the next guy, but that one I don't get. I mean c'mon. A romance between a kind of wimpy vampire and brooding girl with a side of werewolves thrown in...Really? If any of you dudes are planning to head out to see it, I'm going to need you to turn in your man cards before you click away from this post.

But seriously, there is something about a great story that really grabs our attention and gets inside of us. We love to know the inside scoop about our favorite athletes and singers. We want to know even more about the people we really care about. If people matter to us, we want to know their stories, and that's why God has made the Bible a book of stories.We love stories because He wired us to crave relationship. God made us with the drive to want to know the story of others ultimately because we were created to know Him.

But you see, there is a huge problem in our knowing God. Our worthiness to have a relationship with God is broken. It is broken because we are broken. God is perfect in every way, and He cannot tolerate even the presence of any evil, wrong, or imperfection with Him. By our choices and our actions, we have driven a wedge in the relationship between us and God. There us a gap that exists between us and God, and for that gap to be bridged, a way had to be made.

So, the Bible is a special kind of story. It is the story of God's love for us and how he has made a way to fix the brokenness the exists between us and himself. The Bible is really hundreds and hundreds of little stores plus a few other things, that all add up to show us the way back to God and how to live life with him. How He made a way when we had no way. Why he made a way when we were unworthy (for His glory). It is full of real stories of real people. Broken people that God lets us see so that we can ultimately see him.

Each of the little stories has power to tell us something about the big story and it's hero: Jesus.

One of those stories is about a guy named Zacchaeus.

How many of you know the song... "Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he." That is a catchy little kids tune, but Zacchaeus' story is real, gritty, and familiar.

Here it is from Luke 19

Some things we can see from the story:

19 1-6 Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.

5–7 When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home.” Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him. Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?”
8 Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”
9–10 Jesus said, “Today is salvation day in this home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham! For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.” - The Message

• Zacchaeus was rich and important - He had all the trappings of a fulfilled life, but something was still missing. Zacchaeus came out that day hoping to find something
• He was probably not well liked - The writer (Luke) tells us that Zacchaeus was short. If he had been well liked ( or even well respected) the crowd would have let him through to the front so he could see Jesus as he passed by, but they didn't. He had to climb a tree just to get a glimpse of Jesus. He was so desperate for something to fill the void in his life, he risked further humiliation just to get a glimpse of Jesus.
• Ultimately, he acted like a man who knew that there was something wrong in his life - Romans 3:9-26 explains the problem:

We’re All in the Same Sinking Boat
9–20 So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt abo

ut it:
There’s nobody living right, not even one,
nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
They’ve all taken the wrong turn;
they’ve all wandered down blind alleys.
No one’s living right;
I can’t find a single one.
Their throats are gaping graves,
their tongues slick as mudslides.
Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
They open their mouths and pollute the air.
They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
Don’t know the first thing about living with others.
They never give God the time of day.
This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.
God Has Set Things Right

 

21–24 But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

25–26 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness. - The Message

The law didn't fix his problem, it only exposed it. His effort didn't fix his problem, it only demonstrated how helpless he was. He was separated from God, and he was powerless to do anything about it. So, how was his problem addressed? Jesus came to him. Jesus offered salvation to him, because that's what he came to do (Luke 16:10). And, Zacchaeus responded with overwhelming gratitude. He lives like a guy who was freed from the law and overcome by grace.

That is the gospel in action. Jesus seeks and redeems those who are lost. We are transformed by the power of his Spirit into His likeness, and gratitude dominates. Satan wants us to be preoccupied with the law. Jesus wants us to be caught up in his grace.

Look at the woman caught in adultery in John 8:

To Throw the Stone
 8 1–2 Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them.
3–6 The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.
6–8 Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.
9–10 Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?”
11 “No one, Master.” “Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.” - The Message

Forgiveness preceded sanctification. Jesus told her that He did not condemn her. She was forgiven. Freedfrom the penalty of her sin, but then he told her to go away and not sin. How could that be possible? She sure stunk at it up to that point. How was she going to do any better now? She was going to do better now because she was different. She was transformed. She was forgiven, and she was being judged according toJesus' righteousness. Jesus was telling her she was free and that she now needed to go live like it to the glory of God. That is what it means to be a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. - 2 Corinthinans 5:17 (English Standard Version)

Today, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are free! Let us let take time this Thanksgiving to contemplate the deep riches of the gospel and let our gratitude motivate our lives to the glory of God!

5:00 pm - Supper in the Church Activities Center - Come eat dinner with a missionary. Missionaries and missionary families will be scattered at tables throughout the dining area to give us an opportunity to get  to know them and learn about their work and how we can encourage and pray for them.

7:00 pm - Missionary Appointment Worship Service - This will be a memorable time of worship as we gather together to adore God, seek His direction in reaching the nations with the gospel, and set aside these these missionaries to take the gospel to the unreached peoples of the earth.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001 (Ac 1:8). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001 (Ac 13:1–3). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.