Because God Cares
- Posted by Julee Huy
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“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families …” (Psalms 68:5-6 NIV)
This Sunday marks several significant changes for us as a church. Not only are we moving to a new location, but we’re moving to a new time that may boost our ability to testify of the gospel of the grace of God to this community. At least that’s our hope. And yet with all the exciting things that are happening this Sunday, I find what my heart is most excited about is the opportunity to lead this church through our first observance of Orphan Sunday.
Great Potential
God deeply cares about the brokenness of relationships in this world because it represents the destruction that sin has had upon the His image bearing creation, an image that should demonstrate the relational unity of a triune God. Instead, we live in a world that destroys the family, abuses the mother, degrades the father, and abandons the child. Part of the work of redemption is to restore the intended image of relational unity and in so doing, testify of God’s tremendous love that first existed between the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. For us as a church to dive into this redemptive aspect of the gospel gives me great hope that perhaps through the process, the Spirit of God might stir in us affections to see lives restored for the glory of Jesus. It may be that this Sunday families will find desires they never had, priorities they never accounted for, and perhaps by the grace of God, some will have affections to foster or adopt stirred deep within their souls. May it be for the tremendous glory of Jesus!
Why It Matters
As I think about our little church in comparison to the global plight of the fatherless, these thoughts encourage my heart to lead us in engaging this issue:
1) World Tragedy
In the world, every 14 seconds leaves another child orphaned. In a year, that accumulates to 12 million children orphaned. In sum, that leaves 143 million children currently without a family. Consider how big 143 million is. If all the orphans were to form a country, that country would be the 9th biggest population in the world, about half the population of the United States. For many of these children, turning 18 brings no future, only misery. For example, in Russia, 10-15% of children that age out of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18, 60% enter prostitution, and 70% of the boys turn to crime.
In the United States, nearly 500,000 children live in foster care with 118,000 of them up for adoption. Their plight is not any better. 25% of these kids will age out of foster care and end up homeless, 27% will age out and end up in jail, and 30% will age out and experience early parenthood.
2) The Family Make-up Of FHG
God has chosen to form a unique fellowship at For His Glory Community Church. Currently we have as many children as adults, and of that, nearly as many adopted children as children born into their families. Clearly God has intentions for us to care about this issue by bringing us families that already do care about this issue.
3) Historic Precedent
One gripe levied against the early church was that it was made up of slaves and women. This was in fact true. During those early times, Roman citizens would practice the killing of baby girls by leaving them out in the cold to die. Christians would in turn come and rescue these girls and take them in and care for them. In small towns when news of events spread quickly, birth moms would join the church to be with their abandoned babies. The result was that often times both the baby and the mom would come to faith in Jesus through the visible love of the church. This pattern of practical sacrifice no doubt paved the way for the unchurched to understanding the true nature of Jesus love on the cross.
4) Biblical Imperative
The bible is replete with God’s admonition to care for the fatherless and the widows. For example, Isaiah 1:17 says, “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows” and James sums it up this way, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” To care for the fatherless is simply to take the word of God at face value and to seek to live it out with intention and grace and power in the Holy Spirit.
5) Gospel Clarity
The idea of adoption is not explicitly stated in the old testament (though exemplified in the life of Moses and perhaps Esther). In the New Testament, however, Paul describes every major epoch of the gospel in terms of the concept of adoption:
– Predestination finds purpose in adoption (Eph 1:5)
– God’s covenant with Israel is sustained because of adoption (Rom 9:4)
– Jesus came to redeem people to be adopted as sons (Gal 4:5)
– Eternity comes with the revealing of those who have been adopted (Rom 8:23)
God has forever put His seal of approval on adoption by tying it to the story of the gospel, and my heart’s prayer is that we as a church would discover what this means.
For His glory – only and always.
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