Last night I was given the opportunity to speak on the Gospel and Orphan Care at our young adult Bible Study,Auxano (Owx-an-Oh). We are studying the book of John and discussed chapter 14 last night. The 18th verse in John 14 is "I will not leave you as orphans;I will come to you" Jesus tells his disciples this hours before he is arrested and goes to the cross. That prompted an explanation of in light of that what does it mean for us as adopted children of God in regards to Orphan Care.
While I was preparing for last night and writing out what I was going to say (much of what I said wasn't written down it just kind of came out of my mouth) it hit me just how far God has brought me in the ten years I've been treated for Kallman's (Explanation Here). Saying 'yes' to adoption several years ago has certainly changed things. It never crossed my mind that it would entail anything but having adopted children one day. That would surely be enough in and of itself because that alone is an arduous undertaking that doesn't promise to be easy. Clearly I was wrong to think such a silly thought. Since that day adoption has become so much more than just something I plan to do in the future, it has become a passion. I spend much of my time reading anything I can get my hands on that pertains to adoption and orphan care. I've got a section on one of my bookcases that is nothing but books on the subjects. That shouldn't be surprising because parents do that before they have children, they learn, they talk to other parents. My way is just a little different.
However, it doesn't stop at just reading and learning. It has influenced what I write. This blog is full of posts on the subject. I wrote and published a fictional book about four orphans two years ago.The Forgotten, half the royalties of which go to provide care for orphans via Show Hope and the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home. This is not a mere desire anymore. It has become a calling to which I gladly lend myself to as God gives me opportunities. I've spoken on it a few times within the context of bible study lessons like last night over the past year or so. I'm not one for speaking, I'd rather write, but if God gives me the chance to speak about it I'm going to do so.
If by some odd chance you ever see me speaking in public you'll notice a few things;I move a lot when I talk,I talk incredibly fast, the more excited I get the quicker I talk and the more I move. Generally a quiet guy, speaking to a degree turns me into a much more animated person. This is not because I'm attempting to draw attention to myself because I don't enjoy the spotlight, but because the process of speaking in front of people releases adrenaline and it prompts a response that is very unlike the side of me that you usually see. I just channel the adrenaline and the result is movement and rapid speech. I also shake and you can see me do it if you pay close enough attention, not just my hands, but my entire body both while I'm speaking and when I'm finished as the adrenaline fades.
These are not things that I expected to happen. I wasn't prepared to do something I loved to do and how I made sense of things around me to speak up for those who had no voice. I certainly never expected to do something that makes me as nervous as public speaking. But I learned long ago that saying 'Yes' to God and being obedient means doing things you wouldn't expect to do.
All that being said if you are still reading this here is my take on The Gospel and Orphan Care in the context of John 14:18.
You can simply say that adoption is a visible representation of God adopting us as children and you'd be correct. It means bringing children into your family and giving them a new identity and inheritance.That is what God does with us, however it goes much deeper than that.
When Jesus says 'I will not leave you as orphans' He means it. If Jesus had not gone to the cross, shed his blood, faced God's wrath, been buried and risen from the dead we would be orphans. We cannot be sons and daughters of God without Jesus sacrifice. That was the price paid for our adoption. Not money, but blood and life.
That isn't all though, this happened while we were enemies of God. Until God draws you and you are saved you are an enemy, you hate God. You might not actually say those words or even think about it but you do. You're a sinner who does the things God hates and want nothing to do with God until He shows you your need for Him. If that wasn't enough God seeks us out in love, his enemies, and we are worthless. God doesn't need us. We have zero things to offer Him. I'm not saying we don't have value because we do, God values people. But that value isn't based on what we can do for God it is based on the fact that He wants us, we are created in His image. Think about it, what use is a dead person? There is no use for dead people and until God gives you spiritual life that is what you are, a dead person. You are not a good person or a bad person you are a dead person.
In the same vein you don't go into adoption or orphan care with the mindset of getting something in return from these children. That won't happen. They have nothing to give you. It isn't like helping out a homeless person who turns out to be a millionaire masquerading as someone in need. They have nothing and you won't be getting anything physical from them.
There is a Biblical mandate to care for orphans. It is a command, not a suggestion. The Bible doesn't have a set of verses for those who are called to care for orphans because it isn't a call to just a certain few but to the entire Body of Christ. A look through the Bible will show you how important the fatherless are to God. Here are a few examples:
You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat
them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my
wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives
shall become widows and your children fatherless. -Exodus 22:22-24
Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.-Isaiah 1:17
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.-Psalm 82:3
The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.-Psalm 146:9
To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.-Psalm 10:18
“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of
your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the
Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the
sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns,
shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.-Deuteronomy 14:28-29
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to
visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself
unstained from the world.-James 1:27
The fatherless matter to God. They should matter to us. If you will notice in most of those verses the orphan isn't alone, he is grouped with the widow and the sojourner. These are people that society overlooks or just doesn't care about at all. Why? Because these groups of people, the orphan especially cannot give anything in return for being helped. In this day and age especially, actions are taken on the basis of what you can get in return for helping. An I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine mindset. We are selfish and self-absorbed.
"And the King will answer them,"Truly I say to you, as you did to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
It doesn't get more 'least of these' than orphans. They are the hungry, naked, and needy this passage is speaking about. You name it and they need it. By the same token until the moment we are saved we are the least of these. While we might not need physical things but we do need life. We lack the thing we need the most and when God gives it to us we become children and heirs and we no longer lack what we needed most. For these children they lack physical things and many of them lack the thing they need the most, God Himself. Meeting the physical needs is a great avenue by which to give them what they need most. But if all we are interested in is making sure they are fed and clothed we've missed the point. That food and clothing is only temporary. A relationship with Christ doesn't fade it fills you up and it lasts for eternity. Caring for these children means making sure they are fed, clothed, and loved and in doing so it means insuring they hear the Gospel of Christ so their greatest need can be met.
There are 147 million orphans worldwide. That is a vast number that we cannot take lightly. At the same time we cannot just see it as a number. Those are individual children who clearly matter very much to the God who created them one by one.While all of those children aren't adoptable they all need to be cared for. If we do not make it personal it is much easier to just pass it off as a problem for someone else. Make it personal. Learn about these children and see how God would have you work for the cause of the fatherless.
"Orphans are easier to forget until you see their faces and know their names."-David Platt
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to
visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself
unstained from the world.-James 1:27
That word visit their is personal. It isn't like going to just say hello to a friend. It means to actually care for them. Give of your time, talents, and resources to see that their needs are met. You have to physically act. Not in passing or as a second thought, but by being intentional. Get your hands dirty and do something. That isn't easy to do because the moment you do you will be changed. Once you see something it gets much harder to ignore because it becomes personal. If this is going to happen you've got to make yourself vulnerable to being hurt and seeing hard things and that isn't a happy moment. It is a hard one. But it is also a growing one and one we are commanded to take.
So what are some ways we do Orphan Care well? I'm glad you asked. I urge you to check out these organizations who are already doing this so well. Not just in meeting physical needs but in ensuring these kids hear the love of their Father and what He did for them. 147 Million Orphans also has schools built so these children are getting an education so they can care for themselves when they become adults and not lapse into poverty, but become productive members of society and help others.
Show Hope
147 Million Orphans
Pray for the fatherless. It so often gets overlooked but prayer is powerful. Not because of the words we say but because of the God we are communicating with. Ask God to show you how you can use your talents, time, and resources to help the fatherless.
Maybe for some of you God will or has already called you to adopt. Leave yourself open to the optioon and see what God does. Not everyone will be called to do that, not everyone should, but everyone is called to do something.
"Orphan care is not for exceptional Christians, it's for the ordinary one's."-Tony Merida
(A/N:If you are in your twenties or thirties, single, and in the Chattanooga area we would love to have you at Auxano. We meet on Tuesday nights at 7pm at Bayside Baptist Church)
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