The Message I Would Have Given

I heard about the message at the funeral. If you listened you probably got it loud and clear; hell is a bad place and you don’t want to end up there. See, I was able to give you the gist of the message in one sentence.

But I must tell you, that’s not the sermon I would have preached at Aunt Bernie’s funeral. Too much judgment and not enough hope. No, the sermon I would have preached would have been quite different. I would have picked these wonderful words of Paul in the letter he wrote to the church in Rome.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[h] And by him we cry, “Abba,[i] if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 9:14-17)

I love this verse! We know that the Spirit lives and moves today, that He came when Jesus ascended to continue the work of Christ, to bring about the Kingdom of God. We know that the Spirit works in all of our hearts regardless of where we are in our faith journey. The very fact that each of us is on a faith journey bears truth to His work.

And if the Spirit is working in each of us, and we become aware of His presence and allow Him to begin to lead us, then we are Children of God. Not slaves to the things everyone tells us we better do or we will go to hell. No, we are ADOPTED by God.

I love adoption. People who adopt practice a whole new kind of love. When you have kids the old fashioned way, you love them. You have to; you gave birth to them, you’re stuck with them, you have to love them. But when you adopt a child you make a decision to love that child. You have a choice in the matter, and you choose love. God chose to love us.

When you choose to let God lead your life, through the work of the Spirit, God ADOPTS you! God chooses to love you. Amazing, isn’t it? Doesn’t say if you’re good enough He will adopt you. It says when you surrender your life to Him and let Him lead, you become his child.

One of the comments I heard at the funeral home was “now we’re orphans.” In a sense, yes, you’ve lost your parents and are orphaned from them. But you’re not orphans if you have been adopted by God! You’re not left alone! You’re Father is embracing Fred and Bernie and He’s telling them, it’s all good, you’re kids are mine, too!

And if we are children, adopted in grace by God, then we are also heirs. We share in the inheritance, the riches of heaven and the kingdom of God. If we learn the truth that the day will come when God will throw down evil and re-create everything new, then we know that we will stand in glory in that new creation. Even death, the reason we’re gathered here, is gone.

Sure there’s a hell. But there’s also a heaven. And part of being adopted as heirs is that we are heirs of the promise, that some day we will live with Him in heaven, like Uncle Fred and Aunt Bernie and countless others who let the Spirit lead them.

So the question today is simple. Are you being led by the Spirit or by something else? I know it was your parents/grandparents/great-grandparents greatest desire that you surrender your life to Him.

Do you give up?