Many
years ago, I met a woman who had adopted children through the same agency
Candy, my wife, and I went through for our three children (one adopted from
Russia, two from Ethiopia). This woman’s
children were from China.
The woman was working with Candy and
me to create a central North Carolina chapter of families who had adopted
through this particular agency, a Christian organization. One of the keys for our chapter would be the
support of the pastors and churches where the adoptive families worshiped. However the woman, the organizer, told us her pastor was not interested.
She attended a large church, much larger than my
church. It was a church full of
resources. And the pastor flatly told
her he had no interest in adoption ministry and she would not have any help
from him or support. She couldn’t even
host events at the church building. His
interest was in the saving of souls. He
didn’t have time for social programs like adoption.
God has a decidedly different view.
In constituting a nation to be the nation of God’s people, God had this
to say; “You must also give food to
the poor who live in your town, including orphans, widows, and foreigners. If they have enough to
eat, then the Lord your
God will be pleased and make you successful in everything you do” (Deuteronomy
14:29). Provision for the fatherless was
an essential ingredient for the people of God.
It was an unambiguous necessity.
Saying, “well, that’s not my ministry,” was not an option available to
them.
When faced with
tribulation due to the assaults of “the wicked,” the Psalmist prays to God
calling God a helper of orphans and one who gives justice to orphans (Psalm
10:14, 18). In other words, the way the
one praying identifies God is in terms of how God treats orphans. Why can
I pray to God?? Oh, I can pray to God
because God is the one who aids those children who have no mother or father. This is how God is known, as “helper of those
without families” (also see Hosea 14:3).
When the prophets of
Israel called for justice, or condemned the nation because of an utter failure
of justice, one of the chief symptoms was how the nation treated orphans. The way the fatherless were cared for or
abused was an unmistakable indicator of whether the nation honored God or
dishonored God. Passages to consider:
Isaiah 1:17, 23; Jeremiah 7:6; 22:1-3; Ezekiel 22:7. Also, James 1:27 speaks to the necessity of
caring for orphans.
We then see that from
early in the days of Moses through the fiery exhortations of the prophets
through the serene wisdom in the Psalms up to the New Testament ethic found in
James, comprehensive care of orphans is a Biblical mandate. What does that say to Christians who want to
follow the guidance of scripture today?
It says the pastor
who told the adoptive mom she’d get no help from him was flat out wrong. He acted against God’s designs.
I am thankful the
church where I am a pastor has other members who are themselves adopted. We have adoptive parents in our church. And our church has many members who support at-risk
children through sponsorship. In
November, we celebrate all who care for orphans and as we do, we call upon
everyone in the church to pray earnestly, asking God how he or she is to join
the effort.
This is God’s call. Are you being called to sponsor a child? Give respite to foster parent? Or, are you in a situation where you are
being called to become a foster parent yourself or to adopt? These are challenges. But God does not call us to safety, comfort,
and ease. We are called to follow Jesus
to the cross. On the way of the cross,
we carry another’s burden and enter his pain that he might be blessed and enter
Jesus’ joy. In doing so, we are filled
with the spirit and live in a joy we’d never know if we stayed on the sidelines
trying to take it easy.
Pray. And when you do and you hear God calling you
to radically change your life by making care of orphans a top priority (and
this will happen), then answer that prayer will joyful willingness. You’ll be eternally glad that you did.
Yes.
ReplyDeleteI hope that woman found a new church. I can't fathom her pastor's views. Bless you for your children and the work you do for other underprivileged children of this world.
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