Loving Orphans
“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
Maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
Deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psalm 82:3-4
For years we have had a strong and continuous focus on foster care and adoption at Redeemer Bible Church. I want to stoke that fire this week and keep our focus on this issue that is so close to the heart of Jesus.
We first must never lose sight of the need that exists in our very community. Nationwide there are 400,000 children in foster care every year in the US. This means 400,000 kids taken into the custody of the state because their parent(s) are jailed for criminal matters, drug addiction, abusive, criminal negligence, or because the children are abandoned. If you grew up in a loving Christian home and can’t imagine how this could be a reality, give thanks for the grace given to you to be born into your home but don’t be naïve to the real tragedy of sin in this world. There are children by the many thousands growing up in unthinkably hard circumstances across the country and right here in Spotsylvania. We know that the best part of life revolves around relationship and friendship. The essence of the orphaned condition is being alone. As a child having no clear provider, protector, nurturer, or place of belonging is devastating. In our non-Christian sexually supercharged culture there is no end in sight of family breakdown and an increased number of children born outside of Christian marriage. The need for foster parents and adoption is not going away.
The entire witness of Scripture is clear that God is passionate about His people living in the opposite way of the world. The spirit of the world has always been to oppress the poor and use them to enrich oneself. God is the father to the fatherless and protector of the widow (Psalm 68:5), and He demands that His people follow in His steps. Israel was often rebuked for neglecting and abusing the poor, and the church is charged with caring for the orphan and the widow (James 1:27). In the New Testament, adoption (an orphan being brought into the care, protection, and love of family without condition or payment from the orphan) is used as an analogy of our salvation (Romans 8, Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5). In relationship to God, we are the orphan. We are the one outside of relationship, abandoned, beat down by the sinfulness of the world with nothing to offer God. It is by grace and love that Jesus reaches to us and brings us in, making us new, giving us a full place in His kingdom. Having now cared for a foster child for close to two years, I believe it’s impossible to fully appreciate this analogy of salvation without being personally involved with caring for an orphan.
As Christians, we cannot turn our eyes away from this need and from these dear children. It is not the role of the world to care for the orphan. It is the responsibility of Christians according to the will of God to care for orphaned children. There is both a singular and church community responsibility. Singularly – individual families must choose to take the life-changing step to bring a foster or orphaned child into their home. Families in Redeemer should seriously consider the need, pray about the need, and some must say yes to bringing orphaned children into their homes. As a church – we must consider our role in supporting these families with direct placements. It takes the entire community of the church to physically, relationally, emotionally, and spiritually support families that bring abused, traumatized, and abandoned children into their homes. This support can come in the form of meals, babysitting for an afternoon, intentional prayer, help with the resource closet, or intentional time spent with a struggling teen.
Whatever role you may play, it will be sacrificial to your current direction of life. Let me be clear, you cannot pursue the secular American dream of personal peace and affluence and also enter into the call of Christian discipleship which requires self-sacrifice (Matthew 16:24-26). You cannot live an easy self-centered life and also take on meaningful responsibility for an orphaned child. There will come a tipping point where you choose to indulge yourself or die to yourself. I urge you to regularly pray about how you should be involved in the care of orphans in our community this year. As you pray, the Lord will open a door, lead you, and bring you to the tipping point. There will come a time when you will be personally confronted with a need that will require you to sacrifice your plans to care for another person in Jesus’ name. I pray you will say “Yes!” There is joy in obeying Jesus. There is joy in serving others. It is truly more blessed to give than to receive. There is peace in going beyond yourself and living in dependence upon Jesus every day.
Maria and I reached this point about 18 months ago when friends in the church accepted a job transfer out of state. They could not take their foster child out of state, and they asked us if we would take over the care of a six-month-old child. In short, we had a 1,000 reasons to say no to this offer, but we also felt strongly that it was God’s will for all the reasons stated above. Now, 18 months later, by the grace of God and through the constant help of family and the church, our dear Myla has become an inseparable part of our family and a joy to us every day. Every day is still a struggle and never easy, but in dependence upon the grace of Jesus and the help of the church it is possible. This world seeks to fill the empty heart by getting more things, but the heart is truly filled through giving and serving – not in receiving and indulgence.
Related to all this, the account of a true and remarkable story is being told this week. It’s the true story of a small church in “Possum Trot.” There is a movie in the theaters called “Sound of the Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,” and an interview with the pastor of the church and his wife. The Jordan Peterson podcast interview is attached below. I strongly encourage you to see and listen to both. Pray about these things! Consider the will of the Lord for your life now. Get involved with the foster care and adoption ministry at Redeemer. (click here)
Let us demonstrate the love of Jesus by caring for the fatherless,
Pastor Vic