It is written that on the Day of Pentecost, the streets of Jerusalem were filled with pilgrims celebrating one of Judaism’s most important festivals. At the same time, one hundred and fifty of Jesus’ closest followers gathered for prayer in an upper room in that very same city. This gathering took place just ten days after Jesus departed from his disciples. At that time, Jesus commissioned his disciples to take the gospel message to the ends of the earth. However, they would need to wait until the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8). This promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit swept through the upper room like a mighty wind and rested on each of them like a flame of fire. Then the Spirit empowered them to preach the Gospel in the diverse languages of the people gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2). With the coming of the Spirit, the church’s missional calling went into action.
This morning, I decided to set aside the reading from Acts 2, for which I’m sure Kathy is grateful. Instead, we’ve heard readings from the Gospel of John and Romans 8, both of which speak about the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
When we turn to Romans 8, Paul speaks about our identity as followers of Jesus. He declares that “all who are led by the Spirit are children of God” (Rom. 8:14). Although we aren’t natural-born children of God, God has adopted us into the family through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because God has adopted us, God has made us joint heirs with Jesus of God’s promises (Heb. 2:11-13).
Since our place in God’s family comes through adoption, not birth, unlike Jesus, the only begotten child, we don’t share God’s DNA. Or, to put it in creedal terms, unlike Jesus or the Holy Spirit, we’re not of one substance with the Father.
So, if God adopted us into God’s family, what does that mean? To answer this question, we need to understand what it meant to be adopted in the first century. I imagine we all have an idea about what adoption involves. In most cases, adoption in our world involves a baby or at least a young child. The goal here is to create a family. First-century adoptions, on the other hand, were very different.
In most cases, adoption served as the legal means by which someone designated a person, usually an adult, to serve as their heir. This was something the rich and powerful did so they could pass on their estates or political power after they died. It wasn’t something people of lesser means did. You might think of how Julius Caesar “adopted” his nephew Octavian as his heir. Octavian, better known as Augustus, in turn, adopted Tiberius as his heir as emperor of Rome. When it came to the general populace, people like you and me, they might fantasize about being adopted into a wealthy family, but they wouldn’t adopt someone into their own family.
So when Paul speaks of our adoption as God’s children in Romans 8, Sandra Hack Polaski points out that “being adopted by God meant being a member of the most important family of all” [Connections 2 (Kindle p. 336)]. This is better even than being adopted into Warren Buffett’s family! The point of being adopted into God’s family is the inheritance. According to Paul, when God adopts us, we become joint heirs with Jesus of God’s promises, including the promise God made to Abraham that God would bless the nations through Abraham’s descendants. As I read Matthew’s genealogy, Jesus is Abraham’s descendant. If we’re joint heirs with Jesus, then those promises apply to us.
As we come here today to celebrate Pentecost and God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to the church, the question arises: What difference does being a child of God make to our daily lives? Well, perhaps the answer lies in Paul’s next statement: “You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear.” This was good news to Paul’s audience, since many of the members of that church probably were slaves, which meant that in Greco-Roman society, they were non-persons. However, to be in Christ changes one’s identity from being a nobody to a child of God. They might be slaves in one sense, but in another, they were members of God’s family. When it comes to us, we no longer need to live in bondage to fear, which is good news because a lot is happening in our world today that produces fear. When we let fear take hold, we tend to put up barriers that separate us from one another, especially those we consider foreigners or strangers. But, as we read in 1 John, perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). This perfect love is rooted in our relationship to the God who invites us to use a term of intimacy when we speak to God, crying out: Abba Father.
Paul also writes that because we are joint heirs with Jesus, when we share in his suffering, we also share in his glory. Therefore, if we continue reading in Romans 8, we hear Paul declare that the sufferings of this present age are nothing compared to the glory that awaits us (Rom. 8:18). He also reveals that the created order itself waits to be set free, along with God’s children.
If we drop down further in Romans 8, we read this word from Paul, who declares: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Yes:
35 Who will separate us from Christ’s love? Will we be separated by trouble, or distress, or harassment, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
We are being put to death all day long for your sake.
We are treated like sheep for slaughter.
37 But in all these things we win a sweeping victory through the one who loved us. 38 I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers 39 or height or depth, or any other thing that is created. (Rom. 8:35-39 CEB).
If we accept this promise as a word from God, if we believe that God will be true to this promise, if we let the Holy Spirit reign in our lives, then, as children of God, we’re ready to head out on the adventure that lies ahead of us.
As we go into the world, filled with the Spirit of God, we go forth knowing that since we’re God’s children, we’re also heirs of all the promises that go with that status. Every promise God made to the children of Israel has now been passed on to us as well.
It’s important that we remember that our adoption into God’s family doesn’t mean we replace the Jewish people as God’s covenant partners. Instead, because we are joint heirs with Jesus, we’ve been grafted into the family of God that now includes Jews and Gentiles. Together, we have been commissioned to be a blessing to God’s creation. Our ability to fulfill this calling is rooted in the Pentecost event, where the Holy Spirit was poured out on Jesus’ followers so we might proclaim the good news that Jesus is risen from the dead. This is the message Peter proclaimed on Pentecost, and it produced quite a harvest.
Here in Romans 8, we’re reminded that when it comes to being joint heirs with Jesus, death itself no longer has a hold over us. Therefore, we can now embrace the life that God has set before us. Yes, we’ve been commissioned by Jesus to go into the world and be his witnesses, with this promise Jesus made to his disciples on the night before his crucifixion in mind:
Trust me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on account of the works themselves. I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works I do. They will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father can be glorified in the Son. (John 14:11-13 CEB).
This may seem like a tall order, but God has gifted us with the Holy Spirit so we can fulfill our calling. The good news is that the Holy Spirit, the one John calls the Advocate, will be with us forever, teaching us everything we need to know. So are you ready to head out as children of God on this next adventure in the Spirit?
Because we are adopted children of the living God, in Christ, we have become heirs of the promises of God. Therefore, may the light of Pentecost shine through you as you venture out into the world! Be not afraid—God is with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus has sent to be with us as our advocate and companion as we walk into God’s future.
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pulpit Supply
First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Troy, MI
June 8, 2025
Pentecost Sunday
Comments