This weekend we launched a brand-new series at Mercy Hill Church titled Chosen. At its heart, this series is built around a simple but profound truth: Christians adopt others because God adopted them. Chosen people choose people.

Adoption is beautiful, but it is also hard. Cute pictures and sad stories are not strong enough reasons to walk a road that can last a lifetime. To step into something this costly, you need more than a good reason. You need a great one, and the gospel gives us just that.

Every Christian understands adoption personally. Apart from Christ, we were spiritual orphans, living outside the family of God and separated by sin. But through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God lavished his love on us and brought us into his family. Spiritually speaking, we know what it is to go from orphan to child.

That is why James calls Christians to care for orphans in their affliction and why believers should jump at that call. The Chosen series is not about pressure or guilt. It is about gospel motivation. Some will be called to adopt or foster. Others will be called to support, serve, and “hold the rope” for those who do. But all of us are invited to ask how our spiritual adoption should shape our lives.

As a church, we are also casting a bold vision for the future. Over the next five years, Mercy Hill is praying toward a new goal: to see 1,000 children impacted by the gospel, through the Chosen ministry, by 2030.

This first sermon starts with the “why,” because we can never sustain gospel action without gospel awe.

Sermon Recap: What Kind of Love? 

To kick off the series, we turned to 1 John 2:28–3:1 and were reminded that our own spiritual adoption inspires awe in our heart. Before John calls us to do anything, he calls us to behold something. The foundation for building families the way God builds his is not effort, activism, or emotion, but awe. From the very beginning, John starts by calling believers to remain close to Jesus.

Abiding in Christ Produces Confidence, Not Fear

John writes,

“And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming” (1 John 2:28).

This call to abide is language John intentionally carries over from his gospel, especially from John 15, where Jesus describes the relationship between a vine and its branches. To abide means to remain, to stay, to settle in over time. Just as a branch never detaches from the vine, the Christian life is meant to be lived from a place of deep, ongoing union with Jesus.

When we come to Christ, we are placed in him. That is the picture baptism gives us: our old life buried and a new life joined to Jesus himself. Spiritual disciplines like Scripture reading and prayer do not earn us favor with God; rather, they help us functionally remember who we already are in Christ and to live from that reality. And it is this abiding relationship that shapes how we think about the future. When our lives are rooted in Christ, his return does not inspire fear or shame, but confidence and hope.

Your Reaction to Him Depends on Your Abiding in Him

John says that when Jesus returns, some will respond with confidence while others will shrink back in shame. The difference is not moral perfection. It is relational closeness. When we know how God feels about us, fear loses its power. Apart from Christ, we instinctively pull away, aware of our guilt. But in Christ, because our sin has been dealt with, we run toward him.

John goes on to say that those who practice righteousness have been born of God. This is gospel-centered motivation. Righteous living is not the condition of new birth; it is the consequence of it. We do not live for acceptance. We live from acceptance.

Behold the Love That Made Us God’s Children

Then John erupts with one of the most astonishing statements in all of Scripture:

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1).

This is not casual reflection. It is emotional astonishment. God did not ration his love. He lavished it. He gave more than we needed. He went over the top. And this love is what defines us.

We are not children of God because we earned it, achieved it, or deserved it. We are children of God because God lovingly calls us his children, and so we are. That identity is foundational. In a world that tells us to build our worth on success, status, or approval, the gospel gives us a deeper and unshakable name: child of God.

Never Get Used to the Gospel

John’s command to “see” is a warning as much as it is an invitation. Familiarity can dull wonder. Even in gospel-centered churches, it is possible to stop beholding what God has done. But the gospel is never something we graduate from. It is the fuel that sustains faith, the fire that warms obedience, and the motivation that empowers hard obedience.

Jesus did not pay for our adoption with money. He paid for it with his blood. He laid down his life so that sinners like us could be brought into God’s family. That kind of love changes us.

Application: Stand in Awe of Over Your Spiritual Adoption

Before we ever talk about practical steps, we must start here. Awe comes before action. As a church, we believe God builds his family through adoption, both spiritual and physical. Some families will adopt or foster. Others will support, serve, and stand in the gap. But all of us are called to ask the same question: How should my spiritual adoption shape my life?

This is not about copying a pastor’s story. This is about responding to God’s story. Adopted people adopt people, and chosen people choose people.

As we begin this series, our prayer is simple: God, never let us get over what you have done for us. Let awe fuel obedience. Let grace produce courage. And let the gospel shape how we build our families and our church.

Watch the full sermon from week one of our Chosen sermon series here:

Andrew Hopper