The full unabridged audio of the sermon can be found here: The Radical Reality of Adoption
If you were to sit in a seminary class on biblical exegesis, it wouldn’t take long to get swept up in the mechanics of ancient literature. You might map out the opening of the Gospel of John and proudly declare, “Look! A chiastic structure!"—feeling like a theological detective, only to open a commentary and realize scholars have seen it for two thousand years.
But there is a reason the structure matters. A chiasm is a literary device where parallel ideas work inward toward a central point. In the famous Prologue of John, everything drives toward a singular, breathtaking climax found in verse 12:
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
We often focus on the grand cosmic scale of John 1—the pre-existent Word, the Creator of the universe, the light shattering the darkness. But John’s ultimate destination is deeply personal. It is the reality that those who receive Christ become children of God.
To understand how we get there, we have to look at the three movements John lays out: The Creator rejected, the Creator adopting, and the Creator working alone.
1. The Rejected Creator
John begins by highlighting a tragic irony in verses 10 and 11:
“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
John loves wordplay, and here he uses the Greek word kosmos (world) three times, shifting its meaning.
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First, Jesus came into the physical world—the trees, the stars, the oceans He spoke into existence.
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Second, it is the world made through Him.
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But the third “world” refers to the fallen human systems, powers, and people standing in opposition to God.
John notes that Jesus came to His own—literally His own domain, His own temple, His own land—yet His own people did not receive Him. They had the law, the prophets, and the promises, but they were blind to the Messiah standing right in front of them. To them, He was just a wandering rabbi.
This forces a choice that C.S. Lewis famously popularized. We cannot simply look at Jesus as a “good moral teacher.” If He claimed to be God and knew He wasn’t, He was a liar. If He thought He was God but was mistaken, He was a lunatic on the level of someone thinking they are a poached egg. The only other option is that He is exactly who He said He was: Lord.
2. The Adopting Creator
Despite this massive rejection, the narrative flips. For those who do receive Him, the Creator does something radical: He adopts.
John writes that He gave them the “right” to become children of God. The Greek word used here is exousia, which means legal standing authority. This isn’t just a vague feeling or a spiritual “vibe.” This is a documented, unbreakable legal status.
Think of it like a permit that gives you absolute authority to act. When you stand before God, your entry into His kingdom isn’t based on your own shaky merit or good behavior. It is based on a legal declaration from the Father who points to you and says, “That is my child.”
This is the great reversal. Those who were not a people are now called the people of God. We are brought into the family, inheriting all the rights, promises, and covenants of the Father.
3. The Creator Works Alone
How do we acquire this incredible legal status? John makes it clear in verse 13 that it happens entirely outside of human effort. We are born:
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Not of natural descent: (Literally “not of bloods”). You don’t inherit this by being born into a specific family line, ethnicity, or religious community.
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Nor of human decision: (Literally “not of the flesh”). It is not the result of human striving, physical desire, or impulses.
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Nor of a husband’s will: In the ancient world, the patriarch controlled family planning and legal adoptions. John is saying no human authority or social scheming can orchestrate your salvation.
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But born of God.
We live in a culture that worships the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality. We often mistake Benjamin Franklin quotes like “God helps those who help themselves” for scripture. But the gospel tells us the exact opposite: We cannot save ourselves. Our spiritual birth is entirely the work of the Creator alone. And because your adoption was not earned by your performance, it cannot be lost by your performance. Your place in God’s family is secure because He is the one who secured it.
The Challenge: Believing is Seeing
In our modern world, we love to say, “Seeing is believing.” We demand proof before we trust. But in God’s economy, John flips the script: Believing is seeing.
When you don’t believe, you remain blind to spiritual realities. But when you place your trust in Christ, your eyes are opened to see who God truly is—and who you are in Him.
When you look in the mirror, you know your own flaws, your messed-up thoughts, and the broken pieces of your heart. You might think, Nobody would want any part of this. Yet the Creator of the universe looks at you and says, “You are mine. I choose you. I love you.”
Do you believe it? Because when you believe, you see. And believing is life.