Sermon Notes + 8.2.2026
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SERMON NOTES
Our Adoption: The Highest Privilege of the Gospel
– 1 John 3:1
Dr. Taylor Mendoza, Associate Pastor
Overview: Throughout the book of 1 John, the apostle John goes back to the basics. Speaking to an audience that struggles to define true Christianity, John warns of false teachers who deny parts of the gospel, live however they want, and don’t obey the Scriptures. Above all, they do not love others in the church all throughout Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). One of John’s most important correctives is to clearly define what true Christianity looks like. Essential to Christianity is being called God’s child through the adoption in Jesus Christ. As theologian J. I. Packer once said, “If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father.”
Three Features of our Adoption:
01.
02.
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION & DISCOVERY
1. John begins with a command to look: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us.” The word “kind” carries the sense of something foreign, unlike anything we produce. What would change on Monday morning if you were sure the Father’s love was settled before you ever performed?
2. Adoption tells us something about the adopter before it tells us anything about the adopted. What does it say about the character of God that He was not content merely to pardon rebels, but determined to bring them into His house and give them His name?
3. Justification answers the courtroom question: Am I guilty? Adoption answers the family question: Do I belong? Which of those two questions troubles you more often, and why? Where have you been living like a pardoned criminal—released, but keeping a safe distance from the house—instead of a child seated at the table?
4. In John 8:44, Jesus says of the old house, “Your will is to do your father’s desires.” Children resemble their household. Name one desire, habit, or reflex you still carry over from the house you were brought out of. What is one concrete way the Father’s household would reshape that this month?
Recommended Reading: Russell, Moore. Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches, updated and revised (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015).