James tells us that one of the aspects of “true religion” is caring for the fatherless in their affliction (James 1:27), reflecting God’s own care for the fatherless (Ps. 68:5). One of the ways we do orphan care is through adoption.

Adoption is often viewed as plan B, or only something that’s done if you can’t have “your own kids.” However, adoption is really an act of worship. Our motivation in orphan care and adoption should be the same reason we perform any act of biblical obedience, namely: “that they may see your good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). We don’t do orphan care to be seen by others, or receive praise from others, but rather, we do it to put the love of God on display before a watching world that they may come to know and worship our perfect Heavenly Father. Orphan care is an offering of ourselves to God for the good of millions of orphans and for the glory of His name.

But adoption is not only an act of worship; it also demonstrates the Gospel, inspiring others to worship, as they consider the character of God.

5 years ago, I never dreamed of adopting five children, and the thought of writing a book on it was nowhere on my radar. But it has been awesome. Every day I see visual reminders of the Gospel that compels me to worship our gracious God. For example…

When we returned at 2:00AM from our 30+ hour trip from Ethiopia, where we adopted our fifth child (and second son), we were in great need of a bath. We all cleaned up, including our new addition Joshua, and introduced him to spider-man pajamas. Then we got the kids up to meet their new brother. I was interested in seeing how his new older brother, James, would respond.

James walked over and casually put is arm around Joshua, saying, “hello.” Joshua did the same, and then … he jumped up and kissed James on his cheek! He began smiling from ear to ear his two cracked two-front teeth. They continued mingling, and James said, “Papa, I’m so excited.” Now, I know that type of thing will not always go on – there will be fights and feuds – but it was amazing to see these two boys together. What a strange combination, a ten year old Ukrainian from the border of Belarus, and a five year old Ethiopian from the Sudanese border, gathered in a house in Hattiesburg, MS: made brothers through the grace of adoption.

As we witnessed this first meeting of the brothers, I immediately thought about Russell Moore’s book, Adopted for Life and the chapter entitled, “Are They Brothers?” Dr. Moore brought up how he received questions after their adoptions like “Are they brothers?” He would respond, “yes” repeatedly. But then follow up questions would come like: “I mean, are they really brothers?” To which Dr. Moore would respond, “They are now.”

And so it is with Joshua and James. They are really brothers. Two kids from tiny obscure villages, one from a mud-hut in Africa, and one from a poor village where they still drive horse and buggies, gathered under the roof of a house in Hattiesburg.

This is a picture of what has happened to us in Christ. We’ve been adopted by God, in his grace, and placed into the family of God, even though we may look quite different.

The Apostle John said it well:

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 3:1a).

When you consider afresh what God has done for us in Christ through adoption, how can we not give Him praise? J.I. Packer wrote that adoption is the highest privilege that the Gospel offers. This privilege of knowing God as Father should prompt us to worship.

*** Tony Merida serves as Teaching Pastor at Temple Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS as well as Assistant Professor of Preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of Faithful Preaching and the soon to be released book Orphanology. In the last 15 months, he and his wife have five adopted children.

The past several weeks at The Austin Stone, the church I pastor, we have given our normal preaching rotation a break, and brought in a few men who were not only good friends, but honestly some of the best preachers in the country.

I was excited to have them come, but at the same time nervous about what they would experience at our church. You see, though we had been friends for years, none had actually worshiped with us before.

I was naturally curious about what they would say, so I planned to pick their brains about their observations, whether good or bad. Interestingly, they all had the exact same comments, specifically on the music portion of our worship and how deeply it had impacted them.

These were their observations and just a few of the core values we strive for in our worship through song at the Austin Stone.

1. God-centered: Who is the hero of the song? Man or God. We pick songs that are God-centered, God-aimed and God-exalting. It is shocking how many songs coming out of worship culture today are not truly centered on the person and work of God.

2. Theologically sound: We believe that our worship music is an extension of the sermon. Music teaches and music preaches. Music will often stick in the mind and heart of the believer long after the sermon has been forgotten. We make absolutely certain that every line of every song fits with the theology we hold to.

3. Celebratory: We do have slow and contemplative music, but the general theme of our music is celebration. God is amazing, powerful and awe-inspiring! He has done great things and His love endures forever! The gospel produces joy and we want our worship to reflect that.

4. Outwardly expressive: All through Psalms you see an inward and outward expression of worship. Mouths and hearts as well as hands and feet. You can worship God in silence and stillness, but often times worship of God will express itself outwardly through raising hands, shouting, clapping, dancing, you name it. Sorry Baptists, it’s not charismatic, it’s biblical!

These are simply some of the aspects of our worship philosophy that will be expressed on any given weekend. However, we strive to ensure that what makes our church a church is not an hour on a Sunday, but individual people who make up the Body of Christ, living together on mission, for His glory, all over the world. If worship isn’t taking place in that context first, then it’s not taking place at all.

*** Matt serves as lead pastor at Austin Stone Community Church, which he planted in 2002. The first meeting of 30 people now encompasses 4000 worshippers on Sundays, making Austin Stone one of the 100 fastest growing churches in America. Matt’s vision is to foster the churches passion for Christ, love for each other, and outreach to their communities – ultimately planting churches throughout America and the nations, supporting missionaries who are loving the peoples of the world and bringing them the hope of the gospel. In addition to pastoring at The Austin Stone, Matt is a cancer survivor, author and speaker for camps and conferences nationwide. Matt holds a MDiv from Southwestern Seminary and lives in Austin with his wife Jennifer and their three children.