If God has already adopted you, why do you keep filling out the application?

Have you ever had to fill out a form, hand it in, and then been handed the exact same form to fill out again?

There is something deeply frustrating about repeating yourself, about giving information you already gave, about proving something that should already be settled. That frustration is actually pretty close to what the Apostle Paul is feeling as he writes the letter of Galatians. He had traveled through a region, preached the good news about Jesus, watched people trust that message and start church communities together. And then he got word that those same people had started adding requirements on top of what he taught them. Basically, they were filling out the application again after they had already been adopted.

At Neighborhood Church, we have been working through a letter over the last several weeks that Paul wrote in response to this. And in Galatians 4, Paul makes the case as clearly as he can: trusting Jesus makes us truly God's kids, but earning approval is slavery.

The child who is treated like a servant

Paul opens chapter 4 with a picture from an ancient Roman household. In that world, if a father died and left an inheritance to his children, a child who was still a minor could not yet access what was theirs. They were functionally treated the same as a household servant until they came of age. The inheritance was legally theirs, but until the right time, they were under guardians and managers and could not act as the owner of anything.

Paul uses this picture to explain what it was like before Jesus came. The law that God gave to Israel was like that guardian. It served a real purpose: it kept people's attention on a real problem, but it was always temporary and pointed forward to something better.

Then, Paul says, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

Jesus chose to be born into the family with the strictest rules. He did not have to do that. But by fulfilling the strictest requirements perfectly, he made it possible for everyone to be adopted into God's family. He did the extra credit so that anyone could get in to God’s family.

The certificate of adoption

Here is how we know it worked. Paul says in verse 6 that because we are sons, because we belong to the family, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father (Galatians 4:6).

That word Abba is not a formal religious title. It is the kind of word a child uses for their dad when they really need him. It is intimate and personal and close.

Before Jesus, God's presence was kept behind a thick curtain in the temple. Ordinary people did not go in and speak to him directly. They prayed in his general direction and were grateful he had good hearing. The idea of God's Spirit actually living inside a person who trusted Jesus was completely new and revolutionary. It was not the common experience.

The Holy Spirit residing in us is the certificate of adoption. When the Spirit of God is growing things in you that did not come from you, when there is an affection or a patience or a love showing up in situations where your natural response would be something completely different, that is the evidence that you belong to the family. Not your church attendance. Not your record of good behavior. The supernatural presence of God at work in you.

So lets sit with this question for a minute: what supernatural affection is the Holy Spirit growing in you that you know is not coming from yourself?

We are all slaves to something if we are not trusting Jesus

Here is where it gets uncomfortably honest. Before trusting Jesus, Paul says, both Jewish people who followed all the religious rules and Gentile people who had no connection to those rules at all were in the same situation. “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved” (Galatians 4:8).

Everyone was enslaved to something. For some, it was idolatry. Idolatry means treating things that are not God as though they were. Often it’s expressed by expecting that if you gave the right things and said the right things, you would get what you wanted in return. This view sees God (or gods) as a cosmic vending machine. Insert prayer, receive blessing. That kind of transactional relationship with God is slavery dressed up as religion.

For others, it was the religious calendar: the schedule, the perfect attendance, the right rituals in the right order. And there is nothing wrong with structure and practice in themselves (God actually had prescribed them). But if you hold up your religious performance as the thing that makes God accept you, you are mistaken, and that misunderstanding will lead you somewhere you do not want to go.

We are all slaves to something if we are not trusting Jesus.

Maybe as you read that you’re thinking you don’t feel particularly enslaved. Consider this: if a building is on fire but the room you’re sitting in is not currently on fire. Just because the room you’re in doesn’t feel dangerous doesn’t mean it isn’t.

What basic approval are we slaves to? For some of us it is people-pleasing. As long as everyone seems happy with me, I feel okay. For others it is achievement or performance or keeping the peace or making sure nobody sees the mess underneath. Whatever is on that list, whatever we think we need to do in order to earn approval, from God or from anyone else, we are a slave to that thing if we are operating apart from trusting Jesus.

Filling out the application when you have already been adopted is not just unnecessary. It is a sign that you have not yet believed the adoption was real.

Receiving love is part of the deal

Paul gets personal in this passage. He reminds the Galatians that when he first came to them, he was sick. He had some kind of physical ailment, likely connected to his vision, and it was obvious. His weakness was not hidden. And the people there received him anyway, cared for him, treated him as though he were bringing them a message from God himself, because he was.

And then Paul says something worth hearing slowly: sometimes loving others well requires that we receive love from them.

There are people in every church who are gifted at caring for others. They show up ready to serve, ready to help, ready to be useful. But the moment someone turns toward them and says it looks like you are struggling, they deflect immediately. “I am fine.” “Do not worry about me.” “I have got this.”

The thing is, none of us have got this. Every single one of us needs Jesus. And Jesus very often shows up through the hands of normal, imperfect, still-figuring-it-out people around us. Refusing to receive that care is not strength, it is just a different kind of isolation.

Who are you resistant to receiving love from? When someone asks how you are actually doing, are you able to tell them the truth?

We were not designed to go through this alone. And there is no one listening to this who does not also need help from Jesus through the hands of some equally imperfect people.

The big idea

Trusting Jesus makes us truly God's kids.

• Not performing well enough.

• Not checking all the right boxes.

• Not being good enough that God finally decides to let you in.

It’s just about trusting Him.

And earning approval, from God or anyone else, when we try to substitute that for real trust, is slavery. It might feel productive. It might even look impressive from the outside. But it is exhausting and it will not hold.

If you have been filling out the application over and over again after the adoption was already final, you can stop. If you have never trusted Jesus at all, the invitation is genuinely open. No perfect words required. Just: I want to trust you. Would you take me?

We would love to walk that out with you at Neighborhood Church in Ocala.

Editor note: This blog summary was generated from a sermon transcript processed by AI and reviewed by a human editor. It is provided for convenience and engagement but may not fully reflect all of the original sermon emphases or explanation. The original writing and delivery of the sermon were done without the input of AI. Please refer to the full message and more importantly the Scripture for complete context and teaching.