Have you seen the hit show, Finding Your Roots with Henry Lois Gates, Jr.?  It’s a fascinating show where he traces the historical family tree of famous people and surprises them with the results.  For example, Condoleezza Rice, 66^thSecretary of the United States, found that her maternal roots are from the Tikar people in Cameroon.  On another show, Professor Gates revealed to Ben Affleck that surprisingly, he and Matt Damon are cousins, 10 times removed!

My wife worked for months on both of our family trees and discovered some remarkable facts.  My last name should be Smith instead of Maulding.  One of my great, great, grandmothers, last name Smith, had children out of wedlock and took on the name Maulding.  On my wife’s side, she may have traced her roots all the way back to an Englishman, Rowland Taylor, who was burned at the stake for his unwavering faith in Christ. 

Yet, here’s a reality check for all of us when it comes to our roots.  All of us have a great, great, great, great…grandfather whose name was Adam.  We are all related to him and to each other.  This is significant because in God’s economy, He not only views us from our biological roots but also from our spiritual roots.  Let me share with you what I mean.

You were biologically in Adam when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but more importantly, you were also spiritually in Adam.  That means a few significant things.  When he sinned his first sin, you sinned for the first time, also.  When he died, you died spiritually and became a spiritual zombie.  (Romans 5:12) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Ephesians 2:1b) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.   So, because of our roots, we all showed up on planet earth with a much bigger problem than simply needing forgiveness.    We showed up spiritually dead.

Here’s the good news.  When you believed in Jesus Christ for your salvation, God took you out of Adam’s family tree and relocated you into Christ’s family tree.  Your roots are now found in Christ, not in Adam!   This phrase, “in Christ” or its related form is used 165 times in the New Testament.  In Ephesians alone, it is used 36 times.  There are fantabulous benefits from having our roots in Christ.

Have you seen the hit show, Finding Your Roots with Henry Lois Gates, Jr.?  It’s a fascinating show where he traces the historical family tree of famous people and surprises them with the results.  For example, Condoleezza Rice, 66^thSecretary of the United States, found that her maternal roots are from the Tikar people in Cameroon.  On another show, Professor Gates revealed to Ben Affleck that surprisingly, he and Matt Damon are cousins, 10 times removed!

My wife worked for months on both of our family trees and discovered some remarkable facts.  My last name should be Smith instead of Maulding.  One of my great, great, grandmothers, last name Smith, had children out of wedlock and took on the name Maulding.  On my wife’s side, she may have traced her roots all the way back to an Englishman, Rowland Taylor, who was burned at the stake for his unwavering faith in Christ. 

Yet, here’s a reality check for all of us when it comes to our roots.  All of us have a great, great, great, great…grandfather whose name was Adam.  We are all related to him and to each other.  This is significant because in God’s economy, He not only views us from our biological roots but also from our spiritual roots.  Let me share with you what I mean.

You were biologically in Adam when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but more importantly, you were also spiritually in Adam.  That means a few significant things.  When he sinned his first sin, you sinned for the first time, also.  When he died, you died spiritually and became a spiritual zombie.  (Romans 5:12) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Ephesians 2:1b) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.   So, because of our roots, we all showed up on planet earth with a much bigger problem than simply needing forgiveness.    We showed up spiritually dead.

Here’s the good news.  When you believed in Jesus Christ for your salvation, God took you out of Adam’s family tree and relocated you into Christ’s family tree.  Your roots are now found in Christ, not in Adam!   This phrase, “in Christ” or its related form is used 165 times in the New Testament.  In Ephesians alone, it is used 36 times.  There are fantabulous benefits from having our roots in Christ.