Galatians 3:23-4:7 – Him Her

Our reading today is from Galatians chapter three, verses twenty-three till chapter four, verses seven.

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming fate would be revealed.

So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.

In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

And so reads God's word.

This morning is a slight interlude uh because we wanted to give uh more time to hearing about the new life uh that Jesus has brought to Sam and to Alvin and to think a little bit more this morning about what that faith means.

Now I hope at various points to try and draw some bridges, some threads uh with the with the him and her series rather than it being a uh a complete departure.

Uh, but we're going to be thinking uh a little bit about this passage from Galatians 3.

Part of the reason why I picked it is because Galatians 3 has has this verse that there is neither uh Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.

It's one of the things.

But well, why would you make gender distinctions?

Because Paul says here there is no male or female.

And so it's it's good actually on a day like today to think about what Paul is getting at when he when he says that.

Uh lots of people, I I imagine, uh, find the decisions that uh that Alvin and Sam and many of us here in this room uh have made to follow Jesus, they find that to be a strange thing.

In fact, it's a very strange thing to be later on baptizing uh two young Irish males.

It feels like uh like finding two unicorns um uh and to to celebrate their newness of life as a real joy, because lots of people in our world think that the idea of giving your uh your life uh to to Jesus and pursuing him is something of a of a bygone era.

It's not something that people do these days.

Indeed, people go so far as to say that religion is something that is uh that is enslaving to people.

Some people might even hear uh these stories and lament uh what they have done because they think that they have given themselves into captivity.

The true freedom is found when you uh when you throw off the uh the shackles, as they perceive it, of uh of religion or of spirituality.

But one of the Bible's governing images, particularly in the New Testament, to describe the Christian life is the image of adoption, of being brought into God's great family as we sang about, as we embraced one another.

And when you're adopted into God's great family, God does not relate to you as a master to a slave, but as a father to a child.

That is the the governing image here in this text.

Let me remind you of chapter four, verse four.

But when the fullness of time had gone come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, under the law, to redeem us, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

The reason why Jesus came into the world, the reason why uh Christmas happened, the reason why Easter happened, is that he was sent by the Father so that you and I could be called sons.

And if you are a child of the king, you are truly free.

There is something that enslaves in these verses.

It is not the sonship that Jesus gives.

No, it is what Paul refers to here as the law.

Trying to prove ourselves by our own actions, by our own goodness.

And maybe for you it's not actually morality, but you understand what it means to try to justify your own existence.

I think of I've talked to many of you individually uh about this, but in the in the movie Chariots of Fire, the difference between uh Eric Lydell, uh the Christian uh runner, and his main rival, Arthur Abrams.

Well the Arthur Abrams says in one scene in that movie, he says, I look up from that starting block and I see a corridor four feet wide, and I have ten seconds to justify my existence.

And Eric Lydell says, I run because when I run, I feel his pleasure because I'm doing what he's made me to do.

Maybe a lot of your life feels like you're on that corridor five feet wide and you're trying to justify your existence.

That's slavery.

And that's what Jesus has come to set you free from.

The problem that existed in Galatia, you're like, where's Galatia?

Turkey, right?

Uh, in a part of ancient Turkey, kind of where you go on your holidays, um, is that they thought that being a follower of Jesus, that if you went to Jesus, Jesus kind of got you on the bottom rung of uh of the ladder to heaven.

Or he was like the uh he was like the starter motor in your car.

He kind of he got you running, but then it was up to you by your obedience to keep on going or to keep on climbing so that you finally got to uh got to heaven, that uh that the gospel was only the the ABCs of the Christian life.

And Paul says, no, no, no, no, no.

The good news of Jesus is not the ABCs, it's the A to Z.

You don't need any more than what Jesus has has done for you.

That God welcomes us into his family, he adopts us as his children, not because of our obedience, but because of his grace and his loving kindness towards us.

That we we grab hold of that not by our our exertion, but by faith.

And that adoption then fuels our obedience rather than our obedience earning our adoption.

And so it's almost as like the the ladder becomes a railroad track.

It's not something that you have to climb, it's something that you that you that you run along.

That's what Paul's saying.

And in this passage, he gives us an insight into what our adoption as children of God means.

And our adoption into God's great family changes everything.

And briefly this morning, I want to show you three things because I'm a good minister and I have three points today.

They're not all beginning with the same letter.

I'm still learning.

Um if you're taking if you're taking notes, a new inheritance, a new access, and a new identity.

A new inheritance, a new access, and a new identity.

A new inheritance, then.

The gift of adoption means that if we are sons, Paul says, then we are heirs.

That's chapter four of Galatians, chapter four, verse seven.

So you are no longer a slave, but a son.

And if a son, then an heir through God.

Now, what does that mean?

Some translations uh will will smooth it out uh and say uh children rather than sons that were that were children.

Uh and that's fine.

Yes, it does, it absolutely includes uh daughters, but it misses something important.

It misses the idea that in the ancient world only males could inherit.

In the ancient world, if a wealthy man had no children, he would adopt a male, not a female.

And he would become his heir.

Women were not adopted, not in this way.

So here Paul is saying something radically different.

Because when he says in verse 326 that there is no male and female, that you are all sons through faith, what he's saying is man, woman, brother, sister, you're all heirs of God's kingdom.

Equal inheritors.

One of the reasons why he says that there is no longer male or female is not because not because Paul is saying there's no gender distinctions anymore.

He's saying that the kingdom of God, that in the kingdom of God, women are full heirs of that kingdom along with men.

He's saying to the to the to the sisters in the church in Galatia and to our sisters here, like you might not have equal standing in the world.

You might be regarded as lesser in the ancient world, not so in the church.

Not so here.

In God's kingdom, you are an heir.

And to be adopted as an heir means that you have that secure future hope.

That's what Sam was talking about, wasn't it?

That hope that sustains through hardship, that hope that causes us to persevere through suffering.

Because we know that there's an inheritance coming to us.

A hope that keeps us to the end.

That though we we battle with sin and we fail and we pick ourselves back up again and we face suffering and trial, that in the end, what we know is that God has made us his own.

And he will bring us into that final glorious inheritance.

That was that's what it means to be adopted as a son, male and female, equal heirs of the kingdom, having that future hope, having that inheritance.

Second, new access to God.

Chapter 4, verse 6.

It says that, and because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Just note for a second, by way of sidebar, as you trace through this passage, you see each member, each person of the Trinity at play here.

The Father is uh is sending the Son and adopting us into his family.

The Lord Jesus is the one who has paid for our sin.

He has been born of a woman, lived perfectly the life that we could not live, and the Spirit has come into each of our hearts and given us uh this new access that we might cry Abba Father.

Every person of the Trinity is concerned for your salvation, that you might come to know him.

Being adopted by God means that you have a completely new relationship with him.

That's what's meant by this idea of crying out, Abba, Father.

God is not a distant old man on a cloud.

Sam and I, when we were talking, he says, sorry to kind of you, I think you meant to say this.

Uh his his view of God uh when he was when he was young is that God was an old man on a cloud who gave out really good communion money.

Um uh, but he's come to realize that that's not who God is.

Nor is God a boss.

Even a good boss has some sort of professional distance.

A boss doesn't have the same intimacy or protection or love.

And some of you Christians here still relate to God as though he's your boss and not your father.

The spirit of adoption says you're not an employee, you're not a slave, you're a son, a daughter, a child of the king.

And we cry out to God, Abba, father.

Abba is hard to uh translate, not the band, the word.

Um is hard to translate because it doesn't quite mean daddy.

Uh it's not it's not quite that familiar because a grown man probably wouldn't call his uh his father daddy, but he would call him dad.

I think probably the closest thing, if you're American, uh here, it's the idea of uh of mama.

Do you know like uh in the in the southern United States, a you know, a grown man would still call his mom mama?

So it's it's familiar, but it's not like going mummy.

Uh do you know what it is?

It's kind of slightly different.

It's that sort of intimacy and connection, but it's something you can take through to your maturity.

So it's like calling your your father dad.

Hey dad.

It's not quite daddy, because daddy's quite childish.

That's that's what Abba is kind of denoting in terms of the uh the intimacy and connection that the child might use and that we use as a as believers with our Heavenly Father.

And this is a completely different way of relating to God that anyone was used to in the ancient world or that we're used to.

It's a completely different way of relating to God than it is relating to a boss.

You think even in work tomorrow, well, not tomorrow, Tuesday, uh enjoy your bank holiday.

Um, that even if you had a good boss, a really good boss, and you keep on persistently showing up late, struggling at work, not doing your job, that even then there comes a point where your boss says, Look, personally, I look, I really like you, but professionally, this isn't working.

We're gonna like we're gonna need to either move you to another team or terminate your employment.

But if a parent sees a child struggling, a good parent doesn't terminate that relationship.

In fact, what tends to happen is that when a good parent sees a child struggling, their love and concern for them is even more aroused.

They're even more directing their attention to the child that's struggling.

That's why they why they say in in the in the kind of in the parenting books, you're only as happy as your unhappiest child.

God is more available to, more concerned for, directing his love more towards those who are wrestling, those who are struggling.

He's not a boss.

He's a father.

We have access.

We have access because of Jesus, and because of him, we shout for joy at our best and we cry to him at our worst, and he can never, will never forsake us.

He will never let you go.

He will never let you go.

Sadly, far too many in this world have experienced earthly parents who were either physically or emotionally unavailable.

My encouragement from this passage to you is not to project that upwards and say, therefore, that's what God is like.

Now, from this passage we see that God is uncommission unconditionally committed to you.

He adopts you into his family while you are still far away from him.

And he gives you his attention, his time, his love, his grace, his kindness.

And an inheritance.

New inheritance, new access, finally, new identity.

Chapter 3, verses 27 and 28.

For as many of you were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for all are one in Christ Jesus.

Why are so many people in our world, particularly under the age of 40 here in the West, why are so many people uh under the age of 40 here in the West crushed by feelings of anxiety and self-loathing?

I think in part it is because we live in a society that says you can be whoever you want.

You can be anyone you choose, create your own destiny, your own identity, and it sounds so freeing until you realize that it's all about your performance and keeping up with the performance of this new identity.

How do I look to others?

How am I coming across?

Am I good enough?

Am I smart enough?

Am I beautiful enough?

And in the end, we either feel, I've made it, and become prideful and arrogant, we think I will never make it.

And we are given to despair.

The gift of Christianity is that you no longer need to be crushed by guilt or anxiety that comes from performance, that is, keeping the law in this passage, but that you have been set free, adopted, and given a new unshakable identity.

Because you are in Christ.

This is why he says there is no Jew or Greek slave or free, male or female.

Not because ethnic or status or gender distinctions no longer exist, but because they're no longer the basis that you build your life upon.

They're no longer the basis of your identity, and they're no longer the basis of your standing or boasting before God.

The Jew cannot boast and say, Well, I'm better than a Greek because I'm ethnically Jewish and I have the promises of God.

Or indeed, the Jew or the Greeks boasted over the Jews and said, Well, at least I'm not like those with their weird food laws.

And so they use it as a way of boasting.

A free man cannot boast that he is better than a slave.

And a man cannot boast that he is better than a woman.

Why?

Because the basis of our adoption, of our new identity, of our access to God is.

Not any of those things, but who Jesus has made us.

That we are in Christ, united to Him, one in Him.

The ground before the cross of Jesus is completely flat.

We all stand at the same level.

With all of our sin and our brokenness and our shame.

There is no space for boasting or for one-upmanship there.

There is no space for pushing others down so that you elevate yourself.

The ground is completely flat before the cross of the Lord Jesus, because we all find our salvation at the same place.

With the same single Savior.

We are all one in Christ.

And so if you become a follower of Jesus, Christian becomes your primary identity.

Because you're not looking to CEO of a startup or pastor of a church or teacher or model to give you that sense of value and worth that can sustain you through your life.

You already have it.

You have it in Jesus.

God has adopted you into his family.

And that, friends, brothers and sisters, that's what sets you free.

That's what sets you free from that relentless pursuit.

It's what set Sam free, it's what set Alvin free, it's what set countless dozens here in this room free.

That we realize that our worth is not in our performance, our intellect, our moral superiority, or our goodness.

But that we were made by God, for God, and that God has brought us into relationship with Himself.

That's what the word redeem means, that He might redeem us, that is, that He might buy us back and make us His own.

And when you do what you were made to do, and you're given a heart that wants to do it, that's freedom.

Let me say that again.

When you do what you were made to do, and you want to do it, that's what it means to be free.

And that's what God gives you.

He makes you his own, what you were made to be.

And he gives you a new heart by his spirit that you want to be with him, that you want to follow him.

And that's freedom.

And how is this all possible?

As we finish, Paul tells us.

Paul tells us in verse 4, but when the fullness of time had come, God set forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.

The law was this moral obligation to live perfectly, to climb the ladder.

It could tell us what we needed to do, but it could never change our hearts to do it.

The law could only imprison.

It could never set free.

Some of you this is quite common, have this false idea that uh in the Old Testament, that uh in the Old Testament, the people of God they were saved by being good and by doing good works and by following the 613 commandments of the law.

And then when Jesus came, Jesus kind of made it easier and said, Well, no, it's just kind of grace.

That's wrong.

Just FYI.

It's grace all the way through.

You see, in the Old Testament, the Old Testament Israelite was supposed to look at the 613 laws and go, I can't do that.

I keep on failing, I keep on breaking the law.

I have to bring my sacrifice again for the same sin again.

It's not changing my heart, it's not taking it away.

And then you cry out and you cast yourself on the mercy of God and you go, have mercy on me, a sinner.

And you go, God's promised that he's gonna send his anointed king, his messiah into the world to redeem his people.

And I don't seem to be able to do it myself.

And you and the Old Testament Israelite threw himself on the mercy of God in the hope that God would send his Redeemer.

The only thing that's different is that we look back where they were looking forward.

We look back and say, He has set the Redeemer.

Jesus, born of a woman, born of Mary, truly flesh, really human, stepping onto the stage of our world, stepping onto the stage of human history, and living under all of those obligations and keeping them perfectly.

And so when Paul says that as many have been baptized uh into Christ have put on Christ, do you know what do you know what we're clothed in?

We're clothed in his perfections, we're clothed in all of his perfect obedience.

So that when God looks at us, he sees his perfect son.

There's a big word in the in the New Testament, it's the word justification.

Again, some people uh try and teach this word and say it's like it means just as if I'd never sinned.

That's bottom rung theology.

That's getting you to the bottom rung.

That's not what justification means.

Do you know what justification means?

Justification doesn't mean just as if I'd never sinned.

It means just as if I'd always obeyed.

And you are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus.

So when the prodigal son comes back from the uh from his wanderings and his squandering all of all his father's wealth and all of the inheritance, what does the father say?

Get out into the field and earn your way back.

No, he doesn't.

He says, get the best robe and put it on him.

Get my robe, put it on my son.

Because he is coming back into my family.

Put the ring, the symbol of his inheritance, that he is an heir again on his finger.

Kill the fattened calf.

Come, let's celebrate.

And that's what we get to do today.

As we mark the new faith in Sam and Alvin's life, we get to celebrate that they've been brought home, that the Father has placed the best robe on their back, his perfect obedience, the ring of access of a son on their fingers.

And so it is true for all who would call upon the name of Jesus.

And it is our invitation, if you're not a follower of Jesus, do not turn aside from that new inheritance, from that unique access, and from that unshakable identity, come, be part of God's great family.