Freedom is Here: A Study of Galatians | Donovan Rillion | Unified in the Gospel

We're continuing in our study of Galatians, and

before we get to today's text, we need to kind

of see how Paul got us here. You know, we're

in week, what is this, four, five of Galatians,

and we've taken a journey with Paul, and he's

kind of making this argument, you know, the first

part of Galatians 3 specifically, Paul is brashly

warning the Galatian Christians, don't go back

to the law. Don't revert to old ways. Don't go

back to bondage. Don't go back to what was. And

now we're going to see something else from Paul.

A kind of don't do this, but instead do this.

The law wasn't bad. We need to clarify that before

we kind of keep going in Galatians. I think sometimes

when we preach on things like religious freedom.

And when we preach on things like God's grace

and not the law and all that, it comes off as

if we're saying that rules don't matter. It comes

off as if we're saying that we can just do whatever

we want, that Christianity is a free -for -all,

that now that I'm saved, I can do whatever I

please or whatever makes me happy. But that's

not what we're talking about. The law wasn't

bad. It served a purpose. It was used to, one,

show us just... how sinful we were, kind of a

mirror, if you will. But it also was used to

keep us in check and help us to have some type

of right standing with God. By us, I mean the

Jews. And so the law had its place. What Paul

calls it is the law was a guardian. In fact,

the Greek word there was pedagogos. I think I

practiced this this week. And I got so excited

right here to use this big Greek word. And anyways,

the word pedagogue comes from this. But basically

what it is, is it's a strict tutor who disciplined

children until they reached maturity. And so

when Paul talks about the law as this guardian,

he's saying this was what you would do in this

culture. Basically what would happen is a kid

around, you know, I think it was age seven. would

be sent to go stay with a tutor. And this kid

would stay with the tutor. The tutor would teach

the kid how to be a good citizen. It would teach

them the law. It would teach them all the things

they know or need to know to be good citizens

in their society. And then when they reached

adulthood, they were let free into society. I

mean, this kind of sounds like... sending your

kid to boarding school, or if your kids are like

my kids, you're considering sending them to military

school. That's what this is like. And so Paul

says the law was your boarding school. It was

your place that you went to receive instruction,

where you were trained, where you were taught,

where you were raised. But now there's something

new here. See, the guardian isn't a friend. I

love when I hear parents say, I'm not your friend.

And I feel like as a kid, if you hear your mom

say, I'm not one of your little friends, you

know you're in a little trouble. It wasn't a

friend. The law was a guardian. The guardian

was there to keep them in line, to help them

grow. And Paul says, that's what the law did.

But now that Christ has come, everything... has

changed. You no longer need that guardian. See,

the temporary thing that God put in place to

kind of keep his children in line, that temporary

thing is gone. It's no longer the standard we

live by, the broken scale that we talked about

last week, the thing that we use to weigh ourselves.

And to judge if we're saved or if we're in good

standing with God or not, that broken scale has

now been replaced with salvation. See, that was

just kind of a temporary get you by type of thing.

You know, you put a bandaid on something, but

really you need stitches. This, this temporary

model is gone. We're not bound to it anymore.

And the result. is where we pick up in Galatians

3 this morning. Galatians 3, verses 23 -29 is

Galatians 3:23–29

where we'll sit because what Paul is going to

show us is that because of our faith in Christ,

if we are in Christ, we're no longer bound by

those chains. We're also no longer divided or

defined by those old boundaries. You know, in

the Old Testament, you had the Jews, you had

the Gentiles. And they did not like each other.

They didn't mix. They didn't fellowship. They

didn't worship together. They didn't even feel

like each other worshiped the same God. They

were separated. They were a part of two separate

people. And then you had all these other different

standards that divided even among the Jews. I

mean, you had your priests and you had your people

that were meant for doing the sacrifices. You

had your people that were meant for the worship.

And you had the people that did all of these

other things. And so you had your different divisions.

And what Paul is going to show us is that now

in Christ, we are all one in one family. And

I love what Chad said. We all have a seat at

the table. Because we're adopted by God. We're

brought in to his family. And family sticks together.

If you're like me, you love the movie Lilo and

Stitch. Ohana means family and family means anybody?

Huh? Nobody gets left behind. Yeah. Ohana means

family and family means nobody gets left behind.

We're one. We stick together. We work together.

We move together. And so in Christ, we're now

unified. See, Paul begins with a reminder of

what life was like before Christ because he needs

to tell you, he has to paint this picture of,

hey, if you ever start thinking about going back

to that, just remember just how bad it was. And

so this is what Paul says in Galatians 3, verses

Galatians 3:23–24

23 through 24. Before faith came, we were held

captive. I want you to notice those words. Captive.

Imprisoned. Doesn't sound very home -like, does

it? It doesn't sound very comforting. Nobody

wants to be held captive unless it's like...

I was held captive by her beauty. Nobody wants

to be imprisoned unless it's like I was a prisoner

of the moment. Those aren't home -like words.

They're not familial words. They're not things

that bring comfort. But that was the case for

the Jewish people. It was the case for the Galatian

Christians, and it is true, the case for us.

See, maybe you weren't enslaved to the Jewish

law, but... You were enslaved to sin at some

point. And maybe you're sitting here today and

you feel like you're enslaved to sin. Maybe you've

been enslaved by this need for approval of others.

Maybe you've been enslaved by traditions. Maybe

you've been enslaved by culture. Maybe you've

been enslaved to addiction. Whatever it is that

has had you captive or in prison, it held you

captive. It had you in bondage. I love when Paul,

or really anything in the Bible that starts kind

of negative, says but. We got one big but here.

But, let's look at verses 25 to 27. 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.

See, there's some good news there, right? Before

you were held captive, you were in prison, you

had to do these things to be in good standing

with God. But now that faith has come, now that

you are in Christ, you have life and freedom.

Through faith, God doesn't just free us from

our sin. He doesn't just free us from imprisonment

or from captivity. What God does is he brings

us into the family. I want to paint the picture

this way for you. I want you to imagine a child

who has spent years in the foster system. They've

had food, they've had shelter, and maybe even

in their time in foster care, they've had...

Good guardians. But they never had a permanent

home because fostering is temporary. And so you

may have food, shelter and clothes and good guardians,

but that's only going to last for a little while

before eventually you get picked up and brought

to another home. And then you start all over

again. And that home may not be as nice to you.

It may not feed you as well. It may not clothe

you as well. They may not be as good to you.

And then one day. A family not only chooses to

house you for a little while, they choose to

adopt you. And suddenly, this foster child doesn't

just have a place to stay and lay their head.

They don't just have a roof over their head.

They don't just have food on a plate. They have

parents who love them that they can call mom

and dad. They have siblings who look out for

them. That they can call brother and sister and

that they can hug when they need a hug and that

they can lean on when they need a shoulder to

cry on. They have a place where they truly belong.

They have a family. See, that's what God has

done for us in Christ. We're no longer the foster

child. We're no longer under temporary guardianship.

But now we have a home. He doesn't just unlock

the door from our sin and say, all right. Good

luck out there. I used to watch these videos

all the time of people. They would capture or

rescue animals, and then they'd release them

back into the wild, which I learned that people

are always like, the zoos should let all the

animals go. And somebody said if the zoos did

that, all those animals would just die because

they don't know how to live out on their own.

And that kind of makes me think about... What

would happen if God looked at us and said, hey,

you don't have to follow the Old Testament law

anymore. Good news for you. And we're like, yeah,

that's awesome. He's like, all right now, but

just go and figure it out on your own. No, that's

not good for us. And so what God does is he doesn't

just say, good luck out there. I hope you make

it. He brings us in and says, you are mine forever.

You have a home here. You have a family here.

You have a seat at my table. And not only does

he welcome us into his home, he gives us his

name. We get to bear the name, son, daughter

of God. He clothes us with Christ. And here's

the beauty. You see, adoption in the Roman world,

it was... It was not this like second class thing.

You didn't get adopted and it was like you were

the other kid in the household. In Roman culture

in this time, adopted children, they had full

rights of children. So whatever your biological

kids had, excuse me, whatever your biological

kids had, your adopted kids had. Whatever your

biological kids were privileged to, Your adopted

kids had those same privileges. And sometimes

the adopted kids even had more honor than the

biological ones. You see, when Paul says we are

now sons of God, he means we have the full privileges

as heirs. We are now heirs to the kingdom of

God. We now have full rights. To the kingdom

of God. Full access to the kingdom of God. We're

not limited. It's not this thing that, oh, no,

no, no, no. That's only for the real kids. It's

for all of us. The God of the universe. Think

about this. The God of the universe is going

to share his inheritance with me and with you.

We are unworthy slaves. But God calls us his

children. That's gospel. That's good news. That's

the message we want to share with the world.

That's the message I want to just kind of radiate

in my life is that I'm not just a slave of God.

I'm not held captive by his message. I am his

child. I've been adopted into his family. I have

a seat at his table. I have access to an inheritance.

And what's so cool. is that not only does God

promise this inheritance to us, Jesus isn't ashamed

to share this inheritance with us. It's not like

Jesus was reluctant to save us. I've got to tell

you, I don't think the Lord of the universe would

come down to earth and die on a cross if he didn't

want to share his inheritance with us. Jesus

wanted... to live with us as his brothers and

sisters. And that is awesome. See, that is amazing

grace. Paul goes further in verses 28 to 29.

He says, To promise. See, Paul is, he's not just

battling this false gospel of you've got to do

these things in order to be right with God. What

Paul is also fighting is division. Because the

church is now divided over, well, we do have

grace from God, but we also still have to maintain

the law. And then others are saying, no, no,

no, no, it's just Jesus. And they're like, no,

no, no, but we have to follow these rules and

Jesus. And then others are like. No, we really

can just do whatever we want. And you've got

all of these different things going around, these

messages being spread, and there's a lot of division.

And so Paul is saying, hey, hey, hey, you're

all one. It's one family. It's one people. We're

all children. We're all Abraham's offspring,

heirs according to the promise. In this new family,

the dividing lines are erased. There are no divisions

among us, or at least there shouldn't be. There's

no Jew. There's no Greek. There's no slave. There's

no free. There's no male or female. And let's

put it in a modern terms because we don't really

struggle with that stuff. In modern terms, there's

no rich Christian and poor Christian. There's

no white Christian and black Christian. There's

no Republican Christian or Democrat Christian.

There's just Christians. Christ followers. Sons,

daughters of God. We're all one. And so these

dividing lines, they've been broken down. Paul

has erased them. In Christ, those walls, those

little circles or cups that we put ourselves

in, they don't matter anymore. They don't define

us, but here's the challenge in what Paul is

saying. If Paul's words are true, then that requires

us to live like it. And I'll tell you, I don't

think the church, and I'm saying church universal,

I don't think the church for the last 2 ,000

years has done a very good job of this. And I

know somebody said, well, the first century did.

Well, if they did, Paul wouldn't have been writing

this letter. We haven't always done a good job

of this. We have been divided over trivial things.

And there are things we've been divided over

that matter, sure. But I've got to tell you,

I still think at the end of the day, Jesus didn't

pray so fervently in John 17 for nothing. Unity

still matters. When we were at the New Day conference,

we heard this amazing 15 -minute, I was so impressed,

me, Chad, and Phil were sitting there like, how's

this guy? No notes. He didn't have any notes.

He was just talking. And he was talking about

unity. And he's talking about Galatians. And

he says, here's the thing. We're already united.

It's just a matter of if we're going to act like

it or not. We're already one. We're already a

part of God's family. And that means when I look

across the aisle on a Sunday morning, I don't

look across the aisle and see that person that

voted differently. Or I don't see that person

who looks differently. I don't see that person

who lives differently. I see my brother. I see

my sister. Because adoption means we're all family.

And family means unity. Maybe you've heard it

before. I'm the second oldest of eight kids,

so I've heard this a ton. You can pick on your

brother and sister, but don't let anybody else

pick on your brother and sister. You ever heard

that? In our context, it was you can beat up

your brother and sister, but don't let anybody

else beat up your brother and sister. So if one

person was fighting my brother, we were both

fighting. We can discuss and we can have conversations

and we can have civil disputes among us. That's

what family does. But what the world needs to

see is a family that is together. Because what

the world sees, and I've talked about this before,

one of the biggest things I hear from non -Christians

as to why they won't be a part of the church

is, well, y 'all can't even agree. on anything

y 'all can't even get along so why would i want

to be a part of that and what i'm challenging

us today is to look at what paul says and say

hey those are true words we need to live like

it we need to be a church that is united we can

talk and we can have discussions about things

we disagree on but when the world looks at us

and at the end of the day when the discussions

are done we look at each other and we say we

are still family and i don't walk out on family

And my family better not walk out on me. You

may disagree with me. I may disagree with you.

But we're family. And at the end of the day,

family works together. They live together. They

stay together. When we were adopted into the

family of God, we were adopted into a family

that is going to stick together no matter what

our differences are. Differences we can help

and differences we can't. We're together. So

here's the question. Because the Galatian Christians,

they had their things that they were clinging

to. They were either clinging to traditions or

they were clinging to their identities. They

were clinging to all of these different things.

And Paul is saying, stop doing that. We're family.

Take the walls down. And so my question to you

is, what walls are we clinging to? What walls

are we putting up? What labels are we still hiding

behind? Because Christ, he tore those walls down.

And I'll just say for myself, who am I to build

back up a wall that the God of the universe tore

down? So what walls are we hiding behind? See,

Paul's whole letter to the Galatians is like

this one big smackdown. Stop going back to slavery.

Live as sons and daughters. Live as heirs. And

the point today, well, that is the point. It's

that you are free from your old life. You're

not bound to the tradition and the laws of old.

You are freed in Christ. You are sons and daughters

of God. You are heirs of the kingdom. You don't

forget that. I heard somebody say one time that

he talks with his kids, and they're big on covenants

in their house. And one of the things, like family

covenants, and one of the things that he says

with his kids is, you are fill in the blank last

name. You are a, so for my family, you are a

brilliant. And the kid says, I am a brilliant.

And you say, you are bold. I am bold. You are

strong. I am strong. You are kind. And so they

do this thing, and it's one of those things of

you remember who you are and what that means.

And what Paul is saying here is you remember

who you are. You are a child of God. And what

does that mean? Well, it means you're united.

It means you're free from the old ways. It means

you are a son of promise. You are an heir of

the kingdom. So we remember who we are. And what

that means, we are sons and daughters of God.

Don't forget it and don't live beneath it. Maybe

today you're still standing outside the family,

though. Maybe you are still living like a foster

child in the world where you don't really have

that final family. You don't have that final

home. Maybe you're still wandering from home

to home and never really knowing where you belong.

The good news that Paul reminds us of is that

the Father's offer is open to anybody. It's open

to the Jew. It's open to the Greek. It's open

to the male. It's open to the female. It's open

to the slave and the free. It's open to that

person that looks different, that lives different,

that thinks different, that speaks different.

It's open to them too. And so wherever you fit

in this world, The gospel message, this offer

is open to you. You can come home. You see, Paul

says as many of you as were baptized into Christ

have put on Christ. That's how we accept the

adoption. I can't remember what movie it was.

Maybe it was Free Willy. I love Free Willy, by

the way. Great movie. There's a movie where there's

a kid and... It's like, no, it wasn't free willy

because he's just a foster kid. So anyways, there's

a movie and the kid is, their mom gets married.

And so he's got a stepdad, right? And the stepdad

is just a really awesome guy. And he looks at

the kid and he says, hey, I know your dad hasn't

been around your whole life. How would you feel

about me adopting you? Why would he have to ask

permission? Well, because you can't just adopt

somebody without their permission. And the same

is true, I mean, God can throw out the offer.

Hey, I want to bring you into my family. I want

you to be a part of my heirs. I want you to be

a son of mine or a daughter of mine. But we've

got to accept it. And what Paul says we do to

accept it is we trust, we have faith, and we

put on Christ in baptism. And so wherever you're

standing today, the offer for adoption is out

there. It's just up to you if you're going to

accept it. See, the Father is saying, I want

you. I want you to be a part of my family. I

want you to be a part of my home. I'm offering

to give you my name. I'm offering my love to

you. I'm offering a full inheritance to you.

Will you say yes? Will you be a part of our family?

And that's the invitation today. God is looking

at you saying, come home. Be adopted. Be clothed

with Christ. Be one in his family. Because at

the end of the day, if we have nothing else,

maybe you've heard this too, if you've got nothing

else, you've got family. And I can make it through

every hard day. I can make it through all the

tragedy and trauma of life if I know that I've

got family here. I've got family at any church

I walk into because we're one in Christ. No matter

how hard life gets, no matter how ugly it gets,

no matter how dark it gets, I've got family.

And if I've got family, I've got everything I

need. So wherever you stand today, if you've

just been outside of the family and you want

to be a part of it, if you've been wandering

from home to home and you want to have a final

home, if you've been adopted and you've been

acting like a redheaded stepchild, There is no

better time than now to come home, to take your

seat at the table, and accept the gift of being

a part of God's family. If that's something you

need or whatever you need, if it's just prayers

this morning, just prayers. If you need anything,

we're inviting you to come now as we stand and

as we sing.