(An audio version of the post is available at https://www.spreaker.com/user/sermonsfrommyheart/galatians-4-verses-4-7-christ-and-the-sl)
A little boy visiting his grandparents was given his first slingshot. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target. As he came back to Grandma’s backyard, he saw her pet duck. On an impulse, he took aim and let it fly. The stone hit the duck, and the duck fell dead.
He panicked and hit the dead duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. After lunch that day, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s do the dishes.” But Sally said, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you, Johnny?” And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck.” So Johnny did the dishes.
Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing. Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper.” Sally smiled and said, “That’s all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it.” Again she whispered, “Remember the duck.” Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.
Finally, after several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, he couldn’t stand it. He confessed to Grandma that he killed the duck. “I know, Johnny,” she said, giving him a hug. “I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I just wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”
The good news of Christmas is linked to Christ’s birth, and Christ’s birth is explained in Galatians 4:4-7. Figuratively speaking, God’s calendar had a day with a big star on it-when the time was right for Christ to be sent forth into this world. Jesus was born when Rome was conquering and ruling the known world. The Roman Empire built roads that connected cities, towns, and military bases. These roads allowed the Gospel of Salvation to be taken all over Europe. Travel was safer than it had been earlier, a mail system was in place, and a common language existed. There was open idolatry, spiritism, and demon worship. The religious establishment was almost completely corrupt. With the absence of war, many people were rediscovering art, literature, and philosophy, and they were asking questions. All of this was part of God’s perfect, divine plan.
It was always God’s plan for Christ to be born, live among us, die for our sins, and rise again. Revelation 13:8 calls Him “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” This means that before there was a planet called Earth and a garden called Eden, before there was a couple known as Adam and Eve who ate of the forbidden fruit, God knew that humanity would blow it. He had a plan. His Son would come to earth and be born in a manger, live a perfect life, and die on the cross for the sins of the world.
When the exact religious, cultural, and political conditions demanded by His perfect plan were in place, Jesus came into the world. As a father set the time for the ceremony of his son coming of age and being released from the guardians, managers, and tutors, God sent His Son at the precise moment to bring all believers out from under bondage to the law.
Adoption in Roman society was very different from adoption today. When a flesh and blood son reached the age of maturity, he was “adopted” into his own family. Until that time, he was considered a child, and he was under the tutelage of a household slave. This slave was given the duty of supervising the life and morals of the boy or boys under his care. Boys could not even leave the house without their guardian before arriving at the age of manhood.
The Law of Moses played the role of this trusted servant to protect, discipline, and train the people, but it had one serious flaw. It had to be obeyed perfectly. If someone broke one law, he or she was considered to have broken all of the laws. The Law condemned people and gave them the sentence of death, just like Sally “condemned” Johnny to a form of slavery in the story I told earlier.
Jesus was born under the law so that He could fulfill every claim and demand of the law on our behalf. Like all people, Jesus was obligated to obey God’s Law. Unlike everyone else, He perfectly obeyed the law. His sinless nature made Him the perfect, unblemished sacrifice for sin. He perfectly obeyed God in everything. He fulfilled the moral law in His life and the ceremonial law in His death. Paul proclaimed that God operates in His own time and in His own way. Christ’s birth is the supreme event in God’s plan, the end toward which God has been moving. The love that reigned in God’s heart is behind the love that bled and died on the Cross.
The movement of God to accomplish our redemption is clear to Paul. The deliverance came in the form of Jesus Christ:
- Jesus came from God and not from among men. He was the Son of God who had come from God to be the Redeemer of the world.
- In order to be the Redeemer, Jesus entered the earthly scene. He became truly man, experiencing all the onslaughts of evil, all the temptations of the flesh, all the weaknesses of humanity, in order to stand beside us.
- Jesus became our brother and could offer Himself as our representative. He was a son of Abraham, born under the law and shared the curse which the law imposed. By His crucifixion, He ransomed those under the law and became the Deliverer of all persons everywhere. Deliverance was from servitude of every sort-the bondage in which everyone finds themselves-into freedom as children of God.
In Paul’s day, some 60 million slaves lived in the Roman Empire. When someone bought a slave, the buyer could either own and use the slave or set the slave free. Before we respond in faith to Christ, while still under law, we are like slaves. It doesn’t matter that we are “master of all.” We are “under age” and the inheritance is not yet ours. Until we become of age, we are in bondage. We are in bondage to the present evil age, until that bondage is broken by grace and we are adopted as God’s children.
Even though God has established a great “trust” for us, we are still servants until we respond in faith to His promise. When God purchases or redeems people through Christ, He does so in order to set them free. Because we are not natural children of God, we can become sons and daughters only by divine adoption.
Although a human father cannot give his own nature to an adopted child, God can. The Holy Spirit, whom God places within us at the moment of salvation, confirms us as God’s children and stirs us to cry, “Abba! Father!”. It is the Bible’s greatest argument against legalism.
When we receive Christ, His Spirit takes up residence in the core of our being, giving us an internal power that we never had before and transforming our hearts from hateful and rebellious to loving and obedient. Our hearts control our words and actions.
When a person is saved, the law moves to the side and love moves to the centre. The believer is no longer enslaved to the harsh master of sin but becomes a mature son or daughter of God. The shift in a person’s essence from slave to son with full rights is immediate, although believers often do not understand it until later in their Christian experience.
When we receive a gift or a job promotion, or something good happens in our lives, it changes our behaviour in a positive way. When we have a relationship with Jesus, many things change for the better. We feel different about our time, our money, and our gifts. We realize that our time and money do not belong to us. It’s God’s time, God’s money, and God’s gifts that He is allowing us to be stewards of. We feel different about the Bible. We feel different about other believers, about ministers, and about our own lives. We even feel differently about people who don’t know Jesus yet. God is our Father in Heaven, and He wants to lead us in all of these areas. We can believe Him, we can trust Him, and we can experience His love in every situation. That changes everything.
It is a happy day when we move from slavery to sin and receive the Spirit of the Son of God and begin the free and glad life of sharing intimately with God the Father. We don’t come to Him begging and pleading like wayward derelicts who have to come to the back door for a handout. We come as children of God, knowing that we are welcome. We can accept ourselves, love and be loved, and feel worthwhile to ourselves and others. We are free to love ourselves and others and to know that we are worthwhile.
When we accept our sonship, we realize that we are not alone. We get strength from God and through the shared strength of the Christian community. This strength can work along with our weaknesses as we become vulnerable. In our sonship we become vulnerable to God, open and receptive to the coming of the Spirit. In the confidence of being loved and accepted by God, we can be vulnerable to others, open to the claims of our neighbours, and respond in sensitivity and care.
Bibliography
- Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 1628)
- Dunnam, M.D., & Ogilvie, L.J.,: T he Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 31: Galatians/Ephesians/Philippians/Colossians/Philemon (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982, pp. 77-83)
- Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
- MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
- H.B. Charles Jr., “The Good News of the Incarnation.” Retrieved from www.preaching.com/contributors/h-b-charles-jr/
- Bayless Conley, “Enjoying the Fullness of Your Inheritance.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
- Pastor David McGee, “Our Relationship Changes Everything.” Retrieved from www.crossthebridge.com
- Pastor Raul Ries, “God Sent His Son.” Retrieved from www.SomebodyLovesYou.com
- Dave Wyrtzen, “The Full Rights of an heir.” Retrieved from truthnote@gmail.com
- Greg Laurie, “It Was Always God’s Plan.” Retrieved from greglaurie@harvestdirect.org
- Greg Laurie, “It’s Time for Another Jesus Movement.” Retrieved from greglaurie@harvestdirect.org
- “Living the Freedom Christ Has Given You.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com
- Greg Laurie, “No Time for God?” Retrieved from greglaurie@harvestdirect.org
Sermons From My Heart 