Galatians 4:1-7 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, 2 but
he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In
the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary
principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had
come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to
redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son
into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer
a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Timing is much more
important than we usually think. We don’t always know what time things should
be done but God always does. He had the sovereign right to end the human race
when Adam sinned but He didn’t do that because He already had a plan. You see,
God was not taken by surprise — He never is! In this letter to the Galatians
Paul has been countering the legalists who wanted to bring the believers there
under bondage. Paul wants them to see that God wants to free us from slavery
rather than bring us into a new kind of slavery. So, in this passage he tells
us that God’s plan included sending His Son to redeem us so we could be adopted
into the family of God.
We do not know what
time of year Jesus was born. It may have been in December but likely was not.
You see Angels came to sing to the shepherds in the fields that night. Unless
it was an unusually warm December (and it may have been) the shepherds would
not have been in the fields after dark. The first century church does not
appear to have celebrated Christmas at all. Or, maybe it would be more correct
to say that they, like the improved version of Scrooge, kept Christmas every
day.
We do know the
approximate year of his birth but really that’s all. What Paul tells us here is
that it was…
In the fullness of time. Before God created the earth he put into place a
plan to send His Son into the world to redeem that which had been lost in the
Garden of Eden. Now we see that there were reasons for the time God chose.
First of all there was…
A
large empire to spread through. At the time
of Jesus’ birth the Roman Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean in
the west all the way across Europe and North Africa into what is modern-day
Syria and Jordan. This allowed the missionaries to travel without hindrance
across the Empire on good Roman roads (some of which are still in use).
There were other large empires in the world but none
that would serve as a sending base for missionaries. The outward reaching
attitude of the Romans and their close allies provided a base from which the
world could be evangelized. This large empire provided…
A
common legal system to live under. It was important
that the missionaries should be legally protected. Paul took advantage of his
Roman citizenship to prevent being turned over to the Temple police. He also
used his Roman citizenship to appeal to Caesar. This allowed him to travel to
Rome with a military escort paid for by the government.
Wherever the missionaries went, inside the Roman
Empire, they had a set of laws that they could understand and use to their
advantage. There’s nothing wrong with using the world’s legal system to enhance
spreading the gospel. Modern-day missionaries have to learn the legal system of
the countries where they go in order to be free to share the good news about
Jesus.
In the sharing of the gospel it was very important
to have…
A
common language to communicate with. Since Rome
was in power it would be thought that the common language of the Empire would
be Latin. Latin was the language of the legal system but koine Greek was the
language of the common people throughout the Empire. Over three hundred years
before Christ's birth Alexander came out of Greece with his armies and conquered
Persia, Egypt and spread his empire deep into India. As result of his conquests
the Greek language became the common language. It held sway across the business
world of the Roman Empire. That provided a basis for communicating by letter.
It was very important that Paul, and the other missionaries, be able to write
letters and send them from place to place in the Empire. Those letters, along
with the four Gospels, became our New Testament. When these were added to the
Jewish Old Testament our Bible came into being.
Yes, it was the
right time, or the fullness of time, when…
God sent His
Son. God did not entrust an angel to share the message because it wasn’t just
a message that needed to be shared. What had to happen was for the Son of God
to take on flesh and blood so that through death he could deliver all those who
through fear of death were held in bondage. God sent his son under certain
conditions. One of those conditions was that he should be…
Born of a woman. It was very important
that Jesus be born human. However, it was even more important that He not have
a human father and therefore not inherit the sin nature that we all have. The
woman, Mary, who became his mother was a virgin. Listen while I read these two
passages of Scripture. Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel. And, Luke
1:26-38 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent
from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin
betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the
virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said,
“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she
was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting
this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid,
Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you
will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He
will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God
will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be,
since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And
behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and
this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For
nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said,
“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
And the angel departed from her.
This shows us that salvation must come from God not from man. And, the
virgin birth allows for the uniting of the fullness of God with the fullness of
man. So that Jesus could be God and at the same time the Son of Man. Since he
was born without a human father Jesus had no inherited human sin. The line of
descent from Adam was partially disrupted by the process God used in bringing
Jesus in the world.
Jesus was born of a woman and He was…
Born under the law. At the time of his birth, Jesus and his parents
were subject to the Law of Moses. This required certain steps for them to take.
On the eighth day Jesus would be circumcised and there would be a period of
purification. Listen while I read Luke 2:22-24. And when the time came for their purification
according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him
to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every
male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and
to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair
of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”
The picture that Luke
presents for us shows us that Joseph was not a wealthy man. The law first
called for a Lamb to be sacrificed along with a pigeon. However, if the family
could not afford a Lamb then two turtledoves or two pigeons could be offered.
All of this was completed for Jesus so that he would be able…
To redeem his people. Paul has already told us something about this in Galatians
3:13-14 Christ redeemed us from
the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is
everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus
the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive
the promised Spirit through faith.
Jesus
came into the world to be born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem us
from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He did this so that the
blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. Abraham’s blessings came long
before the law and depended on faith not good works. So that those who come to
faith in Christ become descendants of Abraham breaking the connection to Adam.
This was God’s plan from the beginning…
In order that we may be adopted into the
family.
No one
comes into the kingdom of God as a second-class citizen or anything less than a
family member. While we should consider ourselves to be servants of God we must
remember at the same time that he has made us his children and this is…
An act of God. Listen while I remind you of the words
in John 1:12 But to all who did
receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of
God… Children, not slaves or subjects but members of the family of God.
Christmas should remind us of this act of God. We cannot be saved by our
own actions. We require instead that God intervene on our behalf giving us
salvation. This is an act of God…
By
the work of the Spirit. Listen
while I read the words of Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14-17 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are
sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery
to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons,
by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if
children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer
with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
I remind you that Paul told the Corinthians
that it is by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. That body is the
body of Christ, the Church of the living God. Jesus came into the world the Son
of God and the Son of Man. He completely shared in both natures. While he was
on earth he fulfilled the law completing all of it for us. He became for us
righteousness, wisdom, sanctification and redemption. He who knew no sin became
sin for us so that we could be the righteousness of God in Him. All of this is
true because of Christmas. The greatest gift of all was the sinless Son of God
who could take our sins into his own body, nail them to the cross, bury them in
the grave and leave them there so that we could be included in the family.
Christmas was the opening shot in a battle to defeat the enemy finally fought
out on the cross and in the grave. He does not save us to become angels in
heaven someday. Today we are a little lower than the angels. After death we
will be higher than the angels. We will never be angels. He saved us for a
greater purpose. He did these things…
Making us one of the family. Listen to Romans 9:7-8 and not all are children of Abraham because they
are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This
means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but
the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
We are each a part of the family of God. The most common
references in the New Testament to believers is to call them brothers and
sisters. This shows the family relationship and in past generations continued
to be used by the church. In modern times we less often refer to one another as
brother or sister. It would be good to restore that use because it reminds us
of the relationship that we have to each other, and to God.
While we are on earth we are servants of God. Most
Christians recognize that truth but fail to see that we have become a part of
God’s family. We are children of God and if we are his children then we are
heirs — joint heirs with Jesus! This does not give us the right to look down on
any other person. We are not better than others just different from others. No
matter the condition of another person we should recognize that except for the
grace of God that could be us. There is no sin we could not be guilty of under
the right circumstances. Never forget that!
About a hundred and forty years ago Harriet
Eugenia Buell wrote a beautiful song that describes our situation. It goes like
this:
My Father is rich in houses and lands, He holds
the wealth of the world in his hands! Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and
gold, his coffers are full, He has riches untold.
I’m a child of the King, a child of the King: With
Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King.
My Father’s own Son, the Savior of men, once
wondered on earth as the poorest of them; but now he is reigning forever on
high, and will give me a home in heaven by and by.
I’m a child of the King, a child of the King: With
Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King.
I once was an outcast stranger on earth, a sinner
by choice, and an alien by birth; but I’ve been adopted, my name’s written
down, an heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown.
I’m a child of
the King, a child of the King: With Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King.
Looking at all human history in advance allowed
God to choose the perfect time for His Son to come into the world. The Roman
Empire provided a large field of ministry without borders. The Roman legal
system gave the missionaries a consistent set of rules to go by. And, the Greek
language had become the language of business and day-to-day activities in the
Empire. All of these things worked together to allow a rapid spread of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. It was the right time. Since then every day is the
right time for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Receive the gift of
salvation this Christmas if you have not done so before. If you have already
received Christ share the gift of salvation this Christmas with someone you
know who needs Him.
All
scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001.
Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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