“Redeemed as a Child of God”

Scripture: Galatians 3:26-4:7

As Paul’s correction of the church in Galatia is starting to come to an end, his encouragement toward them is beginning to grow. But isn’t that how it should always be? Let the wayward “child” know what they have done wrong, but never stop there. Correction, punishment, chastising, are certainly necessary from time to time, but if one only hears about the mistakes that they’ve made, they will never be able to grow beyond that part of their life. It’s the same as trying to drive a car on a busy highway while only looking in the rear view mirrors! We need to keep our gaze centered on the windshield, with an occasional glance to the rear.
But we still need the mirrors to understand where we have been and how we have been doing.

In last week's message, in my thoughts regarding Paul’s comment that “Abraham’s seed” (Galatians 3:16) didn’t refer to Abraham’s offspring, but rather to Christ, I mentioned that a number of translations used the word “descendent” and not seed, which does imply offspring. I received an email this week from a parishioner (thank you!!), reminding me that King James and several other translations do use the word “seed”. So I offer a clarification of last week’s message – the translations that I checked were all of more modern vintage, and I did not verify the translated word in KJV, or American Standard, or Darby, or several other older works. So I will offer this correction to my thoughts last week – newer translations do not use the word seed, but while several of the older versions do, I believe that the original text in Genesis was implying general lineage, in whatever progression it may come.
Even pastors need “rear view mirrors” from time to time! We need both forward looking vision, as well as that toward the things we have done.

From Homiletics comes this story of the consequences of only seeing the past:

In 1949, a man by the name of John Currier was sentenced to an extended term in prison. Currier could not read or write. He was later transferred from prison and paroled to work for a wealthy farmer. In 1968, Currier's sentence ended.
The records of the Department of Corrections show that a letter was written to the convict and to the farmer informing them that the sentence had been satisfied, but Currier never saw the letter or knew that it existed.
A year went by, then two, five, and finally 10. By this time the farmer had died, but Currier kept working, serving out his sentence on an allowance of $5 per week, living in a dilapidated trailer with a horse trough for a bath and a garden hose for a shower stall.

Not until the 1980s did a state parole officer learn of Currier's plight and tell him of the missing letter. Currier lost more than 10 years of his life because he failed to get the message that he had been freed.
- Homiletics Online.

Paul needed to tell the Galatians that by their faith in Jesus Christ, even though they were guilty of failing the Lord, they had been set free! And he didn’t want them to miss the message.

Read Galatians 3:26-29

Have you ever hear a brother or sister in the church criticize another Christian for some act of either admission or omission?
“You know, if your faith was stronger, you wouldn’t be sick all the time!”
“I heard that your son is constantly in trouble – apparently you didn’t do a very good job of raising him!”
“You should read your Bible every day like I do – your life would be much better if you did!”

Paul would tell us to “Cut it out! We are all children of God by faith in Christ!”, and we should be helping each other, not cutting each other down! There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, Catholic nor Protestant, Baptist nor Presbyterian nor Lutheran nor Methodist, it no longer has anything to do with how successful nor how poor we are, it no longer matters what our past was all about – the only question that has to be asked any more is “Are you clothed in Christ?”
And if our honest answer to the question is “Yes!”, then we are considered to be “the seed of Abraham”. This is exactly the point that Paul was making in verse 16. It no longer matters who we have been in the flesh – the only necessity is who we are now in the Spirit. And whether we are a direct descendent of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or if we come as a child of God in Christ, the promise has been given and the promise is sure.

Read Galatians 4:1-3

Before Jesus comes into our lives, we are a slave to the law, and there is no way out. The law constantly shows us that we are truly and fully sinful, and until we can shed that curse, we are condemned by the very law that we depend on.
But even after Jesus did come, and even after he taught us the truth of God, and even though he did make the perfect sacrifice on our behalf, there are still many who continue to choose to live a life under law - a life in which they can never win - instead of a life in grace, in which they can never loose. Paul’s problem with Galatia was that even though they knew Jesus, and even though they had been baptized into his freedom, they insisted on living in bondage to legalism.

Why do people insist on living life by their own definition? I expect that, in the simplest sense, they are reluctant to give up some aspect of their life – something that brings them some degree of personal satisfaction, or joy, or release, or escape. They just miss the point that Jesus makes those things superfluous, that he replaces our shallow and temporal pleasures with an eternal joy that is so wide and so deep that it is impossible to describe.

Read Galatians 4:4-7

Paul reminds the church that we aren’t simply talking about some Divine Presence that magically appears in our lives - this Divine Presence came into this world just as we did. He didn’t just appear – he was born. He wasn’t created free - he was born under law. He didn’t come to condemn – he came to save. He didn’t come to live a life of luxury - he came to live as we live. He didn’t come to turn away from pain – he came to give his all that we might be free.
But he also tells us that Jesus isn’t just about being freed from the excesses of the law, but that he is about a relationship that is defined by “family”. As a child, we live and grow under the tutelage of our parents. It is their responsibility to teach us standards for life, to be an example of honesty, to encourage us to live responsibly as a good citizen. Yes, it’s true that some parents fail at their task, and yes, it is equally true that some children rebel against their parent’s teaching. But the responsibility is there, on both sides, just the same.

And as a child of God, we are taught his standards, we have been given his example for an honest and Godly existence, and his Spirit leads us to become a good child of his kingdom. And while the Lord never fails on his part, his children will rebel, and will try to make their own way in the world, and will turn their backs on their Heavenly Father, for no other reason than they don’t want to be told what to do.
Talk about a myopic view of life! “Let me do it my way, even if it will cause me pain and failure and hopelessness!”

A man by the name of Wesley Fitzpatrick went before a judge in Kansas City, Kansas several years ago, and asked for a temporary restraining order against a woman that he said was making him “scared, depressed and in fear for my freedom.”
According to Wichita’s newspaper the Eagle (March 14, 2003), the judge rescinded the order when it was discovered that Fitzpatrick’s “stalker” was none other than his parole officer, who was trying to verify that he was meeting the terms of his parole.
- Homiletics Online

As hard as we may try, we will never get a restraining order against Jesus! He will continue to hold his hand out to us as long as we have breath; he will continue to call our name as long as we can hear and feel his presence; he will continue to love us even when we express contempt for his gift of salvation; he will continue to desire a relationship with us, regardless of our desires, for eternity.

Born of the flesh, born to the law, so that he might become the sacrifice that redeemed us from the condemnation of law. But we will only see the truth in this if we see our own lives in both retrospect and future vision.
Take the blinders off and see!