Galatians 4:4-7
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.[a] 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,[b] Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Listening guide
What’s our status after Christmas?
Verse 4 “When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son”
Verse 5 “God sent his Son … so that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
Claim a new status as a _____.
Verse 6 “God sent his Spirit into our hearts.”
We _____________________ its reality.
Verse 7 “You are no longer slaves, but sons.”
Embrace your _____________ as _________..
Discussion questions
Sermon
Timothy Paul Jones. He tells the story of trying to adopt his middle daughter.
She had been previously adopted by another family. I [Timothy] am sure this couple had the best of intentions, but they never quite integrated the adopted child into their family of biological children. After a couple of rough years, they dissolved the adoption, and we ended up welcoming an eight-year-old girl into our home.
For one reason or another, whenever our daughter’s previous family vacationed at Disney World, they took their biological children with them, but they left their adopted daughter with a family friend. Usually — at least in the child’s mind — this happened because she did something wrong that precluded her presence on the trip.
And so, by the time we adopted our daughter, she had seen many pictures of Disney World and she had heard about the rides and the characters and the parades. But when it came to passing through the gates of the Magic Kingdom, she had always been the one left on the outside. Once I found out about this history, I made plans to take her to Disney World the next time a speaking engagement took our family to the southeastern United States.
What surprised him then was that the prospect of visiting this dreamworld produced a stream of downright devilish behavior in our newest daughter. In the month leading up to our trip to the Magic Kingdom, she stole food when a simple request would have gained her a snack. She lied when it would have been easier to tell the truth. She whispered insults that were carefully crafted to hurt her older sister as deeply as possible — and, as the days on the calendar moved closer to the trip, her mutinies multiplied.
A couple of days before our family headed to Florida, I pulled our daughter into my lap to talk through her latest escapade. “I know what you’re going to do,” she stated flatly. “You’re not going to take me to Disney World, are you?” The thought hadn’t actually crossed my mind, but her downward spiral suddenly started to make some sense. She knew she couldn’t earn her way into the Magic Kingdom — she had tried and failed that test several times before — so she was living in a way that placed her as far as possible from the most magical place on earth.”
That’s the challenge of claiming a new sonship.
That is what happens all the time as the Father makes us his sons and daughters. We act out in our own way. Today God just wants to invite us to accept our new status.
Adventure: let’s accept our new status: the experience, acceptance of it
Two things today: experience and acceptance
Part 1
Listen to this: verse 4 “God sent his Son … so that we might receive adoption to sonship.” verse 6, “God sent his Spirit into our hearts.”
This is so awesome. It’s really wonderful. Like most Christians, I tend to think of my new life is mostly negative terms. I’m forgiven from sin. It’s freedom from. Paul is saying, the Christian faith is also freedom for. I can come before God like all our kids did right after Christmas and said, I want this other thing. I’ve got all this stuff, but I still want that.
Picture it like steel I-beams. Not crushing you, because now you are walking on them.
This should make us bold, but it often doesn’t .
Commentators will make the comparison to the story we call the prodigal son. The story of the prodigal son goes like …. What does he say when he comes back? “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.” (Lk 15:18–19) The question today is, Is he bold when he comes home?
Of course he isn’t bold. Why would he be bold? What does he say,
But we have the status of sonship. We are not slaves anymore. We are sons. If you are a woman, be sure to realize this is not a sexist thing. ... We are sons. Look at what God promises. He doesn’t just say, “God sent his Son”. He says in verse 6, “God sent his Spirit into our hearts.”
God doesn’t just promise a new status. He promises an experience in our hearts.
That changes everything. There is an objective and subjective reality here.
The objective reality is that we really are sons.
The subjective reality is that we know it and feel it. We experience. When the Holy Spirit is doing its job, we say, “It’s true. I know it. I really am.”
Repentance is good. You should repent over your sins. Repentance does not mean you live in perpetual sorrow. Repentance means sorrow and humble confidence.
As soon as you have the Holy Spirit in you, you must come to God like this. “God, “I am all right with you. I have the Holy Spirit. Jesus, in whom I believe, makes me worthy. (I am not worthy because I am do enough good stuff or because I’m sad enough about my sin.) Jesus makes me worthy. I gladly hear, read, sing, and write of Him.” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians, pg 108)
That’s how you call Abba, Father. You have the Holy Spirit by your baptism. Speak to God that way.
Point: We don’t just claim this new status. We experience its reality.
Part 2
If you’re like me, this is making you really uncomfortable right now. Why?
I look at the next verse. Very definitively Verse 7 “You are no longer slaves, but God’s child.”
Yeah, but what about when I blew up at so and so? And what about when I lied? And what about
My dad may have never kicked me out of the house and disowned me, but there were an awful lot of days were I didn’t feel like a son because of what I did. And what if the same thing is true for God?
No. You are not a slave, but a son.
“In retrospect, I’m embarrassed to admit that, in that moment, I was tempted to turn her fear to my own advantage. The easiest response would have been, “If you don’t start behaving better, you’re right, we won’t take you” — but, by God’s grace, I didn’t. Instead, I asked her, “Is this trip something we’re doing as a family?”
She nodded, brown eyes wide and tear-rimmed.
“Are you part of this family?”
She nodded again.
“Then you’re going with us. Sure, there may be some consequences to help you remember what’s right and what’s wrong — but you’re part of our family, and we’re not leaving you behind.”
Sonship. Do you know what that means?
“He says, “The profound truth of Roman adoption was that the adoptee was taken out of his previous state and placed in a new relationship of son to his new father … All his old debts were [instantly] canceled, and in effect the adoptee started a new life as part of his new family … (Francis Lyall, who wrote a book called Slaves, Citizens, Sons)
Jesus paid your debt. “Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
The more you see he has accepted you, the more you accept your status as a son.
Action: Assure someone they are a son.
Old English preacher named Thomas Goodwin said picture it this way: Picture a man walking along a road with his little boy, holding hands … father and son, son and father. The little boy knows the man is his father and that his father loves him.
Suddenly the father stops, picks up the boy, lifts him up into his arms, embraces him, and kisses him. The boy is actually no more a son when he’s being embraced and kissed than he was before. The father’s action has not changed the status of the boy, but oh, the difference in the enjoyment of the status.
Bottom line: Embrace your status as sons.