The Freedom of Maturity (Galatians 4:1-11)
Marian Obeda, from London, Ontario, talks about a time when her husband, a pastor, was asked to officiate at a lot of weddings one particular season. During that time, they were also preparing for a son’s birthday party. When Marian asked him whom he wanted to invite, the only names he gave were his “girl friends.”
So jokingly she asked him, “Who are you going to marry when you grow up?”
And without hesitation he replied, “When I grow up I’m going to be a pastor and marry them all.” (Marian Obeda, London, Ontario, “Rolling Down the Aisle,” Christian Reader)
Most children look forward to growing up for many reasons, but primarily because there is greater freedom with fewer restrictions. It’s not that an adult can marry ALL his girlfriends, but we adults do have the freedom to marry any ONE we choose. We have the freedom to make a great number of choices on our own without somebody telling us what to do. We don’t have the restrictions a child has. We don’t have all the rules and regulations we put our children under for their own good until they are old enough to make good decisions on their own. And that’s the way it should be.
It’s a tragedy when you see adults who cannot (or will not) make their own decisions; and yet, there are a lot of adults like that when it comes to spiritual matters. They’re looking for somebody to tell them what to do. They’re looking for the rules and regulations. They’re looking for the magic formulas, the lists of do’s and don’ts, which will guarantee the good life.
Well, I’ve got news for you. There is no magic formula. There is no “law” which guarantees the good life. Instead, God has something for us, His adult children, that works a whole lot better than any “law.”
You say, “Phil, what is that?” Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Galatians 4, Galatians 4, where God shows us the best way to live our lives.
Galatians 4:1 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. (NIV)
A child is like a slave.
Galatians 4:2 He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. (NIV)
A child is like a slave, because he cannot make his own decisions, and
he cannot manage his own estate.
When an underage child receives a large inheritance, we don’t give that child all the money and say, “It’s yours; spend it anyway you want.” No! We usually put it in a trust, under the control of a trustee, until that child is old enough to make responsible decisions.
And that’s the way it was for God’s people. For nearly 1500 years, from the time of Moses until the time of Christ, WE WERE CHILDREN in God’s eyes. WE WERE LIKE SLAVES under the guardianship of the law.
Galatians 4:3 So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. (NIV) Literally, under the A,B,C’s of the world.
It’s like we were in kindergarten, where we had to get permission just to go to the bathroom. We couldn’t make our own decisions. Instead, the law did all that for us, even to the point of what to eat and where to go to the bathroom. Have you read the Mosaic Law recently? There’s some really interesting stuff in there.
For 1500 years, the law dictated our lives; because like children, we really didn’t know how to make good decisions; we really didn’t know how to handle the rich blessings or the inheritance we had from God; & we really didn’t know how to handle the rough waters of life itself.
Not too long ago, a teenaged boy was in such a hurry to try out his new surfboard that, oblivious of the warning flags, he dashed straight out into the waves. Immediately, an authoritative voice boomed, “You are an inexperienced surfer. Return to shore.”
Embarrassed, he came ashore but not without asking the lifeguard how he knew he was a novice. “Easy. You’ve got your wet suit on backwards.” (H.J. Duffy, Livingston, Texas, “Lite Fare,” Christian Reader; www.PreachingToday.com)
We restrict children for their own safety. & That’s what God did for us by giving us the law.
But now, since Christ has come, WE ARE ADULT SONS OF GOD. WE ARE GROWN UP IN GOD’S EYES, no longer under the constraints of the law.
Galatians 4:4-5 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. (NIV)
The picture here is of an ancient Roman ceremony in which a boy officially “comes of age” and is thereafter recognized as a man. His father set the “time” or the date, usually sometime between the boy’s 14th and 17th birthday. And on that day, several things would happen at a sacred family festival: 1st, The father would officially adopt the boy, acknowledging him as his legitimate, full-adult son and heir. 2nd, The boy would exchange his childhood garments (toga praetexta) for the garments of manhood (toga virilis). & 3rd, The boy was granted liberalia (liberty) on that day.
That means he was no longer under guardians and baby-sitters. He was responsible for making his own decisions. AND His inheritance was no longer managed by a trustee. He could manage it himself. He could spend his wealth any way he wanted to. His father had set him free from the constraints of guardians and trustees, and granted him his full rights as an adult son.
Well, that’s exactly what God did for us, His people. When the time had fully come, on a day which He had set, God sent His Son to redeem us as adult sons. God gave us Jesus to set us free from the law. God gave us Jesus to set us free from the rules and regulations, which were our guardians and trustees. And thereby, He granted us full rights as His adult sons. He considered us responsible enough to make our own decisions.
Mark Galli, in the April 4, 2007, issue of Christianity Today, talks about the time, many years ago, when he and his wife were having a marital “moral discourse.” Mark was becoming increasingly agitated, and in his fury, he yelled at his wife and aimed his fist at a section of the dining room wall. Unfortunately, he says, “The Holy Spirit failed to guide [his] hand between the studs, as He usually had done, and instead [Mark] hit a stud right on. He broke a knuckle.
A deathly silence settled in the room. Mark came from a family in which nothing got done until someone yelled. Barb, his wife, came from a family in which yelling brought things to a standstill. She was not going to speak to him for weeks. Mark was writhing in physical as well as emotional pain. He knew he was a moral failure as a husband…
Mark tried awkwardly, with one hand, to sweep up the bits of sheetrock strewn on the floor. As he did, he felt a hand on his arm. He turned around, and it was Barb. She said something apologetic. He said something apologetic. And then she embraced her husband for a long time.
Mark comments, “She had every right to pronounce a grand moral imperative, condemn my behavior, and distance herself from me. That surely would have taught me a lesson. Instead, she embraced the angry sinner, and rather than teaching me a lesson, she helped heal me.” (Mark Galli, “The Good Friday Life,” Christianity Today, 4-4-07; www.PreachingToday.com)
In essence, that’s what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross for our sins. The Bible says we were at enmity with God (Romans 5:10), shaking our fists at Him. We were ALL moral failures, making a mess of things. But instead of condemning us, as He had every right to do according to the Law, Christ reached down to us, embracing angry sinners on the cross. And by doing that, He set us free from the condemnation of the law, and He began a healing process that mended our hearts better than any law could do.
You see, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).
God did not send His Son to teach us a lesson like we were little children. No. God sent His Son to redeem us, to free us up to be His adult sons.
And if that wasn’t enough, God also sent His Spirit to remind us that we are indeed His adult sons. God gave us the Sprit of Christ to whisper to our hearts that we are His cherished heirs.
Galatians 4:6-7 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, a Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. (NIV)
We are no longer little children in God’s eyes. We are full, adult sons, ready to take on the responsibility of managing the spiritual riches that are ours as His heirs.
Tim Keller points out that some people are put off by Paul’s language here because it’s “gender insensitive.” They argue that it would be better to say “you are a son AND A DAUGHTER of God.” Tim Keller thought the same thing until he met a woman who was raised in a non-Western family as part of a very traditional culture. She helped him to see these verses from her perspective. You see, there was only one son in her family, and it was understood in her culture that he would receive most of the family’s provisions and honor. In essence, they said, “He’s the son; you’re just a girl.” That’s just the way it was.
Then one day she was studying this passage, or a passage like it in Paul’s writings. She suddenly realized that the apostle was making a revolutionary claim. Paul lived in a traditional culture just like she did. He was living in a place where daughters were second-class citizens. When Paul said – out of his own traditional culture – that we are all SONS in Christ, he was saying that there are no second-class citizens in God’s family. When you give your life to Christ and become a Christian, you receive all the benefits a son enjoys in a traditional culture – whether you are male or female. (Tim Keller, in his sermon, The Christian’s Happiness, www.PreachingToday.com)
This is NOT the language of a sexist. This the language of a man, inspired by the Holy Spirit, who had the highest respect for women, putting them on the same level as men.
The Apostle Peter is even more direct when he addresses the Christian husband. He says, in 1 Peter 3, “Husbands…be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect…as heirs WITH YOU (literally, as heirs together) of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers” (1 Peter 3:7).
Believing men and women are heirs TOGETHER. They are equal heirs, co-heirs in God’s family. All who believe in Jesus are SONS! Do you see it? They are full, adult sons of the Living God, with all the rights and privileges of the oldest son in His family.
That’s the message of God’s Holy Spirit to ALL of our hearts, no matter who we are as believers in Jesus Christ.
God sent His Son, Jesus, to redeem us as adult sons. & God sent His Holy Spirit to remind us that we are indeed His sons. My friends, let that assurance fill your heart today, no matter how bad your circumstances are.
For this is NOT the promise of better life circumstances. This is the promise of a far better life. This is the promise of a life of greatness. This is the promise of a life of nobility. This is the promise of eternal life!
Please, let the Holy Spirit get that message through to your heart today! Please, let Him fill your heart with hope, no matter who you are or how bad off you are.
Vincent van Gogh, the famous Dutch painter was raised in a Christian home, but sadly he tossed those truths away when he became an adult and sank into depression and destruction. By the grace of God, though, he began to embrace the truth of his Christian faith again and his hope returned.
You can see it in his paintings, because he gave that hope color. As he moves out of his depression, his paintings include more and more yellow, which for van Gogh evoked the hope and warmth of God’s love.
In his famous painting, called The Starry Night, you can see a little yellow in the moon and the stars. Van Gogh painted this during one of his depressive periods when God’s love seemed distant to him. Tragically, the church, which stands tall in the bottom center of this painting shows no traces of yellow.
But by the time he painted The Raising of Lazarus, he was finding his hope again. The entire picture is bathed in yellow. In fact, van Gogh put his own face on Lazarus to express his own hope in the Resurrection. (Scot McKnight, The Jesus Creed, Paraclete Press, 2004, pp. 65-66; www.PreachingToday.com)
Dear believer in Christ: That’s the picture the Holy Spirit wants to paint on your heart. Please, let Him fill your heart with hope this morning. Listen to Him, as He reminds you that you are indeed an adult SON and HEIR of God Himself!
We were once children, treated like slaves. Now, we are sons! So DON’T GO BACK TO SLAVERY AGAIN. DON’T GO BACK TO YOUR CHILDHOOD. DON’T PUT YOURSELF UNDER THE LAW AGAIN. That’s the whole point of this passage in Galatians as it comes to its conclusion. Look at it
Galatians 4:8-11 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. (NIV)
Paul is afraid that after all his work, his new converts are going back to their old way of living; they are going back to living under law. Oh, they may have swapped their pagan religion for the Jewish religion, but they’re still trying to earn God’s favor and blessing through their own efforts.
They have forgotten that God already treats them like adult sons and heirs. They have forgotten that God has already entrusted spiritual riches to them. They have forgotten who they are in Christ.
It’s like they’re going back to kindergarten again. & Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, “Don’t do it!”
Do you know, the Holy Spirit is still saying the same thing to us today? Stop trying to earn God’s favor when you already have it. Stop trying to prove yourself to a God who already approves of you as adult sons and heirs. Stop trying to get God’s blessing through your busyness.
It doesn’t work! Blessing is not found in busyness. It is found in believing what the Holy Spirit is saying to your heart right now: You are a son and an heir of God!
Rest in that fact. & Stop trying to find the good life in a magic formula. Stop trying to find the good life in a list of do’s and don’ts. Stop trying to find the good life in a law, because you can’t.
And besides, Who would want to go back to kindergarten again? Who wants to be told what to do all the time? That’s not the kind of life God wants for His adult children.
Elizabeth Elliot put it this way in an article, called The Liberty of Obedience: “It appears that God has deliberately left us in a quandary about many things. Why did He not summarize all the rules in one book, and all the basic doctrines in another? He could have eliminated the loopholes, prevented all the schisms over morality and false teaching that have plagued His Church for two thousand years. Think of the squabbling and perplexity we would have been spared. And think of the crop of dwarfs He would have reared! He did not spare us. He wants us to reach maturity. He has so arranged things that if we are to go on beyond the “milk diet” we shall be forced to think. (Elisabeth Elliot, “The Liberty of Obedience,” Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no.14; www.PreachingToday.com)
God is not growing a family of little children. He is growing a family of adults. We are adult sons of God, so let’s behave like adults. Let’s think for ourselves and not depend on others to tell us how to think and behave.
We were once children before Jesus came. Now, we are adult sons of God. Don’t go back to your childhood again. Don’t put yourself under any kind of a law.
A popular 19th century American preacher once said, “A nest is good for a robin while it is an egg, but it is bad for a robin when it has got wings. It is a poor place to fly in, but it is a good place to be hatched in.” (Henry Ward Beecher, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 2; www.PreachingToday.com)
My friends, you’ve got wings. Get out of the nest and fly!
