“What’s Christmas All About? Claiming Your Inheritance”
Galatians 4:1-7
The city of Grand Haven was having difficulty with skateboard traffic. skateboarders were everywhere, weaving in and out and over walkers and drivers anywhere, anytime. So the city passed laws prohibiting skateboarding in public areas and then built a special skateboard park, complete with ramps and obstacles, and established an admission fee. But the young people were not happy. So it made the news. Interviewed by a TV reporter, one brash teen said, “It’s my right to skate board wherever I want, whenever I want.”
“It’s my right!” We hear it all the time. Unions strike because of rights; welfare recipients and program directors harp on it constantly. Minorities and majorities shout it powerfully. And certainly we all have some basic rights, but the idea of rights is abused and misused all too frequently. Still we’re going to think today about our rights. Jesus, after all, secured some for us.
In Galatians 4, Paul reminds us that Jesus was sent on a mission - He came into the slave market of our world and purchased us and freed us “that we might receive the full rights of sons.” So we do have some rights through Jesus Christ. And WE CAN EXERCISE OUR RIGHTS BY CLAIMING THE BENEFITS OF OUR INHERITANCE IN CHRIST. According to Paul, there are three significant aspects of our inheritance which, when claimed, give us those rights.
The first aspect is that we have an IDENTITY THROUGH POSITION. “Because you are sons...” We have been given the full rights of a natural born, mature heir. The Roman father had the discretion to determine when a son was “of age” to become the legal heir to his estate. Until that time the son had no more access to the inheritance than a slave. So Paul says God chose the time when Jesus came and gave us our inheritance. He paid the price; through no merit of our own WE HAVE THE FULL RIGHTS of natural born sons. As John wrote (1Jn. 3:1), “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
Perhaps you can recall the thrill and honor of being chosen for that starring role, or making the team, or being elected to that key position, or receiving that honor or recognition, or getting that job you so desperately desired; it only pales in comparison with the thrill, honor, and privilege of being chosen by God, of being granted full status, equal with his Son, Jesus. That’s right - equal to the status of Jesus. We are His brothers and sisters!
Think about that. WHATEVER BELONGS TO CHRIST BELONGS TO US! We have the same name, the same inheritance, the same position, the same rights as Jesus! When people all around us are having identity crises, trying to find out who they are, trying to discover their inner selves, searching for their roots, trying to build their sense of self-worth on their achievements - we can be secure in the knowledge that we are children of God the Father, in equal standing with Jesus! It doesn’t get any better than this! As the Living Bible paraphrases verse 7, we have access to “everything God has.” Whatever belongs to Christ belongs to us. We don’t need to earn it, buy it, deserve it - it’s ours!
And we can begin to draw on it even now! The Scriptures tell us: God has made available to us the riches of His grace (Eph. 1:7), the riches of His glory (Phil. 4:19), the riches of His goodness (Rom. 2:4), and the riches of His wisdom (Rom. 11:33).
Perhaps you remember the farm family who, many years ago, lived in dire poverty. One Christmas someone sent them their first mirror. The teen-aged boy saw himself for the first time. He said to his mother: “Mom, look how ugly I am. How can you love me when you see how dirty and ugly I am?” She put her arm around him and with tears in her eyes replied, “Because you are mine.” The truth is, IT’S NOT WHO WE ARE BUT WHOSE WE ARE that really matters. This is the secret of our dignity and worth as persons. It is through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we have such a position of status and prestige! We are full and legal heirs of all God has to offer! We have a right to claim it all for we have identity through our position.
Paul lists the second aspect of our inheritance this way: “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.” We have INFLUENCE THROUGH PRESENCE. Eugene Petersen in The Message words this verse, “We have been set free to experience” our standing with Christ because God has sent His Spirit. Notice - the Spirit is given to us - we don’t need to ask for Him or do anything to receive Him - He is given to us! He comes as a gift - He’s part of the inheritance package, part of the salvation life!
Be sure to catch the heart of this God not only sent Himself to us, GOD SENT HIMSELF INTO US! We not only have access to the riches of God but we have God Himself! Recall the words of the Psalmist: “The Lord is my portion, O my soul.” Or recall God’s promise to Abraham: “Fear not, Abraham; I am your shield and exceeding great reward.” Think about it. Why do we worry? God Himself is in us! “Greater is He that is in me than hew that is in the world.” Why do we fear? The omnipotent God is in us! Why do we find it hard to trust? The unchanging, ever faithful God is in us!
Yet I believe we have a problem. God works so constantly, so quietly, that sometimes we forget He’s in us. Someone has appropriately pointed out that our experience of the Holy Spirit is like wearing eyeglasses. The only time we really look at them is when we’re looking for them. Glasses are not made to be seen so much as to be seen through. They function best when we don’t notice them. We examine them to remove specks of dirt and dust and smears; but when they function properly they sit on our nose and we are all but unaware of them. We don’t see our glasses when we wear them, but when we wear them, we see! So with the Holy Spirit - when He’s doing His greatest work we will be totally unaware - but He is still in us.
And what is He doing? He’s remaking us, shaping us, growing us. INHERITANCE GIVES US POSITION; THE SPIRIT GIVES US REGENERATION. Paul points out that the Spirit has been sent into our hearts - not into our brains, nor into our intellect, but into the very seat of our affections, emotions, and desires. He resides in the center of our being. In Psalm 37:4 David writes, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” For years I limited the meaning of this verse to the idea that if we delight in the Lord He’ll give us whatever we desire. But that’s only a half truth - I now recognize that it has a double meaning. The whole truth is that when we delight ourselves in the Lord he plants the good and proper desires in our hearts - so naturally he’ll give them to us! So yes - GOD GIVES US THE DESIRES OF OUR HEARTS. And those desires pertain to godliness, to Christ-likeness.
Just as the heart pumps blood into all parts of our body, so the Spirit within us - God Himself - sends His influence and likeness into every fiber of our being - into every power, every faculty, every thought. That’s why Paul wrote so often about our constant progression - our sanctification - into Christ likeness. The older I get the more I recognize how much like my father I am becoming - in looks, posture, attitude, and behavior (both his strong and weaker traits.) It serves to remind me that I am also growing into the likeness of Christ, and that He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion. What an influence there is in me through the presence of Christ.
I invite you to dwell on this fact - God lives within you. Realize the power and potential it gives you. It will change the places you go and the things you do. When we wake up in the morning and realize that God will be in us wherever we go, it will affect our plans. It will influence us in our business, our home, when we’re alone or in a crowd. God is within us! Let us, as Peter bids us, cast all our cares upon Jesus and live as his children, as brothers and sister of Jesus. We have the right to act as children of God - for so we are, since we’re influenced through His presence.
But hold on - Paul’s not finished yet. He mentions a third aspect of our inheritance: “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’” WE HAVE INTIMACY THROUGH PRAYER. We have a right to come into the very presence of God like a child coming to her parent. We have this right not because we know how to pray correctly, or know the right formula or combinations of words, or because we’ve been so good, or done enough good deeds that God has agreed to see us - but because we are His children! Therefore, as Hebrews puts it (4:16): “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Think of Jesus’ communication with His Father. Then realize WE HAVE THE SAME ACCESS TO THE FATHER AS CHRIST. God will not turn us away. He’s never too busy for us. Gordon Balfour once wrote of his boyhood. His father worked part-time as a driver and guard for Brinks Armored Car Service. Once, as his school was only a city block from home, his dad stopped the truck at the school to give him a ride home. Gordon came out of school and spotted the shiny grey armored car, complete with gun-ports, bullet-proof glass and rivet-heads everywhere. Gathered in a respectful circle around it were all the third grade boys, gawking at this mysterious vehicle. Gordon pushed his way through the circle, went up to the truck and climbed up inside the cab. As he did so, the other students stared and held their breath at his bold move. Gordon knew what they did not know – that he was in reality approaching his father who loved him and would freely and gladly receive him. In the same way we have unlimited, free access - any time, for whatever reason - to God the Father. Jesus walks us in and says, “Dad, my brother - or sister - here wants to talk with you.” And God will give us His undivided attention!
But notice that Paul says it’s the Spirit who cries in us and for us. What a tremendous gift! When we are too overcome with emotion, too burdened with cares, too filled with doubts, too overwhelmed with sorrow that we do not know what to say - or cannot speak - THE SPIRIT KNOWS AND SPEAKS FOR US. Knowing our hearts, He understands how we feel and then takes those feelings and puts
them into words and speaks for us - even cries out for us - with the Father. In Romans 8:26-27 Paul similarly writes: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”
I don’t know how to communicate to someone who cannot hear; But experts in sign language can take my words and emotions and translate them into a language the hearing impaired can understand. So the Spirit works for us with the Father. An elderly gentleman was ambling through his garden one day when he came upon his young granddaughter repeating the alphabet in an oddly reverent sort of way. “What on earth are you up to?” he asked. The little girl explained, “I’m praying, Grandpa. I can’t think of exactly the right words, so I’m just saying all the letters, and God will put them together for me, ‘cause he knows what I am thinking.” What a description of the Holy Spirit’s ministry for us!
So WE HAVE A RIGHT TO BRING TO GOD ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING IN OUR HEARTS. We can bring it all boldly, our triumphs and tears, our strengths and struggles, our decisions and doubts, our boldness and brokenness, our wisdom and wordlessness. And all because we have intimacy with our Father through prayer. Back when the generals led their troops into battle rather than directing them from a ‘situation room’ half a world away, it is said that Alexander the Great’s position was about to be over-run by the enemy. Turning to a valiant young soldier at his side, the great military genius implored the boy to fight harder. “And if we survive this attack,” he said, “I’ll see that you are rewarded handsomely.” Survive they did! When the youth appeared later to claim a reward, Alexander gave him an impression of the royal seal saying, “Take this to the treasurer for your payment.” “How much shall it be?” asked the soldier. “That will be for you to decide. Ask for whatever amount you think appropriate. It will be paid.” So the peasant youth presented the seal to the royal treasurer and named an enormous sum. Shocked by the amount, the treasurer balked Insisting that they return to camp together, the treasurer told Alexander of the soldier’s ‘outlandish’ request. Pausing to recall the battle scene, the general finally replied, “Pay him. He honors me with the size of his request.” Are you ready to exercise your rights and claim your inheritance? Will you honor God with the size of your request? Cinderella Man tells the true story of boxing legend James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe), who made an incredible comeback during the Great Depression. Injured and arthritic, Braddock’s promising career was cut short, and he had to go on public assistance when he couldn’t get work at the docks in New Jersey. But when an opportunity came for him to get back in the ring—and provide for his family—he took it, and his world changed. Now fighting with a purpose, Braddock starts winning fight after fight. He inspires the struggling nation with his perseverance in the midst of hardship. As his comeback builds steam, he keeps remembering the faces of his children and his wife and how important it is for him to provide for them. Finally, Braddock wins his way into a showdown with the World Heavyweight Champion, Max Baer. Baer, a vicious fighter, is notorious for killing two men in the ring. In the days before the fight he ridicules, threatens, and mocks Braddock, and as the world looks on there is great concern for Braddock’s life. When the big day arrives, Braddock’s wife sneaks into the bowels of the arena to find her husband in the locker room just moments before the fight. The look into her eyes sends everyone else from the room, and she marches straight up to Braddock. With a tender fierceness that can only come from a loyal wife, she locks her husband in her stare for the final words he’ll hear before the big event. "So you just remember who you are," she says. "You’re the Bulldog of Bergen, and the Pride of New Jersey. You’re everybody’s hope, and the kids’ hero. And you are the champion of my heart, James J. Braddock." Braddock wins the fight. Remembering who we are makes all the difference.
So I remind you today:
CHRIST TOOK OUR HELL SO WE COULD HAVE HIS HEAVEN;
THE SON OF GOD BECAME THE SON OF MAN SO THE CHILDREN OF MEN COULD BECOME THE CHILDREN OF GOD;
CHRIST CAME DOWN FROM WHERE HE WAS TO WHERE WE ARE SO HE COULD LIFT US FROM WHERE WE ARE TO WHERE HE IS.
Go claim your inheritance! Amen!
