“Clearing the Heir”
Gal. 4:1-7
You might just be the long-lost heir to someone’s fortune. Because unclaimed money from estates reverts to the state after a period of time the government is not really eager to spend a lot of time or money looking for deserving heirs. But the government does have a legal obligation to answer all inquiries. So there is a website – www.unclaimed.org – run by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. You can go there to see if your name occurs on any unclaimed riches anywhere in the United States. Obviously thousands of people live every moment of every day oblivious to their rightful inheritance. There’s a cavernous gap between what they have and what they’re entitled to, a canyon between who they are and who they could be. How unfortunate and how sad!
Yet even more unfortunate and sad is the untold mass of people who live every moment of every day oblivious to their rightful divine inheritance. They, too, live with a gap. So the Apostle Paul wanted to set the record straight – to clear the heirs. Through his letter to the Galatian Church he RECALLS WHAT WE WERE. To do so he begins with AN ANALOGY ABOUT MINOR CHILDREN. “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. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.” On paper the entire estate belongs to the son. In reality, the son cannot touch it or use it until his father says the time is right. In the meantime he, like the slaves, is subject to his father. So, implies Paul, were all of us – rightful heirs but unable to obtain our inheritance.
So Paul quickly moves to A PICTURE OF CHILDREN IN SLAVERY. “So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.” While humankind was created in the image of God, sin destroyed that image. So people lived under the principles and powers of the sinful world rather than under the principles and power of God.
But Paul reminds us of WHAT WE HAVE AND WHO WE TRULY ARE. According to Paul, there are three significant aspects of our inheritance which, when claimed, help us live in possession of those rights. First, He wrote that Jesus was sent on a mission: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law…” He came into the slave market of our world to redeem us; WE HAVE BEEN REDEEMED. He purchased us and freed us. That’s why Jesus healed all who came to Him; His healing acts were signs that He alone could free us! We do not need to be enslaved to the principles and powers of the sinful world – we are free. Jesus closed the gap between what we’re entitled to and what we have; He has bridged the canyon between who we are and who we can be. As Wesley wrote, in the great Christmas hymn “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, Jesus was “born that we no more may die!”
Second, Paul claims WE HAVE BEEN RAISED. “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.” Wesley penned that Jesus was “born to raise us from the earth…” We have an IDENTITY THROUGH POSITION. 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. So Paul says God chose the time when Jesus came to gave us our inheritance. 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).
Paul then wrote, thirdly, that WE HAVE BEEN RENEWED. . Wesley wrote that Jesus was born to give us second birth.” Paul said, “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts…” More than just a new status, we have a new nature. 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, doing God’s faithful work.
And what work 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 control 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.
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, and 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 brothers and sisters. 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 another 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.”
Dale was one of my childhood friends. His dad ran the projectors in one of the local movie theatres. If I went to that theatre without Dale I paid full admission and had to sit on the main floor with everyone else. If I went with Dale, I got in free and got to sit up in the projection booth. Through Dale I had access to his father and all the same privileges of his son. In the same way WE HAVE THE SAME ACCESS TO THE FATHER AS CHRIST HAS. God will not turn us away. He will never refuse us entrance. He will never make us pay. 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.
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. It’s all because we have intimacy with our Father through prayer.
A physical education teacher received a letter from a former student. He wanted the teacher to know the impact he had made on his life. The student reminded the teacher of his first day in class – the students had to run 600 yards. He did not want to because he always came in last. But he wrote, “I remember that you ran along side of me that last hundred yards yelling, ‘Good effort, Lou! Great effort! Absolutely magnificent!’ I felt like I had won the Olympic Gold medal for the marathon.” The teacher was the first person that ever encouraged Lou. The next year Lou went out for soccer. He wrote, “I would never have had the courage to do it if it had not been for your example.” Lou went on to study journalism in college, even though one of his instructors had told him he had no writing ability. Lou wrote, “All through those years I held your example in my mind, looking for possibilities and wondering how you always managed to be so positive all the time. Then he wrote this sentence: “Five years ago I met Jesus and figured you out.”
This morning we celebrate that Jesus frees us to become who we are meant to be. He runs with us, lives with us, encourages us, and empowers us. He molds us to be like Him!
So let’s clear the heir.
JESUS GAVE AWAY HIS LIFE SO WE MIGHT SHARE HIS LIFE.
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.
Now that makes for a Merry Christmas.
