Title: Three Rs
Text: Galatians 4:4-7
Thesis: On the 1st Sunday after Christmas we are reminded that Jesus came that we might become children of God.
Introduction
The three Rs (as in the letter R) are the foundations of a basic skills-orientated education program within schools: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. Interestingly enough it would seem that anyone with an education would know that two of the three Rs do not actually begin with the letter R.
A few years ago some state education systems decided Reading, Writing and Arithmetic were outmoded and adopted a new set of Three Rs: Relating, Representing and Reasoning. It seems that those systems that have gone that route have found that half of all students and three fourths of all minority students are ill-equipped in their ability to read, write and do simple math.
More recently environmentalists have adapted the 3 Rs to stand for Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
However this morning, just as there are Three Rs essential to a basic education, I would like to suggest that, based on the use of one word in our text, there are another Three Rs that are essential to our basic spiritual education.
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman… to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Galatians 4:4-5
Transition: Implicit in the term “redeem” or “redemption” are three things that are accomplished for us.
I. We are rescued. Christ came to Rescue Us.
The reason God sent His only Son was to redeem us from under the law so that we might become Children of God. But what does it mean to be “under the law” and why do we need to be “redeemed” from it?
Turn with me to Galatians 3:10-14. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written:”Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Galatians 4:10 is a direct quote from Deuteronomy 27:26. That verse comes to us from the context of Moses’ having instructed the Israelites: “The Lord commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 26:16 The Children of Israel were to obey the laws and decrees of God to a “T” when they crossed over into the Promised Land. The laws and decrees were many and extensive… much, much more complex than the simplicity of the Ten Commandments. If you care to note a few examples in context look at the curses meted out in Deuteronomy 26:15-26 that were to come to anyone who broke God’s laws and decrees.
To be under the law or to be a slave to the law was to be so delusional as to believe you could be good enough to never break any of God’s laws.
Illustration: When I was in high school I wanted to learn to type so I took a typing class. I learned to type on manual Underwood and Royal typewriters… the kind with messy inky black ribbons and a return carriage. When I went to college I bought my first typewriter… a Sears/Smith-Corona Electric. It had a ribbon cartridge, a correction tape and an automatic carriage return. I never used an IBM Selectric but always wanted one.
But then along came the word processor and then along came PCs and Monty thought he had gone to heaven. The old manual typewriters were imperfect at best but the new computers with word processing programs could do everything we had hoped the manual typewriter would do.
When Jesus came he accomplished for us what we hoped the law could do but could never do. Faith in the work of Christ accomplished for us what we had hoped all out hard work in obeying the law would do… but did not.
In Galatians 3:11 the Bible says, “Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because the righteous will live by faith.” When a person is under the law he is like a hamster on the treadmill in his cage. He just runs and runs and runs and runs and never gets anywhere. And try as we may we can never be good enough to keep the law to perfection.
And the only way we can be freed from the law is to be redeemed. At the very core to be redeemed is to be bought out of slavery.
One way to think of redemption or being redeemed is to think of ourselves as having been rescued by Christ.
The Bible says that we have been rescued from:
A. The “Dominion of Darkness in Colossians 1:13-14. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.”
In Ephesians 5:8 reminds us that we were once darkness, but now we are light in the Lord and we are to then live as children of the light.
I Peter 2:9 teaches us that God has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God.
When we are in the dominion of darkness we are unwittingly under the rule of Satan but when we are rescued we change kingdoms, so to speak.
Illustration: In September of last year a Spanish Warship intercepted a pirate skiff off the coast of Yemen and sunk it after which they rescued Evelyne Colombo, a French woman who was being held by the pirates. Over thirty ships and ships crews are being held hostage along the coast of Somalia as the pirates wait in anticipation of receiving large ransoms for their release.
Evelyne Colombo was rescued from captivity and set free by the Spanish navy. To be rescued is to be saved from one thing and delivered to another. To be rescued is to be freed from darkness and released into the light.
Transition: The second way we may further understand what it means to be redeemed is to think if the word ransom. I used the term just a moment ago in reference to the Somali pirates holding ships and crews hostage in hopes of leveraging a ransom before they are set free.
II. We are ransomed. Christ came to Ransom Us.
There is always a price tag associated with redemption and that may be thought of as a ransom.
Illustration: Robert Write writing for Financial Times (Africa) reported that in 2005 the average ransom paid Somali pirates was $150,000. Last year it was 5.4 million dollars. (Robert Wright, Sharp Rise in Pirate Ransom Costs, January 16, 2011)
There is always a cost when it comes to rescuing something and that cost is called a ransom.
In I Peter 1:18 states: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
“For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
In Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The ransom paid for our freedom from the consequences of our sin was not paid in any monetary exchange form. The cost was a life.
Transition: And because God has rescued and ransomed us through Christ we have been restored.
III. We are restored. Christ came to Restore Us
…God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you an heir. Galatians 4:5-7
God did not rescue us and ransom us so that we could continue to live totally messed up lives…
In the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son the reason the shepherd searched for the lost sheep and the woman searched for the lost coin and the Father waiting for his son to return home was so that they each might be restored. The lost sheep was returned to the flock. The lost coin was returned to the other nine. And the lost son was restored into the family of his father.
When God rescues us from the curse of the law and the dominion of darkness he does so in order that we may restored to a new place and a new way of life.
Illustration: I sometimes watch American Restoration on the History Channel The show features Rick Dale and his restoration business. When Rick introduces himself he says, “Hi! I’m Rick Dale and I bring things back to life.” On every episode you will see Rick, his wife Kelly, his brother Ron, Rick’s son Tyler, a character named Kowboy and another named Kyle and the low man on the totem pole is a young man named Bretty. Bretty gets all the crummy jobs.
On a recent episode Bretty drove a battered old 1965 Chevy pickup to work and announced that he was going to restore it. As Rick and Kowboy and Kyle walked around the battered beater they all expressed serious doubts that it could be restored… but by the end of the episode Bretty had raised enough money and enlisted the help of his co-workers and had fully restored the 1965 Chevy pickup to what I think everyone would say was at least as good as new if not better than it was new.
Rescuing and ransoming an old pickup from the bone yard is not what God does when he rescues and ransoms a person. He also restores that person making that person into the person he or she was and is intended to be.
“If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are passed away and all things have become new.” II Corinthians 5:17.
When God rescues and ransoms a person from the dominion of darkness God does not just leave us in the same place we were… he does it all in order that we may become his children.
His goal is that we be adopted into his family and become sons and daughters of God.
If you have heard me say it once you have heard me say it ten times, “See what great love the Father has for us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” I John 3:1
So now, because of the coming of Christ and what God has accomplished for us in and through Christ you are, as it says in Galatians 4:7, “So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child and since you are God’s child, God has made you an heir.”
Illustration: Those of us who have adopted children or children who have been adopted have a uniquely wonderful experience. If you have children, they likely refer to you as Mom or Dad or Father or Mother. They are your children. But when you adopt a child you can hold that child in your arms and look into their eyes and say, “You are my son and I love you” or “You are my daughter and I love you” because they really are your child. And that child can look into your eyes and call you “Dad” or “Mom” because you really are their parent.
When a person becomes a Christian God sends the Spirit into our lives and that Spirit calls out, “Abba, Father.” Galatians 4:6 And Romans 8:15-16 further teaches us that when we become follower of Christ we do not receive a spirit that makes us a slave to fear, but we receive the Spirit of sonship. And that Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
God did not just rescue and ransom us from darkness to leave us in an orphanage… he rescued and ransomed and restored us so we could be his children.
Conclusion
Once a boy wanted to build himself a model sailing boat. So he bought all the materials and along with his father, built the boat. It was a beautiful boat and the boy names his boat “Beauty.” He and his father often took the little boat down to the pond and sailed it until the day it got away from them and was carried away down the stream that emptied from the other side of the pond. They searched and searched up and down the stream but could not find the boat.
Then one day the boy and his father were walking along a downtown street when the boy spied his boat in the window of a thrift store. It had been repainted and it was battered but the boy could see the letters B-e-a through the cracked gray paint.
They went into the store and talked to the manager explaining how they had lost the boat the previous spring but while the manager was sympathetic he said, “The boat has a price tag on it now so if you wish to have it back you will have to buy it.”
The boy was excited and wanted to buy it back on the spot his father pointed out that it was pretty beat up and might never sail again, His father reminded him that he had saved his money for a skate board but now all the boy wanted was to buy back his boat. So his father consented. He bought the boat and took it home.
It was not long before the boat was restored to its original beauty and the boy and his father once again sailed it on the nearby pond.
When something is redeemed it has to be rescued. Then it must be ransomed and finally restored to the condition it was intended to be.
And that is what God does for us in the Christ of Christmas. So it is the Christ of Christmas who is also the Christ of the Cross who pays the price to rescue, ransom and restore us as Children of God.
That’s what God does for us in Christ. So what is left to us?
Illustration: As you well know, children really do wait for Christmas and by Christmas morning they are ready to rip into their gifts.
Bonnie and I love to give to our children and grandchildren. This year our daughter and son-in-law suggested we give a gift to the boys and a gift to the girls… family gifts that would be a blessing to everyone. So we gave the boys an X Box something or other and the girls, who are into baking, were given a new Kitchenaid Mixer.
When they ripped the paper from their gifts and discovered what they had been given there was no question that they planned to accept the gifts. They received the gifts with excessive celebration and expressed sufficient gratitude to make us believe the fact that we will not be able to make our mortgage this month worth it all. (I am kidding about the mortgage…)
During Advent we marked our time of waiting for Christ to come and on Christmas we marked and celebrated the coming of our Savior. And now the time for waiting is over. Now is the time to rip into this gift. Now we receive Him.
So in fact redemption infers not three but four Rs:
God Rescues!
God Ransoms!
God Restores!
We Receive with heartfelt gratitude.
