1. A little girl called out, "Mommy, you know that vase in the china cabinet, the one that’s been handed down from generation to generation?" Yes, dear, I know which one you mean, what about it? "Well, Mommy, I’m sorry, but this generation just dropped it!"
2. The term “Generation Gap” was made popular back in the 1960’s – Hippies; Height-Ashbury in San Francisco; Bell Bottoms; Burning Draft Cards; Free Love; Free Speech
3. The Gap Continues:
• In the 1950’s – we had Leave it to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet with wholesome, instructional programming – today we have a new Ozzie – Osborne with dysfunctional nonsense
• In the 1960’s we had Mayberry – if it was made today, it would have to be “Gay”-berry;
• Generations have Gaps; Sexual-Orientation has produced gaps; Genders (Women at RNC); Family status; et al
4. Yeshua (Jesus) came to close gaps:
Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear. Isaiah 59.1-2
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8.31-39
5. Galatians 3.21-27
I. Bridging the God-Man Gap
A. Learning from the Law (Psalm 1)
1. God Shows His Standards by His Law
11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
15 You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah Psalm 77.11-15
2. God Sets His Standards by His Law
a. Right and Wrong; Blessing and Cursing
b. Includes a means of atonement – Yom Kippur; sacrificial system
c. Became a perversion of legalism – Sabbath; Kosher; Circumcision
B. Foundations of Faith in Pointing to Yeshua (Jesus) (3.23-25)
1. Yeshua (Jesus) is the Model of the Torah – Romans 10.4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (ESV)
For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts. (CJB)
[Goal Line – End Zone in Football
[Charlie Brown was upset over the fact that his baseball team could not win a game; Linus attempted to comfort him by saying, “Charlie Brown, winning is not everything.” To which he replied, “Yeah, but losing isn’t anything.”
2. Yeshua (Jesus) is the Fulfillment of the Torah (including ultimate sacrifice) –
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Matthew 5.17-18
3. Yeshua (Jesus) is Our Hope, NOT our works or best efforts – Ephesians 4.4-7
4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
II. Bridging the People Gap
A. Yeshua (Jesus) Creates Children of God – by Faith
1. We are “born” into the family of God – John 3.3, 5; Galatians 3.26-27
a. Immersion in water (each account of conversion in Acts)
b. Immersion into Yeshua
1) Absorb his qualities – “Transformation”
2) Embrace his Lordship – 2 Corinthians 3.18
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2. We are “adopted” into the family of God – 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4.4-5
[A Caucasian couple adopted a baby from Korea. When the boy was about 5, the family was eating in a restaurant when the child began a conversation with another child at a nearby table. The new friend asked, “Why don’t you look like your mother?” The boy replied, “Because she’s a girl.”
B. As Children of God We Have:
1. Standing with God (Prodigal son)
2. An Inheritance
3. A Family Resemblance
A few years ago, Fred Craddock told of vacationing in Gatlinburg, TN. At a restaurant a very friendly man stopped by to speak to Fred and his wife. When Fred told him that he was a preacher and trained preachers, the man told him a “preacher story.”
The man was an illegitimate child and was ashamed. His classmates called him names; adults stared at him to try and figure out who his father was, so he just kept to himself. He would go to church late and leave early so that he would not be caught in the crowd and hear the insults or see the stares. One day the boy was unable to get out of church early and the preacher “caught” him. The preacher spoke to the boy, asked his name and then asked, “Who is your father?” Of course the boy was crushed in his spirit. The preacher looked at him and finally said, “O I know who your father is, I see the resemblance now. YOU are a child of God. YOU have a great inheritance! Go out and claim it!” Then he swatted the boy on the backside and sent him out. As the man recounted his story to the Craddocks, he said that those words were the most important words he had heard in his life. He told them his name at the end of the story, “Ben Hooper.”
Craddock remembered that Ben Hooper had been elected as Governor of TN years before.
4. A New Family (3.28-29)
[An English Professor wrote: “Woman without her man is a savage” on the board. He then directed students to punctuate it more accurately. Most men wrote: “Woman, without her man, is a savage.” The women wrote, “Woman! Without her, man is a savage.”
a. NOT – Jew-Gentile; Slave-Free; Male-Female
The Three Pairs Reflect the Jewish Morning Prayer in which the man prays, “Praised be you, Adonai our God, King of the Universe, because you have not made me a Gentile. Praised be you, Adonai our God, King of the Universe, because you have not made me a slave. Praised be you, Adonai our God, King of the Universe, because you have not made me a woman.” [J. H. Hertz, The Authorized Daily Prayer Book, pp. 18-21]– This is key because it is not in arrogance but in humility that he makes these requests – so that he can serve God more effectively.
b. Removing Discrimination, not Distinction
General Robert E. Lee was a devout follower of Jesus Christ. Although he was raised in the south where prejudice was a daily way of life, Lee seldom practiced it or revealed it in his life. Although his family owned slaves at one juncture, the slaves were always treated with respect and dignity. It is said that soon after the end of the Civil War, he visited a church in Washington, D.C., a city that had often heaped scorn on Lee throughout the war for his loyalty to the slave-owning states of the Confederacy. During the communion service Lee slowly made his way to the front of the church where he knelt beside a black man. After the service had ended, an onlooker approached Lee and said to him, “How could you do that?” Lee replied, “My friend, all ground is level beneath the cross.”
[People Groups in our world; Gender issues, et al – before God, we are all on level ground before God
5. A Common Ancestor – Abraham – by Faith
• Same Faith as Abraham (3.7, 9)
• Joined via his seed, Yeshua – 3.16; Romans 4.16; Romans 11.17-24
Conclusion
1. We have been brought near to God and one another by the sacrifice of Yeshua (Jesus) -- But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2.13
2. The actions of God toward us have been through his grace – Lamentations 3.22-24; Galatians 2.20
3. The Hebrews received the Law/Torah of God AFTER salvation from Egypt
a. Not saved by “works” of the Law but Grace
b. Saved to keep the instructions of God in order that they would demonstrate God to the world
1) Why keep Kosher?
2) Why the tzitzit?
3) Why Sabbath? Feasts?
c. We are to let our lights shine so people will glorify our Father in heaven
4. 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3.13-15
