The Time is Set for 2018
Galatians 4:4-7 New International Version
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Galatians 4:4-7 Contemporary English Version
4 But when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him. His Son obeyed the Law,
5 so he could set us free from the Law, and we could become God’s children.
6 Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. And his Spirit tells us that God is our Father.
7 You are no longer slaves. You are God’s children, and you will be given what he has promised.
Message:
Our God is a God of order His perfect order is displayed all around us in creation. Nothing takes God by surprise, nothing catches God off guard. The Bibles tells us that God “makes known the end from the beginning”
Isaiah 46:10 New International Version (NIV)
10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
We marvel at that since we cannot know what is going to happen in the next minute let alone the next year. But our Heavenly Father knows it all. He knows what is still to come.
King Solomon observed;
Ecclesiastes 3:11 New International Version
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
You may have noticed in the scriptures I referenced that King Solomon and the Prophet Isaiah both picked up on the word “time”.
Isaiah mentions “ancient times” and King Solomon mentions “everything in its time” and St. Paul in our opening scripture reading tells us...
Galatians 4:4 “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son,”
Well tonight billions of people around the world will watch and mark the set time of a New Year.
Why do they do this?
Nature dictates that they must. Our planet earth has gone around the sun for 365 days and the cycle is complete.
You might say we have finished our course for 2017 and now we are about to set a new course of travel amongst the stars for 2018.
We can most likely anticipate many of the same things we experienced in 2017 to reoccur in 2018.
We will still have all the unpleasant human problems that plague the human race. We will have injustice and poverty and hatred and war. These are ours not because of God but rather because we have earned them as our own wages because of sin.
Jesus Christ is not yet the Prince of this world. Instead it is Satan who rules over the hearts and souls of the majority of the people in the world. This should not leave us in despair as we look to 2018. For we are not of this world.
John 15:18-19
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
As the “children of God” the fullness of our time has been set. We have come to Christ as our Saviour and He has made us His brothers and sisters by adoption.
We share with Jesus the Spirit of God and not the spirit of this fallen world.
The Spirit of God that is alive in our hearts marks the time that we spend here on earth. We mark the days and hours of our adoption by living each moment aware that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us.
John 4:23 New International Version
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks
It is that love and that Holy Spirit, that can make time for Christians an eternal thing instead of just a passing thing like New Year’s Eve. We are not slaves to the times of this world. We are set apart from it but are encouraged by Jesus example to make the most of the time we have here.
By making the most of our time we are to do the things Jesus did. We are to touch the world around us with the love of the Father. Even those parts of the world that remain cold and dark towards the love of God that is in Jesus Christ.
Just like Jesus we have a mission that is to be accomplished in the time that remains for each one of us. God’s Holy Spirit gives us the best advice for 2018 in this passage from Galatians.
Galatians 6:7-10
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Let the Holy Spirit be our guide here in the church and outside of it in 2018.
For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
AMEN
