This week we continue our series called Chronos. A term which means time. We have decided to study the scriptures this year in the order they were published. It gives us a very unique insight into the early church and the struggles of a growing movement. This review of history is important because The Center’s leadership believes we are on the cuspid of a great awakening in America. An awakening that will challenge the status quo of the current Christian industrial complex. An institution more concerned with Attendance, Buildings and Cash than the Gospel, Grace and Growth of the kingdom.
This week we begin the book of Galatians. It’s another book written by Paul around 25 years after Jesus' earthly ministry. It’s written to a group of Jews and Gentiles in the central part of present day Turkey. Paul is writing to this church plant because false teachers had come to question not only what he had taught but his place among the leaders of the new movement. Pastor Peter offered a wonderful explanation of the scriptures and the origin of the Old Testament Law and connection to the New Testament understanding of the ramifications for now recognizing the Messiah has come. As a result, I’d like to pick up our study of Galatians at the end of chapter three and into chapter four. Now for some who might get alarmed because I am bridging between two chapters, please remember the breaks, paragraph titles and numbering within scriptures were not in original letters. They were added by scholars for easy reference.
Beginning in verse 23
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Maybe we all should repeat this line. “Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian” The Old Testament scriptures detailing behavior and rules no longer apply as the litmus test for salvation. The Messiah’s arrival alters the requirement that we need to adhere to a set of rules around our behavior to be accepted by God into heaven. Faith in Jesus becomes the game changer.
Please note I didn't say belief. BELIEF IN Jesus is NOT ENOUGH. Even the Devil and his minions believe in Jesus.
Faith and belief are used interchangeably in our society. However, the New Testament DOES recognize that people can have false faith or incomplete belief, which is inadequate.
The difference is not between the two words but between the intent the words represent. BELIEF IS A mental agreement and FAITH IS A wholehearted commitment. In modern usage, belief often refers to mental agreement, and faith refers to wholehearted commitment.
As long as that distinction is maintained, it doesn’t matter which words are used.
Paul continues his rant against this heretical teaching…
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. This profession of the Christian faith recognizes the change that has taken place in Jesus. It reiterates our equality, worth and future under His reign. It also validates God's loving promise to return and make all things new and right.
Let’s listen to Paul try to simplify and apply the truth to his gentile audience beginning in chapter 4 verse 1.
4:1 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 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.
The past tense in verse 3 screams the truth we all need to embrace. We WERE stuck in our primal nature before His arrival. But now, we have a choice. You, who believe, have the power to overcome everything in your life that is holding you back, from being who He created you to be. The old nature has no hold unless you give it the power afforded you by Christ.
Now, someone is thinking, I would never surrender the power He gave me. But that’s a lie. MANY BELIEVERS TURN THE POWER of God OVER:
to another human (a child, a spouse, a friend).
To an addiction.
notoriety, fame or self sufficiency.
Others reject the power failing to believe it's available to them. It reminds me of a true story.
Luis Carlos de Noronha Cabral da Camara made an unusual distribution of his money after his death: 70 people listed in a Lisbon Portugal phone directory were contacted out of the blue after his death to be told he had made them his beneficiaries. They had been chosen at random from the directory, in front of two witnesses at a registry office 13 years before. It certainly came as a shock to them. In the first place, people do not, as a rule, make wills in Portugal. Second, Portuguese aristocrats are getting thin on the ground, let alone eccentric ones. Finally, chosen from phone directory? https://www.oddee.com/item_96948.aspx
It’s a crazy story. However, all of your names are in God’s phone book or contact list. Some of you know you are there because you texted God a while ago asking him to add you. Others aren’t sure they are on His friends list. The truth of your inheritance from our God comes in the moment you admit, commit and submit.
Admit your sins before Him and be forgiven.
Commit your will and life to him.
Submit to His leadership in all things. All in line to get an inheritance.
In doing this, Do you know what happens? The hint comes from Paul’s reference to “adoption to sonship.” It’s a metaphor for your role or place in God’s family and as such, He has given you more than money and gems. He has given you HIS family name and all the rights and power that come with being an heir to the greatest king of all time. It’s a power beyond what you could have ever believed you would receive.
The larger question is what have you done with it?
Our inheritance is one of power. The greatest sin is to deny it by failing to try and invest it for the expansion of the Kingdom.
Your inheritance doesn’t come from a Portuguese stranger. It comes from the one true God. Who has everything but gave it up for a short time, out of love for you, so that you could inherit the greatest of all gifts - His Love and the power to share that love beyond what you could ever imagine - to heal, to redeem and guide others.
So what are you going to do with your inheritance now?
I am the child of depression era parents who saw it as their duty to leave behind money to their kids. After they passed, I remember wondering what I should do with the money. Should we go on the big trip, put it towards a college fund or fix up the home. I honestly don’t think I ever asked what would honor my parents' sacrifice that went into those resources.
Let me be straight with you. One of the greatest sins any of us can make is deny our inheritance by failing to try and use it for the expanse of Kingdom
So today. I am acting as executor of the Lord’s will. I am confirming your identity. Letting you know the incredible inheritance you have at your disposal. Your Father has left you His Spirit. He has placed it in your heart. The only question is what will you do with it this week?
Reference: Warren Wiersbe Commentary p 693-697
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