CHRISTMAS IS FOR CHILDREN
Galatians 4:4-7 - December 28, 2003
GALATIANS 4:4-7
4But when the time had fully come, 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. 5Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Oh, to see our world through the eyes of a child! We know how children can become so excited when there is something to celebrate. They look forward anxiously when the first Christmas decorations are placed out. They get excited when they see the tree go up and realize that soon it will be that time of year again which seems to bring some of the greatest joy in a child’s heart--that time of Christmas! You may have heard the saying that Christmas is for children. So does that mean the rest of us are left out after we go beyond that age of childhood? Does it mean we are left out once we get old enough to be responsible for ourselves and responsible for others? Well, not really. Believers are blessed because the Lord calls them His children. No matter our age, no matter the responsibilities that we have, believers are ever God’s children.
So it is that each year when Christmas decorations are put out, we too ought to become excited. We too look forward to that gift of the Christ Child once again, because we are God’s children. Jesus told His disciples and reminds us this morning: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter into the Kingdom of God" (MATTHEW 18:3)." So the Lord reminds us that indeed Christmas is for children, and we come before Him today once again with a faith that is to be childlike. It is to be a faith, which puts our trust and confidence in Him and Him alone. We want to look at what Paul writes for our growth and our faith this morning with the theme that
CHRISTMAS IS FOR CHILDREN:
I. God’s Son is born as a Child
II. Believers become God’s sons
I. God’s Son is born as a Child
In Sunday morning Bible study we have been looking at the Apostle Paul and his missionary journeys in the Book of Acts. In the region of Galatia he had established a number of churches. Paul’s message was always the same; namely, mankind is saved by grace. Paul went to the Gentiles proclaiming that message of God’s grace. He went to the Gentiles telling them that Messiah who had been promised had been born. The Messiah had been put to death, and raised back to life. Thus, salvation was provided and guaranteed for mankind, a simple message. Because of that message, many Gentiles believed. Of course, there were those who were in the church who realized that all their life they had kept God’s Commandments; they had been circumcised; and they did all the things that God wanted. So, sometimes when they heard that people believed because they were saved by grace like the Gentiles, they didn’t think that was enough. Some of them went out to these congregations in Galatia and told them that they had to do more. They told them they had to be circumcised, that they had to learn all the commandments, and the list went on. They were called Judaizers.
Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians because the Judaizers had gone out and tried to add works to that faith, saved by grace. They tried to destroy this saved by grace faith. So the emphasis in Galatians like many of Paul’s letters is that mankind is saved by grace. He mentions this fact in our text too. Paul writes, "When the time had fully come, God had sent His Son." Mankind did not go looking for the gift of salvation. Mankind did not go looking for the Son of God, but God sent His Son. He sent His Son born of the woman, born under law. Jesus left His throne in heaven and was born on earth that He might keep all of the laws for all of mankind, because mankind could not keep one single law. We know that because we can turn back to Adam and Eve who had one thing not to do in the Garden of Eden. They were put into a perfect world, and the Lord said, "Do not eat from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Just one thing NOT to do—do not eat from that tree! But they did it!
4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son born of a woman, born under law. That promise made thousands of years ago made to Adam and Eve, the time had now fully come. It wasn’t just that Jesus was born here as a child, but there was a purpose in His coming, wasn’t there? He says, 4He had sent His Son, born of a woman born under law to redeem those under law to redeem those under law. The law condemns. The law condemned Adam and Eve when they sinned. No longer could they stay in the Garden of Eden. They had to leave because of their sin. So the time had fully come that God sent His Son to be a child here on earth to redeem sinners under the law.
This is the joy and excitement that we are reminded of on these Sundays after Christmas when for some of us many of the decorations have been put away already. For all of us, at least, the wrapping paper has been put away or cleaned up. Some of the presents may still be under the tree, but we do not put away the Savior. He still brings us joy and excitement on this Sunday after Christmas, on every Sunday after Christmas until the next Christmas; because He came as God’s gift to us. God sent Him at just the right time. Paul wrote to Timothy: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time" (1 TIMOTHY 2:5,6). Just at the right time Christ was born. It was just at the right time that Christ died for the sins of the world. This Man and this Son of God became a Child. Christmas is for children. It is a remembrance of God’s Son.
In our second lesson this morning in the book of Hebrews(2:10-18), we heard what Christ did for mankind, that He came and lived here, that He suffered in our place. Just before those verses, it says: "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now was crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone"(HEBREWS 2:9). This means that we do not have to taste death. Oh yes, we are going to have to face death but not taste it. The Lord has taken the sting of death away from us, because God sent His Son as a Child. Christmas is for the Son of God. Christmas reminds us of God’s gift to us.
Not only has Christ tasted death for us, He also overcame the devil as our second lesson says. Jesus did all of this so that we might enjoy life here on earth in a world that is full of gloom and doom. It is important for us to find the joy in this earthly life. The joy in life is simply because Christmas is for children. We are God’s children, and God sent His Son to be the Child who would take away the sins of the world, who takes away our sins. Because of that, we rejoice. Listen to Colossians: "Christ forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross" (COLOSSIANS 2:14). We picture Christmas for children and God’s Son being born as a Child. We now also picture the rest of Jesus’ life where God’s Son was nailed to the cross. As the nails went through His hands and His feet, we can picture for ourselves the nails going through those stone tablets of the Ten Commandments and they are shattered. They have stood opposed to us, but God has taken them away. Our sins are forgiven.
Christmas is for children. It is for God’s Son to be remembered, and it is so that you and I as believers are reminded that we become God’s children.
II. Believers become God’s sons
Remember why Paul wrote this letter to the congregations of Galatia. It was because some were trying to add works to being saved by faith. They were trying to make of no effect the work of redemption that Christ had accomplished. So Paul reminded them that God sent His Son. God’s Son did the work of redemption. Then if that were not enough that you have forgiveness of sins and eternal life, he goes on: "God sent His Son to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." If you are acquainted with the Old Testament, you know how important that was--the importance of having children. To be a child in the family meant much. The sons were given the inheritance. It was the same in the New Testament times. One of Jesus’ miracles was that He raised a son of a widow. Jesus did this miracle because the son was responsible for taking care of his mother.
Now, Paul writes to these Gentiles who were once considered untouchable by the church. He says even though they once had been out of God’s Kingdom, now they have become God’s children. He explains what that means for them. Paul says, 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba," Father." He says now that Spirit of God’s Son is in your hearts by grace. They too can call out to the Heavenly Father and say, "Abba Father" = Father, Father. When they are need, they can say, "Father, help me." When they are happy, they can say, "Father, I rejoice."
Then, of course, he explains what this means: Now they are made sons and can cry out to their Heavenly Father, and then Paul says, 7You are no longer a slave, but a son. They were no longer a slave to sin, no longer a slave to the devil and no longer a slave to death, because God’s Son who had overcome all of those. Paul adds, and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. They would inherit more than earthly possessions. They would inherit eternal life.
Today we are again reminded Christmas is for children. And God calls us His children, children who are God’s sons and daughters. We too at one time stood outside the grace of God, but by the gift of His Son, the Lord has brought us into His Kingdom, into His Kingdom of grace, into His Kingdom of glory which is yet to come. Paul wrote to the Romans: Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (ROMANS 8:17). We know how much we love our children. As we grow older, we realize how much our parents loved us. It goes on generation after generation. That is only a small taste of how much God loves us as His children. The love we have for our family or one another pales in comparison to the love that God has for us. He says we are His children, and we are heirs of eternity. We are God’s children in spite of the fact that we turn against God with our thoughts, our words, and our actions every single day. Then, sometimes, we don’t even think about that much at all but go on our merry way sinning. But God says, "But I love you. You are still my children. You are going to live with me in eternity."
Because of that, we who by grace have been given faith, are also given a great responsibility to live like His children and not like the children of this world. Paul writes in Thessalonians where he describes that the last day is coming and describes believers: You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the darkness (1 THESSALONIANS 5:5). We don’t have to look too far around us to see children of the darkness or the darkness of this world, because of all the evil that is in this sinful world. You and I as God’s children are to live just like sons of the light. We know how disappointed we are when our children may do something that we do not approve of, or how disappointed our parents were when we did something that we ought not to have done. The Lord says we are not to disappoint Him, but to be children of light.
The days are very dark. The world needs light. You are the children of light. Then our God tells us how to do that. We do that because our attitude in this world is different. Our attitude is one of joy and rejoicing, not just when Christmas is coming. But our attitude is to be joy and rejoicing because Christmas has come and gone AND Christmas is always with us in our hearts. Christ is always alive in our hearts and seen in our lives because of faith. Philippians says: Do everything with complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe (PHILIPPIANS 2:14,15). He comes back to that statement of "children of God shining like stars in the universe."
Christmas is for children. It is for God’s Son as a Child who takes away our sins. It is for us and every believer to live like children of God, lights in a sin-darkened world, stars in a world that is eclipsed by evil. Christmas is for children, not just Christmas Day but also every day. Today, we are reminded once again of that precious gift. God sent His Son to be our Savior, so that we might be saved for time and for eternity as God’s children.
John writes in his epistle towards the end of Scripture: "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!"(1 JOHN 3:1). It is astounding to realize that God calls Jesus His Son. We understand that. It is most astounding that God would call us His sons and daughters. It reminds us that, indeed, Christmas is for children just as Jesus is God’s Son; and we too are God’s children. That is how great how God’s love is for us. Amen.
Timm O. Meyer
