This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter in the Bible called the book of Galatians. Wednesday, we saw Paul reveal that Jesus entered into humanity and faced life here on earth under the same conditions that all of humanity faced, under the same rules, expectations and temptations that we face, so that He could totally and completely identify with us. God sent His Son on specific mission to solve a specific problem. A problem that we caused; a problem that separated us from God; a problem that religious based performance could not solve, because religion only further alienates us from God; a problem that only Jesus, as God in a bod, could solve. Today, we see Paul reveal Jesus mission for us in Galatians 4:5:
so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Here we see Paul reveal for us two reasons why Jesus entered into humanity and faced the same rules, expectations and temptations that we face. First Jesus entered into humanity so that He might redeem those who were under the Law. Now this word redeem, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to liberate or rescue. Jesus entered into humanity in order to provide humanity that opportunity to be rescued from their selfishness and rebellion that separated us from God. Jesus entered into humanity so that He could live the life that we refused to live by following all of God’s commandments, all of the time, so that He could then allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.
You see, it is not what we do for God that results in us experiencing a right relationship with God; it is placing our confident trust in what Jesus Christ has done for us that results in us experiencing a right relationship with God.
Second, Paul explains that Jesus entered into humanity so that we might receive the adoption as sons. Now to fully understand what Paul is communicating here, we first need to understand what adoption looked like in the Apostle Paul’s day. You see, unlike today, most adoptions in Roman society did not occur when children were babies. In Roman culture, you would never adopt a baby. Now a natural question that arises here is “why would you not adopt a baby? Why would you wait to adopt until children were older?”
In Roman culture, the reason you would never adopt a baby is you would never know what you would be getting. The Romans recognized that when a baby was born, “you got what you got,” whether you liked it or not. This would include the sex of the child, birthmarks, etc. Thus, according to Roman law, a naturally born baby could be disowned from the family if they failed to meet up to expectations. However, people adopting an older child knew exactly what they were getting, and no one adopted a child unless that specific child was wanted as a family member. So as a Roman child growing up, you never had a sense of security, because your security and your identity was based solely on your ability to perform.
So what would often happen in Roman culture, where there were many who did not have large families, an affluent but childless adult who wanted an heir would adopt a post-pubescent male, often a slave, to be his son. The need for a male heir and the expense of raising children were strong incentives to have at least one son, but not too many children. However, if that son did not work out, what a Roman citizen would do is disown his son and adopt a slave who had demonstrated the responsibility and ability to continue the legacy that they had built. In addition, according to Roman law, an adopted child could not be disowned. He or she was permanently added to the family.
So when the Apostle Paul states that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to rescue humanity from selfishness and sin so that we would be adopted as His children in spite of our performance, this would have been a revolutionary statement. This would have been difficult to comprehend. That God would adopt us in spite of our performance instead of because of our performance? That God would make us a permanent member of His family? That I could never be disowned, not because of my performance for God, but because of God’s performance for me?
Maybe I have just described the thoughts that are running through your mind. Maybe you feel like there is no way that God would adopt you; maybe you are here and you feel like that you need to change some things in your life, that you would need to clean up your life, that you need to become more religious and do some things for God, before God would even consider adopting you.
If I have described you, here’s the thing; God sent His Son Jesus in order to provide an opportunity for rescue and for you to experience the relationship with God that you were created for in spite of your performance, not because of your performance. And to provide further evidence of this reality, Paul states the following in Galatians 4:6-7:
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Here we see Paul reveal to the members of the churches of Galatia the reason we can know that we have been rescued in spite of our performance and not because of our performance and have been adopted as children of God. And that reason is because God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba! Father! The term Abba, in the language that this letter was originally written in, was a term of endearment that was used in the culture of the day to describe one’s closeness to one’s father. In our culture today, this would be a word picture of a young child crawling into the lap of their father and saying “daddy”. The word father here, however, conveys the sense of recognition of God as the Creator and caretaker of the universe.
Paul’s point here is that the Holy Spirit is given to followers of Jesus as a gift to enable us to recognize our adoption as sons and to empower us to live as His Sons. It is the Holy Spirit’s presence that results in us experiencing God’s presence and empowers us to live our lives in light of His presence. Paul’s point is that we have access to experience God’s presence and power in our lives not because of our religious performance for God; we have access to experience God’s presence and power in our lives because of what God has done for us through the gospel.
And because of that reality, Paul explains that we are no longer a slave that is restricted by our religious performance that only results in us being further alienated from the family of God. Instead, we have been adopted into the family of God, in spite of our performance.
And as a result of our adoption through God gracious act of sending His Son we are an heir. An heir is one who receives the possession of another. In the Roman culture of Paul’s day, adopted children became co- heirs with the natural children of their parent’s estates. Paul’s point here is that, as a follower of Jesus, we are a co-heir with Jesus Christ of the Kingdom of Heaven. We share now, and in all eternity, with Christ, all the blessings that come from living in relationship with God as part of His kingdom.
And it is here that we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us another timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is this: We are to vote no on religion because religion results in alienation, while the gospel results in reconciliation. You see, whether it the religion of legalism or the religion of license, every religious system can only enslave us and restrict us in a way that results in our continued alienation from God. God responded to our alienation from Him as a result of our selfishness and rebellion by sending His Son on specific mission to solve a specific problem. A problem that we caused; a problem that separated us from God; a problem that religious based performance could not solve, because religion only further alienates us from God; a problem that only God, in a bod, could solve.
Only God’s message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel can rescue us from the selfishness and rebellion that alienates us from God and bring us into the relationship with God that we were created for as children of God.
So how are you casting your ballot? How have you been voting?
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