One In Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:15-4:7)

[Read Galatians 3:15-4:7]

There are moments in thinking about my childhood that make me cringe. In particular, I remember an incident involving a babysitter. She was watching my brother, my cousin, and I while our parents went out to a movie. We were having a good time. We had to be careful because my little cousin had fallen off a stack of hay bales and had a bunch of stitches in his forehead, but we were having fun nonetheless. However, at one point in the evening the babysitter was giving my cousin a piggy-back ride and one of us (I actually don’t remember anymore) tripped her, sending my cousin flying from her shoulders head first into the corner of a chair, breaking open the fresh stitches on his head. There was a lot of blood that flowed from his head as we waited for our parents to return and care for him. He was fine, but as I think back to that moment, I still feel really bad for that poor babysitter. 

Our text talks a little about babysitters—kinda. In connection with what I said last week, this passage calls the law a guardian or a trustee. Some translations will say that the law is a schoolmaster or a taskmaster. Either way, we are told that the law was only necessary when we were immature. Yet, the purpose of the law was not to hold us captive to itself, but its purpose was to point us to Christ—and the covenant of grace. The NIV translates this very clearly, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:24, NIV). This is another reason why we should not look to the law to be saved, because it was never intended for that purpose. The purpose of the law has always been to lead us to Christ and so that we can find salvation in Him through faith alone. If you want to attempt being saved by the law—by your own good works—you will be as successful as trying to paddle upstream with a noodle. It’s not going to work because that’s not it’s purpose. 

This is why Paul gives us the good news, saying, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law…” (Galatians 4:4–5, NIV). You see Christ was also born of a woman which means that he was born under the law covenant. Yet, Christ fulfilled the law covenant. He lived a perfect life and received the fullness of blessing that God pours out on those who fulfill the law covenant. He did this so that we could be redeemed from the law. He did this so that we could be removed from the slavery of the law and find salvation in him through faith alone. 

This is truly a beautiful thing. Under the law covenant, the agreement is that disobedience results in death, right? So every time we disobey, we earn death. Every time you find yourself sinning, you are earning yourself more and more death. It’s like swiping your credit card over and over and over again. Each sin putting you further and further in the hole. Not only that, but you were also born in debt. So you start off in the hole and go further and further and further in the hole every time you sin, until the weight of debt hangs crushingly on our shoulders. The beauty of last week’s message is that Christ bore the weight of our debt—our curse—on the cross and erased our debt. When we look to Christ in faith, we find that he has paid our debt and our balance is now at zero. 

Like they say in the infomercials, “But wait, there’s more!” You see, simply having a zero balance isn’t enough to get you into heaven. We actually need to have righteousness—money in the bank. That’s where this week’s message comes in. Christ lived a perfectly righteous life and when we turn to Him in faith, his perfect righteousness is credited to our account. So, through the cross our debt is wiped away and through Jesus’ perfect life or account is filled to the brim. We need both of these things in order to be found right in God’s presence. We need Christ’s life AND death. 

Here’s why this is extremely important for the Christian life. Tim Keller says, “Unless we remember this, we will be anxious and even despairing when we sin or fail. We will think our slate has been wiped clean, but not it is up to us to write good deeds on that slate so that God will love us and accept us…But our slate has been wiped clean and Jesus has written His righteousness onto it. Our inheritance is not a prize to be won. It is a gift from Christ” (99). This is extremely freeing when we allow this truth to seep down deep into our hearts. 

I remember a conversation I had with a teenager in our group. We were having this conversation and she was having a hard time understanding the concept. I looked at her and said, “You will never be good enough.” She looked at me with absolute horror on her face. How dare I say something like that! I continued, “You don’t have to be good enough. You don’t have to try to measure up. You don’t have to fight and struggle to earn God’s pleasure. Christ has done it all for you already. You will never be good enough, but Christ has been good enough for you. Don’t you see the freedom that gives you? You don’t have to go through life worrying about failing. You don’t have to go through life worried that you are going to do the wrong thing and find yourself under the wrath of God. You can live life to the full. Yes, you are going to mess up. Yes, you are going to make mistakes. That doesn’t mean they are OK, but understanding this truth mean that you don’t have to wallow in sorrow when you mess up. You don’t have to sit and beat yourself up, trying to atone for you own sins. You simply, repent, ask for forgiveness, trust in Christ’s righteousness, and keep running after Him. What amazing freedom!” 

All of this is deeply connected with another truth of this passage. Let me read the rest of the passage we just looked at: “But 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.” (Galatians 4:4–5, NIV). Paul also says this in chapter 3: “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…” (Galatians 3:24–26, NIV). Christ’s redemption has not only removed the crushing load of debt, not only filled out account to the full with Christ’s righteousness, but it also brought us into the family of God. We are now sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Now, some people get frustrated with translations using the language of “sons” rather than “children.” However, it’s an important distinction. You see, at the time when this was written, “sons” were the ones who received an inheritance from their father. So, we are not simply adopted into God’s family as children. We are all adopted into God’s family as sons—receiving the right of inheritance from our father. 

This is true of every, single one of us. That is why Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28–29, NIV). So, through faith in Christ, Jews AND Gentiles are considered sons of God, heirs according to the promise. Through faith in Christ, slaves and free-men are considered sons of God, heirs according to the promise. Through faith in Christ, men AND women are considered sons of God, heirs according to the promise. We could go on saying: There are no rich nor poor, bankers nor farmers, Americans nor Africans, etc… ONLY brothers and sisters. If you belong to Christ, you are a child of God—a child of Abraham—and are heirs according to the promise. 

Again, Paul then takes a moment to show us how foolish it is to turn away from this beautiful Promise Covenant to the Law Covenant. Through the Promise Covenant you have been adopted into God’s family and heirs according to the promise. Through the Law Covenant you were a slave. If you look to be saved by the Law, you are rejecting God as your Father and placing yourself once again under slavery. Why would you do that? Do you see how blasphemous that is? To reject God as your Father, the one who has wiped your slate clean and filled it with the righteousness of Christ, the one who has adopted you into His family and given you an inheritance? To then look at Him and say, “I don’t want any of this! I’m going to turn my back on you and place myself back under slavery. I’d rather be a slave than a child in your family!” Blasphemous! 

It is actually a hard thing for us to grasp—that we are actually children of God. Calvin says, “The greater and loftier the privilege is of being the children of God, the farther is it removed from our senses, and the more difficult to obtain belief” (110). It is such an amazing promise, something that is so far outside of our understanding and senses, that it is hard for us to truly grasp that we are children of God. Yet, if we can begin to grasp this truth, there is an amazing strength and confidence that follows it. Martin Luther says, “If we could believe this confidently, we would never be overcome by any affliction, however great” (207). Let me read that again, so that you can understand the power of grasping that, through faith in Christ, God is our Father and we are his children. “If we could believe this confidently, we would never be overcome by any affliction, however great” (207). 

Yet, God knows our weakness. He knows that we have a hard time grasping hold of this truth—that we are His children. So, He sends us some help. “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”” (Galatians 4:6, NIV). Because we are sons, God sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts to help shape our hearts and to shape our cries. He sends the Spirit to help us cry out “Abba, Father,” in the midst of difficulty and pain. He sends the Spirit to bring us assurance of our adoption as sons. He sends the Spirit so that when the world seems to be turned upside down, and nothing makes sense anymore, that we can be reminded and assured that we have a Father in heaven who is watching over us—a Father who is almighty, who is good, and who loves us very much. 

I’ll wrap up by quoting Tim Keller: “We must ‘cry out’ to our Father spontaneously, throughout the day. We must, in other words, analyze and address the issues of everyday life by remembering His fatherly love. We need to learn to ask, moment by moment: ‘Am I acting like a slave who is afraid of God, or like a child who is assured of my Father’s love?” (101-102).