Sons and Daughters
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | December 31, 2023
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Read Galatians 4:4-7 (NIV)
Here we are, poised at the start of yet another New Year. Many of us have packed up the Christmas decorations [presuming we put up any in the first place]. We have put away the gifts we received and we have filed away all the beautiful cards filled with Seasons Greetings.
For all intents and purposes, I guess you could say that Christmas has come and gone and now it is time for us to move on… But, is it really possible for Christmas to go? And even if it was possible, exactly where do we think it would go?
Could there conceivably be a way for us to just move on from Christmas?
Well, in a word… NO.
Christmas is not just another run-of-the-mill holiday that comes and then goes into hibernation until the same time next year.
There is a purpose and a promise that comes with Christmas that can no more be packed away for 365 days than our next breath can be put into storage until we need it again at some point in the future.
No, Christmas is not a holiday or even a season that simply comes and goes.
Christmas is what opens the door and makes it possible for us to receive the greatest gift ever given… Jesus. And because of this truly amazing gift… we are able to claim our rightful place as God’s SONS AND DAUGHTERS.
And it is with that thought in mind that I want to invite us to look at our New Testament lesson this morning from one of the Apostle Paul’s letters.
Now, according to scholars, this letter which we refer to as the book of Galatians was not actually written to a specific church. It was; however, more likely written to be circulated to several churches within Galatia that were established on Paul’s first missionary journey.
Paul’s intent in writing the letter was to refute the incorrect teachings of those who were trying to assert that Gentile believers needed to submit to the strict Jewish laws in order to be saved. This letter included a call to faith and true freedom that can only be found in Christ…
Now just to give us a little bit of background, during this time in history, there was a controversy within the early church about how new converts to Christianity were to behave as it related to the existing Jewish laws.
Paul wanted to put an end to the notion that there was a requirement to follow any type of law or code in order for someone to be saved. On the contrary, Paul explained… it was only by the gift of God’s grace that was offered by Christ on the cross at Calvary… that was and is the only way to salvation… pure and simple.
As Paul told the Ephesians (2:8), “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
Salvation is not the result of them, or us, doing something that would allow us to earn God’s approval. Because, truth be told, we would never be able to do enough.
And so as we turn our attention to the first verses of our text for this morning, we read, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
The stage was already set.
At just the right time, God sent His Son to earth… to be born as a human child… and raised in the Jewish tradition… subject to the laws and commands that governed the people.
In essence, Jesus became one of them… and became one of us… all with a singular purpose… to save us and set us free from the law… so we could become the SONS AND DAUGHTERS of God.
Paul goes onto explain that becoming God’s children, God’s SONS AND DAUGHTERS, affords us certain benefits… not the least of which is having Christ’s Spirit in our hearts. And it is His Spirit that enables us to understand and accept that we are indeed the children of God… not slaves under the law… not second-class citizens with limited rights and privileges… but full-fledged SONS AND DAUGHTERS… heirs who can claim what has been promised by God.
In his letter to the Romans (8:15 – 17), Paul said it like this:
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 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.Now, in these verses in Galatians as well as in Romans, Paul uses language that would have been familiar to the readers in those days. He does so to help them understand concepts that may have been difficult to grasp.
He used terms like adoption and sonship and heirs in contrast to someone being a slave.
But if we are being totally honest… the use of that word slave can cause some angst for people… particularly when it comes to understanding Christianity… this is especially true in light of our country’s history with the institution of slavery. In fact, it became a hot topic for debate on the campaign trail just this past week.
However, Paul’s use of that word in this context suggests a continuum that moves from that of being a slave or servant to that of being an heir… one who has all the rights and privileges of someone born into the family.
In today’s world, we might think of a corporate setting and compare the role of someone who works in the mailroom to that of a member of the executive team or board of directors… they are all part of the same organization but with very different opportunities and benefits.
Now, in some respects, this brings to mind the story of Abram back in Genesis 15 when he thought he would have to leave his estate to his servant Eliezer, because he had no children… but God told Abram:
“This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” [Then God] took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.However, for those who are familiar with this story may recall… there came a point in time when Abram and his wife, Sarai, tried to hedge their bets. They did believe God to a certain extent… but for some reason they seemed to think they needed to help God be able to fulfill His promise… and so they brought Sarai’s maid, Hagar, into the picture.
As the story goes, Sarai gave her maid Hagar to Abram to give him a child which Sarai would then be able to adopt as her own… it sounds bizarre to us but it was one of the cultural norms of that era. In modern times, we would refer to it as using a surrogate. The difference being that modern-day surrogates are women who have voluntarily agreed to carry a child on behalf of another woman… unlike Hagar who was pressed into service by reason of her station in life.
Now, the lesson for Abram and Sarai, who are better known to us as Abraham and Sarah, is a lesson we would do well to heed also… God does not need surrogates in order to bring His promises to fruition. God is quite capable all on His own. It’s like a poster I saw years ago that said, “Good morning, this is God. I will be handling all of your problems today and I will not be needing your help.”
What God has said He will do… He will do. We just have to trust Him… and in due time, Sarah did give birth to Isaac and Abraham did indeed become the father of many nations… with offspring too numerous for him to count.
And that brings us back to our text and back to Paul’s point about adoption as SONS AND DAUGHTERS and moving beyond the position of being a slave to becoming the true heirs of God.
Paul’s use of slavery as a metaphor serves as a reminder to us that before we became God’s SONS AND DAUGHTERS, we were indeed slaves to sin… slaves to our fleshly desires. And as slaves to sin, there was but one outcome that awaited us… looking at Romans 6 we read:
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22 – 23).Or as those verses read in the Message Paraphrase:
But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.Paul contrasted the idea of being a slave to God rather than a slave to sin as a way of explaining what it means to be released from the law and legalism that characterized the Jewish tradition in order to find freedom in following Christ.
And that freedom… to know that we are no longer bound by worldly temptations and our earthly nature is a gift that is greater than anything that anyone else could ever give us… at Christmas or at any other time for that matter… it is a gift of freedom that only Christ can give us.
In the Gospel of John, we read:
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”Because of Christ’s sacrifice for us at Calvary, we have received the gift of new life in Christ… we have become God’s SONS AND DAUGHTERS.
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
As we read in 1 Peter 1:3 – 5,
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.Typically, when someone receives an inheritance after someone else has died, regardless of how large the estate may have been… that inheritance will eventually run out… after all, nothing on earth lasts forever.
But isn’t it good to know that while the calendar may indicate that the Christmas season is over and that tomorrow is the start of a new year… we have the blessed assurance that the inheritance we have received as God’s SONS AND DAUGHTERS is not bound by days, weeks, months, or years. It is ours to keep for eternity.
And that is good news for us in all seasons!
Amen
Hymn of Discipleship: Blessed Assurance #543 Back
