Introduction
When I went back to the United States in March I was privileged to see all 4 of my brothers and sisters
As brothers and sisters we have a common history and heritage, that shared experience creates an uncommon bond between us, we are family. We share something special. Only at my family gatherings can the phrase "kick your own shoe" elicit howls of laughter. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to you, It’s a Caley family thing. We understand because we have a history together
Proposition: As members of God’s family we also share a very special bond.
Interrogative: So what exactly is it that binds us together? What do we have in common as sons and daughters of God?
Transition: There are three important things that Paul notes about our common heritage in our text today. The first is the most obvious thing that brothers and sisters always share. We have the same...
I. Parent
1. We are sons and daughters of God
3:26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
It has been popular for sometime to talk about the universal brotherhood of man and the universal fatherhood of God, The problem is that this concept isn’t biblical. According to this verse (and others) we become the children of God through our faith in Christ.
Our faith in Jesus makes us recipients of God’s grace and causes us to be adopted by our heavenly Father.
If you have put your trust in Christ for salvation you are my brother or sister, If you haven’t, then you can be.
A natural result of being adopted by our loving father is that...
2. We love our "Daddy"
4:6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."
ILLUSTRATION: A minister was speaking to the Sunday school about the things money can’t buy. "It can’t buy laughter and it can’t buy love" he told them. Driving his point home he said, "What would you do if I offered you $1,000 not to love your mother and father?" Stunned silence ensued. Finally a small voice queried, "How much would you give me not to love my big sister?"
The point the preacher meant to make was that loving our parents is a natural thing. So natural in fact that with earthly parents who don’t deserve that love children are incapable of not loving them.
Paul says that the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit of adoption cries out Abba, Father. Abba is the Hebrew for "my father" roughly equivalent to "Daddy." It’s natural to feel an affectionate bond toward our Father.
We should expect to feel that way and we should express it both in worship and in service, living our lives to reflect the image of our Father.
So the first thing we share as Brothers and sisters is a Parent the second is...
II. Parity
3:28 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.
Notice I didn’t say equality, I said Parity--I know what your thinking, "because it starts with a ’P.’" Well, not so this time, Parity is the right word. Equality would imply sameness, and I don’t think that’s what the Scripture is saying, what it’s saying is that we have the same status as children of God. We’re not all the same, we have different needs, challenges and abilities, but none of us is more a son or daughter than another.
1. Regardless of Ethnicity (Jew nor Greek)
Clearly there are applications for us here. Regardless of skin color or language we are God’s children if we have trusted in Christ. There is no superior race or nationality in the kingdom of God.
Further, this is speaking to those in the community of faith who were born and raised within the camp, about their relationship to those who join us from outside the camp, by trusting in Christ for salvation. 10th generation Christians don’t have a superior place in the kingdom, than brand new converts from the bars and the racetracks, nor should we in the church reserve the places of special honor for those from the "holy families" (yes of course new believers need to mature into their faith to be useful in places of leadership--but I’ve seen many a new believer take the fast track to spiritual maturity while the longtime pew-sitter is still stewing in pride and trying to get everyone to be impressed with how spiritual they are).
2. Regardless of social status (slave nor free)
This speaks to us pretty clearly also, we could say there is no private or general in Christ, and that would be right, we could say there is no blue collar or white collar, and that would also be true. But we need to have a broad understanding here... no immigrant or native citizen, no rich or poor, no doctor or ditch-digger.
3. Regardless of gender (male nor female)
This was a culture shaking statement right here. In the society of Paul’s day to say that women had equal standing before God was a bold statement. I believe that as a result of statements like this one and others from the pen’s of the apostles and from the lips of Christ, the status of women in society has come to the level of parity that the Lord intended, note again that I didn’t say equality. Men and women aren’t the same and we are suited for different roles
But I believe that especially in the church and also in the world that God does not intend for one gender to be under the heel of another.
We are brothers and sisters, sons are different than daughters, but they are not better, nor vice versa.
So in each of these ways we as Brothers and sisters in Christ have a parity. Finally as God’s children we share a common...
III. Promise
1. The promise to Abraham
3:29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Here we are back to the promise to Abraham again, but it is pivotal in What The Holy Spirit is saying to us through the Apostle. And here it furthers the no "Jew nor Greek" element of the previous point.
The promise was based upon Abraham’s faith, not upon circumcision or obedience. Therefore this promise, this inheritance belongs not to the children of circumcision, not merely the genetic children of Abraham, but to those who resemble Abraham on the inside, the people of faith.
And what is the promise, well it’s the whole ball of wax, the consummation of God’s plan for mankind redemption from the curse, God’s ultimate blessing, the promise of restoration to God’s ultimate plan, that the curse of sin had upended. The promise is simply salvation from sin and it’s penalty, the eternal reward of life with Him forever in heaven.
Paul goes to some length here to show that this was a promise that had been pending from the time that God spoke it to Abraham until Christ came to fulfill both the plan and the promise.
4:1-3 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.
Israel as the heirs apparent to the promise were like children who knew the whole kit and caboodle belonged to them, but Paul says they couldn’t get their hands on it until the time came.
Edward VI, son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, was born in 1537. He ascended the throne at age nine, upon the death of his father. A "Council of Regency" would govern until the child came of age. Unfortunately Edward didn’t live beyond the age of 16 and so he never fully came into his inheritance.
Paul says that Israel was like the Boy king Edward. They were like children under a guardian, not able to fully access the inheritance. Their Guardian was the law. It was there to keep them out of trouble until the time came for them to receive the promise. That happened when the promise was...
2. Fulfilled in Christ
4:4-7 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. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Paul says that when the time was right, literally it’s in the fullness of time. Many have wondered what that expression means and I think there are a variety of things. I think primarily it means that the time was right to fulfill the promise, you remember that the promise was that the World (not just Israel but the world) would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring (remember last week we learned how that was a reference to Christ) and really Jesus came at the first possible time in history when the World was ripe for that influence... There was a common language, a road system, relative peace. In other words the time was right for the Gospel message to be carried throughout the earth, that the world might be blessed through Abraham’s seed.
Christ is the fulfillment of the promise and we who have trusted in him for salvation share a common bond in Christ. God sent his Son to die to pay the price for our sins. And if we trust in His saving work, Paul says that the Spirit of God’s Son lives within us, filling us wt. Joy, crying out Abba Father and we become sons and heirs to the promise.
What do we share? Not only a common Heritage, but also a common inheritance. Not just a pst but a future.
