[Graduation Day]
Slide Graphic – student in cap and gown
Slide Text –
Children who are under age are no better off than slaves
Galatians 4:1a
In the service this morning, we will be honoring our high school and college graduates. How many of you are graduating from high-school or college this year?
How do you expect your life to change?
The graduation ceremony is known as the “commencement exercises”. The word “commencement” means beginning. Why would the ceremony be called a commencement?
There’s a passage at the beginning of the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians that talks about a young person coming of age. Since we are honoring our graduates today, I thought it would be interesting to see what the Bible has to say on this subject.
Paul, in the letter to the Galatians, said that until you are accepted as an adult, you are little more than slaves. Anybody agree with that?
[When You Were the Same as Slaves]
Slide Graphics – kids doing chores around the house
Slide Text –
1What 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.
2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.
3So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.
Galatians 4:1-3
Paul is actually talking about the history of Israel. God made a covenant promise with Abraham about 2000 BC. Around 1275 BC, Moses was given the 10 commandments after the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. God was still fulfilling the covenant of Abraham, but the young nation first had to go through a “childhood” under strict discipline.
In the previous chapter, Paul had compared life under the law to being imprisoned by a jailer (3:23) and being controlled by a disciplinarian (3:24-25). Why did he need yet another illustration, and one so offensive to the Jews of his day? After all, God Himself had said "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (Ex 20:2). If God had redeemed his people from slavery, how could their whole existence under the Mosaic law until Christ be depicted in terms of slavery?
This new illustration is a much more positive image of slavery to the law than the images of a jailer and a disciplinarian. Even in the best of homes, sons who are loved by their father and destined to be heirs of his estate go through a period of supervision. It is entirely appropriate for immature heirs to be subject to the care of guardians. Obedience to their guardians is evidence of their love for their father. But it would be inappropriate for sons to be kept under the supervision of guardians once they had reached the age of maturity. It is not a mark of disloyalty for sons to eagerly anticipate the day set by their father when they will no longer be subject to guardians but will enjoy their full rights as sons.
For a child, this early education is necessary to teach truths and principles by enforcing black and white laws. When the child reaches adulthood, he or she begins to be able to live according to the principles, rather than the laws. The Old Testament was the “elementary school” of the Jewish nation. In fact, the Greek word translated as “basic principles” is stoicheia, which means “things placed side by side in a row”. It is used to name the collection of letters of the alphabet. Literally, verse three says “we” (Paul was Jewish) were slaves to the ABC’s.
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! (Hebrews 5:12)
Living under the law is not a sign of spiritual maturity. Instead, like elementary school, it is a sign of immaturity.
The law says “be perfect as I am perfect” (Gal 4:12). If you are not perfect, you have failed God’s standard. Why did God command this? Do you feel like your life is this demanding? Are you being held to a perfect, impossible standard? Are your parents and your teachers doing this to torture you, or do they have some other goal in mind?
Going back to the Israelites, what does verse 2 mean by “the time set by the father”? What was the Israelites graduation day?
[How Slaves Become Sons]
Slide Graphics – Abandoned, opened handcuffs
Slide Text –
4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,
5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
Galatians 4:4-5
Graduation day for the Israelites came when Christ came to live among us, fully God and fully man. He lived a perfect live according to the law, just as if he were subject to it, then, though perfect and blameless, allowed himself to be crucified, and in doing so bore the death penalty of our own sins. His death is what allows us to live no longer under the law, no longer in elementary school, but as spiritual adults with adult freedoms and responsibilities.
When God made the promise to Abraham that the Israelites would be his children, his chosen people, there were no conditions. The Mosaic Law given centuries later was not the terms and conditions by which this promise would be fulfilled – there were no terms and conditions. Paul spells this out plainly in Galations 3:17-18
17What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
In terms of your education, your graduation will symbolize that you have mastered the fundamentals. You are not expected to spend the remainder of your life filling out multiplication tables and diagramming sentences while someone judges the results. This would be a waste of your time and a waste of your teacher’s investment in you. You now set all those exercises behind you and move on to a new stage. A stage where you will be faced with the “real world”, and will apply those fundamentals to daily life. In the past, you were educated whether you wanted to be or not – other people were responsible for your intellectual growth. From now on, your growth is largely your own responsibility. You will not receive a grade at the end of each day for balancing your checkbook or using proper grammar – you will be expected to use what you have learned as the situation demands, to show good judgment, and to increase your education as necessary.
This is also true in a spiritual sense. As a child, you have been under close spiritual control. You are brought to church. You are told to pray. The Bible is read to you. You are taught about the lessons in the Bible. But you are entering a different stage of life now, moving beyond the fundamentals. You will be expected to step up, use what you have learned, and take responsibility for applying it and continuing to grow in the real world. It is not someone else’s responsibility to study the Bible and tell you what decisions to make – it’s up to you. There are many more freedoms, but there is much responsibility.
[The Full Rights of Sons]
Slide graphic – father holding infant son
Slide text –
6Because 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.
Galatians 4:6-7
Verse 4 - God sent his Son
Jesus paid the price for us. His death, in a sense, is our diploma. Because of his death, we are no longer bound by the letter of the law.
Verse 6 - God sent the Spirit of his Son
Instead, we have the Holy Spirit, God himself living in us. We are trusted to be spiritually mature adults, using the spirit to discern how to apply the principles we learned under the law while not being subject to it. And trusted to use the spirit to continue to grow in knowledge and strength of character.
When you are handed a diploma at your graduation ceremony, you are stepping beyond the structure and control of school, where people tell you exactly what to do each day and grade the results, and stepping into a time when you will be expected to take charge of the direction of your life, using what you have learned, measuring your own performance.
In many ways, this is about the same time when you will be expected to take more responsibility for your spiritual life. If you believe in Heaven and Hell and in eternity, then you should keep in mind that it is your spiritual life, growth, and accomplishments that will matter most for millions and millions of years. You should give your spiritual life a great deal of thought and priority. You will be beyond the time when other people will be taking care of your growth and performance for you (like a slave) – you alone will be responsible for the results (like a prince). On one hand, no one will be telling you what to do (freedom). On the other hand, you will not be able to blame anyone but yourself for the difference you make in the world (responsibility)
[Returning to Slavery]
Slide Graphics – celebrity police mug shots (see http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/)
Slide text –
8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
11I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
Galatians 4:8-11
This section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians was written in response to a group of people known as the Judaizers. These people were telling the gentiles in Galatia that it was not enough to believe in Christ, that they must also follow the Jewish Law in order to go to heaven.
Paul is telling the Galatians that this is the wrong direction. Why return to the Law just when you have been freed from it? When return to being slaves when you have been freed? Note that Paul is using the pronoun “you” now, referring to the gentiles in Galatia, where before he had used “we” referring to Jews under the Law. The saddest part is that the slavery that the Galatian gentiles were “returning” to was one they were not subject to the first time. It is the same tragedy of the elder brother in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. Although he served his father dutifully, he never called him "Father" or related to him as a son. He thought and acted like a slave: "All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders" (Luke 15:29).
Paul describes the period during which Israel was under the Law as the time when they were children (Gal. 4:3) It is necessary to restrict and confine a child because children are too immature to make wise decisions. We do not let our children make important decisions, because they are neither wise nor mature enough to do so. Thus, by associating the Law with the immaturity of a child, which requires tutors, custodians, and stewards, Paul indicates that the need for rigid rules and regulations is the mark of immaturity. Why do the Judaizers promise a higher level of spirituality through a return to the Law?
Later in life, you will probably look back on high school as a time when life was simpler, and occasionally wish to return to those days. I’m not saying this is the best time in your life or that it’s all downhill from here, but as complicated as it seems while going through it, life will just get more and more complicated with every passing year. Ursula LeGuin, speaking at a college commencement, told the seniors:
Because you are human beings you are going to meet failure. You are going to meet disappointment, injustice, betrayal, and irreparable loss. You will find you’re weak where you thought yourself strong. You’ll work for possessions and then find they possess you. You will find yourself - as I know you already have - in dark places, alone, and afraid.
One of the weirdest things that will happen after you graduate is that your relationship with your parents changes. In the past, they were responsible for your upbringing, and had a duty to keep you under their constant control and guidance. As you enter into adulthood, a great deal of that burden is removed from your parents. This is a time they have been eagerly waiting for.
Have you ever noticed your parents are nicer, more generous, more patient, more lenient with other kids than they are with their own? This really is because they love you, as corny as it sounds. They are responsible for you. They want you to turn out right. They know that they only have a limited amount of time while you are under their “law” to teach you the fundamentals – the ABC’s of being a decent person. They don’t have to be harder on other kids because they are not responsible for them. Trust me – your parents will be much more fun as grandparents than they were as parents. When you graduate, the “law” is replaced by “freedom.” The weird thing that will happen is that you and your parents will be free to relate to each other as adults. They will realize that, for better or worse, you are now in charge of your life. Ray Bradbury, giving a commencement speech to another group of college seniors, urged them to take advantage of this new relationship immediately:
So when this is over today-I know your fathers are here, most of them. I want you to run over and grab your father, and lift him up, and kiss him on both cheeks, and say, "Dad, thank you for my life. Thank you for being here. I love you." And then you’re going to have one of the greatest moments of this graduation. I give you that gift of love, to pass on to your father, when this is over.
[This Generation]
Slide Graphic – picture of Keith Green
Table
Cyber Generation
2002-2025
Millennials, Net-Gen, Gen Y
1982-2001
A civic generation, inner driven within the information revolution, striving to get ahead. Population 78 million.
Generation X, Baby Busters
1960-1981
A reactive generation, street wise. Examples - Madonna, Tom Cruise. Population 44 million.
Baby Boomers
1943-1960
An idealist generation, often stressed out. Some sources suggest true baby boomers were born between 1946 to 1964 after World War II to experience the pop media revolution and the ideal of peace in our times. Population 100 million.Typical boomers include Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Cher.
Silent Generation
1925-1942
95% of this generation is retired. They are an adaptive generation because they have had to be. This generation includes beats and beatniks. This generation were technically born too late to be war heroes.
G.I. Generation
1901-1924
Concerned primarily with a civic outlook within society.
Lost Generation
1883-1900
Many fought and died in World War 1.
Slide text –
This generation of believers that you and me are a part of, we are responsible for this generation of souls, all over the world. We’re responsible for them. We’re responsible to pray daily for them. Keith Green
"There’s a little command in the Bible and that little command says, ’Go ye into all the nations and preach the Gospel unto every creature and make disciples of men.’ We like to think that was just for disciples, but it wasn’t. The world isn’t being won today because we’re not doing it. It’s our fault because this generation of believers is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth. Nowhere in the world is the Gospel so plentiful as it is in the United States. I don’t want to see us stand before God on that Judgment Day and say, ’But, God, I didn’t hear you call me. You don’t need to hear a call, you are already called. In fact, if you stay home and don’t go into all nations, you better be able to say to God, ’You called me to stay home; God I know that as a fact.’"
You are not commanded anywhere in the Bible to “witness” – you are commanded to “be a witness”.
You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world. ~Tom Brokaw
You are part of the Millennial generation, those graduating from High School in the new millennium. Some marked differences between this generation and those previous include:
•Growing up with technology. Greeting cards that play happy birthday contain more computing power than existed in the world before 1950. Most game consoles have more computing power than the Cray supercomputer, the most powerful computer in the world in 1976, limited in use to the most brilliant minds and most important problems.
•Role Models. The icons of this generation are markedly different than those of previous generations because their popularity is based on their style rather than their accomplishments.
•Family Stability. A huge percentage of this generation is being raised in homes affected by divorce. Single parents. Multiple “blended” step families. These were the families of the GenX-ers. This generation is returning to a desire for family stability.
•Community. The Baby boomers were very family and community oriented. The GenX hippies were about individuality.
•Spirituality. 35% of the baby boomers considered themselves to be evangelical. If current trends continue, only 4% of this generation will be actively evangelical.
•New Church. Obviously, traditional church structures are not reaching this generation. There is a documented move by this generation toward a revival of the spirit, a re-building of the church around spiritual revival. This is actually a three-generation movement. Boomer led, Gen Y fueled, but the church of the new millennium will be implemented by this generation.
“If the generational cycle prevails, we will enter some kind of crisis between 2015 and 2025. In 2015 the oldest [American] millennial will be thirty-three, and the youngest around eleven. Like the [GIs] before them, they will be at just the right age to fill the ranks necessary to defeat the rising threat”
[Arkansas Revival]
Slide Graphic – Corrie Ten Boom and the book “The Hiding Place”
Slide Text – Corrie ten Boom,Leader of Dutch Underground resistance in WWI, Imprisoned in Ravensbruck extermination camp. Prophesied a great revival sweeping America, beginning in Arkansas
Slide Graphic – Sung Neng Yee and the book “China Cry”, and China house-churches
Slide Text - Sung Neng Yee, now known as Nora Lamb, imprisoned and tortured for refusing to deny her faith. Had a vision of God’s special protection of Arkansas.
From the Trail of Tears, to the American Civil War, to the Civil Rights Movement, Arkansas has been at the heart of change in America.
Corrie ten Boom was a leader in the Dutch Underground during WWII. After protecting Dutch Jews in a secret room in their home, Corrie ten Boom, her sister and father were discovered, arrested, and imprisoned. Only Corrie survived, but her faith in God remained strong-so strong that, after the war, she could forgive a former camp guard in a face-to-face meeting. The Hiding Place proves that the light of God’s love can penetrate even the darkest recesses of despair, places like the Nazi extermination camp at Ravensbruck.
In May 1986 Brother Paul Crouch, president of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in Southern California confirmed a Word of Prophecy given by Sister Corrie Ten Boom on their televised program back in 1980. Looking directly into the T.V. cameras, she said, “The Lord has told me that the center of the Christian movement in the United States will begin in Northwest Arkansas.” Turning to Brother and Sister Crouch, she asked, “Where is Arkansas?”
A year or so later, Sister Corrie came to visit Arkansas. Members of Eureka Springs’ Great Passion Play said she was standing in a field North of Harrison and in her spirit saw angels with drawn swords five deep as far as her spiritual eyes could see protecting Northwest Arkansas.
Sung Neng Yee, now known as Nora Lamb, who escaped from Communist China to Hong Kong some thirty years ago and now lives in the United States. Her childhood faith became real as she suffered under Communist persecution. She refused to deny Christ even while enduring physical abuse late in her pregnancy. Despite constant setbacks, trials and tribulations, Lam Neng Yee is set free from her captors by the power of the Lord. Nora Lamb became a very successful evangelist to Chinese countries, because she is Chinese and speaks Mandarin.
Some time in the 1980’s, she was in a commercial flight when she looked out the window and saw a ring of fire from horizon to horizon. She prayed, “oh Lord show me what this place is.” About that time the pilot came over the PA system and said, “We will be landing in Tulsa in 20 minutes, we are presently over North West Arkansas at an altitude of ...”
[Congratulations, Seniors!]
Slide graphics – pictures of each of the people who made the following quotes
Slide text –
Don’t worry about making something out of your life – worry about making someone out of your life.
~ Coco Chanel
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
~Albert Einstein
It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
~Edmund Hillary
What we are is God’s gift to us.
What we become is our gift to God.
~Eleanor Powell
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
~Dr. Seuss
Luke Skywalker: Alright, I’ll give it a try.
Yoda: No! Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try.
