April 28, 2023 | Be On Mission
Slaves to Sin vs. Sons Living by the Spirit
Scripture: Galatians 4 (NIV)
1 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
12 I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. 13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, 14 and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Be glad, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Devotional
Face it. Because of sin in our lives, there is a huge chasm between us and God. In 1974, daredevil Evel Knievel failed in his attempt to strap himself onto a rocket bike and jump the quarter-mile wide Snake River Canyon in Idaho. The gap was just too big, but he somehow didn’t kill himself. Then, four decades later in 2016, stuntman Eddie Braun hopped on his own rocket bike and successfully made the jump. Braun said about his and Knievel’s antics, and I’m not kidding, “It’s a dying art form.”
Throughout the letter to the Galatians, we have seen the futility of perfectly keeping the extensive law of God in order to bridge the gap between us and God caused by sin in our lives. If I only try a little harder. If I only do a little better. If I only jump a litter farther. Interesting that Knievel finally realized that he had jumped the shark when he was trying to jump a tank of sharks. The same for us. It’s only after we embrace the utter futility of trying to bridge the chasm between us and a perfect God that we stop trying.
Enter Jesus. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “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.” It’s important to note here that Jesus was born under the law that was spelled out in detail in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Nobody in the history of the world has been able to perfectly obey the law of God. Until Jesus.
It’s also important to note that Jesus was born of a woman. Yes, Jesus is God. But while He was on earth, He was God in the flesh. He was human, “tempted in every way, just as we are —yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
About Jesus, the Bible says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Do you see it? Jesus never sinned, but on the cross He became sin for us. We cannot be perfectly righteous, but on the cross Jesus made us the righteousness of God. Jesus bridged the gap between us and a holy and perfect God! Because of that we are declared to be children of God, heirs to all His blessings!
Sorry Evel Knievel, Eddie Braun and Elon Musk. There is no rocket that will ever be invented that will bridge that spiritual gap. Only Jesus can do that!
Poem
Child
Child of God, my daughter, son
Full adoption by the One
Claims you heir, beloved one
Child of God, my daughter, son
Once enslaved and viewed as lost
Now adopted through the cross
Bought, redeemed at such a cost
Child of God, once viewed as lost
Abba, Father! Now your cry
Throne of God where you abide
House prepared in heaven’s height
Abba, Father! Now you sigh
Little child, the blessings flow
Little child, in wisdom grow
Stature, favor I bestow
Little child, the blessings flow
