Heirs

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 4:1-11 (day six)

How do you live like an heir? An heir has a secure identity and inheritance; neither is in question. An heir, then, lives with a kind of fearless faithfulness. Or described another way, an heir lives completely free.

Remember the prodigal son’s brother? He questioned how his dad could so freely honor his brother after all he had done while he felt like he had access to nothing. His dad replied, “But you are my son, you have access to everything that is mine.” The older brother was not living as an heir but as a slave, constantly trying to prove his worth through obedience. He wasn’t fearlessly free.

Paul is reminding the Galatians who they are, just like the dad did in the parable of the prodigal son, “Remember, you are heirs (sons and daughters). Don’t go back to living like a slave.”

Two Pictures

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 4:1-11 (day five)  “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Paul uses two pictures in verse 5 to describe the work of Christ.  We have been thinking through the first picture at great length and in great detail. Slaves freed from the penalty or curse of the law. Freedom is the biggest theme we find in this letter to the Galatians. Yet, there is another picture that expounds on the work of Christ- adopted sons (children). The good news of gospel is twofold in this passage. We are both redeemed AND also righteous. We are freed AND adopted. No longer slaves AND are now sons.  Jesus removes what we deserve (penalty under the law) and gives us what He deserves (sonship with the Father). That is indeed good news!!

Glasses

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 4:1-11 (day four)

It’s easy to remember the past with rose-colored glasses. The troubles of today make the hardships of the past not seem so bad. We see this in the Israelites when they’re journeying through the wilderness and in want of food. They complain to Moses, “It would have been better for us to remain enslaved in Egypt than die here in the wilderness!” Of course, it would not have been better for them back in Egypt. Their present troubles were clouding their judgement. Of course, they found a way to spiritually enslave themselves again through their sin.

Paul is accusing the Galatians of the very same thing. They grew up enslaved to pagan traditions, not Jewish law. But the law was in their midst now, and it was tempting to them. It was drawing them back into a life of servitude. Paul insinuates that adopting the law now would be akin to returning to paganism, the very thing that held them captive before. When we let the law do anything other than point us to Christ, we become enslaved to it. We could ask of the Galatians, “Why would you want to do that? Why would you want to give up your newfound freedom?” But we don’t have to, because we fall victim to this same pattern.

What is it about our flesh that draws us to these things that harm us? Paul will expound on that more in the next chapter, but let this serve as a checkpoint for us: what things of this world, things of our past, worldly ideologies, or pet sins do we see with rose-colored glasses? Let’s take those glasses off, see things for what they are, and hold on to our freedom in Christ.

Holiday

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 4:1-11 (day three)

You observe days and months and seasons and years.”

Shall we now dispense of liturgical calendars? Fortunately, Paul’s not suggesting that. When seasonal signposts go away, rhythms of life get confused. The experience of disorientation of one’s sense of time regarding events of the past several years (e.g.: did I talk to that person recently or was that pre-Covid?) is due to the pandemic’s disruption of the regular ways a society marks times and seasons and years. Similarly, holy markers matter. For instance, does Easter acknowledge only Jesus’s resurrection, or does it also signify that there is now a new possibility for the human body and the human spirit because of that resurrection? The Lenten season will help you contemplate both. That’s what liturgical seasons and holidays (“holy days”) do. A calendar isn’t a savior, but it reminds us of One.

Timing

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 4:1-11 (day two) But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. vs. 4-5

Timing is tricky. If you have spent time in the kitchen, especially baking, you have learned the importance of watching and waiting, and the effects of not watching and waiting. Desserts that don’t cook through can be edible, but perhaps not exactly what we were aiming for. Consequently, leaving something too long in the oven can be disastrous. Trust me on this one.

Maybe you have been frustrated at God’s timing. You know the promises of scripture, and you believe that God is sovereign, but you are struggling to get through the day. Why not now, God? Think of the generations of Jews who asked the same questions. How long, oh Lord, how long? Many of them did not live to see the fulfillment of God’s promise, but it did come. God can see the landscape of humanity with a clear understanding of timing, and he knew exactly the time to send Jesus to walk among us. You can trust that he knows your heart’s cry as well.

Re:Verse Blog – 10/9/23

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 4:1-11 (day one)

Join us as Senior Pastor Chris Johnson, Associate Pastor Aaron Hufty, and Minister Megan Langan walk us through Galatians 4:1-11 in our Fall Re:Verse Series: “Galatians – Jesus Sets Us Free.”

To watch the Re:Verse Vlog, Click Here!

Tutoring

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 3:15-29 (day seven) 

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ. Galatians 3:24

I prided myself on my GPA. I was an excellent student, and most subjects came naturally to me. That was until I decided to add a business minor to my degree and was forced to take accounting. I was taking Greek and accounting at the same time, and Greek made more sense to me than accounting. So what did I do? I sucked up my pride and went to tutoring. At a small school like Howard Payne, I was able to meet with the professor directly as my tutor. He saw my effort and offered me a compromise; he would tell me the solution, so long as I could do the work to prove that the solution was true.

The Law gives us a path to the Solution. The Law tutors us by pointing us to Jesus. It is our job to do the work to prove that The Solution is true. I am as guilty as the next of skimming over the Law, but it is the Law that lays the foundation for our salvation. Maybe I need to spend more time in tutoring! What about you?

Conflict

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 3:15-29 (day six)

21 Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises? Galatians 3:21

Jesus and the law are not at odds. It doesn’t feel rejected or left behind. It doesn’t seek the spotlight, but it steps off the stage for the star of this passion play. The law is the question that Jesus answers. The law is in agreement with Jesus. The law declares, “Choose him!”

Of course, the conflict isn’t between God’s law and God’s promise; he is never at odds with himself. The conflict is between us and God, of which the law is our tutor and Jesus our resolution.

Why?

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 3:15-29 (day five)

“Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions…”  vs. 19  I love it when Paul asks the questions everybody is thinking. He has already answered the “when?” question about the Law.  The Law came after God’s promise. Now Paul turns to “Why?”.  The answer is transgressions or sin. The misconception was that the Law was given to tell of salvation, when in fact, it was given to tell of sin. And not just our perception of sin but our relationship to sin- we are captives and prisoners to sin (vs. 22). The Law tells us that we are all law-breakers and cannot be the solution. The law then also points to the need and provision of Christ (God’s Promise).

“We must never bypass the law and come straight to the gospel. To do so is to contradict the plan of God in biblical history… No man has ever appreciated the gospel until the law has first revealed him to himself. – John Stott

Promise

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 3:15-29 (day four)

We often say that you shouldn’t trust something until it’s in writing. Only then can you put any stock in it, and stand on it as truth. That’s because our promises as sinful men are pretty flimsy. We say “I promise, I’ll call you when I get home,” and then forget as soon as we walk through the door. Or we say “I’ll take care of that tomorrow, I promise,” but a week goes by and you still haven’t tended to it. The word ‘promise’ doesn’t mean much when it’s coming from us, because a promise is only as sure as the person giving it. A law sounds much more sure to us than a promise.

But Paul is reminding us that the Kingdom of God, once again, is different. God granted Abraham an inheritance by means of a promise. The law was only meant to point us towards the one in whom that promise would be fulfilled. In our sin, though, we took the law and put all our stock in it, thinking it was surely a firmer foundation than a promise. But all this means is that we have gravely misunderstood the one giving us this promise.

Life with God is a life built on promises. I wonder if that’s why we so quickly run back to our old ways of living – building a life on the promises of God alone takes a huge amount of faith, especially in the world we live in. But here is our assurance – God is infinitely more likely to raise someone from the dead than to go back on his promise. He has already made it so. His promises are sure.