Good morning.
My name's Brian Robinson, and I'm one of the elders here at Christ the Redeemer.
And one of the roles of an elder is to teach, which is why I'm here this morning.
And I'm excited to teach from Paul's letter to the Galatians.
In the lectionary for this week, the first Sunday after Christmas, is a passage that comes from Galatians 3 and 4.
And the common theme in all of the lectionary passages for this week are what Jesus' first coming means for us.
Let me pray and then I'll get started.
Heavenly Father, thank you for our church.
Thank you that you have sent your son to be like us, to die for our sins.
And I pray that we would remember that you are in control and that you love us very much.
And I just pray that you would speak through me this morning.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
So on January 4th, 2007, in the college football world, the old ways were gone, were dead, and the new ways had come.
The University of Alabama hired Nick Saban to be their head football coach.
Before Nick Sabin was hired, it was a totally different system.
There were a lot of different schools that had a chance to win national championships and even won them.
Southern Cal, Texas, Florida, heck, even Tennessee won a national championship.
And at Alabama, we don't even want to talk about what the old system meant for them.
Some of you may even remember the name Mike Price.
But Saban brought with him a new system.
He won six national championships since 2007.
That's two every five years.
And it seems like to even have a chance, you have to be a disciple of Saban.
You have to go through Saban.
If you look at Georgia, Ole Miss, or Texas AM, they all have Saban disciples as their coaches that are trying to compete with him, trying.
Well, the Bible is also separated into two distinct eras.
In Paul's letter to the Galatians, he describes what life was like before God sent his son into the world, and then after Jesus came into the world.
So before Jesus came, the system was the law.
There were rules that we had to follow.
And then after Jesus came, he brought a new system of faith that we could be saved and made right with God through faith in his Son.
And I love that the lectionary includes this passage in Galatians.
It's not a traditional Christmas verse, but it moves beyond that and reminds believers of what Jesus' first coming really meant to us.
So let's talk a little bit about the first section, which is Galatians 3 and deals with the law.
And this is Galatians 3, 23 through 25.
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
So it says we were held captive under the law.
What does it mean to be held captive?
Well, the Greek word is frureo, and it means to guard or protect, to prevent a hostile invasion, to preserve one for the attainment of something.
It's the same root word as in Philippians 4 7, a familiar verse which says, And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
It's to protect us.
The imprisonment is for our own good.
Verse 24 says, The law was our guardian until Christ came.
Some versions say guardian, and some say tutor, but both I think imply protection or for our own good.
So what is the purpose of the law in the life of the believer?
Well, there's some controversy whether there are two uses or three.
Martin Luther, who I agree with, says there are two uses of the law.
The civil use, which is to maintain order so there's not chaos, and then there's spiritual use, which is to show us that we can't keep the law, we're sinful, and it points us to Jesus, so that eventually we would yearn for this freedom that comes through faith.
I think it's important to remember that the law comes from an all-loving God.
It's not punishment, and it's even for our good.
And that's why David and Paul both say, O Lord, I delight in your law.
I think they're trusting Him because they believe that God knows better than them, which is the definition of faith.
Verse 24 says, the law was the guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith.
So justified means to declare one to be just or righteous or such as they ought to be.
This is the only way that humans will actually stop trying to be autonomous or put our faith in something else besides ourselves.
When we're shown repeatedly that we can't save ourselves or really even help ourselves in the long run, we will eventually lose our grip and surrender.
Even when our way does appear to be working, often we become prideful and rely on ourselves.
So both of these things, pride or despair, from trying to keep the law or the illusion of keeping the law, leads us back to the fact that we need help from outside of ourselves.
And I think this is brilliant and has to be divinely inspired writing by Paul, that he cut to the quick of the problem of humans.
We try at every turn to find a new way to justify ourselves and our actions, but he has provided a better way.
Verse 25, but now faith has come.
And this is a big but.
And like Sir Mixalot, I appreciate that.
But faith has come with Jesus.
This is the Christmas verse of the passage.
Jesus has arrived.
This is the better way.
And we're no longer under this guardian, but now we're recipients.
Now let's look at the second part of the passage, which is Galatians 4, 4 through 7.
It says, When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father, so you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
So Jesus came as a human, so that he could relate to us.
But even Jesus was born into this law-based system.
In Matthew 5, it says he has not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill them.
Verse 5 says to redeem those who were under the law.
The word redeem means to ransom, to gain possession of something in exchange for payment.
And this word is important to us because our church is named after Redeem, Christ the Redeemer.
We are the recipients of this.
Jesus has done this to us and for us.
So that we might receive adoption as sons.
So we have been adopted.
What does that mean for us?
It means we have a new family, a new heritage.
By receiving the Spirit of God into our souls, we become sons and daughters of God.
So we were orphans.
I don't know why, but when I hear stories of orphans, it often makes me cry.
I think adoption stories are really emotional to me.
And I think deep down it might be because I know this is my story.
Some of you several years ago may have watched the British drama Downton Abbey.
Really, it's a soap opera, but they have English accents, so it's it seems more refined, but it's a soap opera.
And it was a great soap opera.
I watched every episode and loved it.
But in that show, there was a character named Daisy.
And she was a simple-minded cook's assistant, and she has a relationship with a footman named William.
So William was kind of this boyish, naive man that they were friends, and William ends up having romantic feelings for Daisy, but Daisy is not interested in him.
So William gets called to go to World War I, and right before he leaves, he decides to ask Daisy to marry him.
And Daisy reluctantly agrees, mostly because she doesn't want him to go off to the war brokenhearted.
So they become engaged.
William goes to the war.
He fights in the war and has to come home because he's mortally wounded.
So he comes back to Downton Abbey and he is literally hours from death, and his last wish is to marry Daisy.
She again knows she doesn't have romantic feelings for him, but kind of at everyone's wishes in the house, she eventually agrees to fulfill his last request, and they get married.
And he dies only a few hours afterwards.
And she feels very uncomfortable with this whole thing.
I think she has a lot of guilt.
She gets a military pension.
And after William dies, his father, Mr.
Mason, continually lavishes gifts upon Daisy and asks her to come visit him, and she just refuses him over and over.
But finally, after one invitation, she relents and she agrees to meet with Mr.
Mason.
And the following exchange takes place.
Daisy says, You shouldn't have gone to all this trouble.
Not for me.
I don't deserve it.
Not when I was only married to William for a few hours.
Mr.
Mason says, You may not know this, Daisy, but William had three brothers and a sister, all dead at birth, or not long after.
I think that's one reason why William married you.
So I wouldn't be alone.
Without you, I'd have no one to pray for.
I think William knew that.
So will you be my daughter?
Let me take you into my heart, make you special.
You'll have parents of your own, of course.
Daisy says, I haven't got any parents.
Not like that.
I've never been special to anyone.
Mr.
Mason said, Except William.
Daisy says, That's right.
I was only ever special to William.
I never thought of it like that before.
Mr.
Mason says, Well, now you're special to me.
For Daisy, I think love was emotional righteousness.
It had the scales had to be balanced.
This feeling for that feeling, quid pro quo.
But her concept of love was skewed.
She was viewing love through her own perspective, which we so often do.
And when Daisy catches a glimpse of how much William and then his father loved her, the scales fell from her eyes.
Mr.
Mason doesn't relate to Daisy based on Daisy's righteousness.
He relates to Daisy based on his son's righteousness or his son's love for Daisy.
And on that basis, he wants to adopt her.
And that like Daisy, we're not loved based on our own righteousness.
We are loved based on the righteousness of someone else, of Jesus.
And we have been adopted into his family.
Verse 6.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father.
So what does this mean that we have a new spirit?
I think that means that the Holy Spirit now lives inside of us.
We have a new counselor, we have a new just force inside of us to help us, and we are receivers of this.
And this is a miracle that God did this.
This creator of the universe sent his spirit to live inside of us, to help us live in his creation.
This new spirit speaks through this tender language of a child crying, Daddy.
And I think when we're still enough long enough, which is difficult, when we're quiet, long enough to listen, the Spirit will guide us.
The last verse, verse 7.
So you're no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
So we're no longer held captive or imprisoned.
Now we are sons and heirs.
This is good news for us.
We are the Creator's heirs.
So what does this mean for us in December of 2021 in Marietta, Georgia?
I think mainly for me, it means we're already perfectly loved, accepted, worthy, and secure.
We don't have to look to anything else for that.
I don't have to look at approval of other people, of financial status, of anything else.
And I think that leads to this thing called awe, which is when my focus is vertical and not horizontal, the things of the earth will grow strangely dim.
And that leads to gratitude and peace.
And I pray that we all have that some more in 2022.
Let me pray for us.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this message.
Thank you for changing the world through your Son.
Thank you for providing us a new way that we could surrender to your way and we would have new life, a new family in Jesus.
I pray that we can find some times to be still and listen to your spirit.
And in that we would know you more and know you better.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.