So, again, if you have your Bibles, you can open them, first of all, to Galatians chapter 4.
As we conclude this little series in the book of Galatians, looking at some of its big themes, we're thinking about the reality that the good news of the gospel, it's a message that changes us.
Now, before we get to thinking about how the gospel changes us, just to think about the importance of finding love and acceptance.
So, this week, lots of our teens and kids in primary school have been applying for camp.
And for those of us who perhaps have been to camps, or you've watched people go away to camp, for many people it becomes a moment when perhaps being kind of isolated in a small church perhaps, they go to a camp and here's the moment where they find their people.
Do you know that moment that I'm talking about?
When a person perhaps feels kind of anxious, they kind of feel like they're all alone in the world, and nobody else really understands them or perhaps their faith.
And then all of a sudden you find some other people, and they think the same, and they accept you.
And now, your life is different.
Maybe I've seen that in the teenagers in your own life.
You can think about it.
There's a happiness, there's a confidence that comes from finding your crew, or when a guy or a girl finds the one.
The same thing happens.
Something changes, and everybody else can see it.
To find love and acceptance in this world is huge.
I was thinking about all those studies that tell us that, you know, kids from stable homes are much more likely to flourish,
and much more likely to be resilient, and so on and so forth.
And thinking about the fact, if that's true in our human experiences with another person,
how much more true is it when that comes to our God?
And this is where Paul kind of takes us in the book of Galatians,
that knowing the love and acceptance of God, that changes us profoundly.
And that's the good news that Paul closes his letter with.
And in a sense, it takes us to the question of what is the greatest privilege in the Christian life?
What is the greatest thing that God could give us?
Now, if you've been around for the last couple of weeks, we've been in the book of Galatians,
we might instinctively think, well, the answer must be justification.
And of course, that is a wonderful truth.
The forgiveness of sin, acceptance from God, that's massive, and it's fundamental.
But actually, that's just a gospel foundation that we must build on.
But it must be our foundation, because if we don't know what it is to be justified,
to be declared right with God, then we can never find true peace.
There'll always be a sense in which our hearts are restless and will wrestle with guilt.
And so justification is wonderful, but it's only the foundation.
To think about an analogy from house building, you know, you lay a good foundation,
a builder is never going to stop there.
Well, unless resources run out.
A homeowner is not going to celebrate the stage at which the foundation is laid.
Because obviously, there is much more to be built.
There is a home to live in.
That's the point where the champagne gets opened.
And as Paul takes us towards the end of his letter,
he wants to show us that there are still greater privileges.
There is still this gospel house that we need to live in,
where justification is just the foundation.
And he's going to take us especially to the wonderful truth that God adopts us into his family.
So we come to live in God's house as God's children,
as members together of God's family.
And that's the good news that changes us.
Because it changes our relationships in an essential way with God and with one another in the Christian church.
So let's think first of all about how the good news that we find in the gospel,
how does that change our relationship with God?
It's here in chapter 4, first 7 verses.
The story of God's redemption is the story of a spiritual adoption.
That God takes people who are strangers and enemies,
and he makes them not just friends, he makes us his family.
He changes lives for all eternity.
And Paul, in the course of just these few verses,
he takes the Galatians and he takes us on something of that journey.
So he takes them, first of all, to their past.
What was it like before Jesus came?
And look with me, chapter 4, first three verses,
he uses the imagery of being like a slave or being an underage child.
As long as an heir is underage, he's no different from a slave,
although he owns the whole estate.
So Paul is picturing a son in a wealthy Roman family.
Big house, lots of land, lots of property,
but as yet they're under 16.
So they're in minority.
So they've got the promise of a great inheritance,
there's great wealth to come, but not yet.
And so this child, though he is the heir,
he still has to live under a tutor and a guardian.
He is not yet ready to enjoy all the privileges that are coming,
the freedom that will be his one day.
And Paul says, well, that's really like life
under the law before Jesus came.
It was a time of waiting and longing for the Messiah
through whom all these promises would come
and the freedom of the gospel would come.
And in the context of the book of Galatians,
remember he's been saying to them,
why would you ever choose law-keeping
as a way to be right with God?
It's as if he's saying it'd be like going back
from being a son to being a slave.
So there's this period in the past of slavery,
but then in verse four, in God's story of adoption,
what happens?
The set time fully comes.
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.
What a wonderful phrase, at the set time.
At just the right time, God's timing is perfect.
And in God's perfect timing, he sent his son, Jesus,
so that you and I might become sons of God.
It's the right time in the sense,
when you look at what's happening in history
when Jesus arrives, it's a time of spiritual longing.
I think we see that whenever we read the gospels,
there's that great longing for the Messiah.
They're looking for anyone.
John the Baptist, are you the Messiah?
When excitement about Jesus builds,
they want to make him king by force.
It's a time of spiritual longing for the Jews,
but it's also a time of spiritual longing for the Romans.
The Romans were becoming increasingly uneasy
about their gods and immorality within their culture.
And a lot of people within Roman society
were beginning to look for a new form of truth.
We could also say it's the right time,
because we think about the time when Jesus came.
It was a moment where culture was being shared.
So, Greco-Roman culture was the thing.
And that was so helpful,
because then everybody had a shared language,
the Greek language,
so that when the good news of Jesus was announced,
that message could very quickly spread through the world.
A missionary wouldn't have to go to language school for years
to learn a new language to tell people about Jesus.
They could simply go and speak the Greek
that everybody else in the Roman world understood.
And this timing of God sending Jesus
at just the set time when he arrived,
it was a great political moment for a Messiah to come,
because while you had the wealth of Rome
and the power of Rome,
they also had that desire to maintain security and authority,
which meant that they were building lots of roads.
So, if there was trouble in a far corner of the empire,
they could quickly send an army to quell a rebellion.
But that meant that people could go from Jerusalem
and spread to the far corners
with this good news of the Lord Jesus.
And nothing happens by accident.
This is God's good timing.
And so, at the set time, Jesus comes.
So, the timing is perfect, but also,
Jesus is perfect.
His qualifications are perfect to be our Savior.
What does he say of Jesus?
He is the Son of God.
He is completely divine.
He is totally God.
But he's also born of a woman,
so he's totally man.
And this is what makes Jesus uniquely qualified
to be our perfect mediator.
The one who can represent God to man and man to God.
He is the one and the only one
who can stand in the place of unrighteous sinners like us.
Remember, we can't by ourselves be good enough for God.
But Jesus is perfectly righteous,
and he stands in our place.
And more than that,
he is the only one,
because he is fully God,
is able to absorb God's holy anger
and secure deliverance
and be vindicated at the end of the day.
And we see that at his resurrection.
He came born under the law,
and he would perfectly keep the law.
He would be totally righteous at every point in his life
so that he could redeem those who are under the law.
And here we see Jesus' total commitment
to God's plan of salvation.
Jesus knew all through his life
that he would redeem by his sacrificial death.
And so nothing is held back
in God's plan of salvation.
And that matters so much
when we think about what comes next
in this storyline of God's adoption story.
Look at verses five to seven.
Jesus came to redeem those under the law
that we might receive adoption to sonship.
So there's a movement from slavery to sonship.
Because you are his sons,
God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts,
the spirit who calls out, Abba, Father.
So you're no longer a slave, but God's child.
And since you are his child,
God has made you also an heir.
This is the great privilege of the gospel.
Adoption.
This is moving from the wonderful reality
of God the judge declaring of us in Christ Jesus,
you are not condemned.
That's wonderful.
This is God the Father now saying to us,
come home with me.
That's a greater privilege.
There is a new level of relationship
we are being invited into.
So J.I. Packer says,
adoption is the greatest privilege
the gospel offers,
even higher than justification.
Now just to pause for a moment,
perhaps we recognize in verse five
that Paul uses the language of sonship.
Now why does he deliberately choose sonship?
Why doesn't he call us sons and daughters there?
Why doesn't he talk about children there?
It's because this is a very particular,
specific legal idea.
Because only sons,
only males could inherit.
But what Paul is at pains to point out
is that any and all Christians
are given the right to inherit.
That whoever we are,
Jew, Greek, male, female, slave, or free,
all of us in Christ
have the right to be called children of God,
to be sons of God
in the sense of inheriting
all his wonderful promises.
The right to have God as our eternal father,
that belongs to all of us.
The prospect of an eternal home,
that belongs to any who have faith in Jesus.
The reality of belonging to an eternal family,
that's for all who are united to Christ Jesus by faith.
And this wonderful privilege of adoption,
notice in verse six,
brings with it the gift of the Spirit.
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.
We remember Jesus being baptized in the Spirit,
the Spirit-filled man,
that same Spirit that filled Jesus now fills us.
God comes to dwell in our hearts.
We have this unique privilege
since the coming of Jesus
and the sending of the Spirit
of God drawing near in a whole new way.
In the Old Testament,
Jewish worshipers,
Gentile worshipers,
had various levels of being removed from God.
If God dwelt in the Holy of Holies
and we're Gentiles,
well, we could get to the outer courts.
If you're a Jewish woman,
you could get a little bit further.
A Jewish man could get a little bit further.
The high priest,
well, they could enter into the holy place,
but nobody could enter the holy of holies
except the high priest
and only one time a year
and then a very real worry
that he might lose his life
by making some mistake
in the presence of the holy God.
But now in Christ Jesus,
we're brought right into the holy of holies.
Whenever we pray,
immediately we are in the presence
of our God and our Father.
We have wonderful privilege
because of our sonship
to pray our Father in heaven.
As I was reading this week,
I was reading an author
and a preacher
by the name of David Platt.
Some of you may be familiar with him.
He also started a movement
called the Radical Movement.
It's a really interesting website.
Encourages mission to the unreached.
There's lots of interesting videos
about, for example,
gospel work in Japan.
There's a whole series on that.
But David Platt was so helpful
to read because over the course of his life,
he and his wife have adopted two children,
one from China and one from Kazakhstan.
And he tells the story
of this little adopted boy
from Kazakhstan being in that stage
which all children go through
of asking multiple why questions.
So we remember those.
If we're parents,
we remember the why stage.
And so he tells this wonderful
little conversation.
So David Platt begins
talking to his little son.
Simply wanted to say to him,
I love you.
Why?
Because you're my son.
Why?
And he thought about that
for a few seconds.
And his answer was wonderful.
Because we wanted you.
And we came to get you.
And that's why you're my son.
And it's a wonderful message
because that comes from a pastor
who knows the gospel.
He knows the logic of the gospel,
that God loves us,
that God wanted us,
God in Christ came to get us,
to die for us and rise again,
to make us beloved children
adopted by our Father.
the greatest privilege
that we can have
in our lives.
And J.I. Packer,
in one of his books,
can't remember which book,
he said,
if you want to know
how well somebody
understands Christianity,
ask this question.
Ask yourself this question.
How much do you make
of being God's child?
How much do you make
of being God's child?
Paul tells us
that God has sent the Spirit
so that we can enjoy
the privilege of sonship.
God sent his Son
to make us sons of God.
The reality that we can worship
is only because God
has sent his Son
to make us his children.
Our free access
to a throne of grace.
the reality of God's
steadfast fatherly love.
The fact that we can confess
our sin to our Father
and know that he won't turn
his back on us
because he loves us in Christ.
The security that we have
of knowing a Father
who is steadfast
to his promises
and that work of salvation
that he begins in Jesus,
he will complete,
he will take us home
to be with himself.
The freedom that we have
because we're not slaves
to a taskmaster,
we're sons and daughters
of a Father
who loves us deeply.
When we understand
the privilege
of the knowing God as Father,
then we're beginning
to get to the heart
of Christianity.
Christianity.
And that's the good news
that Paul brings
to these Galatian Christians
who are beginning to think,
well, maybe I should
turn back to the law.
Maybe that's going to be
the better way
to be right with God.
And he says,
no, no, remember the gospel
in Christ Jesus
adopted to sonship.
So the good news
changes our relationship
with God,
but he doesn't finish
with that relationship.
Paul also wants
them and us
to know that the good news
changes our relationship
with each other.
And so we heard
from Galatians 5
and Galatians 6.
So perhaps we can turn
there together
as we think about
the fact that
the truths of the gospel,
the wonderful truths
that we've been thinking
about in the book
of Galatians,
they should change us.
Now that we know
that God is our Father,
now that we live
experiencing His love,
that should transform us,
that should show itself
in life in His family,
in the church.
So we heard Paul
talk about freedom
this morning.
In chapter 5
and verse 13,
he's still talking
about a particular
kind of freedom
the Christian enjoys.
You, my brothers and sisters,
were called to be free.
But we need to understand
what kind of freedom.
But do not use your freedom
to indulge the flesh.
So this Christian freedom
is not freedom
to live as I please.
And it's not freedom
to simply live for myself.
It's not, well,
now I've got Jesus,
now I've got a free pass,
so I can just do
whatever I want.
Rather,
our freedom
has a particular form.
Serve one another
humbly in love.
That's the freedom
we have as Christians,
the freedom to be humble.
The freedom to serve
from hearts
that have been transformed
by Jesus serving us.
The freedom to love
one another
because God
has freely loved us.
It's a similar point
that he makes
at the beginning
of chapter 5.
So we read this morning,
chapter 5, verse 1,
it is for freedom
that Christ has set us free.
The end of that
little section
is verse 6.
And look at how he ends
verse 6.
The only thing that counts
is faith
expressing itself
through love.
Our faith in Christ
should show itself
in lives of love
and service.
I love the story
of the Apostle John.
It's told
by some of his followers
when he was really old,
so in his 90s.
Too old really
to say much,
too old to travel
by his own strength.
The story is told
that he would be carried
on the Lord's Day
on a kind of,
I guess,
a stretcher
is probably the easiest way
for us to imagine it.
And he'd be taken
to a house church
and he'd be placed
in front of the congregation,
very little ability
to speak,
but he would say to them,
dear children,
love one another.
That's the one truth.
That Apostle
wanted the church,
those young churches,
to know
that as you've been
loved by God
in Jesus,
love one another.
And the great gospel
truths that we've been
thinking about,
being justified
by faith in Jesus,
being adopted
into God's family,
they're not just
for our heads,
not just doctrines
to admire,
rather they are
to reach our hearts
and change our lives
in a particular way
that it should lead us
into lives of love.
And so just to notice
a couple of different ways
that we see this.
First of all,
thinking about
how the Spirit
wants to work in us,
the character of Christ.
So look at chapter 5,
verse 22 and 23,
that sort of famous,
perhaps familiar section
for many of us,
the fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit
is love,
joy,
peace,
forbearance,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
and self-control.
So in this section,
verse 16,
Paul calls believers
to live by the Spirit.
Then in verse 18,
he calls us to be
led by the Spirit.
And when we're living
by the Spirit
and we're led by the Spirit,
that's going to produce
a certain kind of life.
Life is going to take on
a certain shape and form,
and that shape and form
is the fruit of the Spirit,
is more of the character
of the Lord Jesus.
He chooses this image
from the garden
to say that what the Spirit
wants to grow in us
is more and more likeness
to the Lord Jesus.
Because as we think
about these qualities,
as we think about Jesus
in the gospel,
we recognize that He
is the one
and the only one
who perfectly shows us
all of these character qualities.
He is the one
of perfect,
sacrificial love
towards others,
driven by compassion
and care
to heal the sick,
to raise the dead,
to restore
fallen disciples,
and ultimately
to die on the cross
for us.
He is the one
of perfect
kindness
and goodness,
never sending
anyone away,
welcoming the children,
those despised,
those rejected,
those full of shame
are welcomed,
they're honored,
they're shown kindness
and care.
Jesus is the one
who practices
perfect patience
when His disciples
fail to understand,
when they want
to exercise pride
and be full of themselves
rather than serving,
when they abandon Him
at the moment
of His trial,
and as He is arrested,
He patiently restores.
And so we see
these qualities
perfectly in Jesus,
but the Spirit
wants to grow them
in us.
And in a particular way
to transform
how we relate
to one another,
because this is
part of a contrast.
So in verse 19,
there is a description
of the acts
of the flesh.
And as you scan
that list,
you'll see that
those acts
are profoundly
selfish acts.
Sexual immorality,
impurity,
idolatry,
hatred,
discord,
jealousy,
fits of rage,
selfish ambition,
selfish acts.
That's what the flesh
produces.
That's what we
naturally would produce.
But when the Spirit
works in us,
the Spirit of Christ
works in us,
then He's producing
in us a character
that shows
and expresses
love
towards
others.
And it's important
to recognize
that all of these
qualities,
they need a someone
to show them to.
we can only grow
in patience
as we rub up
against other people.
And so this is a picture
of the kind of life
that Paul wants
to see
these Galatian Christians
have and share
together.
That God wants
these qualities
to grow in us
in the context
of our church
family life
together.
Now it's important
to recognize
that we are all
works in progress
that nobody can say
I've reached
perfection.
These processes
that the Spirit
begins in us,
they won't be complete
until we are
with the Lord Jesus
or the Lord Jesus
comes back
and then we are
completely free
from sin.
Then we will have
that perfect character.
But nevertheless
it is true
that when we are
walking with the Spirit
He will bring
change in us
and He'll give us
that desire
to want to change
and to become
more holy.
And so there is
something of the
character of Christ
that is being formed
in church members
that shapes
and changes
our relationship
with one another.
But the second way
in which our
relationship
with one another
changes
that we find
at the beginning
of chapter 6
in that we are
invited to carry
each other's
burdens.
Look at verse 2,
carry each other's
burdens and in this way
you will fulfill
the law of Christ.
This is one of those
New Testament
one another
sections,
you know,
forgive one another,
you know,
show hospitality
to one another.
There are a whole
raft of them
and again
in common
each of them
needs a church
fellowship
to practice
them in.
We cannot
carry each other's
burdens
if we are not
connected enough
to know what
burdens
somebody else.
And so even
as we're thinking
about carrying
each other's
burdens
it's a reminder
that we need
to love
the local church
and to love
our brothers
and sisters
within the church
so that we can
keep these
commands.
what do we
help carry?
Well perhaps
first of all
we can think
about carrying
that burden
of sin
and temptation
because that's
where he begins
in verse 1
brothers and
sisters
if someone
is caught
in a sin
you who live
by the spirit
should restore
that person
gently
but watch
yourselves
or you also
may be tempted.
That's one way
where we can
carry each other's
burdens
when we can
practice
gentle
restoration.
When a family
member falls
into temptation
Paul is saying
to the whole
church
we have a
duty of care
to one another.
That we are
all to function
like shepherds
who are attentive
to see
are there any
sheep wandering
who I know
whom God
would want me
to gently
restore.
That all
of us
in Christ
have a responsibility
to speak
the truth
in love.
This isn't
restricted to
a minister
or to a group
of elders
though we do
have a duty
of care
in that
absolutely.
This is
addressed to
brothers and
sisters within
the church
that part of
our everyday
pastoral care
for one another
is to help
each other
to fight
temptation
and to walk
in obedience.
And that
requires a
certain level
of commitment.
It requires
us to get
close enough
to know
one another
to know
what our
struggles
might be.
It commits
us to stand
together as
brothers in
arms in the
fight of
faith.
It requires
us to be
willing to
share honest
struggles
not with
everyone but
with at least
someone.
it involves
praying for
help for
someone because
we know them
and we know
that they are
struggling.
It involves
being accountable
to others
not isolating
ourselves and
not allowing
sin to isolate
us further.
Remember we
read about
Eve and
Adam what do
they do when
they fall into
sin they try
and hide
they feel a
sense of
shame.
whereas we're
invited rather
to confess
to bring
our sin
into the
light of
the gospel.
And so we
have a
responsibility
to help
to carry
that burden
of sin
and temptation
that we
all have
ongoing
in our
lives.
But secondly
we are to
help carry
the burden
of life's
challenges
together.
to be the
person who
says to
someone else
I will be
there for
you through
thick and
through
thin.
To fulfill
the law of
Christ is to
love one
another.
And to help
us to think
about what
that involves
again we can
go to no
better place
than to go
to the gospel
and to think
about what
did it look
like for
Jesus to
love others
to carry the
burdens of
others.
What do we
see in Jesus
that we can
learn from?
Well love shows
up and comes
near.
It's the
incarnation.
Love is
willing to
walk the road
of pain and
suffering with
and for
others.
love is the
whole pattern
of Jesus
life.
Love weeps
for grieving
friends.
Love restores
the friend
who fails.
Love brings
hope and
help.
Love sacrifices
for the sake
of others.
And we know
that because we
see Jesus
doing it.
And he is
our saviour
and he is our
great example.
So what does
God want for
us as a
church?
As we think
about how
Paul closes
off his
letter.
He wants us
to grow
nearer to
him as
father.
To appreciate
his fatherly
love and
care.
He wants us
to love one
another as
children of
God as part
of the family
of faith.
He wants
us to love
God by
loving
one another
and in
so doing
to show
that the
gospel is
real and
that the
gospel is
powerful.
God