Back in November 2013, three women were rescued from a 30 year ordeal. They'd been kept prisoners in a house in South London, it was an ordinary South London street.
! They'd been kept there, probably by cult leaders, imprisoned, enslaved, seldom allowed out, excluded from normal society, constantly living in fear, having to try and please the people
who had kept them slaves. Now I can't imagine what that ordeal must have been like, but I can imagine they would never choose to go back to it. I can imagine they would never want to go back to being slaves again.
Although I also can imagine that after 30 years of other people dominating your life, to suddenly have freedom would be a very strange thing, and a hard thing to get used to.
And no doubt they'd still live with the fears of those days, and the traumas of those days, for a long time to come.
And perhaps at times they would, they'd perhaps default to some of the behaviour they had when they were slaves, perhaps seeking approval of others.
What Paul is telling us, and telling the Galatians here, is that if you have faith in Christ, then you have been set free.
Like those women rescued from that house. You are no longer a slave, but you are free.
The trouble is for the Galatians, they were being tempted to go back into slavery.
They were being tempted to feel like they had to earn the right to be God's people.
That they had to do things to get closer to God, to get more secure.
I think actually that's a temptation for all of us.
We're so conditioned by our culture to think you don't get something for nothing.
We have to work for everything, don't we?
I was in a coffee shop just now, sitting next to some poor guy with his headphones on, reading an A-level chemistry textbook.
I think I know what he's slaving away for.
Brings back memories of a long, long time ago.
But we know we have to earn to achieve, in most cases.
And so often we can behave like that towards God as well.
We find it hard to trust that God's good promises in Christ are really unconditional.
And I think part of that is an underlying form of pride.
Actually we want to achieve something.
We want to feel like we've contributed.
We had a young lady come to our door a few weeks ago, trying to sell one of these fancy food delivery company things.
And the basic idea was, for a small sum of money, more than we could pay,
we could have these fresh ingredients, already chopped up, delivered to us.
Why do companies do that?
It's so we feel we've prepared our own food, even though actually somebody else has measured it all out,
weighed it all up, chopped it all up.
We can feel virtuous, because we cook the food.
Well, you feel less virtuous, you just shove it, the Tesco's ready meal, into your microwave and press it.
Start, don't you?
See, it's pride.
We want to feel we've achieved something.
There's two things, pride and fear.
It can be ruinous for us.
And that's what Paul is getting at here.
He wants us to show that simply through faith in Christ,
simply through trusting what Jesus has done,
God gives us great blessings, great promises.
In fact, to sum up these two particular blessings here in two words.
Inclusion and adoption.
See, inclusion in verses 25 to 29,
and adoption in verses 1 to 7.
We all want to be included, don't we?
None of us wants to be an outsider.
That's why we often hear that we are supposed to be an inclusive society.
No one's left out.
Of course, that's not true.
Secularism never manages to do that.
It always excludes some people.
But here we find in Christ, all are included, who trust in him.
A sense of both inclusion and adoption, if you look at verse 25.
But now that faith, that is Christ, the object of our faith, has come and lived and died for us,
now faith has come, we're no longer under a guardian,
we've no longer got the law to tell us what to do,
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.
So through faith and faith alone we have inclusion and adoption.
Let's look at inclusion first.
We're part of a new community,
where once we were prisoners, enslaved, now we belong.
Look at verse 26, summed up there.
Paul says, starts at verse 26,
for in Christ you are all sons of God through faith.
What does it mean to be in Christ?
To be in Christ means to be joined to him,
to be planted into him.
It means that what is true of Jesus becomes true of us.
So Jesus died and was raised to life.
So our old selves have died,
and we've been raised to new life.
We are new people if we've trusted in Christ.
Paul gives us two little pictures in verse 27,
what being in Christ means,
or how it comes about.
So verse 27,
for as many as you were baptised into Christ
have put on Christ.
Being baptised in water is a sign
and a seal of being a member of God's covenant people.
It's a sign of being united to Christ.
It's a physical outward sign
of a spiritual inward reality.
And it's interesting what Paul says here.
He doesn't say baptism is a sign
that you told the world you believed in Jesus.
He says, no, baptism is a sign
of what God has done to you.
It's not a public declaration of your faith,
rather it's a public demonstration
of God's promises.
That you've trusted in him,
you've been washed and sealed
and united to Christ.
So baptism is a sign,
a picture of that.
Paul also goes on to say,
put on Christ,
verse 27.
Put on Christ.
Where I live in Isleworth,
I'm not too far from
Austley Underground Station,
quite often we see people
walking down our road
in blue uniforms,
I don't mean police,
dragging little
trolleys behind them,
little wheelie bags behind them,
and they're clearly
British Airways staff.
They're clothed in
British Airways uniform,
they're obviously on their way
to Heathrow.
The clothes they put on,
tell us who they belong to.
They're clothed in British Airways,
that's their identity.
That's their identity.
And think about clothes.
What is the closest thing to you?
It's your clothes, isn't it?
I got an extra jumper just now
because I realised I had
coffee spilled all over my shirt.
Clothes cover you, don't they?
Clothes are what people see.
They're also close to you.
So being in Christ means
that is your identity,
like those British Airways staff.
It means you're close to Christ,
you're covered with him.
It means that's your character,
it's what people see
as they look at you.
And this is a great change.
When we trust in Christ,
formerly we were imprisoned.
Verse 23, Paul said that.
We couldn't be free,
we were slaves,
like those poor women
rescued from that house
in South London.
But now we are included in Christ,
included in Christ,
and therefore included
in Christ's people,
this new community.
Look at verse 28.
Here there is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free,
there is no male or female,
for you're all one in Christ Jesus.
Paul is saying you're now included
in this new community.
All the old social divisions
are broken down.
Jew and Greek,
Jew and Gentile was the biggest division
in the world of Paul's day.
Male and female was a big division.
A first century Jewish man
would pray every day,
thanking God that he was not born
a Gentile,
a dog,
or a woman.
Now Paul said all those old distinctions
are all gone.
You're all united in Christ.
The gender distinctions,
the socio-economic differences,
the racial differences,
no longer matter.
Now let's be clear for what this
doesn't mean.
It doesn't mean
everyone is the same
in Christ Jesus.
Jews still spoke Aramaic,
Greeks still spoke Greek.
Today, in this room,
many of us come from
different nations,
different backgrounds.
The cultures that we grew up in
are still part of this.
It's not that those differences
disappear.
Equally,
there are still differences
between men and women.
And in the Bible story,
and in the biblical teaching,
there are different roles
for men and women.
It doesn't mean
we're not equally valid
and equally loved by God,
but it does mean
there is a distinction
in our roles.
So that's what it doesn't mean.
What it does mean
is that no one
is excluded
because of their race,
because of their
socio-economic class,
because of their gender.
So the Galatians
were being taught
that they had to obey
a whole lot of Jewish laws.
If they really wanted
to be close to God,
if they really wanted
to be secure,
they had to go and obey
the Old Testament law.
And what that did
was created
at least a two-tier system
that the Jews
were really in
and really loved
and the others
who weren't.
They weren't quite
up to standard.
Paul was saying,
no,
we are all one
in Christ Jesus.
All his distinctions
are God
because what matters now
is faith in Christ.
Now,
what about us today?
We maybe don't think
we have to obey
the Jewish laws
to be more loved
by God.
But do you think
that some types
of people are
closer to God
than you are?
More loved,
more accepted?
See, here's a test.
Do you look at some people
and think,
oh, they're much better
Christians than I am.
They must be
more loved by God.
Or do you despair
sometimes
that there's something
in your life
that means you just
haven't,
you're just not
quite good enough.
you could never
make the grade.
Or perhaps
something in your
background
makes you feel
inferior in some way.
Or do you look
at other churches
other than the one
you go to
and think,
they don't really
have it.
You know,
their theology
isn't as good
as ours.
They do some
really weird
and wacky things.
So you think
like that,
if we think like that,
I think we probably
haven't really got
what Paul is saying here.
What matters
to be accepted
by God.
What matters
to be included
in his people
is not what
we've done,
not how good
our theology is,
not our
socioeconomic status,
but what Christ
has done.
There's no advantage
or disadvantage
in being a Jew
or a Greek,
in being British
or American,
in being a man
or a woman,
in being rich
or poor,
in being middle
class or working
class.
All these
distinctions are
transcended by
this new reality.
We have faith
in Christ,
we are one
in Christ Jesus.
We are included.
We are included
in God's people.
And that,
by the way,
is the one mark
of being included
in God's people.
That ties into
Christ,
faith in Christ.
So Paul is saying,
do you want to
enjoy the privilege
of belonging
to the one truly
multicultural society
on earth?
Then you need to
just trust in Jesus.
Don't try and add
to what Jesus
has done.
Don't try and
make yourself
better and more
loved by obeying
certain rules.
Don't trust in
your own performance
or your own
niceness or your
own church gang.
Trust in Christ
alone.
It is in him
that we are
included.
This is the first
privilege we have
through faith in
Christ,
is inclusion.
Included in Christ,
included in Christ's
community.
We are connected
to one another,
united to him.
That is the first
privilege to enjoy.
The second
privilege then is
adoption into a
new family.
We will go down
to verses 1-7.
See the people
from a Jewish
background in these
days could have
thought there was
something special.
So we were given
the law.
We have all this
Old Testament
history behind us.
You Gentile
believers, you
people who have
only just believed
this gospel message
about Jesus Christ,
you are a
benufferian.
you are not
quite as good
as us.
That is why you
need to live up
to our standards.
But look what
Paul says,
even about the
Jews.
Chapter 4,
verse 1.
I mean that the
heir, as long
as he is a child,
is no different
from a slave,
even though he is
the owner of
everything.
Now Paul is
using an
illustration that
would have been
well understood
by the people
of his day.
In the Roman
world, a son
in a wealthy
family would
stand to
inherit everything.
Inherit a house,
inherit all the
slaves,
inherit all the
land,
inherit the
business.
So there's a
sense that she
had everything
coming to him,
but while he
was a child,
he didn't
actually own
anything.
In fact,
while he was
a child,
he had a
slave assigned
to him as
his guardian,
as his
teacher.
And that's
what Paul is
referring to
back in
verse 24,
when he says
that so then
the law was
our guardian
until Christ
came.
So this
guardian slave
would be there
to teach and
instruct and
train up the
child.
Paul says
the law
that was
given to
Israel was
just that.
It was a
guardian sent
to instruct,
to show
Israel their
need for a
true saviour.
That's why he
goes on to
carry on in
chapter 4.
Paul says,
this child is
unbegadians
and marriages
until the
date set by
his father.
In the same
way we also,
when we were
children,
were enslaved
to the
elementary
principles of
this world.
See,
Paul's saying
even the
old Jewish
law,
where people
tried to
follow it,
ignoring Christ
and thinking
they could
earn their
way to God,
they were
actually just
being slaves
to the
elementary
principles of
this world.
What are
those elementary
principles of
the world?
Well,
they're the
basic religious
ideas that
you find in
any culture
around the
world.
The basic
religious idea
that to be
accepted,
to be on
God's side,
you need to
achieve,
you need to
do certain
things,
you need to
live up to
what God
wants.
And that
ends up in
slavishly
trying to
keep rules
which we
can never
keep.
See,
that Old
Testament
law was
never supposed
to perform
that function.
It was
always supposed
to teach
the people
of Israel
that they
were sinners,
they could
never be good
enough for
God.
It was to
teach them
that they
needed someone
that sin,
rebellion against
God,
failing to live
up to God's
standards,
always deserved
death.
And it was to
teach them they
needed somebody
else to die
so they could
have the life
and promises
God gave.
But it was
often misused.
So instead
they used it
as a way of
feeling they
could earn
God's favour.
Paul says
that is
nonsense.
Why?
Well look at
verse 4.
When the
fullness of
time had
come,
God sent
forth his
son,
born of
woman,
born under
the law,
to redeem
those under
the law,
so that we
might receive
the adoption
as sons.
See,
the fullness
of time
refers to
that illustration
again.
The father
would set a
date when
his child
could inherit
everything.
And God
finally sent
his own
son,
the Lord
Jesus,
at just
the right
time.
Born of
a woman,
Paul says,
an echo
of the very
first great
promise back
in Genesis
chapter 3
verse 15,
when God
had promised
Adam and
Eve that
one day
someone would
come who
would end
Satan's reign
on the world,
he would be
born of a
woman.
And Paul
adds,
born under
the law.
In other
words,
Jesus was
born in
Nazareth,
in Palestine,
born as a
Jew,
circumcised on
the eighth
day,
keeping that
law all
his life.
But unlike
every other
human being,
he kept it
perfectly.
His life was
marked by
obedience to
that law.
And that is
why,
Paul says,
he could
redeem those
who are
under the
law.
See,
Jesus fulfilled
all the
obligations.
He loved
God with
all his
heart,
mind,
soul and
strength.
He loved
his neighbours
himself.
He kept
the law
perfectly,
which all
of us
fail to
do.
And then
he took
the curse,
the punishment
for breaking
the law,
which you
and I
deserve.
Let me
put it
like this,
Jesus lived
the life
that you
and I
could never
live,
and he
died the
death that
you and
I deserve
to die.
And in
doing so,
he redeemed
us,
he rescued
us from
the curse
of the
law.
Like the
police going
into that
house in
South London,
getting those
women out.
Jesus entered
into our
world,
took our
punishment,
and got
us out.
See,
we needed
Jesus'
perfect
obedience to
fulfil the
law,
we needed
Jesus'
death to
take the
curse of
the law
for us.
And what's
the result
of all
that?
Look at
verse 5,
the end
of it.
So that
we might
receive
adoption
as
sons.
No
longer
slaves,
no
longer
imprisoned,
but adopted
as sons.
Now what
happens when
a child is
adopted?
What happens
when a child
is adopted?
Well for a
start they
suddenly have
a family
where once
presumably
they may
have been
in care,
maybe living
in an orphanage
somewhere.
They receive
a new name,
they take
the family
name,
they get a
new identity,
a new
security,
they're loved,
they're indeed
chosen by
their parents.
Instead of
being excluded,
now they're
loved and
brought in.
And any
disadvantages of
their natural
circumstances
are done
away with.
If they
were born
into poverty
or born
unwanted
and deprived,
whatever.
Suddenly
those problems,
those natural
consequences
are being
dealt with,
may take time
for that to
work itself
out,
but they
are dealt
with,
they have
a fresh
and wonderful
new start.
And so
it is for
Christians.
When we
trust in
Christ,
we're
immediately
adopted by
the Father.
That's
his whole
purpose.
He wants
to adopt
us into
his family.
And that
is the
wonderful
truth of
the good
news.
If we've
trusted in
Christ,
we're
adopted.
We have
a Father
who loves
us.
Can I
ask you,
how do you
think of
God?
How do you
think of
God?
Do you
have this
image in
your mind
of a
distant,
stern,
taskmaster
who needs
to be
obeyed,
who gets
fed up
with you
a lot?
Is that
how you
think of
him?
Paul is
telling us
here we
can think
of him
as our
Father in
Heaven.
Now I
know some
of us in
this room
have had
terrible
fathers.
Maybe they
ran away,
maybe they
took no
responsibility,
maybe they
were abusive.
But even
if you've
had a bad
father,
you know
what a
good father
should have
looked like,
don't you?
At every
point you
would critique
your own
father,
you know
what a
good father
should look
like.
And here
we have a
father in
Heaven,
if we've
trusted in
Christ,
the perfect
father.
We do
not need
to own
his love,
rather he's
given his
own son,
so you can
be adopted
as his
child.
So those
women who
were freed
back in
November
2013,
they had a
lot to get
used to,
freedom in
the new
world.
But they'd
gone from
being imprisoned
and kept
apart from
society,
now they're
included.
They'd gone
from being
slaves to
being free.
Maybe they
weren't quite
adopted because
they were all
adults.
Perhaps they
were at least
adopted into
some communities
that would
look after
them.
This is
what freedom
means.
It means
freedom from
fear of
rejection because
of our
failure.
Freedom to be
included and
adopted and
loved.
Not because
of what we've
done but
because of
what Christ
has done.
It means
freedom from
our habits
and failings.
Look at
verse 6.
What does
Paul say
there?
Because you
are sons,
God has
sent the
spirit of
his son
into our
hearts,
crying,
Abba,
Father.
The Holy
Spirit changes
us and
enables us to
know we
are adopted
by God.
It also
means freedom
from fear
about the
future for
a real hope
of the future.
Look at
verse 7.
If you're
no longer
a slave
but a
son,
and if
a son,
then an
heir through
God.
An heir.
You have
an inheritance
to look
forward to.
A future
living forever
in God's
place with
all God's
people,
the new
family you're
included into
with our
Lord Jesus
Christ,
our big
brother,
in that new
creation.
That is the
inheritance.
And how
does all
this come?
Through our
own hard
work,
through our
own niceness,
Jesus.
Now look
at those
last two
words of
verse 7.
It comes
through
God,
through what
he has
done.
Let's
pray.