Untitled Sermon (2)

Introduction:

SCRIPTURE: I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were ENSLAVED to the elementary principles of the world. But 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.

STORY: chains

PROPOSITION: Christ gives FREEDOM for the CAPTIVE and makes us SONS and DAUGHTERS of God.

INTERROGATIVE:

TRANSITION:

POINT 1: Little KIDS

Slavery is our NATURAL state. Without the grace of Jesus to make us sons and daughters of God we are stuck trying to earn favor with God which makes us slaves to a standard we don’t live up to! The good news is that God made a way through His Son Jesus to experience life with Him without the need to earn His favor and love but when we don’t operate out of faith we turn back to trying to earn God’s love which means we turn back to the slavery that God set us free from!

When we rely on anything BUT GOD, we become CHAINED not CHANGED.

What are you slave to? What are you most likely to run back to when you feel far from God? What is it that makes you feel comforted in yourself when you don’t get your way or your mind tells you that God isn’t there?

POINT 2: The BUY OUT

Redeem: Release a slave from his or her owner by paying the slaves full price. The slave master is the law and Jesus paid our full price to the law to set us free.

BUT GOD! We have been bought by Jesus’ blood! We have been released from the chains that have hindered us from living the life that God intended for us! In the Roman world a childless, wealthy man could take one of his servants and adopt him. At the moment of adoption, he ceased to be a slave and received all the financial and legal privileges within the estate and outside in the world as the son and heir. Though by birth he was a slave without a relationship with the father, he now receives the legal status of son. It is a new life of privilege. It is a remarkable metaphor for what Jesus has given to us.

Jesus REMOVED the curse that WE deserved AND gave us the BLESSING He deserved. Many times we don’t realize or understand that God not only saved us FROM our sins but He transferred to us the rights and privileges of a SON in the Kingdom of God. When we don’t understand that we have been saved from our sin and to sonship or daughtership we are so much more likely to receive the pardon and try to continue to earn God’s favor by living the good life. Jesus has taken us off of death row AND hung around our neck the Medal of Honor. We are RECEIVED and WELCOMED as HEROES, as if we had accomplished extraordinary deeds.

When we live without the understanding of our position in Christ we become anxious and depressed every time we sin or fail. Jesus has wiped our slate clean AND written His RIGHTEOUSNESS onto it.

Your inheritance isn’t a PRIZE to be WON but a GIFT that was GIVEN.

Then you have the work of the Spirit that has been given to us. The Son’s purpose was to secure for us the legal status of sons and daughters but the Spirit’s purpose is to secure the ACTUAL EXPERIENCE of it. The Spirit allows us to experience the life that we live in the freedom that Christ has given us. Holy Spirit allows us to cry out Abba! Father! in a deep and profound and personal way to God. Do you prepare speeches when you talk to your parents? Not most of the time. The Spirit allows us to talk to God in a personal and free way knowing He is present with us at all times. When do you like to talk to God the most?

POINT 3: Rich RULERS

God will HONOR us as He honors His SON. If you think about the times that we act out towards God, question Him, sin against Him, it usually happens when at a deeper level we are struggling with our fulfillment in Him and our worry that we have lost approval from God. When we are in Christ that cannot happen. THAT IS FREEDOM. God treats us as if we did everything that Jesus has done.

We can take two specific steps we can take in order to have a deeper experience of our sonship. First, we must put aside significant time to study the work of the Son, asking the Spirit to illuminate us and make it real to us.

Second, we must cry out to God spontaneously throughout the day. We must address the issues of everyday life by remembering His fatherly love. We have to ask the question: Am I acting like a slave who is afraid of God, or like a child who is assured of my Father’s love? And as we cry out to God daily the Spirit does His work assuring us that we are God’s children and our hearts are flooded with assurance.

APPLICATION:

Is adoption as a son or daughter of King Jesus something that you experience as well as understand? How can you meditate on the Son’s work more, and ask the Spirit to work on your affections more?

When are you most in danger of living as a slave, and not a son?