The Family of God

If you have lived very long, you have realized that the family you are a part of has a tremendous impact on who you are and who you become.

Research shows that growing up in a dysfunctional family may have cause someone to not know how to live without chaos and get bored easily. It may lead to someone not learning how to ask for help when they need it, a fear of abandonment, have a hard time forming personal and professional relationships, and more.[1]

Some of you may have even cut off contact with your family because of some of the patterns there.

Others of you may have a good or even great family.

Every family on earth has some dysfunction, but you may have grown up in a relatively stable home with supportive parents. You get along with your siblings, and although life has been hard, you know you have that support system behind you when it gets tough.

Regardless of how functional or dysfunctional your earthly family may be, if you are here this morning and you are in Christ, you are a part of the greatest family in history—you are a part of God’s family.

That line may sound cheesy, but I want you to see from Galatians 3:26-4:7 this morning that being a part of God’s family brings incredible blessings.

Let’s put this passage into context.

We are still in the theological section of Galatians. Next week, we start looking at the “how should we live now?” parts.

Paul has been contrasting the gospel and salvation by faith with a teaching that was becoming popular in Galatia, which was that you had to obey all the commands of the Mosaic Law to be right with God.

So far in our study, we have seen what the gospel is and we have talked about the fact that we have been justified, legally declared righteous before God. Our old self was crucified with Jesus and now he is living in us.

We saw last week that if we are in Christ, we have evidence from our own life we can look back on and see that God saved us by faith and not by works.

When we trusted in Christ, he gave us his Spirit who continues to help us grow more and more like Jesus. We may have endured difficult times, but none of them are wastes as we seek to honor God. He miraculously made us alive with Christ, and all these things confirm that he saves us through faith.

In the parts we are jumping over, Paul has continued to highlight the difference between the role the law played and what God did in us through the gospel.

We are jumping in at the end of one of his arguments, but instead of looking at the argument itself, we are going to look at the truths Paul is affirming.

Pick up in 3:26...

Through faith in Jesus and his sacrifice, you and I become sons of God.

By the way, we will talk more about this in a minute, but you may notice that it says we are all “sons,” where other translations say “children.”

You can translate it either way, but there is a reason why we look at both men and women in Christ as sons of God.

In those days and cultures, sons had unique rights that daughters didn’t, especially when it came to inheritances.

By calling us all sons, Paul is telling us that whether we are men or women, we all receive the full inheritance and rights that God gives us.

So then, regardless of your earthly family, if we have placed our faith in Christ, then we are all sons of God.

Sounds neat, but what does that mean?

In the next several verses, we are going to see at least four implications of the reality that we are sons of God.

It’s a little bit of a longer passage, but let’s read 3:27-4:7, and then we are going to come back and look at some specific implications.

As a part of a new family:

1) God changes our clothes.

Well, that sounds a bit disappointing, doesn’t it?

You are now a child of God! Congratulations, you have a new outfit!

However, look back at verse 27.

This isn’t referring to physical baptism, although that is an important symbol of what God has done.

Remember that the word “baptize” means “immerse,” so this is referring to the fact that we have been immersed into Christ, wrapping our identity up in him.

If you are familiar with the Bible, then this picture shouldn’t surprise you.

We often see salvation talked about in terms of taking off our old, dirty clothes and putting on new ones.

One of my favorite demonstrations of this is a vision God gives to the prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 3.

He sees the high priest, a man named Joshua, cleansed ceremonially and given new robes.

We see this language here in Galatians and also in Ephesians and other places.

Our old, sinful way of life has been taken off, and now we have been clothed with the righteousness only God can give us.

We have been immersed into Christ by faith.

For the Galatians, though, there would have been another symbol here.

When a young man in their society reached maturity, his parents would give him a special toga that showed he was ready to be an adult citizen.

When we come to Christ, we aren’t just God’s children; we are God’s sons who enjoy all the rights and privileges of adulthood.

How are those clothes changed? Is it because we finally prove ourselves worthy of it?

No; remember verss 26 - “through faith.”

Someone who is a grammarian tell me: is the phrase “have been clothed” active voice or passive voice?

Passive, that’s right. That means someone else clothed us, not ourselves.

Again, your salvation rests in Christ and Christ alone. God is the one who immersed you into Christ and clothed you with him.

As his son, God has changed your clothes.

You are in Christ.

You have all the rights of a son of God.

Do you act like that, or do you feel like you don’t matter and your life isn’t all that significant?

God cares so deeply that he has wrapped you in Jesus; he has given you his Spirit to create a new identity in you.

Maybe there is something else that makes you feel insignificant.

Perhaps it is your racial background or how much money you have or what you do for a living.

If that’s the case, I have some great news for you.

When God draws us into his family, he also:

2) God removes our divisions.

3:28 is one of the more popular verses in Galatians, and with good reason!

Let’s make sure we understand it correctly, though.

In fact, if you have been following the recent controversies in the SBC, you might have a question about what this means.

Follow along with me while we read it again...

So does this verse mean that things like gender and race don’t matter anymore?

The SBC recently took a firm stand that we believe women are not allowed to serve as pastors—does this verse contradict that?

That isn’t what this passage means because we have other passages that are clear on these issues, so this can’t contradict what God says elsewhere.

What Paul is highlighting is that the full experience of being adopted into God’s family is available to everyone regardless of their race, their gender, or their social status.

In the Old Testament, people who weren’t physical descendants of Abraham could be right with God, but they missed out on some of the benefits of being in the covenant family. The other groups mentioned had similar issues.

However, in the New Covenant, everyone who places faith in Christ gets to enjoy all the rights and blessings of being sons of God.

How, then, should we look at issues like race and gender?

When we get saved, God doesn’t destroy our distinctiveness, but he does remove our divisions.

In other words, men are still men and women are still women. Racial differences still exist, and our preferences may still be different.

However, because we are all part of God’s family and all united around Christ, those distinctions don’t divide us anymore.

In his book Oneness Embraced, black pastor and author Tony Evans says it this way:

“The church is the place where racial, gender, and class distinctions are no longer to be divisive because our unity and identity is in Christ (Gal. 3:28). This does not negate differences that remain intact—oneness simply means that those differences are embraced. Joining our unique strengths together, we add strength to strength, making a more complete and balanced whole based on our mutual relationship with and commitment to Christ.”

[2]

Men and women reflect God’s character and nature in different ways. Many predominantly black churches have strengths in areas where many predominantly white churches struggle and vice versa. Those who have less economically sometimes have stronger faith than those who have more resources to rely on.

Christ doesn’t erase those distinctions; instead, we are united around him and bring our own strengths and weaknesses to the table.

We cannot let these things divide us, however.

As brothers in Christ, then, we are all family! That’s what we see in verse 29

Everyone who is in Christ is a descendant of Abraham.

If you were with us a few months ago, that ought to sound really familiar.

God called this man named Abraham to be the father of many nations. God told him that his descendants would be a blessing to the world, and that he would uniquely bless those born in his family.

Biologically, the physical descendants of Abraham are the Jewish people.

However, the true descendants of Abraham are the ones who, just like Abraham, believe in the one true God.

Regardless of our ethnic background, our social status, or any other factor that might divide us, we have been adopted into his family.

In fact, Paul next turns his attention to discussing that issue of adoption, which is the third implication of being in God’s family:

3) God affirms our adoption.

The next few verses get a little confusing because Paul is referring back to some of the ideas we skipped over.

When God gave the Law in the Old Testament, we were like children who were still learning how to live. The law was teaching us what was right and wrong, but by itself, it couldn’t make us alive.

Now, pick up in verse 4-6.

When the time was right, God sent Jesus to pay for the sins that the law showed us but we couldn’t pay for ourselves.

He came to buy us back, not just as his children, but also as his sons.

In Christ, we are adopted into his family fully and have all the rights and all the privileges that God provides.

One of the amazing privileges is that the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us.

While he is doing a lot of things in us, one of the roles he plays in our lives is to affirm in our hearts that we have been adopted by God.

When you feel alone, when you feel worthless, when you feel like you will never be able to overcome that sin issue, or whatever it is, you have the Spirit in you who cries out to your heavenly Father.

He reminds us of the fact that we belong to God. That gives us comfort and peace when we rest in our relationship to him. He brings conviction by reminding us when we sin that we are a part of a family that act like that. He gives us purpose and value by reminding us that we are a part of a family that is better than any other on earth.

Again, remember how God adopted you in the first place.

He didn’t look out and choose you because you were smart or pretty or strong or rich or anything like that—it wasn’t even because you were good!

Go back to 3:26 - It is by faith that God drew you into his family. He loves you because he loves you!

You are his child because he adopted you, and that will never change.

In case that were somehow not enough, we see one final implication of being drawn into his family:

4) God increases our inheritance.

You are a son of God, and as a son of God, you now receive an inheritance.

We see that in 4:7...

Now this inheritance is a little different than the one you might receive from a family member, because you only receive that after the family member dies.

God isn’t going to die, so this inheritance is actually something we receive parts of now and the fulness of later.

We actually just talked about some of the blessing we receive when we were talking about the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians tells us that we receive all the spiritual blessings that God has to offer, so that includes conviction, forgiveness, comfort, peace, strength, God’s presence, wisdom, and so much more.

One day, when get to heaven, there is even more laid up for us. Listen to how Peter describes it:

1 Peter 1:3–5 CSB

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

When we get to heaven, or if Jesus culminates his kingdom before then, we will get to experience the blessings that will come with being citizens and sons in the greatest kingdom the world has ever known.

We don’t know all that will entail, but it is going to be unbelievably glorious.

Here’s the thing, though. In a passage similar to what Paul wrote here in Galatians 4, he says this:

Romans 8:16–17 CSB

The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

We are heirs of the glory, but for now, we are also heirs who join with him in his suffering.

Christ was ridiculed, rejected, and maligned. He was hung on a cross to die.

Although we are a part of God’s family, we are not exempt from suffering and pain.

If Jesus, who is the only Son of God by nature and not by adoption, had to suffer, then we can expect that we will too.

We will share in his glory, but only after we share in his suffering now.

It is in those painful moments that we climb into our Father’s lap, when the Spirit inside us cries out to our loving Father, when we draw our strength and our peace from him, that we know the first taste of our inheritance.

It is in that moment when we get together with other believers, regardless of where they grew up or how their skin looks or how much money they have, and together we honor our God and Father together that we begin to understand what it is like to be a part of his family.

By the way, here’s what the Bible says about all the pain you and I are enduring. Right after he says we will suffer with Christ and be glorified with him, Paul writes:

Romans 8:18 CSB

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

It may be hard to see in the moment, but one day, all the pain you and I have endured for Christ will pale in comparison to the glory we have as sons of God.

So, with all that said, aren’t you glad you are part of the family of God?

Endnote:

[1] https://psychcentral.com/blog/dysfunctional-families-and-their-psychological-effects#5

[2] Tony Evans, Oneness Embraced: A Kingdom Race Theology for Reconciliation, Unity, and Justice (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2022). 40-41.