NEW LIFE FOR A NEW YEAR

Another year. Someone once said, the days go by slowly but the years fly quickly.

It hardly seems possible that we are about to enter 2024.

Tomorrow, though, our calendars on our phones and other electronic equipment will display

2024

READ Galatians 4:4-7

Galatians 4:4–7 (HCSB)

When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those 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.

We have a different perspective on time than God. Paul, a first century Jewish follower of Jesus reminds a group of believers who are struggling to hold on the the truth about Jesus, that God has a plan.

The KJV - which most of us know - reads:

“But when the fullness of the time had come,” (Galatians 4:4, NKJV)

In the few sentences preceding this one Paul made a point about when a youngster is recognized as an adult, as an equal with other adults.

Each culture has different ways of indicating that moment.

For most of us it was that magical moment when we qualified for our drivers license.

When the time came…

Now we were adults! Ready to take on the world!

We knew once we had that license, HS graduation was near.

Watch out world…here we come!

For a group of young believers struggling to hold on to truth, Paul is reminding them - and you and me - God has a plan. We are not living in a random universe.

God is sovereign over the minutes, hours, days, months and years.

God sent His Son…

The birth of Jesus was no accident. The time and place of His birth was no coincidence.

Rather, the birth of Jesus was a deliberate choice, agreed upon the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Jesus was not ‘forced’ to take on human flesh.

Jesus willingly agreed, and He appeared as the gift of God.

…born of a woman…

If you think about it, God has multiple options when it came to sending Jesus.

The OT has multiple examples of God sending prophets, angels, even invading armies!

God had mulitple choices in making Himself known.

God chose to reveal Himself through a woman.

Though conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus experienced childbirth - in a way much like each of us.

…born under the law…

The world in which Jesus was born was ruled by two major powers.

First and most importantly for the Jewish folks, God’s Law as revealed through Moses and interpreted and explained by centuries of Rabbi’s was foundational.

The Ten Commandments were the basis of all 600 plus Jewish regulations.

Matthew 22:34-40

However, the Jews lived in an uneasy alliance with the Romans.

Matthew 22:15-22

Jesus grew up seeing Roman symbols of authority.

Eventually, with full support of the Jewish rulers, Jesus was put to death by Roman authority.

…to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption…

One Bible Dictionary defines the OT idea of redemption by referring to the Exodus:

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Redemption (Old Testament)

The archetypical act of divine redemption was God’s saving of Israel from Egyptian bondage. In Exodus, God redeems (gʾl) the Israelites from the suffering of Egypt and saves (nṣl) them from slavery (6:6) in order to make them His people (v 7) and to bring them to the promised land.

The same dictionary defines the NT use of the word like this:

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Redemption (New Testament)

In the NT, the notion of redemption carries two meanings. First, it is regarded as the work of God in delivering His people from spiritual bondage unto Himself, usually said to be at the expense of Christ’s death. Second, it is also associated with the eschatological deliverance and resurrection of God’s people at the Parousia of Christ.

Notice how Paul links the redemption God provides to the purpose for which He provides it:

…that we might receive adoption as sons/children

Although adoption was practiced in the Roman world, it is more likely Paul wrote about adoption from a thoroughly Jewish perspective.

In the Jewish world, adoption is more than a legal document. To be adopted, as Paul further explains, is to receive every right and benefit of the family into which one is adopted!

…because [we] are sons/children, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts…

Timothy George, a prolific writer and theologian writes,

Galatians ((2) The Radical Change: From Slavery to Sonship (4:1–7))

The Holy Spirit is the sign and pledge of our adoption so that by his presence in our hearts we are truly convinced that God is for us, not against us, that indeed he is our Heavenly Father …

Rather, the first, most basic indication of our adoption is that we have a new form of address for God. The Spirit invites us to join in his invocation, crying “Abba, Father.”

RESPOND AND REFLECT

In the first chapter of this letter, Paul expresses his concern:

Galatians 1:6 HCSB

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

Paul ends his letter with these often quoted words:

Galatians 6:14 HCSB

But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.

Let me add the words of David Platt, a contemporary American pastor:

With the true gospel in your heart and with God as your prize, press on, and don’t hold back.

For discouraged, disillusioned, damaged, doubting, and divided Christians, and, most importantly, for the next generation, who longs to see more of Christ.

Platt, David. Don't Hold Back: Leaving Behind the American Gospel to Follow Jesus Fully. The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.