Home Group Galatians 4:8-12

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CHAPTER 13: FULLY ADOPTED

THE MAIN TEXT FOR THIS CHAPTER IN LIVE IN LIBERTY CAN BE FOUND HERE.

1. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a slave with no hope of freedom—and then to have someone purchase you to set you free? What if that person then adopted you as a son or daughter?

2. Would your friends describe you as a joyful person? Do you think of yourself as joyful? Has your experience of joy changed since you first came to faith in Christ?

3. Some find it easy to accept God’s forgiveness of their sins, but struggle to accept the gift of Christ’s righteousness. How about you? Do you find yourself approaching your Christian life as if you had to earn what God has already given you?

4. Is your adoption into God’s family a new idea for you? Have you considered the parallels between your adoption and real-world adoptions?

5. J. I. Packer’s quote (Live in Liberty, 119) raises a key issue: seeing God as a judge versus seeing God as our father. Is one of these more natural for you?

6. What evidence do you see in your life that God has made you his child?

7. Is your conscience more informed by the Word of God (the gospel) or by culture and traditions?

8. Do you live like a son in God’s house? Or do you live like an accountant (Live in Liberty, 122)?

9. Reread the story of the Russian boys in the orphanage (Live in Liberty, 123–24). How well does “orphan” describe the way you live?

10. “The cry of your heart is evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched you and enabled your sonship” (Live in Liberty, 125). How often do you cry out for God?

CHAPTER 14:

Galatians 4:1–7 ESV
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 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.
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1. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a slave with no hope of freedom—and then to have someone purchase you to set you free? What if that person then adopted you as a son or daughter?
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2. Would your friends describe you as a joyful person? Do you think of yourself as joyful? Has your experience of joy changed since you first came to faith in Christ?

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2. If we are truly “adopted, Heirs” how would that make you feel? Would your friends describe you as a joyful person? Do you think of yourself as joyful? Has your experience of joy changed since you first came to faith in Christ?
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3. Some find it easy to accept God’s forgiveness of their sins, but struggle to accept the gift of Christ’s righteousness. How about you? Do you find yourself approaching your Christian life as if you had to earn what God has already given you?
​
​

4. Is your adoption into God’s family a new idea for you? Have you considered the parallels between your adoption and real-world adoptions?

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4. Is your adoption into God’s family a new idea for you? Have you considered the parallels between your adoption and real-world adoptions? What does adoption really mean?
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4. Is your adoption into God’s family a new idea for you? Have you considered the parallels between your adoption and real-world adoptions?

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5. J. I. Packer’s quote (Live in Liberty, 119) raises a key issue: seeing God as a judge versus seeing God as our father. Is one of these more natural for you?

5. J. I. Packer’s quote (Live in Liberty, 119) raises a key issue: seeing God as a judge versus seeing God as our father. Is one of these more natural for you?
Here is the quote:
Live in Liberty: The Spiritual Message of Galatians Chapter 13: Fully Adopted (Galatians 4:1–7)

The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.… Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.… The truth of our adoption gives us the deepest insights the New Testament affords into the greatness of God’s love.

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The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father.… Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.… The truth of our adoption gives us the deepest insights the New Testament affords into the greatness of God’s love.
6. What evidence do you see in your life that God has made you his child?
7. Is your conscience more informed by the Word of God (the gospel) or by culture and traditions? Or even feelings?
Use this quote for the next question.
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Live in Liberty: The Spiritual Message of Galatians God Sent His Son: The Gospel in Flesh and Blood

Adoption is a family idea conceived in terms of love and viewing God as Father. In adoption God takes us into his family and fellowship, establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection, and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the judge is a good thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.

8. Do you live like a son in God’s house? Or do you live like an accountant? Think about the prodigal son in . The older son looked to the father as if he “owed” him something by the “works” he did for him. The younger son just accepted grace and forgiveness and profited.
Think about the prodigal son in Luke 15
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9. Reread the story of the Russian boys in the orphanage (Live in Liberty, 123–24). How well does “orphan” describe the way you live?

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9.How well does “orphan” describe the way you live?
Here is a story to illustrate:
Russell Moore describes his sons’ unexpected difficulty after being adopted from the “squalor” of a Russian orphanage:
We nodded our thanks to the orphanage personnel and walked out into the sunlight, to the terror of the two boys. They’d never seen the sun, and they’d never felt the wind. They had never heard the sound of a car door slamming or had the sensation of being carried along at 100 miles an hour down a Russian road. I noticed that they were shaking, and reaching back to the orphanage in the distance.
I whispered to Sergei, now Timothy, “That place is a pit! If only you knew what’s waiting for you: a home with a Mommy and a Daddy who love you, grandparents, and great-grandparents and cousins and playmates … and McDonald’s Happy Meals!” But all they knew was the orphanage. It was squalid, but they had no other reference point, and it was home.
We knew the boys had acclimated to our home, that they trusted us, when they stopped hiding food in their highchairs. They knew there would be another meal coming, and they wouldn’t have to fight for the scraps. This was the new normal.… I still remember, though, those little hands reaching for the orphanage, and I see myself there
Bush, D., & Due, N. (2015). Live in Liberty: The Spiritual Message of Galatians (pp. 123–124). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
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10. “The cry of your heart is evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched you and enabled your sonship” (Live in Liberty, 125). How often do you cry out for God?

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10. “The cry of your heart is evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched you and enabled your sonship” (Live in Liberty, 125). How often do you cry out for God
​

10. “The cry of your heart is evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched you and enabled your sonship” (Live in Liberty, 125). How often do you cry out for God

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