November 1, 2020 Casual Service

GROW UP Galatians 4:1-20 November 1, 2020 How do you know when you've made the transition from child to adult? How do you know when you have matured enough to be taken seriously? What are the markers and indicators which show you have finally grown up? Preparing for All Saints today got me thinking about my own ancestors, my own relatives. This is my grandfather Ellison; my father's father. He grew up in Oregon. He left home when he was 15 to begin working full time on a new dam on the Willamette river. Fifteen years old and he was living in a laborers camp working with the rest of the men. When he was 16 he moved to San Francisco to see if there was work. An earthquake had leveled the entire city, and he - along with thousands of other men - went looking for work. When he was 17 he moved to a ranch on the Colorado Wyoming border. He was out riding fence-line when the snow came early, and he spent an entire winter snowed in a line shack, all by himself. Seventeen years old. When he finally made it back to camp he was sitting in a poker game when the player on his right shot the player on his left for cheating. At age 18 he was driving the stagecoach between Laramie and Cheyenne. When I was growing up I thought of myself as mature; more mature than my contemporaries. But, there was no way I was ready to strike out into the world at 15. And, there isn't any argument my children could have given me to make me agree with letting them leave home that young. You might say, well - it was a different world back then. And, to a degree, becoming an adult is cultural. In Paul's day there was a very specific point in time when Jewish boys became men.1 On the first Sabbath after his 12th birthday his father took him to the Synagogue, where he became a 'Son of the Law'. The father would pray a blessing - Blessed are you, O God, who has taken from me the responsibility for this boy. Then the boy, now a man, recited a memorized prayer. O my God, and God of my fathers! On this solemn and sacred day, which marks my passage from boyhood to manhood, I humbly raise my eyes to you, and declare, with sincerity and truth, that henceforth I will keep your commandments, and bear the responsibility of my actions towards you. Voila - he's a man! At the same time in Greece, boys were raised by their mothers from birth until age 7. From 7 to 18 they were raised by their fathers. From 18 to 20, the boy was turned over to the government and raised by the state. At graduation from state school he was drafted into a specific clan, his hair was cut off, and burned as an offering to the gods. At that moment he became a man. So, 12 years old in Israel, 20 in Greece. Meanwhile in Rome, the age of majority wasn't fixed. A boy became a man somewhere between 14 and 17. As a child he wore a toga praetexta; a white toga with a purple stripe. When his parents decided he was ready, a sacred festival called a Liberalia was held. The purple stripe was ripped from the toga - leaving him with an all white toga - a toga virilis. His family and relatives escorted him to the public market, the forum, where his manhood was declared to the entire city. What is common to all these practices is - at some point, we must grow up. We can't behave, and believe, like children all our lives. At some point, we must step up and become adults. Eventually, unlike Peter Pan, everyone must grow up. I'm talking about this because of what Paul writes in today's text. Remember, the big topic is - Jesus is enough. You don't need to become a Jew to be saved. You don't need to follow all those rules in the Old Testament to get saved. Jesus is enough. Today Paul gives another example. A boy who has not yet become a man; he is not recognized as an adult, and his father dies.2 When that happens the boy inherits the estate, but he isn't allowed any authority or control. He doesn't get to tell the gardeners, or the repairmen, or the accountants what happens. Someone else is appointed to oversee the estate. They make all the decisions. In fact, depending on the age of the boy, they may make decisions like what clothes he wears today, and what he will eat for supper. The boy is the Lord of the manner. But, until he grows up he has absolutely no control over anything. And Paul says, in that respect, this boy is no different than a slave. He may be financially rich - technically - but what does it matter. Just like a slave he doesn't have any say in where the money goes or what it buys. And, Paul writes, that's just like you and me under the Law. The rules tell us what to do, and when to do it. We don't have any say. Because, spiritually, we haven't grown up. Then, one day, Jesus redeems us. The Greek word for redeem, exagorazō, is the same word for buying a slave. We were slaves to sin, until Jesus bought us. And, Paul says, not only did Jesus buy us - but then he adopted us. Here's the thing about that. In Jesus' day you didn't adopt children.3 You adopted grownups. Who knows how a child will turn out? The baby you adopt may turn out to be a complete mess as an adult. You might hate that child when they reach maturity. So, to make sure you like your adopted heir, you adopt a grownup. Paul says when we were under the Law, we were like a slave - something else made all our decisions for us. But, when Jesus redeemed us, and adopted us - we were declared grown up. Suddenly, we run the estate. Suddenly, we decide what happens to the money. Suddenly, choosing to live a life pleasing to the Lord God, is our own choice. We don't live righteously because the Law says we have to. We live righteously because we want to. We like pleasing our Father. Then, Paul writes something a little confusing. He says, 'Why would you give up being an adult, and return to being a slave to the elements?' That's a really confusing phrase. At this time they believed there were only four elements; water, fire, air, and earth. Everything is made up of a combination of those four elements. So, Paul might be saying - why do you want to go back to worshipping the world?4 Pagans worship trees, and lakes. Why do you want to let go of Jesus and worship nature? Most people believed God used angels to control nature. A thunderstorm is one angel blowing real hard, another angel making lightning, and another angel making thunder. So, maybe Paul is accusing the Galatians of trying to embrace angel worship.5 Gentiles believed the same things, only they believed demons controlled nature, not angels. Thunderstorms are evil, so it must be demons making the lightning. In that case Paul is accusing the Galatians of trying to adopt demon worship. However, the word Paul uses originally meant order and structure.6 It was used to describe bricks laid in a perfect row, or soldiers standing in perfect battle lines. And, if that's the case, Paul is saying - why would you want to step back from living a life of joy in Jesus, and return to structured, confining rules? And, I think that's what he means. Isn't it better to be grown up? Isn't it better to choose how you live, than be driven insane wondering if you've broken another rule? A brick out of place? Now, throughout this entire letter Paul has been really angry with the Galatians. He has been verbally brutal to them. Suddenly, his tone becomes softer and more compassionate. He says, look when I very first came and evangelized you, we bonded. We loved each other. I was so sick, but you would have given your eyes to me if I asked. We know from all of his other letters Paul has some kind of a problem. It's difficult to determine if it's a physical problem, or an emotional problem. But, whatever it is - he struggles. Many people think Paul was going blind.7 He seems to imply here that he needed new eyes. At the end of this letter he will write, look how big I write these letters with my own hand. That's what you do when you're going blind. You write bigger and bigger. Others believe Paul was suffering from Malaria.8 It was prevalent in that region at that time. There is some evidence he suffered physical injuries from being persecuted. Jews had beaten, whipped, and stoned him. He survived, but not without consequences. Still others think Paul was ashamed of a physical disfigurement.9 And, there are large groups who believe Paul suffered from lust, and spent time with prostitutes wherever he went. This may have caused him severe mental anguish. We don't know exactly what the problem was. What we do know, is that when they first came together, the Galatians loved Paul. And, Paul loved them. He describes teaching them about Jesus as giving birth to them. Rabbi's in Paul's day said when you converted a Gentile to Judaism you had birthed a brand-new human.10 Is there any closer and more intimate bond than a mother with her newborn child? Paul tells the Galatians, I carried you in my womb and I birthed you into faith. But, you cannot stay babies forever. I need you to grow up. When Jesus redeemed you from slavery to sin, and adopted you as his own, you received complete adult freedom. Now, it's time to act like adults. Don't love God and be nice to people because the rules say so. Do it, because you love God, and you want to be nice to people. Don't believe God will bring you to Heaven if you do more good things than bad. Believe you will go to Heaven because Jesus says so. That's what a mature Christian believes. Be mature. Grow up. 1 William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 40-41. 2 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 2049. 3 Kenneth A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 1966), 154. 4 Frank J. Matera, New Interpreter's Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 2003), 2086. 5 NIV, 2049-2050. 6 Neil Martin, "Returning to the Stoicheia Tou Kosmou: Enslavement to the Physical Elements in Galatians 4:3 and 9?" Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 40 no. 4 (2018), 434-452. 7 R. C. Sproul, general editor. New Geneva Study Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1854. 8 NIV, 2051. 9 Barclay, 46. 10 Matera, 2086. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2