Galatians Part 7

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Next Steps 102

Recap

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Chapter one of Galatians we see Paul prove his authority, position, mission and message

In chapter 2 Paul began to deal a lot with justification and how it form what we believe and how we behave as believers in Christ

When we understand that justification is the gracious act of God by which God declares sinners righteous solely through faith in Jesus Christ

We die to self and live in Christ, through Christ, and with Christ in me

Week 4 we began in chapter 3. We talked about there being 3 big mountains to climb

We talked about how Paul is going to take us on a historical journey in chapter 3 and he began that journey by talking about the covenant that God made with Abraham

That even the very first covenant that God made was not based on works.

It was a covenant of blessings by God because of Abraham’s faith seen through radical obedience

And then we looked at the Mosaic covenant

We saw the differences between it and the Abrahamic covenant but also discussed how they were not meant to contradict one another but to complement one another

And ultimately this covenant of the law was meant to show us that we can not do it on our own

And so we need something, or more specifically, someone to rescue us

And last week we saw that someone is Jesus

That Christ comes not to do away with the old covenants but to fulfill them.

we talked about how He does that and why He does that.

And one of those primary reasons that Christ comes and sheds His blood for the sins of the world is so that we may be adopted into His family.

That we may be called a child of God

That God may hold the title in our lives as Father.

So what I want to do today is flesh out a little more this idea of adoption

So I want to go back and read a little that we covered last week and then into chapter 4 of Galatians and stop at verse 7

Then I will pray for us and we will begin discussing

Galatians 3:26–4:7 NIV

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. 1 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Pray

I want to say up front here, that you cannot possibly overstate and understand enough about justification.

The doctrine of justification is crucial and critical to our faith.

Every believer needs a strong understanding of it

But, at the same time, justification is not the end of the gospel.

It does not stop there, if anything, that may be only where it begins.

The doctrine of justification is crucial but the doctrine of adoption is just as important and perhaps even sweeter.

The doctrine of justification would help communicate to us that we are made right before God the judge

The doctrine of adoption would communicate to us that we are loved by God the Father

The doctrine of justification is more legal in nature

The doctrine of adoption is more relational

Both critical in our faith but we cannot pursue one without the other

Say one of my daughters were to do something really wrong. Something that was illegal and would cause them to face jail time or bail. Say her bail was set at $20,000. Justification would be like me going and paying her bail. Adoption would then be like me going into the cell, grabbing her up in my arms, and bringing her into the safety and security of my home.

Now, I can’t just go in there and say “baby I love you so much and I think when they see that they will just let you go.”

No the price has to be paid first.

To be adopted we must first be justified.

And so Paul is making his case that because Christ has made justification for you possible, you have now been invited into adoption from the Father.

J.I. Packer says this in response to a question of “what is a Christian?”

“The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.”

So the church should be filled with people whose worship and prayers and outlook on life are all initiated and consumed by the fact that we are children of God.

Here is what we see at the end of Galatians chapter 3 and beginning of chapter 4

God sent His Son so that we might be Sons

Galatians 4:4–5 NIV

4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

And so this then raises a few questions. Like:

Why does God do this?

What are the implications of this?

How is this done?

What does this process look like

And so what I want to focus in on today, when it comes to the doctrine of adoption, is what are the requirements and how does Christ fulfill them?

Now, perhaps the greatest illustration, although it’s not perfect, is our very own contemporary form of adoption.

And so I want to show a video of an adoption story to help us visualize the impact that this has on a child so that we may better understand the impact it has on us

Play video

Let’s consider a few of the conditions that need to be met for adoption.

#1 Adoption requires the right timing

Anyone who’s been through the adoption process can attest to the sometimes grueling pain of waiting and waiting and waiting.

You’d think it should be a quick and easy process but it’s just not

In the same way, Christ’s arrival required the right timing. And we see just that!

Paul says here in verse 4 “But when the time had fully come.”

Other translations say “when the time came to completion.”

Meaning, at the very most perfect time in history, Christ came

Adoption requires the right timing and Jesus’ timing is perfect.

It was the right time theologically

As we’ve seen through the OT covenants

It was the right time religiously

When Jesus steps on the scene there was a spiritual hunger that dominated the Roman cultural landscape that was unprecedented

It was the right time politically

The Pax Romana or Roman Peace prevailed during this time.

Rome had conquered all surrounding nations and as a result had built many roads and permitted travel and commerce that the world had never seen before.

Making way for the gospel to be spread to the furthest corners of the world

The timing was perfect and it was not perfect by accident, it was perfect by appointment

God was not just sitting in heaven waiting for everything to hopefully fall into place one day

He was working and orchestrating and moving and in complete control aligning this perfect appointment

And this very thing gives us peace in knowing that Christ’s other appointed return is working the same way.

He is not idle today

He is not just sitting on His hands waiting for the world to go to hell in a hand basket

He is working and moving for Christ’s return just like He was for His entrance

God’s timing is perfect

#2 Adoption requires the right qualifications

to go through the process of adoption you have to go through screenings, tests, examinations, background studies, home studies, etc. all just to qualify as proper candidates

Spiritually the qualifications are much greater

the question being...Who can pay the price for our sins?

All things point to Jesus but what are His qualifications?

He is fully divine

Colossians 1:15 NIV

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Philippians 2:5–6 NIV

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

Jesus is not just a representative of God but God himself

He is fully human

Paul states here that “God sent His Son” proving his divinity and then follows it by saying “born of a woman” proving His humanity.

Christ born of a Virgin in a manger, taking on flesh, taking on the role of fully man

He was both fully divine and fully human

And He is also, as we’ve seen before, fully righteous

Paul says “God sent His Son” proving his divinity, then says “born of a woman” proving His humanity, and then finishes the thought with “born under the law.”

Jesus was not just simply a man but a Jewish man.

A Jewish man who grew up with Jewish parents in a Jewish home attending the Jewish synagogue

He perfectly understood the law and perfectly fulfilled the demands of the law

Therefore, He and He alone is fully righteous

Which means that Jesus meets all of the requirements

And not only does He meet them but He passes them with flying colors

#3 adoption requires the right purpose and passion

You don’t adopt accidentally, you adopt purposefully

Jesus came with purpose

Here Paul says in vs 5

Galatians 4:5 NIV

5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Sometimes adoption takes great determination

And Jesus was determined to adopt us

In another one of his letters Paul writes to the church in Ephesus and speaks about adoption like this

Ephesians 1:3–5 NIV

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Just like a parent must take the initiative to seek out and adopt a child, so it was with God our Father.

He passionately and purposefully pursues us for adoption.

Now, one of the major issues with comparing temporary adoption to spiritual adoption under Christ is that when we think of the adoption process today we think:

That there are thousands upon thousands of sweet precious innocent children all over the world waiting for parents to bring them home.

But when we look at Ephesians 2 we see that the people who are adopted by God are labeled differently than just sweet and innocent.

Eph 2 uses phrases like objects of wrath and followers of the ruler of this world to define us

In other words, little satan’s

Russel Moore, a theologian and preacher said this in respect to this analogy

Imagine for a moment that you’re adopting a child. As you meet with the social worker in the last stage of the process, you’re told that this 12-year old has been in and out of psychotherapy since he was three. He persists in burning things, and attempting repeatedly to skin animals alive. He “acts out sexually,” the social worker says, although she doesn’t really fill you in on what that means. She continues with a little family history. This boy’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather all had histories of violence, ranging from spousal abuse to serial murder. Each of them ended their own lives. Now think for a moment. Would you want this child? If you adopt him, wouldn’t you watch nervously as he played with your other children? Would you watch him nervously as he looks at the knife on the kitchen table? Would you leave the room as he watched a movie on TV with your daughter, with the lights out?

Now, this picture of adoption is a little different

But the reality is that when it comes to our spiritual adoption with Christ

We are not sweet innocent little bystanders of our surroundings.

we are this little boy

We aren’t sweet and cute

We are sinful, evil, and corrupt

And it’s in the midst of all of that, that Christ adopts us

It’s not a our best qualities that Christ chose us but at our worst

And it’s this understanding that makes our adoption that much sweeter!

we aren’t just innocent bystanders in this world

We aren’t labeled mistakers

We are sinners

We are reckless, sinful, objects of God’s wrath

And despite all of it

Despite all that you lack

Despite all that you are not

Despite all that you’ve done

Despite every evil you’ve ever even considered

Christ kneels down, takes us by the hand, and says “come home with me son”

And He was the only one qualified to do so

We couldn’t do it ourselves

Mom and dad couldn’t do it

grandma can’t do it

The president cant do it

the government cant do

Jesus is the only one qualified

And that is the doctrine of adoption and it is in that that we should be able to look back on what packer says in agreement

That we should be a people whose worship and prayers and outlook on life are all initiated and consumed by the fact that we are children of God