No, I did get some other things from my parents. They instilled in me
a strong work ethic but with the wisdom to know that work isn't everything.
They taught me good table manners. My dad especially taught me how to be a
gentleman, a trait that was caught more than taught, as they say. They taught
me a love for God, the Bible and the church. I may have asked if I had to go to
school some days but it never occurred to me to ask if I had to go to church.
And while I may not look or certainly not sound like my parents, there
are just certain things that make me a Blair; my name, my DNA, my love for
Mexican food, etc., etc. And I love that and wouldn't change it. And just as
there are things that make me a Blair that I got from my parents, there are
also things that make me a son of God that I got from God. And the cool thing
is that I share these traits with Jesus Himself.
Now, that sounds pretty conceited doesn’t it, comparing myself with
Jesus? But I promise you that is not my idea. I didn’t come up with it and it
doesn’t just apply to me. It applies to everyone who has started a relationship
with God through His Son Jesus. And that thought comes from no less than the
apostle Paul, who got it from God Himself. And so I don’t mind saying that
Jesus and I have a lot in common.
You should say it! When people start giving you a hard time or they
are making fun of you or giving you grief, just tell them, “Jesus and I have a
lot in common.” That may or may not make the situation better so you better be
ready to tell them where you found that in the Bible so let’s turn to Galatians
and just see where it talks about that.
If you remember, Galatians was written with one overall theme, the
theme of us being saved by grace. It was written because not long after Paul
left Galatia, having established the church there, some Judaizers came in to
the church and basically said, “Yes, what Paul taught about being saved by
grace was correct BUT you still have to become a Jew first. You still have to
follow the Law of Moses.”
That’s like saying that your car runs on gas but you still need to put
diesel fuel in it as well. Or that you are a little bit pregnant but a little
bit not pregnant as well. It can’t be both and that was what Paul wrote the
book of Galatians to tell them. You are either under the Law or you are under
grace. And Jesus died, was buried and resurrected so that we wouldn’t have to
be under the Law anymore and to say that we still have to become Jews before
following Him was very frustrating for Paul to hear.
And so Paul explains to the church in Galatia, and to the church in Lake
Bridgeport, about the benefits of grace; the benefits of being saved by grace
and through faith and some of those benefits are found in Galatians 3:26-29.
Let’s read there.
So in Christ Jesus you are all sons 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.
As usual, Paul has a way of packing more into 4 sentences than most of
us could say in a week. And he makes it easy to make a sermon out of his words
here because he starts with a powerful sentence and then makes 3 points to back
it up. So let’s look at that powerful first sentence. In Christ Jesus, you
are all sons of God through faith.
Now the King James and some of the other translations say “children”
instead of “sons” but the original word actually was “sons”. And ladies, don’t
be mad. This is actually a good thing, or at least it was back in Paul’s day.
As you know, women in those times had very few rights. Their job was to take
care of the kids and not much else so Paul is actually making us all equal here
because it was the sons who got all the inheritance.
So, I want us to see this morning that we are all sons of God. We have
seen in the previous couple of weeks who we are. We are salt and light.
We have seen where we are. We are seated with Jesus in the heavenly
realms. And today we see whose we are. We are sons of God. And as sons
of God, just like being the son of our earthly parents, there are rights and
expectations. So, following Paul’s own outline, let’s see 3 things about being
sons of God.
· We
look like Jesus.
· We
are united in Jesus.
· We
share the promise of Jesus.
Let’s start by seeing that as a son of God we look like Jesus. Paul
says in verse 27 that we who were baptized into Christ have clothed
ourselves with Christ. Paul uses the illustration of being baptized. When
you get baptized you come up out of the water and the Bible says we are raised
to a new life. But in a very real sense that new life starts with a dry set of
clothes. We put on dry clothes to start that new life but in a similar sense,
we also put on Jesus.
While I don’t look much like Pop anymore, I have started to look like
my granddad. My mother’s daddy was always called Pa by the grandkids. I have
Pa’s build, his height and his haircut. His ring fits me. His hat fits me and
his overalls didn’t have to be adjusted at all to fit me. In fact, one time I
wore those overalls somewhere and somebody in the family remarked how much I
looked like Pa.
That’s not necessarily a compliment because of how Pa looked
physically. He was no GQ cover model. But while I am no Pa Graham, I would love
for people to associate me with him, not because of how he looked but because
of who he was, what he did and WHOSE he was. Pa was a son of God and he looked
like Jesus. And what did Jesus look like? He tells us Himself in Matthew
5:38-45.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a]
39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you
on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if
anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give
to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow
from you.43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[b]
and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father
in heaven.
I want you to know that I did not intend for the subject of good works
to be brought out in each of the sermons in this series. How fascinating it is,
though, that when we see ourselves as God sees us; when we see who we are,
where we are and whose we are according to God, that we will see ourselves
correctly and we will be seen by others as people who do good works.
We know that good works have nothing to do with saving us but it will
come through in our Christian family genetics. When we look like Jesus, we will
look different than those that are in the world because we will, as this
passage says, do good to those that hate us and do good to those that can never
repay us. That’s how Jesus looks and that is how we look as sons of God.
And not only will we look like Jesus but we will also be united
in Jesus. Verse 28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus.” G. Walter Hansen says that this radical affirmation of unity
and equality in Christ is a deliberate rejection of the attitude expressed in
the synagogue in those days. They would start their day by thanking God for not
making them a Gentile, a slave or a woman.
This was an especially important point for Paul to make to the church
in Galatia where some were saying that they had to become Jews to be accepted
by God. Paul is saying that it doesn’t matter what your race or nationality or
your culture is nor does it matter if you are male or female. We all have rights and responsibilities as
sons of God.
People sometimes use this verse to make the argument that men and
women are equal. But in doing so, I
think one misses the point. Paul is not
talking about who is better or who is equal to who. Is your stomach more important than your
liver? Are your blood cells better than
your muscle cells? That's not a good
question. The question is "Is your
body unified?" If not, it gets sick. If it is, then it does what it is supposed to
do.
Paul told the Philippians, "let your manner of life be
worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am
absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one
mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel." Disunity in the body is one of the first
symptoms of a church that is not seeing themselves as God sees them. When we see whose we are, that we are sons of
God, we see ourselves as God sees us. We
see ourselves looking like Jesus.
We see ourselves unified.
And lastly, we see ourselves as sharing the promise of Jesus.
Look at verse 29. If
you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the
promise. In Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, a homeless man named Tomas
Martinez ran away from police officers in the year 2000 and they never saw
him again. He thought they were coming
to arrest him for something but in fact they had tracked him down and wanted to
tell him that his ex-wife had died and left him an inheritance of $6 million. True story.
You know what else is a true story?
That's chump change compared to the inheritance we have as
believers. Paul refers to Abraham so
let's go back and look at what God promised Abe. Genesis 12:3 is where we find
that. The Lord had said to Abram, “Go
from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will
show you.2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will
make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who
bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will
be blessed through you.”
We all know that God is loaded and here we see that as believers we
get full access to everything that was promised to Abraham. I love to think about what I would do with
just 6 million bucks much less what all God has for us. I would go to the motorcycle store and I
would go get me some STUFF and have some fun and throw a party and I would then
buy a new Bible, one that doesn't have Romans 8:17 in it because it's no
fun to read that whole verse.
Romans 8:17 starts out great and goes right along with what
we are talking about. "Now if we
are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ," and
I wish we could just stop right there and enjoy it but it goes on..."if
indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his
glory." If we share in His
sufferings. Did you catch that?
That's part of the inheritance.
And Paul was ok with that. In
fact, he was more than ok with it. He
actually asked for it. In Philippians
3:10 he said, "I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and
participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." That verse has always fascinated me. How does a man get to that point of maturity
where he says he wants to know Christ so much that he is willing to go through
the same sufferings Christ did?
Well, I’ll be
honest. I can’t say that I am truthfully
there yet but when we see ourselves as God sees us, it starts to make
sense. Let me put it this way. What is the goal of Christianity? Is the goal of Christianity just to get to
Heaven? Well, that is part of it. But the real goal of Christianity is getting
to know God through His Son Jesus. It is
having a relationship with Him.
Christianity
is definitely not a religion of rules and rituals that we must work at
keeping in order to climb the ladder to heaven. Rather, it is a personal,
growing relationship with the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ that results in
our growing conformity to Him. Our goal is to know Him and to become like
Him. (Steven J. Cole)
Paul understood whose he was.
Paul understood the rights and responsibilities of being an heir and son
of God, sitting next to Jesus in the heavenlies and being salt and light. He knew better than most what is meant by
being an heir according to the promise.
He knew that in this world he would have trouble.
But Paul endured those troubles and even had joy because he knew that he would
also share in the glory.
Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain (Mercy Me)
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain (Mercy Me)
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