CHRISTMAS
GRACE FOR THE NEW YEAR
Galatians
4:4-6
Introduction: Doesn’t it seem like there is such a big build
up to and through Advent, and then it is passed so quickly? This week, rather
than jumping into a new series just three days after Christmas, I thought it
appropriate for one more Sunday to reflect on the implications of the
Incarnation for the New Year that is approaching. As we draw near the New Year
there is often a mix of feelings, looking back on the year past, sometimes with
pain or heartbreak, and looking ahead, with hope, or sometimes with fear about
what lies ahead in the New Year. This Sunday, midway between Christmas and New
Year, is an excellent opportunity to look back on Advent, and to see how it
motivates us to look ahead with confidence to 2015. We can look back with 20/20 hindsight on the
year past, but let’s look forward to the New Year through the lens of Scripture
and consider four “I’s” that can give us hope as we look ahead: God’s timing is
impeccable, His love is incontestable, His grace is immeasurable, and His
presence is irrefutable.
The Big Idea: The incarnation can provide a
firm foundation for our faith as we look forward to the uncertainties of a New
Year. Know this…
I. God’s Timing is Impeccable
(4a)—As God
acted at just the right time in sending the Son. He is absolutely in control of
history. His sovereignty is such that we can know that He will intervene
at the best time for our good and for His glory (4:4a). “When the fullness of time had come God sent forth His Son…”
·
Remember the context in Jewish history, 2000
years after Abraham was called, 1400 years after the Exodus from Egypt, 1000
years after David was promised a descendant who would have an eternal reign, 700 years after Isaiah and Micah had prophesied of the coming Messiah, 400 years after Malachi, the last of the prophets had spoken, God sent the Son
into the world. The Jewish Nation had waited for all those centuries for the
promised Messiah. The writer to the Hebrews opens his epistle with the same
idea: “In different times and in
different ways God spoke in times past to the fathers through the prophets, in
these last days He has spoken in a Son…”
·
God chose exactly the right time to send the
Son. Paul calls it here, “The fullness of
time.” Now if the time was exactly right, why did things go so badly? The leaders rejected him, Judas betrayed him, the
disciples abandoned him, Peter denied him, the Romans crucified him! God had a plan. Everything that happened was
in accordance with that plan. His plan was not to usher in a golden age and set
up a kingdom on earth. His plan was to give his life a ransom for many, to shed
His blood so that we could live. The time was right, the messianic hope of the
Jews had become truncated, they were focused almost universally on the idea of
a military deliverer, someone like David or Solomon who could restore the glory
of the Kingdom. Rome had become the dominant world power, and the characters
were in place who would expose the hunger for power and control that ultimately
plays out in the New Testament story. Even details like the universality of the
Greek language throughout the Greco-roman world, the Pax Romana and the Roman system of roads, the Jewish synagogues
that had spread from Asia to Mediterranean Europe and north Africa, all
prepared the way for the spread of the Gospel. The fullness of time had come.
·
God had a
plan then and He has a plan for your life, and He will work, that is a promise!
Last week Herb M. was talking at our morning prayer time on Wednesday, and
referred to Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I
consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." God chose Jeremiah
on purpose, for a purpose. The same thing is true of you if you know Him. God
has a plan, and his timing is perfect. We can be impatient. Have you ever
prayed, “Lord, please give me patience, NOW!” Trust Him, even in uncertain times, because God’s
timing is impeccable. It’s not only the destination, but also the journey that
God is interested in. The details of your story are a part of His Story and He
promises to work all things together for good to those who love Him, to those
who are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). God is in control, and His
timing is impeccable, absolutely perfect. That is one way that the incarnation
can provide a firm foundation for our faith as we look forward to the
uncertainties of a New Year.
II. God’s Love is Incontestable
(4b)—God showed
us His love in the most profound way imaginable. “…God sent forth His Son. Born of a woman, born under the Law…” John spoke
of this when he wrote in his first letter, “This
is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the
world that we might live through Him”(I Jn 4:9). If God so loved us, we can deal with any challenges we might face
(see Romans
5:8; Philippians
2:6-8). John 3:16 says it plainly, “For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”
·
Humans sometimes let us down, sometimes break
our hearts, sometimes fall short even when their intentions are good. Guess what, we are all sinners, still, even those
who have trusted in Jesus! Christians aren’t perfect, they are just forgiven. When we are hurt or disappointed by someone,
realize that you too fall short in relating to others, and remember Abba is
here, he loves you, and He has proven His love.
·
God’s love is unquestionable, absolutely
pure, inexhaustible and incontestable. How do we know that? First of all,
notice that He “sent forth” his Son. The word itself implies much, first of
all, the Son was “sent forth” or “sent
from” the Father, exapostello, a compound form of
the verb apostello, “to send.” The prefix reminds us that the Son existed
from eternity with the Father and the Spirit—three persons, eternally existent
in perfect union in one divine essence—the biblical doctrine of the Trinity, or
as I prefer the “Triune God.” Jesus, the Son, “sent forth” from the beauty of
heaven, took upon himself a human nature. Sinless, but limited and subject to
all the pains and struggles of life in this fallen world. One old song reflects
on this, “Out of ivory palaces, into this world of woe, only His great
redeeming love made the Savior go.” John said, “This is how God showed His love among us, He sent His one
and only Son into the world…” (I Jn 4:9).
As Paul said to the Philippians, “…though
He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God as something
to be grasped, but He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant and being
made in the likeness of men…” The prefix reminds us that he was sent “from”
or “out of” the Father’s presence in Heaven. We are just finishing up a Sunday
School series on Heaven, it’s somewhere we want to go, it’s hard to imagine
that He chose to leave, for us! The root of the verb hints at the “why” of the
incarnation, He didn’t merely come for a visit, He came to carry out a mission.
Minus the prefix, the root of the verb
used here is “apostello” which
is the verbal form of the word from which we translate “apostle.” One who is
sent with a mission. Jesus was sent from
the Father not just to visit us, to reveal his nature, or even to teach us how
to live. He came with a mission to accomplish. That is part of the “fullness
of time” in the beginning of this passage. He came to accomplish God’s perfect plan
of redemption, He came to be our substitute, a perfect sacrifice that would
make it possible for sinners to be reconciled to God. The angel said to the shepherds, “Unto you is born this day a Savior…” For
a Holy God to justify sinners a perfect substitute was needed. Remember the
fable of the three trees? One was fashioned into the manger where He was laid,
the second into a boat from which He preached to the multitude on the shore,
the third made into the cross where he was crucified. All of this was in
accordance with the predetermined purpose and foreknowledge of God. He has a plan. Since God’s timing is
impeccable and His love is incontestable, the incarnation can provide a firm
foundation for our faith as we look forward, through the lens of Scripture, to
the uncertainties of a New Year. Know also that…
III. God’s Grace
is Immeasurable (5)—The next phrase describes the purpose and the result
of the Incarnation—To pay the price to make us His own, “…to redeem those who were under the Law, that we might
receive the adoption as sons…” (see I John 3:1). The language here reminds us
that though our salvation is a free gift it came at a great price. And not only are we delivered from judgment,
we are brought into a new relationship with God. If God treasures us so highly,
the uncertainties and trials of life are smaller, the sufferings of this
present age are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in
us.
·
First
of all notice the purpose of the incarnation, “…to redeem those who were
under the Law…” The term “redeem” (exagorazo) means “to purchase (a slave) out of the
marketplace.” What a dynamic picture! We were slaves, whether or not we knew
it, slaves to sin and to Satan (see Ephesians 2:1-4). Like people in the movie Matrix humans are born slaves, deluded
in their understanding of the world and truth and reality. Satan has blinded
the minds and the hearts of unbelievers. Only through God’s intervention, by
grace through faith, are we set free.
·
Notice the goal or result of God’s
intervention in our story, that we might receive the “adoption as sons” (huiothesia). The term has the idea of receiving the rights of an adult son. The
New Testament uses a couple of different words, “children of God” usually
emphasizes the idea of being born again, or receiving new life through faith in
Christ. “Adoption as sons” emphasizes the blessings that come with that
position, we are heirs, incorporated into God’s family and His kingdom in a new
way. We’re children of the King! There
is a lot we don’t understand about that, at one point Paul tells the
Corinthians,
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world
is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to
judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! (1
Corinthians 6:2-3).
One thing we can take from that is that God has a plan
for creation that goes beyond this present age, and somehow He has decided to
include us, purchased by the blood of Jesus, delivered from sin and into
sonship, heirs of God in Christ. That is truly amazing grace! God’s grace is immeasurable, His love is incontestable,
and His timing is impeccable. These truths are revealed in the incarnation and can provide a
firm foundation for our faith as we look forward to the uncertainties of a New
Year. What’s more…
IV. God’s Presence
is Irrefutable (6)—Another result of the Incarnation: Indwelt by the Spirit, we are
His children. God came in the flesh, in Jesus, He is present in
the Spirit. So we read in Galatians 4:6 “And because you are sons, God has
sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’"
The Holy Spirit is present in the heart
of every person who has believed in Jesus. Paul said in Romans 8:8-11,
“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone
who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of
righteousness. 11 If the
Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised
Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through
his Spirit who dwells in you.”
The
assurance that only the Spirit himself can breathe into our hearts is expressed
just a few verses later,
“For all who are
led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back
into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we
cry, "Abba! Father!" 16
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of
God, 17 and if children, then
heirs- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…” (Rom 8:14-17).
So we also
read in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For in one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free- and all were
made to drink of one Spirit.” You get the idea? Some traditions mistake the
idea of the “fullness of the Spirit” or “being filled with the Spirit” with the
truth that God’s Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus in this age (Gal 5:18).
Paul, writing to the carnal, prideful,
Corinthians said “all” in 12:13. In fact twice in that letter he had
already called them “God’s Temple” in whom the Spirit dwells (3:16,17; 6:19; cf. 2 Cor 6:16-18). Think about this,
apart from God’s power the Christian life is not difficult, it is impossible.
Even after the resurrection Jesus told his disciples to wait for the
pouring out of the Spirit, which would happen on Pentecost, before they began
the new mission He was entrusting to them. We are weak, but His strength is
revealed in our weakness.
There
are uncertainties as we approach the dawn of a New Year, some of us will
experience significant challenges, all of us will be tested and tempted at some
level, but be encouraged: God’s presence is irrefutable, His grace is immeasurable,
His love is incontestable, and His timing is impeccable.
What is God saying to me
in this passage? The
incarnation can provide a firm foundation for our faith as we look forward to
the uncertainties of a New Year.
What would God have me to do
in response to this passage? Looking back on the last year, there may have been some
surprises, big or small, many trials at a personal level. Hindsight is 20/20,
but nobody knows what might face us in 2015. None of us knows what challenges
we may face in the New Year… Yet God’s Word is true, and looking ahead through
the lens of Scripture we do know some things with certainty,
1) The Spirit is with us now and
will be at every moment, even helping us when we pray to talk to Abba, Father. We’re
never alone, His presence is irrefutable.
2) We know God’s Grace will never
reach its limits, after all He spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for
us all. How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? His grace is immeasurable.
3) His love is incontestable; He
showed His love by “sending forth” the Son into this fallen world so that we
could live. God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Love beyond measure!
4) His timing is impeccable, He is
never in hurry, but He is never late. Just as He sent the Son in the fullness
of time, at just the right time He will work for our good and for His glory.
That is a firm foundation as we look ahead to 2015. That is our assurance of a Blessed New Year,
(not necessarily an easy one!). We don’t
know what tomorrow may hold, but praise God, we know who holds tomorrow! Think about that. AMEN.
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