We're continuing in our study of Galatians, and
before we get to today's text, we need to kind
of see how Paul got us here. You know, we're
in week, what is this, four, five of Galatians,
and we've taken a journey with Paul, and he's
kind of making this argument, you know, the first
part of Galatians 3 specifically, Paul is brashly
warning the Galatian Christians, don't go back
to the law. Don't revert to old ways. Don't go
back to bondage. Don't go back to what was. And
now we're going to see something else from Paul.
A kind of don't do this, but instead do this.
The law wasn't bad. We need to clarify that before
we kind of keep going in Galatians. I think sometimes
when we preach on things like religious freedom.
And when we preach on things like God's grace
and not the law and all that, it comes off as
if we're saying that rules don't matter. It comes
off as if we're saying that we can just do whatever
we want, that Christianity is a free -for -all,
that now that I'm saved, I can do whatever I
please or whatever makes me happy. But that's
not what we're talking about. The law wasn't
bad. It served a purpose. It was used to, one,
show us just... how sinful we were, kind of a
mirror, if you will. But it also was used to
keep us in check and help us to have some type
of right standing with God. By us, I mean the
Jews. And so the law had its place. What Paul
calls it is the law was a guardian. In fact,
the Greek word there was pedagogos. I think I
practiced this this week. And I got so excited
right here to use this big Greek word. And anyways,
the word pedagogue comes from this. But basically
what it is, is it's a strict tutor who disciplined
children until they reached maturity. And so
when Paul talks about the law as this guardian,
he's saying this was what you would do in this
culture. Basically what would happen is a kid
around, you know, I think it was age seven. would
be sent to go stay with a tutor. And this kid
would stay with the tutor. The tutor would teach
the kid how to be a good citizen. It would teach
them the law. It would teach them all the things
they know or need to know to be good citizens
in their society. And then when they reached
adulthood, they were let free into society. I
mean, this kind of sounds like... sending your
kid to boarding school, or if your kids are like
my kids, you're considering sending them to military
school. That's what this is like. And so Paul
says the law was your boarding school. It was
your place that you went to receive instruction,
where you were trained, where you were taught,
where you were raised. But now there's something
new here. See, the guardian isn't a friend. I
love when I hear parents say, I'm not your friend.
And I feel like as a kid, if you hear your mom
say, I'm not one of your little friends, you
know you're in a little trouble. It wasn't a
friend. The law was a guardian. The guardian
was there to keep them in line, to help them
grow. And Paul says, that's what the law did.
But now that Christ has come, everything... has
changed. You no longer need that guardian. See,
the temporary thing that God put in place to
kind of keep his children in line, that temporary
thing is gone. It's no longer the standard we
live by, the broken scale that we talked about
last week, the thing that we use to weigh ourselves.
And to judge if we're saved or if we're in good
standing with God or not, that broken scale has
now been replaced with salvation. See, that was
just kind of a temporary get you by type of thing.
You know, you put a bandaid on something, but
really you need stitches. This, this temporary
model is gone. We're not bound to it anymore.
And the result. is where we pick up in Galatians
3 this morning. Galatians 3, verses 23 -29 is
where we'll sit because what Paul is going to
show us is that because of our faith in Christ,
if we are in Christ, we're no longer bound by
those chains. We're also no longer divided or
defined by those old boundaries. You know, in
the Old Testament, you had the Jews, you had
the Gentiles. And they did not like each other.
They didn't mix. They didn't fellowship. They
didn't worship together. They didn't even feel
like each other worshiped the same God. They
were separated. They were a part of two separate
people. And then you had all these other different
standards that divided even among the Jews. I
mean, you had your priests and you had your people
that were meant for doing the sacrifices. You
had your people that were meant for the worship.
And you had the people that did all of these
other things. And so you had your different divisions.
And what Paul is going to show us is that now
in Christ, we are all one in one family. And
I love what Chad said. We all have a seat at
the table. Because we're adopted by God. We're
brought in to his family. And family sticks together.
If you're like me, you love the movie Lilo and
Stitch. Ohana means family and family means anybody?
Huh? Nobody gets left behind. Yeah. Ohana means
family and family means nobody gets left behind.
We're one. We stick together. We work together.
We move together. And so in Christ, we're now
unified. See, Paul begins with a reminder of
what life was like before Christ because he needs
to tell you, he has to paint this picture of,
hey, if you ever start thinking about going back
to that, just remember just how bad it was. And
so this is what Paul says in Galatians 3, verses
23 through 24. Before faith came, we were held
captive. I want you to notice those words. Captive.
Imprisoned. Doesn't sound very home -like, does
it? It doesn't sound very comforting. Nobody
wants to be held captive unless it's like...
I was held captive by her beauty. Nobody wants
to be imprisoned unless it's like I was a prisoner
of the moment. Those aren't home -like words.
They're not familial words. They're not things
that bring comfort. But that was the case for
the Jewish people. It was the case for the Galatian
Christians, and it is true, the case for us.
See, maybe you weren't enslaved to the Jewish
law, but... You were enslaved to sin at some
point. And maybe you're sitting here today and
you feel like you're enslaved to sin. Maybe you've
been enslaved by this need for approval of others.
Maybe you've been enslaved by traditions. Maybe
you've been enslaved by culture. Maybe you've
been enslaved to addiction. Whatever it is that
has had you captive or in prison, it held you
captive. It had you in bondage. I love when Paul,
or really anything in the Bible that starts kind
of negative, says but. We got one big but here.
But, let's look at verses 25 to 27. But, now
that faith has come, we are no longer under a
guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons
of God. Through faith. For as many of you as
were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
See, there's some good news there, right? Before
you were held captive, you were in prison, you
had to do these things to be in good standing
with God. But now that faith has come, now that
you are in Christ, you have life and freedom.
Through faith, God doesn't just free us from
our sin. He doesn't just free us from imprisonment
or from captivity. What God does is he brings
us into the family. I want to paint the picture
this way for you. I want you to imagine a child
who has spent years in the foster system. They've
had food, they've had shelter, and maybe even
in their time in foster care, they've had...
Good guardians. But they never had a permanent
home because fostering is temporary. And so you
may have food, shelter and clothes and good guardians,
but that's only going to last for a little while
before eventually you get picked up and brought
to another home. And then you start all over
again. And that home may not be as nice to you.
It may not feed you as well. It may not clothe
you as well. They may not be as good to you.
And then one day. A family not only chooses to
house you for a little while, they choose to
adopt you. And suddenly, this foster child doesn't
just have a place to stay and lay their head.
They don't just have a roof over their head.
They don't just have food on a plate. They have
parents who love them that they can call mom
and dad. They have siblings who look out for
them. That they can call brother and sister and
that they can hug when they need a hug and that
they can lean on when they need a shoulder to
cry on. They have a place where they truly belong.
They have a family. See, that's what God has
done for us in Christ. We're no longer the foster
child. We're no longer under temporary guardianship.
But now we have a home. He doesn't just unlock
the door from our sin and say, all right. Good
luck out there. I used to watch these videos
all the time of people. They would capture or
rescue animals, and then they'd release them
back into the wild, which I learned that people
are always like, the zoos should let all the
animals go. And somebody said if the zoos did
that, all those animals would just die because
they don't know how to live out on their own.
And that kind of makes me think about... What
would happen if God looked at us and said, hey,
you don't have to follow the Old Testament law
anymore. Good news for you. And we're like, yeah,
that's awesome. He's like, all right now, but
just go and figure it out on your own. No, that's
not good for us. And so what God does is he doesn't
just say, good luck out there. I hope you make
it. He brings us in and says, you are mine forever.
You have a home here. You have a family here.
You have a seat at my table. And not only does
he welcome us into his home, he gives us his
name. We get to bear the name, son, daughter
of God. He clothes us with Christ. And here's
the beauty. You see, adoption in the Roman world,
it was... It was not this like second class thing.
You didn't get adopted and it was like you were
the other kid in the household. In Roman culture
in this time, adopted children, they had full
rights of children. So whatever your biological
kids had, excuse me, whatever your biological
kids had, your adopted kids had. Whatever your
biological kids were privileged to, Your adopted
kids had those same privileges. And sometimes
the adopted kids even had more honor than the
biological ones. You see, when Paul says we are
now sons of God, he means we have the full privileges
as heirs. We are now heirs to the kingdom of
God. We now have full rights. To the kingdom
of God. Full access to the kingdom of God. We're
not limited. It's not this thing that, oh, no,
no, no, no. That's only for the real kids. It's
for all of us. The God of the universe. Think
about this. The God of the universe is going
to share his inheritance with me and with you.
We are unworthy slaves. But God calls us his
children. That's gospel. That's good news. That's
the message we want to share with the world.
That's the message I want to just kind of radiate
in my life is that I'm not just a slave of God.
I'm not held captive by his message. I am his
child. I've been adopted into his family. I have
a seat at his table. I have access to an inheritance.
And what's so cool. is that not only does God
promise this inheritance to us, Jesus isn't ashamed
to share this inheritance with us. It's not like
Jesus was reluctant to save us. I've got to tell
you, I don't think the Lord of the universe would
come down to earth and die on a cross if he didn't
want to share his inheritance with us. Jesus
wanted... to live with us as his brothers and
sisters. And that is awesome. See, that is amazing
grace. Paul goes further in verses 28 to 29.
He says, To promise. See, Paul is, he's not just
battling this false gospel of you've got to do
these things in order to be right with God. What
Paul is also fighting is division. Because the
church is now divided over, well, we do have
grace from God, but we also still have to maintain
the law. And then others are saying, no, no,
no, no, it's just Jesus. And they're like, no,
no, no, but we have to follow these rules and
Jesus. And then others are like. No, we really
can just do whatever we want. And you've got
all of these different things going around, these
messages being spread, and there's a lot of division.
And so Paul is saying, hey, hey, hey, you're
all one. It's one family. It's one people. We're
all children. We're all Abraham's offspring,
heirs according to the promise. In this new family,
the dividing lines are erased. There are no divisions
among us, or at least there shouldn't be. There's
no Jew. There's no Greek. There's no slave. There's
no free. There's no male or female. And let's
put it in a modern terms because we don't really
struggle with that stuff. In modern terms, there's
no rich Christian and poor Christian. There's
no white Christian and black Christian. There's
no Republican Christian or Democrat Christian.
There's just Christians. Christ followers. Sons,
daughters of God. We're all one. And so these
dividing lines, they've been broken down. Paul
has erased them. In Christ, those walls, those
little circles or cups that we put ourselves
in, they don't matter anymore. They don't define
us, but here's the challenge in what Paul is
saying. If Paul's words are true, then that requires
us to live like it. And I'll tell you, I don't
think the church, and I'm saying church universal,
I don't think the church for the last 2 ,000
years has done a very good job of this. And I
know somebody said, well, the first century did.
Well, if they did, Paul wouldn't have been writing
this letter. We haven't always done a good job
of this. We have been divided over trivial things.
And there are things we've been divided over
that matter, sure. But I've got to tell you,
I still think at the end of the day, Jesus didn't
pray so fervently in John 17 for nothing. Unity
still matters. When we were at the New Day conference,
we heard this amazing 15 -minute, I was so impressed,
me, Chad, and Phil were sitting there like, how's
this guy? No notes. He didn't have any notes.
He was just talking. And he was talking about
unity. And he's talking about Galatians. And
he says, here's the thing. We're already united.
It's just a matter of if we're going to act like
it or not. We're already one. We're already a
part of God's family. And that means when I look
across the aisle on a Sunday morning, I don't
look across the aisle and see that person that
voted differently. Or I don't see that person
who looks differently. I don't see that person
who lives differently. I see my brother. I see
my sister. Because adoption means we're all family.
And family means unity. Maybe you've heard it
before. I'm the second oldest of eight kids,
so I've heard this a ton. You can pick on your
brother and sister, but don't let anybody else
pick on your brother and sister. You ever heard
that? In our context, it was you can beat up
your brother and sister, but don't let anybody
else beat up your brother and sister. So if one
person was fighting my brother, we were both
fighting. We can discuss and we can have conversations
and we can have civil disputes among us. That's
what family does. But what the world needs to
see is a family that is together. Because what
the world sees, and I've talked about this before,
one of the biggest things I hear from non -Christians
as to why they won't be a part of the church
is, well, y 'all can't even agree. on anything
y 'all can't even get along so why would i want
to be a part of that and what i'm challenging
us today is to look at what paul says and say
hey those are true words we need to live like
it we need to be a church that is united we can
talk and we can have discussions about things
we disagree on but when the world looks at us
and at the end of the day when the discussions
are done we look at each other and we say we
are still family and i don't walk out on family
And my family better not walk out on me. You
may disagree with me. I may disagree with you.
But we're family. And at the end of the day,
family works together. They live together. They
stay together. When we were adopted into the
family of God, we were adopted into a family
that is going to stick together no matter what
our differences are. Differences we can help
and differences we can't. We're together. So
here's the question. Because the Galatian Christians,
they had their things that they were clinging
to. They were either clinging to traditions or
they were clinging to their identities. They
were clinging to all of these different things.
And Paul is saying, stop doing that. We're family.
Take the walls down. And so my question to you
is, what walls are we clinging to? What walls
are we putting up? What labels are we still hiding
behind? Because Christ, he tore those walls down.
And I'll just say for myself, who am I to build
back up a wall that the God of the universe tore
down? So what walls are we hiding behind? See,
Paul's whole letter to the Galatians is like
this one big smackdown. Stop going back to slavery.
Live as sons and daughters. Live as heirs. And
the point today, well, that is the point. It's
that you are free from your old life. You're
not bound to the tradition and the laws of old.
You are freed in Christ. You are sons and daughters
of God. You are heirs of the kingdom. You don't
forget that. I heard somebody say one time that
he talks with his kids, and they're big on covenants
in their house. And one of the things, like family
covenants, and one of the things that he says
with his kids is, you are fill in the blank last
name. You are a, so for my family, you are a
brilliant. And the kid says, I am a brilliant.
And you say, you are bold. I am bold. You are
strong. I am strong. You are kind. And so they
do this thing, and it's one of those things of
you remember who you are and what that means.
And what Paul is saying here is you remember
who you are. You are a child of God. And what
does that mean? Well, it means you're united.
It means you're free from the old ways. It means
you are a son of promise. You are an heir of
the kingdom. So we remember who we are. And what
that means, we are sons and daughters of God.
Don't forget it and don't live beneath it. Maybe
today you're still standing outside the family,
though. Maybe you are still living like a foster
child in the world where you don't really have
that final family. You don't have that final
home. Maybe you're still wandering from home
to home and never really knowing where you belong.
The good news that Paul reminds us of is that
the Father's offer is open to anybody. It's open
to the Jew. It's open to the Greek. It's open
to the male. It's open to the female. It's open
to the slave and the free. It's open to that
person that looks different, that lives different,
that thinks different, that speaks different.
It's open to them too. And so wherever you fit
in this world, The gospel message, this offer
is open to you. You can come home. You see, Paul
says as many of you as were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ. That's how we accept the
adoption. I can't remember what movie it was.
Maybe it was Free Willy. I love Free Willy, by
the way. Great movie. There's a movie where there's
a kid and... It's like, no, it wasn't free willy
because he's just a foster kid. So anyways, there's
a movie and the kid is, their mom gets married.
And so he's got a stepdad, right? And the stepdad
is just a really awesome guy. And he looks at
the kid and he says, hey, I know your dad hasn't
been around your whole life. How would you feel
about me adopting you? Why would he have to ask
permission? Well, because you can't just adopt
somebody without their permission. And the same
is true, I mean, God can throw out the offer.
Hey, I want to bring you into my family. I want
you to be a part of my heirs. I want you to be
a son of mine or a daughter of mine. But we've
got to accept it. And what Paul says we do to
accept it is we trust, we have faith, and we
put on Christ in baptism. And so wherever you're
standing today, the offer for adoption is out
there. It's just up to you if you're going to
accept it. See, the Father is saying, I want
you. I want you to be a part of my family. I
want you to be a part of my home. I'm offering
to give you my name. I'm offering my love to
you. I'm offering a full inheritance to you.
Will you say yes? Will you be a part of our family?
And that's the invitation today. God is looking
at you saying, come home. Be adopted. Be clothed
with Christ. Be one in his family. Because at
the end of the day, if we have nothing else,
maybe you've heard this too, if you've got nothing
else, you've got family. And I can make it through
every hard day. I can make it through all the
tragedy and trauma of life if I know that I've
got family here. I've got family at any church
I walk into because we're one in Christ. No matter
how hard life gets, no matter how ugly it gets,
no matter how dark it gets, I've got family.
And if I've got family, I've got everything I
need. So wherever you stand today, if you've
just been outside of the family and you want
to be a part of it, if you've been wandering
from home to home and you want to have a final
home, if you've been adopted and you've been
acting like a redheaded stepchild, There is no
better time than now to come home, to take your
seat at the table, and accept the gift of being
a part of God's family. If that's something you
need or whatever you need, if it's just prayers
this morning, just prayers. If you need anything,
we're inviting you to come now as we stand and
as we sing.