Inherited Kinship

Let me try to give you a little recap on the series we’re doing here in Galatians. Through the end of May, we’re doing a flyby of the book of Galatians. The reason we’re flying by it as opposed to going through it line by line is because we just don’t have enough time. So last week we started in chapter one and concluded this: we believe that God is jealous for His glory and zealous for the souls of His people. Meaning that the gospel (the good news) is that God, in and for His own glory sent Jesus Christ, His only son to live, die and be raised so that death may be conquered for the people whom He chooses (that is, people who believe). God is JEALOUS! He doesn’t want us trying to turn away from Jesus for any reason. We even concluded that even angels won’t be coming here telling you otherwise to detract from the Glory of God. It is this jealous that compels God to be zealous–He doesn’t want to lose a single soul. In a short Bible study that I recapped in a quiet time on the church web yesterday, you can see that living in the gospel means that we are no longer our own. Our life narratives change as a result of believing. Yet, that’s what we don’t understand and can’t comprehend because there is so much grey within that statement. Very simply, we believe that what we do is not motivated in selfishness or in our own ego (which also means we test to make sure that our actions are not motivated in selfishness and ego) and do those things that Christ lived to do in his own life here on Earth– that is to say, live to serve other people in out-flowing love. Therefore, if I’m not being clear, our lives must be filled by “the blind receiving sight, the lame walking, those with leprosy cleansed, the deaf hearing, the dead are raising, and the good news proclaimed to the poor” (Luke 7:22). When our lives stop becoming about us, this is what happens! Here’s what is totally devoid from the conversation through this point in Galatians, now that we’re about halfway through—there is no talk about “works.” That is to say that we are not trying to earn salvation in anyway. Further, we are not justifying ourselves by anything other than what a jealous God did for us on a cross, 2000 years ago. Yet, because we believe that, we are moved to “work” which is not the same as being justified through our works. You see, every other religion in the world aims to “work” out salvation of the individual soul through some means and method; however, for us, as Christ followers, we do not have that, nor should we impose that on other people—ever! But returning to the idea from Galatians 2:20 which allows us freedom to creatively and assuredly pursue the hearts of our neighbors in the name and glory of God, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” We have to understand why this is possible and the implication for us, theologically and practically. If you don’t understand what I’m doing here, it is to give you a framework theologically so that you start growing up and at the same time give you some practical advice on how to apply this in your life. This is of utmost importance because it is here in the book of Galatians that I want us to start learning to adapt ourselves to the methodology of a theologically leadership within the church. I’m going to be honest, we need to all grow up and understand the gospel theologically so that we can live out what that means in our lives. Without any more introductions, let’s read Galatians 3, go to the end of the chapter, verse 27. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. – Galatians 3:27-29 Verse 27. Let explain to you what Paul is saying here about baptism, because he isn’t talking about being dunked under water. The type of baptism he’s talking about is like “baptism by fire.” So here you can interchange the word “baptized” with the word “sanctified” or “initiated.” He says to the Romans in chapter 6 verse 3, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Meaning that when Christ was raised from the dead, we came up as Christ’s clones (that’s my non theological description of it).  As a result of this “baptism” which essentially takes your pre-Christian life and buries it, so that you can walk around in a new life without any weight, you lose anything that may have separated you from God and any disadvantages toward holiness and you become united in Christ through a baptism with him. Here’s what this means about us, as leaders, as church people who are to steward God’s Church: first and foremost, we are not ashamed by where we come from and what we went through. At the same time, we don’t allow any of our history hold us back to where God is going and therefore where we are headed. Here’s what you have to know about your past according to this passage: it no longer matters because the past is dead. Let’s not even talk about why you did the things you did. Let’s talk about where you’re going to follow Christ because now that your old self doesn’t haunt you. Don’t let anybody hang your life before Christ over your head so as to hold you back from the destiny you have in Christ. Most of you are leaders and role models and are in charge of small things, which will eventually become big things. Don’t allow a previous attempt to glorify God, which ended in failure, be the reason you no longer dare to do what Jesus did. Moreover, don’t think that because you first failed, that means that you are not a child of God. That you did not pray hard enough or have enough faith to do something more than you imagined. Yeah, you’re not earning anything if you do something amazing for God, because you didn’t pay for your mistakes earlier by literally dying; but at the same time, isn’t this the reason Christ had to come? This again is the theme of the gospel—God is jealous for His Glory. He is going to use you to reach the souls of His people, as long as you believe that is His will for you. I will tell you vehemently that God’s will for you is exactly that. First and foremost. In fact, God doesn’t care about who you marry, what your profession is, where you live, what job you take, how much you tithe or even how often you pray. God cares that you avail yourself to Him to zealously reach for his peoples’ souls. Let’s look at verse 29. “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” I’ll explain to you the “promise.” The “promise” is God’s calling to Abraham that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and inherit a “promise land.” Paul is explaining here that God wasn’t talking about the Jewish people. In fact, Paul makes it clear here that what God was referring to in the Book of Genesis was a foreshadowing of what will be when the jealous God collects His people—they will be the descendants of Abraham’s faith. Not necessarily blood lineage, but Abraham’s faith lineage. It is the faith lineage that gives you the rites of sonship with God. It’s a weird thing when Paul says that we are heirs of God by believing that we are Abraham’s offspring. Let me tell you what that meant in 1^st century Roman empire. It meant having an inheritance that moved you from persistent serfdom, to being able to afford a meal. And all you had to do was believe that you’re a part of this lineage by way of being baptized with Christ. That is to die figuratively to our old lives and turn around to start a brand new life. Let me give you an example of this in modern day times. It’s like playing Super Mario and then falling through one of those holes in the ground because you forgot what button on the controller caused Mario to jump over pits, and instead of “game over” you get 1Up and start the level again, this time, even having a mushroom drop from the weird magic box in the 8 bit sky. Can you dig that? Going back then to “work” (as in actions of a new life to reach the souls of God’s lost people): this understanding of good news causes us to stick our necks further than recommended safe because we know what’s awaiting us. That’s right, a 1 up. We got the 1 up already and better than the mushroom dropping, we got the star! Let’s watch this video about Auto Raja, a Christian who risks disease every day to give people comfort in death to people society doesn’t want to touch. His story was simple—he was redeemed by the love of God while he was in prison. And as he was released back into society, he found himself reaching where nobody else would reach, to do something nobody else wanted to do. This is what the gospel compels us to do. Yet, what can we say about ourselves, our church? Have we put on Christ? Do we really believe that we are God’s heirs? Let’s go to Galatians 4. ⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. – Galatians 4:4-7 Here’s what I want you to know: we’re no longer trying to earn salvation, but because we have been adopted into the business of God, we go and get involved in the same type of redeeming work. If he is the king of the world, then we are his children and cannot be denied. There’s a mentality change that we must understand. If his business is to redeem the lost, sick and empty, then it is our business to do so. If it is his business to empty his life into the lives of other people, we must empty our lives into people who don’t deserve such grace, as well. I want us to all write this down and then repeat after me: “Because we are His Children, we can cry ‘Abba!’” When we cry that in our times of despair, when we are lonely, when we are empty, when we are done, God comes to our rescue. With that. I know some of you have some things on your minds that you need to cry out to God about—to cry to Him saying, “Abba!” Let’s take a moment to pray aloud right now and allow God to rescue our hearts.