"To Him be glory forever": Galatians

Showing posts with label Galatians. Show all posts

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Assurance in adoption

I am spending a few weeks preaching on the Bible, asking questions about it so we might better understand how God speaks through it and that we would grow in our love of Him.

The first week we asked questions of "What?" Since then we have dealt with "Who?" "Where?" and "When?" This morning we asked "How?" Specifically, the questions I tried to answer were:

How was the Bible put together?

How do we know the Bible is true?

How do we know if we are using the Bible correctly?

How does the Bible assure us of our place with God?

How does God call us to live in the world?

How does the Bible assure us of our place with God?

The Bible answers that question in a number of places, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. The place I decided to go to find that answer was Galatians 4:1-7, which is an answer of the more indirect sort.

Paul teaches a number of things in those verses and what I brought out of them was this: Prior of coming to faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord we were sinners, "enslaved to the elementary principles of this world," but that now, by faith, Christians have been adopted as children of God. Paul says that we are saved "so that we might receive adoption as sons [and daughters]."

A dictionary definition of adoption says: "To choose or take as one's own; to make one's own by selection or assent." This is what has happened when we come to faith in Jesus. By faith we are made children of God. Adopted children of a perfect Father.

It can be easy to read references to fathers in the Bible and get caught up with memories of our own fathers. Some of those memories may be very good, but I stand in the pulpit fully aware that for some of the people I preach to, their father is the last person they want to think of. They have had fathers who, at best, failed them in every way possible, and who, at worst, were abusive and/or absent.

So we need to remember what kind of father God is. He is a father who always acts according to His character, meaning that He is always loving, always protective, always seeking the best for His children, even when our reaching for the best means learning some lessons the hard way.

He is a father whose children, every single one of the save one, is adopted. Except for Jesus, every single one God's children was once on the outside. Lost in their sin and unable to do a single thing about it.

And now, by faith in Jesus, they have been adopted into the family of God. Their sin has been washed away and they stand before the Father with the same sense of assurance as every other child of God. Their place in the family, as children in the very best of families, is certain.

At times when life is hard, when things are going wrong and you can’t understand why, or even at times when life is a mess of your own making, know this beyond any doubts. If you have faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord your place in the family God is certain. You have been adopted into the very best of families, the family that knows God as Father. And He is a Father that will never, ever, fail to hold onto every one of His children.

Friday, July 4, 2014

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Something interesting happened outside of the parsonage this afternoon. I could never have guessed that something like what I saw would actually happen. I couldn't have dreamed it. It was the kind of thing that would perhaps happen in a movie, except it wasn't a movie. It was real life. It falls into the category of "You can't make this stuff up."

It crosses into that part of my job that is confidential, so you'll have to trust me. I know I've written a teaser, but I can't share the details.

That phrase, "you can't make this stuff up," has been an irregular presence in my life for perhaps the past ten years. Maybe longer than that. It just seems that in the past ten years, time and again, something has happened that is best classified with that heading.

Some things were good. Some not. All were unexpected and unpredictable.

As I sat outside today and watched the kids, pondered the incident I had seen, and recalled an online discussion yesterday, my pastoral mind was kindled. Because there is something else that is so unlikely, so unexpected, so undeserved, that it almost could fall into the category of "you can't make this stuff up." Almost.

And that is the salvation God holds out to sinners, people who have sinned against Him and, by faith in His Son, Jesus, turn towards God and receive forgiveness and eternal life.

Forgiveness that is complete. Forgiveness that covers all sins, from birth to death. Every one.

And the promise of eternal life with God. A sure and certain promise, given by One who cannot fail to keep His promises. Not ever.

Gifts that are completely free. Completely undeserved. And yet a gift that is there for the taking, for the heart that trusts in Jesus.

In Galatians 5:1 Paul writes:

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

On this day, July 4th, a day when Americans celebrate freedom as a nation, may you know an infinitely better and perfect freedom, the freedom that can be yours through faith in Christ.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Conscientious Objector

Right now I’m reading a book called Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight: Cassius Clay vs. The United States of America. It is a story of the attempt to draft Ali into the United States Army during the Vietnam War. When Ali was drafted into the Army he refused induction by claiming that he was a conscientious objector. The book is centered on the roughly four years of legal wrangling between Ali and the US government.

Central to Ali’s claim was that as a Muslim, who followed the teaching of the Koran, he was not allowed to fight in any war unless he fought on the side of Allah. While claiming objection to military service on grounds of conscience was not new, and was done in both World War I and II, Ali’s claim was unique in its particular religious expression. The statutes allowing objection due to conscience required that a person be opposed to war in all circumstances, and not particular circumstances. Ali was agreeable to fighting a war for Allah, but he wouldn't participate in any other war.

And that got me to thinking a bit about living each day as a Christian and what it means to follow Jesus as a disciple in our culture. Does it mean that I follow Him all the time, or just most of the time? Am I obedient to His leading, to His teaching, every time I hear it or only when I remember it? And if it suits me at the moment? Are my eyes and my heart open to seeing His truth every time I open my Bible, or only when I am reading my favorite parts?

To adapt Ali’s claim against the Army, when it comes to being a disciple, am I a conscientious follower?

The truth is that I fall short, time-and-again. All disciples do. I am aware of some of my more persistent shortcomings, things that our culture may accept but ones which I know are wrong when the Gospel is the measuring stick. And I am thankful that God is rich in mercy and forgiveness, waiting for me each time I return to the foot of the cross.

In his letter to the Galatians Paul gives words of guidance and encouragement to those following Jesus as His disciples. He writes about this in Galatians 5:16-26, with the heart of his wisdom in verses 22-23:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

These words speak timelessly, to both the Galatians and to those of us following Jesus today. May they form both you and me as we seek to be conscientious followers of Jesus Christ each and every day.