Download 4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son

Pastor Dan Walters
CY: 1st Sunday after Christmas
Preached: 12/30/07 at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Springville, NY
Text: Galatians 4:4-7 (NIV)
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But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to
redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6Because you are sons,
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7So you
are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
You Have Been Adopted!
1. This gift was bought for you by Jesus
2. This gift brings you heavenly blessings
Sometimes the best things we have can be the easiest things to take for granted. Sometimes
even though something is so precious, so valuable, we just don’t appreciate it. Maybe it’s
something that we’ve always had and since we can’t imagine not having it, we don’t appreciate
it the way that we should. And one of those valuable things, something that I think everyone
here today has, is a family. I’m not talking about having specific family members: mom, dad,
sisters, brothers, sons or daughters; I’m talking about having some sort of family, having a
person or a group of people that we consider our own family. It’s something we’re all probably
so used to that we don’t usually give it a second thought.
But could you imagine what it would be like to have never had any family at all? To not have
anyone who’s looking out for you or thinking or caring about you? Thankfully that’s a foreign
concept for us. But it’s not foreign to everyone. We might think orphanages are only places
that exist in old Charles Dickens novels, but in many other countries orphanages are still
around. And there can be hundreds of children in these places who don’t have a family;
they’re not anyone’s son or daughter. They’re alone. Or in our country today we might think
of some of the children in the foster care system. Some of these kids spend their whole
childhoods bouncing around from house to house without ever really finding a home.
So for kids like this, for people without a real family, I think one of the best gifts they could ever
receive would be to hear the words, “You have been adopted!” Adoption is the act when
someone becomes a member of a family. No matter where that person had lived before, no
matter who that person is really related to by blood or not, when that person is adopted, he or
she is a real part of that family. We probably can’t imagine how wonderful it would be to hear
those words “you have been adopted” if we were in that situation.
Well, whether we realize it or not, all of us have been in that situation. Even if we’ve grown up
with family all our lives, all of us have been adopted. We’ve been spiritually adopted by our
God through Jesus Christ. Even though our sins separated us from God, God sent his Son to
buy us back, to win us our spiritual adoption papers as God’s own sons and daughters. I don’t
want any of us to ever take the gift of our spiritual adoption for granted, but I want us to
always remember it and keep it close to our hearts. So remember, you have been adopted!
This gift of your adoption was bought for you by Jesus, and this gift gives you heavenly
blessings.
During this season of Christmas, lots of gifts are given and received. And if you gave or got any
gifts this year, you probably realize that some gifts are better than others. They’re not always
the most expensive gifts; they’re not always the biggest gifts. But there are just some gifts that
have so much thought put into them, so much love and care put into them, that they just shine
a little brighter than other gifts. As we look at God’s gift of adopting us into his family, we’ll
see that it’s one of those special, perfect gifts. It’s a gift that could only come from the
undeserved love of our heavenly Father.
When the time had fully come, God sent his Son. Sometimes people will spend an entire year
coming up with just the right Christmas gift. But God had been planning our adoption as his
children ever since time began – before we were born, before the creation of the world! God
didn’t use a social worker or an adoption agency to make our adoption final; he used his Son.
And he waited until just the right moment to send that Son into the world.
People had been looking for the Savior to be born ever since God promised his birth in the
Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve first sinned. But God didn’t send his Son then, he waited.
He waited until the time had fully come. He waited for the time when all his prophecies could
be fulfilled; he waited for the conditions to be perfect for his Son.
And when Jesus did come, he came in an unexpected way. Our text says he was born of a
woman, born under law. Those are two ways that you would not expect God to enter the
world. He’s God! He’s present everywhere! He’s all-powerful! That just makes it so incredible
that he would enter the world as a human being and be born of a woman just like everyone
else. What humility it showed for Jesus, the true God, to be born as a little baby to the virgin
Mary on that first Christmas.
But I think that it’s even more amazing that Jesus was born under law. We’re used to having
rules and laws in our world. But we’re not used to having the people who make the laws and
enforce the laws also have to obey the laws. Think about it. We have laws against speeding.
But when a police car turns on their lights and sirens, no one would accuse them of doing
something wrong if they’re driving over the speed limit, because the law doesn’t apply to them
in that situation. Or think about a school teacher. A common class rule that a teacher might
make is “no talking!” But no teacher would ever obey their own rule and decide not to talk
during their own classes, because then no teaching would ever get done.
So Jesus had every right to come to this world without being under the law. Jesus is God; he
wrote the 10 Commandments, he didn’t have to obey them. But he did. He obeyed all of
God’s commandments and laws. He was circumcised on the eighth day, he attended all the
right feasts and did all the right ceremonies, he obeyed his parents, he remembered the
Sabbath day, he never gave in to any single temptation, not one little sin, not one little slip of
the tongue, not even one little thought out of line with God’s law and will. Why would Jesus
do that? Why would God do that when he didn’t have to? Why did he put himself through
that?
He did it so he could purchase our spiritual adoption for us. He was born under law to redeem
those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Jesus obeyed the whole law so
that we could be true children of God. Jesus obeyed the whole law because we couldn’t!
Without Jesus we were outside of God’s family because of our sins. For even committing one
little sin, one little slip of the tongue, one little thought out of line with God’s law and will, for
any of those things, we showed that we deserve to be outside of God’s family. Our sins
showed us to be not sons and daughters of God, but slaves to sin, spiritual orphans who were
lost and could only look forward to a final home in hell.
That’s why our adoption into God’s family is such a gift! We didn’t deserve it, so Jesus
deserved it for us by obeying God’s law perfectly. We could never pay for even one of our sins,
so Jesus paid for them for us by suffering and dying on the cross. That’s what it means that
Jesus redeemed us. It means he bought us back from our sinful condition. It means he paid
our spiritual adoption fee through his perfect life and innocent death. My friends, you have
been adopted! You are God’s child! And it’s all because Jesus bought and paid for that gift for
you.
And this adoption as God’s child really means something for us. It’s not just something that’s
an honorary title; our adoption is real. And as God’s children, we have real blessings. In fact,
from our gift of adoption brings us heavenly blessings.
We can see that in our text, because it says that Jesus redeemed us so that we might receive
the full rights of sons. When you have guests at your home, you want to treat them well.
You’re kind to them, you might provide them a meal or two, and make sure they’re
comfortable. But you’re not obligated to do things for those guests forever; eventually your
guests go back home. But your own children, your sons and daughters, get treated differently.
They always get provided for, they always get your love, they always get the best that you
have. And that’s what it means for us now that God has made us his sons and daughters
through Jesus.
Our text says, Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit
who calls out, “Abba, Father.” Sons and daughters have special rights that people outside of
the family just don’t have. Sons and daughters know that they can go up to their father and
talk to him, confide in him, or ask him a question and he is going to listen. That’s what our text
is talking about here. The word “Abba” is the Aramaic word that a little child might call their
father. We might even think of this word as “Dad” or “Daddy.”
And this really shows us the close relationship with our God that Jesus has bought for us. We
can go to our God, not as an authority who will strike us down, not as a king that we have no
right to speak to…but as a Father. As a dad. As “Abba.” Abba, I need you. Abba, I’m hurting.
Abba, I’m scared. Abba, I’ve sinned and I need your forgiveness. Jesus has bought our
adoption into God’s family, and that means that we can go to him when we need him and he
will hear us. He will listen to us when we pray to him. And he will watch over us, protect us,
and answer all our prayers in the way that’s best for us.
And having this special relationship, this adoption, will also change us. As our text says, So you
are no longer a slave, but a son. It might be easy for us to take our gift of adoption for
granted. It also might be easy for us to treat our gift of adoption as one of those gifts that we
would stand in line at the store to return. That’s pretty much what we’re trying to do every
time we continue to sin. But the fact that Jesus has made this gift ours, the fact that Jesus has
bought our adoption means we don’t have to live that way anymore. We don’t have to live as
slaves to sin, because we are God’s children. So let’s put our sins aside and act like the sons
and daughters of God that we are!
After all, there’s one more heavenly blessing that’s coming to us as a part of our spiritual
adoption: Since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. True sons and daughters get a
share of their father’s inheritance. And it’s the same for us as God’s children. Through Jesus
and his salvation for us, we are heirs of eternal life. We will inherit the eternal happiness and
perfection of heaven. And there we will have a true home; there we will be with our true
family, there we will see the final results of the adoption that Jesus bought for us. “Oh that we
were there!” And one day, because of Jesus, we will be.
Friends, if there’s one thing I want you to remember this morning, it’s to not take your family
for granted. I’m not just talking about your earthly family. I’m talking about your heavenly
family, your spiritual family. I’m talking about the fact that you have been adopted! How great
is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God – and that is
what we are! So remember that God has adopted you as his own. Remember that Jesus paid
for your adoption and all the blessings that go with it. Then live as the child of God that he’s
made you.