|
|
June 27,
2010
Pastor Judy Bangsund
"No
Other Gospel: A Solid Inheritance"
Sermon
Series on Galatians (4 of 5)
Galatians 4
The story is told of an English nobleman who worked for many years
as a railway porter, unaware of his true identity. One day a gentleman
entered the railway station, made some inquiries, and asked the porter
his name. Upon hearing it, the visitor said, "I have come to tell
you that you are an Earl and entitled to a large estate."
Do you think that man continued to work and live as a railway porter?
No way. Once persuaded that it was true, this man left everything
to take hold of the promised inheritance. His whole life changed as
a result. You and I have the same opportunity, as did a young, 1st-century
congregation at Galatia. From where Paul sat, however, the Galatians
were acting as if they were disowning their inheritance.
These last few weeks we have been studying the book of Galatians,
in which the Apostle Paul is trying to keep these new believers from
throwing away the inheritance they have been freely given. The Good
News of Jesus is a gift that has no strings attached; like an inheritance,
there is nothing you have to do to earn it. But it will just sit there,
unused and useless- unless you believe it and claim it. And that's
the sticky point, isn't it? In this life, you just don't expect something
for nothing. It seems just too good to be true. You can imagine the
initial skepticism of the porter when given the news that he was really
an earl, and therefore, heir to a title, family and fortune. In order
to claim that inheritance he had to put aside his skepticism and act
on faith that it was his.
You have been given a solid inheritance. You are heirs with Christ,
standing to inherit all God has promised. In chapter 4, Paul takes
that idea and runs with it. He says, first of all, that you need to
drop the mentality of slaves and start thinking like sons. He says
that by faith, you are now in a new relationship with God. An inheritance
changes things. What Jesus did on the cross was a world-changing event,
and it changes you when you believe in him.
You have a solid inheritance; you need to change your mentality to
think like a son. In Paul's day, of course, only sons could inherit.
Today, daughters and sons may equally share in the inheritance. The
Bible uses the word son because it implies much more than
gender; it implies inheritance. You need to hear what Paul
is saying: All of you are like sons to God. All
of you have an inheritance equally available to anyone who claims
it by faith. Remember what Paul said last week: in Christ, there is
neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female - all are
one in Christ. All stand to inherit as sons!
I hope you catch the radical message Paul is trying to get across.
It is about equality among all God's people - just as we said last
week. But it is far more than that, as well. It is a shift in mentality,
a shift in thinking. I remember a family reunion where some cousins
were arranging meals for a large clan of Bangsunds. Pastor Jim's father
was one of 7 children, so there were 7 families around, each 3 generations
big. Lots of hungry mouths to feed. There happened to be a special
at a grocery chain on salmon - 99 cents per pound - and like all good
Norwegian families, we loved salmon. But - apparently, not only Norwegians
love salmon - and the local store had run out, and so we had to explore
other options.
Now, my cousin (call her Sarah) is way out of my league when it comes
to thinking outside the box. Jim and I had a limited income as missionaries,
and I had a budget-mentality. I just assumed that most options were
out of reach, impossible on our budget. Sarah and her husband, however,
were just the opposite - he was a lawyer and they had stopped counting
pennies long ago. Everything was possible in their way of thinking.
So where I would have said, "Oh, no salmon? Ok, let's do hot dogs;"
Sarah called her husband in the city to basically buy out the store's
supply of salmon, put it on ice and fly it down in their private plane.
We had a feast! Everyone had a great time - but more to the point,
my eyes were opened to what is possible if you change your mentality.
Paul says, don't think like slaves, think like sons. If you think
like a slave, you will just do what is expected of you. In your relationship
with God, that's like thinking - well, what most people today think.
They think, "I'll just do my best. I'll try to be a good citizen,
you know - a decent guy, a pleasant person. I'll go to church, work
hard, pay taxes and keep my nose out of trouble." Doesn't that sound
pretty reasonable? So far, so good. But then, the reasoning goes on:
"God will see that I've tried my best and that will make me ok in
his eyes." Hmm. All of the sudden it sounds pretty lame. Because you've
put yourself into a ball game where you can't win. "Is 'my best' good
enough? Maybe I should have been nicer to my neighbor, or tried a
little harder with my boss. Maybe I could have gone to church more
regularly... maybe this, maybe that." It's not long before you see
that trying your best - well, it just doesn't cut it. From your side,
it sounds reasonable. But as soon as you start looking at it from
God's side, you begin to see a lot of holes in that argument - and
you wonder: was your best really good enough?
That's a slave mentality. A slave to the law, and (as we have said
before) the law is a very stern taskmaster. Paul says, don't go there.
You are no longer slaves, you are sons! And as sons, you stand to
inherit all the benefits God wants to give to you. God, as your Father,
has set before you an inheritance that is simply yours for the taking.
This inheritance makes you right with God because he made it so in
Christ.
You have a solid inheritance because you are sons, and therefore heirs
(one). Two: you have a solid inheritance when you claim God's promises
by faith. Inheritance is all about faith, because an inheritance is
essentially a promise. Right? You are told, like the railway porter,
that you are the child of a rich man, and therefore you have a big
inheritance. If you are an heir, then the inheritance will come to
you when the one who makes this promise dies - but it isn't necessarily
yours yet. A promise necessarily creates faith. Without faith, the
porter would never left his job to go claim his inheritance.
The same was true of Abraham. He was the first one in the Bible to
be told about the inheritance God had for him. God promised him a
land and descendants, so many that they would become a great nation.
Furthermore, God made a promise that through Abraham, all the nations
of the world would be blessed. And so it was. From Abraham's son,
Isaac, Jacob was born, who was later renamed "Israel." Israel was
established as a nation, and today the descendants of Abraham can
be found throughout the world.
But in the beginning, all Abraham had was the promise. God just told
him to go to a land he would show him; Abraham had no proof that any
of these promises would ever be realized. All he had was God's word.
Here is the point: Abraham simply believed God and went. He claimed
his inheritance simply on faith that God would work it all out in
the end. To act on faith may sound simple - but of course, it wasn't
for Abraham, just as it isn't for you and me. This is summertime -
many of you are traveling, perhaps some of you have recently moved.
You and I know that no journey is ever simple. When we went to Africa
we packed 10 suitcases and 50 boxes for 5 people, and then re-packed
them 3 times as our plans changed. It wasn't easy. Abraham left behind
everything that was familiar to him. He had to persuade family and
friends that this was a good idea. They had to pack up everything
and go - to who knows where, not knowing how long it would take. It
wasn't easy. It was a journey that required faith, every step of the
way, and it continued to be so through Abraham's son Isaac and his
grandson Jacob, who finally established their home in that land that
God promised Abraham so many years before. In faith, Abraham strode
forward to claim that inheritance. There was no other way to claim
it, except by faith.
You and I are called to a life of faith. It may sound simple, but
it is not easy. Often, our faith calls us to swim upstream, to do
and to believe differently from those around us. Your faith may take
you in new directions; it will surely affect every major decision
you make. You will continually be asking, "God, is this your will
for me?" And my friends, if you are asking that question, then you
are living by faith. And God will not fail you! You will find that
although your faith in God doesn't make life easier, it does make
life worthwhile. As you depend and trust him a little bit more each
day, you will find that God does keep his promises - and that your
journey of faith is every bit as meaningful as the inheritance itself.
You have a solid inheritance. You have a son-mentality (one); you
will inherit all God's promises for you through faith (two); and (three)
you believe it because of Jesus. There is a little gem hidden in the
center of this passage and you will find it in verses 4 and 5. It
is often read at Christmas time, but we are getting a little Christmas
present now in June. Here it is: But when the time had fully come,
God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those
under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
When the time had fully come. Abraham, thousands of years
earlier, had been given a promise, a promise that was only just beginning
to be fulfilled in his lifetime, and was still only partially fulfilled
at the time of King David (several hundred years later), when Israel
reached her greatness as a nation. God is faithful, and fulfilled
all his promises to Abraham, but in his own time. And even then, the
promise about the blessing - that God would bless all nations through
him - had not yet been fulfilled. (When you read the Old Testament
you find that as a nation, Israel was hardly a blessing to her neighbors.
She was more like a thorn in the flesh!) But here in Galatians we
read, "When the time had fully come, God sent his son." The time when
Jesus was born into the world was just the right time. The world was
at peace during a period called the pax romana, when Roman
rule provided respite from war. A standard trade language, Greek,
was widely used. Peace and a common language provided a world-wide
structure in which the Gospel could be carried everywhere. And the
Gospel message is this: God sent his own son to redeem the world back
to himself, and then established a new kind of government. And Jesus
accomplished this by dying on the cross and then rising again, giving
all who believe in him a new life as sons.
Every so often you get a glimpse into what this new government means
for our world and for each person in it. Jesus called it the Kingdom
of God, and said we are inheritors of it. It means we are under new
management -where Jesus is honored in our lives as Savior and Lord.
It means we will not be forced, but will be filled with the desire
to do his will - by his Holy Spirit. Under new management we will
honor and treasure his word and the promises he has given. We will
love and care for one another, putting other people's needs before
our own. Jesus said God's kingdom has already come - but is yet to
be fully realized. But someday it will be - it is promised in God's
word.
Last week we caught a glimpse of God's new government at work. Our
church campus was transformed as 350 children, 130 youth and over
60 adults joined together to praise God, to read and honor his word,
to hear and believe in Jesus and his life-changing work on the cross.
Luther said that where ever God's word is honored and followed, there
is his Kingdom. Our task now is to spread that message to everyone
we know - that because of Jesus, all may inherit eternal life.
You have a solid inheritance. Paul says, think like a son, not like
a slave. Let the promise itself create in you faith for the journey,
as you enter into a new and right relationship with God. You can't
get it any other way, except by faith. Believe in what Jesus did for
you, the son God sent at just the right time, fulfilling all his promises
in him. You will find that you have been set free - and next week
we'll find out more about that freedom, the freedom we have in Christ.
Amen |
|
St.
Timothy's Lutheran
