GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON FOR US TO RECEIVE
SONSHIP THROUGH HIM
Sermon Text, Galatians 4:1-7. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us – that is, make us children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and keep us as Your children – through the truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ, redeemed from the curse of the Law by the only Son of God who gave Himself up that we may be brought in: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
We say that Jesus is God’s “only Son, our Lord.” But crazily the Bible says that we are “sons of God” too. In Romans 8:14 it says that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God,” and in the verse from today’s epistle reading, in Galatians 3 which comes shortly before these verses, it says: “you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
This language can be misunderstood. Some people think when the Bible calls all Christians “sons of God,” that this excludes women. But nothing’s farther from the truth. This is God using the tradition – which He created – that the first-born son was the heir. The term “sons of God” is taking the inheritance that by right belongs to the Son, Jesus, and giving it to every Christian – boy or girl, man or woman.
So everything He has because He Himself deserves it, He gives to you. You have it, you inherit it, by grace, as a gift. This is what the term “sons of God” means: everything He has, you have. In Him God is well pleased with you, for Jesus’ sake. In Him you are God’s child, having the full rights of His sons. To be a “son of God” is to have an exalted status that God gives you. Treasure it! Everyone in this family has equal glory, equal dignity, equal riches … and equal joy.
That verse in Galatians 3 that “you are all sons of God through faith,” is followed up by a verse that says this removes distinctions between people before God, that there is no superiority or inferiority before God: “there is neither Jew nor [Gentile], there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Being “sons of God” means being one in Christ, being equal before God – having the same status of being His well-favored child, perfectly acceptable and pleasing to Him.
We don’t start out with this status of sonship. That’s one reason Jesus came: to bestow this status on us. These words from Galatians 4, “God sent forth His Son,” are so beautiful because they show us God’s heart. The reason He “sent forth His Son” – His only Son – was for us to become His sons too. This is His heart’s desire: to be our Father and for us to be His sons.
You can read the Bible as the story of how we became God’s sons.
Right after Jesus’ baptism in Luke’s gospel, we hear the Voice from heaven – God the Father – say, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well-pleased.” Right after that comes Jesus’ human genealogy; this one was the son of that one, who was the son of that one, etc. It extends back to the beginning, it says Seth “was the son of Adam, who was the son of God.” It calls Adam the son of God! But Adam and Eve sinned, and the part that got them was where Satan implied that God was holding back good things from them. In effect, Adam was rejecting God’s fatherhood. Immediately Adam was frightened of God and then was cast out of God’s presence. He lost his sonship.
After that, no one is called “son” in the Old Testament: not Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Elisha, Hezekiah, no one. They might be called “friend of God” or “man of God,” but not “son.” Also, the Israelites are never called the “children of God,” or “sons of God.” They’re called “children of Israel” or “daughter of Zion,” but not God’s sons, not children of God. Adam lost that status for everyone who came after him. In Hosea 1, there is a promise that “in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ there it shall be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ ” That’s the only time the phrase “sons of God” is used – but it’s for the New Testament.
There’s also one key Old Testament picture. With Abraham and Isaac, God calls Him “your son, your only son, whom you love.” This is a preview of Christ! It’s a picture of God the Father and His only Son.
Finally, “when the fullness of time had come,” God sent His angel to the virgin Mary. He said the Holy Spirit would conceive in her womb a son who “will be called the Son of God.” It’s the sign that “God sent forth His Son.”
Throughout Jesus’ life, it leaps off the pages of Scripture that here, once again, God is addressing a man by the name “Son” and that this One has the right to call God “Father.” When He is 12, Jesus speaks of doing “My Father’s business.” At His baptism, God the Father says: “This is My beloved Son.” On the mount of transfiguration, the three disciples hear the Voice from heaven – the Father – say it again. When Jesus speaks to the Jews who won’t believe in Him, He uses this language repeatedly: “My Father … the Father who sent Me … The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. … I honor My Father. … I and My Father are one.”
Jesus repeatedly calls God “My Father.” It makes the Jews angry. But His disciples glad. Jesus tells them that “one is your Father, He who is in heaven,” and tells them to pray to God with the words, “Our Father.” Not only does He rightly call God “Father,” His disciples can rightly call God “Father” too. In anguish in the garden He prays, “O My Father …” When He is risen from the dead, He describes God to His disciples as “My Father and your Father.”
The Bible is the story of how we become God’s sons, and this is the verse that summarizes it: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
In the story of how you become one of the sons of God, you start with this: we are “under the Law.” The Law doesn’t tell you that you’re one of God’s sons. The Law says you aren’t, you don’t deserve to be. The Law says you haven’t been about your Father’s business but mostly your own business. The Law says – judging by the evidence of your own thoughts, words and deeds – that you can’t be beloved sons or daughters in whom He’s well-pleased.
What goes with this, St. Paul shows, is slavery. He talks here about being “a slave,” being “in bondage.” By nature we are slaves of sin, of death, and of the devil. No matter how hard you try, you can’t win yourself free from sin, from death, or from the power of the devil. There are other slaveries that come with it: shackled by, or enslaved to, guilt; to fear, especially the fear of death; to sinful desires; to addictions; to judging others harshly; to fearing the opinions of others; to worldliness and materialism; to seeking approval, etc.
This is why the Good News for us today is that Jesus came “to redeem those who were [us who are] under the Law.” Redeem means “to free.” But not just that. He freed us by paying a price. He bought you with His blood. “Redeem” means to “purchase.” Jesus purchased and won us from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil. He bought your freedom.
Christ released you from the clutches of sin, the clutches of death and the fear of death, and from the devil. He redeemed you from sin’s condemnation; but He also redeemed you from the power and rule of sin so it won’t control you. This is how His redemption gives you power over such things as your sinful desires, addictions, materialistic impulses, tendency to judge others or being needy for acceptance by others, and also over your fears, ongoing guilt, and holding onto worry or being held by grief, so such things won’t run you.
How did Jesus do this? How did He free us who are “under the Law?” It’s a surprise. Paul says Jesus did this by putting Himself “under the Law.” He did it perfectly. Even after Jesus was tempted in all respects, God the Father was still well-pleased with Him, for Jesus remained “without sin.” But then nobody can argue that Jesus has bestowed this on everyone.
This is the Bible’s teaching of objective justification: that it’s objectively true, regardless of faith, that for Jesus’ sake everyone’s sins are forgiven, and He has made everyone God’s beloved sons. This status isn’t based on what you do or don’t do; it’s based on Jesus being the perfect, beloved Son for us. He did this to redeem all the unworthy sons of Adam and daughters of Eve.
But it has to be received. This is the Bible’s teaching of subjective justifica-tion, that you benefit from this, you enjoy and partake in this sonship, by faith.
This is what the parable of the prodigal son is about. The first son in the story, when he comes to his lowest point, plans to make his way back into his father’s good graces by asking to be made his slave. But the father ignores these words. He only wants him as his son, not as a slave. The father sums it up by saying to everyone, “My son was lost and is found” – even when the young man was lost, the father always still considered him his son.
This is what God is like. It’s how He sees you: not in slavery, but being sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, with this exalted status, having everything Jesus has as God’s only Son, that we are all one in Him, equal in dignity, glory, and riches, equal in access to the Father, equal in joy.
St. Paul says that we “receive” this status as God’s adopted sons, by faith. So, receive it! You have the “adoption as sons.” You’re His beloved son, His beloved daughter. He’s well-pleased with you! It’s how we keep Christmas: to remember why Jesus came: “to redeem,” to free … you! Amen!