A Relationship And A Destiny - Conclusion

 

Our passage this morning tells us that God has brought us into not a religion but a relationship.  We are no longer debtors to the old way of life, the way of life without God in Christ…and that old way of life has only one end result…death.  Our passage tells us:

               “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship.  When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…”

               Now that word that’s translated “sonship” in our pew Bibles is better translated “adoption” and that term would have a particular meaning to the first century Christians reading this letter from Paul.  And the phrase “fellow heirs with Christ” would have more precisely meant “joint heirs with Christ.”

               In the ancient world, particularly in the Roman world, adoption meant much more than it does today.  Today we think of adoption as simply bringing someone into a family by making them a son or daughter.  But in the Roman world adoption was a form of what we call Estate Planning.   Adoption was the means used to ensure the perpetuation of one’s family name and it was used to ensure who would receive the primary inheritance from the family patriarch.  A father’s inheritance was not split evenly between surviving children, the bulk of the inheritance went to either the firstborn son or it went to a son who was adopted with this special purpose in mind…that purpose being the perpetuation of the family name and the reception of the inheritance.  The adopted person was called into a relationship with a destiny.

               There are many instances of fathers adopting sons in the ancient world, usually as adult males, males that they trusted, in order to pass the family name and wealth on to them.  The bulk of the estate went to the adopted son…other siblings would never share equally…they would usually receive only token amounts.

               But Paul by the Holy Spirit tells us that we are not only adopted, we have not only received the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit of relationship, of Father – daughter and Father – son relationship…BUT…we are fellow heirs with Christ…or more literally…we are joint heirs with Christ.  Christ is, of course, the firstborn Son, and the first century Christian would expect Him to receive the bulk of the inheritance…BUT…God says, “I’ve made you a joint heir with my firstborn Son Jesus Christ.”  God says, “I’ve predestined you to share equally with my firstborn in all the treasures of a relationship with Me and in all the treasures of heaven.”

               Does that sound like a maintenance mentality?  Does that sound like a billionaire father who requires his children to eat out of restaurant garbage bags?  Does that sound like a father who wants his children to lose the game of life?  Does that sound like a father who wants his children to be afraid?  Afraid of failure?  Afraid of winning?  Afraid of growing?  Afraid of relationship with Him and with each other?

               We haven’t received the spirit of slavery, or the spirit of bondage, again to fear, but we’ve received the Spirit of relationship, the Spirit of Father – daughter relationship, the Spirit of Father – son relationship - and we cry out, Daddy! Father!

               The word “religion” has the ancient idea behind it of “binding oneself to God.”  The idea was (and is) that you get back to God and bind yourself to Him by binding yourself to rules and regulations that are supposed to make you righteous and acceptable to God.  The irony is that the reason God gave us the law of Moses in what we call the Old Testament is to prove to us that we couldn’t bind ourselves to Him by what we do or don’t do – in other words – God gave us religion to prove to us that religion doesn’t work but that relationship is what He is all about.

               Galatians 4:1 – 7, page 178 in our pew Bibles:

               “I mean the heir, as long as he is a child, is no better than a slave, though he is the owner of all the estate; but he is under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father.  So with us; when we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe.  But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son than an heir.”

               Are we living like sons and daughters of the living God or like slaves living in fear?  Are we on the playing field of life just trying to “get by,” trying not to lose, trying not to win?  Jesus says to us in John 15 that the Father is glorified when we bear much fruit – are we doing our best not to bear fruit because we are afraid of something?  Afraid of the unknown?  Afraid of what people will say?  Afraid we’ll break the negative images we have of ourselves, afraid we’ll break the negative images others have of us, afraid of the unfamiliar?

               Our passage says:

               “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God…the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now…”

               God has a destiny of liberty for you to live in – for you to live in every day of your life.

               What are you afraid of this morning?  Do you have a fear of failure?  Do you have a fear of winning…of accomplishing goals in your life?   God your Father has called you to liberty, to freedom, to spread your wings and fly.  God has called you to a relationship and a destiny.

               Are you fulfilling that destiny?  Are we as a church fulfilling our collective destiny?  Are we just surviving…or are we thriving in Jesus Christ?