Reflections: “Live as children of God having come of age” (Galatians 4, 1-7)

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 30 December 2012 by the Rev. Hans Lutz. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 63, 7–16, Galatians 4, 1–7 and John 15, 12–17.

Five days ago we have celebrated Christmas. We have heard anew the message of God’s grace as he sent Jesus Christ into this world for us. In the epistle to the Galatians Paul speaks about the fruit of Christmas. The verses 4 and 5 are the core of his message.

When the appointed time came

God sent his Son,

born of a woman,

born a subject of the Law,

to redeem the subjects of the Law

and to enable us to be adopted as sons and daughters.

In order to explain the change brought about by Christ’s birth, Paul talks about what has been before:

An heir, if he has actually inherited everything, is no different from a slave, for as long as he remains a child, he is under the control if guardians and administrators until he reaches the age fixed by his father.

Before Christ’s coming the lives of the Jewish people were regulated by the Old Testament law. Until today every step in the daily life of Orthodox Jews is regulated by all kinds of prescriptions. But being subject to “elemental principles of the world” is not confined to the Jewish people. People in other cultures are similarly confined by rules.

One example is the experience of the Basel Mission in Sabah, in East Malaysia. The local people, the Bumiputra, were prohibited from plowing, because the earth belonged to the ancestors. When they began to face limitations in their way of planting, they turned to the missionaries. They realized that they needed a profound change, including a change of their beliefs. They achieved liberation through the faith in Jesus Christ. We who have experienced the liberation brought about by Jesus Christ do not know what it means to be hemmed in by all kinds of rules.

The coming of Jesus Christ brought about profound change. He came to share our humanity. Paul emphasizes the point by saying “Jesus was born of a woman”. He does not mention Mary as this would set the birth of Jesus apart from other births. He emphasizes that Jesus was born no different from other human beings.

Jesus was subject to the Law as any other Jew. He submitted to it, was judged by the Law and crucified.

Through Jesus Christ we were liberated from the rules and restrictions of the Law. Before his coming humanity was like a train running on given tracks without the possibility to turn left or right. After Christ the field of action was wide open.

In the 1960s the theological debate in the West argued that the process of secularization was the fruit of the gospel, that man and woman had come of age to make his/her own decision before God. Personally I think that the process is much more complicated, but there is one point the debate has made clear, namely that liberation and freedom is given to us in Christ.

Through Christ we are adopted sons and daughters of God. What Jesus Christ has brought about is described in another epistle of Paul; “Remember the grace of our Lord Jesus was: He was rich, but he became poor for our sake, to make you rich out of his poverty.” (2 Cor. 8, 9) Jesus, as the son of God, was condemned under the law for us, so that we may become sons and daughters out of his condemnation.

This adoption is pure grace. It is God who decides to adopt us. We remain passive in the process. We receive the fruit of God’s grace: forgiveness, justice, the glory of the resurrection and eternal life.

The adoption is God’s sovereign act. Scholars usually think that the concept of adoption is taken from the Roman law. But I think that there is another source. In the Old Testament God promised to David that he would be a father to the kings after him and the king would be like a son to him. In Christ God’s promise is extended to all of us. Through Jesus we are endowed with royal dignity.

The proof or our adoption as sons and daughters of God is the Holy Spirit that cries “Abba, Father!” It is Jesus who taught us to pray to the heavenly father. In the book of Isaiah there are a few passages where God is called father. These are the harbingers of a new relationship between God and man. Jesus himself was in constant intimate dialogue with the heavenly father.

A Muslim who used to show up here in KUC gave me a book written by a Pakistani woman who converted to Christianity. She describes her journey under the title “I dared to call Him father.” For a Muslim it is a step of great boldness to call God father.

One of my worker friends grew up without a father. It is moving to hear him call God “father” as it implies so much for him. By addressing God as our father we express our closeness to God and the relationship of trust and love which is given to us.

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, December 30, 2012

Reflections...

“Live as children of God having come of age” (Galatians 4, 1-7)

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