How did your list making go?
It makes a lot of our do-goodery look pretty ugly, if yours
looked anything like mine.
No, not all the things, or all the time, but enough.
Today we will look at our inheritance.
Ours is special. Most times for an inheritance, someone we
love has to die, and that which they left behind, even if it is great, has a
limit.
With our inheritance, however, even though Christ had to die
for us to attain it, He did not stay dead, and His Spirit lives in our hearts
as a part of that alive-ness.
Romans 8:10 “And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.” NLT
But yet, there’s no limit to the inheritance, and it will
never run out.
Our inheritance is freedom. Our inheritance is grace. Free
grace.
I ask you, did you do
anything to get it?
No, of course not.
Q: So why then do
we think we have to do and be so much to keep it?
Psalm 103:14 “For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.” NASB
So, dust-child, who did we think we were kidding? Not God,
certainly. Ourselves, probably. Others? Most likely. Leave it to us to be so
flawed even in our doing good. But He loves us anyway.
Let’s open with Galatians 3 and I’d like to highlight verse
3.
Galatians 3:3 “How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” NLT
Our text today is Galatians 3 and 4. (Specifically 3:1-7,
11-15, 21-29; 4:1-9, 22-31)
Look at Abraham. He was one of the “greats” right? A “good
Christian” surely. But look at what saved him.
Not his lineage, not his place in the kingdom plan.
Q: What does it
say in verse 6 that saved him? What made him holy in God’s eyes?
Please take the time to answer in your journal. I believe
you’ll gain so much from physically writing it down.
So what saved him? His faith. That’s it.
And we can have that exact same thing. We can inherit the
same, be accepted into God’s family the very same way. Faith.
Galatians 3:7 “The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.” NLT
Faith alone.
Jump down to verse 11.
Galatians 3:11 “So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”” NLT
Verse 12 says this is very different from what we’re used
to, and that couldn’t be more true. Everything about what we’re used to is
reliant on being better, doing more to rise higher.
But we are rescued from that.
Read that again and feel free to issue a sigh of relief. We are rescued from that. (Galatians 3:13-15). And nothing will ever change that fact. Praise Jesus!
So, you may ask, what is the law for? Why all the rules
always associated with being a child of God?
Here’s our answer – find freedom in this. Read verses 21-29.
Galatians 3:24 “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” NASB
It is here to teach us of our need for Christ. Like the
mirror in James 1:23, it is here to reveal a need.
We needed the rules to train us. To know this is how a child
of God acts.
As a child, we were no different from a slave, in that we
had to obey the rules, no questions asked. Because those are the rules. (Any
moms out there said that line?) But when the right time came for each of us to
be saved, and we received His Spirit, in that moment we were no longer slaves,
but children of God. And heirs.
Romans 8:17a “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…” NIV
Before that time, and in the old testament before Christ
came to set us free, the people of God did need to do the elements. (The Greek word behind elements refers to marching in rank. The fundamental practices of a
discipline) It was part of it, and they were required to do them. Yes it was
still faith that saved them (Galatians 3:6, Romans 4), but they were required
to do those things because Christ had not yet come.
Going back to the original discussion in Galatians (see our
previous post) about circumcision. Again, you may apply this to practices we
use today as our defining marks.
Before the time of Christ, to be that heir, that child of God, to be adopted into the family, a mark
(via circumcision) was required.
What we see here is that now, that mark, that sign, or thing
that brands us as God’s people is faith. Faith becomes that public, no-going-back,
change to distinguish us. Not our actions.
Faith is not a marching in rank kind of thing. It is a gift.
A freedom, and a hope.
To wrap this all up, I’d like to ask you a question. Please
answer honestly in your journal. If you feel comfortable, please also share
here in our community.
Q: What have you
been depending on as your defining mark to set you apart?
Is it your deeds? Attending church? Your language? Or is it
just faith alone?
Please don’t remain enslaved by the “do”.
Galatians 4:9 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” NASB
We are heirs not because of what we do. We are not slaves. We are faith-children. (Galatians 4:31)
For more on this, you may read http://v3.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/c2000_Gal/Gal_004.cfm?a=1095008#anchor_Gal480
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