Galatians 3:26-29
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
We’re not just the outcasts who have been forgiven, we are children of God through faith, and His heirs!
Paul's Concern for the Galatians
Galatians 4:1-7
What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.
Before you knew Jesus, you were a slave to the world. You had zero freedom to do anything you wanted, and you were stuck under the oppression of the ungodly world around you.
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
So, through Jesus, you are no longer “underage” and now you are free of the law and live under grace. Why, if you are saved and set free, would you want to go back to the captivity
of being a trust fund kid? … knowing freedom is coming, but not able to live in it.
Galatians 4:8-16
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
12 I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. 13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, 14 and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.
15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
I think every single one of us has been in the place of the Galatians at some point. You might not be one to go back to religiosity and tradition where God is moving you forward into something new, but for us, there are times in our lives where we have backslidden into being our old selves that God has already redeemed.
- Where are you backsliding?
- What’s the thing that used to be a given and is now a special event in your life?
- What’s the thing that you used to see as bad,
or you used to regulate,
and now you you have no discipline?
NO ONE is beyond BACKSLIDING!
Walking with Jesus is like pushing a boulder up a hill. If you aren’t moving forward, you are either moving backwards or getting crushed.
The world that is trying to suck you in is incredibly zealous about the things that are happening, and they look so incredibly appealing… and sometimes, they even look like they’re righteous, but it’s not for your GOOD.
17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
Hagar and Sarah
Galatians 4:21-31
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Be glad, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”
If we are under the covenant of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, then what does that make us? FREE!
28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Remember who you are. Your identity is not that of this world, it’s eternal. It’s bigger.
