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INJ
Galatians 4:1-7
'Sons, Not Slaves'
Divine Service
The 1st Sunday after Christmas | December 30, 2007
Dear Saints,
Merry Christmas!
The Lord gives gifts. That's what He does, what He loves to do. In love and mercy He gives us more than we could ask for or imagine. That is what our celebration of Christmas is about: the Lord giving us the gift of Jesus, the God-man. “For unto us a child is born.” And the Lord intends for us to unwrap His gifts, that is: to consider them and the purpose for which they were sent and to rejoice in them.
That is why the Lord Jesus has called us out and gathered us here this morning, so that we might ponder evermore the gift of His coming in the flesh, and as we see why Jesus was born we would rejoice that all of this was for us.
This is the way St Paul does it in the Epistle text appointed for this morning. Paul speaks of Christmas, of Jesus' birth, and then of the benefit that we have from it. Jesus was born that He might redeem us, and that redemption results in our adoption. Here are the blessed words from the apostle Paul:
“But 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.” [Galatians 4:4-5]
This entire text might be summarized this way: God wants Sons, not Slaves.
There has almost always been slaves in the world, from ancient times to modern. Perhaps the worst form is racial slavery like we saw in our country. The nasty result of, among other things, the teaching of Darwin and his theory of evolution, such that men could say that one race is more advanced or evolved than another. Think of it, if you can say that this race is the link between you and the monkeys, what would be the result? There was once a man, Ota Benga, a pygmy from Africa, on display in the Bronx zoo as an example of an inferior race.
The Bible, on the other hand, knows no race. All humanity is related by our ancient parents Adam and Eve, and even through Noah and his sons and daughters-in-law. And even more, all humanity has a common redemption in the death of our Lord Jesus.
So there is no place for any racism or discrimination in the Lord's church. When St John sees the revelation of the Lord's church in her glory and perfection he sees “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes.” [Revelation 7:9]
But, back to the idea of slavery. Slavery in the Bible was of a different sort, not essential racist, rather it was mostly the result of lost wars where the captured would be put into slavery, or an economic relationship. There were laws in ancient Israel about slavery, and especially important were the laws of redemption.
If a man went so far into debt that it was impossible to pay, he could enter into a contract to the person to whom he owed the money, up to seven years, in order to pay off the money he owed. But, and this is the important point for the discussion at hand, the debt that the slave owed could, at any time, be paid by a near kinsman, and the slave would be set free. This paying off the debt owed by a close relative is called “redemption,” and this is what the Bible is talking about when it speaks of Christ as our Redeemer.
In His birth Jesus becomes our Brother, our Near Kinsman, and now He has the right of Redemption, of buying us back. But you know that the slavery that we are born into is not a financial debt that we cannot pay, but that we are slaves to sin, and to death and the devil. The law is our slave master because we owe it what we cannot pay: perfection and righteousness.
So it is that we cannot be redeemed with gold or silver or money, but only with suffering and blood and death, and the death of a perfect person. And this is exactly the price that our Brother Jesus has paid for us. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” [1 Peter 1:18-19]
Jesus doesn't want us as slaves, but as sons, children, part of the family. “But 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.”
He becomes part of our family that we might be part of His; He redeems us from death and the devil that we might live together with Him and His Father and the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus subjects Himself to the dominion of the devil and death that He might rescue and pull us from them. He pays the ultimate price in the spilling of His blood, and He gives this to us, “Merry Christmas!” He says, “I got you forgiveness and the sure hope of life eternal.”
But, and this is the sad part in the midst of all this good news: our sinful flesh despises the freedom that the Lord gives us, and His name, and our adoption as His sons. Our flesh would rather be a slave than a son. We all have a natural theology of legalism, of keeping the law, of slavery.
This is best seen in the parable commonly called the parable of the prodigal son, although we might call it the parable of the prodigal sons, or even better, the parable of the recklessly merciful father. [Luke 15:11-32] You all know the story. There is a man with two sons. One asks for his share of the inheritance, takes it out of the country and wastes it on sin and the pleasures of the world, and ends up hungry and poor, wanting to steal pig food to eat. And he remembers how his father's slaves are clothed and well fed, and so he determines to go back to his father and beg forgiveness and ask to be a slave. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” And so with this rehearsed speech he walks down the driveway, but his father sees him from afar and runs to him and takes him into his arms. And as the son begins his speech the father cuts him off. The son wants to be a slave, but the father won't have it. “You are my son. Here is your ring and your garment and your feast.” The Father wants sons, not slaves.
And the same things happens with the second son. Remember how he hears that his wayward brother has returned and he is upset because his father is throwing a party for him. And when his father comes out to bring him into the festivities, he pouts, saying, “Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends.” And we see it again, “All these years I've been serving you... All this time I've been your slave.” The second son was like the first, he wanted to be a slave to the father, or at least he thought of himself as a slave, but the father wants sons, not slaves. He says, “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.” You are my son, not my slave. The goats and cattle and fields and homes that are mine are yours.
Do you see how the natural tendency is toward slavery? And how many of us sin in this way, that we think of the Lord Jesus as our task master or slave driver? Our Epistle reading does the same that the merciful father does in the parable, it pulls us back to this most amazing and wonderful truth: we all are sons of the heavenly Father. He has adopted us, made us His own children, given us a new name, even His own as we were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And now we are heirs with Christ, heirs of life, heirs of God's kingdom and His heaven. All that He has is ours. We are God's own dear children, begotten from His word of promise. We are forgiven. We are free.
“Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” [Galatians 4:7] Dear sons of God, may your redemption and your adoption won for you by your Brother Jesus bring you comfort and peace until your Heavenly Father brings you to the inheritance of the saints in light: your eternal life. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO