“FREE TO BELONG—FREE TO LOVE”

A Sermon Based Upon Galatians 3: 23- 4: 7, NRSV

By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin.  

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

Pentecost 10,  August 9^th, 2015

 “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,  heirs according to the promise”  (Gal. 3:29)  

They were the only family with children in the restaurant.  

Their baby named Erik was in a high chair and was looking around watching other people eating.

Suddenly, the baby squealed with glee.   He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray.  His eyes were wide with laughter and his mouth bared a toothless grin as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.

The mother looked around and saw the source of his merriment.  It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of half-spent shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map. It looked like he smelled.
His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. "Hi ya, buster," the man said to baby Erik. The mother and husband and I exchanged looks, wondering "What do we do?"   Baby Erik continued to laugh as if to answer, "Hi, hi there."

Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, "Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek-a-boo."

Nobody thought the old man was cute. His mind was not all there—maybe it was dementia.  The parents were embarrassed.   They ate in silence, except their baby, who continued to reciprocate the bum’s "cute" comments.

After they finally got through the meal, while the husband was paying the bill, the mother headed for the door, but the old man positioned himself between the mother, baby and the door.    The mother prayed to herself, "Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or my child".

But as she tried to sidestep and avoid him, little Erik leaned over her arm, reached with both arms in a baby’s "pick-me-up" position.   Before she could stop him, Erik had propelled himself into the man’s arms.   In one single act of total trust, love, and submission, her baby laid his tiny head upon the man’s ragged shoulder as if to consummate their love for each other.

The man’s eyes closed, and tears flowed out from beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, now cradled the baby’s bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. The mother was awestruck.

The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on the and he spoke in a firm, commanding voice, "You take care of this baby."

Hesitantly the mother answered, "I will,".   Then the old man pried Erik from his chest and handed him back to the mother.   "God bless you, ma’am, you’ve given me my Christmas and New Year’s gift all rolled up in one."

When the mother rejoined her husband,  he could see she was crying and holding her baby so tightly.  “What’s wrong?”  he asked. 

 "My God, my God, forgive me.”  she spoke aloud.  She told him how she had just witnessed Christ’s love being shown through her tiny child who made no judgment, saw no sin, and reached out to another soul, while they had only seen a bum in ragged clothes.

“I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not.  “It was as if God was asking us, "Are you willing to share your child for a moment?" when God shared his child with us for all eternity! (As told by The Rev. Charles Booker-Hirsch at www.goodpreacher.com). 

“If you belong to Christ,”  Paul concludes in the last verse of chapter 3,  “then you are Abraham’s offspring,  heirs according to the promise.”   And just before that, he has written,  “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Jesus Christ”  (3: 28).  This great statement of belonging, is topped only by one other, where Paul writes,  “For in Jesus Christ you are ALL children of God through faith” (3:26).

What Paul wants his readers to know is that faith is Jesus Christ is not simply a matter of belief,  but it is also a matter of ‘belonging’.   Faith in Christ creates whole new world of possibilities for fellowship, friendship, family and of course, freedom.   The core truth of being in Christ is about learning how to belong to each other in God’s great family---a family that extends all the way back to the ‘promise’ that was given to Abraham and his offspring.

So what is faith up too?   How important is it for us to understand the relationship between believing and belonging today?

FAITH IS MORE THAN BELIEVING (3.6).

Before we look closer at what Paul has to say about ‘belonging to Christ Jesus’ as ‘children of God’, we need to review what Paul has been up to in his discussion about freedom and faith.  

In chapter 3, verse 6, Paul reminds his readers and us, once more that the key to our relationship with God is ‘faith’.   He writes that that “Just as Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness….those who believe (both yesterday and today) are the descendants of Abraham” (3:6-7).   In other words, at the center of the human/divine encounter is ‘faith’.   But this is not simply a ‘faith’ that believes in God’s existence, as some abstract belief that only exists on paper,  but it also means having a living, trusting relationship with God on a day to day basis.    

To say that Abraham ‘believed God’  means that Abraham ‘trusted’ his whole life to God, that Abraham obeyed God, and that Abraham followed wherever God would lead him.   Of course, anyone who has read the story of Abraham knows that even this ‘trusting’ relationship had its ups and downs, but nevertheless this was a real relationship that went beyond mere a mind only saying:  “I believe in God”.   Faith was always, in Paul’s mind, and in the biblical story is always more than some ‘belief’ in a distant, deistic being, but it is about a living relationship that implies a life being lived by faith and trust.

It was more than just a ‘belief’ because as Paul says, this faith ‘reckoned’ or ‘accounted’ Abraham as a ‘righteous’ person.  “The one who is righteous lives by faith” (3:11).  Here Paul quotes the Hebrew Bible and it could just as well be said that the one who lives by faith is made ‘righteous’ because of the trusting life a person lives by faith.   However you want to express it, the truth of faith comes out much the same.   Faith is more than just having a belief, but faith is about living a life that lives, trusts and hopes in the promises of God.

FAITH IS ABOUT BECOMING GOD’S FAMILY (5).

With this understanding that ‘faith is more than belief’ Paul moves on to give us one of the most important pictures of what this ‘more’ means.   He concludes chapter 3, saying that ‘if you belong to Christ’,  by faith of course, then you are “ALL CHILDREN OF GOD” (3.26).  Paul opens chapter 4 with a discussion about what it means to be called not just “servants” or “slaves”, but to be called “sons”, daughters, or as he says in verse six,  so that we might receive the ‘adoption as children,…children of God’ (4.5-6).

There is a story about two siblings were sharing a birthday.  Someone asked them how old they were, thinking they just happened to be born on the same day, but they not only shared a birthday party, they were almost the same age, born only couple weeks apart. 

      “How could this be possible?   You aren’t twins are you?  

      “No, they answered, one of us is adopted.” 

      “Which one?”

      “We don’t know.  Our Father hasn’t told us.  He tells us it really doesn’t matter because he loves us both the same.”  (Source Unknown)

Now, that’s adoption.   Being an adopted child myself I can connect with that story, as I can connect with how Paul pictures the relationship of God and his own children, who have ‘received adoption as children.’   My parents only made one mistake when they told me they I was adopted.  They told me that I was chosen, while other children had to be accepted.   They told me that because they realized others in school might try to make fun of me because I wasn’t born as their child.   They wanted me to know that love knows no difference.  This was one of those ‘true myths’ that was true because they could never have loved me more, even if I had been their natural-born child.

Paul wants us to know that this is what ‘faith’ means.  Faith is not just about belief, but it’s about much, much more.   Faith is about belonging and becoming part of God’s family.  Faith is about being loved by God and acknowledging that God ‘sent his Son’ so that we ‘all’ might become ‘his children’ by sending ‘the Spirit of His Son into our hearts!’ (4.6).   

    

This means that God has ‘no grandchildren’.   We aren't loved because of our parent's faith, but God loves and accepts us 'as his own children’.   Being a ‘child’ of God means that we are no longer ‘restricted’ by the law, but now in Christ we have become ‘children’ who are ‘no longer slaves’ or treated like one, but we are children who are also ‘heirs’ of all the ‘promises of God’.

I don’t think it is as easy for us to imagine what this means for our relationship with God, as it did for those Galatians.  They were struggling with the concept of a gospel of ‘grace’ through ‘faith’ and wanted to go back to the ‘law’ because it sounded easier and more efficient.  But Paul wants them to know that the purpose of the law is ‘elementary’ and keeps them ‘disciplined’ in a way that they can grow into becoming ‘children of God through faith’ (3: 25-26).   The way forward is to understand that being part of God’s family is not based upon rules, regulations or requirements, but it is based upon a living relationship that has now been established ‘through Christ'  whom Paul says, has 'redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us’ (3: 13-14).  Do you see where Paul is going with this line of thinking?  Since we are part of God’s family, the law can still serve us, but we have become ‘children’ who are loved because of God’s love, not because of God’s law.

Isn’t this what makes people a family?   We are not family because the law says we are, telling us ‘who’ we are and ‘how’ we should behave.   Of course, the law does define this, but it is not what makes us family.   We are family because we are connected to each other by both ‘blood’ and ‘spirit’.   And we know that ‘spirit’ is stronger than ‘blood’ just as ‘blood is thicker than water’, as the saying goes.  And this is exactly what Paul is saying in his own words.   He says it is the “Spirit of the Son” in our hearts that makes us children of God and family with each other.  If you revert back to relying on ‘laws’ then you really aren’t family, except in name.  “How can we go back to the old way of calling ourselves family, when God has made us family in a whole new way (4: 9-11). 

The hope of Paul is that the churches of Galatia will continue to understand what it means to be in God’s family, based upon ‘faith’ and ‘spirit’ and not based upon ‘law’ and ‘enslavement’.    God has given too much for them to turn away from the blessings of this new way of being in God's family.  There is no other way to relate to God, other than becoming, belonging, and being a child of God.

FAITH IS ABOUT CHRIST BEING FORMED IN US (19).

Being a ‘child’ of God does have a particular meaning.   You are not just a ‘child of God’ because you are born into this world.   You are one of God’s precious ‘creatures’ by being born, and you are a ‘gift’ of God to this world, but you only become a ‘child’ of God,  as “Christ is formed in you” (4:19).   Here Paul pictures the Christian life as a person being ‘born’ of a mother who is still in the midst of the pain of giving birth.  Paul pictures his work as a missionary as the mother of these new children---children who will not be fully alive until “Christ is formed’ in them.

Again, let’s return to that image I gave you of God having no grandchildren.   You cannot ‘pass’ your faith down to your children, but you can pray and encourage your children to have faith.   What Paul means is that for anyone to become a ‘child of God’ means that they must prove their faith to be genuine and real because “Christ is being formed” in them as they are being 'born' to live their life ‘in Christ’.  

“In Christ” is one of Paul’s favorite terms.  By it he means that when we are 'born' again or from above as children of God, our old way of living is ‘crucified’ with Christ, so that now ‘the live we live we live by faith in the Son of God, who loves us and gave himself for us’ (Gal. 2: 20).   You  become a child of God not just because God loves you, but you become a child of God also because you love God.   This is one difference from the earthly relationship of parent and child.  An earthly parent is legally the parent whether or not the child loves them back.  But in ‘heavenly’ or ‘spiritual’ terms, the legality is not as important as is the truth of the “Spirit”.  Being a child of God and being an heir of all of God’s promises depends upon a living, spiritual relationship, where Christ is alive in us and we are alive in Christ.   This is why we say “God has no grandchildren”.   To move from the slavery of sin and limits of the law, a child of God must live as an adopted “Son” or “Daughter” of God to be an heir of the all the promises God gives.

FAITH IS ABOUT BEING FREE TO LOVE (31).
When we preach or teach that faith is about “Christ being formed” in us, or that we must love God back, in order to become his own children,  this is not meant to restrict God’s love, but to broaden it.   This is true because through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s love is no longer limited by those who ‘follow the law’ but it now includes those who ‘receive adoption as children’ because they have received “God’s Spirit”.    

God has made this change in his relationship not to exclude people, but to include the possibility of more people, even making it possible for all people to become God’s children.  Paul gives a powerful illustration out of the Old Testament to make this point.  He speaks of Abraham's two sons, Issac and Ishmael.  But in considering this example, we must be careful not to misunderstand what Paul is saying.  We live in ‘troubled times’ when the relationship between Hagar’s children and Sarah’s children is strained and stained with ‘fresh blood’ so we dare not miss that Paul’s main point here is not about who is excluded, but it is about how ALL are 'included' to be called God's children. 

Since we can’t follow all of Paul’s discussion in a brief sermon, we need to see that point comes when Paul tells us that the difference between Hagar’s children and Sarah’s children is ‘an allegory’ (4:24).   An ‘allegory’ is a story that points to a bigger truth that can’t be put in words, but can only be understood in a story.   

And the this ‘difference’ between Hagar’s children and Sarah’s children is not that they ‘not’ children of Abraham, nor that they are rejected as God’s  own children, but the truth is that for them to ‘inherit’ the ‘promises’ of God, means that both of them must ‘now also’ (29) stop ‘persecuting’ the child who was born of the Spirit (29).  Only those who move from the ‘slavery’ of ‘elemental spirits’ (4.9) which include, the slavery of legalism, race, nationality, gender and tradition, will be able to ‘inherit’ the promises given to the ‘free-woman”.   Only to the children of the ‘free woman” can God give new birth to those Jews, Gentiles, Arab, or anyone,  who is willing to ‘receive (their) adoption’ as children of God.

Here, we need to be reminded again, what Paul means by being ‘a child of the free woman’.   Because he is speaking in  ‘allegory’ he wants us to see beyond the birth of Ishmael or Isaac, or beyond Hagar and Sarah, but he means that their story points us toward  this ‘new birth’ of seeing everything in a whole new way as can be seen only through faith in Jesus Christ.  This new way is to be ‘born not according to the flesh’, but to be ‘born according to the Spirit’ (4.29).  When you are born this way, you are not born to ‘persecute’ or to ‘hate’ but you are ‘born again’ so that you are free ‘to love’.

I can interpret this ‘allegory’ this way because of Paul goes on to say in the very next chapter, when he says,  “For you were called to Freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence…but through love become slaves of one another….” (5:13).   Paul continues that ‘the whole law is summed up in a single commandment:  YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF….(14).  And we know who our ‘neighbor’ is don’t we?  Isn’t it anyone who along the road of life needs to be loved?   

 By the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus Christ, we have been made free---free not only to be loved by God, but we have also been made ‘free to love’ , to love God and to love those who need God’s love.   Love is the ‘truth that sets us free’ and love is the reason ‘truth sets us free’.  Is there any other reason, other than love, to believe or to belong to God and to each other?  I don’t think so.   Amen.