The Message I Should Have Preached 33 Years Ago

In July this year, Jennifer and I had the great blessing of returning to Israel and visiting the ‘Church of the Nativity’ which was built over the place of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. 

Matthew 2: 1 

The Chapel was constructed early in the 4th Century (335 AD) by Queen Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine. 

Marking the place of Christ’s birth is a 14-point star (Photo) which indicates the 14 generations from Abraham to King David, Matthew 1: 1-6a. 14 generations from King David to the Babylonian exile, Matthew 1: 6b-11. And 14 generations from the Babylonian exile to the birth of Jesus, Matthew 1: 12-16. 

Matthew 1: 17 

This is Christmas time when we are celebrating the birth of the Divine Child – Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. 

This introduction leads us into our Main Message for today which is called. The Message I Should Have Preached 33 Years Ago. 

In late 1989-early 1990, I was coming to the end of my 3-year Minister In Training Program and at that time I was sharing a Sunday preaching assignment with my Senior Pastor. We were preaching through the Book of Galatians together and it was going really well, and I was enjoying it.  

Then, all of a sudden it stopped going well and I stopped enjoying it. 

One of my upcoming passages was Galatians 4: 1-7 'Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles[a] of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.'

I did so much preparation on this passage but no matter how hard I tried and no matter how hard I prayed I could not understand it. I was wrestling with the Passage and the Passage was wrestling with me and I was losing badly – it was truly awful; I had no Message and didn’t know what to do!?   

But then God had mercy on me; several weeks before I was due to preach this Passage, my Senior Pastor resigned and relocated his ministry out of town to another city and I was appointed the new Senior Pastor. 

That was great! As the new Senior Pastor, I decided I didn’t have to preach the Passage! Instead, I found a whole lot of other things that I could preach about – what a relief! 

However, over these last 33 years the Lord has been bringing me back to Galatians 4: 1-7 and telling me I have unfinished business with it - it’s time to preach the Passage. 

Let’s begin the exposition! 

Generally speaking, what does it mean to be a child? 

A child is a young person subject to authority, Galatians 4: 2a ‘They have to obey their guardians.’ 

At the beginning of the Passage the Apostle Paul tells us that before we were children of God, we were children of this unbelieving world and subject to its authority, Galatians 4: 1b ‘those children are not much better off than slaves’, Galatians 4: 3 ‘And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.’ 

As the Apostle Paul said in, Ephesians 2: 1-2 ‘And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons (children) of disobedience.’ NASB 

And as children of this unbelieving world, we were also subject to the authority of God’s judgement, ‘Galatians 4: 5b ‘slaves to the law’; As Paul said, Galatians 3: 13a (there is a) ‘curse pronounced by the law’, upon the, Ephesians 2: 3b ‘children of wrath,’ NASB 

But the Good News of the Gospel is that God in His mercy has extended His saving grace to those who are willing to receive it, Galatians 4: 4-5 ‘But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children.’  

Ephesians 2: 4-5 

One of the theological heresies of the last 200 years that came out of the European Age of Enlightenment said that God is the ‘Universal Father’ of all mankind and therefore, by reason, all mankind are children of God. No that’s seriously NOT true!  The Word of God is not subject to that kind of reasoning; God is NOT the ‘Universal Father’ of all mankind and all mankind are NOT the children of God. Jesus said that in our raw, basic and fallen, unsaved ‘human’ condition, John 8: 44 ‘you are the children of your father the devil’. 

The Apostle Paul said that we only become children of God when the Father adopts as His children. And when that happens, God becomes our adoptive Father and we become His adopted children who by the Spirit of His Son in our hearts call out ‘Abba Father’, Galatians 4: 6 ‘And because we are His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”’ 

Please remember that it is by God’s grace that He has adopted you as His ‘own child’, Ephesians 1: 4-5 ‘Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.’ 

Another Bible Version says, Ephesians 1: 4 ‘He predestined us for adoption as His children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His purpose and pleasure (grace),’ NCB 

And here’s me thinking that becoming a Christian was all my idea - Silly me!  

“Pastor David, if God has predestined me to become His ‘own child’ what does God require of me to come to Him?”, John 1: 10-12 ‘He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.’ 

Do you believe in Jesus, and have you accepted Him as your Lord and Savior? 

Coming now to the end of this Message, the Apostle Paul said that even while you were like a child subject to the authority of this sinful world and a child subject to the authority of God’s judgement, God in His great love and grace had already prepared an, Galatians 4: 1a ‘inheritance’ for you; As the Apostle Peter said, 1 Peter 1: 4 ‘a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in Heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.’ 

 Here’s a word of caution; as children of God, we can be tempted to think we are no longer subject to authority – WRONG! As God’s children we are subject to the Father’s authority, and as grateful children who love the Father, we must be ready to do the Father’s will as Jesus did, John 14: 31 “I love the Father. So I do exactly what the Father told Me to do.”  

And what has the Father told us to do? I will leave the last word to the Apostle Paul, Galatians 2: 20 ‘The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.’ Msg. Dear friends, the truth is, what you think is your life, is NOT your life at all, you and your life and all that it is, belongs to God - You are, Galatians 4: 7b ‘God’s own child’ 

So, there we go, it took 33 years for me to preach this Message - Mission accomplished. 

Amen! 

Let me wish you all a very blessed Christmas as we, God’s children, celebrate the birth of the Divine Child – Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior