Freedom — As a Son – Monday
TODAY’S VERSE
Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (ESV)
Do you remember the first time you got to sit in the driver’s seat of a car and put the transmission in drive?
I’m a rule follower by nature, so for me, this happened the day I turned 16, after I had passed my permit test. I was incredibly nervous. My elbows locked out straight with my hands gripping the wheel at a strict 10 and 2. Our green Ford Winstar slowly moved down Union Mill Road as my feather-foot never allowed us anywhere near the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit. We arrived at our destination of CVS after more than a few annoyed honks of impatient drivers behind us. My t-shirt was covered in nervous sweat when my Dad asked, “Would you like me to drive home?” I think all parties involved were overcome with relief when I gave an exhausted, “Yes.”
I’m happy to report that 20 years later, I now feel pretty confident making routine trips to the convenience store. I’m also glad that we still have laws in place to keep kids from driving until their mid-teens. I needed to grow in my confidence to become a capable driver. I needed the life skills I’d accumulated up to that point to help me responsibly operate a vehicle on public roads.
Paul opens up Galatians 4, explaining how children, though heirs, were like slaves under a guardian’s care. A few verses earlier in Galatians 3:24, Paul explains that “the law was our guardian until Christ came.” God’s people needed this law because, as Matt preached yesterday, without the law, they would spiral into utter chaos. In the same way that there would be utter chaos if a bunch of 8- and 9-year-olds were driving on Man o’ War, life would be utterly chaotic without the order of God’s Truth.
The Law was a guardian for us and a gracious gift from God, but it was never meant to save us. The purpose of the Law was to reveal our desire to sin and reveal our desperate need for a savior. We are no longer under the Law’s guardianship. We have something so much better! God sent Jesus, the savior we needed, to redeem us so that He might adopt us as sons! Because of Jesus, we have freedom!
APPLICATION
Read or listen to the whole book of Galatians in one sitting. This will give you the larger context of Paul’s message and inform a deeper study into each chapter and verse.
PRAYER
Thank You, God, for giving us Your Truth! What a gift to not live in chaos and confusion. We thank You for being the way, the Truth, and the life and for giving us freedom through Your sacrifice.