Sermon Notes: Christ Came… In the Fullness of Time (Galatians 4:4-5)
These are the notes of the sermon preached by Andy Evans on the morning of the 22 November 2009. Click here to download or stream the sermon audio.
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 who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
1. INTRODUCTION
a. Counterfeit Christmas
Christmas.
In 2008 the great British public spent some twenty billion pounds; with over one and a half billion pounds of this being spent on food and drink. The British public consumed ten million turkeys, twenty-five million Christmas puddings, two-hundred and fifty million pints of beer and thirty-five million bottles of wine.[1]
Research by Lloyds TSB in December 2007 indicated that ninety percent of parents questioned intended to spend five-hundred pounds on their children. Research from The Children’s Mutual found that 41% of toys and presents given to children at Christmas will be broken by March.[2]
This year the Dundee Christmas Lights switch-on has been renamed, ‘Dundee Winter Light Night’ and the traditional Nativity has been replaced with a contemporary circus, a winter market and seven-foot tall fairy on stilts. The Presbyterian Church has complained that references to the birth of Jesus Christ have all been but removed from the celebrations.[3]
A survey by a tabloid newspaper of some five-thousand five-hundred cards in High Street shops, found just sixty-seven card designs with pictures related to the Bible story.[4]
There is something wrong with the way in which we observe and celebrate Christmas. And this something is something more than simply an erasing of Christ from Christmas. Christmas has become a religion, in and of itself, with all the requisite characteristics, mysterious and powerful deities (the economy and Santa Claus), houses of worship (shopping centres), narratives (carols) and rituals (shopping, excess and decorating).
‘Santa, not Jesus, is the saviour of the season’.[5]
And this counterfeit Christmas produces fruit in keeping with its nature. Mind, a mental health charity, undertook an online survey in January 2008 and reported the following findings,
- 19 per cent of people felt less able to manage their mental health because of worries about paying off the cost of Christmas.
- 25 per cent were feeling depressed.
- 20 per cent will have problems meeting their rent or mortgage payments this month.
- Over 50 per cent admitted they had spent more than they could afford on Christmas.
- 39 per cent used credit cards to cover the cost of Christmas.
- 33 per cent estimated that it would take them more than six months to pay off their Christmas spending debt.[6]
Our generation, more than any other, has ripped Christ out of Christmas and in doing so created a false religion centred upon false gods and, as a society, we are paying the cost.
b. Christmas and the Glory of Christ
Christ is the antidote to this de-Christing of Christmas.
And this is our concern for the next four-weeks. It is our intention to find, to show and to celebrate the glory of the Son of God. It is our intention to help you exult over the appearance of Christ.
This emphasis is profoundly Biblical whereas the celebration of Christmas is not.
There is simply no Biblical foundation for the observance and celebration of Christmas. The New Testament writers do not command it and the New Testament Church did not celebrate it. It was not until 330 AD that the Roman Church fixed Christmas as the 25 December.
If Christmas, has then become a false religion centred around the false gods of money, consumption and pleasure, it seems that the solution is to redirect the focus from the event to Christ Jesus.
Our purpose, over the next four weeks, is to see Christ through the eyes of the New Testament writers. The intended outcome of this series is that this Christmas, every other false god, competing world view and philosophy would be eclipsed by the blinding glory of Christ.
2. CHRIST CAME…
a. God sent
The Apostle Paul reminds the church in Galatia about the centrality of the incarnation to the Gospel of Christ Jesus,
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)
Birth and death are two events over which you and I have no control. There is little achievement in hastening our death (and we may find that even this is more difficult than we might imagine, but, when all is said and done, we are powerless to prolong our lives by a single day (Matthew 6:27).
Jesus, however, was not merely born; he was sent. God ‘sent forth his Son’.
This sending is absolutely fundamental to our understanding of the identity of Jesus Christ. Jesus is not merely a man, he is the man sent forth by and from God. This sending (in Paul’s use of the Greek word, exapesteilen, from the root exapostello) involves a sending out from something or somewhere. Jesus was sent out from God and this, necessarily, implies pre-existence.
Jesus’ existence did not begin with his birth in a cave in the middle of nowhere. Before Jesus was born, he was. And this pre-existence implies something even more glorious.
There are other examples in Scripture of miraculous births. Consider the miraculous conceptions of Isaac, Samuel and, in the New Testament, John the Baptiser to women who were old and barren and, in the case of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, unable to conceive (Genesis 17:15-21, 1 Samuel 1:1-19 and Luke 1:18).
Furthermore, there are occasions in Scripture where God supernaturally commissions before birth; indeed, the Prophet Jeremiah is set apart and John the Baptiser is filled with the Holy Spirit even from their mothers wombs (Jeremiah 1:5 and Luke 1:15).
The birth of Jesus, however, is unique among all other births in human history. Jesus was sent forth from God. Before his birth, Jesus was. The Apostle John celebrates this glorious truth in the following terms,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
The Apostle Paul makes this very same connection, ‘God sent forth his Son’ (Galatians 4:4). The birth of Christ was unique and miraculous because Jesus was and is unique and altogether glorious. He is not merely a child of God (as you and I are children of God). He is the Son of God and his arrival on earth was not simply happenstance. God sent him forth.
This glorious truth lies at the heart of the Christmas account and the good news of the Gospel. God intervenes decisively in human history by sending forth his Son into human history.
At Christmas we remember and celebrate the sending of the Son of God and, as we gaze upon the baby laying in the manager, we behold the Son of God who was with God in the beginning now sent out to us.
Paul now moves to consider the nature of this sending.
b. Born of woman
Paul writes that,
God sent forth his Son, born of woman (Galatians 4:4)
Now, of course, we know that Jesus was born of a particular woman in the most miraculous of circumstances. In this sending, God chose to use an unmarried teenage virgin,
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)
Here, however, Paul is not interested in this specific woman. His point is not that Jesus was born of Mary. Paul’s point is that God chose to send his Son by woman. This is a common Jewish construct to indicate that Christ came as a human being (see also, Job 14:1).
Consider anew the glory of this truth. Christ, the pre-existent Son of God, was sent by God to become a human being. The eternal Word of God became flesh. This Son, very God, became a man. He lowered himself and became flesh. This Son is both God and man. He is the God-Man.
This is the heart of the Gospel and the Christmas account: God not only came to us, but became like one of us.
And Paul develops this truth further for he sees that there is a profound truth at work here to his glory and our benefit.
c. Born under the law
i. The Law of Moses
Here, the significance of the humanity of Christ is that, in becoming a man, Christ made himself subject to the law. Why, we might ask, does this matter? Consider Paul’s flow of thought throughout this passage.
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. (Galatians 4:1-3)
Paul’s analogy addresses both Jews and Gentiles. For the Jew, the reference point is the Law of the Patriarchs and Prophets as set down in the Old Testament. Paul’s point is that, although a good thing, the Law treated its adherents like children. With the Law there is a prescribed list of ‘dos and don’ts’; the Law is intended, like a guardian or manager, to regulate our behaviour.
But how does this good thing become slavery (as suggested by verse 3)? As Paul has already addressed in Chapter 3, sinners are incapable of perfectly fulfilling the demands of the Law. The good thing that God intends becomes our condemnation. Apart from Christ, we each stand accursed under the Law.
Moreover, Paul understands that the Law makes us like infants. This is the problem with defined prescriptive instructions. We follow (or at least try) to adhere to the letter of the Law, but miss the spirit of the Law. Paul writes elsewhere that the Old Testament Law was intended to cause us to feel the weight of sin (Romans 7:7). Jesus repeatedly claims that he is the end of the Law; the Old Testament points to him (e.g. Matthew 5:17 and John 5:39). God intends us, through the Law, to see and feel the depth of our own depravity that we might run to Christ and depend upon his grace. Instead we become like children with a list of rules scrambling around trying to please God like we might try to please Santa Claus. Paul understands that this way of living is the worst kind of slavery.
ii. The Elementary Principles
But how does this then apply to the Gentile? The Gentile in Galatia did not receive the Law and did not adhere to the Law. This is important as, most likely, you and I find ourselves in the same situation as the Galatian Christians (who were predominantly Gentile).
The clue to how all of this applies to the Gentile Christian and (unless you are a practicing Jew) ‘you and I’ is signalled by the phrase ‘elementary principles’. This word, stoikeia, is unusual and implies something like ‘the basics’ or the ‘ABCs of life’. We see how this might apply to the Law of Moses. The Law was given to regulate our behaviour (like a babysitter) until Christ came.
But how does this help us understand the situation of the Gentile? Paul unpacks this further later in the passage,
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! (Galatians 4:8-10)
In the Gentile context, the ‘elementary principles’ are related to the worship of false gods. Consider this for a moment. Every belief system has its own rules and observances. In Galatia, Paul points to their observance of ‘days and months and seasons and years’ (which is ironic given my preamble regarding our generation’s appropriation of Christmas as a false religion).
In our context, these ‘elementary principles’ may be intended to regulate our behaviour. And so we might take something like our concern for the planet and turn it into an idol with all its religious demands. Recycling and the reduction of our carbon footprint become ‘the elementary principles’.
Similarly it might be that we have made a god of the economy or money and, in which case, ‘the elementary principles’ are seen in our need to budget, save and earn a high salary.
Or it may be that we have made an idol of ourselves, our own image and our own needs. The ‘elementary principles’ are clearly seen in the way in which we spend time, effort and money in maintaining our appearance and a particular image. It takes great effort and discipline to keep that particular mask in place, but Paul recognises that all of this effort is ultimately futile.
We might recycle ‘religiously, but we are still at heart selfish and driven by our own wants. We might save or boost our earning power ten-fold, but we remain greedy driven by our ravenous desire to acquire more stuff. It may be that we look pretty and maintain our popularity, but we are still the same on the inside and, when we are alone, we feel this intensely.
Paul understands that religion, an adherence to ‘the elementary principles’, fundamentally changes nothing (does not change anything – cannot change nothing). Moreover, this adherence is a kind of slavery in which our petty deity, be it safety, wealth or popularity, is never satisfied. We will forever be recycling, earning, spending and fixated on that mirror.
Paul understands that these no-gods will keep us enslaved with their weak and worthless elementary principles.
iii. We all fail
Moreover, whether we be a Jew or Gentile, this adherence to the elementary principles will result in our condemnation. Paul elsewhere addresses this emphatically,
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. (Romans 2:12)
The reality check is this: we fall short of every standard we set ourselves. We might abhor injustice and yet we cheat on our friends and loved ones. We might hate greed and yet we take advantage and exploit others in thousands of ways both overt and hidden. We value truthfulness and yet we lie. We admire faithfulness and yet we are faithless. We value purity and yet we are totally depraved.
Whether we adhere to the elementary principles as embodied in the Law or whether we strive in the service of some fake, petty god, we fall short.
This is the glorious good news of the Gospel; God sent forth his Son to free us from this futile and ultimately damnable existence, Christ came,
to redeem those who were under the law (Galatians 4:5)
And he does this by becoming a man, born under the law, and yet, through his perfect and sinless life he demonstrates that he is infinitely superior to the law. He does this by subjecting himself to the condemnation of the law, a punishment he does not deserve.
Christmas is a time for us to remember that God sent forth his Son to be born of woman and it is a time to remember that the road from Bethlehem leads to Golgotha. Christ came that he might redeem us and this redemption is achieve by his death.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us… (Galatians 3:13)
d. That we might receive adoption
Christ came to redeem us, but this is not the end of his mission. All of this is purposed that those who believe might receive adoption,
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:4-7)
Before we Christ redeemed us, we were enslaved to the elementary principles. We were like a child under the authority of managers and guardians. Our infancy was akin to slavery.
And then God sends forth Christ who is born as a man, lives as a man, but commits no sin. In dying an unjust death, Christ redeems all those who were formally enslaved. But this redemption is immensely purposeful. Jesus redeems us ‘that we might receive adoption as sons’ (Galatians 4:5).
Formerly we were the son forever awaiting our inheritance. In Christ, however, we are now made sons.
But Paul goes further: we are redeemed, we receive adoption and we receive ‘the Spirit of his Son’ (Galatians 4:6). This also relates to the analogy above. The implication is this: formerly we were enslaved by the elementary principles; they ruled over us and kept us in bondage. They were our managers and guardians.
Now we are made sons, however, we receive our inheritance: the promised Holy Spirit, the Spirit of his Son. The implication here is that formerly we were managed by mere managers and guardians. Now, however, we have received his Spirit who keeps, strengthens and guides us.
Those of us who believe have received the greatest gift in the universe: rescue, freedom and sonship. All of this is grounded upon all Christ achieved and the grounding of this is in the incarnation. We remember Christmas because in it we see the beginnings of our rescue.
3. THE GLORY OF CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS
And the timing of all of this is hugely important. Paul writes that all of this took place in the ‘fullness of time’,
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)
Paul is not suggesting that God is some hapless observer waiting and watching until conditions are right before acting. Rather it is God who brings about the necessary conditions and then acts decisively. And all of this is executed according to his purpose and in accordance with his timescale. Again, this is illuminated in Paul’s analogy in verse 1 to 3,
he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father (Galatians 4:3)
The ‘fullness of time’ does not simply come about, God brings it about. It is the date set by the Father.
But there is a greater significance implied in the Greek phrase here translated, ‘the fullness of time’. This is a very unusual construct and only occurs in one other place in Scripture,
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10)
Note the connection between the two events described here as occurring in ‘the fullness of time’. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul has the second coming, the return of King Jesus in view. In Galatians it is the first advent, the incarnation.
God reigns over all things and is sovereign over history itself. God acts decisively and in accordance with his own timescale. And the incarnation, all we remember at Christmas, is one the two fulcra upon which all history turns.
God becomes flesh and steps into history, ‘in the fullness of time’. And this advent anticipates his return. We remember, but we look towards his return confident that God is in control and ready to act decisively and finally ‘in the fullness of time’.
In all of this we see the glory of King Jesus. God made flesh; God who redeems us from slavery and the curse. The God-Man who will return and establish his kingdom and reign victoriously and endlessly and, on that day every knee will bow and every tongue confess.
For He is Lord.
[1] www.britishturkey.co.uk/turkey-bytes/christmas-facts.shtml
[2] www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-499545/Average-child-1-720-worth-toys-bedroom.html
[3] Lindsay McIntosh, ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas (But Not in Dundee)’ in www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6915061.ece
[4] Ian Drury, ‘Christmas Cards Are Losing Their Religious Message’ in www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-421417/Christmas-cards-losing-religious-message.html
[5] This quote and observation is taken from Dell deChant, The Sacred Santa: The Religious Dimensions of Consumer Culture (Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 2002)
[6] Reported in Medical News Today 11th Jan. 2008, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/93715.php