9-20-2015

Good Morning All!!

    Gal. 4:6; “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”        

   Every so often, we find a verse in the Bible that says so much to us in so few words.  This is one of those verses.  In verse 4 we read where God sent Jesus at just the right time, born of a woman (human nature), born under the law (he was subject to the law of God and man).  In verse 5 we read the why; to redeem us so that we might receive the adoption of sons (we’re in the family again).  But in a lot of ways, those two verses are just technicalities.  These two verses tell us when, why, and what but they don’t tell us: so what?  So what if God did this, what is the benefit for me?

    Verse 6 is the meat and potatoes of Christianity.  It speaks to the heart of our faith and to the center of our hope.  Paul uses a form of logic that makes the case plainly and yet sometimes we miss it.  Since Jesus died under the law, he redeemed us and we are adopted as sons of God.  Therefore, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying ABBA!! FATHER!!.  God has restored, through faith, our place in his kingdom.  When you look through the Old Testament and you look at the prayers in the Old Testament, you see prayers made to God Almighty, to the Lord our peace, to the Lord our righteousness; all kinds of prayer but not prayers to Our Father who art in heaven.  The faithful of the Old Testament prayed.  They prayed with earnestness and in faithfulness but they prayed to a God that was removed from them.  God sustained them and protected them but He was at a distance because God is holy and pure; the people were not.

    So the people had to have a priest offer a sacrifice and pray on their behalf and they prayed to this faithful God from a distance.  But all that changed for us and for all believers.  Remember in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ death, the first thing Matthew records is the tearing of the temple curtain from top to bottom.  That heavy piece of cloth kept the people from the Altar of God, kept them from coming directly to God.  But when Jesus, the perfect, ultimate sacrifice died, God ripped the curtain, threw it open and called to us come back, come in and let’s talk.

     The perfect conversation that Adam and Eve had, when they walked with God in the cool of the morning, is restored through Jesus.  Now you and I, as God’s children, can come to him and cry our Father, Father. 

     Most of my friends who are my age are moving into becoming new grandparents.  Most of the grandchildren are fairly young yet.  I was talking with one man about the joy and the excitement of these events.  He told me just wait until you answer the phone one day and you hear a little voice on the other end say, “Grandpa, Grandpa, guess what?’ for the first time.  God wants that same conversation with you and me.  He gives us the gift of prayer to call upon Him to come to him as dear children or grandchildren or great grandchildren come running in yelling “Grandpa, Grandpa guess what?”

     Scripture tells us that God leans in to hear what we say and just like any loving parent or grandparent when that little one does not quite know what to say, we know what they mean.  God knows what we mean.  He knows our needs and our wants even before we do and He listens even more intently than any parent or grandparent could ever listen.  We are family, we are the apple of God’s eye, he leans in to hear us but do we take advantage of this?  We can pray whenever and wherever we want, God wants us to pray, He wants us to call on him; He wants us to continue this loving conversation of grace and mercy.  God is listening; start talking.

 Abba, we too often fail to come to you as we should.  Too often we bear the weight of fear and sin upon our shoulders when you have already removed them.  Be with us, strengthen our faith that we may boldly come to you with all of our petitions.  We are your sons, Father, we ask that you continue to bless and guard us for Jesus’ sake, in whose precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret