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The Hanging of the Christmas Lights (Galatians 4:4-7)
10 Plays4 days ago
Have you started decorating your tree yet? I saw this year the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center is 75’ tall imported from Norway. They hung 50,000 Christmas lights on the tree in celebration of the season.
As far as I can tell, many believe lighting the Christmas tree originated with Martin Luther in the 16th century, who lit his tree after walking in the woods and seeing the stars twinkling between the branches of the trees. It made him remember the wise men who followed the star to where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. So, he came back home and attached candles to his Christmas tree.
Galatians 4:4-7 reminds me of the illumination Paul gave to the churches across Galatia regarding the coming of Christ and the incredible impact His coming made on the world. His words form what could viewed as five strands of beautiful lights, summarizing what Christmas is really all about.
1. Incarnation of the Son, 4:4
2. Redemption out of Slavery, 4:4-5
3. Adoption into Sonship, 4:5-7
4. Reception of the Spirit, 4:6
5. Description of the Share, 4:7
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Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Invitation
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
00:00:22
Speaker
If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org.
Christmas Traditions and Their Origins
00:00:32
Speaker
And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace. It's Christmas season and I tell you, a lot of people are putting up their Christmas trees and their Christmas lights and decorating in different ways. Have you started decorating your tree yet?
00:00:56
Speaker
I saw this year the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center is 70 feet tall, and it was imported from Norway. Usually they hang about 50,000 Christmas lights on the tree in celebration of the season. I didn't check to see what it is this year. But anyway, it's just so beautiful when you see something like that.
The Spiritual Light of Christ
00:01:19
Speaker
As far as I can tell, many believe lighting the Christmas tree originated with Martin Luther back in the 16th century. um He lit his tree, I'm told, after ah taking a walk in the woods and seeing the stars twinkling between the branches of the trees out there in the woods.
00:01:41
Speaker
And so it made him remember the wise men who followed the star to where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. So, He came back home, he attached some candles to his Christmas tree, and he remembered what Christmas was all about.
00:01:56
Speaker
I think that Galatians 4, verses 4 through 7, it also can remind us of the illumination that Paul gave to the churches across Galatia regarding the coming of Christ and the incredible impact that Christ's coming made on the world.
The Incarnation's Historical Context
00:02:14
Speaker
You see, His words form what could be viewed as five strands of beautiful lights, summarizing what Christmas is really all about.
00:02:25
Speaker
I'd love to share those with you. Let me first read the passage, and let's see what the Lord will say to us. It says in Galatians 4, beginning in verse 4, "...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.
00:02:53
Speaker
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.
00:03:06
Speaker
and if a son, then an heir through God. Aren't those beautiful words? Can't you just picture those verses being sort of like strands of Christmas lights that are illuminating this dark world and telling the story of Christ's first coming all over again? i love it.
00:03:25
Speaker
Well, let me share with you a few of the strands that I noticed in this passage that we just read.
Prophecies and the Deity of Christ
00:03:31
Speaker
The first strand I would say would be the incarnation of the sun.
00:03:36
Speaker
The incarnation of the sun. That's the word that is used by theologians when they refer to God, Jesus, coming into the world of flesh and blood and taking on ah you know our our whole reality that we have. I thought it was interesting, the miracle of him entering into this reality here. I'm sure things are way different in heaven. I mean, it's real as well, but I just thought, well, for us to know that something is real, then something has to come in here. That's how we usually approach things. But when the fullness of time had come, I wonder what he means by that.
00:04:19
Speaker
You see, Jesus actually stepped into history at a very strategic time. Before he came, there were really no road systems that connected all these different places in the world. But the Romans did something um sort of new and fresh. They began to build roadways that would connect one region to another region. And so there was a lot more trade going on.
00:04:45
Speaker
And it's a great time for it also because there was a common language that was used around much of that part of the world. And that common language was Greek. And so the people were all speaking the same language. They were able to travel and get to different places sooner.
00:05:04
Speaker
But also spiritually, do you realize that when Jesus came, it had been about 400 years of prophetic silence. I mean, after Malachi in the Old Testament, there were there were no more prophets until John the Baptist was raised up to prepare the way for Jesus to come. So just imagine the spiritual hunger that people must have been sensing as they're saying, is there no word? Is there nothing fresh from God?
00:05:35
Speaker
And into our world, steps the Son of God. You know, let's just sort of
Redemption Through Christ's Life
00:05:41
Speaker
unpack that, could we? He says, but when the fullness of time had come, God s sent forth His Son.
00:05:49
Speaker
ah believe that's a reference to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Son of God. He always had been with the Father for eternity past. And so just think, now He's going to come into our world that we know. A long time ago, Isaiah said in Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.
00:06:32
Speaker
On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
00:06:43
Speaker
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. You know, it's amazing. He says in Isaiah 9, 6, to us, a son is given.
00:06:54
Speaker
What son? Just any son, a son like your son, someone that, you know, is born just with a human father, a human mother. No, because this son is going to be called mighty God.
00:07:08
Speaker
This son is going to be called everlasting father. This son is going to have a kingdom that is gonna be from this time forth forevermore.
00:07:20
Speaker
Well, that definitely changes things. Only one that fits the bill for that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Man, I just see an incredible miracle that he stepped into our world.
00:07:33
Speaker
And when he stepped into our world, he stepped into our world as the son of God. He was God. But then there's also this idea of the miracle in humanity.
00:07:45
Speaker
It also goes on to say in our text here in Galatians 4, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son born of woman, born of woman. You see, that's significant because also in Isaiah, if you were to go back from chapter 9 to chapter 7, it says, "'Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
00:08:09
Speaker
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.'" You know, that's a miracle also, right?
00:08:20
Speaker
That someone would be born who does not have a human father. Well, it was so that the Son of God could also be born through a woman and would be called the Son of Man because of it.
00:08:34
Speaker
So I'm just so incredibly amazed every single year at Christmastime when we remember the incarnation of the Son. The incarnation of the Son of God the incarnation of the Son of Man.
00:08:49
Speaker
He came to us when we could not go to Him. But that's not all that it illuminates a dark world in terms of how the lights of Christmas can light up our world. Let's move to the second thing that this passage in Galatians 4 teaches us.
00:09:07
Speaker
It says, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman. Now get this, born
Grace and Spiritual Adoption
00:09:14
Speaker
under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.
00:09:19
Speaker
Let's just push the pause button again. Do you realize that when he came into our world, he came as a Jew. He was born in Bethlehem, in the land of Judea.
00:09:32
Speaker
And so just think about how he was born under the Old Testament law. But also you think, well, really, the law wasn't just for the Jews.
00:09:43
Speaker
I mean, the Old Testament wasn't just for the Jews. Those prophets, they declared a lot that went way beyond just um the Jewish people. And so I was thinking about his participation under the law.
00:09:58
Speaker
You see, he came underneath that system of Old Testament law to live. And you may think, well, why was the law given anyway? Well, if there were time We could go back in Galatians chapter 3 and really unpack that.
00:10:15
Speaker
But let me just read a few verses from there that'll help you know what's going on. It says about the law and about why God gave us the law, these things in Galatians 3.22, but the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ was might be given to those who believe.
00:10:41
Speaker
Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith.
00:10:59
Speaker
But now that faith has come, we're no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. very similar to what we're going to be unpacking as we continue to go through Galatians 4, verses 4 through 7.
00:11:15
Speaker
But I want you to know that a second strand of wonderful lights would be the strand of redemption. Oh, redemption is a beautiful story that lights up a dark world and says, you know what? There's a way out.
00:11:30
Speaker
There's a way out from being a slave in bondage to sin. There's a way out from being a slave kept in check under that Old Testament law. You know you know why he gave us the law, right?
00:11:43
Speaker
He gave us the law so that we would know we can't be good enough to be accepted by God simply by our own good works. We can't. No matter how moral we try to be, the Bible says in Isaiah that our righteousness is as filthy rags. And so God sees our efforts, but they're simply not enough.
00:12:06
Speaker
He still looks at us and sees that we're still unholy. Maybe it's in our motives. Maybe it was in our past. you know Maybe it's in our present. But the problem is we needed the Old Testament law to hold us in check and to say, you shall not do that. And this is what you shall do and so forth. But it became sort of like a prison.
00:12:29
Speaker
And we were like slaves underneath that Old Testament law. And so what we needed, we needed someone to purchase our way out, from under that law.
00:12:40
Speaker
But in order to be able to set someone else free from the law, someone had to keep it perfectly. I mean, no sin, no infractions on the law. Someone had to keep it completely perfectly. So here's the thing.
00:12:57
Speaker
That's what redemption is all about. Because not only did Jesus come to participate under the law, not only did he keep the law perfectly, so the perfection to the law, but he also came to purchase us from under the law.
00:13:14
Speaker
Man, this is where it gets so good, where he writes here in Galatians 4 and verse 5, to redeem those who were under the law. To redeem means buy it back, buy it back.
00:13:28
Speaker
You see, you and I were made by a creator who loves us, and it broke his heart. that we rebelled against him as the human race. We resisted him.
00:13:39
Speaker
All of us have gone astray, each of us to his own way. The Bible says all have fallen short of the glory of God. So none of us can measure up. We just can't. And so we needed someone to come and say, you know what?
00:13:55
Speaker
Your sin deserves punishment. You have to pay a penalty because of all those sins that you've committed. But here's what Jesus did. He paid it.
00:14:05
Speaker
He paid it because he completely obeyed the law of the Lord and never sinned, not even once. And that's why the father said, you know what? I accept what Jesus did for you on the cross. And you know how we know God accepted it?
00:14:22
Speaker
It's really easy. God looked at Jesus' perfect life. He looked at his death on the cross on our behalf. He looked at him dead in that in that tomb.
00:14:34
Speaker
And the father said, my son, he does not deserve death. My son deserves life. And so he raised him from the dead three days later. And so you know what that is? It's God saying, I approve. I accept the payment for them to be released from slavery to sin and slavery to that Old Testament law.
00:14:57
Speaker
Man, what a joyous day. But you know what? it's It's really going to get better from here because now the third strand brings us into a whole new realm that the human race had never experienced until after Jesus came. Let me read these closing verses so we'll get a running start at this.
00:15:19
Speaker
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're no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God." Did you catch the word adoption mentioned there? Listen, speaking of beauty, the word adoption is a wonderful, beautiful word to me because my wife and I adopted two beautiful Japanese girls. And so adoption is a great word. But do you know that in order for us to go into God's family, we also, each one of us, have to be adopted,
00:16:07
Speaker
And the way that we were adopted was when Jesus paid that redemption. You see, redemption is way more, far more than simple restoration. You see, in Christ, we gain far more than Adam ever had.
00:16:26
Speaker
Adam did not enter into God's family. Adam was a creation. That's for sure that God made Adam. But you see, Adam, he failed. He sinned. He rebelled against the Lord. And it brought such a great separation between God. And we're still you know suffering from it today, from that separation. We're born in sin and all of us choose sin.
00:16:50
Speaker
But here's the thing about adoption. Adoption has behind it love, don't you know? Adoption has behind it grace. No one is adopted because they earned it.
00:17:02
Speaker
one Grace is behind every person who is adopted. So here's the thing. It says here in Galatians 4, so that we may receive adoption.
Receiving and Understanding the Holy Spirit
00:17:16
Speaker
You see, that's the that's the whole idea, that God said, you can't join my family by your works because you're not going to be able to do enough to enter into my family.
00:17:28
Speaker
But here's what I'll do. I will pay so that you can enter into the family. And you will enter in by faith so that it can be by grace.
00:17:39
Speaker
It's by grace. Grace is behind our adoption. That's why the word receive is mentioned here, not earned. But then you see the goodness, the goodness with adoption. God is so good.
00:17:53
Speaker
Is God an evil God? Is God a bad God? No way. No The God that is revealed in Scripture, He's holy. He's righteous. He does that which is good. He is good several times in Scripture. It affirms that over and over again. Well, look at the goodness of God that is expressed in adoption with all of these kind of words like this, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
00:18:22
Speaker
And then listen to what he says next. And because... You are sons. I love that. You know, he said, you are a son. you You are a child of God. So he says, you're no longer a slave, but a son.
00:18:37
Speaker
And if a son, then an heir through God. I love that so much that adoption helps us to enter into sonship. Well, let's move from that to the fourth strand.
00:18:50
Speaker
And that is the reception of the Spirit of God. You know, Jesus came to establish the status of sonship, and that's exactly what he did. He died on that cross, and man, did he ever make a way for us to enter into God's family so that we're declared a child of God.
00:19:12
Speaker
But why was the Holy Spirit sent? The Spirit was sent so that we could experience the sweetness of sonship.
00:19:23
Speaker
Watch what happens once it gets into talking about the Holy Spirit. And he's definitely included, right? Because anybody that gets saved, you're going to receive the Holy Spirit. And here's the way it describes it in verse six. And because you are sons, so if you're a son, here's what comes next.
00:19:42
Speaker
God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts. And so I thought, wow, that's the inclusion of the spirit. He sent the spirit, but notice where the the Holy Spirit indwells.
00:19:57
Speaker
The inhabitation of the Spirit is into our hearts. He indwells within us. And so I'm just so thankful that God says, I'm not asking you to live the Christian life out there all by yourself.
00:20:12
Speaker
No. No, I'm going to come in your life and I'm going to help you to make the right kind of decisions. My spirit is going to be like a comforter. He's going to be sort of like a guide, kind of like a ah coach is going to help you. to choose to do the right things. And not only will he do that, he's going to help you get to know the Father better.
00:20:38
Speaker
And you're going to get to know the Father in such a way that it could be described as intimacy. Intimacy through the Spirit is also included where the word crying out, the word crying out is not the word whisper, right? No, it's what the little baby does when he cries, Dada. Well, you and I are given that incredible right to call the heavenly father, father, to call him Abba, father. And it's such a close word. It's like using the word daddy. I don't know what you called your dad. If you called him daddy or dad or father or papa, or what you call them. But here's the thing, when the Holy Spirit is in charge of a life, He says, why don't you just talk to your Heavenly Father? He loves you so much. That's what the reception of the Holy Spirit is all about. So I'm just so glad that all of these kinds of strands of lights, if you will,
00:21:41
Speaker
They light up Christmas for anybody. And these strands are not strands that we really put around our tree. No, they're not strands we put outside to outline our house or our driveway or something. No, these strands are intended to be in the heart.
00:21:58
Speaker
They light up the heart of a Christian during this season of the year.
Spiritual Inheritance and Wealth
00:22:04
Speaker
But I couldn't finish this passage without dealing with that fifth strand.
00:22:09
Speaker
The fifth strand is kind of like a description of the share. The share of what? Well, the share of the inheritance. He says, so you are no longer a slave, but a son. And and if a son, then an heir through God.
00:22:28
Speaker
You know, it makes a big difference if someone knows that they're an heir or not. Let me tell you a hard story, but a true story. There was a man named Timothy Henry Gray.
00:22:39
Speaker
He was a homeless man, and I'm sure that his life was very difficult. And ah one day, and since he lived in Wyoming, Some children were ah sledding down a snowy slope or a hill right beside an overpass. It was actually a train track where a train would go over this incredibly steep ditch and so forth. But the children would enjoy taking their sleds there.
00:23:06
Speaker
But they were horrified one day when they did their sled. They went all the way down the hill and they got down to the bottom. And underneath that bridge, you know what they found?
00:23:17
Speaker
They found Timothy Henry Gray frozen to death. So they so ran and told their parents. Their parents told the authorities. So the authorities put it in the system.
00:23:29
Speaker
And when they put it in the system, they discovered that the family of Timothy Henry Gray had been looking for him. Oh, yeah. Because I think it was like a great aunt or something like that to Timothy Henry Gray But there was a copper copper ah mine millionaire named Hugoette Clark, a lady, and she was the last one in the family. And so her worth was around $300 million US.
00:24:02
Speaker
And so this young man that was, I think he was maybe 60, I'm not exactly sure what I read, can't remember now, but he he died not knowing that he had a share in that $300 million dollar estate. Based on the reports that I read about Timothy Henry Gray, his portion would have been around $19 million. dollars henry ah Timothy Henry Gray, he died, a homeless man frozen under a bridge because he did not know that he was an heir to the Clark a family estate.
00:24:44
Speaker
How sad. I wonder if there's other people, Christians, that have no idea that 2 Corinthians 8, 9 tells us this, though he was rich, speaking of Jesus, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you, through his poverty, might become rich.
00:25:04
Speaker
Of course, not talking about material riches, but but spiritual riches, riches that no one could ever take away from us. And when I read these words, I thought, wow,
00:25:15
Speaker
You know, an heir through God, how much is the amount of the share? If it's something God owns and something that God manages, what would be an amount of the share that he would allow an individual Christian to have? I encourage you to read Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 and 4 sometime.
00:25:37
Speaker
Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places has been given to us in Christ. You see, Christ is the access point to the share.
00:25:49
Speaker
And so Romans 8, 17 says, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. It's through Christ that we have an incredible connection with God that opens up peace, opens up joy, opens up love, and opens up hope. And all of these wonderful you know treasures that God has that he wants to share with us.
00:26:14
Speaker
But what's the way that we live? Well, sometime you should read the parable of the prodigal son. The parable of the prodigal son is not just a story about one son.
00:26:28
Speaker
It's actually a story about two sons. And we often focus on the prodigal son, the one that chose to leave the the family ranch or farm, go into the big city. He spent his inheritance. He asked his daddy for his inheritance early.
00:26:46
Speaker
And so he goes and he wasted, it says, on riotous living and wicked living. So that was so so sorry. So it's a sorrowful thing that he did that, right? But he comes back and the father was so gracious to welcome him back home, just like he will any person who turns from sin, who turns to Christ. The Lord will welcome us back home.
00:27:09
Speaker
But do you know what that older brother felt? He didn't like it He was angry. He felt anger that his son, his brother had come back. And so he says to the father, whenever the the older son would not go into the celebration that they had ah chosen to throw for this younger brother, the older brother says, I'm not going in there.
00:27:32
Speaker
And the the father says, why not? And he says, because you never gave me ah a fatted calf. You never gave me you know, the robe and all of these things.
00:27:44
Speaker
And you know what the father says to him in Luke 15, 31? The father looked at the older son and he says, son, all that I have is yours.
00:27:56
Speaker
All that I have is yours. I think that's what God's trying to say at Christmas time. I think that would be be one of the lights that we could have illuminated, you know, in our heart, is to say, you know what?
00:28:11
Speaker
God is saying, all that I have, I want to share it with you. And that's why I'm sending my son so that you can be free from that bondage to sin, so that you can be considered a son, so that you can receive the Holy Spirit and let me guide you as you go through your life.
Closing Prayer and Christmas Wishes
00:28:31
Speaker
Oh, listen, Galatians 4 is a wonderful passage. I hope sometime you can take some time during christmas the Christmas season, and just reflect on it.
00:28:42
Speaker
Why don't we pray now and thank God for this wonderful gift that He's given to us of His Son. Heavenly Father, thank You for this time to look into Your Word together. Lord, I pray for those that are listening today.
00:28:56
Speaker
I pray You would encourage them. Maybe they feel discouraged. Maybe they're somehow trying to do life just like Timothy Henry Gray. And they don't realize all that is available to them in Christ. I mean, they can become an heir of God.
00:29:13
Speaker
They can have joy and peace and they can have love. Lord, help them not live out there in the cold. Help help them to realize that when you took the the first step of sending your son, you were reaching across the table, reaching across the universe so that you could say to us, I love you so much.
00:29:35
Speaker
I want you to be in my family. Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful gift of your son, Jesus Christ. It opens the way for so many other blessings.
00:29:47
Speaker
In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Hey, Merry Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season. Thank you for listening.
00:30:00
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.