The Fullness of Time

You've probably heard it said that timing is everything. That wasn't a slide of the musicians. Thank you. Thank you for your diligent service and preparation this week to lead us so that we can sing together. A lot about Christmas hinges on time. So there's debate surrounding when it's too early to start listening to Christmas music or watching movies. Some of you probably have been engaged in those conversations. There's always questions surrounding schedules. Whose side of the family are we going to see this year? And where are we meeting and at what time? And that's especially important when it comes to the coordination of the meal, right? We want to know what time we're supposed to be there with hot food so that we can eat together. Maybe the most important question of all, are we opening our gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? And for some of you wondering, how long is this man up front going to keep me from those coming events? In order for the experience and for the event to be right, the timing of it has to be right. And that's not just so that the children know what to expect or so that the meals are served on time properly and hot and those kind of things, and even just so everybody gets to see each other. That's not the most important thing. Timing is essential, actually, because our stories, both individually and collectively, are part of God's grand story of redemption. Each of our stories, our individual stories, matter because God is our creator and he's woven meaning and purpose into our lives individually and also collectively as his story of salvation unfolds. And we see this very clearly tonight in the text. We're going to be thinking about Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5, page 974 in the bulletins. If you want to see the whole thing, half of it is printed in the bulletin. So let me read it for us. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And that expression, the fullness of time, really captures exactly what I'm trying to convey tonight. The Christmas story of God sending his son into the world is the reason why you and I exist. That phrase captures a number of dimensions that shows that this story is the central event in human history. So at the individual level, it has to do with the timing of the birth of a child, right? There has to be a conception that comes about the time in the womb and then comes to the time to be born, right? That's an essential part of it. And God had everything to do with that particular conception. From God's perspective, it involved putting it into the heart of a king to decide to take a census, to move a family from one part of the country to another, to be in the right place to fulfill the prophecies of where this child would be born. And from an even bigger vantage point of salvation history, it involved every detail, every prophecy, every promise made by God that comes to its culmination and fulfillment in the coming of this child who would be the one who would be the savior of the world. God's plan to rescue men and women from death and judgment. This text tells us very clearly who Jesus is. We see that he's God's Son. He existed forever before the foundation of the world in a perfect relationship with God that we describe as Father and Son. He was not created by God, but he was sent by God the Father into the world, and he is truly and fully God, and we have to understand that. We see that he's also born of a woman. And we know, we heard from Luke chapter 2, we know the gospel narrative about how the Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Mary, she conceived and bore a son. And so while he's God's son, he is also fully human being, he's fully man. And part of the wonder of creation is that mystery of how one can be both fully God and fully man, and how the Creator subjected himself to his creation. God could have sent a grown man down into the world maybe, but he didn't. He sent a baby so that we see that Jesus has identified with every aspect of our identity as human beings from the moment of conception all the way through death. We also see clearly Jesus' work. So he was born under the law to redeem those under the law. And that phrase, to be born under the law, means that he was born into a particular tradition. He was an Israelite. He was part of the people who had received God's law. And the tradition here was that they were obligated to obey God's law in order to maintain a right standing with him as his people. But they didn't. They lost their land, and at this time, when this letter is being written, these people were subjects of, or when the events that we're talking about, the story of Jesus coming, these people, the Israelites, are slaves. They are subjected to the Roman Empire. We see in God's law this reflection of his character and his expectations for all of us as his creatures. The law is summarized by the demand that we love God with our whole heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. And that's essentially what God expects of all of us. We see that Jesus was born to redeem those under the law. And that word redeem, the language of redemption, refers to purchasing a slave out of the slave market and setting him or her free. And so what this text is telling us is that we all are slaves to sin. I think sometimes sin is a churchy word and around this time of year it feels kind of like the naughty list, right? You've got the bad things, the really bad people who do really bad things, but that's not the case at all. Sin is both the actions that we do and also the condition of our heart, that it's wrong before God and that the actions proceed out of that crookedness that is inside of each one of us. So we all prove ourselves to be slaves to sin. We acknowledge, whether we're people of faith or not, we acknowledge some system that we live by. Some rules, some morality. But we fail to live up even to our own standards. So even if you're here tonight, you've never heard of the Bible, I bet that you expect other people to tell you the truth. You expect other people to treat you kindly, to treat you fairly. But each one of us is also at the same time guilty of lies, of lust, of coveting, of gossip, and anger. And these things condemn us because they're evidence of the fact that we don't live lives of honoring and giving thanks to God. We grumble and complain against him and we worship and serve the creation rather than our creator. And so that's what it means for us to be under the law, under the weight of our sin. God's rules, whether they were written on the tablets or on our consciences and hearts, reveal God's holiness and they expose our condition of being sinners. We stand guilty under the law without any ability to save ourselves. And this is where the good news of the gospel comes in. Because Jesus came to be born under the law. So he was a Jewish man. He lived his whole life under the law of God. But unlike all of us, he was without sin. He lived a life of perfect obedience to the law. And as was alluded to earlier, Jesus came to redeem a people by dying for them. So He came to live a life of perfect obedience to the law, fulfilling every aspect of it, and then offering His life as an exchange for the life of sinners. So He was born to be the perfect man, to stand in the place of men and women. He came to give His life by suffering and dying on the cross to pay the penalty that our sin deserves. And because He was God's eternal Son, He could exhaust the wrath of God against sin. And through faith and repentance in Him, those who were once slaves to sin are set free from the penalty and the power of sin. And that's the message of the Gospel, the most important thing that you or I could ever hear or understand. But that's only part of the message, and I really want us to see this tonight. That Jesus came, not only to give His life to offer redemption and freedom from our slavery to sin, but, as the second half of the verse says, so that we might receive adoption as sons. So the wonder of the gospel is not merely how God devised a plan to acquit sinners from the right penalty of their sin. That in and of itself is amazing. But that at the same time as being declared innocent, we are also invited to an intimate and personal relationship with God as our Father. See, apart from Jesus, we all have a bit of a performance-based relationship with God. So, and that's what all religions teach. We obey, we fulfill our obligations, and God gives us certain blessings in exchange for our obedience. But if we disobey, we lose those blessings. And so if you're in that kind of a relationship with God, you don't have a personal, intimate relationship with Him. You can't ever get close to Him. You're either left being insecure and fearful, exhausted, feeling the weight that even if you have performed something good, there's no guarantee, there's nothing in place that assures you that you'll go on in good standing. You can't keep it up. Or, on the other hand, you end up just self-righteous and self-deceived, kind of creating your own path and being satisfied with that, convinced you're okay as long as you look better than other people. But either way, there's no personal relationship with God there. But through adoption, Performance is no longer the primary determining factor in your relationship. The relationship is established as a matter of fact and performance flows out of that reality. And this gives us security and rest because our acceptance has already been established, it's already guaranteed. And it results in intimacy with God, because we have a right view of God, and we have a right view of ourselves. The Gospel confirms both our sinfulness, the reality of our natural state, and the magnitude of God's love to overcome our sin through Jesus. Adoption is a legal transaction, where someone who was otherwise a stranger, someone who was otherwise not a relative, no entitlements, no rights to demand anything, becomes an official part of a family, as if born naturally into that family. And this is exactly what Jesus has accomplished for his people. Those who are united with him are actually adopted into God's family so that we too can know him as our heavenly father. And this marks a radical shift in our relationship with him. I'm going to take some language right out of our family's adoption decree that I think just captures it so well. It's so powerful. The child from and after today shall be deemed the child of the petitioners. That is the adopting parents. and shall be considered for the purposes of inheritance, and succession, and for all other legal considerations, the natural, legitimate child, and heir at law of the petitioners, the same as if born of their body, with all the obligations, rights, and privileges of a natural child and heir. The parental control of the child is hereby granted to the petitioners and the said petitioner shall hereafter be under the same responsibility to the child and be entitled to the same rights and privileges as if the child were their natural child. This is a final judgment. Isn't that powerful? That's the nature of our relationship with God when we are in Christ. This legal promise, this legal demand that we are now in this relationship. Parents will be parents as if natural parents. The child will be a child as if a natural child. And it is a final judgment. In the first century, adoption was something that people did out of necessity. Parents who had no children, no one to give their estate to, would adopt maybe a slave or someone, and they would give their things to that person to become an heir. But God's adoption is different because he had an heir. He had a son. And yet he chose to display his love and his glory by sharing his inheritance with a multitude of men and women, all who will receive Christ by faith. This is an amazing gift of love. And if we receive it, we respond to him in love, not because we want to pay him back. There's no way we could ever do that, but because we're transformed by the love that he's shown to us. So most of us over the next few hours, or some of us already have given gifts to our children, right? And we love to do that as parents. And you can imagine on Christmas morning, after everything's kind of over, it's all settled and your kids, you know, come up to you and say, Mom, Dad, this has been great. You know, how much do I owe you for all this? That would be absurd, right? We completely miss the point of what Christmas, what gift giving, what that relationship is all about. But that point is vital for us to understand about Christianity because it would be just as absurd to think that God has made us right with him on the basis of what Jesus has done and that our status before him is then therefore somewhat contingent on our performance. Of course, we can please or displease God just like we can please or displease our earthly parents. but we remain His children on the basis of what Jesus has done for us and not on the basis of our performance. So to be a Christian is to rest in that truth, to be confident, to be assured based on that, and to strive to work for God, not to earn from Him, but to respond out of love to Him. So if you're here with us tonight and you're not a Christian, we ask that you consider these truths. Consider that you are a slave to sin, that you are helpless to change, that you are under God's righteous, just condemnation. But Jesus offers his life in exchange for yours. So that you can be pardoned for your sin on the one hand, but also adopted into God's family on the other. And these are gifts from God that can only be received through faith. By stopping this arrangement with God where you relate to him on the basis of your works, by coming to him in absolute dependence, by trusting Jesus' performance on your behalf. If you're not a Christian, we'd love to talk to you more about that. If you are a Christian, I have four quick points of application to conclude to help guide us through this season in light of these truths. First, accept God's timing. So that phrase, the fullness of time, is just a small glimpse into the sovereignty of God over all of our affairs. He orchestrated all of the events of world history in order to send his son into the world at the right time to accomplish salvation. And one of the many implications of that truth is that nothing is accidental. Wherever you find yourself tonight, your duty, your responsibility as God's child is to express your trust in Him as your Heavenly Father, to live by faith and dependence on Him. So if you're blessed, you're blessed so that you can praise and give thanks to God. And if you're suffering, it's to show the world that God is worth, that Jesus is worth suffering for. Second, identify with God's family. One of the descriptions we see throughout the New Testament of the church is a household. God hasn't adopted us into his family so that we can go to our individual rooms and sit there with our own individual experiences. He's brought us into his family so that we can participate in family life together. If you're a parent, you know that few things bring you more joy than seeing your kids getting along well, playing well together. That's wonderful. And few things are more frustrating and difficult than when they're in conflict with each other. It's our responsibility as God's children to live in a way that people look into what we're doing and say, wow, I want to be a part of a family like that. That's what we're supposed to be as God's people. So we're to regard each other as family by committing to sacrificial love for one another, protecting each other's reputations, assuming the best about each other's motives. We could go on and on, but we're to be characterized as a family. I know some of you here tonight consider yourselves Christians, but for whatever reason, you choose not to be part of a fellowship in a local church on a regular basis. And I just ask you to consider that there's nothing like that in the New Testament. Being a Christian necessarily means being committed to other Christians. And just a pastoral word aside for members of Jefferson Park Baptist Church who are considering staying home tomorrow morning. I just want you, I'd just like to lovingly challenge you to ask yourself what you communicate to your family, to your neighbors, to the members of this church when you choose to stay home and spend time with your earthly temporary family rather than your eternal family. Number three, participate in God's business. So being adopted into a family brings the individual into a shared responsibility for that family's work, whether it's farming or a trade or whatever it is. We know that God's business is making himself great by rescuing and changing sinners to his children. And so God's bringing us into his family also has to change our agenda. When we were slaves to sin, we were about ourselves and promoting our cause. But now our responsibility is to proclaim his mercy and to show others his love. So God has called you to himself, he's positioned you where you are in order to show himself through you. So see the resources that you have, the relationships you have, the experiences you have as opportunities that you can use to leverage for God's glory. Number four, anticipate God's inheritance. So verse seven says that because we are adopted as God's children, we are also heirs of his inheritance. So what awaits us as God's people is eternal life. joy and provision in a world renewed without sin and sorrow and pain and death, a face-to-face relationship with God, there are wonderful blessings for us. So everything good that we experience under the tree and on the table in each other's lives over the next few days is only a tiny glimpse into the pleasure that awaits God's people in His eternal glory. So friends, enjoy it. This is good things, enjoy it and soak it up and praise God for it. But don't treat Christmas, don't treat the holiday as if it's an end. It's a means of directing your heart and your attention and your affection to the gifts our amazing God has given us through his son. Born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you tonight for these two great gifts that we see. Redemption, freedom from sin, purchasing us from our slavery and our hopelessness and our condemnation, but also adopting us into your family, Lord. We thank you that you desire a relationship with us and we pray that we would be transformed, Lord, as we look into the mystery of the gospel, we see the immense benefits to us at immense cost to you. We pray that we would understand these truths more deeply and rest more confidently in your work on our behalf through Jesus Christ. We pray that you would fill our hearts with hope and joy in him tonight and as we go forth. We pray for those here who don't know you and ask that they would be changed and transformed by the glorious message of the gospel. We pray for your people and we pray that you would strengthen us to be good and faithful children to do your work in the world We love you, Father, and we thank you through Jesus. And we pray this in his name, amen.