Galatians 4:1-7 - God As Father

Title: God As Father
Speaker: Nate Holdridge
Text: Galatians 4:1-7

Galatians Theme: Galatians describes a life that is free. It is a life in flight. If we cling to the true gospel, if we accept it for what it is, we can fly. But Paul wrote Galatians because the Galatian believers—and all future believers—were in danger. If we adulterate the gospel, if we add to it in any way, we will not fly. Like a bird chained in a birdcage, we will (at best) hinder ourselves from flying into God's ideal for our lives or (at worst) hinder ourselves and others from true salvation.

Overview: So our passage tells us the great lengths God went to make us his adopted sons. He sent his Son at the perfect moment in human history to live as a man under the law, fulfilling it for us before dying on our behalf. It would have made no sense for the Galatian Christians to submit to the elementary principles of the very law God redeemed them from!

But God was not content to only do the excruciating work of positioning us as his children. He also wants us to experience and feel his presence as our Father right now, so he gave us his Spirit to drive us to him. The Spirit puts an urge within us for the Father, so we must yield to the Spirit's nudges.

If the concept of God as Father is so important to God that he specifically commissions the third person of the Trinity to make it real to us, how can we better yield to his mission? How can we allow our inner person to become rewired to view God as our loving, good, and benevolent Father? Here are some suggestions:

First, search out the work of Christ as revealed in Scripture. In a sense, this passage makes the world's greatest case for Bible study and prayer. Studying the Bible helps you meditate on the work of the Son, while prayer yields you to the work of the Spirit, both of whom want to get you to the Father.

Second, preach the gospel to yourself every day. Paul said we must reckon ourselves to be as Christ is, with his righteousness and position, dead to sin and alive to God (Rom. 6:11). At the beginning of your day, and then all throughout it, tell yourself who you are in him.

Third, pray the Lord's prayer, and do not allow yourself to get past the first words until you feel them to be true. "Our Father, in heaven..." (Mat. 6:9). In a sense, if you can get that first truth of God as your Father instilled within, you are well on your way. Pass "Go" and collect your two-hundred dollars.

Fourth, pause to consider how you currently feel about God. If you have to journal or write to get your thoughts out, do it. I'm not asking for a report on what you know the Bible says about God, but how you perceive him at the moment. Know that anything out of line with the way he is presented in Scripture is a lie. Any perception of him not aligned with the truth of him as your Father in heaven is designed to keep you from him.

Finally, go to him. The Spirit is trying to drive you in his direction, but we all have a sinful flesh that wars against the Spirit. Don't allow the flesh to win, but cut it off by feeding the Spirit. Run to him. He loves you.

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