Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Hey, everybody. Pastor Chuck Allen, back on this Friday and today, let's talk a little bit about you're not the help, you're family. Straight out of Galatians, Chapter four. So whether you're on a treadmill or maybe you're driving into work, or maybe you're taking a break at lunch or having a cup of coffee, thanks for joining me. Let's get into it.
[00:00:29] I remember visiting a friend's house growing up, and every single time, before I could even get comfortable, his mom would say, chuck your family here. Go get yourself something out of the fridge. And every single time, I still knocked before I walked back in the door. Because that's what mom taught me. I still asked permission before I grabbed a snack. I knew I was welcome. I just hadn't fully believed it yet because some part of me was still acting like a guest in a house where I'd already been given the key.
[00:01:01] I bet you've been there before.
[00:01:03] That's basically the whole emotional center of Galatians, Chapter 4.
[00:01:08] Paul's writing to people who have every right and standing as children of God. They've received his grace, and he's watching them live like they're still guests without grace, still knocking, still asking permission, still acting like hired help in a house where they already have a key.
[00:01:28] He starts with this picture of an heir who isn't old enough yet to run the estate. So in verses one through three, he says, think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up. Even though they actually own their father's entire estate, they have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.
[00:01:56] And then he jumps to verse four and five. It says, but when the right time came, God sent his son. Born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so he could adopt us as his very own children.
[00:02:14] Adopt us. Not hire us, not tolerate us. Adopt us in the family. Your family.
[00:02:22] That word matters because adoption isn't a technicality. It is a decision made on purpose by someone who wanted you specifically badly enough to pay whatever it cost to bring you home. And once that adoption's final verse six says something that still gets me every time. He says, because you are his children, God has sent the spirit of his son into your hearts, and now we can call God our own dear Father.
[00:02:51] Not formality.
[00:02:53] That's not almighty and everlasting God language you'd use With a stranger that's a kid running through the kitchen calling out for dad.
[00:03:02] Paul's saying, the spirit inside you isn't there to keep you formal and distant. He's there to make sure enough of your place in the family.
[00:03:12] Hear me? He's there to make you sure enough of your place in the family that you'd actually call out to God like, hey, dad.
[00:03:23] Here's the tension Paul's wrestling with for the rest of the chapter. If you already have that full adoption, full access, a father who calls you his own, why would we go back to living like a slave? Because in verse nine, you can hear the frustration in Paul's voice.
[00:03:41] He says, why do you want to go back again and become slaves to the weak and useless spiritual forces of this world?
[00:03:49] You see, some folks in Galatia had gone back to keeping strict religious rules, thinking that that's what would finally make them acceptable.
[00:03:58] But they'd already been adopted. They already had the key to the house, the love of the father, and they were out on the porch, still knocking to come in the door. I think a lot of us do the same thing in quieter ways. We know technically that we're God's kids.
[00:04:14] We could say the words if you asked us that. But functionally, we live like we're hired help, trying to earn our keep, nervous that we've disappointed God, scared to ask for anything because we're not sure we deserve it.
[00:04:28] That's not the freedom that Paul's describing. That's the old house that we were adopted out of.
[00:04:35] So today, maybe somewhere in your day, when you feel that old nervousness creep in that sense that you have to perform to stay welcome, Say it out loud, Abba. Father.
[00:04:48] Use the key. Walk through the door.
[00:04:51] Act like you've been there before and you own the place because you do. Not because you earned it, but because you were wanted enough to be adopted into it.
[00:05:02] You're not the help around here. Y' all your family.
[00:05:05] So maybe we ought to start walking like it and acting like it. Well, that's all I got for this week.
[00:05:11] Just walk in like you belong and I'll see you back. Well, next week sometime, and we'll chat a little bit more about the goodness of God. Thanks for joining me this week. God bless you. Bye now.
