Galatians 4.4-7
“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. 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, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Paul is making the point that through Christ we have been adopted into God’s family. We are no longer slaves; we are now God’s sons and daughters. As God’s children, we are heirs of the promise that God made to Abraham. It is vitally important, therefore, to understand what it means to be an heir of the promise. It is critical to understand exactly what it is that we are inheriting.
The metaphor of “inheritance” is very helpful. When children inherit the estate of their wealthy father, they are given two things:
1) The blessing of the wealth, land, possessions, and privileges that come with the estate their father built.
2) The responsibility to oversee and manage the estate in a way that honors their father, maintains the estate, and assures its continued growth.
It is very unattractive (downright embarrassing, really) when we see children who inherit their father’s estate but only want the blessing and fail to accept the responsibility. They love the wealth and privilege, but they fail to do the work of maintaining the estate. They don’t have an attitude of stewardship and responsibility; rather, they have an attitude of selfishness, irresponsibility, and entitlement.
I fear this is what happened to Israel in the OT, and I fear it is also happening to many Christians in the NT also. Israel was told that they were chosen to be God’s people, and that they were heirs of the promise to Abraham. The great purpose of the promise to Abraham was that all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Israel was the heir and steward of that promise and purpose.
But Israel acted like spoiled, indulgent children. They wanted the blessing of the inheritance without the stewardship responsibility. There were pockets and brief periods of obedience to the standards of God’s law, but Israel was constantly and repeatedly drifting into idolatry and disobedience. The Lord sent prophets to rebuke them and call them to repentance, but Israel rejected and at times even killed the prophets.
The Lord had warned Israel about this in the law. “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7.6-7)
Pretty clear, isn’t it? Here is the message from God to Israel: “I didn’t choose you because you deserve it. I didn’t choose you because you are special. You are special because I chose you!! And I didn’t choose you for your purposes; I chose you for my purposes. I am blessing you so that you can function as the vehicle of my blessing to the rest of the world. Always remember that you are heirs and agents of the promise to Abraham … that through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.”
To make sure they got the message, the Lord made it exceptionally clear that he expected them to be obedient to his standards. With the blessing came responsibility, and if they failed to be responsible, they would lose the blessing.
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.” (Deuteronomy 7:9-11)
Here is what this means for us. Through Christ, we have become the children of God and are heirs of his kingdom (his “estate”). That means we inherit two things: 1) The many incredible blessings of God’s kingdom; and, 2) The responsibility to be stewards and agents of his kingdom in our time and place in history.
We must be very careful not to make the mistake that Israel made. We must not accept the blessing but fail to accept the responsibility.
