Time to Grow Up in our Christian Faith

Time to Grow Up in Our Christian Faith

 

Paul is urging the Christians in the Galatian church to grow up in their faith.  They had been so joyful when they first accepted Christ as their Savior and Lord.  But now the Galatian Christians had lost that vibrant joy and were falling into legalism, strictly believing that they must observe special religious days or seasons and eat special food. (Galatians 4:10) Paul told them that they were acting like babies or little children who needed guardians or babysitters to watch over them.  The need for rigid rules and regulations is the mark of immaturity. Some of the Jewish Christians in Galatia were urging their fellow believers to go back to following the Jewish religious laws.   

 

Paul goes on to tell them: “As long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate, he is subject to guardians and keepers until the time set by his father.  So, when we were children we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”  (Galatians 4:1--5) When we grow up in our Christian faith, we receive our inheritance from our very wealthy and good and generous Father. 

 

 Israel had been living under the burden of many religious rules and laws before Christ came.  But when Jesus came, He fulfilled the law and ushered in grace. (Matthew 5:17) The ancient Jews came to their heavenly Father through their priests and through sacrifices and ceremonies and by carefully following rules and regulations.  But now that Christ has come, believers simply come to God through faith in Christ. Christ has changed our status from being a slave to sin to being redeemed from sin and heir of a great inheritance!  Scripture says: “So you are no longer a slave, but a son or daughter, and if a son or daughter, then an heir.” (Galatians 4:7)    

 

The Galatian Christians, like most believers, wanted to grow and go forward for Christ, but they were going about it in the wrong way.  Christians today sometimes get involved in various legalistic movements, proudly working to make more brownie points with God and become better Christians.  They may mean well, but God doesn’t call us to live as a slave to rules.  He has called us to believe in His goodness and to step into our full rights as children of our loving heavenly Father.  This is what Paul was trying to get across to his converts in Galatia.

 

So, what does Scripture say that we inherit through faith in Christ?  What is our inheritance? First, we inherit Christ’s righteousness.  Scripture says that Christ covers you with His righteousness.  You may not feel very righteous, but the Bible says that in Christ you are.  (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Corinthians 1:30: Romans 1:17: Philippians 3:9) The Bible says that: “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  (Romans 4:3) Scripture says that we believe God and it is credited as righteousness to us also!  Our simple faith in Christ is the victory that overcomes the world!  Someday we will reign with Christ!  (2 Timothy 2:12) We will be victorious in Christ.  (1 Corinthians 15:57)  

 

We believers inherit forgiveness of sin and eternal life from our heavenly Father through Christ.  (John 3:16 and I John 1:9: Ephesians 2:8-9) We inherit freedom in Christ (John 8:36) but also responsibility.  He gives us work to do.  We are called to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  (Mark 16:15) And He promises to be there to guide and help us.

 

 Each of us believers inherit a gift or perhaps several gifts from the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:8-10) Are you using the gifts God has given you for His glory?  Also, we all inherit the fruit of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, faith, gentleness, kindness, goodness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-26) Are you holding onto these precious gifts and claiming them for your own in Christ?  Are you using these fruits in your daily life?  We have been given so much in Christ.  Let’s grow up and claim our inheritance!

 

How do we grow up in our Christian faith and claim this amazing inheritance in Christ?  First, we can listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we have been given.  Scripture says: “Because you are children of God, He has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying ‘Abba Father’. (Galatians 4:6) “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”  (John 14:26) First of all, let’s listen for God’s guidance.

 

Also, if we want to be a mature Christian and grow in our faith, we need to study God’s Word, the Bible.   Scripture instructs us: “Study to show yourself approved by God, a workman who needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) When we study the Bible, we will probably come across passages that we don’t understand.  A good Bible concordance or commentary can help explain what some of these difficult passages mean. 

 

There are pastors who may tell you that some of the Bible stories are just myths and fables! That there was never a real Abraham or Noah or Adam and Eve.  If that were true, then we couldn’t be sure that Christ was real either and not just a myth as well. That He actually died and rose from the dead or that He is our Savior.  These myth theories are real threats to our Christian faith since they undermine God’s Word.  If you reject some portions of the Bible because it doesn’t fit what you want, then it becomes a slippery slope deciding what parts of the Bible we believe and what parts are just myths.  To grow up and mature in our faith we need to stay away from churches that don’t believe the Bible to be God’s Word.

 

Job found it difficult to understand why God allowed his ten children to die and why he lost all of his wealth.  He felt God owed him an explanation since he had lived such a good life.  When we read the book of Job, we see that God came and asked Job where he was when God created the world.  Did Job understand the math behind time and eternity or how the days and seasons were set up? I think God was trying to tell Job that His ways are so much higher than our ways that we will need to trust Him.  We are too limited to even begin to understand God. We are called to live with the mystery.  To have faith in God that He has reasons and ways that we don’t know about. To believe.  And we are called to trust and believe that God is good and true and all knowing and all powerful.  And that He loves us.         

 

 

Also,to grow up and mature, let’s speak to the Father like the heir He has made us!  We have a rich and generous Father that has given us everything in Christ.  Do our prayers show that we believe this?  Scripture says: “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to her who knocks, the door will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you are sinful still know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him?”  (Matthew 7:7-8) Let’s grow up and learn to walk in the many promises God has given us!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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