Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Mar 14 2020 - Galatians 3:21-4:7 – Children of God

How do we view our relationship with God? Paul says that those who are seeking to return to living by law are seeking to return to slavery. They view God as a master who is to be obeyed, which, at best is a partial picture, and at worst becomes a distortion of the truth (see Jesus’ Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30). God sent his Son into the world that we may be made sons of God in him. Whether we are male or female, Jew or Gentile, slave or free person, we are all sons in that we share with the Son in being heirs of God. And “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Galatians 4:6).

Through faith in Jesus Christ we have been made children of the Living God. God is our Father. We can run to him with the joyful call “Abba, Father” and know that he will not turn us away. We can be confident of his acceptance of us and of our place in his household. We can rejoice in the fact that all things are ours, both now and for the future, for God is our Father and we are his heirs (see 1 Corinthians 3:21-23).

This does not release us from needing to obey God, but it does create a different model for obedience – we are not slaves but sons. We do not obey in order to be accepted, we obey because we are accepted, because we belong. We do not obey out of fear but out of love (see John 15:9-16), the love of a child to please their father.

The driving principle in our lives is not a set of external rules and regulations but the presence and power of the Spirit within us – the Spirit of God’s Son, the Spirit of the risen Saviour. He lives in us and is at work to make us like Christ. He is the one who opens up our minds and hearts to understand the love of God for us and to embrace and live in that love. His presence makes us temples of the living God and turns every aspect of our lives into an act of worship.

He is the one who unites us with one another as members of the one family of God. Human distinctions remain but they no longer divide. Rather, they can be celebrated just as we may celebrate the distinctive characteristics of our own children.

This is the message that Paul has for the Christians in Galatia. Through Christ they have become members of God’s family. They are fully loved and accepted as they are. They do not need to try to become what they are not – to become Jews through the practice of Jewish ritual. Christ has broken down all these old barriers that he might create one new people out of the diverse peoples of the world. All the world is his, in all its glorious diversity, and he claims it all for himself.

This is the good news that has been revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the good news that is to shape our lives as children of God. This is the good news that is to shape the character of our churches as we embrace peoples from all backgrounds, without requiring them to become like us but rejoicing in the diversity of the people of God. We are to be signs of the kingdom and expressions of hope for the world.

Abba, Father, forgive us that we have all too often shrunk the message of the gospel to the size of our own preconceptions. We find it difficult to accept and embrace people who we think of as not being like us. Thank you that you are not like that. You have embraced us in your love in the Lord Jesus. Help us by your Spirit to show that same love for one another that we may rejoice together in your goodness and make your love visible to the world.

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Mar 14 2019 - Numbers 11:1-34 – Be careful what you long for

Today's passage begins with complaint. The Israelites, despite their many blessings, were not content with their lot. Even after some of the people had been consumed by the Lord's wrath, still they were discontented, still they complained.

God had provided them with bread from heaven, but now they had become literally fed up with it complaining, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" (vv. 4-6).

Moses too is affected by their discontent. He cries out to the Lord protesting that he has to try to look after all these people. Where is he going to get meat to feed them? He also is fed up with the task that the Lord has given him and begs to die.

God responds graciously to Moses. Since he cannot lead this multitude on his own, God will provide seventy leaders from among the people who will share the burden with him. He will give them a share of the Spirit he had given Moses, so that they can help him lead God's people.

And in answer to Moses' complaint, "Where can I get meat for all this people?" (v.13), God promises that he will provide it; "Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you." (v.23). But along with this promise is a graphic warning for the people, "Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month – until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it – because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you."

What happened is later remembered in Psalm 106:14-16:

In the desert they gave in to their craving;
    in the wilderness they put God to the test.
So he gave them what they asked for,
    but sent a wasting disease among them.

We live in a society marked by discontent. Discontent is the engine of consumerism and the power that drives growth – the idol of a godless society. We want something new, something different, something better, something more … and yet we are never satisfied. All the stuff that we have hungered after soon becomes ashes in our mouths; it never satisfies.

This incident, and the recalling of it in Psalm 106, warn us to be careful of what we set our heart on. We may get what we want but find it a curse rather than a blessing. None but Christ can satisfy.

God calls his people to trust in his perfect care and to be content with what we have. Such contentment is grounded in contentment with God himself. Paul writing from prison to the Christians in Philippi says, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength" (Phil 4:11-13).

Father God, you did not spare your own Son but gave him up for us and have promised to care for all our needs with him and in him. By your Spirit, teach us to be content with you, our God; content with the path you call us to tread and content to know that you are always with us and will never abandon us. May our counter-cultural lifestyle of contentment draw others away from the glittering trinket idols of this world to find solid joy and lasting treasure in you and in our precious Saviour.

 

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Peter Misselbrook