the brotherhood

Galatians 4:5

5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.


So why would the Lord, who has everything he needs waste his time coming to find us? The answer is in verse 5. The Lord comes to find you because he wants to take you from what you are right now, and transform you into all that you can be. He wants you to receive the full rights of sons (and daughters of course).

This is huge! It is a point that I think many miss when we reflect on Christ and just what he brought to us with his birth, and death. Sonship, a birthright if you will; available to all who will call on the Lord. In John chapter 15 Christ tells us: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

We have a place in the Heart of God through the love of Jesus Christ. In John 17 Christ tells his Father while praying to him: 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

We have entered into a Covenant with God that does not just make us part of promise, this covenant makes us brothers to Christ, and sons to God. He has adopted us; he counts us among his own. The day that Christ dies on the cross, the adoption papers were signed……they were signed in the blood of Christ.

If we are now sons of God, then does this not solidify exactly what Paul was talking about to the Philippians when he said: 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. If God is our Father, and Christ our brother, then how could strive for anything other than glorifying the Lord?

We have been given this gift, this wonderful, empowering, loving gift, one that we do not deserve, a gift that does not just grant us peace, or safety in the storm. We have been given the gift of entrance into the brotherhood of Christ. This is the gift that started in a manger in Bethlehem. It started with Jesus drawing his first breath as a human baby. Everyday up to his death, and every day since, every man woman and child has been given the opportunity to enter in to this brotherhood. No matter your struggles, no matter your current position. The lord wants to take you from where you are right now, and work within your life to make you a true child of God, complete with all of the grace, and all of the love that comes with it!

Peace,
Rev. Thetford