Timing is important. Timing is everything. Or something like that. We live in a world where timing is very important. Or at least it can be sometimes. Do you have a planner? A pocket calendar? PDA? Do you have a calendar on you, or within arm's reach at all times? Do you have multiple calendars that you try to juggle? Why? Probably because timing is so very important. There are many things going on, and we want to be able to have time for everything and so we endure the burden of the calendar because it allows us to do this.
Timing is important. Timing is everything. A Pastor who loved golf decided that one summer Sunday he would skip church to get in a game. He made all the arrangements necessary for him to leave, but was too embarrassed for the congregation to know why he wasn't there. He even set up a tee time at a course that was over a hundred miles away, just so that he wouldn't accidently run into anyone. The fateful Sunday morning comes and he gets up really early and heads out for the course. He gets there and has the best game of his life. And then, as if things were not already interesting enough, on the ninth hole, just after he hits the most beautiful drive he has ever hit, God sends a wind that carries the ball right to the green, where it bounces three times and rolls in. An angel is watching all of this and looks over at God and says, "God, what did you do that for? This guy skipped out on Sunday morning to play golf and you help him to get a hole in one? Of all people, he should know better. Aren't you just encouraging this kind of behavior?" God looks at the angel, smiles and says, "Think about it. Who can he tell?"
Timing is important. Timing is everything. This is something that you know well. We experience this kind of thing quite frequently in our lives. No part of our life is immune from it. You look at your family budget, the money comes in just before the bill is due. It's almost too close for comfort. But timing is everything. You form a call committee to call a new pastor. Timing is everything. You go to get a Michigan Driver's license because you are moving here from out of state, well that's not timing that is just plain complicated. But timing is everything.
Of course the issue with timing is that it can be difficult to tell if we have control of the timing or if the timing of things has control of us. If we are not careful our lives can be so caught up in moving from one moment to the next that we lose sight of what is really important. We forget about what really matters. Or even worse we fall into the trap of thinking that we are in control and that we can handle things on our own. And even if we don't actually say this, I think that more often than not, we can catch ourselves living as if this were the case.
When this happens we want God to move and act according to our will and in our timing. We want God to do things our way and along with our desires. Our prayer is no longer "Thine will be done." Instead it is "My will be done." This is the kind of situation that was facing the members of the churches in Galatia. This city was in modern day Turkey, and there were primarily two types of Christians. There were those who were from a Jewish background, the Jewish Believers and those who were not from a Jewish background, the Gentile believers.
This is actually quite a significant and important thing. Because Jews and Gentiles, do not have a history of getting along very well. And yet, the gospel in all its beauty and power unities both Jew and Gentile and together they are members of the body of Christ that is the church. So these two groups come together and of course a debate arises between them.
Those who are of the Jewish descent say that the those who come from the Gentile background need to actually adhere to the laws, signs and customs of the Jews, including circumcision. And the Gentiles say, "I don't think so." And suddenly there is this tension and debate among the churches in Galatia. Both sides are logical. Both sides make sense. The only problem is that one side is missing the point of the power and freedom that is ours because of and for the sake of Jesus.
Now this debate was not unique to Galatia. It pretty much arose wherever Jews and Gentiles came together. It is with this scene in mind that Paul is writing his letter that is our text for today. In the chapters preceding our lesson Paul makes the case that we are not justified, not made right with God, through our ability to keep and follow the law, but rather through faith in Jesus. It is in Jesus that we are forgiven of ours sins, restored to God and made right in his eyes. This is not something that we do on our own, or have because we have somehow earned it. But it is something that we have because our God is gracious, loving, merciful and forgiving.
And so in the midst of this great debate between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, Paul talks about God's timing. He paints a few pictures in order to illustrate how the law works and relates in the lives of God's people. After all the Jewish Christians have some pretty compelling arguments on their side of the debate.
He begins by describing the law as a Guardian. Just as a minor in Paul's day would need someone to watch out for them until they reached the age of maturity and adult hood, so the law is Guardian, until that right moment when Christ came.
Jesus comes at just the right moment, in the fullness of time God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption. And so we live as God's own dearly loved sons and daughters. Not as slaves but instead as heirs. In Paul's day an adopted son had all the legal rights and privileges as a first born son. And in Jesus we have this same adoption.
It is really cool if you think about it. Here is a debate among Christians, and they are arguing based on the merits of their actions in their relationship with God. And Paul says, "No. It's not about us. It is not about what we do at all. Actually it is about Jesus and what he has done for us. It is for his sake that we are righteous. It is because of him that we are made right with God. But it is certainly not because of us."
And this message and these words are just as much for us today, as they were for the Galatians all those many years ago. As we consider this and what it means, we begin to realize that timing may in fact not be everything. Actually the more we focus on and get caught up in things like timing, the more we find ourselves being frustrated. What is everything is God's timing. And the incredible and awesome ways that God works in our lives.
At just the right time, at just the right moment, when the fullness of time had come, God. When we are talking about timing that is the most important thing to remember. God. The timing is his. When the fullness of time had come, God acted. He acted in the greatest most awesome of acts, in that he sent his son, who became a human being, he became one of us. In order that you and I would be redeemed, and so that we would be adopted. This means that we live confidently in relationship with our God. Not as servants and slaves but as heirs as his dearly loved sons and daughters.
Living life in this relationship means that we can trust in God and in his acting at just the right moment. Of course sometimes it can be tough waiting for that right moment, waiting for that fullness of time can be quite difficult at times. Bills need to be paid, homes need to be sold, the right person needs to be found, the right solution to the issue that we are facing has to be found. A cure needs to be discovered. But in the midst of all of this. Our God is faithful. He is faithful. On the cross he forever defeated the powers of sin, death and the devil. He promised to always be with us. He gives us everything we need to support our bodies and lives, therefore we know peace and joy and hope. We know that at just the right moment, when the fullness of time comes, God… God will act and it will be awesome.
Because we are heirs, because we have been adopted by God through baptism, we received the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, and by that Spirit we cry out Abba, Father. Not too shabby of a verse for Father's day. Although that is kind of a coincidence. But it is the reality of a relationship that we can live in every day of our lives. We don't just worship and talk to God because we want to be on his good side. But we call out to him as dearly loved children, confident that he will hear us and act. And he will, at just the right moment. When the fullness of time comes…God.
It was a sense of timing that I felt when I came to visit with you. It was something that I believe the Spirit worked through in bringing us together. At just the right moment, in the fullness of time…God. And now that we are together, we begin life and ministry together. I am excited to see what God will do in our lives, and through us as we work together to make his love and grace and mercy in Jesus known to the people around us. No matter what we face, no matter how big the challenges, we have a God who is faithful and will never give up on us, and so we can be confident that he will always act at just the right moment. And so we give thanks and celebrate.
May God bless our ministry together, and may we grow closer to one another and to him as we live life in relationship with him as his own dearly loved daughters and sons. Now and always. Amen.
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