Galatians 4.1-7

A few years ago, Shaquille O’Neal — NBA legend, business owner and all-around big personality — made headlines after an interview in which he said that he isn’t about to let his kids coast on his fortune. 

Despite being worth an estimated $500 million, Shaq’s set some serious ground rules for passing down his wealth. In his eyes, “Daddy’s cheese” is off-limits unless they meet one big requirement: education.

Shaq doesn’t want his six kids growing up relying on his money. 

He wants them to build their careers and make a name for themselves. In a 2022 podcast, Shaq spelled it out, saying he expects his kids to get at least three college degrees before they even think about his money. No degrees, no inheritance – it’s that simple.

“I tell them, ‘We’re not rich, I’m rich,'” Shaq explained, clarifying that he wants his kids to understand the value of hard work and education. Shaq joked, “Somebody give me a law school, somebody give me hedge fund.” He’s thrilled about his daughter Taahirah, who works as a marketing director at Pepsi and hopes the rest of his kids find success, too.

For Shaq, this approach is all about building generational wealth in a lasting way. He’s not just thinking about passing down money; he wants to set his kids up with tools and mindsets that will keep them successful for the long haul. Shaq focuses on motivating his kids to work hard and create something they can be proud of, not just to live off what he’s made.

Shaq’s way of parenting is about more than setting rules; it’s about teaching values. By raising the bar and prioritizing education, he’s sending a clear message: success isn’t just about money or fame – it’s about personal growth and hard work. Shaq’s kids may have one of the world’s most famous fathers, but with him at the helm, they’ll have to earn their spot in the world.

In this morning’s Biblical text, as we return to the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches, we hear about inheritance.  Not the inheritance that Shaq’s kids have to earn, but the inheritance that God, the Creator of all that exists, freely and abundantly gives to those that He calls His sons and daughters.

Let’s look into Biblical Scripture and hear about those that are God’s heirs and how they become God’s heirs to love, mercy, grace, forgiveness and life eternal.

Galatians 4:1–7 says this:

[1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2] but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3] In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. [4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (ESV)

As we heard last week from Galatians 3.15-29, God’s Law is given to us for three reasons.

First, God’s Law is given to us to curb our behavior.  The 600+ individual laws and commands in the Old Testament show us what God wants us to do and what God wants us to avoid doing.

Second, God’s Law is given to us to convict us of our sin.  As we hear the laws and commands of God, we are confronted with the many ways we disobey God’s will every single day.  This conviction of sin and guilt shows us our need for a Savior.

And, third, God’s Law is given to show us how we are to live our life after coming to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Here, in Galatians 4.1-7, the Apostle Paul is saying that God gave us His law and commands to help us understand who He is and who He wanted us to be while we were waiting for Him to fulfill His promise of giving us a Savior.

Paul’s language puts it this way: God’s Law was a guardian, or, manger, watching over us and making sure we understood how to live and love the way that God lives and loves.

However, God’s Law didn’t have the power to deliver us the promise of God to forgive us and save us.

So, at a later time, approximately 2000 years ago, God the Father sent His One and Only Son—Jesus—to take us away from the guardian/manager and bring us fully home into the Father’s house. In the Father’s house, we fully enjoy the benefits of living in the family’s residence with complete protection and provision of the Father of house.

When we come to find ourselves believing in Jesus Christ as God’s Lord and Savior for us, we are adopted into God’s family.

What does it mean to be adopted?

Adoption is the action of legally taking another’s child and bringing it up as one’s own.

If God is adopting you into His family and calling you His son or daughter, who’s family is He taking you from?

Well, as insane as this may sound, God is taking you out of Satan’s family and saving you from eternal damnation.

In sin, you are separated from God and living the unGodly life that God’s enemy wants you to live.  You are living a completely self-centered, self-righteous, and selfish life.  

Isn’t it crazy to think that without faith in Jesus Christ, we are a living and active enemy of God in Satan’s family!

However, not wanting you to be separate from Him, God sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the debt that your sinful life accrued.  This sacrificial and atoning death of Jesus takes you away from Satan’s realm and triumphantly brings you across the line in God’s eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

This good news is spoken of in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossian Church when he says:

[13] He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13–14, ESV)

Being transferred into God’s family by faith in Jesus, His Son, we become full heirs to God’s riches.

What does it mean to be an heir?

To be an heir means to be legally entitled to the property of another.

Through faith in Jesus, as an officially adopted child of God and an heir to His Kingdom, what do we receive?

Ephesians 1:11–14 says this:

[11] In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, [12] so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. [13] In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

Some of the things we inherit from God as His children are listed here and others are listed in other Biblical passages.

Some of our inheritance includes:

1. Salvation.  You are saved from being separated from God and eternally punished for our Sin.

2. Hope. You are given the knowledge and trust that the pain and sorrow of this life is not meaningless and is not the end for you.  Jesus has been victorious over the power of Sin, evil, and death and will one day eradicate them completely from your experience.

3. Forgiveness. Every thought, word, and deed that was disobedient to God’s Law for life and love has been paid for by the death of Jesus on the cross.  God has separated you from your guilt for Sin with the same distance that separates the east from the west.

4.  Righteousness.  You are given credit for perfectly obeying every one of God’s laws by your faith-initiated union with Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ record of perfection according to God’s laws becomes your record of perfection.

5.  The Holy Spirit. Jesus’ promises you the Holy Spirit’s entrance into your life after He ascends back to His Heavenly throne post-resurrection.  The Holy Spirit is Christ’s presence with you until the end of the ages. 

6.  Assurance.  You are given confidence over and over again that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to God the Father in Heaven expect through Him.  

Hebrews 9:15, 24–28 tells us that:

[15] … [Jesus Christ] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

[24] For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. [25] Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, [26] for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. [27] And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (ESV)

Unlike Shaquille O’Neal’s kids, God’s doesn’t require you earn your spot in your Father’s luxurious world. 

God’s doesn’t require you to earn your inheritance in His Kingdom because He knows that your sin makes that path impossible for you.

The Bible is clear—You can’t earn the inheritance that God wants you to have.

So, God came in Jesus to earn the inheritance for you.

2 Corinthians 8:9 says;

[9] For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (ESV)

You don’t need 3 degrees to receive God’s “cheese.” 

You don’t need a record of good to get into God’s hood.

We only need faith in Jesus to have God free us.

God is rich in love, mercy and grace.  And, God freely gives you access to all that is His through faith in His Son—Jesus.

In Christ, God makes you successful for the long haul of eternity.

It is because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for you that you can call God, “Abba,” your Father in Heaven.  

Go, this week, and rejoice that your Creator and Redeemer has adopted you and put you on his list of heirs who will receive life in His Kingdom of Heaven. And, as sons and daughters, represent your Father well so that those around that aren’t part of the family yet will be drawn to the grace, mercy, and love of the Father forever. 

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

May 18, 2025.

Prayer:

Father, 

As the book of Galatians has been telling us, we are children of promise. We are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.  We’re born through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We refuse to remain in slavery. This week lead us by your Holy Spirit to confident and courageously take up the inheritance that You’ve given us. Intensify the work of the Spirit within our lives so we can obtain our full inheritance in this life and in the age to come. 

Do this in Jesus name, amen. 

Benediction:

Go, in peace this week, rejoicing that your Creator and Redeemer has adopted you and put you on his list of heirs who will receive life in His Kingdom of Heaven.