During the week when our nation said farewell to President Ronald Reagan many important people spoke. Presidents and prime ministers offered their eulogies at the National Cathedral. They spoke of a national and international leader. But then came the time at Simi Valley, California when the three living children of Ronald Reagan offered their remembrances of a father and what it was like to grow up as the children of a famous man. It was touching, especially when we realized that the relationship between father and children was not always smooth and sweet, but that in the end they had come to love and cherish one another.

Today we think of other less famous fathers. Our fathers. Today we also think of God as a father and what it means to "grow as God’s child." With the help of our Bible texts, we can attempt to answer the question:

"What does it mean to be God’s child?"

This morning I invite you to focus on the epistle reading from Galatians. Paul had written this letter to a church he started in the area we now call Turkey. In those days it was Greek in culture and pagan in religion. It would be many years before Islam became the dominant religious force in this part of the world.

This is a crucial time in the formation of the Christian Church. What kind of a religious community will this be? How open to outsiders will it be? What sorts of requirements will it have? What will its relationship to the faith of the Holy Scriptures found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy be? Paul is caught in a struggle with other Christian leaders who felt that one had to obey the rules and regulations found in these books to be a follower of Christ. Shorthand for this argument was whether or not one was "circumcised."

What does it mean to grow as God’s child? Let us hear what Paul argues.

1. Growing as God’s child means that we live under the authority of a God who is more like a loving Father than a stern "disciplinarian." Paul had learned this from Jesus who had called God "Father" or "Abba" or "Papa" or "Daddy."

We read in Galatians 3:24:

"Therefore the law was our disciplinarian...." (Galatians 3:24)

In many of the more wealthy households in Galatia the family entrusted the care of their children to a mature slave called a "Paidagogos," which our Bible has translated as "disciplinarian". Every day he had to take the child to and from school. He was to make sure that the child minded. Sometimes he had to be very stern. With him they had to walk the straight and narrow or face the consequences. This "Paidagogos" was not the child’s teacher, but perhaps he had the same kind of authority the old fashioned teacher with the strap or beating cane had. In such a situation we obey out of fear and duty, not out of love or enthusiasm.

But listen to how Paul continues:

"But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith." (Galatians 3:25)

We are God’s children. We are not following some dutiful disciplinarian. We are following a God whom we experience like a caring parent ---- yes, a father. Do we follow and obey him because if we don’t we’ll get a beating? Or do we follow and obey him because we have been so engrafted into his love that we want to be part of his family and we know in our hearts what it means to be part of this family? Are we doing our father’s will because we fear the consequences of his wrath or because of the values he has instilled in us?

As years go by I think more and more of my own father. Oh, yes, he had to discipline me. There were times when I did feel the constraints of being a "preacher’s kid." We were not allowed to go to movies on Sunday. We had to go to Sunday Schools in strange churches when we were on vacation. There were times when I did things out of a sense of duty.

But most often I did what I did simply because of the values instilled in me by my parents. They were not forced upon me, but I simply absorbed them. Sometimes they let me go my own way and discover the wisdom of a certain action on my own. Sometimes I disagreed with them. But most of the time my actions resulted from a set of values learned, but not imposed, encouraged but not forced, modeled but not commanded.

This is the sense I get from Paul, the writer of today’s reading in Galatians. To repeat a phrase I used in another sermon, Paul encourages us to live from the inside out rather than from the outside in. Paul encourages us to live as part of a large, loving family rather than under a stern, strict dictatorship. Paul encourages us to live out of love rather than duty.

When we do this we "grow as God’s child."

2. Part of living in this family and "growing as God’s child" is putting on new clothes.

Again we read in our scripture lesson:

"As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

In the ancient Christian church when adults were baptized they often took off their old clothes, stepped naked into the waters, were baptized, and then stepped out of the waters to receive new clothes. These were often white clothes, to symbolize the new, pure life they were called to lead.

The clothes you wear do make a difference. Two weeks ago Karen attended worship with our sister in law, who recently became a Mormon. One aspect of the worship impressed Karen ----- how everyone was dressed in their "Sunday Go to Meetin" clothes. The young "elders" all wore white shirts and ties. Even the children were dressed up. The purpose of their being dressed up was to show respect for God.

In our attempt to be more relaxed we have lost this sense of duty to be dressed up. Ours is a less formal age than that of our parents and grandparents. In some ways that is good, but perhaps the Mormons can teach us something ----- when we become part of God’s family and grow as God’s children we show it. We show it in how we look and how we act. Of course being God’s child does not mean we are part of a "fashion show," but it does mean that our outer self is a reflection of our inner self. I believe this means that, even if we don’t wear white shirts and ties, we do come to God with respect, awe and love.

Paul himself was rather conservative as far as social customs went even if he was radical in his interpretation of scripture. He probably would like to see white shirts and ties, but more importantly he would like to see a warmed heart and a friendly smile. He would want to see someone who was morally renewed, not merely morally restrained. He would want to see someone clothed in the love of Christ, not merely acting out of the duty of the church.

3. Finally, "growing as God’s child" means that we are equally loved by this loving fatherly God.

Again we read in the lesson from Galatians:

"There is no longer Jew or Greek there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."