📖 Galatians 4:4–5
🕊️ Town East Baptist Church – December 21, 2026
👤 Pastor Bill Allred
Christmas preaching can feel like standing in front of a buffet. There is so much to choose from that it’s hard to settle on one thing. You could preach about the inn with no room and how easy it is for people to crowd Jesus out of their lives. You could focus on the shepherds who left their work to worship, while many today struggle to leave their routines for church. You could talk about the wise men and how wisdom still looks like giving, worshiping, and honoring Christ.
All of that is good. All of it is biblical. But the Apostle Paul, writing to the Galatian church, takes us somewhere deeper.
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Gal. 4:4).
Paul teaches us that Christmas is not just a collection of events. It is a revelation. By the way God came into the world, we learn who God is. Christmas shows us the very character of God.
Christmas has been reduced to decorations, nostalgia, and cultural arguments. It is more than a star in the east. More than shepherds and angels. More than wise men and gifts. More even than a manger scene. Christmas is God revealing Himself to humanity.
When we look at Christmas the way God intended, we see His nature clearly. And knowing the God of salvation is one of the greatest blessings in this life.
God Is Always on Time
Paul begins with this phrase: “when the fulness of the time was come.” God did not rush. God did not delay. He acted at exactly the right moment.
We live in an impatient world. Everything is expected immediately. Waiting has become almost unbearable. Patience—like contentment—is rare. Many people give up on God not because He failed, but because He did not move on their schedule.
Scripture teaches something unchanging about God: He is always on time. Not sometimes. Always. Never early. Never late.
Look at Joseph. God gave him dreams, but He did not explain the timeline. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned, and forgotten. God did not intervene at each painful step. But when the time was right, God raised Joseph up to power and used him to save his family.
Look at Moses. Eighty years passed before God used him to deliver Israel. But when the time was right, God spoke, and history changed.
Look at Samson. His own foolishness left him blind and bound. Yet when the time was right, God restored his strength and brought victory even through death.
The same is true with Christ. The promise of His coming began in the Garden of Eden. Prophets spoke of Him for centuries. Then came four hundred years of silence. Finally, at the exact moment God intended, a young woman named Mary carried a child. A Roman tax decree moved people into place. Angels spoke. Shepherds came. And Jesus was born—right on time.
God will be on time again when Christ returns. The character of God has not changed.
God Is Always on Track
Paul continues: “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
God knows exactly where we are. We are born under sin’s condemnation. We live in a world corrupted by sin. God not only knows our condition—He knows how to reach us.
There is a problem humanity cannot solve. God is holy and righteous. Sinful humanity cannot survive exposure to His full glory. Sin has created a separation that no human effort can cross.
Yet God stayed on track. He did not abandon His purpose.
The solution was breathtaking: God laid aside His glory and became one of us. He entered the world the same way we did—born of a woman, living under the law. This was not weakness. It was love in action.
The Creator lying in a feeding trough seems strange only if we forget who God is. This was God meeting us where we are. We could not go to Him. He could not come to us in unveiled glory. So He made a way.
That is the character of God revealed in Christmas. Love made a way when there was no hope.
Because Christ came this way, people could see Him and live. He became the perfect sacrifice. He is the only way of salvation.
Jesus did not come asking people to become something first. He came asking them to believe.
God Is Always on Target
Paul finishes with purpose: “to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
Adoption means being placed as a son. God’s aim was clear. He came to rescue sinners from darkness and place them into His family. He came to remove sin’s curse, cancel the debt, and change our eternal destination.
God did not send Jesus without a reason. The suffering of Christ was not random. Mankind was the target of God’s redeeming love.
The tragedy is that some reject that love. Pride, false beliefs, and a desire for independence keep people from repentance. But God is not impressed with partial surrender.
Christmas points beyond the manger to the cross. Isaiah foretold it:
“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities… and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5–7).
Christmas is not just the birth of a baby. It is the beginning of the payment for sin.
The Meaning of Christmas
Christmas reveals the character of God.
He is always on time. He is always on track. He is always on target.
The question is not what Christmas means culturally. The question is what it means personally. God is ready to meet you where you are. The time is right today. Eternal life is the gift He still offers.
A Call to Action
Christmas confronts every person with a decision. God has already acted. He came on time. He came to where we are. He came with a purpose—to redeem and to adopt.
If you have never trusted Jesus Christ alone for salvation, today is the right time. Not when life settles down. Not when you feel worthy. Salvation is received by faith, not earned by effort.
If you are a believer, Christmas is a reminder to live like someone who has been redeemed and placed into God’s family. Make room for Christ again. Worship Him deliberately. Speak of Him boldly. Reflect His character faithfully.
If you are searching, questioning, or burdened, we invite you to come worship with us, reach out for prayer, or speak with a pastor. God is still meeting people where they are.
Don’t avoid the gift God intentionally sent for you.
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