Galatians 4:21-31
- David Fairchild
- Nov 19, 2006
- Series: Galatians
Note: There is no audio for this sermon (recording system had power failure).
TEXT
Galatians 4:21-31: "Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, ‘Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.' 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.' 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman."
INTRODUCTION
Well here we are in another portion of Galatians that at first pass seems a bit cryptic at best and downright confusing at worst. It makes sense, though, since thoughts and truths that are more weighty usually require more time and effort to unpack. This is certainly the case with verses 21 to 31.
There are times in this letter when Paul recapitulates what he's been hammering away at so that we get the full breadth of what he teaches us about the Gospel. One of the reasons this letter is so powerful is that Paul stays on track and keeps bringing back all these different lines and thoughts to one main point: that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and nothing is more important than the power and reality of the Gospel for our own lives and for the only hope for this world.
Truth and Authority
In our aversion to exclusivity or absolutes, it's very difficult to hear what Paul is saying. In many ways our own flesh retorts to this kind of thinking because we live in a culture which promotes a view of God and of religion that is pluralistic and relativistic as its main doctrine. In other words, we believe that all roads lead to whatever god we desire. Since it is believed that we can never know the truth (which oddly enough makes the assumption that that position is true), we are told we should all accept one another's ideas and perspectives as being equally viable and valid.
Think of a car accident: an accident occurs which is viewed by witnesses, and yet when the police officer attempts to gain information, everyone has a different take and spin on it. Some think one driver is to blame while another witness blames the other. Some say that it happened this way while other witnesses describe it differently. At the end of the day, all these views are taken into account, even if they flatly contradict each other, and some type of collective consensus is reached which portions out the blame to the different parties. Since the truth is so difficult to find, it is argued that we are only parts and pieces of the truth and for each of us, the truth is how we see it. California has given up in finding blame for who is at fault in the failure of a marriage, so we now have no-fault divorces. If you are ever in a car accident you'll quickly find out that some percentage of blame is usually ascribed to you, even if the person hit you while you were sitting still. Why? Because truth is difficult to find.
Though I agree that the discovery of truth may be difficult for some or for all, this does not mean that truth does not exist no matter how hard it is to find. If we think of this car accident, we should realize that even if all witnesses disagree on the color of the cars, the amount of doors, the makes and models, the speed, and the drover at fault for the accident, this doesn't mean that there isn't a truth to what really happened and the facts involved. If a camera were over the intersection taping everything that happened, with a birds eye view, we could, by viewing this outside source, come to a conclusion that we could say is true. In other words, the camera would record who was speeding, what the color of the cars were, how many doors they cars had, who cut the other off and who did or didn't have their blinker on. In other words, the camera could tell us what actually happened. If one of the drivers says he was going the speed limit and had the right away while using his blinker, and the camera tells us a totally different story, we would trust the camera and not the defendant's opinion. Just because truth is hard to find doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. And this truth exists apart from our agreement to it, our understanding of it, or our opinion about it.
Why do I mention this? Because we need to see what lens we have been viewing life through when we come to this kind of text so that we don't allow our current cultural views dictate our understanding of this truth.
Also, we are very much against any kind of authority other than our own, and freedom of choice is prized higher than truth. It is assumed that we are to come to whatever conclusions we desire on our own without any outside influence or authority-certainly without the authority of Holy Scripture.
I find this interesting considering we are all educated by our parents, by our school teachers, by our coaches, by our friends, by the various media sources, and by our own opinions. We gather all of these ideas together and attempt to make a sensible view out of ourselves and everything around us. We gain these ideas from outside sources and then assume that they are unique to us and claim that we came to these conclusions freely without any outside authority. For example: if someone says that they couldn't believe in Christianity because it's exclusive and doesn't include all other religions as equally valid and viable, we should ask why they believe that all religions are equally valid and viable? That is just another religion that this person has chosen to believe. It can't be verified, it is an assumption based upon opinion. Most of the time, it isn't ever well thought out. When you ask the question, the person usually responds by simply saying that that's just what they believe and, "we shouldn't condemn anyone who doesn't agree with us." The funny thing about this view is that it is condemning those who don't agree with them. If I believe the Bible is the Word of God, I am condemned by those who claim to be tolerant, but are only tolerant as long as I agree with their view. Moreover, a person who says such a thing usually does so to tell Christians that they shouldn't evangelize or contradict someone else's view, but they fail to realize that they are evangelizing us to believe in their religion and they are essentially telling a Christian that their view is wrong but theirs is right.
Ok, what's to point to all of this? Simple: Paul is splitting the world into two groups: those we are slaves and those who are free. Needless to say, such a separation and such a reduction into only two camps is not very popular today. What's interesting is that if we lived in another part of the world, we wouldn't have such difficulty with something being true verses that which is false. It is only in our current western context that this is a problem, and 50 years from now our grandchildren are going to laugh at our objections to Christianity because they'll have their own. We can't be so arrogant as to assume that our generation is the peak of evolution. It is dismissing to our parents who came before us and our children who'll come after us to assume that our cultural views are the only right views through all of history.
Paul skillfully sees that there can only be two kinds of humanity: one of freedom and one of slavery.
This passage is a passage of two's:
Two Mothers- Hagar and Sarah
Two Sons- Ishmael and Isaac
Two Covenants- Works and Grace
Two Cities- Earthly Jerusalem and Jerusalem above
Two Mountains- Sinai and Calvary
Flesh and Promise- Law and Faith
Slavery and Children- Bondage and Freedom
Natural and Spiritual- Attainment and Grace
We won't be able to spend time on each of these contrasts, but we'll look what is the main point of the passage and then work out from there.
Were going to look at two sons, to covenants, and then we'll look at two applications.
STUDY
Two Sons- Ishmael and Isaac
Verse 22: "For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman."
Why does Paul bring up two sons of Abraham? This is the way he needs to approach the Judaizers, who believed that you should believe in Jesus and grace plus the moral and ceremonial law to have favor with God. Paul uses Abraham again in this letter because those who have come after Paul to distort the Gospel of grace proudly claimed they were children of Abraham. To be a child of Abraham is a great privilege to them. It represented that they were God's children, the chosen offspring. It represented all the blessings that were made to Abraham. It was their identity.
In John 8, Jesus is being insulted and mocked by Jews that were proudly claiming Abraham as their father.
John 8:19-44: "They said to him therefore, ‘Where is your Father?' Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.' 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. 21 So he said to them again, ‘I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.' 22 So the Jews said, ‘Will he kill himself, since he says, "Where I am going, you cannot come"?' 23 He said to them, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.' 25 So they said to him, ‘Who are you?' Jesus said to them, ‘Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.' 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.' 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him. 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' 33 They answered him, ‘We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, "You will become free"?' 34 Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.' 39 They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.' Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing what Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing what your father did.' They said to him, ‘We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father--even God.' 42 Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.'"
This is a powerful passage that speaks directly to those who refused to trust in God's only Son. These words are frightening and shocking and would have cut the hearers to the heart. All that they had boasted was brought to the surface.
Just as Paul says in verse 21, "Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?" Jesus also turns the table on the Jewish religious leaders by showing that they neither really know the law, Abraham, or the Father. They cling to the law but do not listen to it. They cling to their racial background as Abraham's children, and Jesus shows them that they don't know Abraham and are far from being Abraham's true children. And, they cling to their hope that God is their Father while Jesus shows them that because they do not love Him, their true father is the lying, murdering, Devil. Ouch! This isn't a game for Jesus or for Paul. Why did they defend these issues so passionately? Because they were and are true, and as Jesus said, "the truth will set you free."
Yet, when we come to the churches in Galatia, we know that the background of those that lived in Galatia were not typically of a Jewish background. Those to whom Paul preached and were converted were originally Pagan and didn't have a Jewish conscience.
They had come to Christ by faith and now the Jewish converts from Jerusalem were trying to get them to adopt their customs and regulations so that God would be pleased with them and accept them.
Paul had taught them that despite all they had done-which for a Pagan culture was pretty substantial-Christ had come and died on their behalf to forgive their sins and gave them a righteousness which they received by faith, to bring them to the Father as true sons, and true children of Abraham. When the Pagans heard this, they were freed! Their guilt and shame for all they had done, their living as orphans, was no longer their identity. They were now God's beloved children in whom He was well pleased.
Not long after Paul left Galatia, the Judaizers came knocking on the door. They came in and begin to wear down their confidence that these Pagans were really true children of Abraham. They basically told them that it's great they believe in Jesus, but to be a true child of Abraham means that they had a long way to go. There was much to do. They needed to obey the law, and perform all the ceremonies, and wash and eat and dress a certain way. The Judaizers had been attempting to purify their souls for years through hard work and following the law. How dare Paul call these law-breaking Pagans children of Abraham!!!! In the mind of the Judaizers, these Pagans had years to go before they could catch up. They were outraged and began to chip away at the Galatians by reminding them of all the laws they had broken and all the things they had done.
Hiding Our Shame
Do you remember in the Disney movie, "The Lion King" when Mufasu is killed by his brother, Scar, by being trampled by wildebeest's? Do you remember when Simba, the little cub of Mufasu, is standing over his father in totally brokenness over what happened because he thinks that he is responsible for his father's death? His uncle, the bad guy, Scar, played by Jeremy Irons comes to him and says "Simba, what have you done?" And Simba begins to trip over his tongue to explain what happened and Scar says to him, "If it wasn't for you, your father would still be alive." This just crushes Simba and he runs away from the pride. Now, I know it's only an animated movie, even a good one, but what is so frightening about Scar's character is that question, "What have you done?" This is the question that crushes many of us to this day.
All of us, when we view our past, must face this question, "What have you done?"
Like the Pagans in Galatia, we all have places in our history that we're ashamed of. We all have felt the condemning nature of the law. It doesn't take much for us to be crushed under the weight of our past. We are left with guilt, with shame. We walk around with regret and wish that we could go back and change what we have done. The Pagans initially recognized they were sinful and needed grace. They started off well by seeing their sin and trusting in Christ, but now there were those that would come and say to them, "What have you done?" "How are you going to fix this?" "It isn't enough for you to just confess your sins and trust in Christ." "You must work hard to be righteous in God's sight."
We live our lives and attempt to cover our own shame and guilt. This is why we want to be successful, this is why we want to be attractive, and this is why we pursue sexual relationships. They are just ways for us to deal with our shame by covering it with something to make us feel a sense of peace and acceptability.
Jonathan Edwards says, "If there were no fires in hell, but God takes away the barrier and shield around your conscience, so that you will have to live with what you think about yourself deep in your conscience, there will be fire enough."
It will still be hell. We do everything we can to hide from ourselves what we think of ourselves. And if something comes along and triggers it, we feel like we're in hell here.
Paul counters the Judaizers' position by teaching about these two children: Ishmael and Isaac.
Slavery and Freedom
Verses 24-25: "Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children."
One was Ishmael who was born in the ordinary way, and one was Isaac who was born according to the promise. Both have Abraham as their father, but they have different mothers, one who is a slave and the other the freewoman.
If you are familiar with the story, you know what happened. God had come to Abraham and Sarah and promised in their old age that they would have a son, and that this son would come through Sarah. From this promise Abraham would have as many sons as there are stars in the sky if you could count them.
Abraham and Sarah waited and waited and each year no son came. Abraham was very old and Sarah knew that in order for her to have a son it was going to take a miracle since she was barren. She had experienced desolation in her own culture without children. She had never bore a child and was ashamed of her failure.
In Sarah's mind, there was only one thing to do to remove that shame, it was to make sure a son was born for Abraham. In that culture, it was possible and legal if by the approval of the wife, the man slept with one of his servants to bear a child. The child of the slave woman was to be considered the child of the wife's. It would have been a miracle for Sarah to have a child at 80 plus years of age, but it would have been no miracle for a man like Abraham to have a child. Sarah was past menopause and was physically unable to have a child to her shame.
Abraham had a choice; he could either have a family through human ability or he could wait for God to provide for him a child as He promised. He could attain this family or he could trust in God's great promise to provide a child supernaturally. He chose not to wait for God and decided with Sarah to pursue fulfilling this promise on his own under his own control, by his own flesh and effort. To wait for God felt too risky and out of control.
Abraham then took Hagar the slave woman and she became pregnant and gives birth to a son, Ishmael. After this, distrust caused Hagar to be chased out by Sarah. God provided the promised son to Sarah and she became miraculously pregnant and gave birth to Isaac.
Paul uses this true story to illustrate a point. He allegorizes it to explain the truth of the Gospel.
Paul then says that Hagar and Sarah represent two sons, two covenants, and two kinds of offspring: those that are slaves and those that are free. This isn't a stretch for Paul to say this. Though it is allegory, it is also true history.
These two sons represent two entirely different ways of relating to God. One represents all of humanity that works to earn favor with God to hide our nakedness by trusting in our own strength. The other son, Isaac, represents those who are birthed by the promise, who realize that human effort will never hide our shame and give us peace with God. This son represents God's faithfulness and promise. Those who are his brothers are those who wait upon God for their hope, and instead of trusting in their ability, they trust in God's ability.
Paul then says essentially that when we pursue God through attainment or achievement, we become slaves. This isn't terribly hard to see when we read the story of Ishmael and Isaac. Abraham exploits both women, even though it was Sarah's idea, and he decides to get things done without orienting his life to the promise-and it screws his whole family up.
Everyone has a "Center". Everyone has to live for something-something that we think will give us a sense of significance and satisfaction. We all then have a "personal center", a bottom line, an ultimate value by which we sort through all the activities of life and set priorities. It may be career, possessions, appearance, romance, peer groups, achievement, good causes, moral character, religion, marriage, children, friendships or a combination of several. Without this, "bottom line," our life would be completely meaningless. This means, however...
Everyone is a Slave. Whatever we live for has control over us. We do not control ourselves. The things we live for enslave us with guilt (if we fail to attain them) or anger (if someone blocks them from us) or fear (if they are threatened) or drivenness (since we must have them) or despair (if we ever lose them completely). This means, then...
•a. Even the most irreligious people are really worshipping something. Whatever thing or things from which we choose to derive our value become the ultimate meaning in our lives, thus it serves as a ‘god' and gives us a sense of worth or `righteousness' even if we don't think in those terms.
•b. Even the most religious people are not really worshipping God. Religious people may look to God as Helper, Teacher, and Example, but it is their moral performance, which is serving as their Savior. They are just as guilty and self-hating if they fail it, just as angry and resentful if someone blocks it, just as fearful and anxious if something threatens it, just as driven "to be good".
If you use your human ability to hide your shame and nakedness by becoming a successful business man, or a perfect mother, or a great husband, or an attractive woman, or any other thing to quiet your conscience and give you a sense of accomplishment and peace, you will become a slave. The results will be slavery. If anything gets in your way, you'll be filled with anger and bitterness. If someone tries to stop you, you'll lash out. If you're criticized for your pursuits, you'll respond in defensiveness. It will drive you and drive you until the wheels of your sanity fall off.
Tim Keller says there are four kinds of persons in the world:
#1 Law-obeying, Law-relying
These people are under the law, and are usually very smug, self-righteous and pharisaical. Externally, they are very sure they are right with God, but deep down, they
have a lot of insecurity, since no one can truly be assured they are living up to
standards. This makes them touchy, sensitive to criticism and devastated when their
prayers aren't answered. (This includes members of other religions but here I am
thinking mainly of people who go to church.)
#2 Law-disobeying, Law-relying
These people have a religious conscience of strong works-righteousness, but they are
not living consistently with it. As a result, they are more humble and more tolerant of
others than the Pharisees above, but they are also much more guilt-ridden, subject to
mood swings and sometimes very afraid of religious topics. (Some of these people may
go to church but stay on the periphery because of their low spiritual self-esteem.)
#3 Law-disobeying, Not Law-relying
These are the people who have thrown off the concept of the Law of God. They are
intellectually secular or rather relativistic, or have a very vague spirituality. They largely
choose their own moral standards and insist they are meeting them. But Paul in
Romans 1 says that at a sub-conscious level, they know there is a God who they should
be obeying. (Such people are usually happier and more tolerant than either of the above
groups. But usually there is a strong liberal self-righteousness They are definitely
earning their own salvation by feeling superior to others. It is usually a less overt kind of
self-righteousness.)
#4 Law-obeying, Not Law-relying
These are Christians who understand the gospel and are living out of the freedom of it.
They obey the law of God out of grateful joy that comes from the knowledge of their
sonship and out of the freedom from the fear and selfishness that false idols had
generated. They are more tolerant than #3, more sympathetic than #2, and more
confident than #1. (Most real Christians tend toward the errors of #1, #2, and even #3.
But to the degree that they do, they are impoverished spiritually.)
Who Is Your Mother?
In verse 26 Paul says, "But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother."
This means that we are already children of the father and in the loving city of God, who is our mother. We are already free citizens in this city. There is no probation, we have passed it and are counted without charge, free from all guilt and shame.
Paul is not saying that one day you'll be rewarded with being a citizen of heaven if you try really hard and keep your spiritual disciplines up. Paul says that she's our mother now! Not she will be our mother, she is our mother. The mother city was the place where you were a true citizen. It was the place of your rights, where you belong.
Paul says that if we try to pursue a life of human effort apart from the Gospel promise of salvation by grace, we will be nothing more than slaves. We will find ourselves as the children of the slave woman, Hagar, at Mt. Sinai where the law will do nothing but condemn us and drive us to work harder without rest.
If on the other hand, we understand that what Christ has done is sufficient, we may work, but it won't be for God's favor. We'll try and fail, but we won't ultimately fail because we're already sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, and as the true children of Abraham, without the Jerusalem above as our true city.
Then Paul says something that is so incredible that it should melt our hearts.
Verse 27: "For it is written, ‘Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.'"
In Sarah's time, by not having a child until Isaac, she was incredibly shamed and riddled with the guilt of a wasted and failed life. She was unable to do what she was supposed to in order to be counted worthy and valuable.
Paul says this: if you rely on human ability, you'll have children, or in other words, you'll get things done. But if you rely on God and His promise and ability, no matter how barren and desolate you are, no matter how many times you've failed or how many things you've done that you're ashamed of-more will be your children than the one who is fertile, young, and can bear children.
If you remember the last couple of weeks we were in this chapter, I referred back to verse 19 where Paul calls those he wrote this letter to, "My little children." Here was Paul, often left for dead, deserted by friends, at times in great danger with an empty stomach. Paul was not married so far as we can tell, and Paul didn't have natural children. Paul was a bit of a disgrace. He lost his academic and religious career. He lost his incredible reputation and was a failure in the eyes of his peers. He was a hunted man that suffered execution. He was without a natural child, but his spiritual children were many. No matter who you are, no matter what you think you can or can not do, if you trust in Christ, more will be the children of the desolate woman.
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