Sermon Cardiff 16 11 13
Good morning everyone. Today i would like to finish off the study of Galatians by going back to the bit that we skipped over in Chapter 4. We read through it but there is a lot there so I decided not to dwell on it but to give it a sermon of it's own. By way of introduction, the bible has a lot of depth wrapped up in what seems like simple storys, Jesus in particular used this form of teaching to great effect. The prodigal son for example is a simple story of a family with two sons, but when you think of what He was teaching us, it is profound. I'm not talking about the prodigal son today, but it illustrates the point that the story is one which people can relate to. The imagery of two sons, one of whom goes off the rails and one who stayed at home, the father running to meet him when he returned. These are all images we can relate to. The new testament also uses images from the old testament to refer to Jesus, such as him being the unblemished lamb, and the atoning sacrifice. This would remind people of the past and show how Jesus was relevant to them.
The passage I want to look at today is Gal 4v21-31. We read through it to give the context of Chapter 5, but I didn't really draw out any points.
Verses 21 - 23 set the scene by summarising the story of Abraham's two sons. One from his wife Sarah and one from the slave woman Hagar.
v21 "Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says?"
I think that there are many people who profess to keep the law, but don't really understand the consequences of what they say they are doing, and certainly wouldn't keep the letter of many of the laws that were set out for the Nation of Israel. Some people think of the law as the 10 commandments and conveniently ignore the rest. However, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that even if you think about breaking them, you are guilty, so what Paul is saying here is that people were claiming that they wanted to be under the law, but they didn't really know what they were saying.
Lets carry on in Gal4v22-23
"For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born as a result of human effort, but the son by the free woman was born as a result of a divine promise."
This paints a picture of the contrast between the two. One is a slave to human effort, the other is free in the promise. You could say that Abraham and Sarah took matters into his own hands to produce a child rather than waiting on the promise. The story is found in Gen 16v1-4. By human effort as it says in Galatians 4, they grew impatient and made it happen, even though if you read the following section of scripture, it shows that they wished they hadn't. The result was more important than having faith in God and waiting for the promise.
As an aside. I've read a few articles lately that warned that churches efforts and missions must not get in the way of their relationship with Christ. Mission is not Mission unless it's Christ's mission that we are joining in with, if not it would a project or a programme which may have some superficial benefits and make the church feel good for a while, however Christ's work transforms people and places and therefore goes much deeper if Christ is in it leading and guiding by His Spirit. They covered this a little at the conference and I've given a sermon on it earlier this year if you look back at the archive. If you think of each church as a dot on a join the dots puzzle, the picture that emerges is Jesus. We therefore pray that God uses us to do Christ's work here in South Wales, and that he will move powerfully through us. In and of ourselves we are small and insignificant, however God can multiply the magnitude of what we do if we have faith in Him and let him work through us. It's sometimes tempting to jump the gun and chase after every idea we have like Abraham did, however when God wants something to happen, you know it, and there is nothing stopping it by one means or another, like Sarah's conception and Isaac's birth.
Notice that Paul says in v22, "It is written" he's drawing reference to the Old Testament so the Jews could relate to it, and the gentiles would know where he's getting the story from. Think back a few sermons' the issue here was that the Jewish Christians were trying to claim that the gentiles were to be circumcised and come under the law, and the book is a warning not to walk into slavery but stay in the freedom of Christ that he'd taught them. He grounds the section in scripture to show that it was more than just a story, it was taking a historical account in the bible and then showing the significance of it in light of his new understanding.
Gal4v24 says "I am taking these things figuratively, for the women represent two covenants..."
So he takes the historical facts which he had already compared and contrasted, and relates them to the old and new covenants. So he's painted the familiar picture they knew and understood, and then makes it into a 3D image.
v24 continues "... One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are slaves: This is Hagar. v25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children."
This is a strong and damning verdict for the Jews. No doubt they would have considered Hagar and Ishmael as the second class citizens with them being the descendants of Isaac, however Paul here is switching it around and saying that Israel is the one enslaved. Hagar was likened to Mount Sinai which was the embodiment of the Old Covenant law, and Jerusalem, the home of the temple and the code of legalism that enslaved them. I'm sure this would have been a shock for the Jewish readers and listeners as they would have thought surely Hagar would have represented the gentiles. Imagine the shock if the capital of England was declared as being in Glasgow!! That would get people's attention.
But he goes on in Verse 26 "But the Jerusalem that is from above is free, and she is our mother. v27 For it is written:
"Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labour; because more are the children of the desolate woman that of her who has a husband."" He's quoting here from Isa 54v1
So Israel under the Old Covenant was likened to the normal conventional physical regime, typified by Hagar, the second wife where Abraham and Sarah had taken matters into their own hands to produce an heir. What Paul is doing here is switching the roles and identities of God's people by saying that Sarah, who was desolate and barren would be the mother of more than the conventional way. Sarah on the other hand produced a child out of promise, this was the covenant God had with Abraham and this is what passed down to his Seed Jesus, and it is through him that billions have received the promise. That means you and me.
Lets read on Gal4v28.
"Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise."
We like Isaac are children of promise. Through grace we're in Christ, the seed of Abraham, therefore we have new life made possible by the new covenant.
Abraham was promised that his Seed would be as the stars in the sky and that the world will be blessed through the Seed. Lets have a look at Gen 22v17-18 which takes place just after Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac and he does what he's told. It says,
"I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring, [or seed] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
There is also a promise that the Seed would inherit the land. Again Paul flips the imagery and gives new meaning to conventional wisdom. In Verses 25-26 he linked Hagar, Mount Sinai which is synonymous with the Old Covenant, slavery and Jerusalem which the physical descendants of Sarah would have held dear, but he says that the Jerusalem above is free she is our mother. What Paul is doing here is saying that the people of promise through the Seed, Jesus, are children of the new Jerusalem, not the old. That is what we look forward to - the promise will be fulfilled finally when we, in Christ, in the Seed inhabit the new Jerusalem. Jesus gave us a model prayer, his prayer which says Thy Kingdom Come. This is for us.
v29 of Galatians 4 shows that the descendants of the old covenant had persecuted the Christians - "At that time, the son born of human effort persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now." - when you think about it, Paul himself was the worse culprit, so this is very personal to him and it's kind of a confession. The early church suffered terrible persecution at the hands of the Jews.
v30 is again very strong language "But what does scripture say? [again quoting Gen 21v10] "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." - If you try to achieve salvation by works, under the old covenant, you will not share in the inheritance, the old was all about the old physical Jerusalem but the new brings Salvation and the New Jerusalem so by quoting Sarah, Paul is saying to get rid of the slave woman and her descendants. Does that justify anti Semitism and the atrocities we have seen in history? No, of course not, Matt 10 says that the Gospel was first preached to Israel, they had the preview but they didn't listen. The commission in Acts 1 says go to Jerusalem, Judea then Samaria and to the ends of the world. God loved Israel, still does, but to paraphrase Romans 11, it says that they have been cut off for unbelief. They are blind, but one day they will see the light and be grafted back into the body of Christ which is where they belong. But it's clear that if people don't believe in Christ and don't accept the gift of Grace, they will not inherit the promise. One of the themes through Galatians is a warning not to go back into slavery, and those who preach a false Gospel would be accursed. This is serious stuff.
Gal 4v31 " Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman." 5v1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
This is a clear warning that we are under a new covenant, a new freedom and that we are not under the slavery of the old.
Hebrews has a lot to say about the old and new covenants, and the way that Jesus superseded the old system of animal sacrifices with one sacrifice for all. The bible has the concept of the one for the many which I think fits in with the incarnation so it may pop up next time I speak (in December).
Conclusion.
We see that the promise made to Abraham was to be fulfilled through his seed - Jesus Christ. What Paul has been showing us in this passage is that the old covenant was physical, and based on working on a legal contract, you behave and you'll be blessed in the land. Israel's history shows that it was in and out of favour with God, and He was therefore faithful to his covenant. However, as it shows in Chapter 3, through the seed of Abraham, God introduced a new covenant, one which He, by grace has freed humanity from the slavery of sin and the slavery of the law. This covenant replaced the old, so whoever believes shall be saved.
Gal3v26-29 says "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. v27 for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. v28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
Galatians is a book of warning on one hand, that we should not go back to slavery of the old, and also a book of hope and joy. We have freedom in Christ, we are under a new and more excellent covenant, so that as promised, we can be a blessing to the nations of the world.
So that wraps up all I have to say about Galatians.
Scriptures from Todays New International Version.
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