Freedom’s Children (Galatians 4:21-31)
Van Morris, of Mt. Washington, Kentucky, tells the story of an elderly woman from out of town who walked into a local country church. A friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps.
“Where would you like to sit?” he asked.
“The front row please,” she answered.
“You really don’t want to do that,” the usher said. “The pastor is really boring.”
“Do you happen to know who I am?” asked the woman.
“No,” said the usher.
“I’m the pastor’s mother,” she replied indignantly.
“Do you know who I am?” the usher asked.
“No,” she said.
“Good.” (Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky)
Mothers are very important people (VIP’s). You don’t want to offend them, because they wield so much influence.
In fact, in Bible days, the status of the mother actually determined the status of her children. If the mother was a slave, then her children were slaves, even if their father was a king. On the other hand, if the mother was free, then her children were free, even if their father was a slave.
Spiritually speaking, that’s still true of you and me today. If our “mother” is free, then we are free! But if our “mother” is a slave, then we are slaves!
So let me ask you a question: Who is your mother? I’m not talking about your physical mother. I’m talking about your spiritual mother.
Who is your mother, spiritually speaking? Who gave spiritual birth to you?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Galatians 4, Galatians 4, where the God’s Word introduces us to our true spiritual mother and its implications for us today.
Galatians 4:21-23 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 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 in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. (NIV)
The first book of the Law, the book of Genesis, makes it very clear that Abraham had two children with two different mothers. One was a slave.
Her name was Hagar, and she gave birth to Ishmael. The other mother was free. Her name was Sarah, and she gave birth to Isaac.
Furthermore, tese two children not only had two different mothers. They were born in two different ways they had two different methods of birth. Hagar, the slave’s son was born “in the ordinary way,” litterally, “according to the flesh.” & Sarah, the free-woman’s son was born “as a result of a promise,” i.e., through a miracle.
God had promised Abraham and Sarah many descendants, as many as the stars in the heavens, but nothing was happening over the years. Abraham and Sarah were growing old, and still they didn’t have even one son, much less “many descendants.”
So when Abraham turned 85 years old and Sarah turned 75, they decided to help God out. By their own efforts, in their own flesh, they were going to secure God’s promised blessing. Sarah gave her slave-girl, Hagar, to Abraham as his second wife, and they had a son in the ordinary way. Ishmael was born according to the flesh, as a result of a man trying to get God’s promised blessing through his own human efforts.
But instead of a blessing, they got trouble. Hagar began to despise Sarah, and Sarah flew into a rage. Their home was thrown into turmoil, which still continues today, 4,000 years later, in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
My friends, that’s what happens when we try to secure God’s blessings through our own human efforts. We only make a mess of things.
When Paul Harvey was on the radio, he talked about a sign that he once saw at a service station many years ago. It read, Labor: $10 per hour. If you watch, $12 per hour. If you help, $15 per hour. If you worked on it first & then brought it in, $27.50 per hour.
Today, such a sign would read about 10 times as much, but I think you get the picture. When an amateur tries to help a professional out, it only makes things worse.
So it is when we try to help God out. When we seek to secure God’s promised blessings through our own human efforts, we don’t get blessed; we get trouble.
That’s what happened to Abraham. His own human efforts to secure God’s promised blessing only brought trouble to his family.
Even so, 15 years later, when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90, God did a miracle. By His grace, God caused a 90-year-old woman to conceive, and Isaac was born, not in the ordinary way, not according to the flesh or any human effort, but as a result of a promise. God simply kept His word and allowed Sarah to conceive, even though Abraham and Sarah were “as good as dead” according to Romans 4:19.
Abraham had 2 children – one born to a slave, the other born to a free-woman; one born in the ordinary way through human effort, the other born miraculously, as a result of a promise.
Now, these two children represent two covenants. They represent two kinds of relationships.
Galatians 4:24 These things may be taken figuratively – i.e., by way of illustration – for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai – where the law was given – and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. (NIV)
First, there is the covenant of law. There is a relationship with God based on adherence to the rules. The law said, “Obey and God will bless you; disobey and God will curse you.” But this covenant only produced slaves.
Galatians 4:25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. (NIV)
Jerusalem in Paul’s day was a city in slavery. Its citizens were under Roman rule. You see, Israel through her own human efforts was unable to secure God’s blessing. She was unable to obey, so she was cursed with foreign domination, just as the Old Testament Law had warned in Deuteronomy 28.
And that’s what the law does to all of us. It promises rich blessings for those who obey. But we only get cursed, because we cannot obey it perfectly. We cannot secure God’s blessings through our own human efforts, so we only find ourselves in bondage.
In May of 2006, the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association published a study conducted by the National Science Foundation on the side effects of several indoor air purifiers. Surprisingly, the study found that certain ionic air purifiers actually produce pollution.
Here’s how it works. Ionic air purifiers function by charging airborne particles through a process called ionization. Once charged, these particles then stick to metal electrodes in the “purifier.” Theoretically, the air is cleaner after passing through the purifier because it has fewer particles.
However, the study found that the ionization process itself produces ozone. This gas is helpful when located way up in the atmosphere because it blocks harmful UV rays. However, at the surface of the Earth, ozone is better known as smog. Human exposure to high levels of ozone can cause damaged lungs, shortness of breath, throat irritation, and a worsening of asthma.
Study leader, Sergey Nizkorodov, a chemistry professor at the University of California, Irvine, said, “People operating air purifiers indoors are more prone to being exposed to ozone levels in excess of public health standards.” (Robert Roy Britt, Isn’t It Ionic? Air Purifiers Make Smog, www.LiveScience.com, 5-9-06; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s the way it is when we use the covenant of law as the basis of our relationship with God. That’s the way it is when we seek to earn God’s blessing by obedience to a list of do’s and don’ts. In our own efforts to be pure in God’s sight, we make our problems even worse; & we make ourselves even more unclean.
That’s because we become proud and boastful when we think we have met the standard. Furthermore, we become critical and judgmental of those who don’t measure up. & When we ourselves don’t meet the standard, we try to cover it up, becoming deceitful and hypocritical. Or worse yet, we lie to ourselves by redefining the standard.
My friends, that’s what the covenant of law does to us. It makes us slaves to sin.
But there is a better way to relate to God. And that is through the covenant of promise. You see, God has promised us His blessings unconditionally! We don’t have to work for those blessings. All we have to do is believe God’s promise.
Galatians 4:26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. (NIV)
As believers in Christ, we are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is free!
Galatians 4:27 For it is written: “Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” (NIV)
This promise, from Isaiah 54, speaks of the restoration of Israel after a time of captivity. In captivity, Israel is barren like Sarah was, but God promises to restore Israel to greatness again. In fact, God will build a New Jerusalem, which is free from foreign control, unlike the Jerusalem in Paul’s day. & That New Jerusalem is our home! It is our motherland, even we who are Gentile Believers in Jesus.
Galatians 4:28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. (NIV)
Paul, a Jew, is saying this to Gentile believers, calling them “brothers!” All believers in Christ, Jew or Gentile, are children of the promise!
We relate to God, not on the basis of a law with its conditional blessings. No. We relate to God on the basis of a promise with its unconditional blessings.
Joni Eareckson Tada, who was paralyzed in a diving accident as a teenager, talks about her wedding day.
She writes, “I felt awkward as my girlfriends strained to shift my paralyzed body into a cumbersome wedding gown. No amount of corseting and binding my body gave me a perfect shape. The dress just didn’t fit well. Then, as I was wheeling into the church, I glanced down and noticed that I’d accidentally run over the hem of my dress, leaving a greasy tire mark. My paralyzed hands couldn’t hold the bouquet of daisies that lay off-center on my lap. And my chair, though decorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky gray machine with belts, gears, and ball bearings. I certainly didn’t feel like the picture-perfect bride in a bridal magazine.
“I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a glimpse of Ken in front. There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal attire. I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle. My face flushed, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to be with him. I had seen my beloved. The love in Ken’s face had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness. I was his pure and perfect bride.” (This We Believe: The Good News of Jesus Christ for the World, Zondervan, p. 222; www.PreachingToday.com)
It’s so easy for us to think that we’re utterly unlovely – especially to someone as lovely as Christ. But Jesus loves us with the bright eyes of a Bridegroom’s love, and the Bible says He will never stop loving us that way.
There is nothing we need to do to earn His favor and blessing. We already have it, and God promises us that we will never lose it! That’s because, as believers, we don’t relate to God on the basis of law; we relate to God on the basis of promise – the promise of His unfailing love.
So then, who’s your mother, spiritually speaking? Well, if you’re a believer in Christ, your mother is promise, not law. Your mother is free, not in bondage to the pressure to perform. Your mother is the unconditional favor and blessing of God, not the conditional requirements of a harsh and exacting standard.
So, my dear friends, get to KNOW YOUR MOTHER. BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH HER GRACIOUS SPIRIT. ENJOY THE RELATIONSHIP AND SAVOR THE FREEDOM. In other words, stop trying to earn your way and start enjoying your way to heaven.
Know your mother, and THROW OUT THE OTHER. GET RID OF THE LEGALISTIC MESSAGES. DISCARD THOSE THOUGHTS OF SHAME. & REJECT ANY NOTION THAT SAYS, “YOU HAVE TO DO MORE TO BE ACCEPTED.”
That’s what Paul tells the Galatian Believers to do. He refers back to the story of the births of Ishmael and Isaac. And he says...
Galatians 4:29 At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. (NIV)
The legalist persecutes those who enjoy their liberty.
Galatians 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? “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.” (NIV)
That’s what Sarah had said to Abraham, and by way of illustration, Paul says to his readers, “Get rid of the law with its conditional blessings. Get rid of your legalistic thinking. Get rid of any notion that you have to earn your way.”
The law is not your mother; promise is. So stop putting yourself in bondage to the law, always trying to measure up, but never quite succeeding.
You are free from all that, because your mother, the promise, is free. Her blessings are yours without conditions.
Galatians 4:31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. (NIV)
So get to know your mother, and throw out the other. Believe the promise, and stop trying to earn your way.
Helen Roseveare, a medical missionary in Africa, was the only doctor in a large hospital. There were constant interruptions and shortages, and she was becoming increasingly impatient and irritable with everyone around her. Finally, one of the African pastors insisted, “Helen, please come with me.”
He drove Helen to his humble house and told her that she was going to have a retreat – two days of silence and solitude. She was to pray until her attitude adjusted. All night and the next day she struggled; she prayed, but her prayers seemed to bounce off the ceiling.
Late on Sunday night, she sat beside the pastor around a little campfire. Humbly, almost desperately, she confessed that she was stuck.
With his bare toe, the pastor drew a long straight line on the dusty ground. “That is the problem, Helen: there is too much ‘I’ in your service.” He gave her a suggestion: “I have noticed that quite often, you take a coffee break and hold the hot coffee in your hands waiting for it to cool.” Then he drew another line across the first one. “Helen, from now on, as the coffee cools, ask God, ‘Lord, cross out the “I” and make me more like you.’” (Matt Woodley, in the sermon, Servant, www.PreachingToday.com)
In the dust of that African ground, where a cross had formed, Helen Roseveare learned that life and ministry is not about what “I” am doing, but about what CHRIST has already done on the cross.
All we need to do is rest in Him and trust Him to do His work through us.
I think the hymn writer summed it up well when she wrote...
Jesus, I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart. (Jean S. Pigott)
