Sunday's Message - The Book of Galatians: Set Free. Live Free (Effort Vs. Grace - Galatians 4:21-31)

During most of the Summer, the congregation of Sligo Presbyterian Church will explore the Apostle Paul's Letter to the Galatians and consider how we might claim the freedom we have in Jesus Christ. During our time together, we'll explore the following:

• May 26 - One Gospel (Galatians 1:1-10)
• June 2 - Grace Changes Everything! (Galatians 1:10-24)
• June 9 - Getting the Gospel Right (Galatians 2:1-21)
• June 16 - Don't Be Stupid! (Galatians 3:1-14)
• June 23 - Children, Not Slaves (Galatians 3:15–4:7)
• July 7 - Don't Look Back (Galatians 4:8-20)
• July 14 - Effort Vs. Grace (Galatians 4:21-31)
• July 21 - Set Free! (Galatians 5:1-12)
• July 28 - Living Our Freedom (Galatians 5:13-26)
• August 4 - Sowing and Reaping (Galatians 6:1-18)

On Sunday, we continued the series by looking at Galatians 4:21-31 and by discussing how we claim our identity as children of the promise. Below are a recording and the text of the sermon. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page. 

Some of y’all may not know this, but a couple of weeks ago, on the day before my birthday, Debbie and I went down to Morgantown for one of Maggie’s last tours. You see, she’s worked for the WVU Visitor Center for about three years. And a part of her job has been to take prospective students and their families on tours around the campus. And there’s a tradition that, on one of their last tours, the guides can take along their parents. And since Maggie will be tying up her time working for the University, we did that on July 1. 

But let me be clear, the reason she needs to step away from the Visitor Center has nothing to do with the job she’s done or the people with whom she works. Rather it’s all about the demands of her major. You see, next year, she’ll graduate with a degree in Elementary Education; therefore, during her senior year, she’ll be student teaching and won’t be available to do the kind of work the University wants their guides to do. 

Of course, as she’s entering her last year, well, it’s gotten me thinking about when I was about to graduate with a degree in Secondary Education and also had to do student teaching. Now, at Old Dominion University, everybody in my major had to have two student teaching experiences: one in high school and the other in what used to be called junior high. And since, my concentration was in history and the social sciences, they placed me, first, with Mr. Borchsawicz who taught US history to juniors and civics to seniors, and then, second, with Mr. Hathoway who taught seventh grade social studies and eighth grade world cultures. And looking back, although my time with Mr. Borchsawicz was fine (I mean, he had a tank of red belly piranhas in his classroom, for crying out loud.), I think I learned a whole lot more from Mr. Hathoway. You see, not only had he been a teacher for a long time, he just had an incredible rapport with his kids. And I think part of it involved the way he taught. I mean, he was sort of like Robin Williams before anybody but his family knew about Robin Williams. I mean, remember, this was the mid-70s. You see, Mr. Hathoway was really dynamic, almost hyper. I mean, he was in constant motion and had no problem standing on chairs or sitting on the floor or laying on his desk as he told the stories of Europe and Africa and Asia. And the kids just loved it and were really engaged. And so, when it was my time to teach the class, something every student teacher has to do, I tried to be like Mr. Hathoway, with all the moving and the standing and the sitting and the lying. But you know, when I did it, well, it didn’t have the same impact. I mean, it just felt forced, you know, like I was acting. And I’ll tell you, the kids must have felt it too, because instead of being engaged, they just looked at me like I’d beamed down from another planet. And of course, Mr. Hathoway knew what was happening, and that’s why, after an exhausting few hours, he sat me down and told me that, even though what he did in the classroom worked for him, I was a different person and I just needed to relax and to recognize and accept who I was and then start to start developing my own style instead of copying him. Now that’s what I remember him saying to me.

And I’ll tell you, this idea of recognizing and accepting who we are in relationship with God, now that’s what we’re going to be talking about this morning, because I think that’s exactly what Paul told the Galatians to do in today’s passage. I mean, as most of y’all probably remember, Paul was dealing with a tricky situation within the Galatian churches. You see, after he had left, a group of Jewish Christians taught these baby believers that, although grace and faith may be all well and good, their relationship with God could be improved when they decided to start obeying the Jewish Law. And as we’ve discussed, for Paul, that was unacceptable, because, to him, our relationship with God rested on deserved grace from God and simple trust from us and the minute you added something you had to do or you had to experience or you had to feel or you had to promise or you had pray or promise, grace would take a backseat to Law and trust would be replaced by obedience. In other words, grace would stop being an undeserved gift; instead it would be more like an earned wage. And that would be horrible, because it was through this undeserved grace that we’re changed, freed from the bondage to the rules we used to follow and ready to become the men and women we were created to be. Now that was what Paul wrote.

And in the passage we’re looking at today, Paul continued his letter by focusing on the same sort of thing Mr. Hathoway challenged me to do over forty years ago, to recognize and to accept who we are in the sight of God. And as we talk about this, we’ll spend some time looking at what Paul actually wrote to the Galatians. And then we’ll take what he said and apply it to ourselves. Now that’s the plan.

And it starts with what Paul told those Christians who’d compromised grace by mixing in a little law. For example, in this passage, he wrote about two people, and I’m talking about two individuals whom the Galatians knew all about but who were radically different. Just listen to what Paul said:

Some of you would like to be under the rule of the Law of Moses. But do you know what the Law says? In the Scriptures we learn that Abraham had two sons. The mother of one of them was a slave, while the mother of the other one had always been free. The son of the slave woman was born in the usual way. But the son of the free woman was born because of God’s promise. [Galatians 4:21-23, CEV]

Now that was what Paul wrote, and let’s think about what he was saying. You see, as the Galatians struggled with the role the Law should play in their lives, he reminded them that, according to the Old Testament, Abraham, the father of all Jews and the one who would pass God’s promise on to future generations, well, this guy had two sons. I mean, he had Ishmael, whose mother was the slave Hagar and the other was Isaac, whose mother was Sarah, a woman who was free. Now that was the situation. And even though they were both sons of Abraham, according to both Paul and the Book of Genesis, God’s promise, you know, the promise of undeserved grace, it didn’t go to the child of the slave. Instead, it flowed to and through Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah. He was the child of the promise, because he was promised. 

And for Paul, that was a big deal, because it showed that, from early on, those two women, Hagar and Sarah, illustrated two ways people might relate to God. Just listen to what he wrote next:

All of this has another meaning as well. Each of the two women stands for one of the agreements God made with his people. Hagar, the slave woman, stands for the agreement that was made at Mount Sinai. Everyone born into her family is a slave. Hagar also stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and for the present city of Jerusalem. She and her children are slaves.

But our mother is the city of Jerusalem in heaven above, and she isn’t a slave. The Scriptures say about her,

“You have never had children,

   but now you can be glad.

You have never given birth,

    but now you can shout.

Once you had no children,

    but now you will have

more children than a woman

who has been married

    for a long time.” [Galatians 4:24-27, CEV]

Now, again, that’s what he wrote. And without getting too far into the weeds about what he said about Hagar and Ishmael being connected with Mount Sinai and Sarah and Isaac reflecting heavenly Jerusalem, I think his point was pretty clear and consistent with what he’d already said. You see, on one hand, one kind of relationship we might have with God was shown by Hagar, you know, the one who was a slave, in fact, bound by the same kind of laws that were given to Moses on Mount Sinai. You see, she reflected a relationship with God that was sort of like a master’s relationship to his slaves, one that’s grounded in a whole bunch of rules and regulations the slaves must obey. Now that was on one hand. On the other hand, though, we also have Sarah who was free; therefore, bound to no one. And she represented a relationship with God than was also free, grounded in undeserved grace and simple trust. Now, for Paul, both of those women represented a way people could relate to God. But they weren’t equally valid. I mean, which of the women bore the son who was promised; therefore, who would carry the promise? Well, it wasn’t the slave; instead, it was Sarah, the one who was free. You see, it was through her son Isaac that the promise would flow.

And for Paul, this made all the difference, because we are the children of the promise. Again, listen to what Paul wrote to the Galatians:

My friends, you were born because of this promise, just as Isaac was. But the child who was born in the natural way made trouble for the child who was born because of the Spirit. The same thing is happening today. The Scriptures say, “Get rid of the slave woman and her son! He won’t be given anything. The son of the free woman will receive everything.” My friends, we are children of the free woman and not of the slave. [Galatians 4:28-31, CEV]

In other words, because we’re the children of God’s promises, we’re also children of freedom, not slavery. We’re children of undeserved grace, not binding law. And we’re children of simple trust, not obligatory obedience. That’s who we are. And even though Paul recognized that there would be people who, for some reason, might want us to act like the children of Hagar, you know, bound to law; and even though, like the Galatians, we might be taken in by their false teachings, that can’t change the fact that we were and we are and we will always be the children of the promise. The children of freedom. The children of undeserved grace. The children of simple trust. As he wrote, “My friends, we are children of the free woman and not of the slave.” [Galatians 4:28-31, CEV] According to Paul, that’s who we are.

And I’ll tell you, when we recognize and accept it, man, it can profoundly change our lives. For example, first, we can trust that the promise really does apply to us. I mean, let’s get real, there may always be a part of us that’s skeptical of anything that’s unearned and undeserved, I mean, there must be some kind catch, right? And we might always be tempted to put our own spin on our relationship with God by adding a few “shoulds” and a few “oughts” and a few “musts” so that we can feel secure, thinking that’s we done enough to deserve righteousness and to earn a little bit of salvation. Still, as Paul wrote, we are the children of the promise. And whether we like it or not, our relationship with God is grounded in undeserved grace and simple trust. And all those things we’re supposed to do or all those experiences we’re supposed to have or all those promises we’re supposed to make or all those prayers we’re supposed to pray or all those body parts we’re supposed to give; trust the words of Paul, we have been set free. It’s like he wrote a little earlier in this same letter:

All of you are God’s children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes. Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman. So if you belong to Christ, you are now part of Abraham’s family, and you will be given what God has promised. [Galatians 3:26-29, CEV]

Man, that’s who we are; therefore, right now we can trust that the promise applies to us. And that’s one.

And second, based on what Paul wrote, we can also resist those who want us to turn back, you know, to surrender the grace and the faith and the freedom that God himself has given so that we can return to slavery and obedience and law. Man, we can resist those who tempt us to turn away from God. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the motivation of these tempters is evil. I mean, those folks may actually think they’re helping us by putting our relationship with God in a box. And what they say may be tempting, because let’s face it, it’s mighty comfortable knowing that we’ve done enough to get what we’ve got. Still, since this runs counter to what Paul told the Galatians, I think we need to resist the empty and false security that might come from grace that’s deserved and salvation that’s earned, remembering that Paul knew what he was talking about when he wrote this to the Corinthians:

I plan to go on doing just what I have always done. Then those people won’t be able to brag about doing the same things we are doing. Anyway, they are no more than false apostles and dishonest workers. They only pretend to be apostles of Christ. And it is no wonder. Even Satan tries to make himself look like an angel of light. So why does it seem strange for Satan’s servants to pretend to do what is right? Someday they will get exactly what they deserve. [2 Corinthians 11:12-15, CEV]

You see, whether we like it or not, that’s what we face; therefore, we just need to resist those who want us to turn back. And that’s two.

And finally, once we trust that the promise applies to us and once we’ve decided to resist those who want us to return to slavery, now we’re ready to live as genuine children of the promise. I mean, now we can live without being afraid that we haven’t done enough to deserve grace and to earn salvation. And now we can spend our time thanking God for what he’s done rather than scrambling around trying to figure out what we need to do. And now we can focus our attention on the needs of our neighbors rather than constantly worrying about ourselves. But I’ll tell you, what may be best of all, now we can share with others something that really is good news, and do it with peace and joy and hope. As a matter of fact, we can take to heart the words that Paul offered to his friend, Philemon:

As you share your faith with others, I pray they may come to know all the blessings Christ has given us. My friend, your love has made me happy and has greatly encouraged me. It has also cheered the hearts of God’s people. [Philemon 6-7, CEV]

I’m telling you, we can do this. You see, we can live as children of the promise. And that’s three.

Now remember how I told you about my student teaching experience with Mr. Hathoway; well, I tried to follow his advice. In other words, I tried to recognize and to accept who I was and I started to develop my own teaching style. And I’ve got to tell you, it must have worked. You see, near the end of the semester, as my kids were taking their final test written by me, I remember this one little girl coming up to my desk. And as she was turning in her paper, she said something that I think I’ll remember for the rest of my life. She looked me right in the eyes and said, “Mr. Rudiger, I like you way more than Mr. Hathoway. He won’t let us cheat like you do.” Yea, that’s what she said. And I’ll tell you, at that moment I realized, I still had a lot to learn.

But you know, when it comes to who we are in relationship with God, well, according to Paul, that’s actually pretty clear. You see, we aren’t the children of Hagar, the slave. Rather, we’re the spiritual sons and daughters of Sarah; therefore, we’re the children of grace and faith and freedom. And because of that, we can trust that the promise applies to us. And we can resist those who want to tempt us to turn back. And we can live right here and now as children of the promise, which we are.