Galatians 4:21-31

This morning we are back in the stratosphere of Paul’s theology.  Last week we took a practical look at how families deal with crisis.  It was a heart to heart look at our relationships with each other.  But after 10 verses of Paul emotionally connecting to his precious Galatians, Paul returns to his elaborate arguments; he returns to his mesmerizing rhetoric; he takes off, again, into the stratosphere. 

Are you ready for some deep Paul theology?   The passage we are going to explore this morning in Galatians is one of the toughest to understand and make sense of, in the whole book. Listen to a quote from Frank Matera.

“This is, without a doubt, one of the most puzzling and disturbing passages in the whole of Galatians.” Frank Matera

Are you ready for some puzzling and disturbing? Here is what I want you to do while I work through some of the intricacies of the passage; you ask, “What does this mean to me? What difference do these verses make?  How in the world is Tim going to make this mean something to me?”  That is the question I ask every week.  Every week has a Sunday and every Sunday has a sermon and every sermon has a point; or it least it should.  What is the point for us today, June 7, 2009, in Galatians 4:21-31? You think about it and see if I get it right.  Let’s jump in.

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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.

Let’s do our homework and go back to what was written in the Old Testament and reflect upon Abraham and his kids.  Let me go through the historical points quickly:

1) God called Abram to leave his home and go to wherever I tell you, and Abram did.  When he trusted God and left, God made a promise:

Genesis 12:1-3  The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

God promises to make a great nation from Abram.  Can you image such a thing?  What if God appeared to you tonight and said, “Tim, I am going to make you a great nation.  I am going to bless everyone on earth through you.”  What would you think?  Wow!  Great!  But the promise to Abram involved having kids.  You can be a great nation until you have a kid. We Stidhams, for example, are well on our way to being a great nation; 20 of us already.  But Abram and his wife Sarai had none.

2) So, Abram and Sarai waited and waited and waited and had no kids.  After waiting some more, Sarai had a great idea.  I will let Abram marry my servant, Hagar and her kids will be my kids and we can have a family become the great nation God promised.  Abram, in one of his not so bright moments, agreed.

3) Hagar does in fact have a son named… Ishmael.  But Sarai’s plan didn’t work out all that well.  Hagar got haughty. Started to despise Sarai and make fun of her because she was having a baby and Sarai couldn’t.  This ticked off Sarai and she threw Hagar out, “You are out of here!” But God in a very touching scene brings the humbled Hagar back to the family and hat was the way it was for 13 years while Abram and Sarai waited some more.   

4) Then, God spoke to Abram again and changed his name to Abraham and changed Sarai to Sarah and told him the time had come.  God renewed his promise to him and told him his 90 something year old wife was going to have a baby. After some initial laughter, about a year later Isaac was born. 

Those are the facts.  The story of Abraham is a great soap opera that would be fun to go into in great depth but those are the basic facts you need to know so you can get the next few verses in Galatians 4.

Galatians 4:24 - 31 These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar.  Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.  But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.  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."  Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.  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.  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."  Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. 

Okay, what are we supposed to make out of these verses.  They sound a bit strange to us.  Hagar and Sarah are covenants?  Paul now says this story of the two mothers can be taken figuratively.  The actual Greek word for figurative, you are not going to believe this, is avllhgorew allegoreo.  “You’re kidding, allegoreo?” It is.  Paul is going to make an allegory!  Wait a second I like allegories!  We get to have another allegory, an allegory about two mothers

Remember, you are working on 21st century application of the two mothers’ allegory.  Let me give you a clue, “Who’s your mama?” For the sake of time, let me show you a chart and then we will get to how it applies to us. 

WHO’S YOUR MAMA?
ALLEGORICAL CHART:

          HAGAR                                              SARAH
Covenant from Mt. Sinai                               Covenant of Promise
Current Jerusalem                                        Above Jerusalem
Ishmael; slave boy                                       Isaac; free boy
No Inheritance                                              Inheritance
                                                         
Let’s break it down to see about each mama.

1) Which covenant?  The Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses was given from Mt. Sinai.  The Law was given to care for the children until Christ came.  It was the legal code to help the children of Israel to stay God’s people until Christ came. It was the Super-Nanny to bring them to Christ. But the covenant God made to Abraham is, by Christ/faith we receive the promise of God.  Choice; Law Covenant or the Promise Covenant?  Which kind of covenant you live under tells us who’s your mama.

2) Which Jerusalem?  The earthly Jerusalem of Paul’s day was a mess.  It was anti-Roman and anti-Gentile and anti-God, really.  It was in rebellion and in a few years would be destroyed.  But the Jerusalem from above is the place where God dwells.  Paul says the above Jerusalem is our mother and he quotes Isaiah to show that she is the mother of many kids like Sarah who ultimately had the great nation.  Which Jerusalem are you committed to? The one who is taking up arms to fix her own problems or the one that is promised to you from above, as the Revelation says, the heavenly Jerusalem?  Who’s your mama?

3) Ishmael or Isaac?  The Agitators who were tempting the Galatians to follow the Law are saying in order to learn to live right you must follow the Law.  It is by law that we learn to be like God, to be holy to be Christ-like.  We need some rules to help us to guide us to live right. That is Ishmael.  But Paul was advocated that we are really free.  Free to follow the Spirit as he guides us to learn to be like Jesus.  Do you tend to want a set of rules to live your life by or do you want to live free to do what is right?  Who’s your mama?

4) Do you want the Inheritance?  Hagar was cast out by Sarah. Her son did not get the inheritance.  Rather, Isaac the son of promise received Abraham’s blessing.  Paul actually encouraged the Galatians to get rid of the agitators, to cast them out.  They are not going to get the inheritance.  Remember the inheritance? We have talked about it for the last several weeks.

Galatians 4:6-7  Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

It is not the big, big house, nor the rose garden, nor the lack of tough choices; it is the Spirit in our hearts.  Those who have Sarah as their mother get the Spirit in their hearts. Those with Hagar as their mothers don’t get the Spirit. 

So, who’s your mama?  Law or Promise; Earthly or Heavenly Jerusalem; Law or Free; no inheritance or the Spirit in your heart?  These are clues to who is your mother; Hagar or Sarah.  This makes all the difference in the world.  If your mother is Hagar than that is hard.  But Sarah is your mother than life is good.

One more cool point before I bring it to the 21st century. This was too cool for a preacher not to mention.  Last week we read Galatians 4:19 and I showed you a picture of Owen David and we talked about childbirth. 

Galatians 4:19  My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,

Paul was in childbirth again.  When was the first time?  When they first came to be Christians.  Now the 2nd time is, were they going to allow their inheritance of the Spirit to work to form Christ in them.  That is really what this is all about.  Paul after using the childbirth analogy expands it to the two mothers’ allegory!  Who your mother is, is all about how Christ is to be formed in you.  The agitators were saying through law you are formed to be more like God.  Paul is saying through the inheritance of the Spirit, Christ is form in you. 

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Let’s come down from the stratosphere and bring it to earth on June 7th 2009.  Who is your mother; Hagar or Sarah? “What in the world are you talking about, Tim?  None of us are thinking about following the Law of Moses, stop eating shrimp, or quit working on Saturday, or getting circumcised.   How does any of this make a difference to us?  We face the same temptation, to use rules to help Christ be formed in us.

As Christians each of us wants to be more like Christ.  Am I right? Each of us wants to have Christ formed in us.  How do we do that?  How do I get better? How do I learn to quit sinning?  How do I get a handle on my life and quit being so stupid?  How can Christ be formed in my life?  Does that seem like a June 7, 2009 real question? 

Well, you have two choices; Law or Spirit.  You can decide to do it yourself.  I will just do it. I will by force of my own character, my own discipline, my own code of conduct, make me better.  That is the agitators solution.  You have to do follow the Law.  Hagar is your mother if you choose to do it by law.

But, as a son of Sarah, as a son of promise, as a son of God, you decide to use your inheritance of the Spirit, Christ can be formed in you.  That is what Paul is arguing.  It is by the Spirit that we are formed into Christ.  It comes down to listening to two words; spoken by our Father, “Trust me.”

God said Go.  Abraham trusted and went.  God said, “You will have a son.” Abraham waited and received the son of promise.  Every time Abraham attempted to make it happen, like with Hagar, it didn’t work. But when Abraham believed and trusted God, he was made to be more like his God.

So, the June 7, 2009 application of the Who’s your mama allegory is this; and it comes out all over our lives, when you trust God in the struggles of life Sarah is your mama.  When you force your will upon the problems you face, Hagar is your mama.  So, who’s your mama? 

Los Alamos Church of Christ
June 7, 2009