8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.9But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

 12I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong.13As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

 17Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. 19My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.23His 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.

 24These 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. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27For 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."

 28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30But 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." 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman

CHRIST CHURCH

August 8 2010

Galatians 4:8-31

It seems ages ago now that we started this series on Galatians, and one of the first things that we came across was that Paul was writing to the new churches in Galatia because he was concerned about them; concerned what was happening that was causing them to begin to slide away from the pure Gospel which he had preached to them, and especially there was an element of Judaisers who were telling them that to be 'proper' Christians they had to obey all the rrequirements of Judaism. That included the matter of circumcision; thet proved that they were 'paid up' members of the Covenant that God had made with their forefathers.

He warns the Galatians about their cunning, and he doesn't want these new Christians to be deflected, and he's worried about them. These Judaisers, Paul says, are not lacking in zeal. They want, he warns, them, that “they want to alienate you from us and be zealous for them”! Zeal, said Paul, is good so long as it's zeal for the right thing. There can be people who are religiously zealous, but it may be that aim of their zeal is for religion. The word zeal means 'on the boil'. Are we, are you, am I, on the boil, and if so then for what.

Paul here in chapter four, homes in on the matter. It's one Covenant or the other is the basis of what he puts before them. The Old Covenant is that: it's old, it's obsolete. That was what the writer to Hebrews was saying. Hebrews almost certainly hadn't been penned when Paul wrote Galatians, but the writer of that epistle was writing to Jewish Christians who were falling away from the faith and going back to old ways. In chapter 8 and verse 13 that writer says this: “By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear” And that writer says that, if like Esau, you sell your birthright then 'repentance' is impossible. So, there's a big issue and principle at stake here. He asks them if they really want to be enslaved again by those who by nature are not gods.

Paul is saying how foolish to turn back, and there can be no compromise either. If we have a disagreement over something or other, we often try to settle our differences by both of us giving a bit of ground, so that we reach a compromise. And a compromise is so often a 'fudge', and its the Lowest Common Denominator. How the 21^st century church needs to learn that lesson. We go so far that if the world says something that we know to be contrary to God's Word is wrong or 'out-of-date', then we need to come to a working agreement.

But. Back to Paul! He begins by speaking about Abraham's two sons. Abraham (when he was called 'Abram') had been called by God to leave house and home, and, not only that but to set off for an undisclosed destination. I don't know about you, but if I have to go somewhere, then I like to know where 'somewhere' is. But there is a carrot attached (not that God is into bribery) God tells Abram: "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.” (Gen 12:2-3). Then a bit further on God makes an everlasting Covenant with Abraham. For we read:

God said to him,"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham,  for I have made you a father of many nations.  I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.  I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. (Gen 17:3-7). There's a slight problem here: Sarah is barren, infertile, apart from which she is well advanced in years.

So she decides she ought to give God a hand. She suggests to Abraham that he sleep with her servant-woman, Hagar. That way he will have a son, and the Covenant can be fulfilled, because as things stood it looked a 'no brainer' Never think you can give God a hand. If God promises something, then he can be trusted to fulfill it. So Ishmael is born and all sorts of problems arise when, a few years down the road, Abraham fathers a child with Sarah, and Isaac comes on the scene. There is opposition between Isaac and Ishmael, between Sarah and Hagar until eventually Sarah tells Abraham to get rid of Ishmael. Hagar, says Paul, is the slave woman and Sarah is the free woman. Ishmael was born in the natural ways, whilst Isaac was born supernaturally and was the child of God's Promise.

Basically, what Paul is telling us is that you can't have it both ways, nor can you compromise. And he rams the point home by comparing what these sons stand for. Ishmael stands, says Paul, for Mount Sinai, where the law was given to Moses, and where this meant that conditions attached to the Covenant. He also stands to the earthly city of Jerusalem. By contrast, Isaac, the child of promise, stands for the Jerusalem which is above. And this Jerusalem is 'free'; no rules and regulations attached. Paul quotes Genesis 21 when he says "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." (v30).

“Get rid”. That's the simple message Paul delivers to the Galatians. And it's a message for us all. Next week we'll be into chapter 5, into 'flesh' vs 'spirit' There are two ways to living as a Christian. Well there's only one really. That is depending on God, living under the freedom of the New Covenant, which is about what Jesus did for us in shedding his (covenantal) bloood. It's keeping rests entirely on Jesus. Remember that as you receive the Communion. “This is my Blood of the New Covenant; do this in remembrance of me”.

Basically we have here another of the divides which seem to abound in Galatians. This is New Covenant vs Old; it's probably also religion vs living faith. If we think there is something we have to add on; something extra to 'please God' then we haven't understood this difference. And then we'll end up in slavery. We'll live by the flesh; we shall produce the works of the flesh. That's the stark contrast, and there can be NO COMPROMISE.