“No Longer the Slave, But the Freed!”

Scripture: Galatians 4:21-31

Slavery is a terrible blight on the history of humanity. It oppresses, it demeans, it belittles, and even scripture says very little in direct condemnation of the act. Of course, there is nothing that would imply that slavery in the world is a good thing, but the 79 references in NIV to the word “slave” are almost indifferent to human bondage – almost as though it is a foregone conclusion. The best that I could find is in 1 Corinthians 7:20-22 . In essence, Paul is telling the Church that they shouldn’t worry about their worldly situation – improve it if you can - but that it is inconsequential when it comes to faith.

But when it comes to oppression, scripture never treats it lightly, we’re told that bondage is nothing less than an evil, and these usually become the consequences of slavery. The effects and impact of slavery on human lives can never be condoned, but the involuntary obligation of one person’s life to another seems to be treated very lightly.

Of course, the Bible is condemning of the concept of spiritual slavery – our slavery to sin, and this is not an inconsequential aspect of our lives. And as we go to our text for this morning, keep in mind that the premise of this passage is, I believe, to remind us that God brings us freedom, and that the world only immerses us deeper and deeper in our dependence to the law and in our slavery to the sinful life.

Read Galatians 4:21-24a

Hagar was a slave, and quite honesty, was treated very badly. She was, in no uncertain terms, prostituted to Abraham by her mistress Sarah. She would become pregnant, would have a son called Ishmael, and would see her relationship with Sarah deteriorate. When Ishmael was 15 or 16, Isaac would be born, and this would cause even more problems between the two women, and Hagar would be sent away to make her own way in the world with her son. (Genesis 16 and 21)

The slave is treated poorly, and God does not take her side in any of the intrigue. But he does protect the two outcasts and keeps his promise that Ishmael would become the father of a great nation.
But what about Sarah? She was the cause of all of Hagar’s problems, and yet, her son Isaac and his descendants would receive God’s covenant and would be blessed. (Genesis 17:19-21) Hardly seems fair! But God’s plan is unchanging, regardless of what humanity does, or doesn’t do for that matter! It was the Lord who would bring Isaac from the barren Sarah, but it was Sarah who started all of the mess that would produce Ishmael. And in spite of all the trials and struggles of life, God would protect the unfortunates, even while his great plan in Isaac was beginning to unfold. The Lord would love Hagar and her son just as much as he loved Sarah and hers, but the glory of Israel could only immerge through one.

Read Galatians 4:24b-26

The events surrounding the lives of these two women are really about us. Our human birth appears to be identified with Hagar, and our spiritual birth with Sarah; our first birth from the womb is by human action – the joining of a man and a woman, while our second birth - our rebirth from the Spirit of God - is only made possible by the Divine Promise that is in Christ. Two covenants that are established for us – one through the earth and one from heaven.
Then Paul takes it even further – that the covenant of Hagar places us in the law and by implication, places us outside of God’s grace. But aren’t we told that God loves all people? Absolutely! We are loved, but just as with Ishmael, and later with Esau, love is not the same as a covenant.

Think of it in terms of John 3:16 – The first part tells us “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son”. In love, the Lord has offered us salvation, but the love and the offer do not, in and of themselves, produce salvation. But thankfully, the verse continues - “that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” The second part of the verse is about the promise – the covenant – the acceptance of the offer of Jesus Christ – “whoever believes in him” is what brings the covenant – the promise – into full effect for our lives.
A promise that is offered, but never agreed to, never accepted, is no better than the one that is never made.

Read Galatians 4:27-31

So who are the “free” people, and who are the “enslaved”? At the beginning of this passage, Sarah was assumed to be the free and Hagar the slave. But by the time Paul gets to the conclusion of his thoughts, it seems to have taken a flip-flop.
He compares the Jerusalem of that day, the descendants of Sarah (!), to the slave woman who continues to produce offspring enslaved to the law, and he associates the Jerusalem of heaven, the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21:1-3 with those that have been freed from slavery to law. The people of this world, those who were still in the law, wouldn’t have seen it that way, and there are many even today who continue to disagree.
He says that the children born in “the ordinary way” persecute the ones born “by the power of the Spirit”. But isn’t it the other way around? Isn’t it the world – the ones who still look to the law and good works - who oppress the “people of the Way”?

Paul would have us take a good, hard look at what slavery is all about, and what it is that is freeing us for life. If we take a “big picture” view of this passage, we might be surprised to learn just who the slaves are and who the freed are.
Sarah has always been seen as the one who was integral to God’s promise of covenant, but she made some very poor decisions in her treatment of Hagar. She showed a complete lack of trust in God’s promise that she would bear a son, to the extent that she took matters into her own hands and indirectly was the cause of Ishmael’s birth. She showed arrogance toward a woman who had served her well, who did all that had been asked of her, who was eventually thrown out of the “household” and sent off alone and destitute.
God showed his love to both, and he gave a promise to both, and he kept them both. But which of them was the slave and which one was freed?

The Lord has offered 2 covenants, not only to Israel, but to the entire world.
The first spells out, in excruciating detail, the things that must be done if we are to become righteous, if we are to be seen as good. All who are born into this existence receive this covenant and, by default, accept it. But it produces a false hope - this covenant can never be kept! And the harder we try to make it work for our lives, the deeper and deeper we sink into failure.
The second offers an achievable and true promise of hope, but the detail seems far too skimpy. It tells us that the covenant has already been satisfied, it has already been fulfilled, and that we only have to accept it for ourselves.
The first must be fulfilled by our own efforts, and the harder we try, the more there is for us to do. The second is perfect and requires so very little on our part that it is hard to believe.
The first will never succeed. The second can never fail.

Which one completely frees us and which one enslaves us for eternity?

Which one is barren, and which one is fruitful?
Which message offers hope through a promise, and which one only offers expectation with no hope whatsoever?

All too often, humanity believes that they can gain the glory of God by their own means, but how can that make any sense at all? We gain a few good things of earth, and every one will eventually let us down. What makes us think that we can possibly gain those greater things, the things that will never disappoint us, all on our own?

The truth is, my friends, that those who are in Christ Jesus are the children of the “free woman”, the New Jerusalem, the new covenant, the eternal promise, the Father God of heaven and earth. Will the “slaves” of earth continue to persecute us, continue to ridicule us, continue to tell us that we’re on the wrong track? They certainly will!
But we will hang on the promise, and we will stay in the true Way, regardless of what may come – “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Not through the covenant of earth, but through the covenant of heaven that is made in Jesus himself.

Now that is a promise and a covenant that anyone can live in!