INJ

Galatians 4:21-31
'Children of the Flesh, Children of the Promise'
Divine Service
Laetare, the Fourth Sunday in Lent | March 2, 2008

Dear Saints,

There are two religions in all of the world, the religion of human works and efforts, and the religion of Jesus crucified.

Now if you were to enroll in a religious studies class, they would say that there are hundreds of religions in the world, or at least dozens, and you would go on to study Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, secularism, etc. etc. On of the things that the modern intellect prides itself in is seeing the “complexity” of a thing. But when we look closer we see that all the major so-called world religions are simply a variation on a theme, the theme of man's ability to do well, to be good enough to reach some sort of eternal good. Every religion but Christianity puts the ball in the court of mankind. Some say kick, others throw, some say hit, but each says “do.” Every other religion says “work” while Jesus says, “believe.”

St Paul outlines these two in the Epistle reading from Galatians, and he does it by talking about two children, two covenants, and two Jerusalems, and these correspond to the two religions.

The two children are Ishmael and Isaac, the two sons of Abraham. You remember the story, the Lord told Abram to up and go to Canaan, and that from his seed would come nations, children as numerous as the sand and the stars. And that from Abram's seed would also come the Messiah who would deliver His people from their sin. Well Abram was old, and he kept getting older, and the Lord kept promising to him children and the land, but no child came, and after ten years it seems like Abram was getting nervous, and certainly his wife Sarai was. Abram was 85, Sarai 75. And so Sarai gave Hagar, her Egyptian maidservant, to Abram saying, “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” [Genesis 16:2]

And so Ishmael is born, the child, according to St Paul, according to the flesh. This is not the promise that Abram had been given by God. Ishmael was the result of the plotting and and scheming and working and adultery of Abram and Sarai and Hagar. And this son is born of a slave, born into slavery.

But there is another son coming. Thirteen years later the Lord would come to Abram and call him Abraham and will say, “The son I promised you has not yet been born. He will be born from you and your wife, called Sara.” And 99 year old Abraham laughed. And 90 year old Sara laughed. But God had promised, and so it was. The feebleness of the flesh and the closed womb cannot stand in the way of God's promises. He always tells the truth. Isaac was born a year later, the child of the promise, the child of the free woman.

The child of the flesh and the child of the promise, the slave and the free, works and gift, law and Gospel.

These two serve as a picture, says St Paul, of two covenants. Verse 24-26:

“Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”

Mt Sinai is where Moses took the Israelites, where the Ten Commandments were given. It is the birthplace of the Law. And it gives birth to slaves. There is no freedom on Mt Sinai, with the law. It always demands, always calls for more, always accuses, always kills. The law cannot save. It shows us the holiness that the Lord requires, but it cannot provide that holiness, or give it, or make a way to it.

This, says St Paul, corresponds to the present Jerusalem, the religion of the Pharisees and their legalism and moralism. But we have another mother, another covenant, another Jerusalem. We are born from the Jerusalem above, the heavenly Jerusalem, that is, the church. We have been brought forth not in slavery, but in freedom. For freedom, dear saints, in not found in protected borders or democratic governments or in a strong military defense (as good as these are), freedom is found in the forgiveness of sin. And this is how we are born again in the church: our sins are forgiven.

Let this be very clear: we are free when we are forgiven. We are slaves when we are not.

And how are we born from the free woman? By being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost for the remission of all of our sins. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. This is the washing of regeneration, of rebirth. In your baptism you were born of the free woman, the heavenly Jerusalem, the church.

You are part of the New Testament, given in Jesus death, His blood shed to wash away all our sins, His body broken under the weight of our sin, crushed by God's wrath, given into our mouths to set us free. We are no longer crushed under the oppressive weight of the two stone tablets, under the coercion of the law. You are not given this place by works or by the flesh, but by the promise of the Gospel. “You, like Isaac, are children of the promise.” [4:28]

But remember (and this is what St Paul wants to warn us about), just as Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael, so it is now. For these two religions in the world, the religion of works and the religion of the promise, do not get along peacefully with one another. There is a constant fight and battle with the two. We see this first of all when the devil gives us trouble, when he tempts us to unbelief, despair, or other great shame and vice. And we see this in the world, where there is this sense that to declare oneself to be a Christian is an act that brings shame. There is some of this even in our families, where Christian and non-Christian live together. And there is this battle between the flesh and the promise even within ourselves, for thought the Holy Spirit lives in us, we are also throttled with the sinful flesh, and these two are engaged in a daily and deadly battle.

There is sin inside and out. Every which way we look. It lurks at the door. But we are not slaves. No longer are you a slave to sin, a slave to your sinful flesh, a slave to the coercion of the law. We are not children of the slave woman, but of the free. [4:31] Free because you are forgiven.

There are two religions in all of the world, the religion of human works and efforts, and the religion of Jesus crucified. One leads to death, another to life. One to slavery, to other to forgiveness. One to hell, the other to heaven. Praise be to God that He has us in His kingdom of life and light, the kingdom of His Son. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO

This is an archive from Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller

Please visit Hope's website at hopeaurora.org