Slave Or Free - Galatians 4:21-31

“Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”

31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.”

(Gal 4:30-31)

Sounds crazy huh? but it is a blessing.

The point of our section today

esp. in Galatians 4:21-27

is to get you to understand the fullness of this blessing that sounds kinda crazy at first.

If you understand this crazy sounding blessing right away .. cool...

but to the rest of us humans

we need to understand verses 21-27 in order to

take part of the blessing of v.28-31

This is our last and final theological push this week.

after this we get to read chapter 5 which is the gold mine of Galatians.

As a reminder for those who are new with us:

Chapter 1-4 is a build up of theological truths before we get to soak in all that chapter 5 has for us.

If we just skip to ch. 5 & don’t grasp all the meat in ch.1-4

then ch.5 wont mean as much.

So we are now in the final section of chapter 4

verses 21-31

Pray

As you smarty Bible scholars know:

Paul was a Jewish pharisee that was well educated in the OT

and so many times he compares NT truths to OT events.

Read Gal 4:22-26

Galatians 4:22–26 NLT

22 The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. 23 The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise. 24 These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. 25 And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. 26 But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother.

In this section he compares the OT & NT with

2 sons, 2 wives, 2 Jerusalems, & 2 covenants.

so before we can interpret his theology here

we need to look at the OT event he is referring too

which is centered on Abraham

Now we do not have time to look & read from Gen 12-21

From when God called Abraham to have many sons to

the point when Abraham & Sarah birthed Isaac

So I will summarize chapters 12-21 by listing out what major things happened at what age of Abraham’s life.

Bible scholars you may want to note these age markings

because they are not immediately given in scripture.

and can be useful to you next time you read Genesis.

@ Age 75

1. Abraham is called by God to leave his home in Haran & go to Canaan;

2. Both Abraham and his wife, Sarah, wanted children,

but Sarah was barren.

3. God promises him many descendants (Gen. 12:1–9).

@ Age 85

1. The son God promised has not yet been born,

2. Sarah becomes impatient

so she suggests that Abraham marry Hagar (her maid) to try to have a son with her.

(this act was legal in that society, but it was not in the will of God.)

3. Abraham follows her suggestion and married Hagar (Gen. 16:1–3).

@ Age 86

1. Hagar gets pregnant and Sarah gets so jealous that she kicks Hagar out.

2. But the Lord intervenes, sends Hagar back, and promises to take care of her and her son.

3. the son is born, and he calls him Ishmael (Gen. 16:4–16).

@ Age 99

1. God speaks to Abraham and promises again that he will have a son by Sarah

and says to call his name Isaac.

2. Later, God appears again and reaffirms the promise to Sarah as well (see Gen. 17–18).

Now - God was waiting until both of them were “as good as dead”

before He would perform the miracle of giving them a son. (Romans 4:19)

@ Age 100

1. The son is born (Gen. 21:1–7). They name him Isaac (“laughter”) as commanded by God.

2. But the arrival of Isaac creates a new problem in the home:

Ishmael has a rival.

Because as you may have noticed:

For fourteen years, Ishmael has been his father’s only son, very dear to his heart.

How will Ishmael respond to the presence of a rival?

Maybe he thought for all those years that he was the promised son? now he’s not...

@ Age 103

It was customary for the Jews to wean their children at about the age of 3

and to make a great occasion of it.

At the feast in Gen. 21:8ff — Hagar starts to mock Isaac

The only solution to the problem, is for Abraham to kick out Hagar and Ishmael.

Abraham didn't want to but the Lord reassures him that it is the right thing to do (Gen. 21:9–14).

Okay so Paul compares this story to us believers:

Galatians 4:21 NLT

21 Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says?

So Paul is

Specifically to those who want to be under the law

and he confronts / challenges them in v. 21

So check this out...

Play video

Now in verse 27

Paul connects all that we just read to Isaiah 54:1

Read verse 27

Galatians 4:27 NLT

27 As Isaiah said, “Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!”

Paul connects all that we just read to us

in Galatians 4:28-31

Galatians 4:28–31 NKJV

28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

Remember Paul is writing this because there are people and there is a culture

that is causing these believers to stumble.

These Christian Galatians like some of you once experienced the love, joy, peace of Christ.

but now they feel distant, discouraged, and down.

...Their Savior is Jesus

but their relationship with God is being disconnected

Do you relate?

Jesus is your Savior.... but your trying to earn Gods acceptance or love?

Not only were the Galatians trying to earn God’s acceptance and love

but they were listening to people who were telling them

what to do to make God happy with them,

or to have a better relationship with God.

Their relationship with God that once was free is now being pressured (as Paul says in v. 29 persecuted)

to do more then God requires.

Today Christian culture puts pressure on believers to do all sorts of things:

being a republican,

not watch certain music or shows,

be constantly busy,

pray a certain way,

worship a certain way,

hold back human emotions,

legalism

doing Bible reading plans,

Paul calls these people or things that put pressure on our relationship with God.... Ishmaels

however Ismaels are persecuting believers into a weak relationship with God with their systems, twisted scriptures, plans, pressures.

Let me just say to clarify that yes a Bible plan can fit in this category

but maybe for you it is good and is causing you to have a great relationship with God,

that is good… but a Bible plan is not THE only way to a strong relationship with God.

and some people are pressured into doing a plan to have relationship with God…

We got to realize that believers did not have access to the Bible until the 1500’s and still had a strong relationship with God.

This is extremely important for you to understand:

God has given us 2 things for our relationship with Him: prayer, and His Word

How that is worked out in your relationship with God is between you and Him and what is causing you to grow and what isnt.

People have no right or say beyond the simplicity of prayer, and meditate on His Word.

am i discouraging spending time in His word?

no, but I am discouraging placing systems in your relationship with God

because we don’t do that with our relationship with our friend/family

but more importantly because God does not require these systems…

Here in Galatians 4:28-31

that we just read

Paul gives the Galatians and us 4 steps to a freed relationship with God.

To experience less of your own actions to God that we can realize the greatness of God’s actions in our own life.

To get our eyes off of our efforts and onto the efforts God has done for us

To make God bigger and us smaller

That places God on the throne and not our prayers, deeds, or devotions.

1. v.28 - realize you belong to God as a family member.

Look

Jesus is the son of God (Ro 1:4)

communion is about acknowledging giving his body for us (1 Corinthians 11:24)

and us becoming one with Him. (John 6:56)

Since we are 1 with Him we are sons of God

Galatians 3:26 NKJV

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

if you have a hard time believing that you should watch our previous service on Galatians 4:1-7

2. v.29 - recognize the Ishmaels in your life

This is beyond knowing that there are Ishmaels

its being able to recognize them in your life.

If you say you have none it is only because you’re either Jesus

or you lack the wisdom and discernment to know when your caught in a trap.

Paul says here in v.29 that Ishmael’s are persecutors to God’s people.

These people are persecutors

like those terrorist that are persecuting believers in the middle East.

I feel like Ishmaels are more dangerous to our walk with God then the persecutors killing Christians

because the persecutors that are killing believers are only effecting those with a strong walk

but Ishmaels persecute young and immature believers…

and they can ruin relationships with God, and make them an ineffective Christian.

Ishmaels are all over putting pressure onto a believers life on how to seek God.

Shoot you may be the Ishmael in someones walk with God

You may even be the Ishmael in your own walk with God.

My prayer is that you have the discernment to recognize the Ishmaels in your life

3. v.30 - remove the Ishmaels

Whatever and whoever is pressuring for you to do more then what God wants from you need to go

now of course maybe you live with an Ishmael and you cant remove them,

then know who they are… and pursue God to your best ability.

but we need to stay as much as we can away from people that are making God a chore.

Remember Paul calls them persecutors

4. v.31 - rejoice your not Ishmael but free Isaac

Now while you may be a Ishmael in your life but your not Ishmael.

“which means you may be putting back in bondage what is already made free.”

sin has no say anymore

guilt is gone

Just as simple as it is to receive Jesus it is a simple keeping Jesus.

(Neither are based on your efforts.)

Jesus saves, and Jesus keeps

may you live free!

recognizing all that God has done for you.

realizing how great God’s goodness is

rejoicing in freedom

in peace, joy, rest.

lets pray