No Longer Slaves

Our theme for 2021 is “Redeeming the Time”

Last month I began a study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians

The Galatians were people who came to Christ on Paul’s first and second missionary journeys and the churches that they started.

When Paul and Barnabas were sent out from Antioch, they travelled to Cyprus and were headed west until they turned north and then started moving east, back toward Tarsus and Antioch where they came from.

But then they turn around and retrace their steps and sail back to Antioch.

As we will learn from our passage today, Paul’s course was altered from what He expected.

But it was the course that God had for Him and as a result, these Galatian believers came to know Christ.

Meanwhile, there were these Jewish teachers that were following Paul’s trail trying to convert the people back to the old way of Judaism.

Maybe that is why Paul went back through the towns where he had already been?

They were causing these young Christians to doubt everything that they believed and were taught.

So Paul had to remind them of the powerful encounter that they had with Christ and that they are no longer deceived.

He had to tell them that they are no longer inferior - say it with me, “I am adequate, I am competent and my life is meaningful!”

He told them that they are no longer cursed because Jesus reverses the curses and because the blessing is stronger than the curse.

And he told them that they are no longer captive because they have the key to unlocking their inheritance in Christ.

Becoming a follower of Christ is not just a matter of following a religion, it is a supernatural transformation.

You are no longer what you used to be.

We ended last week with a powerful declaration:

Galatians 4:6–7 ESV

6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

I almost entitled this series “No longer slaves” because this is such a powerful statement.

But I thought that “No longer what you were before” is broader and captures the essence of what this letter is saying.

Besides, I’m not sure if many of us relate to being called slaves.

In Paul’s day, most of the population would have been slaves - people who literally belonged to other people.

Maybe they were from a country that was conquered by Rome and then resettled to a different area where they served the aristocracy of that town.

Maybe they sold themselves into slavery because they couldn’t pay a debt.

Or maybe they were sold into slavery by a parent or relative to pay their debts.

Of course people were regularly traded to different employers if they didn’t get along where they are.

Not all of the workforce were slaves, some were free-agents (indentured servants) who could negotiate their employers or even their salaries.

But most people had little control over their lot in life - it was a thing to be accepted.

When we think of slavery in America, we had a particularly nasty kind of slavery in our history because of popular beliefs at the time, our slaves where treated as less than human.

We still have a kind of slavery today, except that it is mostly economic slavery in which people receive so little from what they produce that they can only survive and have little chance to better themselves or their situation.

This is a good time to mention that today is a day of prayer for persecuted Christians.

Christians around the world face harassment, beatings and even death and imprisonment for their faith in Jesus.

But their are many more for whom becoming a Christian means being cut off from their family or community - which also means note being able to get a job or not finding anyone to marry.

We pray for those who really know what it means to sacrifice for the sake of the gospel.

In the Roman Empire however, slaves were often stronger, smarter and even sometimes more well-educated than their masters.

Some slaves might even appear wealthy, fat and well-dressed. But nothing that they have actually belongs to them - they just get to enjoy it because they have a good job.

Being a slave might not be such a bad deal!

Or it might be a really bad way to live.

But you don’t really have a choice, and that is the point.

What makes a person a slave or a son?

Is it just a persons lot in life? Completely beyond their control?

Or is it knowing who you are and where you come from?

Ultimately, it is knowing your heavenly Father and knowing the truth about yourself.

The question is - how are we slaves; and how do we not be slaves?

Slaves to the world

Galatians 4:8–11 ESV

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

You gotta serve somebody.

The great theologian, Bob Dillon once said, “You got to serve somebody.”

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you're gonna have to serve somebody

We pride ourselves in freedom, but freedom isn’t just doing whatever you want.

Freedom means you have a choice, or at least you can decide between some alternatives - it’s not open ended.

You can’t just do whatever you want.

We have jobs, families, responsibilities and obligations.

Except for perhaps a few months or a few years in our late teens or early twenties - life imposes it’s limitations on us.

There are people who don’t like the idea of people telling them what to do.

And they especially don’t want God telling them what do!

But if you don’t let anyone, especially God, tell you what to do then where are you going to end up?

In debt?

In an addiction?

Maybe even in prison?

There is no such thing as being your own master, something will fill the vacuum.

Maybe lust or greed?

Maybe striving for success?

Maybe you believe that you have control over your own life, but if you believe that, there are forces beyond your understanding that are controlling you.

Paul says that when you did not know God, you were controlled by “not gods”

Galatians 4:8 TPT

8 Before we knew God as our Father and we became his children, we were unwitting servants to the powers that be, which are nothing compared to God.

That could refer to idol worship, to gods that don’t really exist.

Or it could refer to demons which take advantage of their superstitions to control them.

Or you could say, like Dillon, that if you are not serving God it would be the devil instead.

The point is you are not serving your Creator, and in doing so, you are not doing what you were created to do.

I know there are some people who will be like, “I don’t know what you are talking about, I’m just going with the flow.”

Going with the flow will take you in circles.

Failure to make choices is also a choice.

I think most people just follow the crowd.

They do what they see everyone else doing, thinking that that must be the safest way to go.

These Galatian Christians followed Paul when Paul was with them, but now there are some other guys there and they follow what they are saying.

They are wandering aimlessly.

Have you ever been lost? You keep walking or driving, turning where you think you should turn only to find out that you arrive at a place where you have just been?

That’s got to be frustrating when you think people really get what you are saying just to find out that they are just repeating whatever anyone says.

“You are going in circles!” Paul must want to scream.

Why would you go back to what you just left behind?

Maybe they didn’t realize that is what they were doing?

Maybe they were just going with, you know …whatever.

If you are lost, you need a reference point to be able to navigate by.

Knowing God is your reference point.

Notice how all of this hinges on knowing God or not knowing God.

If you know God and are serving God, you have a reference point that is fixed, steady, and dependable.

If you are your own reference point, well … that could mean anything.

You’re only as stable as your current mood.

But the Galatians didn’t think they were lost; they thought they were following God and the Torah by keeping all of the rules …all 613 of them.

Legalism turns a godly lifestyle into bondage.

Once again, we said this last week - there is nothing wrong with the Law - just as long as the Law doesn’t become your goal.

When the law becomes ultimate, we call that legalism.

Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology Legalism

Legalism. The term “legalism” commonly denotes preoccupation with form at the expense of substance. While it is now used metaphorically in all areas of human life, it appears to have had a theological origin in the seventeenth century, when Edward Fisher used it to designate “one who bringeth the Law into the case of Justification” (The Marrow of Modern Divinity, 1645). No equivalent term existed in the biblical languages. However, the idea is found in both Testaments.

Paul is upset with the Galatians for celebrating ritual observances.

Galatians 4:10 NLT

10 You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.

Last week we talked about observing the “elements of this world” rather than growing up in Christ.

Paul uses the term again - and it’s not good here either.

Some commentators suggest that this must mean that as Gentiles, they were turning back to their old pagan practices.

But remember the problem that Paul is dealing with is that people are trying to make them Jews before they can be Christians.

What Paul appears to be doing here is applying the language of paganism to the practice of Judaism.

it is true that many of our religious holidays have been combined with or influenced by pagan feasts, but that’s not the point here.

In other words, they are observing the Jewish Sabbaths, and Feasts, etc., but in doing so, they are no different or no better than the pagan feasts that they used to celebrate.

We celebrate Passover here and we encourage sabbath; how could this be wrong?

Simply that any practice of religion outside of relationship with God is mere superstition.

It’s form over substance.

Going through the motions.

Relying on a formula, rather than a living relationship with God.

Does that mean that ritual celebration of festivities is wrong?

Certainly not!

But it does mean that we should consider what we are celebrating.

If it doesn’t mean anything to you then you probably shouldn't do it.

Better yet, discover the intention behind the celebration and let it move you to greater understanding.

Ritual and symbol can be very rich and meaningful; but consider that a symbol always points to something greater.

Slaves to what others think.

Galatians 4:12–20 ESV

12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Adapt, but be genuine.

Paul tell s the Galatians to become like him because he became like them.

What Paul is describing is incarnational ministry.

Jesus became man to show the world who God is - that's “incarnation”

When we send missionaries out we encourage them to live like the people that they are serving as much as possible - become like them and invite them to become like you in following Jesus.

The gospel never changes, but we do “contextualize” the gospel to fit the culture.

Sometimes the best way to incarnate the gospel is to be vulnerable and let people that you are serving, serve you.

This seems to be what happened with Paul.

There is a theory that Paul was not intending to visit these towns but that he contracted an illness, something to do with the eyes, either while on Cyprus or upon landing at Attalia.

This is also the point where John Mark left the party.

So Paul and Barnabas started heading East.

Paul was struggling physically when he visited these places and they were a comfort and a help to him.

Compassion creates a bond between people.

Paul is appealing to that bond, “I owe you and am repaying you the favor by telling you the truth.”

Paul let them see him at his worst, which should be enough to convince them that he is genuine and has a genuine interest in them.

Beware of people who flatter you.

It seems that the Galatians are also being appealed to by others as well.

Except that they are appealing to their pride and egoism.

The Judaizers had some marketing skills.

Flattery is using compliments as a form of manipulation.

I recently told a group of colleagues, “Beware of people who put you on a pedestal. They are really just trying to control you.”

It’s nice to receive a gift or a compliment; but not so nice when it comes with strings attached.

Obligation is at the heart of all social relationships.

When someone does something nice; obligation says to reciprocate.

That’s how meaningful relationships are built.

But it can also be how they are torn down.

When obligation becomes a form of manipulation it is no longer healthy and helpful.

When a gift becomes a subtle demand, it ceases to be a gift.

Obligation and manipulation is a form of slavery.

You become a slave to what other people think.

Your identity and self worth becomes dependent on some one else’s approval.

And if they know that, they may use that to get you to do what they want.

As I am saying these things perhaps there are people and relationships that come to mind?

A parent or sibling?

A boss or co-worker?

A spouse or significant other?

Who gets to tell you who you are?

Only your Creator gets to tell you who you are.

There are people who have an investment in your life; who might want to control you.

They may genuinely want you to be the best version of yourself.

But do they really know what that is?

Do they really know the you that God created you to be?

Only God gets to tell you who you are because he is your Creator and you are made in His image.

How do we know what God’s image is or what we are supposed to become?

Colossians 1:15 NLT

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

Jesus is the image of God; you are becoming more like Jesus.

This is what is means to have Christ formed in you.

Parents also have a role in creation when it comes to their children.

That is why the words that parents speak over their children have such power in their lives.

Those words may or may not reflect what God says about you, but they are powerful just the same.

Also the investment of time, energy and sacrifice on your behalf has to mean something.

Paul claims the same kind of relationship in a spiritual sense with these believers.

He has sacrificed, worried even agonized over them.

That has to mean something in terms of relationship.

He has earned the right to speak into their lives.

And even more so, because he is pointing them toward what God says about them.

You are no longer a slave to the world, nor are you a slave to people, but there is one more way that we allow ourselves to become slaves.

Slaves to the flesh (sinful nature).

Galatians 4:21–31 ESV

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

Whatever is not of the Spirit is flesh.

The flesh and the spirit are the two natures that we have as people who are being restored in Christ.

Paul calls the sinful nature “the flesh” because it primarily involves physical or carnal desires.

Galatians 5:17 CSB

17 For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want.

So this is the other battle that is going on inside of us.

People who are not believers in Christ don’t have this problem.

Unless they see it as sin, they won’t struggle because sin will be normal.

It isn’t until you give yourself over to God that the battle begins.

The sinful nature now has a competing influence.

The new nature loves God and wants what God wants.

A hunger for the word of God.

A desire for reconciliation.

A passion for sharing the gospel with others.

But the old nature is still there and will try to make us think we are still slaves.

So Paul tells a story from the Torah (The Law) which illustrates the difference between being a slave (or a child of a slave woman) and being a son (a child who is an heir).

It’s the story of Abraham, the patriarch whom God promised would have a son in his old age who would be his heir and would have divine favor.

But when the promise didn’t happen for a while longer, Abraham decided to take matters into his own hands (that was his flesh).

He had a son through his wife’s slave whom he would adopt as a son.

Only it didn’t work out because Hagar became arrogant and Sarah became jealous.

That’s what happens when we try to serve God through our own flesh (through our carnal mind and its desires).

Whatever is not done in obedience to God brings trouble.

So this is the moral of the story of Hagar and Sarah.

God didn’t tell Abraham to figure out how to make a son and somehow associate that son with Sarah.

He told Abraham that Sarah would have a son.

So you have a contrast between Abraham’s self-effort and God’s promise.

This contrast illustrates the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

Under the Old Covenant you have to be perfect by your own effort; but under the New Covenant its not your effort, but Christ’s sacrifice which makes you perfect.

Under the Old Covenant everything that you do is outward, it makes you look good, but the inside is not changed.

The New Covenant transforms us from the inside out.

The Old Covenant is all about rules and rituals, you just have to do the right things.

The New Covenant is about your identity. It’s about being in Christ and who you are transforms what you do.

So Abraham had two sons; one was a child that he never expected who came according to God’s promise;

the other was the result of an affair with a surrogate that was supposed to solve a problem, but which created more problems.

The irony is that the ones who claimed to be the true sons of Abraham are acting like slaves.

They are trying to figure out how to please God by their own effort rather than resting in their identity in Christ.

Anything less than freedom is slavery.

Imagine how shocking Paul’s letter must have been to these Gentiles become Christians who are being told that they need to become Jews because that is somehow better.

Galatians 4:25–26 TPT

25 For “Hagar” represents the law given at Mt. Sinai in Arabia. The “Hagar” metaphor corresponds to the earthly Jerusalem of today who are currently in bondage. 26 In contrast, there is a heavenly Jerusalem above us, which is our true “mother.” She is the freewoman, birthing children into freedom!

Slavery can be a mentality.

A person may have choices, but if they don’t feel like they have a choice, they are still a slave.

God wants people who will serve Him, but not as slaves.

That’s why God gave us freewill and encourages us to use it.

Galatians 4:29 TPT

29 And just as the son of the natural world at that time harassed the son born of the power of the Holy Spirit, so it is today.

The flesh persecutes the Spirit - that was the pattern in Paul’s day and it is still happening today.

The flesh - whether it be your own flesh or naturally minded people or the systems of this world will try to bring you back into slavery.

But in your own mind you have to know who you are.

I am not a slave; I am a son/daughter of God!

I may not feel like i have a choice, but in fact, i have choices.

The choice to do nothing is still a choice - Is that my choice or am I acting like a slave?

God calls us into freedom in Christ.

That is not the freedom to just do whatever we want - what we want will probably just lead us back to slavery.

We have the freedom to become who God created us to be.

We have the freedom to follow God - our conscience - and ultimately to follow the Holy Spirit.

Questions for reflection:

Are you free today? Or are you a slave in your own mind to a person, a group, or a way of thinking? Whose child are you? Who really knows who you are?

Who is trying to tell you who you are? Do you have people that are using you or manipulating you? What does your Creator say about you? How does that change what other people are saying?

What does it mean to be a son or daughter of God? Is that who you are? Are you a person made in God’s image? How is Christ being formed in you?