Sermon Tone Analysis

Context

So far in this chapter, Gal. 4, Paul has expressed his concerns for the Galatians by urging them to treasure their salvation.

Treasure it by reflecting on the fact that God has adopted them int His family (1-7).

But Paul is frustrated.

He is exasperated by what the Galatians are doing.

They are believing lies.

They’re being duped.

And this, for Paul, is agonizing.

He is desperate that Christ would become formed in them.

This is to say that Paul yearns for their faith to mature and become more stable.

He relates this pain to that of childbirth pains.

As the creation itself is in childbirth pains as it waits for Jesus to complete his work of redemption in the world, so he is desperate for the Galatian Christians to not embrace the bonds of the slavery that the false teachers were promoting but to embrace the freedom that have in Christ.

And this is the subject matter of Paul’s plea in our text today.

Freedom.

We all want it.

We are willing, in some measure to protect it.

We value it.

But do we have it?

Are we free?

The Galatians thought that by doing what the Judaizers were teaching would result in their freedom.

We have, perhaps, certain assumptions about freedom.

Maybe we, when we look at the world around us, even those whom we observe frequently in our day-to-day experience, envy the freedom they appear to possess.

Who is free and who is not?

Paul, in our text, helps us to make sense of this.

Introduction

Pinocchio, written by Carlo Collodi and first published in 1881, was popularized by Disney who made the story into a movie in 1940.

Pleasure Island from Pinocchio

What’s the appeal of a place like pleasure island?

Freedom.

At least, freedom according to our terms for freedom.

Pinocchio and his friends had terms for freedom.

To be in a place where they could do anything they wanted with no one or no rule to get in their way.

Drinking, smoking cigars are some of the pleasures of Pleasure Island in the story.

They were able to drink and smoke, and no one nor any rule got in their way.

But the more they were entranced by this supposed freedom, the more they became unaware of the bondage that was taking hold of them.

Eventually, after a brief indulgence of these pleasures, he bondage took over and the bondage came in the form of a donkey.

All the children who too the trip to Pleasure Island were turned into donkeys.

They became something else as a result of thinking that freedom and their terms for their freedom were inseparable.

And I suggest, this is often what we do.

FCF: We often assume that freedom and our terms for freedom are inseparable

We may assume, perhaps even without being completely conscious of it, that our terms for our freedom and freedom itself are inseparable.

In other words, we may be operating under the assumption that what we require to be free and freedom are the same thing.

But this is not always the case.

A drivers license will not provide freedom if the driver is not able to drive safely

Jumping out of an airplane with a parachute strapped to our backs will cease to be enjoyable (if you’re into that sort of thing) if the parachute malfunctions

Living with someone to whom you are not married may be convenient and even fulfilling but is union that is not honored by God

So freedom is never obtained on our own terms.

Main Idea:

God sets the terms for true freedom.

Contrived Freedom (21-22)

Misguided desires (21)

Paul is making clear that some corrupt ideas had begun to set in among the Galatian church.

It’s not total yet.

Not everyone has bought into the false teaching, but this teaching is starting to gain some traction.

And notice v. 21 is a question.

Paul is addressing people who claim they want to be under the law, that is, to be subject to the law.

Earlier in v. 9, Paul asked a similar question: … how can you turn back to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

And the desire to be under the law, is a misguided not because the law is evil or not of God.

The desire is misguided because it represents a wrong understanding of the law.

The law was never meant as a means of justification.

No one has ever been declared righteous by God because of his or her obedience to the law.

The reality is no one can obey the law enough to obtain forgiveness of their sins.

The Judaizers were teaching that people must continue to obey the law in order to be justified.

God does His part, and we need to do ours.

The law points to the moral character of God, and He is perfect.

We are not, so not only can we not obey the law as we need to in order to gain God’s favor, we need Him to intervene in our lives and give us what we cannot acquire ourselves.... His righteousness.

We need to be under His grace not His law

So this contrived freedom that the Galatians were flirting with is the result of misguided desires but also

Misinformed conclusions (22)

Paul’s point here is that it is clear that the Galatians did not know what they were into by desiring to be under the law because they clearly do not understand what Abraham’s 2 sons and the sons’ 2 mothers represent.

We will walk through the historical background of the Hagar-Sarah account in just a moment, but I think part of what Paul is doing here is pointing out the Galatians’ ignorance and immature faith.

He’s essentially telling them that they have no idea what they are really asking for by wanting to live a life that attempts to gain God’s approval through their effort instead of trusting in what Christ has accomplished on their behalf.

It is the difference between slavery and freedom.

This is what the 2 sons and their 2 mothers represent.

This is the difference between the law and God’s grace: slavery and freedom.

Their conclusions were wrong.

Many Jews took great pride and comfort in being children of Abraham.

But their conclusions about being children of Abraham were incorrect… misinformed.

Remember what Paul said earlier:

It is those who have placed their faith in Christ who are children of Abraham.

Biology may make you a distant relative of Abraham, but it is only faith that makes you a child of Abraham and ultimately a child of God

Today

In my observation, the idea that God’s favor can be earned through effort is something that has been and always will be part of the fabric of humanity.

But there is something that has been emerging and in play now that I think we need to take note of.

What remains the same is the desire for freedom.

Perhaps at one point our culture connected having peace with God and having freedom.

But now it seems, at least to some extent, that God is not necessary for freedom.

Now, for many, freedom can be found within.

The more in tune we are wit h ourselves, suggests many, the more free we will be.

The problem with this is that it is a much too optimistic view of humanity.

While it is not popular in our culture to talk about humanity as corrupt, we can’t but help acknowledge the corruption that is all around us.

Even the more morally liberal media has recently, perhaps reluctantly, acknowledged that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violates moral imperatives.

People do not come close to honoring moral imperatives because people are corrupt.

We are naturally selfish, greedy, deceptive and self-serving.

This, perhaps shows itself to varying degrees and in varying ways, but never-the-less, we all share this in common.

So the notion that looking in to ourselves to find the freedom that all people want is absurd.

We need to look outside ourselves.

We cannot create our own freedom.

Freedom is not contrived.

So if true freedom is not contrived, that is, it is not something we can create for ourselves then how does anyone come by true freedom?