Bondage Vs. Freedom
Text: Galatians 4:21-31
In the name of Jesus: Amen.
Baptized Saints, you are not in bondage – you are not in slavery. But instead, you are children of the free woman, not children of the slave woman.
The Apostle Paul, in our Epistle Reading from Galatians, takes an event from the Old Testament and uses it to show two ways that we human beings can function before God. That is to say; Paul talks about a lady named Hagar and another lady named Sarah. They are ‘very’ different and represent two very different paths and ways of thinking.
Long story short, Hagar was a slave, whereas, Sarah was the true lady of the house. God told Sarah that she would conceive and give birth to a child that would eventually bring about the promised Messiah. However, Sarah found herself to be barren – her biological clock had stopped ticking. So, Sarah looked to her slave, Hagar, to have the child instead with her husband. Simply stated, instead of trusting God to be faithful to His promise, Sarah took things into her own hands and Hagar the slave get pregnant with her husband instead. Sarah was trying to make God’s promise come about by her force and plan. Yes, getting her slave pregnant was Sarah’s solution and idea – it was a manmade solution to a divine promise.
So, what eventually happened, in the end, was that Hagar had a son. But then, some years later, Sarah had a son in her advanced old age as well. The birth of Sarah’s child, though, was a miracle. Sarah’s birth was God being faithful to His original promise in spite of her seeming to be barren. And so, God was faithful to Sarah, whereas the way of Hagar was all about mankind acting without faith.
So, what we have before us are two women and two different ways of trying to fulfill God’s promise. Hagar represents a man-centered method of making the promise of God come about, whereas Sarah represents the God’s faithfulness, in spite of barrenness and old age. In other words, the slave, Hagar, represents a life characterized by manmade solutions and the actions of mankind, whereas, the free woman, Sarah, represents a life that is characterized by God’s faithfulness to His promises in spite of impossible circumstances.
So a person going the way of trying to earn God’s approval can be considered a child of the slave Hagar – a person in slavery. However, a person that lives by faith, knowing that they cannot make anything right before God but depend upon the Lord’s grace is considered a child of Sarah – a free person. Two completely different women, with two different outcomes. One outcome depending on mankind’s work and the other depending on God’s faithfulness.
Now, these two different ways of thinking and living are everywhere in the Bible. We see these two different ways with Cain and Abel, the Judaizers and Paul, and the Pharisees and Jesus. In fact, throughout the history of the church, we have seen this division as well. Some 1700 years ago, we saw this division between Pelagius and St. Augustine, and then 500 years ago we saw this same division between the Catholic Erasmus and Martin Luther. The list can go on and on. There are hundreds of examples of this division. Even today, we can look at churches and denominations to see that they either break the way of Hagar or break the way of Sarah. Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun.
And so today, we hear from our reading in Galatians that we are not children of the slave woman Hagar, but children of the free woman Sarah. Indeed, as blood-bought-baptized-Christians, we are not slaves, but free. We are children of the promise. We live by grace through faith, not by pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Jesus has done it all for us at Mt. Calvary, and the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel, enlightened us with His gifts, sanctified and kept us in the one true faith. All of this gift! All of it by the Lord’s promise and the Lord’s work for us. We cannot add anything to this but are simple recipients of grace upon grace. We are children of Sarah – children of God’s promises. We live by faith, not by trusting in our own actions.
So, because we are children of Sarah and not Hagar, this means two things.
First, we can rejoice! We can laugh with good cheer and joy. We can rejoice in God and have a smile of confidence knowing that the Lord rules and leads us. He is in control of everything, no matter the circumstance. We rejoice because we know that our sins are forgiven in Christ. We delight in our identity as baptized saints, knowing that He has accomplished everything for us and gives it to us as a sheer gift. Forgiveness, life, and salvation – all ours because of Jesus.
And secondly, we must cast Hagar aside. Yes, we must drive out the teachings and ideas of Hagar from the church. This might sound cruel, but the reality is that a religion of bondage and slavery cannot coexist with the Gospel. They are like oil and water. We cannot be saved by our works and the works of Jesus. There is only room for one person on the cross. We are not baptized into our name and the Lord’s name. There is only one name into which we are baptized – the name of our Triune God. Communion is not some potluck between the Lord and mankind, where we both bring something to the table to share with each other, but instead, communion is the ‘Lord’s’ Supper for us. There is only one host, not two.
Dear friends, the way of Hagar injects mankind into the equation. The way of Hagar kicks the promises of God to the curb, and acts not from faith but from sin. The way of Hagar depends on mankind’s abilities and solutions; however, the way of Sarah depends on the Lord and the Lord alone. What this means is that there is no middle ground. There is no compromise. The way of Hagar and the way of Sarah cannot coexist in the church. One must go.
But here is the catch. The way of Hagar does not want to leave the church. It is like this, as soon as salvation by grace through faith alone is proclaimed, people will divide into two camps. Some will rejoice in being free and will become children of Sarah. However, others will hear and be offended and join Hagar, Cain, the Pharisees, and the Judaizers. Yes, these children of Hagar will hate the freedom of the Gospel and will defend the shackles of their self-righteousness and their man-centered prisons of spirituality. This will result in them persecuting the children of Sarah; this will result in you being attacked.
Dear Baptized Saints, this should not surprise you and me. Cain persecuted Abel. The same was true for Ismael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Saul and David, Herod and John the Baptized, the Pharisees and Jesus, and so forth. This is the pattern throughout the Bible and throughout history. This is how it is. Those in bondage to their self-righteousness see the freeing Gospel as a threat. Being deceived themselves, those in bondage have taken pride in their orange striped prison uniforms and would rather stay in control in their 6x8 foot cell, than be buried and raised in Christ.
And so, this means that Pastors need to fight against the spirit of Hagar when it encroaches on the church. Pastors must protect the sheep from the spirit of Hagar when it invades the flock. And parishioners must also fight against the false doctrines of Hagar as well. The reason why? We are not slaves! We are not in bondage! We are children of God! We are free in the Gospel! Because of who we are in Christ and because Jesus has done everything for us, we cannot return to slavery! We cannot return to the ways of Hagar; we cannot return to depending on ourselves and our own works! The way of Hagar is the way of death! It is a way of self-dependence and the way of fear and doubt! It is the way of apostasy!
And so, dear Baptized Saints, know this day that you are free. You are children of Sarah. You are free from the condemnation of sin, you are free from the wrath of God, you are free from the sting of ultimate death, and you are free from the pressure to self-justify yourself. You are free, lord of all, subject to none. You are freed to be a servant of all and subject to all.[1] Free to labor and love your neighbor, without fear and without self-service. You are free to do good deeds not to become a Christians, but because you already are a Christian – a child of the free woman.
Rejoice in this! Be glad that you are a Christian. And at the same time, drive out the spirit of Hagar. Fight against this toxic false doctrine and lies that seek to drag you back to bondage and slavery. Know that God has judged the spirit of Hagar and that it will be punished someday.
You are not children of the slave but of the free woman. Rejoice and remain steadfast in this freedom.
In the name of Jesus: Amen.
[1] Paraphrase of Martin Luther’s main thesis of, “On the Freedom of the Christian.”
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