Don't You Listen to the Law?
/Galatians 4:21-31
"Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. So shall your offspring be."
God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 15 had now been in the rearview mirror for some time. And yet Abram and Sarai still had no son.
No offspring.
No heir.
Promise (seemingly) unfulfilled.
So Sarai and Abram together did something very human (yet still sinful).
They stopped trusting God.
And they took matters into their own hands.
They resolved to have a child - not through God's divine, miraculous work - but through their own human effort.
So Sarai gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband Abram. And with Abram, Hagar conceived a son - Ishmael.
Fast forward through the years.
God, of course, keeps His promise.
God does what He said He would do.
Even in old age, Sarah bears a son - the son of promise - Isaac.
Ishmael and Isaac.
One born of a slave.
One born of a free woman.
Two sons born to Abraham.
But two very different ways of getting there.
In a way, Ishmael was a representation of what human effort can do. And Isaac - a representation of promise - that which only God can do.
-—
As the apostle Paul looked at his Bible - the Old Testament Law, specifically here, the books of Moses - he saw in this Genesis account a perfect illustration for what was happening with his brothers and sisters in Galatia.
In a similar way to Abraham, the Galatians were wanting to relate to God based on their effort.
Their works.
Their law keeping.
Rather than resting as sons and daughters, they were trying to work for a Master.
Rather than living in the joy and freedom of sonship, these Galatians were relating to God in a way that leads only to slavery. Just as Ishmael was a son of Abraham through a slave.
It brings to mind another story of two sons in Luke 15.
Upon seeing the kindness of the Father toward the younger brother, what was the retort of the older brother?
"Look, these many years I have served you, and never disobeyed your command."
Obedience.
Serving.
Human effort.
Law-keeping.
Slavery.
And we do the same. We relate to God based on how "good" or "bad" we've been.
How much (or little) I've read my Bible and prayed.
How much I've shared the gospel.
How much I've given to the poor.
How well I've loved my spouse and children.
All of these disciplines have great value, no doubt.
But our position as sons and daughters of God is not based on them one bit!
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In what way will you live your life today?
Will you relate to God based on your own effort and works? The bad you haven't done, or the good you have done?
Or will rest in the One "who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20)?
And that your position as a son or daughter is based completely on Him?
Will you experience the joy and freedom found in this rest?
"Now to the one who works,
His wages are not counted as a gift
But as his due.
And to the one who DOES NOT work
But believes in him who justifies the ungodly,
His faith is counted as righteousness."
(Romans 4:4-5, emphasis mine)
Joe