GRACE UNCOVERED 14

 

"Mama?" or "Two Ways to Live" or "Imprinting"

 

June 8, 2008 - EPC - Kevin Hale

 

Why do God's people experience so little freedom?  Why do many receive this grace then try to stay on God's good side by starting a list of things they must do to keep that grace.

 

I met a man years ago in my office and he said yes your gospel is free but then you pay for it later.  What was he saying to me?  As far as I know he never received Christ to this day.  It has always bothered me.  I think I have an answer.

 

An Austrian Naturalist, Conrad Laurence in the mid 1900's found that if a hatch of geese was raised by him from the moment they hatched that they would follow him as they would their mother.

 

They also would attach themselves to objects such as balls and cars etc.  YOU TUBE: My truck is his mother...

 

That first contact would naturally make the baby attach itself to it and that became known as imprinting.  He won thee Nobel Prize in 1973 for this work.

 

Now we have been laying out the argument Paul has made that the Gospel is by grace through faith in Christ is enough to make a person right with God positionally.  It is received not earned or achieved.

 

Why do many Christians experience little freedom?  One teacher believes it is imprinting.  We became attached to system that acted as out mother so to speak.

 

 

 

Galatians 4:21-31  NKJV

²¹Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. ²³But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴which things are symbolic. For these are ^£the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar-²⁵for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children-²⁶but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. ²⁷For it is written:

    "Rejoice, O barren,

    You who do not bear!

    Break forth and shout,

    You who are not in labor!

    For the desolate has many more children

    Than she who has a husband."^£

²⁸Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. ²⁹But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. ³⁰Nevertheless 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."^£ 31So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

ESV

Example of Hagar and Sarah 21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;£ she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27For 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." 28Now you,£ brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29But 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. 30But 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." 31So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

 

Now Paul is asking who is your mother?  Spiritually speaking.

The answer to this question explains why so many Christians experience so little freedom.

The example is simply an illustration.  He is not giving a way to interpret the OT.  Rather there are two ways to relating to God and they are illustrated in Abraham's family tree.  Two ways to live in relationship with God and one brings life and freedom and one brings bondage.

 

• Works or human effort. Doing and believing.
• The way of grace. Believing trusting and receiving.

 

Now let me take a moment to try and make this less confusing.

 

*****In verse 24 Paul uses the word symbolic or allegorically and they say Paul did not take literally we can spiritualize it anyway we want.  We can say the swarm of hornet in Deut. As jet fighters etc.  Oprah was talking to a lady on her set.  Well, she said, I take the bible figuratively and you take it literally.  You take it how you want and I will take it how I want.  This is crazy.  They say you cannot know what anyone really means. 

Interpreting text is important.  They know say it only matters what it means to you.  We cannot really know what they mean so what does it mean to you?

You cannot even say that without saying that I know what you really meant.

So we work hard in the scripture to find out what they meant and we look at context and culture.  This is not a hard one though.

 

• 1. The story - 21-23
• 2. The illustration - 24-27
• 3. The application - 28-31

 

The Story - Gen 12-25 Abraham

Gal. 4:21 and tell the story of Abraham

CD_20.00  120 months Sarah said not this month etc. 10 years.

So Hagar conceived to make this happen.  Gen 17 some 13 years later God said no it is Isaac.  Gen 21 God did it the way he had promised 100 and 90. His birth is supernatural.

Isaac would receive all of the promises of God not Ishmael.  Abraham wanted Ishmael to get it but God said NO.

Paul uses this story to explain this argument.  The story was true but it illustrates the spiritual message Paul is dealing with here.

These two represent two covenants.

 

The Illustration

                       ABRAHAM

HAGAR - slave - Mt Sinai -Jerusalem where she is in slavery with her children   SARAH - promise, free, new Jerusalem

 

 

Hagar - slave                    Sarah - free

ISHAMAEL - according to the flesh      ISAAC - according to promise/spirit

 

Flesh in this context means human self effort or man's best effort to bring about God's promised.

 

Now we have a contrast between flesh and spirit.

 

They have promise but no kids and his names means exalted father or father of many.  So he tries of his own work to bring about the promise.  Isaac was gift of grace.

 

Heb. 11:11

¹¹By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she^£ bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged(considered) Him faithful who had promised. 

 

So Paul has been contrasting law and grace or flesh and spirit.

 

Faith plus believe/obedience equal salvation is Ishmael.  The law has no power to save anyone.  It is believe in His work and that is enough.  Right standing before God.

 

So he asks them whose your mother?  You are Arabs.  They had to cringe.  That is the Old Covenant  Then in Luke Jesus said I give the Covenant and you get it through my work not yours.  All by faith.

 

That Jerusalem is legalism and slavery/law work/self effort and the heavenly Jerusalem is freedom/grace/trust/believe/ and filled with kids of grace not law.  We inherit that by faith in Jesus.

 

Sarah's descendants will outnumber Hagar's.

 

Now this deals with two ways of relating to Christ. 

 

Application - 28,29 - ²⁸Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. ²⁹But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 

 

Live like children of promise.  This is the Arab attack on the early church.

 

• Cast out is figurative and stop mixing faith and works. Be done with it. Live in the freedom that comes by grace through faith in Christ. Jesus is enough. Live as children of promise. WE are accepted by God through Jesus not our works. Abraham and Sarah related to God by Faith.
• ³⁰Nevertheless what does the Scripture say?"Cast out the bondwoman and her son, forthe son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman."^£

 

They did not read the bible as one story of a God that gives forgiveness to those that trust him for it.  They taught the bible as a bunch of stories. 

 

Why do we live by guilt and slaves?  We may have been imprinted in our early Christian life to look at this book as a book of moral examples and principles and rules and followed the wrong mama and have become slaves.  We looked to the bible as a guide book for life and expected it to do for us what a mother does.  To provide comfort and security and protection and nurture.  And religion gives some comfort and security by keeping rules and pleasing others.

 

That is human effort even if it feels good.  We are made acceptable to God by grace through faith.

 

The bible is one story from start to finish.  A God loves you and accepts you only by what HIS son did for you.  He is a God of promise 

 

Get the story straight and here is a way to start doing that.

 

Get these Books.  Kids.  What God always wanted?

 

Break THE IMPRINT.  Do you want to be free?  Do you know the story?  By grace through faith in Christ alone.

You need to know it the way God intended for you to know it.