Sermon for 3/27/22: Fourth Sunday in Lent

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A Reason for Hope

Galatians 4:21-31

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

 More than just Christians, many people in this world believe in some sort of “supreme being” and some kind of afterlife, and they hope they will one day experience this for themselves. But when you question them, you often find that their hope is rather vague. They hope God will accept them, but they are less certain why He should do so. Often they base their hope of eternity on the positive things they have done and the negative things they have avoided. They assume that these acts will allow them to find acceptance with a perfect God. You and I, too, hope to be saved. But how? This is the single most important question that can ever engage our attention. How shall we spend that never-ending day of eternity? Are we to rely on our good works? Or is our confidence to be found in something else?

The spiritual condition of the Galatians, which at first had been a matter of great joy and gladness to Paul, had been seriously disturbed by certain unnamed men and their false teaching. Contrary to what Paul had taught them, these “Judaizers,” as they came to be called, insisted that certain works of the Old Testament Law, like circumcision, were still necessary for salvation. Paul’s reason for writing this Epistle was to destroy the influence of these false teachers and, at the same time, to defend the authority of the Gospel he preached, an authority given to him by Christ Himself. To do this, St. Paul draws on a well-known story from the Old Testament, the story of Abraham and his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was the son of Hagar, who was a bondwoman, a slave. Because that was his state in life, Ishmael could never expect to be the heir and receive the rights and privileges that belong to a free-born son. Hagar represented the Law, and Hagar’s children are children of the Law—children in bondage.

The Law creates its own kind of bondage. The Law demands and drives, but has no power to create the willingness to perform its demands. The Law is stern, uncompromising, inflexible. It knows neither tenderness nor pity. It simply says, “Thou shalt,” and “Thou shalt not,” and that settles it. And its condemnation is scathing. Quoting the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, St. Paul says: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them.” To be sure, to the faithful children of God, the Law serves as a guide, showing those things that are pleasing in God’s eyes. But to those in bondage to sin and death, the Law only lays bare their total corruption and pronounces its fearful punishment.

How different things are with the free-born children of God! Paul says: “Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.” As Isaac was born according to the promise of God, so, too, are all the heirs of Jesus Christ, those who are not in bondage but in freedom. It is God’s grace which has freed us from the curse of the Law and has made us acceptable in His sight. We stand in that long line from Abraham and Isaac through all the Biblical saints. We rejoice in the full atonement for sin made by Christ our Lord, and in that spotless baptismal righteousness which is His gift to us. Grace, then, and grace alone, makes us the free children of God. As Paul wrote: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” The Law cannot condemn us, Paul says, because “...Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to all who believe.” Jesus has met all the requirements of the Law for us, and we are free from the curse and bondage of the Law.

We know that the promised heavenly inheritance is ours. And yet, sometimes we are tempted to ask that disturbing question, “Is this inheritance really mine? Isn’t there something I must do to make sure it is mine?” For sinners such as we are, who so richly deserves God’s wrath and eternal punishment, to have the promise of a heavenly inheritance is truly an overwhelming a thought. But we need never doubt it. As St. Peter reminds us: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Doubt is gone, and in its place comes a profound gratitude to God because of His promise of so glorious an inheritance. Eternal gratitude and praise are due Him for His mercy in bringing us to a true and faithful knowledge of our salvation. We no longer need deceive ourselves by trusting in the works of the Law; we build our certain hope of heavenly inheritance entirely on the merits of Christ. And this is what gives rise to those rousing words that begin the next chapter of this Epistle, just following our text: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Is it works or grace? The answer is clear: Grace alone, boundless and free, poured out richly in our Savior, Jesus Christ, frees us and saves us and makes secure for all eternity. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

       

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.