There’s a text in II Peter that speaks to what we are going
to talk about this Sunday morning. (It’s kind of odd to put it like that
because here at Hebron we always try to simply elucidate what the Holy Spirit
is saying through the text in front of us.) Anyway, what Paul’s talking about
in Galatians 4:8-11 corresponds to what Peter is saying in II Peter 1:16-18.
Peter says:
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory
from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice
borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
Now Peter is writing years after this event on
the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt. 17). This is before the Crucifixion, the Resurrection,
and the Ascension. This is before he receives the Holy Spirit in John 20. This
is before Pentecost. Yet, he remembers it as though it was yesterday, not only
in his mind, but in his heart. And what he remembers most is the glory of God.
Last week as we began explaining Galatians 4
we got into the teeth of Paul’s pastoral counseling. These aren’t some
strangers, these are his children in the faith, his beloved. So he talks about
two sendings – the sending of the Son of God by God the Father, and the sending
of His Spirit into our hearts. We labored the point last week that it’s this
second sending that enables us to appropriate all that Jesus does for us
through the first sending. To put it simply – the first sending changes our
status from slaves to sons while the second sending helps us know our sonship
thoroughly.
This week we will continue to unpack all of
this, because Paul’s not finished with his counseling. What he tells us in
Galatians 4:8-11 is a powerful extension of what he says at the opening of
Galatians 4, something Martin Luther discovered and gave voice to in his
treatise, The Freedom of a Christian.
Luther says:
To make the way smoother for
the unlearned – for only them do I serve – I shall set down the following two
prepositions concerning the freedom and the bondage of the spirit. (1) A
Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. (2) A Christian is
a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”
So how’s that possible? How is it possible to
be both free and a servant? Luther read the words of Paul, and in particular
Galatians 4. Listen to what he says:
What man is there whose
heart, upon hearing these things (all that Jesus is and has done) will not rejoice
to its depths, and when receiving such comfort will not grow tender so that he
will love Christ as he never could by means of any laws or works?...Behold,
from faith thus flows forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love a joyful,
willing, and free mind that serves one’s neighbor willingly and takes no
account of gratitude or ingratitude, of praise or blame, of gain or loss. For a
man does not serve that he may put men under obligations. He does not
distinguish between friend or enemies or anticipate that thankfulness or
unthankfulness, but he most freely and most willingly spends himself and all he
has, whether he wastes all on the thankless or whether he gains a reward. As
his Father does, distributing all things to all men richly and freely.
In other words, that’s what the Spirit of
God’s Son brings to the Christian’s heart. And what does the Spirit do? He
gives us ever-renewing eyes to see the majesty and beauty of Jesus. The result
is as the hymn says, “The things of earth do grow strangely dim…” He changes
the affections of our heart by captivating it with Jesus. That’s why Paul says
to the Galatians, “Why would you choose to go back into slavery?
We are going to talk about all that this
Sunday. But there’s a warning: it’s deep, very deep. It’s so deep only the
Spirit of God can help us see the deepening layers of truth unfolding before
us.
In preparation for Sunday’s message, “Living
As Slaves,” you may wish to consider the following:
- Someone has said, “The letter to the Galatians is counseling pure and profound.” Where’s the evidence of that?
- How does Paul’s sincerity show itself in chapter 4?
- What does it mean to be “sincere”?
- What are the “non-gods” to which they are returning? (v. 8,9)
- Are they the same as the elementary principles of the world cited in verses 3 and 7?
- How does I John 5:21 relate to Galatians 4:8-11?
- Paul uses the concept of slavery throughout the first eleven verses of Galatians 4. Why?
- How is their enslavement different in verse 7 than in verse 8?
- How is the beauty of Jesus the only thing that can free us?
- Why does law never change us, only grace?
