Rev. Paul J Cain
Galatians 4:21-31
Rejoice, Children of
Promise
Fourth Sunday in Lent, Laetare, 15 March 2015
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Rejoice, children
of promise. In Christ you have been set free. By faith, you are true
descendants of Abraham and are members of the Lord’s heavenly kingdom.
Dr. Pieper taught
us that there are only two religions in the world, Biblical Christianity and
works-righteousness. The latter says, “Do” and “Don’t.” True Christianity
confesses with Jesus, “It is finished!”
Even some
Christians get Christianity wrong. Centuries after the Reformation, many
American Evangelicals are theologically indistinguishable from medieval Roman
Catholicism. Human opinions, recent traditions, and faddish practices are
elevated to be equivalent to the authority of Scripture, whether decision
theology, contemporary entertainment worship, the explosion of Christian media
that isn’t really that Christian, and the disturbing trend of overemphasis of
our role in the Christian life.
Centuries after the
Reformation, worship among some Christians has again devolved to be again more
about what we do than what God does for us. If we know we are saved by grace
alone through faith alone in Christ alone to God’s glory alone, that we are
saved by God’s action and not ours, why do so many allegedly Christian
theologies of worship put more emphasis on what we do on Sunday morning than on
what God does? Consider this Lutheran alternative:
Our Lord speaks and
we listen. His Word bestows what it says. Faith that is born from what is heard
acknowledges the gifts received with eager thankfulness and praise. Music is
drawn into this thankfulness and praise, enlarging and elevating the adoration
of our gracious giver God.
Saying back to him
what he has said to us, we repeat what is most true and sure. Most true and
sure is his name, which he put upon us with the water of our Baptism. We are
his. This we acknowledge at the beginning of the Divine Service. Where his name
is, there is he. Before him we acknowledge that we are sinners, and we plead
for forgiveness. His forgiveness is given us, and we, freed and forgiven,
acclaim him as our great and gracious God as we apply to ourselves the words he
has used to make himself known to us.
The rhythm of our
worship is from him to us, and then from us back to him. He gives his gifts,
and together we receive and extol them. We build one another up as we speak to
one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Our Lord gives us his body
to eat and his blood to drink. Finally his blessing moves us out into our
calling, where his gifts have their fruition.
How best to do this
we may learn from his Word and from the way his Word has prompted his worship
throughout the centuries. We are heirs of an astonishingly rich tradition. Each
generation receives from those who went before and, in making that tradition of
the Divine Service its own, adds what best may serve in its own day--the living
heritage and something new.
Norman Nagel,
Introduction to Lutheran Worship
There are only two
religions in the world, Biblical Christianity and works-righteousness. Religions
based on what we do, whether new or ancient say, “Do” and “Don’t.” True Biblical
Christianity confesses with Jesus, “It is finished!”
Consider the two
covenants of Galatians 4:
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law,
do you not listen to the law? 22 For
it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free
woman. 23 But the
son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free
woman was born through promise. 24 Now
this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is
from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in
slavery with her children. 26 But
the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For 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.”
Few people anymore
are blatantly honest enough to say that they think they’re getting into heaven
for being good, for doing more good than evil. Yet, that is the comfort many
seek at a modern funeral. Jesus is downplayed even in some Christian funerals.
The good works of the deceased and amusing stories about them are the only
pseudo comfort left. Lutherans discourage eulogies because they come from
traditions that place some responsibility for earning and deserving salvation
with the deceased. Since a Lutheran Christian funeral is a worship service of
Jesus Christ, we don’t do eulogies. Either Jesus is a 100% Savior or He is not.
What a memorial service looks like reflects what those involved believe about
the Bible, the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the gift of salvation in Christ alone.
You will see unique Scriptures, Psalms, hymns, and personal accounts in my sermon
at one of our funerals so you can actually tell who we’re laying to rest in
Jesus’ Name.
Galatians 4 reviews
Genesis, especially the promises of God and the mistakes of Abraham and Sarah.
Sarah was unable to conceive. She thought her husband could have a son with her
slave woman, Hagar. Unsurprisingly, Abraham thought this was a good idea.
Ishmael, father of all Arabs is that son. Yet he was not the son the good Lord
promised Abraham and Sarah. He was one born of blood, of the will of the flesh,
of the will of man. He was born according to the flesh, not according to
Promise. Promise is a wonderful Old Testament Gospel word!
The analogy that
Paul fleshes out is that those who want to work their way to heaven are really
illegitimate sons of Abraham. His true sons, even if not descended from him
genetically, are those who shall live by faith. Slavery awaits all who remain
under the burden of the law, to do it all. We, of the heavenly Jerusalem are
free in Christ. Father Abraham had many sons. No wonder Isaiah 54 urges Sarah
to rejoice. Her descendants through Isaac include those of Israel who believe
in Christ in addition to all Christians who believe in Christ, including you.
28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children
of promise. 29 But
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. 30 But 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.” 31 So,
brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
The Lutheran
Confessions, in article IV of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession explain
the difference between depending upon law versus the promises:
84 Fourth. Forgiveness of sins is something promised for Christ’s
sake. It cannot be received except through faith alone. For a promise cannot be
received except by faith alone. Romans 4:16 says, “That is why it depends on
faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed.” It is as
though he says, “If the matter were to depend on our merits, the promise would
be uncertain and useless. For we never could determine when we would have
enough merit.” Experienced consciences can easily understand this. So Paul says
in Galatians 3:22, “But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that
the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” He
takes merit away from us because he says that all are guilty and included under
sin. Then he adds that the promise (namely, forgiveness of sins and
justification) is given, and he shows how the promise can be received—by faith.
This reasoning, derived from the nature of a promise, is the chief reasoning in
Paul and is often repeated. Nor can anything be devised or imagined by which
Paul’s argument can be overthrown. 85
Therefore, let not good minds allow themselves to be forced from the conviction
that we receive forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake, through faith alone. In
this they have sure and firm consolation against the terrors of sin, against
eternal death, and against all the gates of hell.[1]
Rejoice, children
of promise. In Christ you have been set free from sin and its guilt. By faith,
you are true descendants of Abraham and are members of the Lord’s heavenly
kingdom.
Amen.
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
[1]
McCain, P. T. (Ed.). (2005). Concordia:
The Lutheran Confessions (pp. 93–95). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing
House.
