Thank you to Mark for this week’s MWB
Read Genesis 16
and Galatians 4:21-5:1
Over the next 3 weeks, we are going to be looking at 3 women in the Old Testament, who have much to teach us about the life of faith.
We begin this morning with Hagar, who was the slave girl of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Her title immediately gives us an indication of where Paul will take us in Galatians 4 as he talks about enslavement to the Law, and the freedom that comes through faith in Christ.
To briefly summarise, the Lord had told Abraham that he was going to to be the father of many nations. For many years Abraham and Sarah waited patiently for this promise to be fulfilled, but when no child arrived, they took matters into their own hands, and Abraham slept with Hagar, resulting in in the birth of Ishmael.
In many ways Abraham and Sarah are so like us; they rely on human effort rather than trusting God’s promises. We probably know that phrase ‘God helps those who help themselves’, and ‘I did it my way’.
We have this innate tendency to trust our own human efforts rather than trust God. And it leads us into all sorts of messes, as the story about Hagar and her son Ishmael shows, she ended up being badly treated by Sarah who became jealous of her and her child.
But that’s not where the story ends. The Lord fulfils His promise, and the miracle child Isaac is born to Abraham (100) and Sarah (90).
The question Paul poses to us in Galatians 4:30,31 is this: Are we children of the slave woman (Hagar) or the free woman (Sarah)? Are we trusting in our own efforts, or our we trusting in the finished work of Jesus on the cross?
And here’s some more questions for us:
What are the subtle ways we rely on our own efforts rather than on God?
Are there times when we say: ‘Lord…’, but actually living a life that says ‘I did it my way’?
If that’s the case, have we considered Paul’s words about what it means to be free in Christ, rather than being enslaved to our own efforts?( EG ‘There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ Romans 8:1. ‘Be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ Romans 12:2)
And finally, have we considered the implication of Jesus’s words on the cross: ‘IT IS FINISHED’
Finally, let’s meditate on these words in Galatians 4:31:
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”