"Let's Talk About Your Mother..."
INTRODUCTION: Today I want to talk about your
mother....
NO...I realize this is not Mother's Day...
NO...I don't wish to denigrate the physical lady who gave you
life....I don't want to go there! That can be trouble!
I do want to talk about your SPIRITUAL MOTHER...and that
can be either good news or trouble, depending on who your REAL
spiritual mother is....
In this room today, spiritually speaking, there may or may not be
children of two DIFFERENT SPIRITUAL MOTHERS....
By the end of the sermon today, ALL of us should be able to
determine WHO our REAL MOTHER is....
One of these mothers is a WITCH--she bewitches and deceives her
children into thinking they can rely on her for salvation....
In reality, this mother offers not SALVATION but SLAVERY
and DEATH....
This mother herself is a SLAVE and she can only offer her
children the heritage of slavery...
She offers frustration and failure...
She offers bondage to sin....
She offers doubt and discouragement....
She only offers a FALSE HOPE of Salvation...
She offers a DIFFERENT GOSPEL...a FALSE GOSPEL which is not
really good news at all...
The other mother is a holy QUEEN....
She's the SPIRITUAL EQUIVALENT of the Proverbs 31 woman...
She offers her children a real KINGDOM...
She offers SALVATION
She offers ASSURANCE of SALVATION...
She offers her children LIFE...
She offers her children a KING, who is Jesus Christ....
She offers her children TRUE FREEDOM from SIN....
She offers TRUE HOPE for the future and STRENGTH for today...
She offers the TRUE GOSPEL....NEWS that TRULY is GOOD NEWS....
S.P.S.: I would like to let the Apostle Paul describe WHO
these two mothers actually are....In doing so, SOME of us yet may be
in for a SHOCK at how SEVERELY AND HARSHLY Paul treats your mother if
she's the WRONG MOTHER! He says "THROW HER OUT OF HERE! and
THROW OUT HER CHILDREN TOO!"
I. Paul's Description of the two Mothers....
GAL 4:21 NIV Tell me, you who want to be under the law,
are you not aware of what the law says?
Does NOT mean "under the penalty" of the law....Who in
their right mind would want to be under the penalty of the law???
{22} For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by
the slave woman and the other by the free woman.
{23} His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary
way;
Recall the story in Genesis...Sarah, even though God had promised
a son, took things into her own hands and gave Hagar to Abraham for
the purpose of producing an offspring....
What occurred was a result of the HUMAN WAY of doing things....
but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a
promise.
The Rabbis in Paul's day were very fond of what they called
ALLEGORY...
The Scriptures had the literal meaning....but they went beyond the
literal meaning and often read into the Scriptures elaborate
analogies or ALLEGORIES....
In the following ALLEGORY, Paul gives each person in the story a
special MEANING...
{24} These things may be taken figuratively, for the
women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai
and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar.
{25} Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and
corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is
in slavery with her children.
Please take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle....At
the top of the left column, write "SLAVE WOMAN"; At the top
of the left column, write "FREE WOMAN"....
So we see the beginning of Paul's extended metaphor:
We have on one side of the sheet: The Old Covenant....Mount
Sinai....Slave children....Hagar...Mount Sinai....Arabia...present
Jerusalem...
{26} But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is
our mother. {27} For it is written: "Be glad, O barren
woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have
no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband."
Paul continues the extended metaphor:
On the right side of the sheet: Jerusalem above....OUR MOTHER....
{28} Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. {29}
At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born
by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.
On the right side of the sheet: YOU (if you're a Christian), child
of promise (like Isaac)....born by the power of the Spirit...
On the left side of the sheet: persecutor....born after the flesh
(the HUMAN way)....
{30} But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the
slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never
share in the inheritance with the free woman's son."
On left side of the sheet: Get rid of! Slave woman...Get rid of
son... No inheritance...Put a big X on the left side of the sheet...
On the right side of the sheet: Inheritance...
If you get rid of the slave woman, what do you get rid of?
Old covenant...
Mount Sinai...
Slavery....
The institutions prevalent in Jerusalem 1950 years ago...
{31} Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave
woman, but of the free woman.
We are NOT children of the Old Covenant...
We are NOT children of Mount Sinai...Mount Sinai is NOT OUR
MOM!
We are NOT the persecutors!
We are NOT beholden to the practices of Judaism....
We ARE the children of PROMISE...
WE ARE BORN by the POWER OF THE SPIRIT...
We ARE the children of the NEW Covenant...
We ARE the ones who have been told we're going to hell for what
we believe by those who don't understand...
We ARE the children of the FREE WOMAN....
Who's our MOM? THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM...
HEB 12:18 NIV You have not come to a mountain that
can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and
storm; {19} to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that
those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them,
{20} because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an
animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." {21} The sight
was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with
fear." {22} But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly
Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands
upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, {23} to the church of
the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to
God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made
perfect, {24} to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the
sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
{25} See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did
not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much
less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? {26}
At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised,
"Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the
heavens." {27} The words "once more" indicate the
removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what
cannot be shaken may remain. {28} Therefore, since we are
receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful,
and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
{29} for our "God is a consuming fire."
II. If we THROW OUT Mount Sinai, how shall we live our lives?
By the NEW AND LIVING WAY of keeping in step with the Holy
Spirit...
The Holy Spirit in you....Christ in you....is to be your
guide....along with those things CHRIST has commanded us....Matthew
28....
From here to the end of the book, Paul gets intensely ETHICAL....
GAL 5:1 NIV 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. {2} Mark my words! I, Paul,
tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of
no value to you at all. {3} Again I declare to every man who lets
himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
If a person becomes naturalized, he or she has to carry out the
rules governing naturalization...Now once that person becomes
naturalized, does that mean he or she doesn't do the rest of the laws
of the country?
{4} You who are trying to be justified by law have been
alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
{5} But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit
the righteousness for which we hope. {6} For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The
only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
{7} You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from
obeying the truth? {8} That kind of persuasion does not come
from the one who calls you. {9} "A little yeast works through
the whole batch of dough."
{10} I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view.
The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty,
whoever he may be. {11} Brothers, if I am still preaching
circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the
offense of the cross has been abolished. {12} As for those
agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate
themselves!
{13} You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use
your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one
another in love.
{14} The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love
your neighbor as yourself." {15} If you keep on biting and
devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each
other.
{16} So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify
the desires of the sinful nature. {17} For the sinful nature desires
what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to
the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you
do not do what you want. {18} But if you are led by the Spirit,
you are not under law.
{19} The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual
immorality, impurity and debauchery; {20} idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish
ambition, dissensions, factions {21} and envy; drunkenness, orgies,
and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live
like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
{22} But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, {23} gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law. {24} Those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions
and desires.
{25} Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the
Spirit. {26} Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying
each other.
GAL 6:1 NIV Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin,
you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself,
or you also may be tempted. {2} Carry each other's burdens, and in
this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. {3} If anyone thinks
he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. {4} Each one
should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself,
without comparing himself to somebody else, {5} for each one should
carry his own load.
{6} Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all
good things with his instructor. {7} Do not be deceived: God cannot
be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. {8} The one who sows to please
his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one
who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal
life. {9} Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the
proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
{10} Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all
people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
{11} See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own
hand! {12} Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are
trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this
is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.
{13} Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they
want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. {14}
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
{15} Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what
counts is a new creation.
{16} Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the
Israel of God. {17} Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I
bear on my body the marks of Jesus. {18} The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
CONCLUSION: Are you a child of the Law or a Child
of Grace?
You can't be both....They are diametrically opposed to each other....
Are you the child of Sarah or the child of Hagar?
Are you an Isaac or an Ishmael?
Are you a slave or are you free?
We are CHILDREN OF GRACE...We LIVE GRACEFULLY...Full of Grace and Truth....We don't rely on OUR ability to keep the Law...We rely solely on Jesus Christ, who has taught us to FOLLOW THE LEAD of the Spirit of God who is living in us...
PRAYER