The first in a series of 9 sermons

For overview of entire series click here 

Readings reproduced on this page:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, 1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan

Readings

Genesis 21:1–21 
1Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
3Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.
5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
7And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
9But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,
10and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.
12But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.
13I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.
15When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.
16Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob.
17God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
18Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.
21While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

Text

Galatians 3:26–4:11; 4:21- 5:1 
26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
1What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.
2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.
3So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.
4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,
5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
9But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
11I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says?
22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.
23His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
24These 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.
25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.
26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.
27For 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.”
28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
29At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.
30But 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.”
31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

1It 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.