Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. Galatians 4:21-22
Sometimes the best way to get your point across is to tell a story to illustrate what you’re trying to say! It’s why preachers use illustrations. A story can carry truth into the heart in a way merely stating facts cannot! That’s why children love good stories (and we should tell them stories), because stories matter. Stories can teach. Stories have the power to reach the heart.
But of course, stories can also be abused. We see that in a lot of preaching today where sometimes it’s more about telling a good story than it is about illustrating biblical truth. But where there is truth to be taught, a story can help carry that truth into heart like few other things. Jesus was a master of this! Think of his parables. So it’s no surprise to find that the Apostle Paul also knew how to use a good story.
Throughout Galatians, Paul has been trying to get his friends in Galatia to understand what a tragic mistake it would be for them to try to go back under the Old Covenant Law as if they were Old Covenant Jews. No, he tells them, they cannot live under the Mosaic Law with it’s commands and ceremonies, because it is not their law. They are not a part of Old Covenant Israel. They are in the New Covenant God established through Christ. And Paul has been saying that and saying it throughout Galatians. But he’s afraid they’re not listening! He says in v 11, “I’m afraid I may have labored over you in vain!” And v 19, “I’m in anguish over you, ” v 20 “I am perplexed about you!” But still they don’t understand. His message is not getting through! So he turns to this story from the Old Testament about Abraham and his two sons in hopes that it will help them see how the old covenant of law has come to an end and the new covenant of grace has taken its place! It is that story we turn this morning as we seek to understand our place in God’s big story of redemption!
May God give us understanding as we seek to apply His Word
Pastor S Scott Lee