4TH SUNDAY IN LENT
Text: Galatians 4:21-31
Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.
Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus.
Of the many questions which now especially move the hearts of Christians, one of the most important is the question: Which is the true Church of Jesus Christ on earth? It can not be expressed how much depends upon the right or wrong answer to this question.
Christ has given his Church promises glorious beyond compare and promises which only she has. The Lord speaks of his Church when he says: "Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Mt 16,18. The Lord speaks of his Church when he says: "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Lk 12, The Lord speaks of his Church when he says: "Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world." Mt 28,20. "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Mt 18,18.
When the apostles speak of the Church of Christ, they sometimes call it the Church, the house,.the kingdom of God, sometimes the kingdom of heaven on earth, sometimes Christ's spiritual body, sometimes Christ's bride, sometimes the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the peculiar people, sometimes the pillar and ground of the truth. What can be more important than to know to whom these glorious promises are given? what is more important than to know whether one belongs to this glorious Church outside of which there is no salvation?
Since the Church of Jesus Christ has already stood 1900 years, are we really to suppose, that there still are Christians who do not know what the Church is? One would think that this is impossible. And yet it is true. Not only are there thousands in Christendom who are ignorant concerning what the Church is because they do not search the Scriptures; but nowadays even among those who deal with Holy Writ daily, even among learned Christians, the question: What is the Church, is considered a question for which the answer must still be found, or they answer it in very different, yes, contradictory ways.
I will not mention the fact that there are still the ignorant who under the word "Church" think only of the building in w hich Christians gather for public worship; permit me merely to ask: What do most of those who have a better knowledge understand by the Church ?
Some suppose that the Church of Christ is the totality of all who call themselves Christians. They view the Church as a tree which Christ planted in Judea and which in the course of the centuries has spread farther and farther, of which the Christian sect is a special branch. The different faiths which the various denominations in Christendom now embrace and confess they consider the colorful iridescence which the one and the same sun of truth has brought forth.
Others, and they are the Roman Christians, believe that the Church of Christ is a state of priests, that is, the totality of all those who follow the Roman Bishop and are subject in unquestioning faith in everything which this alleged successor of Peter with all his bishops commands the people to believe and do; yes, the Roman Christians suppose that the real, the true Church is in
fact the Roman Bishop with those very bishops, clerics, and priests who follow him and the lay people are only those who are to be saved by this church.
Still others, and they are those who have the best knowledge, suppose that the Church is a visible, external institution in which God's Word is preached in its purity and the Sacraments administered according to Christ's institution; in it, as the real nucleus of the Church, there is one holy, ordained priesthood to whom God has given the keys of the kingdom of heaven and other important powers for the benefit and comfort of the Church.
But, my friends, these are false ideas of the Church of Jesus Christ upon earth. It is indeed true: All upon earth who call themselves Christians are called the Church; it is also true: All those congregations in which God's Word is preached, whether in its purity or not, as long as they do not deny it, are called Christian Churches; if the name "Church" is given to such visible fellowships, this is not done in the real but only in a figurative sense. The most important question is this one: i/hat is really the Church? what in the true sense of the word is the Church? which is the Church to which those glorious promises were given which only she has?
This question is answered by our today's Epistle. Let us devoutly hear this Epistle as those desirous to learn.
Quote the text here: Galatians 4:21-31.
Upon the basis of this text permit me to present to you:
THE TRUE CHURCH
1. What It Is.
2. How It Can be Known, and finally,
3. To Which Goal She Presses.
We beseech you, oh Lord Jesus, that you not only teach us from your holy Word which your Church is where you dwell intimately in grace, but that you also embrace those of us with your mighty, gracious arms who do not yet belong to your holy Church, nor are members of your body, nor sheep of your flock, nor citizens of your heavenly kingdom. Today add those who will be saved. And all those whom you have rescued from the deserts of this world draw even more closely to your heart today, so that nothing will be able to tear them from your hands. Hear us for your own sake. Amen.
I.
In our text Paul answers the question: Which is the true Church? in the words: " Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." V.26. In order to understand this expression correctly we must consider it in its connection with the preceding.
The apostle had taken the Galatians to task because they had let themselves be led from the Gospel, from the doctrine of salvation by grace, back to the Law, to the doctrine of salvation by the merit of works. The Galatians could have thought: Did not God himself give the descendants of Abraham the Law upon Sinai and were not the descendants of Abraham God's people, that is, the Church outside of which there is no salvation? Meeting this objection, the apostle
therefore begins in our text in the following manner: “ Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham h ad two sons, the one by a bondmaid,:the other by a freewoman. But he who was o f the bondwoman was bom after the flesh, but he of the freewoman was by pro mise." Vv.21-23. The apostle means to say: You know, my dear Galatians,that Abraham had two sons, Ishmael from Hagar, Isaac from Sarah; although Ishmael was a son of Abraham, he was only a slave in the house, since he had been born of a slave according to the flesh; on the other hand, Isaac, Abraham's other son, was the only true son in that home; he was not born of a slave, but of a freewoman, Abraham's true wife, Sarah, and not in the course of nature but as the result of a divine promise given Abraham in his old age.
The apostle continues: " Which things are an allegory." He means to say: In the fact that Abraham had two such different sons lies a most significant mystery. And what this mystery is he himself tells us as he continues: " For these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.... So then, brethren, we are not of children of the bondwoman, but of the free." Vv.24-26. If I were to summarize what the apostle means to say it is this: By Ishmael and Isaac with their mothers two different testaments or churches are indicated. Ishmael with his mother, a slave, means the church of the earthly Jerusalem, the church of those who are still the slaves of the Law and therefore want to be righteous before God by the Law (that Ishmael signifies the church of the Law is allegorically indicated by the fact that Mount Sinai upon which the Law was given also has in Arabia the name Hagar); on the other hand, Isaac with his free mother signifies the true, spiritual Church of that Jerusalem which is above, the Church of those who cling alone to God's promises of grace, who therefore are no more subject to the Law but are free of it.
According to the statement of the apostle which is the real, the true Church which is the true mother of all Christians? First of all, the apostle says it is " the Jerusalem which is above;" it is not of this world; according to its essence it is not an earthly, physical, visible kingdom but an invisible, spiritual, heavenly kingdom. It is not an institution perceived by the senses; not a number of people who are united by certain laws, ordinances, ceremonies, customs, and usages; but it is a kingdom of hearts which is united by the bond of one mind, one Spirit, and kept together unseen by the eyes of men. It is not a host of people who can be recognized by their natural birth and earth ly fatherland, or whom one can find together in any one place; it is not tied to any land, any city, any nation of the world; it is a congregation which is scattered over the entire globe; it has members from all ages, from all stations, amongst all nations, in all states, countries, and islands from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.
Moreover, the apostle says it is " free;" as the apostle himself explains, to it belongs no child of Hagar, no Ishmael, none who are only by their fleshly birth born slaves of the Law; it consists only of Sarah's children, only Isaacs, only children of promise who are born again by the promise of grace as free children of God.
Therefore the true Church is the whole number of those who have not sought and found their salvation upon Sinai but upon Golgotha who have not chosen Moses but Christ as their Mediator and Leader; who want to be saved not by the works which the Law demands but by that grace preached in the Gospel and offered to all men; who really perceive that they are poor, lost sinners
and hungry for grace have therefore fled from the judgment throne of the righteous God to the mercy seat revealed in Christ to all sinners; who, although they are sinners in themselves, are God's saints and beloved in Christ through faith; who need not, trembling as a slave, be afraid of God, but who trust God as dear children trust their dear Father; who can therefore say with Paul: "If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Rom 8,31-34. Yes, they can defy all the foes before whom the whole world trembles and quakes, mock them, and challenging them say: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor 15,55-57.
You see, all of them compose the true Church; they are the Church to which all those wonderful promises and powers are given. They are the ones of whom the Lord speaks when he says, that the gates of hell shall not conquer his Church; they are the ones to whom the Lord has given the keys of the kingdom of heaven; they are the ones to whom he has promised that he would be with them unto the end of the world; they are the ones of w hom he speaks when he says: "If he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." Mt 18,17. That is the Church of which the Lord speaks in the Song of Solomon: "There are virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one." Song of Solomon 6,8.9. That is the true ark which alone floats in this world over the waters of destruction and which hides all those rescued and elect within herself. In brief, that is the mother of all believers.
My dear hearer, do you belong to this Church? Ah, remember, you can be a member of the visible church, yes, hold of office in it, and enjoy great respect, and yet not be a member of the true Church, the invisible congregation of believers who are scattered over the globe. For behold! by our physical birth we are the children of Hagar; we are born under the Law, slaves of the Law, who belong to the church of the Law. Only by baptism and the promise of grace attached to it have you become children of Sarah, children of grace and freedom; but have you also remained in this freedom of grace? remained in a childlike spirit toward God so that you can joyfully defy sin, the Law, death, and hell? Or if you had again lost your freedom of the Spirit -- and who should not have lost it again in our evil times? -- can you say: There was a time when by faith I was turned from a slave of the Law into a child of promise, from a slave of sin and death into a free person in Christ? Ah, if you are not so exact in anything else, then be exact now in this; for if one does not have the Church as his mother, he also does not have God as his Father.
Oh, then, enter in, you blessed of the Lord, you redeemed souls! Why should you stand outside? Everywhere through Baptism and the Gospel the true Church opens its invisible doors. The moment a person has become weary in the service of the Law, the moment he comes to the point when he must exclaim: Alas, what shall I do? My efforts of the past are lost. Where can I find help? where comfort? where rest? where hope for my sinful soul? then the Church, the friendly mother calls: Come into my lap, my child; here is Jesus who has earned eternal peace for you; believe in him and you are his. Follow his voice, oh lost sinners; believe this promise and you are children of the promise, children of freedom; then you belong to the church.
II.
We have heard not only of the wonderful fellowship of the true Church, but also that it is an invisible, heavenly kingdom; you will now say: Where
are we to find this Church? This leads me to the second question which must be answered, namely, how is the Church to be recognized?
I must answer thus: The true Church is never recognized in this way that one can say: See, these and these are the true Church. First of all, it is never gathered in one place, and then, one can never see one's faith which alone makes one a member of the Church. So when Christ was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come -- they meant the Church of the New Covenant which would be founded by Christ -- the Lord replied: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Lk 17,20.21. Paul says: "The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power," 1 Cor 4,20; and again "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." 2 Tim 2,19.
As impossible as it is to be able to say, these persons or those are the true Church, there nevertheless are certain marks by which one can be certain beyond all doubt where the true Church must be, even though one cannot see nor pick out its members. The apostle says in our text, that all members of the Church are children of promise or that they were reborn through the Word of promise, that is, were turned from servants of the Law to free children of God through the Gospel. God has revealed still more to us; he says by the prophet Isaiah: "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Is 55,10.11. We see from this: God's Word, especially the Word of promise, or the Gospel, is not only the only seed from which children of promise or the Church are bora, but whenever God sends this Word to any place, it is also never a sterile seed; some will certainly be born through this Word, be brought to faith, hence become members of the Church.
Everyone can himself conclude how the Church can be recognized, even though its individual members can not be ascertained, or how one can with absolute certainty conclude that a part of the true Church is at any one place. One such sign is the preaching of the pure Word of God with its seals, the Sacraments. Wherever this heavenly seed is sown, there we can be certain that according to the assured promises of God it has sprouted at least in a few hearts, that there we do not find only weeds but also wheat, not merely the sons of Hagar but also the sons of Sarah, not merely servants of the Law but also children of promise, true children of God, true believers, true disciples and brethren, and members of Christ, in short, that in that place the true, invisible Church and also Christ himself, is present and the keys of the kingdom of heaven, grace, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, freedom, and an open heaven are found. The Augsburg Confession is correct in saying in Article 7: "Also they teach that one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered."
You see, my friends, where you find a congregation which has both, the pure Gospel and the unadulterated Sacraments, there, of course not visibly but beyond a doubt, you will find the true Church, not that it can be touched but
known; not all members of the visible congregation are members of the invisible, true, real Church (yes, perhaps most are weeds), but a few members of the invisible Church are certainly among them; for their sake the entire congregation is called a Church just as because of the wheatj which also has weeds, is called a wheat field; these children of God are the ones who alone possess the powers given the Church by Christ and for whose sake and in whose name alone they are exercised in the congregation.
The apostle indicates another sign by which the true Church can be known, when he continues in our text: " But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was bom after the Spirit, even so it is now." V. 29. We see from this: The true Church is always revealed by the fact that ic carries the cross. As Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so it happens at all times. The false church persecutes; the true Church jjs persecuted; the false church moves on in honor and respect, the true in disgrace and contempt; in a word, it is a suffering and struggling Church; it is the rose of heaven amid the thorns; it must go the same way upon which her Lord and Head Jesus Christ preceded her.
The moment therefore that you become a member of the true invisible Church, a citizen of Jerusalem which is above, an Isaac, you will not fail to have an Ishmael who mocks, hates, and persecutes you. Yes, you perhaps think: If I become a child of God, it must go well with me for then I have the richest, mightiest, most gracious Father. But on the contrary, at first it seems as if God has become your enemy. So, far be it that the true Church can be recognized by outward glory, earthly blessings, and freedom from misery and tribulation; it rather is recognized by persecution, by the contempt of the world, in short, by the cross. Oh, blessed, blessed are they to whom God has given this sign as well !
III.
The Church goes on and weeps, but that is not her goal. Let us briefly consider, thirdly, the goal toward which she is going.
It has often been supposed that the Church has already arrived at her goal. The world sees that there are so many religions which allege they rest upon divine revelation. But these religions have always won followers for only a time, have again disappeared, and given way to new religions. The world supposes that the same thing will undoubtedly happen to the Christian Church. This Church has also seen her best days, but finally even she will collapse as a building beaten down by the storms of time and upon its ruins will rise the temple of a more perfect religion. Now especially the foes of the Church use the kind of language which implies that the Church is already lying at their feet like a heap of rubbish. But those poor fools! If they do not want to believe the Scriptures which clearly predict that as long as there are worshipers of the Trinity, so long the sun and moon shall continue, that the Lord is and will remain with his Church always until the end of the world, they should have perceived from history, that the Church of Christ carries within herself something which time cannot destroy, a living gem which would break through the stone of her grave, even if the Church could be buried, and develop into a new, sprouting, blossoming, and fruitful tree.
Didn't the foe rejoice when they saw the Lord on the cross and his little flock frightened away? But behold, three days later he was alive again and soon he gathered hundreds of thousands who in adoration knelt before his cross. How the foe rejoiced when during the first three centuries the blood of Christians flowed in rivers and all the mighty of the world were united to wipe
out this miserably beggarly mob of Christians from the face of earth! But behold! More and more Christians miraculously came forth from the blood of the Christians. How the foe rejoiced when in the last half of the fourth century almost the whole Christian Church was suddenly poisoned and destroyed by the heresy of Arianism and the few confessors of Christ's divinity had been driven away and killed! But behold! A few faithful witnesses arose who scattered the false doctrine like chaff before the wind and the old Christian faith again lifted its victorious head. How hell rejoiced when in the seventh century Mohammed, the prophet of lies, wiped out the Church in the east and the papacy placed a man upon the throne in Christ's place in the west. Then it appeared as if the Church was conquered by the gates of hell. From century to century a constantly growing darkness of the wretched doctrines of man settled upon the Church erf the east and west. But behold! Four hundred years ago God awakened a poor, defenseless monk who did nothing but preach again the old, seemingly outdated, weak Word of the Gospel to the nations and in a short time it arose again in all lands; the old apostolic building again stood there mighty and glorious; the victory song of hell became silent.
Therefore, though the world may even now rock itself to sleep with the sweet dream of having overthrown the Church, it is nothing but a dream. Though all the works of men may tower to the clouds ever so proudly, they must disappear with time whose works they are, or must fall by the hands of those who built them; but Christ's Church is not the work of man; it rests upon an eternal foundation, upon Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Whoever rebels against this foundation does nothing more than dash himself to pieces; the foundation and edifice resting upon it remains immovable. Sooner will men tear the stars from heaven, sooner will they force the rivers of the earth back to their sources, sooner will they stop the sun from rising in the morning before they will hurl Christ from the throne of his heavenly kingdom, before they will dam up the free course of his Word, before they will extinguish the light of divine revelation. Heaven and earth will disappear but the Word of Jesus Christ and his Church will not disappear; the world will not conquer the Church but the Church the world; for when God will have let the last person be bom upon earth who is to be a member of his Church, then the last hour of the world has also struck. When God has arrived at his goal with his Church, then he will show that this world was merely an overnight stopping place for the members of his Church; he will demolish this stopping place and lead his Church into a new earth with a new heaven in which dwells righteousness.
This is the way the apostle speaks at the close of our text; “ Nevertheless what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. ” V. 30. The apostle directs us to the eternal goal of the Church. He means to say: As after the mocker Ishmael had inflicted much sorrow upon Isaac, was finally cast out of the house with his slave-mother into the wilderness with a canteen of water and a little bread and the son of the freewoman became the sole heir of his father, so it will be with the false and the true Church.
And so it is, my friends; the Hagar church of the Law and the slaves of sin strut around; they pride themselves with their freedom and wisdom; they rule while the true Church is subject to them; they rejoice while the true Church weeps and groans; they revel in great honor while the true Church lies in disgrace, shame,:and contempt. But just have patience! The Church must not only suffer and struggle invincibly upon earth until the end; she has also the greater goal of triumphing at last forever.
The day will come when it will finally be said of the Hagar church: “ Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be
heir with the son of the freewoman." This will be accomplished on judgment day. Then all who have rejected Christ will be cast into outer darkness, alas without Hagar's few crumbs of bread and canteen! On the other hand, the Church of promise will hear the word of her king: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Mt 25,34. Then the weeping Church will dry her tears, her poverty will be changed into riches, her disgrace into glory, her suffering into blessedness, her groans into rejoicing, her labors into blessed rest, her warfare into eternal triumph.
Oh that I could also conclude with St. Paul in the words of our text: " So, then, brethren« we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free." V.31. Oh therefore all of you who do not want to hear the terrifying words; " The son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman," give up the slavish service of sin and the Law and perceive and accept our salvation and freedom in the promise of grace in Christ; then some day we will also be counted as heirs, receive the key to all the treasure chamber of God, take possession of the house of our heavenly Father, yes, take possession of the kingdom and in it rule with Christ forever and ever. Amen.