Text: Galatians 3:23-29
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
I can’t really imagine captivity from the perspective of one who is held against their will. But Ed Leonard can.
Held for 105 days by the FARC in the Andes Mountains of Columbia, Ed Leonard, a 60-year-old Canadian gold and silver driller, suddenly learned he was a free man.
His boss, Norbert Reinhart, owner of the Ontario-based Terramundo Drilling Company, had traded places with him! Ed Leonard was now free but Norbert Reinhart was captive in his place.
Reinhart’s intent though was not to change places with his employee but to deliver a ransom he hoped would result in his release and that they would both walk out of the jungle together. He knew though that it was possible that he too might be captured, but risked it anyway saying to Leonard when the exchange occurred: "Your shift is over, it's time to go home." Some 95 days later he too was released when another ransom was paid.
Once captive … now set free!
Paul speaks to the Galatians of about captivity in his letter:
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
Paul in making his appeal to the Galatians points to the Law as a jailer or warden if you will, holding as prisoners those born in the natural way, born in sin, and born captive, which can be seen as forcibly confined, subjugated, or enslaved … kept in bondage, under restraint, being controlled and confined.
The law brings no peace … “You Shall Not” only condemns. The Law however is not bad. Paul calls it a guardian.
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
The work of a guardian is good. At times we see it as loving parents caring for the needs of their children; teacher’s at school guiding and directing the learning of their students or coaches mentoring and building up those on the team that are under their care and supervision.
But, also at times it is a parent disciplining a child, a teacher correcting a student, or a coach benching a player pointing out what is acceptable and expected and the consequences for breaking the rules or missing expectations.
Ill.
Businesses have goals and expectations too. The Red Wings organization expects to make the playoffs each year … right now it’s not looking very good!
Measured against their expectations they’re as good as dead.
What happens if they fail? Changes and consequences are expected.
For the world and those born under the law, the result for not meeting expectation is not discipline, correction, or benching … the verdict is death.
Measured by God’s law you and I deserve nothing but to be cast off. That is the reality of the law. Miss the mark and you’re out of here, cast into utter darkness.
“The law is the light that reveals how dirty the room is, not the broom that sweeps it clean.”
Dr. Phil Williams, DTS, 1976.
Faith is the means and Christ the object that restores the relationship, corrects the wrong, and gets you off the bench and back in the game so to speak.
For as Paul says:
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Again baptized into Christ is the means God gives to replace the guardian which for the Jew was the Law and falling back into its care.
Silly Galatians! Foolish Galatians as Paul calls them. Who has bewitched you? Gal. 3:1
The reality of Christ death and crucifixion was before their eyes. So Paul asks, “How did you believe? Did the Spirit come to you by keeping the law … or was it by faith?”
Paul writes:
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Luther says about faith:
“God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.”
Martin Luther.
Our comfort is not in the law but in the life, death and resurrection of the one who fulfilled its requirements for us. By faith in Christ we are his and he is ours.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And that doesn’t mean that there are no distinctions of male and female.
29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
God’s own child I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ!
He, because I could not pay it; Gave me full redemption price.
Hymn 594
By faith, God’s gift and instrument we believe, receive the Spirit and trust all that Christ has done on our behalf.
As we see another year come to a close and a new one emerge there is always hope. Hope, that the problems of the past will be left in the past and hope that the New Year brings blessings that erase the trials of the year just concluded or it may be that a joy filled year continue.
Ill.
“This past year, this year of years, how shall it tell upon my whole life! All has gone well in a worldly point of view, how is it in a spiritual? My God how?
I fear I have lost ground. I fear I have had less of the spirit of piety this year than during the last; yet God’s goodness has been given more than usually to me this year. How ungrateful! What a poor return!
One year ago I had myself under a tolerable discipline [and yet] the many secret determinations to pursue a straightforward course of industry, diligence, virtue … how few of them have I kept. I am almost weary of making resolutions and feel more like giving myself to circumstances.”
Those words written on December 31, 1843 are an excerpted from the book Forgotten Valor – the Memoirs, Journals, & Civil War Letters of Orlando B. Willcox.
Robert Scott Editor
While General Willcox’s sentiments still sound very contemporary for a journal entry written 173 years ago; the tone seems to reflect the wisdom of a veteran of many New Year’s Eves rather than the 20 year old officer fresh out of West Pointe, that Willcox was at the time of the writing.
His thoughts and his concerns mirror ours as we enter a New Year, with new resolutions and new uncertainty in the times we live.
His thoughts and his concerns mirror ours as we enter a New Year, with new resolutions and new uncertainty in the times we live.
May the Lord by his Spirit bring peace and blessing to you in this New Year; May your new beginning be a refreshing of faith in the one who freed you from your captivity; for 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in and through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior now and forever. Amen
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