From Bondage to Freedom

Grace Mercy and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. AMEN

The address for today is based on the New Testament Reading from Galatians chapter 3.

24So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. ²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Galatians 3:24-27)

Guardian! “someone who protects or defends something.’’ Often today we just shorten the term guardian to guard. We have security guards whose job is to protect and defend. Maybe it’s the security guards at a sporting event who jobs it is to keep everyone safe.

Or security guards at a bank who protect the workers from getting robbed and hurt. Some people have guard dogs. Dogs to help protect them from other people. Farmers may have alpacas in their mob of sheep as the alpacas help guard the sheep from predators such as foxes. Children have parent/ guardians who are guardian to look after them and protect them whilst they are young. Other people have gods or spiritual things who they say are their guardian. For example in Greek and Roman mythology there are plenty of different gods who offer protection and are guardians. For example Apollo…. A Greek and Roman god who is an alleged guardian and protector of the young.

Our text today talks about a guardian. The law was given as our guardian until Christ’s coming. What does it mean that the law was given as our guardian? Was the law really given to protect and defend something?

If we go back to the Old Testament at look at the Mosaic Law- the Ten Commandments, the law was given to defend and protect something. Ourselves! Humankind! The law was given to us from God so that we knew what the standards were. How God was expecting us to live as his creation. So, what does Paul mean that the law was our guardian? For that we need to delve into the Greek culture Paul was writing this letter into.

In the original Greek language, the word here used for a guardian or custodian has a very specific and defined meaning. This type of guardian was a person who had strict supervision over the children of the house…. especially boys. And the boys of these Greek households were not allowed to step foot outside the house without a guardian… they had to be accompanied everywhere, even whilst walking to and from school. This is the type of guardian Paul is describing the law as! We cannot escape it. It is like being locked up with it… we simply can’t escape God’s law and its consequences.

The law even today continues to look over our shoulder and bring to our attention the sin in our lives, the things our sinful flesh does. Maybe it is the sin of greed and the wanting of more and more possessions? Maybe it is the sin of pride where you are so confident in your own ability, that you forget God? Maybe it’s the sin of hate, not loving your neighbor. Maybe you grumble and speak ill of other people. The law as a guardian bonds us to our sin. Just as the guardian was with the children wherever they went, God’s just law is always with us and we can’t escape it by our own strength. But then Paul communicates a very important point in the pivotal verse of today’s text. We may never be able to escape the law, but we can escape the consequences of the law. Verse 25 and 26a

Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith (Gal 3:25-26a).

What has come to rescue us from the power of this guardian? Christ Jesus!

Christ is the one who was sent by God the Father and fulfilled the law perfectly. Christ repelled the law and all its effects on humankind. Christ destroys and conquers all the things which have come to destroy us spiritually. Christ has destroyed the death we deserve from our greed. Christ came and destroyed the death we deserve through our prideful sins. Christ came and destroyed the death we deserve when we don’t love our neighbour. Christ’s coming bought the power of the guardian, the power of the law to an end. And the results of this for you and me is life-changing. I quote Paul in Romans chapter 10

Christ is the end of the law, so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes (Romans 10:4).

That righteousness is the freeing power of the Gospel. The freedom we receive from Christ. Freedom from the guardian of the law, who holds us captive to our sinful nature. Freedom is received through the gift of faith from God, the gift of faith where we receive the pureness of Jesus Christ as our own. In Christ Jesus we are all the children of God through faith.

Brothers and Sisters, because of Christ and his grace there is no distinction between people. We are all children of God. All one in Christ. We are all children of God through the gift of faith which we have received. St Paul also summarizes the unity in Christ in another one of his letters:

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. (Ephesians 4:1-7)

You have each received your own individual grace and faith from God the Father. And this unifying, freeing power of the Gospel brings unity to us all. We all have something in common- the grace and faith as a gift of God. The Gospel message is the same for everyone. That leaves one more question to answer. How do we become the children of God and receive the gift of grace and faith?

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Gal 3:26-27)

In your own baptism, you received everything Christ- the gift of grace, has to offer. In the water and the Word you became a child of God. You were transformed from a person who was under the bondage of sin, someone whose guardian was the law, and you became free through the saving power of the Gospel. You became clothed in Christ, receiving the righteousness of Christ. All your sins were washed away once and for all because Christ took upon himself all our sins of the cross to forgive us all. No longer are you bound to sin and death. You have received as a gift from God in baptism, the freedom of salvation.

Friends, as I conclude today, I would like to briefly touch on the baptismal rite of the Lutheran Church to hopefully leave you will a lasting image – going from the bondage to sin, to the freedom of salvation.

I presume most of you here today have witnessed numerous baptisms throughout your life, but today I want you to image that we have a baby here, about to be baptised into God’s family. Family and sponsors are gathered around the font, the baby is wearing a nice white gown. The actual baptism with the water and the Word is about to take place as the preparation component of the baptismal rite has concluded.

‘I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’

Through the water and God’s Word, the baby has become part of God’s family. Now that they have been baptised, there usually is a presentation of a candle and a baptismal certificate. But in the baptismal rite of the Lutheran Church, there is one optional component which can be used or not used as part of the baptism.

Now it says there in red ‘The sponsors or a representative of the congregation may place a white garment on the baptised person as the minister or a sponsor or representative says: [Name] put on this robe, for in baptism you have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

What an image! Can you image the baby coming to be baptised wearing normal, everyday, maybe even dirty clothes because they have dribbled on them, and then after they are baptised, we clothe them in a white robe! I have an image of this on the screen.

By the way, its fine for children to get muddy, but I want to look at this picture in a spiritual sense. The dirty clothes represent the stain of sin. How powerful then, that through baptism, the child becomes pure white and righteous because of Christ.

Now I fully understand why this BAPTISIMAL GARMENT option this doesn’t occur. Image you’re the parent trying to dress a baby up the front of the church after they have been baptised, kicking or screaming whilst the congregation is all watching and waiting… that’s why majority of the time a white baptismal gown is put on prior to the actual baptism.

Brother and Sisters. This robe imagery is what happened to you in your own baptism. You came prior to baptism an ordinary person, ordinary clothes, a poor sinner, bound to the law, stained and dirty. After being baptised you leave with the full baptismal garment, which is the righteousness of Christ, perfect for your own salvation! AMEN

And the peace of God which surpass all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in the freedom of the Gospel- Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN

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