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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

The Mother of Us All

Well, today's message is focused on Mother's Day.

Mother's Day, I'm going to call it Mother's Day of the Great Reset.

How many of you have had your mother recalibrate your life ever?

All of you should be raising your hand because without that recalibration you probably would not be here today.

And so we're thankful for our mothers, but today's title is probably not a welcome 1 maybe for Mother's Day.

And that's what our text said, and we'll come back to that later.

Jesus asked his own mother, you know, who is my mother?

And we'll come back to that later as we open God's Word today.

Let's bow our heads though before we open this Word.

Father in heaven, Lord bless us today as we do open your Word.

We're thankful for each day we have and for the opportunity we have to come and worship in freedom today.

We ask your spirit to be with us to guide us.

You know, I got this text really, the idea for the sermon as I was reading in Galatians.

And in Galatians chapter 4, 1 of the epistles, read to those in an area of Turkey called Galatia.

We visited there last year, Deutsch and myself and those on the tour.

It's actually a very fascinating place, Cappadocia and the area there.

If you've never been to Turkey, It's definitely worth going to see.

I mean, two-thirds really of the New Testament were written either to Turkey or from Turkey.

And this particular epistle was written to those in that area of the country.

And sometimes people knew in the faith, that is, the Adventist faith that have heard so many positive things about the law, they read the book of Galatians and they think well maybe the law is not that positive after all.

So I'm going to look at that a little bit today because you're going to end up seeing the law is positive.

But in chapter 4, there's a fascinating verse that I drew my attention in my mind because it was Mother's Day and I also was going to be talking about the covenants, what text would go along with that.

The Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

How many of you have thought about that text?

The Jerusalem above is free, who is the mother of us all.

And then the Jerusalem which now is, maybe the 1 below you might say, is in bondage with her children.

So 2 mothers here pictured in Galatian, 1 that's free and 1 that's in bondage.

And the question today is who is your mother?

And maybe to delve in more deeply, If that's a confusing question, I want to show you someone who was very confused, who you were introduced to in today's Sabbath school study, which was spectacular, going through the book of Genesis, looking at Abraham.

Now it is written, for it is written, Galatians 4 and verse 22, that Abraham had 2 sons.

The 1 by the bondwoman, that's 1 mother, the Jerusalem that now is, and the other by the free woman, that is Jerusalem above, or at least actuated by the principles of the Jerusalem above.

How many can see that he had some confusion in his life?

Like we learned this morning, he was called the father of the faithful, but many times in the Old Testament, he's also a father who was not so faithful.

And so he could be called also the father of the faithless and the father of the faithful.

And today the question is, are we faithful or unfaithful?

And it really comes down to who our mother is.

And as we said, he was confused and to be someone that follows the Jerusalem above which is free and the mother of us all is to be led by the Spirit.

Follow someone that is in bondage, Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children, is to be of the flesh.

And spirit typically means good in the Bible, and flesh means bad in the Bible.

So for those of you not used to studying the Bible, I mean I like my flesh.

But it's not talking about it in that sense.

It's talking about the flesh being the place where negative thoughts and things and other things are generated.

So what does that mean though, the flesh?

Galatians clears it up to specifically say what the flesh and spirit are in a chapter earlier or later rather in Galatians chapter 5 verse 19 through 21.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lewdness.

I mean, if you feel like, how many think this is not going well so far on the list?

If this is something that you really stand for and support, I'm not asking you to stand at this time, but these are works of the flesh, right?

Idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murderers, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

It's not Old Testament, it's the New Testament.

And it actually is kind of a laundry list that's basically tied almost every single statement to the 10 Commandments.

Adultery and fornication and uncleanliness and lewdness and licentiousness and idolatry and sorcery and hatred and wrath and strife and envy which all lead to murderous thoughts, either suicide or homicide or genocide, right?

And all these things come right out of God's law and are connected with the Jerusalem that is below, which is in bondage, which is of the flesh.

And it's interesting when you look at the 10 Commandments, the last 5 commandments are specifically related to things of the flesh, adultery and murder, adultery and stealing and lying and covetousness.

All these things are what's behind these behaviors.

Why do you commit adultery or coveting, immorality, fornication?

And so the last 5 of the 10 Commandments are kind of a picture of what the flesh leads to.

The first 5 commandments actually lead how to get out of the flesh, to be honest.

And it's like a, It's almost like a prescription pad, a diagnostic tool to help you understand what your mental, physical, and emotional problems are and then the solution to get out of those.

And then in that same chapter, Galatians chapter 5, there's a more helpful, well not more helpful, but a more hopeful list.

Love and joy and peace and longsuffering and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.

It's interesting that in the Greek language the word, the fruit of the Spirit is love and then flowing from love all those others are actually flowing from love.

So, and notice it says, and against such there is no what?

So the 10 commandments are not against these.

Not against these, It's almost saying, look, if you want to understand the New Testament, make sure and understand the Old Testament, because where are you going to understand what the law is?

How are you going to understand any of this without understanding the story of the Old Testament Abraham, or understanding the law in the Old Testament.

So then again, where did Paul get this list?

Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and what's the definition of love?

Or we might say they're kept by the commandments.

We don't keep the commandments as much as they keep us.

Great peace have they which love thy law, nothing shall offend them.

Literally that is translated, and in nothing shall they offend.

Great peace have they what's loved by Allah, and in nothing shall they offend.

In other words, if you love God's law, you're not gonna be offending others by breaking them through your law breaking.

And then, in your presence is fullness of joy.

Of course, God's presence was, depending on the time he was acting in history, but now we would say, ultimate, most intimate presence of God is in the most holy place, that is in the most holy place of the sanctuary.

So he got the list again from the very law of God.

So Abraham then is pictured as a person that's just like you, kind of wishy-washy.

Just like me, kind of goes back and forth.

How many of you have been Abraham of the flesh ever in your life?

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The Mother of Us All

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