Connection Fellowship
June 14, 2009
Full Adoption
Galatians 4:1-9
If you have your Bible this morning, I would invite you to turn again to the Book of Galatians as we continue our series of messages entitled, “Living in Freedom”. In this letter to the churches of what is now modern Turkey, the Apostle Paul has been refuting the false teaching that has infiltrated the churches. Jewish legalists who were telling these new believers that they needed convert to being Jews and follow their religious rules in order to be right with God.
After laying out the issue in chapter one, Paul defends his God given authority and then spend chapters 2-4 laying out the case for GRACE, and not LAW. In a sense, chapter 4 is redundant by addressing the same issue…just utilizing more illustrations. But there are two things I want you to understand this morning, as we focus just on the first 9 verses:
(1) If we don’t get the point that our relationship with God is based singularly on faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross as payment for our sins and not on our works…your belief system (or doctrine), your foundation is based on a faulty human foundation and not on God’s perfect plan.
(2) The freedom that God desires and intends for us to live in is not just a status that comes from being made right with God by Christ dying for us, but it is also an experiential freedom that comes from God living in and through us.
[Galatians 4:1-9]
TEXT
1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 3 So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. 8 However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?
Paul’s illustration of a child was familiar to his readers. But it may not be so evident to us. In their context, children of the most powerful and wealthy were raised by servants or slaves…almost as slaves themselves. Although everyone (including those in charge of him) knew that the child was the rightful heir and would one day not be subject to their supervision…they served the purpose of raising them to the point that they would be able to handle receiving their inheritance. But through the entire process, they understood that they were subject to the authority of the Father until the date he set to turn over control of his assets to the son.
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law,…
God’s purpose for the Law was to guide the Jewish people until the time He had set in eternity past for His Son to come into the world (fully human and fully God) to provide the only acceptable sacrifice for the eternal redemption of mankind.
God sent the Son so we might have the status of Sonship.
Rules were never meant to bring eternal life or to make us more tolerable to God. He is not focused on changing your behavior…He is focused on changing your heart, the core of your worship. That’s what He desires and deserves. As MacArthur reminds us, rules may keep us in line, but “rules don’t change the heart.”
So how does He change us so that we can live in real freedom and live the transformed life that He desires for us? Look again starting in verse 5:
5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
We not only receive the gift of salvation by being redeemed (or bought out of slavery to sin) and become a child of God. We also are given full adoption as sons. This may not mean much to us, but it did to the Galatian people. In their culture, adoption not only meant possibly being brought into the family…but it meant that you were given the full inheritance rights and allowed to enjoy them…as a mature son. And as a mature son, we are no longer under the bondage of legalistic rules, but rather we have received the person of God Himself (the Holy Spirit) into our hearts to guide us…and to confirm in our spirit that we are truly a part of the family of God by crying out for us the most intimate of Fatherly addresses…Abba Father (or Daddy).
God sent the Son so we might have the status of Sonship. But He sent
the Holy Spirit so we might have the experience of Sonship.
In verse 8, Paul reminds them that because of their faith in God’s gracious gift, they have received the status of a right relationship with Him. In verse 9, he asks them why, knowing that they have received this gift and an intimate fellowship with their Creator, would they return to something that brings no life, but only bondage?
In our church, we need to focus on helping people connect with God’s grace and then encouraging them to engage in the process of having their heart and life transformed as a result of the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives. We must be careful not to promote standards that are perceived as some check-off list for good standing with God. Instead, we are to paint a picture, in word and deed, of what we the Bible teaches a life transformed and surrendered to Christ looks like as we actively follow Him. The truth is that any standards we would set would be so far short of full surrender to God.
One of the most beautiful pictures of grace and love in our culture today is painted when children are adopted by into a family. They are received into the family and into the home. But, I’m told that there is an even greater moment when the reality of their status reaches that child’s heart and they, with sincerity and passion, say those personal, intimate words to their new parents: “Mommy” and “Daddy”.
God is not and will never be satisfied with a simple change in your spiritual status…that comes from accepting Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. That is the place to start. And if you have never accepted Christ personally…I want to encourage you to do that today.
But for followers of Christ, the message today is this: God wants you to live in more than just the status of being His child. He desires for you to live in the freedom of experiencing following Him and enjoying the intimate relationship for which you were created…that He has provided…not by rules…but by His Grace.
Why don’t you take a few moments and allow Abba Father
to speak that reality into your heart and life right now.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Get Your Belief System Straight
Connection Fellowship
June 7, 2009
Get Your Doctrine Straight
Galatians 3:1-29
For the past few weeks, we have been talking about Living in Freedom as we study the Book of Galatians. Yesterday I played golf. For me, golf does more than provide a few hours of recreation or fellowship. It provides sermon illustrations. And for this series…it proved a testing ground for my own response to this teaching.
(1) God wants us to live in grace and not under legalism – so I took a mulligan.
(2) The best defense for the Gospel is a changed life - I didn’t cuss this time (out loud).
(3) We are to die daily to our selfish desires – so I died to the idea of ever going pro.
And when I gave up on ever playing golf professionally and grasped the reality of my inabilities, I began to enjoy the recreation and fellowship that God provided through this round of golf so much more. It was so liberating!
Let me ask you a question. How have you been doing at living in the freedom God desires and provided through Christ? Have you laid aside any legalistic, non-biblical expectations of yourself or others? Has the reality of your changed life in Christ made a difference to anyone? Did you follow through on what God showed you last week about surrendering and dying to any attitude or thing?
As we come to Galatians chapter 3 this week, Paul sounds a bit parental. He tries to convey to these dear people how they can live in the freedom of God’s grace and not by the legalism of the Jewish Law. And he approaches it like a the greatest Teacher…Jesus…with lots of questions. And here is what he says:
“What are you are basing your life on?
Get your doctrine straight…It is so liberating!”
TEXT
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched [duped] you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? [You have experienced it & seen it lived out!]
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
[Did you start this Christian journey by the Law or by faith?]
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [You received the gift of salvation by grace through faith, but now you think that there is something you can do to earn it in the flesh?]
4 Did you suffer [experience] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
[Does God, who transformed you life, do all this by works or by faith?]
6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
[The Scripture says in Gen. 15:6 that even the father of the Jewish nation was declared right with God because of his faith, not works.]
7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.
[You cannot say I follow the true Jewish faith and still depend on works.]
8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
[God told Abraham – Gen. 12:3 – that this good news would bless all people, not just the Jews. This message of faith and the promise of the Savior-Messiah would come through the Jews, but would be for all the people…not just those who convert to Jewish traditions.]
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.”
[If you want to live by Law, you have to keep it all to perfection in word, action, and attitude. And no one can do that…we all know it!]
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
[Christ delivered us from this impossible system, bearing our curse so we could enjoy the blessing of God’s covenant promise to Abraham.]
15 Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.
[They understood that covenants were not like contracts. They were permanently binding…even among men. How much more with God?]
16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
[The covenant did not end at his death. And God provided for the completion of it through Abraham’s descendents, all the way to Christ.]
17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
[The Law was given 430 years after God’s covenant was last restated to Jacob, Abraham’s grandson. If Law was the means to a relationship with God, then it would do away with God’s faith covenant of salvation through the Messiah. That makes no sense. You would be following a Law based on a faulty beginning and a faulty God. If God is faulty, then the Law, that He gave, is also faulty. So why then the law?]
19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.
[It was for the sake of defining transgressions until the promised Messiah would come. Remember, when the Law was given, the Jewish people were struggling. They were wondering in the wilderness after a long captivity in pagan Egypt. Not unlike many in culture today, they were struggling to find their faith…and it was easily misplaced.]
20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.
[This is a one-way covenant that God Himself made and delivered. And He works for the good of both parties…sinful man and His holy glory.]
21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
[Does God contradict Himself with Covenant and Law? No way! If keeping Law could provide life, then a right relationship with God would come by keeping that Law. But rather, what it did was show men that there was no other hope – in ourselves – so when Jesus Christ came, it would be made evident to those who would themselves and believe.]
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.
[This is a picture of a corral, keeping the Jewish people on the right path until their faith could be revealed in the physical reality of Jesus.]
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
[Like a traditional schoolmaster, who was hired to keep watch over and teach the children until they were mature, the Law was to keep the Jews on track and lead them to recognize the promise completed in Christ. But it no longer serves that purpose, for Christ is now the guide for life.]
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
[Remember, Paul is writing to believers, and is not making a universal declaration that everyone is right with God. But those immersed in Christ…by faith…are now identified as a child of God. In God’s eyes, we are ‘clothed’ in Christ and when He looks at us, He sees His Son. And seeing His Son, there are no longer distinctions among believers concerning His faith covenant…now delivered to the entire human race.]
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
[No matter your nationality, your status in society, or your gender, all of you are recipients of the covenant of salvation through faith in Christ. Some today have used this text to say that in the New Testament there is no longer heterosexual or homosexual. But that is not what it is saying at all. No, under the old Law system, there were all kinds of distinctions between people in how they relate to God…but no more. All approach God by the same WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE…Jesus Christ…by faith.]
UNDERSTANDING
You might say, “I’m not a Jew,” or “I never tried to keep some religious system to get to heaven. So, what does this all mean for me?” Glad you asked!
Everyone follows some belief system, whether established by a religion, a country, a church, or even yourself. God would have us know that there is only one WAY to a right relationship with Him...and it has never changed. It is by faith alone in Christ alone [Martin Luther]. Anything belief system that would contradict or attempt to add to this central truth is not of God. Don’t be duped!
Freedom comes from following Christ…not Christians. [J.D.M.]
And why is there such liberty for our lives when we get this central doctrine or belief straight? First, because we no longer live in bondage to a performance based process of trying to please God or others. Second, our identity & security in Christ becomes the anchor for our life. So we are no long tossed about by any little thing that comes our way. If you are struggling with the bumps of the journey, I want to encourage you to search God’s Living Word to help you understand His Character and Promises so you can live in the freedom God desires and has provided for you.
CONCLUSION
A friend has challenged me for the past four months with this question: “What would happen in our community if everyone person came to the reality of the freedom that comes from a relationship with God through faith in Christ.”
What would be different? What would it look like? I have asked God to give me a vision for what it would look like and an inescapable passion to see it happen. But I want to leave you today with an even more personal question that God asked me while I was struggling once again this week with my friend’s challenge:
“How can I bring this reality in your community, your church, or your family… or use you to impact the world if you are not living in this freedom each day?”
How would my life and your life look different if we were to live
each day by faith in the liberty and reality of our identity in Christ?”
June 7, 2009
Get Your Doctrine Straight
Galatians 3:1-29
For the past few weeks, we have been talking about Living in Freedom as we study the Book of Galatians. Yesterday I played golf. For me, golf does more than provide a few hours of recreation or fellowship. It provides sermon illustrations. And for this series…it proved a testing ground for my own response to this teaching.
(1) God wants us to live in grace and not under legalism – so I took a mulligan.
(2) The best defense for the Gospel is a changed life - I didn’t cuss this time (out loud).
(3) We are to die daily to our selfish desires – so I died to the idea of ever going pro.
And when I gave up on ever playing golf professionally and grasped the reality of my inabilities, I began to enjoy the recreation and fellowship that God provided through this round of golf so much more. It was so liberating!
Let me ask you a question. How have you been doing at living in the freedom God desires and provided through Christ? Have you laid aside any legalistic, non-biblical expectations of yourself or others? Has the reality of your changed life in Christ made a difference to anyone? Did you follow through on what God showed you last week about surrendering and dying to any attitude or thing?
As we come to Galatians chapter 3 this week, Paul sounds a bit parental. He tries to convey to these dear people how they can live in the freedom of God’s grace and not by the legalism of the Jewish Law. And he approaches it like a the greatest Teacher…Jesus…with lots of questions. And here is what he says:
“What are you are basing your life on?
Get your doctrine straight…It is so liberating!”
TEXT
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched [duped] you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? [You have experienced it & seen it lived out!]
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
[Did you start this Christian journey by the Law or by faith?]
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [You received the gift of salvation by grace through faith, but now you think that there is something you can do to earn it in the flesh?]
4 Did you suffer [experience] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
[Does God, who transformed you life, do all this by works or by faith?]
6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
[The Scripture says in Gen. 15:6 that even the father of the Jewish nation was declared right with God because of his faith, not works.]
7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.
[You cannot say I follow the true Jewish faith and still depend on works.]
8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
[God told Abraham – Gen. 12:3 – that this good news would bless all people, not just the Jews. This message of faith and the promise of the Savior-Messiah would come through the Jews, but would be for all the people…not just those who convert to Jewish traditions.]
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.”
[If you want to live by Law, you have to keep it all to perfection in word, action, and attitude. And no one can do that…we all know it!]
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
[Christ delivered us from this impossible system, bearing our curse so we could enjoy the blessing of God’s covenant promise to Abraham.]
15 Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.
[They understood that covenants were not like contracts. They were permanently binding…even among men. How much more with God?]
16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
[The covenant did not end at his death. And God provided for the completion of it through Abraham’s descendents, all the way to Christ.]
17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
[The Law was given 430 years after God’s covenant was last restated to Jacob, Abraham’s grandson. If Law was the means to a relationship with God, then it would do away with God’s faith covenant of salvation through the Messiah. That makes no sense. You would be following a Law based on a faulty beginning and a faulty God. If God is faulty, then the Law, that He gave, is also faulty. So why then the law?]
19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.
[It was for the sake of defining transgressions until the promised Messiah would come. Remember, when the Law was given, the Jewish people were struggling. They were wondering in the wilderness after a long captivity in pagan Egypt. Not unlike many in culture today, they were struggling to find their faith…and it was easily misplaced.]
20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.
[This is a one-way covenant that God Himself made and delivered. And He works for the good of both parties…sinful man and His holy glory.]
21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
[Does God contradict Himself with Covenant and Law? No way! If keeping Law could provide life, then a right relationship with God would come by keeping that Law. But rather, what it did was show men that there was no other hope – in ourselves – so when Jesus Christ came, it would be made evident to those who would themselves and believe.]
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.
[This is a picture of a corral, keeping the Jewish people on the right path until their faith could be revealed in the physical reality of Jesus.]
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
[Like a traditional schoolmaster, who was hired to keep watch over and teach the children until they were mature, the Law was to keep the Jews on track and lead them to recognize the promise completed in Christ. But it no longer serves that purpose, for Christ is now the guide for life.]
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
[Remember, Paul is writing to believers, and is not making a universal declaration that everyone is right with God. But those immersed in Christ…by faith…are now identified as a child of God. In God’s eyes, we are ‘clothed’ in Christ and when He looks at us, He sees His Son. And seeing His Son, there are no longer distinctions among believers concerning His faith covenant…now delivered to the entire human race.]
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
[No matter your nationality, your status in society, or your gender, all of you are recipients of the covenant of salvation through faith in Christ. Some today have used this text to say that in the New Testament there is no longer heterosexual or homosexual. But that is not what it is saying at all. No, under the old Law system, there were all kinds of distinctions between people in how they relate to God…but no more. All approach God by the same WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE…Jesus Christ…by faith.]
UNDERSTANDING
You might say, “I’m not a Jew,” or “I never tried to keep some religious system to get to heaven. So, what does this all mean for me?” Glad you asked!
Everyone follows some belief system, whether established by a religion, a country, a church, or even yourself. God would have us know that there is only one WAY to a right relationship with Him...and it has never changed. It is by faith alone in Christ alone [Martin Luther]. Anything belief system that would contradict or attempt to add to this central truth is not of God. Don’t be duped!
Freedom comes from following Christ…not Christians. [J.D.M.]
And why is there such liberty for our lives when we get this central doctrine or belief straight? First, because we no longer live in bondage to a performance based process of trying to please God or others. Second, our identity & security in Christ becomes the anchor for our life. So we are no long tossed about by any little thing that comes our way. If you are struggling with the bumps of the journey, I want to encourage you to search God’s Living Word to help you understand His Character and Promises so you can live in the freedom God desires and has provided for you.
CONCLUSION
A friend has challenged me for the past four months with this question: “What would happen in our community if everyone person came to the reality of the freedom that comes from a relationship with God through faith in Christ.”
What would be different? What would it look like? I have asked God to give me a vision for what it would look like and an inescapable passion to see it happen. But I want to leave you today with an even more personal question that God asked me while I was struggling once again this week with my friend’s challenge:
“How can I bring this reality in your community, your church, or your family… or use you to impact the world if you are not living in this freedom each day?”
How would my life and your life look different if we were to live
each day by faith in the liberty and reality of our identity in Christ?”
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Vacation is a Lot of Work
I'm really tired! I know that I need a break. But this year seems extremely difficult to get planned...camps, mission trips, projects, practices, family reunions, etc.
Here is the paradox in the situation. If you have children, especially mulitples, summer vacation can often provide an opportunity for making you really tired (in a good sort of way). Family reunions really are no vacation at all. I've heard so many people say that they had to go back to work in order to get any rest. I understand. But I've never had quite the experience as with this year.
No, I haven't gone on any vacation. But I realized today that in the planning process to try to figure out the best place and best deal, I have spent at least 30 hours. I'm so worn out that I really need that vacation...yet it has still not been finalized. What is a dad to do?
Maybe I could just string together 3 weeks straight of taking an afternoon nap, combined with one round of golf each week...and maybe a few nice dinners out at my favorite restaurant?.?.?
Here is the paradox in the situation. If you have children, especially mulitples, summer vacation can often provide an opportunity for making you really tired (in a good sort of way). Family reunions really are no vacation at all. I've heard so many people say that they had to go back to work in order to get any rest. I understand. But I've never had quite the experience as with this year.
No, I haven't gone on any vacation. But I realized today that in the planning process to try to figure out the best place and best deal, I have spent at least 30 hours. I'm so worn out that I really need that vacation...yet it has still not been finalized. What is a dad to do?
Maybe I could just string together 3 weeks straight of taking an afternoon nap, combined with one round of golf each week...and maybe a few nice dinners out at my favorite restaurant?.?.?
Crucified With Christ
Connection Fellowship
May 31, 2009
Crucified With Christ
Galatians 2:1-21
Introduction
“My chains are gone…I’ve been set free” may be the most liberating lines in a song that I’ve sung in a long time. Chris Tomlin wrote this chorus in conjunction with John Newton’s ‘Amazing Grace’. If you have not seen the movie, by the same title, I would encourage you to see it. It is incredible that during the struggle for people to be liberated from ‘men’s law’, spiritual liberty came to William Wilberforce from the bondage of personal sin and guilt. The song is monument to it.
In the late 1800’s, another monument, the Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by France to represent the freedom associated with our country. Millions of people have come to our country and been greeted by this impressive statement of liberty. When you look see it, there is an incredible sense of the freedom that it represents. It has become a picture synonymous with liberty.
But today, we are faced with a picture that may not…on the surface…appear to be the most liberating. But in fact it is the most liberating picture for any single person to have ever lived on the planet. Galatians 2:20 may be the most quoted Bible verses about living the Christian life.
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
This may be one of the most quoted Bible verses about living the Christian life. It is generally taught in the context of ‘dying’ to our old, sinful life of bondage and allowing Christ to live in and through us in this new liberated life that we have because of Him. That is so true. But the context of this liberty also comes from not being bound to a religious system of legalism and trying to please God (or men) through our behavior…before and after personally receiving the Gospel of Christ.
This is a summary statement of Paul’s personal story.
Acts 15 tells the narrative of this story, but here we have the editorial details. It had been 14 years since his initial visit to Jerusalem recorded in Chapter 1.
Paul took Barnabas (a Jew) and Titus (a Greek convert) to visit the leaders of the
early church to stop the false teaching that a group of Jewish teachers (from Jerusalem) were spreading among the non-Jews that after placing their faith in Christ, they must be circumcised and live by the Jewish traditions.
He met with them privately to keep from making a public spectacle of the issue. They affirmed Paul’s teaching as the TRUE GOSPEL and evidenced it by not
requiring Titus be circumcised. His doctrine of grace through faith was right.
But living it out daily is often difficult. Even the most devoted followers of Christ
can get sucked into the pressures of performance based religion. In verses 11 – 21, Paul shares an example of how Peter, the same leader who walked with Christ and preached the Gospel so effectively, got sucked in.
Peter had visited the Gentiles in the city of Antioch [Acts 12] and was hanging out
(fellowshipping and eating) regularly with the locals. However, when Jewish friends began to visit from the Jerusalem church (with their prejudices about religious rituals and practices), Peter began to withdraw from the locals. It caused such an impact, that even Barnabas was sucked into it.
Paul confronted their hypocrisy. It was not a debate over condemning the Jewish
lifestyle of not eating pork (or anything like that). Go ahead and live that lifestyle if you want. He may have said, ‘be a vegetarian if you want’. But do not equate a legalistic diet (found in an Old Testament ritual system) with a personal relationship or requirement for receiving the grace of God in Christ.
Paul reminds them that the doctrine of salvation by God’s grace through faith in
the sacrifice of Christ on the cross has already been settled…and is not found in works of the law. In verses 17 - 18, Paul lays it out:
17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 “For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Paul says, “You cannot have it both ways!” That applies both to what you say
you believe and how you live that out. By preaching unmerited grace, then
saying or acting as if something is done to earn God’s favor, I become a living contradiction. There is no freedom in being a living contradiction.
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Paul says that he did not just change religions…he died to it.
I did not know it until this week, but there are multiple statues like our Statue of Liberty…like this one in Tokyo, Japan. There is one in London…one in Paris. You can choose to live and try to find freedom in any of these countries under a similar, yet not identical, banner of liberty. You could also choose to try freedom under the banners of many similar, yet not identical religions. You can even try to mix some Christianity into your own viewpoint and create your own personal religion.
But just like Paul encountered, although many have tried to mix some form of Christianity with their own set of religious rules or rituals, there is no TRUE FREEDOM to be found under any other banner than the CROSS of Jesus Christ.
There is no freedom in living a contradiction.
I invite you today to choose to live in the Freedom of God’s grace found in Christ.
May 31, 2009
Crucified With Christ
Galatians 2:1-21
Introduction
“My chains are gone…I’ve been set free” may be the most liberating lines in a song that I’ve sung in a long time. Chris Tomlin wrote this chorus in conjunction with John Newton’s ‘Amazing Grace’. If you have not seen the movie, by the same title, I would encourage you to see it. It is incredible that during the struggle for people to be liberated from ‘men’s law’, spiritual liberty came to William Wilberforce from the bondage of personal sin and guilt. The song is monument to it.
In the late 1800’s, another monument, the Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by France to represent the freedom associated with our country. Millions of people have come to our country and been greeted by this impressive statement of liberty. When you look see it, there is an incredible sense of the freedom that it represents. It has become a picture synonymous with liberty.
But today, we are faced with a picture that may not…on the surface…appear to be the most liberating. But in fact it is the most liberating picture for any single person to have ever lived on the planet. Galatians 2:20 may be the most quoted Bible verses about living the Christian life.
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
This may be one of the most quoted Bible verses about living the Christian life. It is generally taught in the context of ‘dying’ to our old, sinful life of bondage and allowing Christ to live in and through us in this new liberated life that we have because of Him. That is so true. But the context of this liberty also comes from not being bound to a religious system of legalism and trying to please God (or men) through our behavior…before and after personally receiving the Gospel of Christ.
This is a summary statement of Paul’s personal story.
Acts 15 tells the narrative of this story, but here we have the editorial details. It had been 14 years since his initial visit to Jerusalem recorded in Chapter 1.
Paul took Barnabas (a Jew) and Titus (a Greek convert) to visit the leaders of the
early church to stop the false teaching that a group of Jewish teachers (from Jerusalem) were spreading among the non-Jews that after placing their faith in Christ, they must be circumcised and live by the Jewish traditions.
He met with them privately to keep from making a public spectacle of the issue. They affirmed Paul’s teaching as the TRUE GOSPEL and evidenced it by not
requiring Titus be circumcised. His doctrine of grace through faith was right.
But living it out daily is often difficult. Even the most devoted followers of Christ
can get sucked into the pressures of performance based religion. In verses 11 – 21, Paul shares an example of how Peter, the same leader who walked with Christ and preached the Gospel so effectively, got sucked in.
Peter had visited the Gentiles in the city of Antioch [Acts 12] and was hanging out
(fellowshipping and eating) regularly with the locals. However, when Jewish friends began to visit from the Jerusalem church (with their prejudices about religious rituals and practices), Peter began to withdraw from the locals. It caused such an impact, that even Barnabas was sucked into it.
Paul confronted their hypocrisy. It was not a debate over condemning the Jewish
lifestyle of not eating pork (or anything like that). Go ahead and live that lifestyle if you want. He may have said, ‘be a vegetarian if you want’. But do not equate a legalistic diet (found in an Old Testament ritual system) with a personal relationship or requirement for receiving the grace of God in Christ.
Paul reminds them that the doctrine of salvation by God’s grace through faith in
the sacrifice of Christ on the cross has already been settled…and is not found in works of the law. In verses 17 - 18, Paul lays it out:
17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 “For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Paul says, “You cannot have it both ways!” That applies both to what you say
you believe and how you live that out. By preaching unmerited grace, then
saying or acting as if something is done to earn God’s favor, I become a living contradiction. There is no freedom in being a living contradiction.
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Paul says that he did not just change religions…he died to it.
I did not know it until this week, but there are multiple statues like our Statue of Liberty…like this one in Tokyo, Japan. There is one in London…one in Paris. You can choose to live and try to find freedom in any of these countries under a similar, yet not identical, banner of liberty. You could also choose to try freedom under the banners of many similar, yet not identical religions. You can even try to mix some Christianity into your own viewpoint and create your own personal religion.
But just like Paul encountered, although many have tried to mix some form of Christianity with their own set of religious rules or rituals, there is no TRUE FREEDOM to be found under any other banner than the CROSS of Jesus Christ.
There is no freedom in living a contradiction.
I invite you today to choose to live in the Freedom of God’s grace found in Christ.
The Best Defense is a Changed Life
Connection Fellowship
May 24, 2009
The Best Defense is a Changed Life
Galatians 1:11-24
May 24, 2009
The Best Defense is a Changed Life
Galatians 1:11-24
Revelation [Ch. 7] tells us that there will come a day when people from every tongue, tribe, and nation will bow before the throne of God and cry out in praise to the Lamb of God Who brought salvation to the world. This is a very foreign message to those in our culture who find it very difficult to see past their present circumstance, or find it impossible to believe that the God of the Universe could provide salvation by grace, through faith [Eph. 2:8] in a gift, without doing something to earn it or keep it.
This difficulty is not just found in the faculty club on an Ivy League college campus. No, it has been (and is still) found in religious movements and in churches all around this country and around the world…and it is called legalism.
Last week, as we began our series of messages in the book of Galatians, we saw that the Apostle Paul is refuting this false teaching (by Jewish traditionalists) that has infiltrated the churches in the area now known as modern Turkey. He began by reminding them that GRACE and PEACE only come from knowing Christ. They are not experienced through keeping a human standard, but by pursuing a Holy God. The true freedom that Christ desires for us to experience, (from our sin) is not found in either the bondage of frustration in religious exercise, nor in the guilt of living for self. Instead, GRACE and PEACE come from a life daily surrendered to God.
As Paul was delivering this message, he was also under attack from those who were in both camps: religious legalists and personal freedom fighters. Both would try to discredit him, as well as those who would genuinely try to follow Christ. If we are not careful, we can end up in personal bondage because of the pressure of others. For some of you today, that pressure can come from unbelieving family, friends, or co-workers. It could also come from religious acquaintances who try to get you to live in the box of their legalism. Either way, we can feel trapped in our desire to Live in the Freedom that Christ died for and that God intends for us.
So how are we supposed to Live in Freedom among those who would try to have us live under their personal bondage or religious pressure? Let’s read together:
TEXT [Galatians 1:11-24]
11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; 14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. 18 Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; 23 but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they were glorifying God because of me.
One of my favorite types of movies is a ‘lawyer’ movie. And one of my favorite lawyer movies is “A Few Good Men”. Tom Cruise has made a career of negotiating and settling cases privately. But in this movie, he is faced with the pressure of the military to ‘settle’, while battling the fears of his past and the principles of right to fight for justice. At one point in his preparation, a friends says, “I think I just heard you make an argument.”
There are times in our Christian life that we need to ‘make an argument’. But see how Paul makes his argument for the reality of Living in Freedom through Christ. Just like surrender does not seem to make sense, Paul’s approach may not make sense to most people either.
First, he argues the case of his ‘got it from’. In vs. 11-12, he says he got this message, (not from school or teacher), but from Jesus Christ Himself. He says, “They did not teach this where I grew up and went to school. In fact, they taught just the opposite…and I was a really good student.”
In vs. 13-14, he argues the case of his ‘used to be’. He had a reputation as an excellent, legalistic Jew. And he was so passionately committed to it that he works with all his influence to destroy the very thing that he now so passionately advocates and teaches…the Gospel of Christ. But how could this zealous persecutor of Christians change? It’s in the ‘but’.
V. 15 begins with the words, “But God…” Then Paul tells what he was ‘made to be’. God’s intersection and collision with Paul’s life revealed to him Who God really was and turned him into a messenger of the Gospel to the Gentiles (those despised by religious Jews of whom he had been a part.)
In v. 16-22, Paul that who he was ‘made to be’ was not just a philosophical change that came about through study or reflection. It was not through an education received from other believers. He says, “Check out the history…it can be verified…God as my witness…I am telling you the truth.” We have this whole story in the Book of Acts – Chapter 9.
Then in v. 23-24, he ends with the case of ‘because of me’. It is not an argument of, “because of me there are all of these churches or converts.” No, he says, “because of the change they have seen in my life and the fruit that this life-transformation is reaping…they are glorifying God.” The same man who tried to destroy the Gospel is now preaching that same Gospel…to the point of being persistently persecuted himself. Only God could do that!
My parents are here this morning and they may have a bit different perspective on what I am about to say. But, honestly…I was a pretty good, religious person when I became a follower of Christ. The difference in my life, behaviorally, may not have even been that noticeable to many people. I used to envy people who may have had a more ‘dramatic’ life transformation than I did. But listen to me!
My ‘got it from’ was the same as Paul’s. The Holy Creator God intersected and collided with my life and revealed Himself to me…and in me and gave me His PEACE by His GRACE through my FAITH that, (by the way) He gave me as well.
And He turned my ‘used to be’, which was a religious, legalistic kid who really only cared about getting my way and doing thing my way…because I thought it was the best way to make me and everyone else happy with me. And for the past 31 years, the same God has been putting me through ‘me, myself, and I de-tox’.
And just like Paul, the same holds true for me: “But God…” But God who knew me in my mother’s womb [Jeremiah 1:5], has taken my ‘plan to be’ and has been working out His plan for me (which, by the way, is much better than my plan for me) [Jeremiah 29:11]. And anyone who knew my plan can see that my ‘plan to be’ is certainly not what I was ‘made to be’ because of that phrase, “But God…”
And the truth is that my plan…and what I ‘used to be’ had quite a bit of focus on ‘look at me’. But any credibility that I could make for my life, my ministry, or my presentation of the Gospel is held in this argument: For those who know me, just possibly, ‘because of me’ there are others whose lives have been transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ…and (just like Paul)…‘only God could have done that.’
Just as living in freedom comes through surrender and not by accomplishment, we gain confidence and credibility in that freedom by the fact that only God could have changed our lives like that.
Living in freedom is verified by the fact that only God
could have made that change in your transformed life.
Has there been a change in your life that can only be attributed to God? If not, then you have not met Christ personally…because He will change you. It is inevitable. And I am praying for that collision to happen today. And if He has, are you living in the freedom of that verified change, or are you still trying to prove it by yourself? Stop living in that bondage and live in freedom today - every day of your journey in His grace and peace.
This difficulty is not just found in the faculty club on an Ivy League college campus. No, it has been (and is still) found in religious movements and in churches all around this country and around the world…and it is called legalism.
Last week, as we began our series of messages in the book of Galatians, we saw that the Apostle Paul is refuting this false teaching (by Jewish traditionalists) that has infiltrated the churches in the area now known as modern Turkey. He began by reminding them that GRACE and PEACE only come from knowing Christ. They are not experienced through keeping a human standard, but by pursuing a Holy God. The true freedom that Christ desires for us to experience, (from our sin) is not found in either the bondage of frustration in religious exercise, nor in the guilt of living for self. Instead, GRACE and PEACE come from a life daily surrendered to God.
As Paul was delivering this message, he was also under attack from those who were in both camps: religious legalists and personal freedom fighters. Both would try to discredit him, as well as those who would genuinely try to follow Christ. If we are not careful, we can end up in personal bondage because of the pressure of others. For some of you today, that pressure can come from unbelieving family, friends, or co-workers. It could also come from religious acquaintances who try to get you to live in the box of their legalism. Either way, we can feel trapped in our desire to Live in the Freedom that Christ died for and that God intends for us.
So how are we supposed to Live in Freedom among those who would try to have us live under their personal bondage or religious pressure? Let’s read together:
TEXT [Galatians 1:11-24]
11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; 14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. 18 Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; 23 but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they were glorifying God because of me.
One of my favorite types of movies is a ‘lawyer’ movie. And one of my favorite lawyer movies is “A Few Good Men”. Tom Cruise has made a career of negotiating and settling cases privately. But in this movie, he is faced with the pressure of the military to ‘settle’, while battling the fears of his past and the principles of right to fight for justice. At one point in his preparation, a friends says, “I think I just heard you make an argument.”
There are times in our Christian life that we need to ‘make an argument’. But see how Paul makes his argument for the reality of Living in Freedom through Christ. Just like surrender does not seem to make sense, Paul’s approach may not make sense to most people either.
First, he argues the case of his ‘got it from’. In vs. 11-12, he says he got this message, (not from school or teacher), but from Jesus Christ Himself. He says, “They did not teach this where I grew up and went to school. In fact, they taught just the opposite…and I was a really good student.”
In vs. 13-14, he argues the case of his ‘used to be’. He had a reputation as an excellent, legalistic Jew. And he was so passionately committed to it that he works with all his influence to destroy the very thing that he now so passionately advocates and teaches…the Gospel of Christ. But how could this zealous persecutor of Christians change? It’s in the ‘but’.
V. 15 begins with the words, “But God…” Then Paul tells what he was ‘made to be’. God’s intersection and collision with Paul’s life revealed to him Who God really was and turned him into a messenger of the Gospel to the Gentiles (those despised by religious Jews of whom he had been a part.)
In v. 16-22, Paul that who he was ‘made to be’ was not just a philosophical change that came about through study or reflection. It was not through an education received from other believers. He says, “Check out the history…it can be verified…God as my witness…I am telling you the truth.” We have this whole story in the Book of Acts – Chapter 9.
Then in v. 23-24, he ends with the case of ‘because of me’. It is not an argument of, “because of me there are all of these churches or converts.” No, he says, “because of the change they have seen in my life and the fruit that this life-transformation is reaping…they are glorifying God.” The same man who tried to destroy the Gospel is now preaching that same Gospel…to the point of being persistently persecuted himself. Only God could do that!
My parents are here this morning and they may have a bit different perspective on what I am about to say. But, honestly…I was a pretty good, religious person when I became a follower of Christ. The difference in my life, behaviorally, may not have even been that noticeable to many people. I used to envy people who may have had a more ‘dramatic’ life transformation than I did. But listen to me!
My ‘got it from’ was the same as Paul’s. The Holy Creator God intersected and collided with my life and revealed Himself to me…and in me and gave me His PEACE by His GRACE through my FAITH that, (by the way) He gave me as well.
And He turned my ‘used to be’, which was a religious, legalistic kid who really only cared about getting my way and doing thing my way…because I thought it was the best way to make me and everyone else happy with me. And for the past 31 years, the same God has been putting me through ‘me, myself, and I de-tox’.
And just like Paul, the same holds true for me: “But God…” But God who knew me in my mother’s womb [Jeremiah 1:5], has taken my ‘plan to be’ and has been working out His plan for me (which, by the way, is much better than my plan for me) [Jeremiah 29:11]. And anyone who knew my plan can see that my ‘plan to be’ is certainly not what I was ‘made to be’ because of that phrase, “But God…”
And the truth is that my plan…and what I ‘used to be’ had quite a bit of focus on ‘look at me’. But any credibility that I could make for my life, my ministry, or my presentation of the Gospel is held in this argument: For those who know me, just possibly, ‘because of me’ there are others whose lives have been transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ…and (just like Paul)…‘only God could have done that.’
Just as living in freedom comes through surrender and not by accomplishment, we gain confidence and credibility in that freedom by the fact that only God could have changed our lives like that.
Living in freedom is verified by the fact that only God
could have made that change in your transformed life.
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