02.07.2010 Galatians 3 - Freedom from the Lies We Believe
7th February 2010
02.07.2010 Grace Summit Sermon - Galatians 3 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.
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You are the potter, we are the clay, Lord. Faith is allowing You to determine what vessel You would make of us. Make that vessel the one that is most pleasing to You – that our lives would please You in all respects. We love You and thank You for the opportunity to worship and to know that there is a God who first loved us. May we understand that we are loved by You – and to understand that one truth above all others – that You created us to know You and to have a relationship with You. We serve You out of gratefulness. May we be receptive to what You would say and yielded to what You would communicate. In the name of Jesus we pray.
Over the past 2 weeks, we have focused on the theology of Galatians – and Chapter 3, we will go through 1-6 today – it is kind of a bridge. Usually – I give you the practical application at the end. Today, I will give it at the beginning!
Galatians 3:1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so much for nothing--if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? 6 Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
We understand the problem from what Paul had already told us – some of these folks had come in and said they need more than Jesus – and they believed them! They walked away from Jesus back to this Jewish legal system.
O foolish Galatians! This is not so much an insult, but he is communicating that they are not thinking clearly – it is illogical. You have had this conversion experience through faith and now you walk away from it – you are making a big mistake! Who has bewitched you? They have been put under a spell – lied to – cursed – and have believed the lies. And that lie is keeping them from experiencing the Christian life as they ought to – and from knowing Christ fully.
I have four lies – this is not a complete list – but four lies that people listen to today that prevent them from coming to Christ, and as Christians, from fully experiencing what God would have us experience.
Tim Keller – you may have read some of his books – like The Prodigal God – which I would recommend… - Tim calls these feeder beliefs – the Devil is the ruler of this world’s system – and he communicates lies to such an extent that people believe them and prevent people from coming to Christ. I’m looking at 4 – not necessarily the most important.
1) The lie of tolerance (or intolerance) – especially religious intolerance. The first thing we think of is The Crusades. That is not the type of intolerance God would want! We think of some radical Islamic countries where it is illegal to be a Christian – there are thousands killed every year for their faith – and that kind of religious intolerance is wrong. It is bad. We want freedom – and you have to understand that you can’t force someone to become a Christian – and it is important, as a church to respect that people have a right to believe whatever they choose to believe – but it IS our responsibility to try to persuade – because what we have is true.
But there is a lie –
When Christians say that Jesus is the only way to God – that sounds arrogant and intolerant. We want to say that there are other ways of God – we would like to think that – and I would say – yes – all religions are the same – and I would agree with that – obedience to a set of laws and codes to establish someone’s goodness before God and man. But Paul is saying in Galatians – it is about JESUS and nothing else. It is not about Christianity or religion – the goal is not to convert someone to CHRISTIANITY – you convert someone to Jesus Christ. Yes, we call those who have put their faith in Jesus Christians – that is the title we give them – but the issue is – are you trusting? Paul is saying that your religious devotion won’t do it. If you want to be right with God, you need Jesus’ death on the cross. That sounds intolerant – Jesus is the only one who paid for our sins – but that is the way it is. The Galatians had that understanding and then were moving away from it. Only Christ can bring you back to God – but it is hard, because it sounds so off – there are those who live good lives – better than some Christians we know – who don’t know Jesus. And we say, how can this be? How can they be so NICE and not go to heaven? But it comes down to the fact that Christ has paid the penalty and it is that and that alone that brings us to God.
2) The lie of personal morality – whatever is right for you is right – it comes with the concept that there is no absolute morality…as long as you are not hurting anyone – that is okay. Everyone does this – everyone believes in absolute morality – but WHOSE absolute morality is right? Well, most believe in their own morality – and anything outside of that is wrong. For us as Christians, we need to understand – the Bible is the truth and speaks of what is right and wrong. Paul is saying – the Bible lays our what right living is – we want to separate them, but they come together.
3) the lie of acceptable and unacceptable sins.
Materialism – worldliness. That is the sin of idolatry. That is what the Bible says clearly. As long as the materialist gives generously to the church, we are okay with it! We think – Christ had to die harder for these than for these. We laugh – but He died for all of them. There is good news and bad news in that. They are all lousy and rotten. Your sin is just as bad as the sin you think is the worst. At the same time – the good news is – they are paid for on the cross. A little song – one of the psalms – with the Lord is abundant redemption – o Israel, hope in the Lord. Not a little redemption, but complete redemption. His death paid for all sins. We’ll see the importance of that thought. The bible uses the concept of being broken – we struggle and have problems – but it gives the concept that we are all broken. Some of us think we are only bent. Like a twig – that has bent, but not broken…We are all broken. But the good news is that God can put it all back together – but until you realize you are completely broken, you are not put back together.
4) the expectation lie – here is what I mean by that – this is the false gospel for America 2010 – you can find this in many Christian books – “If a person turns to Jesus, their life will work out according to their dreams.” That is out there – and in full! If a person believes like I believe or you believe – it will all work out. But the Bible is clear that that is not what faith is all about. If you read the history of those God honors – what do we see? Difficulty, trial, tribulation – it is just what is there – it fills the pages of the New Testament. You read the history of the church and the people God used and honored gave themselves for this message – and their lives did not need all their dreams. But they honored God by giving themselves to God fully. Like the potter – we want to be a vase that is put in a castle – with fresh flowers every morning. We believe this lie of expectation that sinks in – and you know what happens when it doesn’t turn out that way, we are forced to think that something doesn’t work – either God went wrong – or that we went wrong. Both are bad ways of thinking – harmful ways of thinking. And we see people who believe that everything should just work out the way I planned it – and when it doesn’t, they lose their faith.
There was a POW in Vietnam – and I am not an expert, but I heard this and thought it was interesting - James Stockwell – 7 or 8 years – often tortured but survived – and asked why… “You know, in the POW camps, the optimists died first!” – you think, WHOA! “The folks who got into the camps and under the system of everything will work out – we’ll get out by Christmas…or summer…or whenever – but they lost hope. The realists were the ones who survived – the ones who understood – I am in a POW camp.
We are living in a world we were not meant to live in – and God has a job to bring people back to relationship with Him and we are stuck in the middle of this tension and conflict – and we must understand – that is what we face. We must understand. If we are going to live it well.
In this world, you have tribulation – but be of good cheer. When we choose to live fully for Jesus, there will be difficulties, but God will bring these things about – our ultimate end – we live for an eternity – heaven awaits us – no sorrow – complete joy – rest! How often do you really think about that or look forward to that? That is our hope! The church can help you have a better marriage – yes! But is that your hope? Hope is for something beyond this life – when everything gets put right! Corrected! Every injustice will be corrected. Every tear will be wiped away. All sorrow – shame – and injury – those wounds will be gone. Back to Galatians
3:1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?
Then he gives the solution:
Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
This is the answer – before your very eyes! They weren’t at the crucifixion – but the gospel was so powerful that it was like – they were right there at the cross – and it changed them dramatically.
I flipped on The Passion – and I thought – maybe I could show a clip – and I couldn’t find one that fit – and what it does – there are all these people. I read Matthew yesterday morning – and I never noticed this before – Mary was there – the other Mary, another person is listed – and it says – and there were many other women there. Think of watching this whole thing take place – to be there – and the effect on the Roman soldiers – the sky was black for three hours – and they turned and said – WHOA – this must have been the Son of God! The powerful effect that must have had – the earthquake – the temple curtain tearing – people coming out of the graves and wandering around Jerusalem! That is the power of the preaching of the cross – it brings you into the suffering of Jesus – and all of that was for YOU!
3:2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
Think about this – they had this incredible power of the Spirit in their lives – it is not just theological – when they believed the gospel message – it was similar to Acts 2 – and because of it they suffered willingly – and now they believe these lies and just walk away from it? How can this happen?! I think all that is seen in the power of this message – to put yourself there. To understand what Christ did for us. To know the truth of it.
Paul says in Galatians 6 – may it never be that I should boast except in the cross of Christ. Paul understood – in this life – nothing else to boast in – nothing – as it comes to our spirituality – there is nothing in us – all what He did. It is all who He was. And he brings the Galatians back – in light of that – why do you think you can add to that? How can you add to what happened on the cross? You can’t.
Christ took care of everything – let’s pray.
Lord, may we see with eyes of faith – what happened that day 2000 years ago when the sky got dark and blacked out the sun. You cried out – The one who created all things – hung on a cross – suffered – for those He made. Looked down and said, forgive them Father, for they don’t know what they do. You took time to care for a mother whose heart was completely broken. You took the time to care for a thief who lived his life wrong all the way through until the last moment and then was forgiven. Thank You that You did all that that we might know You and be completely forgiven. We tack nothing else on to that. Our only goodness, hope, righteousness is wrapped up and found in You and what You did on the cross. In Your name we pray. Amen!