Text: Galatians 5:1-6, Title: Don’t be a Grace-Faller, Date/Place: NRBC, 5/6/07, PM
A. Opening illustration: story about me putting my foot in my mouth about the charismatic pastor assistant coach about women pastors and a slide toward liberalism, b/c I expect our Pentecostal and charismatic brethren to be committed to the bible—the doctrinal commitment to the bible dictates certain behaviors…
B. Background to passage: After Paul’s culmination of his theological argument with the OT story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, he turns the corner toward the practical implications of such a theology. He assumes that right doctrine should produce right living. And is saying that since justification is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, here are some ways this should affect our lives.
C. Main thought: We have three exhortations in our text tonight.
A. Stand firm in freedom (v. 1)
1. This verse constitutes a banner or a slogan for the entire book. This is one that you ought to memorize. In the verse “in freedom” is placed in the front of the verse in the Gr. for emphasis. Salvation by grace creates freedom. And here we are commanded to hold tightly, to persist, to retain ground, and to be firm about the freedom that we are given. He states it positively and negatively. Don’t become caught in the trap of earning your salvation through works of The Law or anyone’s law. Paul realized that there would be people (especially religious people), circumstances, groups, and obligations that would attempt to secure our bondage to their ideas, rules, and social standards.
2. Acts 13:39, Rom 6:1, 1 Cor 8:9, Acts 23:1, 2 Tim 1:3,
3. Illustration: Patrick Henry, one of our Christian founding fathers said, “Give me liberty, or give me death,” “no guilt in life, no fear in death,” modern psychology has come up with a whole category of disorders called codependency to describe those who live in fear of man and under others’ control, Jason Boothby’s ordeal with Jeff Kramer and tattoos, the conversation with Erika the other night over appropriate attire,
4. Christ’s will for our lives that we live in freedom. In regards to our righteousness, avoid rules to attain it. In regards to God’s will, realize that freedom is what you have been given. In regards to guilt, all your sin has already been paid for. Therefore you should not feel compelled by outside forces, people, or rules, but only by the inside force of the Spirit. Do you take the command to be free seriously? We are all the time feeling guilty about this or that. We seem to shape our lives and order our world in part based on the expectations of others. Live a life of no regrets with a clean conscience toward God, because you are free not to live under any other person’s expectations. Again, let me remind you that this freedom is not “free to do what I want,” but “free to serve Christ to the fullest.” Our liberty is not license to sin, but a freedom to love and serve Christ our Lord and Master. Balance is the key to Christian liberty: freedom of the individual weighed together against the welfare of others. Don’t allow your sin to cause others to stumble.
B. Look out for debtor’s ethic (v. 2-4)
1. Paul begins these verses with a call to “listen to what I am about to say.” He is explaining the full ramifications of taking the right of circumcision (by the way this was the first time it was clearly identified as the pressing point of conflict). He is trying to show the tragic consequences of trusting in anything other than Christ alone. He is saying, not that a true believer can lose their salvation, but that any effort we try to offer to earn God’s favor toward us is an insult to grace and the sufficiency of the cross of Christ. He wants to clarify that if they are taking this step to earn favor, they have not trusted fully in Christ. Again, it is not that circumcision itself is wrong, it is the motivation behind it—to earn God’s favor. You can’t earn it; your righteousness is like filthy rags! His favor is steadfast and solid because it is based on His will, His love, His grace. He says that those that trust in circumcision will have no benefit with Christ. They are in bondage to the whole law. The word “estranged” means freed from or cut off from or made ineffective. The word “fallen” means to loosen one’s grip. He is saying an attempt to earn favor insults Christ, and rejects grace.
2. James 2:10, Rom 4:4-5, 11:6, Luk 15:29-30,
3. Illustration: “whoever wants to have a half Christ loses the whole,” –Calvin, at Christmas time one of the things that always comes up with people that are acquaintances is whether or not they are going to get you a gift, so you will know whether or not you need to get them one…
4. Christianity is an all or nothing proposition. If you do not trust in Christ alone for salvation, you will come up far short. And most of us are good to articulate a good theology, but in practice that’s where we become heretics. We treat God as a banker instead of a father. And you have heard it many times, and it is so easy to preach, “…look what He has done for you, surely you owe Him your life, your everything.” We begin to treat our salvation like a loan. We say, “God has done so much for me, therefore I will pay him back with my life’s works.” Or worse we act like the son in Luke that says in a sense, I have earned it, you owe me. We can never pay him back, but the point is that we not try to. Genuine gratitude comes with an acceptance that we don’t have to pay it back. Don’t treat God like a banker, but like a father. You are an heir, and nothing that you can do gains you an inheritance; it is solely dependent on the father. His love and your salvation is dependent on His choice, His character, etc, not on your performance. This has huge implications toward relationships. For Christ is our example in how He acts toward us. Think with me…what if we could treat our spouses with this kind of grace—it is not based on their performance, but upon the great love and affection of the giver. Instead of a “you scratch my back (do what I want you to do) and I’ll scratch yours (do what you want me to do).” Don’t operate in your relationships like a contract is in place; operate with a steadfast, self-sacrificing, valuing-others, consistently not based on performance, extravagant love. Man, that would transform our marriages!
C. Wait on righteousness (v. 5-6)
1. Probably making a little slap in the face of the Judaizers, Paul says “we” which is emphatic in the Gr, meaning we—genuine Christians are waiting on our righteousness. The righteousness in view here in not the justifying righteousness that God imputes to the believer upon their faith, but the actual experienced righteousness that true believers will experience when they step into the presence of God. When they are either stripped of the body of sin, or given a new glorified one, we will have full righteousness. This could be translated “a hoped-for righteousness.” He says that we wait eagerly for it in two ways: through (or in) the Spirit and by (or from) faith. In v. 6 he concludes works are nothing in Christ for earning, but faith working through the love of God our Father.
2. Phil 3:12, Matt 5:48, Heb 12:14,
3. Illustration: the Holiness movement embraces a Wesleyan perfectionism that is unbiblical, Stand fast in freedom all His saints/Your God is love and never faints/Though you must wait and oft confess/He gives at last full righteousness,
4. This ground for our perseverance (the Spirit and faith) is the proper methodology for the entirely of the Christian life. We are to walk in the Spirit by faith in order to achieve what God wants for us. Paul speaks more directly to it later in the chapter. The point is that we are not earning but trusting. Also remember, that we are not going to see perfection in this life, although it is our goal. But because we know that we will never see it, we use that theology like a crutch or excuse not to try. We cannot be indifference to practical righteousness in this life. That’s what James argues so voraciously against, for a faith without works is dead.
A. Closing illustration: read the words from the Jonathon Pierce song Farther Than Your Grace Can Reach
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
