Galatians. NLT
Why do you expect God’s blessing on your life? (I asked them to write on a sermon guide) _____________________________________________________________________________________ (his favor on your…ministry, marriage, children, work…)
Today we’re going to look into the Bible at a group of people who had fallen out of favor with God.
These people lived in a region of Rome called Galatia so we refer to them as Galatians. (This was in modern day Turkey)
There was a time in these Galatians lives that they were filled with God’s joy, they lived empowered by God’s presence and they were even experiencing God doing miracles in their lives but years later, by the time Paul’s letter had reached them they had lost it all. They had become a confused bunch of stressed out Christians. Worst of all there was no evidence of God’s favor upon them – at all.
How many times have we been told that the Bible is a love letter from God & we need to read our Love letter.
Well as the Galatians open their Love letter it starts with a relatively standard greeting, in vs 1-5 and then vs 6 is his first specific word to them.
6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God,
Not exactly what I was hoping to hear in my Love Letter
What? I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God? Wait a minute, we haven’t turned away from God. We’re all here in church.
Can you imagine a more insulting way for God to greet you? Well At least we’re clear from the outset that God feels that something is wrong and he’s not going to beat around the bush about it. As we read on he makes clear the problem.
6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7but is not the Good News at all.
Somehow these people, although they had started their walk with God correctly on that straight and narrow way and enjoyed his blessing – they had gotten off track and followed a different way.
Look over at chapter 3 vs 1
We continue to see the result of leaving this 1 path
Galatians 3:1 Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you?
Wow, were only getting in deeper here. We’ve been fools? and not just pee wee league fools, we’ve gotten so far off track it’s as though an evil spell has been cast upon us. Wow
What is obvious as you read this whole letter to the Galatians is that these Christians had no idea they were missing it, they felt things were going ok. There were no big, major sins happening, they weren’t sleeping around like the Corinthian church, they still loved God, they were still coming to church, putting something into the bucket even. But somehow they’d gotten way off center. So far off center God calls them FOOLS.
Could this happen to us?
It’s easy for me to look back upon my years of walking with God and recognize times that I’ve found myself off on some wrong trail. Good heart, great intentions, just off center and I’ve always suffered for it. More than once I’ve received the same assessment from God – FOOL?
Well how would we know, how could we tell if we were being fools?
Luckily God gives us a little test in the book of Galatians with 3? Let’s read them in the text and then take the test ourselves.
Look at vs 2 and we’ll see the first question.
3:2Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Look at vs 3 again…
3How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
trying to perfect ourselves, trying to fix this brokenness by any 1 of a thousand variations of human effort…Right here is the epicenter of the Galatians problem, and it’s also exactly how we get off the ONLY PATH that actually saves…the only path that actually fixes our brokenness.
Let’s keep reading and notice that Paul adds question #2
5 I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. (3 times Paul reminds them of the POWER they began their Christian lives with. 2 of those 3 times (in vs 2 & 5) he repeats this phrase, the message you heard about Christ. That message we call the gospel, the good news. Sandwiched between those 2 (in vs 3) you find the phrase “begin in the spirit”. This is a different way of saying the same thing. He’s trying to help us see that ALL of God’s power, all holy spirit activity is actually testifying to Christ and him Crucified.
Every HS activity is tethered to and anchored in Christ, which is why he doesn’t speak of himself but Christ.
Let’s be clear about this one thing the ONLY thing that truly differentiates our faith from any other self-help system or false religion is that there’s actually a power that is not human driving this bus. THERE’S ACTUALLY A MOTOR IN THIS BUS. These poor Galatians had shut the motor (of the Holy Spirit) off and they were just coming to church to sit in the bus and talk to each other. They had forgotten that when they first started in their faith - THE BUS WAS ACTUALLY MOVING.
The only time this bus moved now was if they all got out and pushed. (and fought with each other about who was pushing hardest) Paul is reminding them – and us. THERE’S ONLY ONE REAL MOTOR, it’s God’s spirit, and the only key that gets him moving – IS FAITH IN CHRIST.
We’ve just read 2 of the ? in our quiz, - now flip your page to 4:15 & he adds a third ? 4:15 15Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt ? Where did it go?
So here’s the 3? In God’s test.
1. What has happened to all your joy?
2. What happened to activity of the HS?
3. What happened to the miracles.
I can almost hear the rusty gears in these Galatians minds turning as they began to remember…OH YEAH, THIS CHRISTIAN LIFE USED TO BE FULL OF JOY & POWER. We actually used to enjoy coming to church and sharing our faith. This bus used to move without ME doing all the pushing. What happened?
You see it’s always a slow fade when we slip from operating in God’s power to our own, and what’s tricky is we keep doing the same things. We hardly notice there’s no power. Before we know it, no-one is being saved (even ourselves) and church becomes the Bus ride to no-where.
OK now one at a time & this time let’s take the quiz
1. What has happened to all your joy? Later in Gal 5 we learn that The fruit of a life connected to Christ is LOVE & JOY & PEACE, on the inside that nothing can shake irrespective of what may be on the outside.
Was there a time in your life where you lived with God’s Joy that you no longer have?
2. What happened to activity of the Holy Spirit? The Christian life is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our very life is found in being empowered and carried along by wind of God’s spirit.
Was there a time in your life that the fresh breeze of God blew through your soul and his salvation was real and personal to you? A time when the anchor of sin didn’t pull you under because of the energizing power of God’s Spirit was “tangible”? – and it’s no longer that way?
3. What happened to the miracles? Miracles are God fixing something broken. In heaven you’ll never see a miracle because there’s nothing broken there. But here today, every one of us have things in our life that are broken. B -Relationships, B-Hearts Many of us feel pain right now either in our soul or our bodies – and we could use a miracle. We have loved ones who are broken, and it’s gone too far for “behavior correction” to fix it. They need a miracle.
Was there a time that God was showing up in miraculous ways in your life that you are no longer experiencing?
(see sermon guide and these are listed.)
This brings us to the central theme of our message.
How do we live a life where our story is dominated by the HS and miracles? This is actually another way of asking the very same? I asked up front, why should we expect God’s favor.
How did you answer that?
Honestly down through my own life at different seasons when I was off track and consequently powerless and frustrated. I would have answered that? differently at different times. All good things, just none of them the actual power-plant. Just 2% off center and good truths become your foundation stone rather than being steps on top of it.
1. I’m really digging into God’s word 2. Prayer, 3. Good plan. 4. Leadership 5. Other "truths" that had no gospel in them.
Think with me, does God sit in heaven and wait to activate his spirit until we’ve crossed a magic line of Bible reading? Is the Holy Spirit “resurrected” when we pray long enough or “correctly”? Of course not. You should notice the subtle shift when “prayer” becomes the “source” from Christ’s sacrifice to mine. As soon as my bottom line points to MY sacrifice, the motor stops running and God watches us push our bus.
I remember before I understood this, preaching months on a "series" that hardly mentioned Christ. (and wonder why no-one was getting saved)
I, just like you, just like the Galatians occasionally drift from center. So what is that center? What is the Biblical correct answer to the question. What is this path of good news that activates God’s Spirit.
Go back to the first chapter of the book of Galatians and look at vs 4.
In every NT book you’ll find a brief summary of the Gospel and the rest of the book explains how that plays out.
The Gospel always has 2 parts often containing the 3rd
1. Our sin has us in a broken condition, needing a rescue. The Human condition.
2. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice is the only rescue, God’s remedy. The only source of spiritual renewal & power
3. All Glory To God #3 wraps it up, if you get 1 and 2 right, – all the praise and glory ends up going to God. In God’s version of your story, you don’t get to be the hero. You end up doing heroic things but all the glory goes to God.
Let’s read vs 4 and see if you see those 3 parts of the gospel.
Galatians 1:4 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. 5All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
These Galatians had initially correctly recognized their great need of Christ’s salvation, but then like many of us, they had moved on, and new teachings became their center. For heaven’s sake they were no longer desperate for a rescue…they were doing graduate level work.
Oddly enough their “higher learning” had left them cold, dry and dusty …as empty as an old ghost town.
Their personal doctorate degree had completely failed them.
Jesus is the real Dr.
Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."
The only people Jesus said he couldn’t help were those who didn’t need the dr.
Our version of “human effort” that slowly replaces Christ as our confidence will probably be different than the Galatians, but it will leave us no less powerless & frustrated.
When we began this series Recovering Redemption, I told you that this world we live in has 4 versions of “human effort” 4 solutions to the “disease” of sin
I promise you’ll find your human effort kryptonite in one of these.
World’s 4 solutions to the “disease” of sin
1. Self Improvement (A better version of me will overcome this dissatisfaction) You believed this 30 years ago, how’s it working? The “new you” is still slightly dissatisfying.
2. Things (someTHING will solve this) "The human heart is an idol factory” John Calvin 1560AD Before the glory of your last pursuit fades, the human heart has propped up 2 more. Most people never notice their life long hunt.
3. People (the right person will satisfy – mate, children, friend…) Somehow everyone has the wrong mate- one that has the disease of sin. About the time you’ve left on your dream vacation with your new dream woman whom you left your wife for, you look over and discover- she’s got the disease too. Oh shoot! She’s got a double dose.
People also live the lie, I never quite attained “superstar” status, but my boy…I’ll see too it he becomes the messiah I never was. Another way of saying “I’m going to ruin his life like I ruined my own.”
4. Religion (If I can satisfy God…then I’ll be satisfied) This is actually just number 1 with my Bible in my hand, or on my knees. I’m going to “fix myself” with my Bible. No, with my Bible I connect with the only one who can rescue me and this world.
Interestingly enough, the phrase “(If I can satisfy God…then I’ll be satisfied)” is actually true, the issue is there’s only one sacrifice that actually satisfies God.
God’s reality is – the only real hope is the Gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ rescues us from the disease of sin - something we can’t fix or overcome by our superpowers.
Why do you expect God’s blessing on your life? _(what did you write? Here’s my answer)__I am accepted because of absolutely nothing I have ever done. I deserve nothing but a good kick in the butt with God’s wrath for a topping.
NO, I am accepted, I am favored, I enjoy the fresh breeze of God’s Holy spirit moving through my very soul. God occasionally performs miracles to bail me out for 1 reason alone. Jesus Christ the righteous one stood in my place, he bore my curse. He took what I deserve; now I get what he deserves.
Please look at your sermon guide on the bottom down at vs 26 (bottom of first paragraph)
26For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.1Cor 11:
Why when we receive communion do we remember his death and not his resurrection? Here’s why. We understand his resurrection and it is our victory. but it’s not in his ress that our curse is broken. Our pain is not dealt with in his resurrection – Our pain, yes the very pain we feel right now, the pain we want healed. Our pain, our curse, our shame is actually shared by him in his death.
It’s by his wounds we are healed. All of our healing, all of the power of the Holy Spirit to set us free and change us and do miracles actually flows from 1 spot, and that’s Chris’s sacrifice.
Gal 3:13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
4Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
By his wounds we are healed
6All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.
NLT 23For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” 25In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” 26For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
27So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
31But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. 32Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
