This week we continue our series called Chronos. A term which means time. We have decided to study the scriptures this year in the order they were published. It gives us a very unique insight into the early church and the struggles of a growing movement. This review of history is important because The Center’s leadership believes we are on the cuspid of a great awakening in America. An awakening that will challenge the status quo of the current Christian industrial complex. An institution more concerned with Attendance, Buildings and Cash than the Gospel, Grace and Growth of the kingdom.
In many ways, this independence weekend Sunday is a perfect representation and launch day for our next bit of scripture called Galatians. The book is filled with a good deal of the Christian practice and it talks a lot about liberty and freedom.
Since it’s Fourth of July weekend, let’s ask a little independence trivia:
When was the declaration of independence signed? And by how many men? July 2, John Hancock
How many Hot Dogs are consumed this weekend? 150 million
What’s written on the back of the declaration of independence? “Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776."
What was the average age of the signers of the declaration? 45
What happened on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the declaration? Thomas Jefferson (82) and John Adams (90) both died on July Fourth.
This week we begin the book of Galatians. It’s another book written by Paul around 25 years after Jesus' earthly ministry. It’s written to a group of jews and gentiles in the central part of present day Turkey. Paul is writing to this church plant because false teachers had come to question not only what he had taught but his place among the leaders of the new movement. As the saying goes, Power, like nature, abhors a vacuum.
There are a lot of similarities in the struggles of Paul's new church plant and The Center. They were dealing with religious leaders who were opposed to Paul’s focus on grace over the law. They would cry that his teachings were dangerous in that they did away with the rules and abandoned the high standards of the establishment.
Like our denominations, non denominations and networks today, there are religious elites that believe it's dangerous to teach about liberty. If we let go of the ritual or relics, the “church”, big C, will surely fall apart. People will dream up all kinds of “spiritual” practices and people will get hurt. While there is truth to that statement, we must be careful not to manage to the exception. We must always remember no matter what man does, God’s will for this world and our lives prevails. Simply, He wins.
Warren Wiersbe puts this so well: “The Christian who lives by faith is not going to become a rebel. Quite the contrary, he is going to experience an inner discipline of God that is far better than the outer discipline of man-made rules. No man could become a rebel who depends on God’s grace, yields to God’s Spirit, lives for others and seeks to glorify God. The legalist is the one who eventually rebels. He does so because he is living in bondage, depending on the flesh, living for self, and seeking the praise of men, not the glory of God.”
Legalism is an excessive adherence to a law or formula.
The word “legalism” does not occur in the Bible. It is a term Christians use to describe a doctrinal position emphasizing a system of rules and regulations for achieving both salvation and spiritual growth. Legalists believe in and demand a strict literal adherence to rules and regulations. Doctrinally, it is a position essentially opposed to grace.
Legalism attempts to do the impossible: change the old nature and make it obey for a short time until the flesh begins to rebel. Legalism is an insidious and dangerous thought process because when you abandon grace for the law, you always lose.
The surrendering Christian who depends on the power of the Holy Spirit is not denying the law of God or rebelling against it. Rather that law is being fulfilled in him through the Holy Spirit.
In chapter five and six of Galatians, which we unpack in greater detail in a few weeks, Paul helps us see the sequence of this.
Gal 5:1-12 tells us that we have been set free by Christ and are no longer in bondage to the law
Gal 5:13-26 tells us that while free, we still need a guiding force. That force is the Holy Spirit
Gal 6:1-10 tells us through the Holy Spirit’s love, our desires change from self centered to other centered.
Gal 6:11-18 tells us that as a result of this change, we want to live to give glory to the one who has made this freedom possible.
Freedom comes from God’s grace, not man’s rules of order
As the dominant culture becomes less religious, it is extremely important for the Christian to maintain his/her religious freedoms and to remind our political leaders that these freedoms are part of our national heritage.
Christian Freedom reminds us that our God comes before the nation. We honor our God as a result of what He did for us that we could not do for ourselves. In turn, we then look to help our neighbors.
Freedom is best exercised for the benefit of our neighbors and others. When we use our freedoms to help foster the well-being of others rather than for ourselves, God is honored
Freedom comes with responsibility and we must pray for the wisdom to exercise it well.
Religious freedoms are not guaranteed by every government. As such, we look to stand for the religious rights of all U.S. citizens. We want to be a people who maintain those freedoms. We want to be the group that challenges injustice as a pathway to peace.
When we make freedom and liberty a priority . . .
We remember and honor the faith, prayers and the God of those who came before us.
We remember that our contributions to the political process should honor God and Biblical teachings rather than our own ideas or current trends.
We teach our children that the freedoms they experience do not come easy and it is the responsibility of each generation to pass this awareness and responsibility on to the next.
Reference: Warren Wiersbe Commentary p 712-713
