Galatians part 3: Sermon
“I have some questions for you about your experience in Christ!”
Thesis: Paul uses rhetorical questions about the Galatian Gentile Christians experience of salvation to remind them about how they need to return to the Gospel of Good News and its message of faith.
Read Galatians 2:17-21:
17“If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Play the Passion slideshow -- Upon completion of the slide show re-read verse 21.
Emphasis: “Has Christ died in vain?”
Introduction:
Paul ends chapter 2 asking the profound question “Has Christ died in vain, was his death meaningless and pointless?” Of course he is trying to awaken the Judaizers and the Galatian Christians up from there deceptive mindsets. Jesus did not come to earth and go through His death and resurrection for no purpose! His life-death and resurrection had a very important purpose – Salvation by faith alone! The gift of righteousness (right standing with God) came as a result of having and placing their faith in Jesus Christ!
Teachers Commentary notes this about Galatians 3
In Galatians we have Paul’s first powerful defense of the Gospel. Some from the Pharisee party in Judea who had trusted Christ apparently retained their zeal for the Mosaic Law. They traveled to the churches Paul had founded, and taught that the Gentile Christians must be circumcised and must keep the Law of Moses to be saved. In essence, they said that to be a true Christian a Gentile must become Jewish in lifestyle, and live by the Old Testament’s code.
Paul confronted this view, insisting that what these men taught was a different gospel from the Gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Paul insisted that there can be no mixture of Law and grace in the Gospel of Christ without robbing the Gospel of its power.
Now, in the extended and carefully argued bulk of Galatians, Paul explained why the Law is not for Christians now. Paul’s argument emphasized three points:
a. The Law is opposed to life (3:1-18).
b. The role given Law in Scripture is a limited one (3:19–4:7).
c. The Law is an inferior path which leads to spiritual disasters (4:8–5:12).
Bible Knowledge Commentary states this about our text:
In the first two chapters of the epistle Paul established the divine origin of his
apostleship and his message. Then he turned to the Galatians who were being
urged to add works to faith, to keep the Mosaic Law in addition to placing faith
in Christ as the grounds of acceptance before God. The Galatian Christians
would receive, the Judaizers thought, a more complete salvation and a greater
sanctification if they would obey the Law. But, Paul argued, to supplement the
work of Christ is to supplant it. There can only be one way of salvation, and that
is by faith in Christ alone. (Paul addresses the Galatian Christians by appealing to their own personal experience of the Gospel. 3:1. Paul’s tone was direct and severe as he remonstrated, You foolish Galatians! To embrace a doctrine which declared the death of Christ unnecessary was irrational (cf. 2:21). It would almost appear they had been
bewitched, cast under some evil spell by a malign influence. For this they were,
however, without excuse because the Savior had been clearly portrayed as crucified before them. Paul had vividly and graphically proclaimed the crucified Christ to the Galatians; yet their eyes had been diverted from the Cross to the Law. They were without excuse.
The sad fact is there are still many today within the community of Christ who still believe that salvation is attained by good works, by human effort. But this is not the case at all as Paul points our clearly in Galatians. He paints a clear argument against this false teaching in this book and especially in this chapter. He uses the example of Abraham to show that he attained righteousness by believing not by following the Law. He shows how the Law is outdated and no longer necessary because of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Christ fulfilled the promise to Abraham and that promise is for Jew and Gentile alike. He also seeks to awaken them out of their deception by pointing them back to their salvation experience. He then hits them with 4 revelatory questions about their experience in Christ.
T.S. – Let’s listen to chapter 3 from the dramatized Bible and listen to Paul’s argument for a change of thinking and for an awakening in the Body of Christ in Galatia.
Scripture Text: Galatians 3:1-29(NIV)
1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? 5Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
6Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” 12The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
15Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. 20A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
21Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:1-21 The Message
You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the Cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.
Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!
Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don’t these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.
Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed in you.”
So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: “Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law.”
The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: “The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that’s the real life.” Rule keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: “The one who does these things [rule keeping] continues to live by them.”
Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.
Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person’s will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say “to descendants,” referring to everybody in general, but “to your descendant” (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ. This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier ratified by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will. No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will.
What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.
If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God’s will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.
Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.
But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.
In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.
Video Illustration: From Illustrate 6 -- Peri: Good deeds cause doubt. Time of clip is 1:30 by Blue Fish TV. This video illustration reveals to us how a works related mindset will cause burn out and disillusionment with our walk with God.
The truth is when we change our thinking from having faith in Christ to then believing that we attain holiness by human effort we set ourselves up for bondage and burnout. We can never become better or more holy by doing endless works. We do works or good deeds because we love Jesus not to make ourselves more holy. I want to stress today that I desire people to serve in the Body of Christ but they must not become driven by works to better their position with the Lord. This is no why we do good deeds. Good deeds come from our faith experience in Christ and the love that we then show toward the Lord for that great gift.
T.S. - Paul in Chapter 3 appeals to the Galatians experience in Christ by addressing where they were before in their walk with the Lord and where they are today. He tells them they have bought into a false teaching and paints for them a picture that faith alone is God’s method of salvation and righteousness, he tries to open their eyes by asking them four questions.
I. How did you discover and receive the Spirit into your lives at the point of salvation was it by faith in Jesus or by doing the works of the law?
a. 3:2. “Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?” His rhetorical question pointed to the time of their conversions, when they received the Holy Spirit and asked them to recall that moment in time.
i. Bible Knowledge Commentary states, “Thus Paul did not question their salvation but challenged them to consider whether they were saved and received the Spirit by faith or on the basis of works. It was of course by faith, when they heard Paul preach the gospel. As an essentially Gentile church they did not possess the Mosaic Law anyway.”
b. Paul shows that the Law does not bring the grace filled life of freedom but instead it brings a life of bondage and guilt. They could just look at the religious leaders of Israel and see what the Law can do to religious people.
i. Instead of grabbing a hold of a Law mindset Paul wants them to embrace grace which is given to them through the crucifixion of Jesus
1. So what is grace all about? It’s like this:
a. Stories for Preachers: Remember the old television show called The Millionaire? Each week an anonymous millionaire would give a one-million-dollar gift to someone. The gift was always free-but the gift always made a big change in the recipient’s life. That’s how grace is. You don’t change in order to receive God’s grace: you change as a result of experiencing God’s grace. Grace is like corrective surgery. We are helpless-but God gives us grace, and God’s grace changes what we ourselves cannot change.
ii. He also tells them to follow the example of Abraham and believe by faith so that they get and maintain the same gift of righteousness with God.
1. Remember he is the Father of the Jews and his righteousness did not come by works but by faith. Yet his (The religious Pharisees, and Sadducees and Jewish - believers) followers still want to hang on to the doctrine of works (Getting to Heaven by human effort).
2. Abraham role modeled the necessity of believing by faith through his life and he did not promote a religion based on works or human effort.
a. He knew as we should know that we can never be good enough to get ourselves into Heaven.
iii. So you might ask what was the purpose of the law then and why did God give it to Israel? He answers this in verses 23-25.
1. The reason is simple it was given to make a temporary way to redeem people from their sins until Jesus came.
2. When Jesus came he presented to us a better more effective way to live for God.
a. He fulfilled the promise God made to Abraham about the Seed that would come and redeem the world. Jesus’ ultimate once and for all sacrifice brought the needed step to restore us to God.
3. So Paul reminds them and us that we receive salvation by faith in Jesus and it is done through the act of believing on His death and resurrection.
a. This illustration helps us understand that the Lord made a better way for us to be redeemed to Him.
i. Stories for Preachers: One of the worst movies of all time, in my humble opinion, is Superman 2. It has it all: bad acting, bad dialogue, corny plot. Even though the movie isn’t very good, there is one scene that I really like. You may or may not be familiar with the story, so I’ll give you some background. Superman and Lois Lane decide that they’re in love, so Superman chooses to give up his super powers in order to marry Lois Lane. He is warned in advance that if he surrenders his powers he can never have them back. Still, he chooses to surrender his powers and become just ordinary Clark Kent. Shortly afterward, he discovers that three evil super-villains have taken control of the White House and are attempting to establish themselves as rulers of planet Earth. Now, more than ever, the world needs Superman--but it’s too late! A dejected Clark Kent hikes through a raging blizzard back to Superman’s fortress of solitude. Now, it is in ruins. As Clark Kent walks through the rubble, he cries out loud, "Father, I have failed." All of a sudden the scene changes to Metropolis. The super-villains are wreaking havoc and terrorizing the townspeople, and then, the music starts. Suddenly, up in the sky--it’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, it’s Superman! Somehow, someway, he regained his superpowers and he is back. I don’t think I will be spoiling it for anyone when I say that the story ends with Superman defeating the villains and winning the fight for truth, justice, and the American way. The writers of this film put themselves in quite a bind: They established a rule that if Superman surrenders his powers he can never get them back. Then, he surrendered his superpowers. If the writers had stuck to the rule, the movie would have ended there. But the writers took some liberties: They changed the rules in the middle of the story in order to get Superman off the hook. That is exactly what grace is: since we are unable to earn our salvation by the letter of the law, God "changed the rules" and sent Christ to die for our sins--he changed the rules in the middle of the story to get us off the hook!
4. Paul also points out to us that the law was the tutor preparing us for Jesus Christ and His gift of eternal life.
a. But since the Master Teacher has come we no longer need to embrace the tutor but instead embrace the master teacher who fulfilled all that the tutor taught us.
T.S. – Paul challenges the Christians to think back to how they came to embrace Christ and experience their “Born Again” moment. He then raises the second question by asking so if you found salvation through faith alone how then do you think you will gain eternal sanctification by human effort? A good question to ponder!
II. How will you attain your goal by human effort if it all started with a moment of faith? Will you try to follow 1,000 of laws and regulations like the religious Jews and end up under a curse?
a. 3:3. “How will you be sanctified?” NKJV
i. Bible Knowledge Commentary states, “Presupposing the answer that the Galatians became Christians by faith, Paul asked if they were so foolish as to think they could begin the Christian life in one way (by faith) and move on to spiritual maturity in another (by works). This was what the Judaizers promoted (cf. 4:10; 5:2; 6:13), but the means of justification and sanctification were (and
are) the same. There was no provision under the Law for the Holy Spirit to do a work of sanctification. The Galatian believers probably thought that keeping the old Law would aid them in their spiritual lives, but it would not.”
b. Paul earlier in Galatians reminded them that he has already tried this and it did not work so they need to learn from his failures.
i. He was so wrapped up in a religious legal mindset that he could not even recognize the divine Gospel when it was presented to him. He was so brainwashed and deceived that he even persecuted those who preached the truth.
ii. The truth is he reminds them is that the Law will not make you more worthy it will only cause bondage and disillusionment with God.
1. It will bring you under a curse not under God’s blessing.
2. Remember the Law and its promoters push human effort over divine grace and mercy.
iii. He also points to the fact that no one can ever be good enough to get into Heaven and that is why Jesus came.
1. No one has been able to fulfill all the commandments of the Law. It’s impossible but Jesus came and fulfilled it all and opened up a new way to a right relationship with God.
2. When Christ died and the curtain was ripped in two in the temple the holy of holies was open to all who called on the name of Jesus.
a. This symbolic act – or miracle showed to all that God is no available to everyone who comes to Him through His son Jesus Christ.
c. In my own personal life I have discovered that if I become works obsessed and driven by thinking that if I do this I will be more pleasing to God then I soon become disillusioned. Why? Because I fail, I come up short way to often and at that point I fall prey to see your not worthy give it up or see God hates you.
i. When we start to think that our salvation lies in the power of my own hands we undermine the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as being meaningless and useless.
T.S. - Paul shows the futility of human effort and the unrealistic idea that we can earn sanctification – purity with God - by works after we received it by faith. He then draws their attention back to the point of when they were first saved and what they experienced as a result of their decision. Were they not persecuted by the Jews and by the heathen culture? He asks them was this all in vain?
III. Have you suffered the persecution for becoming a follower of Jesus for nothing?
a. 3:4. “Did you suffer in vain?” NKJV
i. Bible Knowledge Commentary states, “The third question looked back on the persecution the apostles and new believers experienced in the region of Galatia. As Paul and Barnabas retraced their steps at the end of the first missionary journey, they warned the Galatian converts that they would suffer as Christians (Acts 14:21-22). Persecution evidently soon followed, and Paul reminded them that if they turned from grace to Law they would brand their former position in error and would then have suffered so much for nothing. But the apostle was unwilling to believe that this was so.”
ii. Acts 14:21-22: 21They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
iii. Paul reminds the Galatian Christians about their suffering at their point of accepting Jesus. He reminds them of how they were rejected, suffered financial loss, and even ridicule for their new found faith and he asks was this for nothing.
1. I think he is also referencing his statement that we must “Please God not men!” because if we try to please men then we no longer serve God.
2. The reality is Jesus told us all that if we follow Him there will be those who will hate us like they hated him. Why? I think because he made salvation attainable by all.
iv. I think we also need to come back to what he said at the end of Chapter 2 “Did Jesus suffer for nothing?”
b. As I sat and pondered this thought –my mind reflected back on a book by Doug Murren wrote called Churches That Heal. In one part of this book he tells the reader to make sure that they “Don’t waste the pain” (250).
i. He shares this story pages 250-252:
1. A man who is a good friend, a leader of a large denomination, called me in the middle of an incredibly tough time in my life. I wanted him to speak comforting words. In fact, what I really wanted was for him to come and straighten out the whole situation. But he knew God hadn’t given him that assignment. His main message to me was straightforward: “Don’t waste the pain.” He said that phrase three or four times in the course of our conversation. I told him later I had wanted to reach through the phone lines and punch his lights out. Nevertheless, I took his advice. Every day, whenever the pain was greatest, I went to my desk and wrote down one or more of the many things the pain was teaching me. One of those I still have posted on my wall: “I am glad I suffered so that I know I don’t ever want anyone else to suffer like this.” I discovered that the pain made me more sensitive to others. It increased my faith. My friends had always felt I was a bit naïve, too quick to trust, and too harsh when people proved untrustworthy; now my trust was orientated more toward sound wisdom. I wrote all these things down, and I stewarded my pain.”
2. How about you today do you steward your pain? Do you steward the pain Jesus suffered for you?
T.S. – Paul challenges them to think about their suffering and even Christ’s suffering and ask, “Was it all for nothing!” He then reminds them of what happen when the Gospel was preached by him and others in Galatia. God did many miracles to show the truth of the Gospel and its miracle working power. Did God do these miracles because they were so “Holy” or because of their faith in Jesus?
IV. Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
a. 3:5. “On what basis did God perform miracles?” NKJV
i. Bible knowledge Commentary states, “That miracles were
performed among the Galatians by divine power was recorded in the Book of Acts (14:3, 8-11). It was clear, furthermore, that these supernatural works were not the result of the works of the Law but from the hearing that leads to faith. The Galatians did not know the Law, and Paul’s message was that of justification
by faith.”
ii. Acts 14:3; 8-11: 3So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders… 8In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. 11When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”
iii. Paul bring the Galatians back to the reality that God does not perform miracles because they had followed all the rules and regulations of the Law but because they believed and placed their faith and trust in Christ.
1. We all need to remember this lesson.
b. The lesson here is God does miracles for people who have faith and trust in Him. I do not believe he does miracles for people who think that they can do it all by their human effort. In other words God I will do this so that you must do that.
i. I don’t believe we can manipulate God like this!
ii. The Lord does miracles for those who believe and look to him for genuine help!
T.S. – Paul finished off his questions by pointing to who these Gentile converts belong too. Paul does help the Galatian Christians remember who they really are as a result of their faith in Christ.
V. You are the daughters and the sons of God almighty – don’t forget that!
a. Do you know that because of the life and death of Jesus Christ the Master teacher that you are now sons and daughters of God himself?
i. This is an amazing statement for them to consider -- they are the children of God.
1. Not because of their good works but because of their faith in Jesus Christ
ii. Paul reminds them how they became children of God at the point of salvation – it was not by doing good works but by believing on Jesus Christ and then being baptized.
1. He seeks to jog their rational by telling them that the Great Master came and made the ultimate sacrifice for them therefore they are no longer segregated.
iii. There are no divisions between Jew or Greek – no one is better than the other instead we are all sons and daughters of God and that makes us all related by blood- His blood. – Jesus bloodline!
1. Entrance into His family is through faith not by works.
2. You do not have to be Jewish to enter into a father –daughter or son relationship with Abba Father.
3. Just believe in Jesus!
iv. There is no such thing as slave or free men in the Body Christ we are brothers and sisters in Jesus.
v. Likewise there is no ranking of males being better than females in the Body Christ we are one in Christ and on the same spiritual plain.
1. Tony Campolo’s thought from Adventures in Missing The Point.
a. See pages 129-139
vi. May I add there is no favorite team when it comes to football either:
1. Topic Prejudice – Local Perspectives 1102 Humorous Illustrations page 286:
a. Two boys were playing football in New York City’s Central park when the smaller of the two boys was attacked by a rabid dog. Thinking quickly, the other boy ripped off a board from a nearby fence, wedged it inside the dog’s collar, twisted the board, and broke the dog’s neck. A reporter from a New York newspaper saw the incident and ran over to interview the young hero. The reporter titled his article “Young Giants Fan Saves Friend from Vicious Beast.” “But I’m not a Giants fan,” the boy exclaimed. So the reporter tried again. “Little Jets Fan Rescues Friend from Rabid Dog Attack.” “I don’t like the Jets either,” the boy told him. “But I figured that everyone in New York was either a fan of the Giants or Jets. So what team do you root for?” the reporter asked. “I’m a (Minnesota Viking) Fan,” the boy answered. The reporter then headed the article: “Ruthless Child Destroys Beloved Family Pet.”
b. God is not prejudice! Listen to what Revelation says:
i. Rev. 7:9-12:
9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
ii. Illustration of how racism damages the testimony of Christianity:
1. In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned, “If Christians have caste differences also, “he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.” That usher’s prejudice not only betrayed Jesus but also turned a person away from trusting Him as Savior.
Contributed to Sermon Central by: David Yarbrough
iii. Christianity Today did an article on India about the caste system
1. They noted: “In India every India, every living thing is seen as having features intrinsic to its “birth” (jat). Among people, there are roughly 3000 separate “birth groups” or “castes” (jatis), each so ethnically distinct that, by tradition, intermarriage and interdining between castes has been unthinkable. No two of these castes can be mingled or mixed, it is believed, without causing cosmic chaos or confusion. (To do so would be like mating a chicken with a cobra. Thousands of years a go, Braham elites began to devise and perfect a system for ranking castes according to degrees of inherited “purity” or “pollution.” (28, Christianity Today Summer 2005).
2. My own personal experience in India facing the caste system.
a. When we were in India I became very disturbed during our prayer time because everyone wanted to take my picture either praying for them or shaking their hand. When I asked my fellow native pastor about it he informed my why they were doing that. He stated, “Pastor because you are from America and VIP these people want their picture with you because then they can show others that they have value because you were willing to touch them.” This just blew my mind to think that if I touched someone then they could prove to others that they have value in this life.
Conclusion:
Paul opened up our chapter rebuking the Galatian church for being deceived by a evil spell. He is just blown away by how quick these Christians have been led away from Jesus to another works related Gospel which is no Gospel at all.
Paul taught us valuable lessons we need to apply to our faith today:
He reminds them to not be deceived by false teachings.
We need to constantly remember where we came from and were we are at right now. We started in faith and we cannot switch to human effort along the way thinking that this is pleasing to God.
Do not allow yourself to be bewitched!
Have faith and do not fall prey to a works – related religious mindset.
Remember you are a child of God! And you got there by FAITH!
So now live by faith!
