Monday February 16, 2015

Coming Up this Sonday 

Galatians 3:13-15   Free to Serve Each Other 

Key Bible Passage: Galatians 5:13–15 (NIV84)

13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Saul was an angry young man, a violent man and a blasphemer (1 Tim 1:13). It’s hard to believe that this is the bio of the man we know as the Apostle Paul! But by the grace of God he was called to be an Apostle. He met the Lord Jesus Christ en route to Damascus where he hoped to arrest Christians, have them tried and executed for following Jesus. But having met Jesus, Paul immediately began to preach the gospel in accord with his calling.

Almost from the very start Paul was dogged by Jews who sought to make trouble for him (Acts 17:5, 13 etc) and by Judaizers who wanted Christians to adopt Jewish laws (Acts 15).  These Judaizers felt that, among other things, it was necessary for all new believers in Christ, especially Gentile believers, to be circumcised. In the Galatian church the problem reached boiling point and had to be dealt with quickly before converts were lost. Certain religious activists had visited Galatia after Paul’s departure and had persuaded the Christians there that the gospel presented by Paul was insufficient for salvation (1:7). In addition to faith they insisted that a person must be circumcised according to the law of Moses (5:12) and must keep the Sabbath and other Jewish holy days (4:10), including the Jewish ceremonial law (5:3).

Paul begins his letter by stating his position very forcefully and very clearly. Anyone who teaches a gospel of salvation other than the gospel he preached is anathema – a term of utter contempt that can be translated as ‘utterly condemned’. Paul is so incensed at this false gospel that he repeats himself in v 8 and 9. Adding to the gospel is a perversion of it and it is no gospel at all. It’s parallel to adding cyanide to drinking water.

Paul’s point is clear. As he says in 1:4 it is Jesus who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this evil age. We are saved only by faith in Jesus. We cannot add to that salvation through any good works or religious ceremony. There is absolutely nothing we can do to merit our salvation. It is a matter of placing one’s trust in Jesus’ saving work and accepting that saving work as a gift. We need to realise that going to church doesn’t make us Christian or save us. Being baptised doesn’t save us. Singing songs or reciting prayers or even standing before a priest asking for absolution doesn’t save us. Our salvation comes ONLY from believing in the saving work of Christ Jesus at Calvary on our behalf.

If we are to understand our freedom in Christ and our serving of each other then we have to understand the free gift of salvation in Christ. We have to understand God’s grace before we can truly serve each other in freedom.

Do you know the grace of Christ in your life?

What is the grace of Christ?

Explain how that grace has impacted or affected you?