Saturday, September 09, 2017
Friday, September 08, 2017
Four Years of "Resisting Gossip"
Rejoice with me!
This week marked the fourth anniversary of the publishing of Resisting Gossip: Winning the War of the Wagging Tongue. What a joy it has been to be see it continue to be read by people all around the world.
Here are eight important milestones from the last 12 months:
1. I got to speak about resisting gossip and using our words for good at the 2016 Deep and Wide Conference at Faith EFC in Mountain Lake Park Maryland.
2. The Spanish version, Resistiendo el Chisme, is now available as an e-book in multiple formats.
3. The Korean version,험담을 멈추라, was released by CLC Korea.
4. CareLeader republished my article on Keeping Gossip Out of Prayer Requests.
5. The Russian version, Противостоять сплетням, was released by CLC Belarus and (another first!) they produced a Russian version of the original book trailer.
6. The Romanian version, Lupta împotriva bârfei, was released by CLC Romania (doesn't "bârfei" look like a great word for gossip?!).
That brings the total number of languages up to 6 (including the original English, the only one that I actually understand)!
7. Resisting Gossip was included among a group of terrific books in a new free guide for discipling youth by Reformed Youth Online.
8. I was interviewed by two pastors for their curiously named "Walrus and Carpenter Podcast" about the 4th anniversary of the book.
Thank you to those who have helped with this and prayed for the influence of our little book. I'm thankful to my Lord for the blessing of being involved in this ministry and grateful for stories of people who are learning to win the war of the wagging tongue.
125th Anniversary Celebration at Lanse Evangelical Free Church
In just one month, our church family will be celebrating our 125th anniversary with a special weekend of events. As the longest serving pastor (19 years and counting), it is a great privilege and pleasure to see this special event come together.
I look forward to fellowshiping with people from various eras of the church's history and am especially excited to have EFCA President Kevin Kompelien on our campus.
If you have a connection (old or new) with our church, we'd love for you to attend or to send in some favorite memories to share. Happy birthday, Lanse Free Church!
Sunday, September 03, 2017
[Matt's Messages] "I Plead With You"
Galatians: The Truth of the Gospel
September 3, 2017 :: Galatians 4:12-20
Our current sermon series is called “The Truth of the Gospel” because that’s exactly what was at stake.
The apostle Paul was writing these churches because they were in danger of losing the truth of the gospel.
Paul had been to Galatia and helped to establish these churches on the gospel of grace alone, the gospel of faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
But some false teachers had crept in and were turning the heads of the Galatians. These false teachers were convincing them of a false gospel.
They were telling the Galatians that faith alone in Christ alone was not enough.
You also needed the Law. You needed to keep the Law of Moses for your justification to stay justified. To be right with God you need Jesus and you need to obey the Law.
That’s a false gospel. That’s a bomb ready to go off and blow up these churches.
And so Paul writes his letter.
For the last 3 chapters, Paul has been dismantling that false gospel. Disarming that heretical explosive device so it doesn’t go off in their faces.
If...they will accept what he is saying in his letter.
Paul has pulled out some of the strongest words he’s ever used in his letters, and some of the strongest words are still to come in this one.
He’s reminded them about his personal testimony.
He’s reminded them about his personal authority, as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
He’s reminded them that his gospel came directly from the Lord Jesus Christ.
He’s shown them how foolish it is to think that you can start being justified by faith and then turn around and finish being justified by observing the law.
He’s shown them how the Law was never meant to be the means of our justification. It was temporary and was meant to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
And he’s reminded them that they are no longer slaves. They are sons of God, and heirs of God, and known by God and–not because they obeyed the Law! Not because they were circumcised or observed special days, months, seasons, and years!
But because they put their faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.
And now, Paul is going to ask something from them.
It’s funny. This here is actually the first call to action in this whole letter. Not until chapter 4!
It’s all been implicit until now, but now he makes it explicit.
He says, “I plead with you, brothers...”
That’s the title of today’s message, “I Plead With You.”
He’s been laying out his case, piece by piece by piece, and now he makes it personal and he asks them to take it all to heart and to change their minds.
Some people think of the apostle Paul as a cold fish.
He’s so incredibly smart, and he writes such complicated theology.
Paul knows his Old Testament backwards and forwards.
Paul writes these theological treatises like Ephesians an Romans.
So he’s really smart. But if you think of Paul as a cold, calculating, dispassionate theological machine, you’ve got him all wrong.
Paul is incredibly passionate! Paul cares deeply.
Paul is full of emotion. It’s emotion that comes from the truth of the gospel, from the depths of his theology, but he’s very emotional and very personal.
These are some of the most gut-wrenchingly personal words in the New Testament.
They reveal Paul’s heart.
It’s very much a pastor’s heart. It’s what a pastor’s heart should be like.
As I read it again and again this week, I was encouraged and convicted by what I could see of Paul’s pastoral heart for these people in spiritual danger.
And what he pleads for them.
Do you feel his anguish?
Do you see how emotional Paul can be?
“I am perplexed about you!”
That’s why he pleads with them.
He’s disturbed. He’s a loss. He almost doesn’t know what to do with these folks.
Verse 11 said that he was worried about them. He said, “I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.”
I know how he feels. As a pastor, I often don’t know what to do.
I know that because I’m up here preaching and I seem to have my thoughts together that I can give the impression that I have all of the answers.
But often, as pastor, I don’t know what to do.
I care deeply about my people, but I am often at a loss to know what to say or what to do to help people be the people that they are supposed to be in Christ.
So Paul does what he knows to do, and that’s plead with them. V.12
“I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you.”
#1. BECOME LIKE ME.
Become like Paul.
Paul says, “I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you.”
What does he mean?
In what way does Paul want them desperately to become like him?
He wants them to be like him in trusting in Jesus Christ alone for their justification and not adding law-keeping to the gospel. Right?
That’s what he’s been driving at all along.
He wants them to be free of the Law.
He wants them to throw off the slavery that he was talking about in the previous section.
And to embrace their new identity as sons in the Son, as heirs of the promise, as known by God.
That’s how he is and that’s what he wants for them.
“I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you.”
Isn’t it interesting and ironic that a Jew like Paul would be trying so hard to convince these Gentiles that they didn’t need to observe the Law of Moses?
“I became like you.”
Which, by the way, is a very wise thing for a pastor to do. If he wants his flock to become like him spiritually, he needs to become like them in as many ways as he can.
Now, Paul is going to appeal to their prior relationship. He’s going to base his pleading on their shared history.
And he’s going to get very personal.
He starts by saying that things between them used to be very different than they are today. End of V.12 “You have done me no wrong [back then you were great]. As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.”
Things used to be really different between this church and this apostle.
When he first came to them, he was a wreck.
Apparently, the reason he first met them was because of (literally) “a weakness of the flesh” which was probably a “bodily ailment” like an illness.
It’s possible that he came beaten and bloodied by the persecution that followed him everywhere he went.
But it’s more likely that he got something like malaria and was laid up and had to get nursed back to health among these Galatians.
We don’t know exactly because Luke doesn’t tell us this story in the book of Acts.
Whatever it was, maybe it was an eye-problem. Paul seems to have trouble with his eyes. And maybe it was the same problem as his “thorn in the flesh” from 2 Corinthians 12, we don’t know.
Whatever it was, he wasn’t a pretty sight.
His illness was (v.14) “a trial” to them.
But that didn’t stop them from loving him. V.14 “You did not treat me with contempt or scorn.”
They didn’t turn up their noses at him or spit on him as accursed by God.
“Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.”
That’s what we call the royal treatment.
They heard Paul’s gospel and they received Paul as the messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And Jesus said, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me” (Matthew 10:40).
But something has changed. Something has gone wrong. V.15
“What has happened to all your joy?”
Or what has happened to the satisfaction, to the “blessing you felt” in relationship to me?
“I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me” (v.15).
“Where did that go?
I didn’t change!
I feel the same way about you.
My gospel hasn’t changed.”
V.16 “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?”
“I was telling you the truth before. And you loved it.
And you loved me.
I’m still telling you the truth, but now you don’t seem to love me.
You must not love the truth.”
By the way, this is another thing that a faithful pastor will do. He will continue to give people the truth even when they don’t want to hear it.
It’s one of the parts of pastoring that I struggle with the most.
I like to be liked. And I don’t like to be disliked.
So I’m tempted to trim the truth to get the likes.
But I’m committed to giving people the truth even when they don’t want to hear it.
Because that’s true love!
And the same is true for a church with it’s pastor.
Don’t tell me what I want to hear. Tell me what I need to hear. In love.
“Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?”
I plead with you, “Become like me.”
Put your faith in Jesus Christ alone, not in anything else, including your own good works.
I plead with you.
#2. BEWARE OF FLATTERERS.
Proverbs 27:6 says, “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”
Paul has been giving them trustworthy wounds, but these other people have been multiplying the kisses. V.17
“Those people [the false teachers] are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.”
These guys have been doing the full-on sales job with the Galatians.
You know what I mean? They have rolled out the red carpet. They have “fawned and fussed” over the Galatians (John Stott’s phrase).
They have played up to them and promised them the moon.
That’s what false teachers do. They make you feel good about yourself.
And they promise you all kinds of things that they don’t plan to deliver on.
That’s what the prosperity gospel does.
People who teach that God wants you healthy, wealthy, and prosperous in this life.
Just follow these steps!
Just send your check to this address.
They never say anything that you don’t want to hear.
They never say anything difficult or hard to accept.
And they make you feel good about yourself.
And what would feel better than to know that you have had a hand in your own justification because you have obediently kept the Law and secured all of its blessings?
And they play up to you like that to turn you away from the truth of the gospel.
And to turn you away from the true church.
And to turn you away even from the one who brought you the gospel in the first place.
And to turn you to themselves....
Paul says, “What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.”
Now, Paul wouldn’t care a bit if they had found other true teachers teaching them the true gospel. And maybe he faded away in their memories.
But these folks are trying to get a following for themselves.
Watch out for spiritual leaders like that. Beware of flatterers.
They want something. Often it’s your money.
But they also want control of your lives. They want to use you.
This is how cults get started and how they thrive.
Now, Paul says, it’s not bad to be zealous for somebody, but there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it. V.18
“It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good [provided that it’s about the truth of the gospel], and to be so [zealous] always and not just when I am with you.”
These false teachers were one way when they were with Galatians and another when they were not.
Paul felt and acted the same towards them whether he was there or he was far away.
That’s another mark of a good pastor, of a good Christian leader.
Do we care about our people in the same way when we are not with them as when we are?
Beware of flatterers.
Can you think of someone that has tried to win you over to them at the expense of what you know to be true?
Watch out for people like that.
And if I ever start acting like that, give me the boot.
Paul is hurting. Paul is in so much pain because of the spiritual danger looming over these Christians whom he loves so much.
Look how he pleads with them. V.19
“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!”
Those are shocking words.
Paul is a guy talking about being in labor.
He’s trying to figure out how he can describe how much anguish and agony he’s feeling for these Galatians.
And he’s seen a woman who is giving birth.
“That’s how I feel!”
But I feel like I’m having to do it all over again.
Ladies, can you imagine giving birth to the same child a second time?
“I thought we did this already!”
Brings new meaning to the phrase, “Labor Day.”
“Again?
I thought I taught you the truth of the gospel the first time.
Well, I’ll just keep on going until I know you’ve got it.”
“Until Christ is formed in you.”
#3. BE FULL OF CHRIST.
That’s what I’m suffering for.
I’m doing all of this to know that “Christ is formed in you.”
That you have trusted in Christ and are trusting in Christ so that Christ is transforming you into His own image.
I plead with you! Be full of Christ and Christ-likeness.
That’s the whole point.
By the way, that’s what should be the goal of every pastor and every Christian leader.
That should be the goal of all of our labors, all of our suffering and work.
Not that people should be formed in our image (though we want them to become as we are), but that Christ should be formed in them.
That Christ should be formed in you.
Paul wishes that he could stop the letter right there and look them in the eye and see if it’s made any difference.
He wishes that he didn’t have to keep on going with these strong words. He’s probably afraid that they will take it the wrong way. V.20
“...how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!”
“That’s why I am pleading with you.
Because I care!
I’m like your Mom. I gave you birth.
And I just want what’s best for you. And that’s Jesus!”
Worship at the Lord’s Table
That’s what this table is all about.
It’s all about Jesus.
And being full of Jesus and Jesus being formed in us.
It’s not a very flattering table.
Don’t come to this table to feel good about yourself.
This table says that you are a sinner.
That you have not kept God’s law. You have broken it.
And the punishment is death.
This table is not here to make you feel good about yourself.
But this table also says that Someone has come and taken your punishment for you.
His body was broken for you.
His blood was poured out for you.
And this table says that all you have to do is place your faith and trust in Him alone and you will be justified.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
If you do that, then you will become like Paul.
And you will in time be full of Christ. Christ will be formed in you.
That’s the gospel. And it never disappoints!
If you are trusting in Jesus Christ and Christ alone for your justification, you are invited to eat and drink this memorial meal with us.
If you are not trusting in Jesus Christ and Christ alone for your justification, then please don’t eat and drink with us.
I plead with you!
I plead with you to repent and place your faith in Jesus.
He is so wonderful. So sufficient. So glorious and merciful and sweet.
I’m zealous for everyone here to know and trust Him.
And for Him to be formed in each one of us.
***
Messages in this Series:
01. To the Churches in Galatia
02. Turning to a Different Gospel
03. Preaching the Faith He Once Tried to Destroy
04. So the Truth of the Gospel Might Remain With You
05. Acting in Line with the Truth of the Gospel
06. I Live By Faith in the Son of God
07. You Foolish Galatians!
08. You Are All Sons of God Through Faith in Christ Jesus
09. So You Are No Longer a Slave
Saturday, September 02, 2017
Friday, September 01, 2017
Student Discipleship Guide from RYM
I really like how clear it is with easy-to-follow instructions and graphics, including the covers of the books for quick identification.
The best news is that this guide is absolutely free!
They write:
As Christians, we are to pass the faith on to the next generation. Whether we are parents or grandparents, church staff or volunteers, we have been tasked to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). One of the primary ways we can be discipling the next generation is by encouraging them to be readers.
We serve a God who created all things by using words (Genesis 1-2) and a Savior who calls himself the Living Word (John 1:1-14). Christians are also called to be a people of the Word and to meditate upon God’s Word day and night (Psalm 1).
Not only should we – and our children – feed upon God’s Word, but we should also be feeding upon other words. That is, we should be reading. We should be reading theological books, classics, fiction, etc. Teaching our children to be readers in many different genres and categories will foster a deeper appreciation for the various genres and categories found in Scripture.
However, simply saying that we should disciple our students to be readers can seem like a daunting task. Where do we begin? What books should we focus on? At what ages should this begin? These questions led to the creation of the following plan.I was greatly encouragement to find that they had listed Resisting Gossip as a suggested book for 10th graders to read (see pg. 9 of the PDF version).
It's easy to recommend this resource to anyone who has or works with teens. Check it out at RYM's website.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
The Walrus and the Carpenter Podcast
They asked me questions about the 4 year anniversary of the release of Resisting Gossip and about how its teaching relates to prayer requests, pastoral ministry, and a bunch of other things. It was fun to hang out with a couple curious pastors who are passionate about ministry.
They are currently running a contest to win a free copy of Resisting Gossip provided by CLC Publications. Listen to the podcast to find out how to win.
Sunday, August 27, 2017
[Matt's Messages] "So You Are No Longer a Slave"
Galatians: The Truth of the Gospel
August 27, 2017 :: Galatians 4:1-11
Galatians is chock-ful of glorious gospel truth. Today, when we get to verses 4, 5, and 6, we are going to read one of the most glorious descriptions of the gospel of Jesus Christ there ever was.
But the problem was that the Christians in the region of Galatia were being tempted to believe a false-gospel, an alternative gospel, a gospel that is really no gospel at all.
Paul has fired up the alarm with this letter and is warning and admonishing the Galatians to not give in to the destructive false teaching that has been spreading like gangrene in their midst.
And here’s what they are being told...that faith in Jesus Christ is not enough.
They are being told that believing in Jesus is fine, but to be truly justified and to stay justified, to be right with God, to be righteous in God’s sight forever, a believer must also do the works of the Law of Moses: circumcision, the Ten Commandments, the dietary restrictions, and the sacred Jewish calendar of days, months, seasons, and years.
It’s not enough to just believe in Christ alone.
You’ve got to also keep the Law.
And we’ve had 3 whole chapters of Paul dismantling that idea.
And there’s a lot more to come.
Last time, Paul took us on quick tour of the whole Old Testament.
And he showed us why justification by faith in God’s promises (like Father Abraham) was so much better than trying to be justified by the law.
I’m not going to go over all of it again, but simply put, the Promise was older than the Law, the Law was only added because of transgression, the Law was only temporary, the Law couldn’t save, the Law had us locked up like a big bad babysitter, and it has it has effectively done its job.
Therefore, we shouldn’t go back to it.
And faith?
Faith has made us sons of God in Christ Jesus!
Do you remember the 3 words that we emphasized at the end of chapter 3?
Sons, One, Heirs.
That’s the results of faith in Jesus Christ!
Those ideas are going to be really key again today as well.
Because really, we stopped in the middle of Paul’s thought. Verse 1 of chapter is Paul still explaining what he just said.
When you read this passage, you can just feel how concerned Paul is about these people, can’t you?
He knows that they are in terrible danger, and it’s tearing him up.
And he’s doing everything he can, guided by the Spirit, to persuade them not to turn to this alternative gospel. He’s used really strong language...and the strongest language is still to come.
He’s doing everything he can to persuade them to not turn to this alternative gospel.
And in these verses for today, he’s doing it by showing them that, in Christ, they are now no longer slaves.
Here’s our sermon title for today. It’s from the first phrase of verse 7.
“So You Are No Longer a Slave...”
Say that to the person next to you.
“So You Are No Longer a Slave...”
That’s a glorious truth with far-reaching implications for our lives today.
“So you are no longer a slave...”
But that means that at one time, you were a slave. At least in some sense.
That’s what he says in verse 1.
“What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.”
Paul is making an analogy from the Greco-Roman world in which he lived.
He says imagine a child who is the rich heir-apparent of a big estate. But he is still a minor, still a child, unable to exercise the rights over that big estate.
In fact, he’s subject to babysitters and bossy bodyguards.
Even though some day, he’s going to own everything, right now, he’s no better than a slave. He has to obey.
He is “under.”
The word “under” keeps cropping up in this letter.
Practically speaking, this child is functionally a slave until the date of his graduation from being a minor.
Every student who is being bundled off back to school this week knows the feeling!
“I have to go school. This is a form of slavery!”
“I can’t wait until I graduate and I can do whatever I want.”
Amen, students, amen?
Well, Paul says that take that idea and apply it to our spiritual condition. V.3
“So also, when we were children [I think that’s the time that the Law of Moses was in effect, when we were children], we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.”
Paul says, “We were as good as slaves, too!”
Now, I’m not exactly sure how this works. I’m not exactly sure what the “basic principles of the world” are. There are three main interpretations, and they all give a different perspective on it, but all have different strengths and weaknesses, too.
The word for “basic principles” can be like the ABC’s of something. Like the basic stuff you learn in school, reading, writing, and arithmetic. ABC, 123.
And that might mean the Jews who were trying to be justified by the Law were enslaved by the basics of doing the Law. ABC, 123, DO-DO-DO.
But the word for “basic principles” was also used for the basic elements in the ancient world, like “earth, wind, fire” that sort of thing.
So that would be saying that they were focusing on earthly, physical things like circumcision, feasting and fasting, sacrifices–really earthy-things, missing the higher, spiritual, substantive point.
And the third view is that the “basic principles of the world” are spiritual forces of evil. Demons. Unclean spirits. The principalities and powers that Paul talks about in Ephesians 6.
And that one makes the most sense to me when this verse is connected to verse 8.
But I’m not really sure how the logic works here in verse 3.
But the big point is clear. We used to be slaves...AND NOT TO GOD.
This isn’t talking about being a slave of God. That’s a good thing!
That’s not something you want freed from!
But Paul says that we used to be in slavery “UNDER the basic principles of the world.”
And that’s NOT good.
But it’s all changed. Because Jesus came. V.4
“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”
Woohoo!
Isn’t that awesome?
That’s one of the most glorious statements of the truth of gospel, ever.
“But when the time had fully come...”
God’s timing is perfect.
God had a plan from the beginning, and when the time was ripe, He put it into action.
When the Law had reigned for 1400 years or so, God sent His Son.
I have a friend who says that God is seldom early but never late.
He knows exactly when to do something.
And He knew when to send to Jesus.
“God sent his Son.” That’s interesting, too, because it means that the Son of God was pre-existent. He was eternally God the Son. And God the Father sent His own eternal Son into the world.
This points to His divinity.
And the next phrase points to His humanity–“born of a woman.”
That’s as human as you can get.
Jesus came from out of Mary’s womb.
And she was a virgin!
Jesus is fully God and fully human in one Person, sent by God the Father.
“Born of a woman, born UNDER law.”
Oh! Even Jesus was born under the rule of the Mosaic Law.
But here’s the thing: He fulfilled it! Jesus lived under the Law perfectly and fulfilled it perfectly!
And so when He took our place on the Cross, when He took on the curse of the Law, He didn’t deserve it, so that He could (v.5) “redeem those under law.”
Isn’t that glorious?
It’s it wonderful how God planned it, how God saved us?
John Stott put it this way:
“So the divinity of Christ, the humanity of Christ and the righteousness of Christ uniquely qualified him to be man's redeemer. If He had not been man, He could not have redeemed men. If He had not been a righteous man, He could not have redeemed unrighteous men. And if He had not been God's Son, He could not have redeemed men for God or made them the sons of God.”
“He was born under law to redeem those under law.”
How many of us have thanked Jesus recently for being born under law?
Because this is what we get! V.5
“That we might receive the full rights of sons.”
The adoption of sons.
J.I. Packer has called adoption “the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification.”
Justification is wonderful, but it’s leads to something else. It leads to adoption.
Having the full rights of being a Son of God.
And here’s where the Third Person of the Trinity gets in there. V.6
“Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’”
By virtue of your spiritual adoption, you have the Spirit of God’s Son in your heart and He calls out, He cries out, “Abba! Father!”
Isn’t that amazing?
Remember Romans 8:16? “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.”
He’s inside of you saying, “Abba! Father!”
Jesus’ own special name for God is now is something that you can say about God through the Spirit that lives in you.
“God is my Abba!”
“God is my Father!”
V.7
“So you are no longer a slave, but a son;”
Let’s make that big point number one.
#1. SON.
So because of Jesus you are no longer a slave, what does that make you?
A SON.
You are a son in the Son.
This is a restatement and reemphasis of what we saw last time.
Think about what that means.
You are not an orphan.
If you are in Christ, you are not an orphan.
You are not alone in this world.
Do you feel alone in this world?
Does this world scare you?
It’s a scary world.
I get scared of all kinds of things.
I worry about all kinds of things.
There are all kinds of things that bother me.
But not when this thought is what is controlling my mind.
“I am not a slave. And I am not an orphan.”
I am a son.
I am a son in the Son.
What do I have to worry about?
I mean, really?
This is why we can pray, you know?
Do you pray?
Do you pray with confidence?
Do you pray to God as your Father?
You’ve got the Spirit of the Son of God living in you crying out, “Abba, Father!”
Do you think God is going to listen to you?
You bet He is.
Verses 4 through 6 should give us great confidence in approaching God in prayer and walking through the minefield that is this world.
“So you are no longer a slave, but a son.”
That’s who you are.
Because Jesus is a Chainbreaker!
You are no longer a slave, but a son.
And that’s not all. V.7
“...and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
#2. HEIR.
That big old estate is yours to enjoy.
You are fabulously rich as an heir of God.
We talked about this last time.
All of the promises are ours. We are heirs! They are coming to us.
Because we are sons in the Son.
Every promise in the book is mine
Every chapter, every verse and every line
All are blessings of His love divine
Every promise in the book is mine.
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
This afternoon, read Ephesians chapter 1 to remind yourself of the blessings you have in Christ Jesus.
Not only are you not an orphan but you are one rich kid in Christ!
Chosen
Predestined
Adopted
Redeemed
Forgiven
Included
Sealed
Guaranteed
What more do you want?
That inheritance is all ours.
In part now and still fully to come.
That gives us hope, doesn’t it?
Do you have hope?
So many people live without hope these days.
But we have every good thing to anticipate.
Because we are standing on the promises.
Because “you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
And that’s not all!
You are also known. V.8
#3. KNOWN.
“Formerly, when you [Gentile Galatians] did not know God, you were slaves [there’s that word again] to those who by nature are not gods. [Idols, pagan gods who are not really gods but are empowered by false gods, demons]. But now that you know God–or rather are known by God–how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles [same word as v.3]? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?”
Stop there. And don’t miss those great big words in verse 9.
“You are known by God.”
Paul can’t get over that.
Because not only are we no longer slaves to false gods, but we KNOW GOD and ARE KNOWN BY GOD.
That’s relationship language there.
This being a Son is more than just rights and riches.
It’s relationship.
You know God now, and Paul says, “And it wasn’t from you. It wasn’t from your obedience to God that made you a Son. It’s because God came after you.
You are KNOWN BY GOD.”
That’s the language of relationship.
It’s not just knowing about someone. It’s knowing someone.
Because of what Jesus did, you know and are known by God.
I have a friend who’s been going through a really tough time in his life recently, and this week, he just about got to the end of his rope, he hit the absolute rock bottom.
But you know what he found there?
He found Jesus was already there.
And found forgiveness and peace and joy.
And hope.
And the ability to go on. And not just go on but to make big strides.
Because He knows God and is known by God.
It’s wonderful.
And that’s why it’s so crazy that these people wanted to go back.
Wanted to go back to slavery.
Do you see where Paul is going with this?
You are known by God (v.9) “how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?”
Raise your hand if you’d rather be a slave.
I didn’t think so!
But that’s what you are doing if you add lawkeeping to the gospel of grace. V.10
“You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!”
Like it’s the Law or something.
Like you have to do that to please God.
Like you are earning your justification by obeying the Law of Moses. Sabbath, New Moon, Feast of Tabernacles, Day of Atonement.
That’s going backwards.
And in fact, it’s the same thing as paganism.
That’s a shocking thing for Paul to say.
Because those things are not bad and were gifts of God to the Jewish people.
But if they were being placed on the Galatians as a stipulation of their justification, Paul says, that’s basically the same thing as being a slave to a false god.
It’s just another kind of idolatry.
Don’t turn back!
Don’t go back to slavery. V.11
“I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.”
What a scary thing for him to say.
And he’s got a lot more to say. We’ll pick it up here next week.
But do you get it?
If you are in Christ Jesus and trusting in Christ alone then you are no longer a slave, you’re a son, you’re an heir, you are known.
So why would you want to go back?
Don’t go there.
Relish what you have in adoption, inheritance, and your relationship with God.
Because that’s enough live on from here to eternity.
Don’t add anything else. Don’t go back to slavery.
Live out of sonship, live out of your inheritance, live out of your own personal relationship with God.
Because you are no longer a slave.
Messages in this Series:
01. To the Churches in Galatia
02. Turning to a Different Gospel
03. Preaching the Faith He Once Tried to Destroy
04. So the Truth of the Gospel Might Remain With You
05. Acting in Line with the Truth of the Gospel
06. I Live By Faith in the Son of God
07. You Foolish Galatians!
08. You Are All Sons of God Through Faith in Christ Jesus
