"Real Life intro to
Galatians
1/27/08 AM R. Sams (Galatians intro)
BIG IDEA: Some are
tempted to put legalism, religious rituals, living a "pretty good life
ahead of their relationship with Jesus to make them right with God. But
the bigger temptation for all is to put anything ahead of Jesus to define real,
abundant life as He promised (Jn 10:10).
SCRIPTURES TO VIDEOPROJECT (coded
with P ):
OTHER SCRIPTURES:
OTHER ITEMS TO VIDEOPROJECT:
CALL TO
WORSHIP: Gal 5:1 THEMES/SONGS/STORIES:
GOSPEL/MISSION:
VISION/PRIORITIES:
ASSIGNMENTS/TESTIMONIES:
PASTOR�S
MINI-LESSON/PROMO/BIG QUESTION:
BULLETIN BOTTOM, p. 1 I. A few
years ago there were billboards scattered throughout the United States with
messages from God. Some guy had purchased the space and conducted an
advertising campaign for God. Actually, the person responsible for these
"Messages from God" chose to remain anonymous.
The Smith Agency in Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida, launched the advertising campaign in September
1998.
Andrew Smith, the agency's president, said that an individual simply
appeared in their office one day and hired them on the spot. He said that
their agreement with this individual prohibited them from releasing his name but
he did say that the person is quite well known.
These 15 messages signed by
God have become quite well-known as well, having appeared on billboards and
buses all over America
1. Let's Meet at My House Sunday Before the
Game.--God
2. C'mon Over and Bring the Kids.--God
3. What
Part of "Thou Shalt Not ..." Didn't You Understand?--God
4. We Need to
Talk.--God
5. Keep Using My Name in Vain And I'll Make Rush Hour
Longer.--God (This ad is placed in congested Urban areas).
6. Loved the
Wedding, Invite Me to the Marriage.--God
7. That "Love Thy Neighbor"
Thing, I Meant It.--God
8. I Love You…I Love You…I Love You.--God
9. Will The Road You're on Get You to My Place?--God II. Will
the road you�re on get you the life you�ve always wanted?
A. Right off
the bat Paul had to establish he had the credentials to tell them the right way,
God�s way to freedom, true life and right relationship with God (1:1-2).
This is huge, because in all of us is this gnawing sense that we aren�t good
enough for God. And we are right.
A. All of us sense we�re not
living the best life we can…and we want to. We know God wants us
to.
1. So we have two problems: we�re not living the life we�ve always
wanted and we�re not living close to the God who made us and made us to have
this big hole in our hearts as long as we�re not living close to
Him.
2. We have this gap, this awareness of separation from the God who
made us because we aren�t good enough. And when we want closeness.
We
want real life and we don�t have it.
B. So Paul says I didn�t get my
authority to teach you the true way of life, my street cred(entails) from
man. I got them directly from Jesus (v
11-12). And remember, he
did. He got his credentials when Jesus struck him blind on the Damascus
Road. Instead of telling people how to live the life they�ve always wanted
only through a relationship with Jesus and how to remove the sin gap, he was
murdering Jesus followers (vs
13-14; Ac 9).
C. (v 3) In this
verse he starts describing what real life is all about. He uses marvelous
words of "grace and "peace. If you�ve got these, you don�t need a
whole lot more to experience life as God intended it.
1. "Grace
is that sense that we are loved unconditionally by the one who made us and made
us for Himself. It�s unearned, undeserved love that God gives us ONLY
through Jesus and His sacrifice on the Cross.
2. "Peace is that
OT expression ("shalom/ereine") that means "wholeness; completeness; everything
that�s needed for total peace in every area of one�s life, that we so
inadequately translate "peace.
3. On a scale of 1-10 w/ 10 being
totally at peace with God, self and the world, where are you?
D. It�s
clear Paul spent a lot of time alone with Jesus to get a grip on (experience,
totally feel, "get") God�s grace. Grace isn�t easy to grasp because our
world doesn�t offer it freely or frequently, though we need and want it
desperately. Grace words ("notes") permeate our culture:
gratuity, say
grace before meals, that ballerina/athlete is graceful. We are
grateful. But when it comes to acts of grace, those are pretty.
Illustrated: the legitimate lawsuit but it�s dropped because of God�s grace
to them. How rare is that?
1. Maybe the other reason we don�t
experience grace that much is because we don�t really feel it from the one who
gave it best, most, Jesus.
Because we don�t spend that much time ALONE with
Him. Paul did. To experience life as God intended we must spend time
with Jesus alone (1:15-18; 2:1).
2. The song "Tell It To Jesus
Alone is NOT one of my favorites, because it smacks of "Lone Ranger
Christianity when the Bible teaches we experience real life in Christ in
community, in close relationships with each other in the church.
3. But
sometimes we DO need more time with Jesus and less time with people to really
get grace and experience the life we�ve always wanted.
A great illustration
was the veteran missionary who confessed he longed for the good old days before
computers and email. Back then he�d get up in the morning and deal with
his loneliness and homesickness by going right to a quiet place for
communication with Jesus through prayer and Bible reading. Now the first
thing he does too many mornings is turn on his computer and catch up on the news
and email from home.
E. I can�t adequately communicate how grace
changes people; how it changed/is changing ME. Paul went from a persecutor
of the church, a murderer, to a lover of the church, of Christians and of
Jesus. The change grace and the Gospel brought in his life was evident to
all (1:22-24).
III. Paul continues to define what real life is all
about. One thing is it is "freedom (5:1). The opposite of
freedom is slavery (2:3-4). The issue through this whole letter to Galatia
isn�t just circumcision. The issue is how we experience the life we�ve
always wanted; the life God intended for us? Do we get it by entering into
a love relationship with Jesus, OR do we earn it by jumping through religious
hoops and performing religious rituals? For them the ritual of focus was
circumcision. I doubt it�s the same for you.
A. But we also are
tempted to earn our way into right relationship with God, at times, by doing the
right religious stuff. If the great Peter and Barnabas were tempted to go
back to earning their way into right relationship with God by doing the right
religious stuff, couldn�t we also be tempted to do that (2:11-13)?
B.
If I DO the right religious rituals (which includes doing good deeds), even if I
come pretty close, THEN God will like and accept me. Then I will
experience the life I�ve always wanted; here and in Heaven. Paul couldn�t
believe that was what was going through the minds of the beloved people he had
organized into a church in Galatia (1:6-9; 3:1-2).
C. Paul lashes out
with the strongest of words for these Judaizing Christians (Jews who wanted to
take all Christians back under Law v. grace)
who were trying to take
the freedom the new church was starting to enjoy in a love relationship with
Christ, that�s the TRUE GOSPEL, and pervert it by a slave relationship to
religious rituals (2:4-5).
D. Why would he call trying to earn our way
to God by doing religious rituals "slavery"? Because you always wonder if
you�ve done ENOUGH.
You�ve got to keep score under Law. Under grace
you don�t keep score, you KEEP CLOSE to Christ and enjoy the freedom and real
life that comes from trusting and loving Him.
IV. Trying to find true
life through religious rituals and trying hard to do good things is so tempting,
because it�s clearer whether you�re doing them or not. We can compare
ourselves with others and feel superior. We can show off and do them in
for the public eye, and get all kinds of strokes for it.
A. Remember
how Jesus came down hard on that (Mt 6:1)?
B. So did Paul (5:25-26;
6:4).
C. Life lived in a love relationship with Jesus is a
relationship, not a set of rules. It�s harder, but better.
1.
It�s much easier to live by a set of rules if you get to make up the rules as
you go. That�s what the Jewish leaders were always doing:
changing the
rules along the way, which were important to them. You were right with God
IF you obeyed those.
2. But the problem is, even after obeying all
those religious rituals and doing those good things, exercising all that effort
to live a good life to please God, we are all left with this sense we aren�t
good enough. We are still sinners separated from God.
3. The
other problem is after all the good efforts, good deeds, and religious rituals
we still don�t feel like we�re experiencing the life we want, the life God
intended for us, the abundant life.
D. So this frustration and
emptiness we feel after trying to get that life on our own, trying to get close
to God on our own, is a good thing, because it leads us to Jesus as our only
sin-forgiver, our only restorer of right relationship to God, and our only giver
of abundant life (3:21-22).
1. "…so that what was promised = real
life; "might be given to those who believe = those who have entered into a
relationship of love with Jesus.
2. (3:23-24). REPEAT
D.
3. Back to messages from God #10. was "Follow Me."--God
11. My Way Is the Highway.--God
12. Need Directions?--God
13. You Think It's Hot Here?--God (During the Summer)
14.
Tell the Kids I Love Them.--God
15. Have You Read My #1 Best
Seller? There Will Be a Test.God #9. Will The Road You're on Get You
to My Place?God…get you close to Him, help you find the life you�ve always
wanted?
4. My and Paul�s main message is simply this: let that gnawing
sense that you�re not experiencing the life you�ve always wanted, that you�re
not as close to God as you want to be, lead you back to THE GOSPEL, THE GOOD
NEWS of forgiveness and life ONLY through Jesus. Closing songs