Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

Galatians 1:1-5 “Paul, an apostle-sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead- “and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, “who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, “to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” NIV

 

Over the next few weeks we will be studying together the New Testament Book of Galatians.  We will examine various aspects of the book including the nature of the true gospel, God’s power to change people living consistently with the Good News, and learning to “walk in the Spirit”.

Why?

~ I do my best study and teaching in specific books of the Bible.

~ This is one of the most energized, passionate books of the NT.

It is very personal

Something very important is at stake

This is not just another interesting piece of religious literature.

It has vitality.

It is virile.

It states the central truths of Christianity.

As one commentator has said that underlying Galatians is a compassionate rage…

“If we as a people can make these truths and this vigor a part of our thinking and our willing, the bones of our faith we be strong and not brittle, and the emotional force of our life in Christ will not be lukewarm but passionate and intense and undivided.”

P.T. Forsythe, the Scottish preacher said, “The secret of the Lord is with those who have been broken by the cross of Christ and healed by his Spirit.”

That is the message of Galatians:

“The cross of Christ is the only way a person can get right with God, and the Holy Spirit is the only way a person can obey God.”

Come, let’s study this book together.

Moving into the new year

Toward Valentines day

And on to an early Easter and resurrection season

Look to Christ with me to fall in love in a new and fresh way with the magnificent Christ and His message of Good News.

 

The Gospel of Liberation

INTRODUCTION

He is a real American hero – a recent recipient of the America’s highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. He earned it. On November 14, 1965, Major Bruce Crandall flew a Huey helicopter assigned to lift troops into Ia Drang, which was to become known that day as the “Valley of Death”. His mission of delivering troops was accomplished. But soon he realized the plight of those troops – 450 American soldiers – were hugely outnumbered by 2,000 enemy troops. Major Crandall began flying into that Valley of Death to bring out the wounded and bring in ammunition. Before the day was over, he had flown for fourteen hours straight – 22 flights barraged with enemy fire. He used three different helocopters; two were too damaged to continue. One officer said, “Without Major Crandall, our battalion would almost surely have been overrun.” Crandall simply said, “They knew we would come if they needed it no matter what.” That’s heroism.

Another officer who served in the Valley of Death that day said of their heroic rescuer’s work this way: “If he hadn’t come, every man there would have died.” That’s the way it is with rescue. If the rescuer doesn’t come, people will die.

God gave His Son so we could be rescued from an eternal Valley of Death.  God uses some sobering words to describe the lost people.

Proverbs 24:11-12. “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will not He repay each person according to what He has done?”

In His own words, they are “staggering toward slaughter.” They are “lost” according to Luke 19:10. “Condemned” (John 3:18). “Without hope and without God” (Ephesians 2:12). And in II Thessalonians 1, they are those who will be “punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord.”

Without Christ that’s us, that’s people we know. He sent His Son to take our hell. But without the good news we can’t reach for Him as our Rescuer.

We  and our friends and family, coworkers, fellow students without Christ are, whether we know it or not, in the spiritual Valley of Death. God put Christ in our world to rescue us.

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, “who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age”  Galatians 1:3-4

Paul wrote to the churches located in the Roman province of Galatia that he founded on his first missionary journey (cf. Acts 13:38-39, 46, 48; 14:3, 8-10)

Paul probably wrote this letter to the churches of South Galatia, either just before the Jerusalem Council (i.e., in A.D. 49). from Antioch of Syria shortly after his first missionary journey

 

I.          Paul’s Confidence In His God-given mission!

Paul claimed to have unique authority!

Paul began this letter with a word of greeting to his readers in which he introduced himself as the writer and to emphasize the divine source of his apostolic commission and his message.

As the apostle to the Gentiles he consistently used his Gentile name, Paul

Paul emphasized his apostolic office. The Greek word translated “apostle” (apostolos) means one who is sent.

The New Testament uses this word in two ways.

In its more general sense it refers to those sent with a message from God (as in Acts 14:4, 14; 2 Cor 8:23; Phil. 2:25). It even describes Jesus (Heb. 3:1)

In its more restricted sense, the word means someone who had received a special commission from the risen Christ (i.e., Paul and the Twelve apostles). In Galatians Paul always used “apostle” in the technical sense to describe the Twelve and himself.

Not from men!

His apostleship did not originate from men, nor did it come to him through men (e.g., Peter, James, Ananias, or whomever, as, for example, does the Roman Catholic papacy). Rather the resurrected Jesus Christ bestowed it on him.

I was not made an apostle by other apostles.

            I was not made an apostle by the church or a council.

The One who sent me is Jesus Christ himself!

 

2 Corinthians 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”

 

1 Corinthians 9:1 “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?”

 

1 Corinthians 15:8-9 “and last of all Christ appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” NIV

 

Jesus said to His apostles

Luke 10:16 “”He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”" NIV

John 13:20 “I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”"

Paul said,

2 Corinthians 13:10 “This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority-the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.” NIV

Stop to reflect on the implications of this:

1.         Submit yourself to God’s Word

When we read Galatians we are hearing directly from Christ.

An apostle speaks with authority the message of the One who sent

If you cry out in your heart that you want to hear a message from JC

you must then make a serious effort to read and understand the

message of scripture.

If you are searching for counsel on some issue or problem in your life you must above everything else stop making excuses for not reading scripture.

Living with confidence of God’s hand on your life comes from discipline submission to the Word of God.

If we want JC to be the Master of our lives then we must develop a relationship between you and Him and His Word that is not just hazy good feelings from the Bible.

If the Word of God is God’s letter to you then you must give yourself to a disciplined effort to understand the words, phrases and meaning of Scripture.

We must not only say we believe the Bible is the authoritative Word of God.  We must submit our minds and hearts to it by reading it in a disciplined way!

 

Here’s how James puts it.

James 1:21-25 “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror “and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.” NIV

2.         Paul had confidence his divine appointment.  Are we?

Philippians 3:12-15 “Not that I have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”NIV

2 Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” NIV

Paul’s affirmation of his divine appointment should encourage us to reflect on ours.

Am I consulting Christ for His direction in my life?

To what degree am I playing a role boxed in by the people and

circumstances in my life and the choices I’ve made?

Let this new year be a new beginning and new run at seeking his                     place and mission in your life.

All work is sacred if it has been given to us by God.
II.         Paul’s Confidence in the God-given Liberator!

1:3-5 Paul’s greeting:

Greek (charis, grace) and Jewish (shalom, peace)

The basis and the consequence…

The root and the fruit

Grace: Knowing full well who I am and what I’ve done God extends  unconditional and unearned acceptance through his love-gift of Jesus Christ.

The experience of God’s grace comes through personal faith I now stand in His continual favor.

The result – peace with God – a sense of wholeness and synergy with God in my life.  Nothing perfect.  All things don’t seem bright and beautiful.  But underlying it all I have a sense that I am loved and accepted by God and that He is at work in my life.

It is as if Paul is saying, ‘May the beauty of the wonder of the undeserved love of God be on you, so that it will make your life lovely too.’”  The latter word of greeting, peace, defines not just the absence of hostility but the totality of God’s blessings. Believers enjoy peace with God and with other people because God has taken the initiative in extending His grace to us in Christ (cf. Num. 6:24-26). Peace always follows grace

Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins in two respects.

1. He gave Himself all through His earthly ministry as the Suffering Servant of God (cf. Isa. 53),
2. He gave Himself as the final sin offering on the cross. Both aspects of His self-sacrifice could be in view here. Paul probably wanted to emphasize the totality of Christ’s self- sacrifice.

The purpose of the Lord’s self-sacrifice was that He might deliver us out of the control of this present evil age, the world system that dominates the inter-advent era.

What does it mean to be rescued from this present evil age?

1.         This world lies in the power of the evil one

2 Corinthians 4:4 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” NIV

 

Sin has a grip on our lives and on our society and on our world because Satan has lots of power in this present earthly kingdom.

 

2.  But, we are In the world – not of the world!

John 17:15 “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” NIV

 

2 Timothy 4:16-18 “At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” NIV

 

A liberation has begun to take place. 

We are in the world, but we are free to live apart from the evil that dominates it thanks to Christ’s work for us. Not only so, the Lord will remove us from it by death or translation.

Christ’s death transferred the believer from Satan’s power to God’s power, from one sphere to the other.

Colossians 1:13 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,” NIV

We are no longer enslaved to the fear and guilt and power and anger and pessimism and selfishness and greed and pride of this present evil age.

Luke 11:20 “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” NIV

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” NIV

 

3.         Allow Christ to change your mindset and your feelings and your behavior.

 

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.” NIV

Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” NIV

“In this one verse Paul has described several aspects of the redemption wrought by Christ:

its cause (‘for our sins,’ ,

its means (Christ ‘sacrificed himself’),

its purpose ( ‘to rescue us’),

and its origin (‘the will of our God and Father’).

My encouragement to us today is this:

1.         Submit yourselves to the authority of God’s Word

Be subject!

2.         Be free!

Remember, Christ died for you and I.  Live every moment by faith in Him.  Christ died and rose again.  He has a mission for you to accomplish.