Galatians 5:1-12 - All or Nothing

Galatians 5:1–12 KJV (WS)

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. 7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. 11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. 12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

To explain today’s passage I need a couple of items.

Buckets

Hula hoops

Knife

Cutting board

Stand fast. vs 1

We have seen the differences between law and grace.

It’s time for practical exhortation for the readers of the letter.

We are going to start by going back to the last verse of last week’s message.

There is a very specific picture that we are supposed to see..

We would stand fully with both feet in the liberty of grace that God has made available to us.

The fact that this has to be said to Christians is quite revealing.

It lets us know that it is possible for Christians to live in a way where they do not experience all that God has in store for them.

They are heirs according to the last chapter.

But, what could we do to miss out on the life of liberty that God has for us?

Trying to add to the work of Jesus by keeping the law.

This is a snare.

It is a trap.

It is weight and a hindrance.

Standing in liberty and entanglement in bondage are exclusive of each other.

I can choose not to live in the liberty that God has granted me.

This is what the Galatians were confused about.

Don’t think you will have a better life because of cutting off, or you will be cut off. vss 2-6

Circumcision is singled out for the role that it played in the Jewish relationship with the law.

8 days after the baby boy was born, he would be taken by his parents to be circumcised.

The ceremonial cutting away was to represent that child’s relationship to the law.

It was a sign that he would be raised and expected to keep the law.

In a way this ceremony enslaved that boy to the law.

These Galatian men that are contemplating cutting their body so as to be closer to God need to understand what they are really doing.

People who were circumcised as babies are trying to tell grown ment that they must do this too.

You do not add to your salvation by being circumcised.

You cannot add anything to what Jesus has done.

The way that you are saved is the way you should live.

As long as a believer thinks they can be made more righteous through their works they are choosing to live separated from the power that made them righteous in the first place.

The use of the word fallen, here, has caused great confusion.

This is a specific word used for a specific image.

I want you to imagine a flower with a beautiful blossom.

You know that blossom depends on the rest of the plant for it’s health and stability.

The word for “fallen” that we see here is specifically a gardening term.

You’re thinking of a “Fallen angel”.

It refers to the act of cutting that blossom off from the source of it’s nutrients and watching it fall to the ground.

This is what Paul depicts for those believers who choose to live a performance-based life after their salvation.

They will become entangled and they will limit the grace of God that seeks to operate in their life.

This is an interesting development.

Your salvation is by grace through faith, but so is your sanctification.

For grace to do it’s work you have to remain in a posture of faith.

Neither circumcision nor any other work can make you more accepted by God.

Placing your faith in works will always limit the work of the grace of God in your life.

The Galatians had stood in this position before, what had happened?

Spiritual detective work. vss 7-12

Paul commends the Galatians for the freedom with which they had run in the past.

The entanglement of the law had slowed them down.

Paul wants to know who was responsible for slowing them down and ruining the pace he had set.

Performance based Christianity does not originate from the one who called them.

That was Jesus.

Jesus called them to salvation,

No one will ever arrive at a law-based, performance-based Christianity by reading the Bible.

All of the Bible, even the books of the law, point to grace.

This must have come from somewhere else.

It didn’t start off as a full-frontal assault on the truth and the gospel-focused life.

It started as a minor deviation.

A little leaven will eventually leaven the whole lump.

Yeast is a specific type of leaven.

Natural leaven contains multiple types of yeast and other bacteria.

Left alone it will spread throughout the entirety of the host.

False teaching is that way too.

This false teaching did not come from the Bible, and it didn’t start off as big as it’s become.

Paul has confidence that these Holy Spirit - indwelt people will reject this false teaching now that it’s been exposed.

They have seen the truth, it has been plainly explained to them.

Paul trusts the Lord to make it plain to them what the truth is.

Paul also trusts that the one who had been leading them astray would be dealt with by the Lord.

Notice how he doesn’t name the troublesome teacher.

Who was he?

Was he a member?

Was he a former friend?

Whoever he was he was inconsistent, insincere, and incorrect.

For someone pushing people to cut themselves for God, someone who would see God’s children cut themselves off from the work of grace, Paul has only one desire for that man…

Paul wishes that the false teacher and all like him would be cut off.

Paul wants believers to stand fast in the liberty of God’s grace, where you can run freely the race that has been set before us.

The Judaizers want to entangle you by teaching a performance-based Christianity where men must cut themselves to please the Lord.

In doing so they cut themselves off from the sanctifying work of the grace of God.

What needs to happen is that these false teachers are the ones that need to be cut off.

They need to be silenced and not given one ounce of attention.

These false teachers are still with us today.

They live on both sides of the aisle.

They try to get you to define Christianity by what you do or don’t do.

You have to support their version or you’re not a Christian.

You either a firm their music, dress, and lifestyle or you’re not a true Christian.

Don’t be entangled by these things.

We have one mission.

To live and spread the gospel we’ve received.

It is not a performance based gospel.

It is a grace-based gospel.

It’s how we got saved, it’s how we are supposed to live.

The absolute best way to counteract false teachers and to cut them off from our congregations is not always to label someone.

Instead, the best defense against this is for believers to stand fast in the liberty where with Christ has made us free.

The key is for us to understand the freedom that God has given us.

Then, we will be like what Paul hoped for with the Galatians, that we would be none otherwise minded.