Jesus + Nothing = Freedom
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Good morning church fam! Today we are going to begin a journey through the book of Galatians.
I was praying and asking God what I should share this week and He brought me to Galatians. As I was reading the first chapter I felt as though the church needs to go through this book together.
Before we get into the Word I want to share a quick story. Before I came to Jesus I lived a life that was not so good. There was a time when I hung around the wrong crowd.
I remembered working at a gas station in Tennessee and back in the day you were able to input someone’s credit card or debit card if they did not scan. Also, the receipt would print out the whole number.
One of my “friends” had the idea that If I gave him the numbers he would come in and buy beer, cigarettes, or anything else we wanted. He would hand me a card, I pretended to swipe it for the cameras, and then input someone else’s number.
We thought we had a good thing going until one day I get a phone call from my manager. My manager said, “Hey can you come in, we want to talk to you about a management position.” Sweet! I am moving up!
I pull up, walk in, and this short guy who looked like a secret agent asks me to step into the office. On my way in there was my girlfriend at the time sitting on the floor in hand cuffs. I knew immediately I was not getting a management position.
I moved up all right. Move up right into a holding cell. Luckily because it was my first offense I didn’t do any time. I did however spent 8 or 12 hours in a holding cell and that was enough for me. I was on the straight and narrow and never stole again.
I knew that wasn’t the life for me. But other people that I have known have done time. Some have been in prison most of their lives. In fact the other day I met a guy named Juan on Father’s Day who spent 16 years in prison.
When someone spends a lot of time in prison something changes in them. Not all, but some. What happens is when they get out, even though they are free, they are still living like they are not. They do not know how to live free. They believe that the same expectations that were required in prison still needed to be met outside.
The term for this is institutionalized.
They say the younger a person is that goes in and the longer they stay, the harder it is to adjust.
How does this relate to us in our journey with Jesus?
I believe there are some, and maybe you are here today, you have been set free by Jesus, but you are still living bound. You have been set free, but you do not know how to live free.
Either you or someone else you know has put some expectations on you in order to live for Jesus.
As if Jesus wasn’t enough.
The Setting of Galatians
The Setting of Galatians
This is exactly what is taking place in the church at Galatia. Paul writes this letter to the church and addresses this issue of adding something to Jesus causing them to return quickly to the prison of guilt, shame, and condemnation.
In his letter he addresses this issue right off the bat.
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
I like how Paul doesn’t beat around the bush and goes directly to the problem.
I had a conversation with someone the other day who was asking me for a dollar. I didn’t have any cash on me to give. In that same conversation they were telling me that they went to play bingo the night before. With a quickness i responded, “Maybe you should quit going to bingo. You’d have a dollar today.”
I didn’t speak rudely or without love. I spoke truth in love. Sometimes we put ourselves in the situations that we are in. It wasn’t the enemy coming against us. We just made some poor decisions.
Paul addresses this issue of this different Gospel that was being taught to these believers.
The Judaizers we demanding that these new converts add to their salvation by following certain laws. It was as though Jesus alone wasn’t good enough for them to live in freedom, they needed Jesus plus circumcision.
I wonder how often we allow others to put an addition sign onto Jesus? I wonder how often we do this to ourselves.
Method of Measurement
Method of Measurement
Whenever we put an addition sign onto Jesus, we are putting ourselves or others back into chains.
Why was Paul so against this? Because he used to do it all the time.
13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it;
14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.
If there were a sports team in biblical times the Pharisees would be one of them and Paul was their lead guy.
Paul was all about the law and the traditions of man.
Did you know they had over 600 some laws they were supposed to follow? Most of us can’t even remember the ten commandments. Yet they expected anyone who followed God to follow the law.
Those that were teaching this false gospel continued to teach that those who follow Jesus must also continue to follow the law to a T. All the ones God gave and all the ones that man made up.
Jesus himself spoke against the commands that man made up.
6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’
8 “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
What’s Jesus saying? He is saying that they were teaching man’s traditions as though they were commands from God.
My wife shared a video with me this week about Samson. Samson was a judge appointed by God in the Old Testament.
The Philistines wanted to kill Samson and told the men of Judah to hand Samson over to them. Samson agreed and they bound him up with new rope.
When they enemy began to shout as they seen Samson approach, the anointing of the Lord came upon Samson. The ropes burned off and Samson picked up the jawbone of a donkey and killed a thousand Philistines with it. But look what happened.
17 When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.
He threw the jawbone away. If this were to take place in 2024, in the church culture of today, we would take that jawbone and use it again the next year.
Why not? It worked once, surely it would work again and again and again. Some may even try to market it and sell it to other churches. Want to grow your church? Buy this jawbone today!
If we are not careful we will pass onto the next generation a tradition without the anointing. This is how churches get stuck doing the same thing over and over again expecting the same results but never getting anywhere.
The anointing of God, the POWER of God was not in or on the thing that Samson used to defeat the enemy…the anointing of God was on and in Samson.
The anointing of God is not in or on a particular way we do things. God doesn’t anoint inanimate objects. He desires His POWER to flow in and through you and I!
As this next generation comes up in the church, it may not look like what we are doing in 2024. And that’s ok!
We serve a God who is not limited by a donkey. He is NOT limited by a tradition. He is still doing and creating new things!
Traditions are good, but they are not commandments from God and should not be treated as such.
The question is why? Why do they do this? Simple.
Method of Measurement
Method of Measurement
This was a system they used in order to measure how good they and others were. It was a way to measure how holy, righteous, good, they were.
The Law (whether God’s or man’s) was a stat sheet. The Judaizers were able to keep record of these 600 plus laws. It became a sense of accomplishment. Pride. It was a way to keep certain people out of the Kingdom.
This is not freedom.
Jesus said:
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
We must be careful that we do not do the same thing in today’s church.
Anytime you tell someone they need Jesus plus…you have become a Pharisee, Judaizer, a hypocrite.
Jesus doesn’t take legalism lightly. Neither should we.
Looking back on my church experience we kind of did it to ourselves.
Anyone been in church long enough to remember the gold star system?
I remember going to Sunday School as a kid, by the way this was the same church I stormed out of and didn’t go back until I was 19, I remember sitting at the table of the church basement and before the lesson the teacher would ask who could recite all 66 books of the bible. Anyone who could got a gold star. You got a gold star for reciting Scripture or knowing the names of people in the bible or remembering chapter and verse.
Needless to say I never got many gold stars. Maybe for attendance. I remember sitting there thinking that I wasn’t good enough.
On top of that I was told by some members that I should get my haircut like the other boys and wear a tie. Traditions of man…not commands of God.
Terry shared with me a quote from a previous pastor here at New Life that I believe if Paul were to speak to the church today he would say it this way:
“What the Bible emphasizes we should emphasize. What the Bible deemphasizes we should deemphasize. When the Bible is silent, we should shut up.” - Pastor Richard Brown 1975
Stop Measuring and Start Living
Stop Measuring and Start Living
We as the church cannot get caught up in the measuring game. When we do this to others, pride and superiority sets in. We cannot do this to ourselves either. There isn’t any life or freedom in any of those. This is not Good News to those who hear they need Jesus PLUS something else.
In fact this is depressing news. When we add to Jesus we are in essence saying “Jesus thank you for dying, coming back to life, and all…it’s a good start. We will take it from here.”
Nobody likes the comparison game. Nobody has freedom in that. Nobody is living the abundant life that Jesus said we would have if we are constantly comparing ourselves to others.
Face it:
There is always someone better looking
There is always someone thinner
There is always someone wealthier
There is always someone smarter
There is always someone taller
There is always someone shorter
There is always someone with more muscles
There is always someone who knows more Scripture, prays more, preaches better
It’s not about obtaining a gold star at the end of the day. It’s about your relationship with Jesus. As long as you know Jesus, you won’t get a gold star, but you will get a crown of life!
Conclusion
Conclusion
I want to close out this message with this thought.
The way you live in freedom is knowing and believing the true Gospel.
Paul reminds the church in Galatia:
11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel Paul learned and preaches wasn’t from the traditions of man. He had a life altering encounter with Jesus Christ.
Paul used to be Saul, was traveling on the road to Damascus to teach and preach the Law and traditions of man as commandments from God and ready to punish anyone who did not obey in Acts 9.
But then Jesus stepped out in front of him. After his encounter he was blinded. Blinded he went to Damascus where he met a man named Ananias. The Lord came to Ananias and told him about Saul.
The bible tells us that Ananias laid hands on Saul and he received his sight. He was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Saul the Pharisee who’s purpose in life was to destroy those who didn’t follow the Law now became the mouth piece for God to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.
19 and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus,
20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
Paul wanted to make sure the church in Galatia and the church today to know the origin of the Gospel. That it came from Jesus Himself.
The demonstration of a changed life isn’t Jesus PLUS this or that, not the demonstration of a changed life is an encounter with Jesus that leaves ones life forever changed.
22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ;
23 but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”
Paul’s past was EVIDENCE enough of God’s transforming POWER.
Church, parents, grandparents, we should not raise people in church……we should raise them in Christ.
It’s not about being good enough. Being good enough doesn’t lead to transformation. It leads to frustration. Being good enough doesn’t lead to life, it leads to death.
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
If you want to experience that freedom today, the freedom that Christ has died for you to have you can. It’s not Jesus plus this or that.
Jesus + Nothing = Freedom
Confess and believe.
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.