Galatians 5:7-12

Introduction:

There’s a fun kind of game you can play with friends that’s entitled “would you rather” in which you’re forced to pick between two options, and most of the time, neither option is all that appealing

For instance:

-Would you rather get a paper cut for every page you read, or bite your tongue every time you eat?

-Would you rather spend the next 2 years in jail or the next 10 years in a coma?

-Would you rather be 11 feet tall or 9 inches tall?

-Would you rather find a rat in your kitchen or a roach in your bed?

Now, the problem with all of these questions is that there’s only 2 answers, and neither of them sound very appealing

-Well, in our text today, Paul presents two paths for his readers, and he’s going to show why neither of them are good options

-Actually, both of the paths that he lays out are incredibly harmful and damaging

-But thankfully for us, in the following weeks, Paul is going to lead us to a third option which is the perfect solution, but for this evening, we’re going to follow along with him as he lays out these two bad options:

-We’re going to follow along with him as he gives these believers, and us, a needed warning against these two dangerous paths that any of us can easily fall into

-As a matter of fact, I would say that each of us has a tendency to struggle with one path or the other, and sometimes we struggle with one path this day and the other path on another day

-One of these paths is called legalism

-And the other is called fleshliness

You see, even as Christians, we can sometimes fall into legalism, thinking that I must earn God’s favor through my good works

-Or sometimes, we go the other way and think, “I’ve been forgiven, so who cares what I do? As long as I ask God’s forgiveness in the end, I’ll be good!

So we’re going to read this text and then jump in:

-Remember that Paul has written to these Galatians Christians who are being led astray by a group called the Judaizers who are trying to convince the Galatians that they need to obey the Mosaic Law in order to be saved

**Read text and pray**

Now first, Paul is going to start with why legalism is so harmful:

-he actually lists 6 reasons why it’s harmful

-Now, I know you’re not typically supposed to have long lists like this while you’re preaching

-but I genuinely think I see 6 different reasons legalism is so harmful from the text, so you can blame Paul for this

1. Disobedient (5:7)

-Now, this may strike you as a very odd thing to say about legalism. Why?

-Because legalism claims to be all about obedience!

-But God is telling us here that legalism is actually disobedience

-Paul begins this section here with a race analogy

-He claims that the Galatians started off their race well

-They had gladly accepted Paul and gladly accepted his gospel

-That word “hindered” is a race word as well

-It has the idea of cutting in on someone, almost like a runner might cut someone off in a race, even potentially causing them to trip and fall

-It’s like the Galatians, after their strong start, had someone cut right in front of them, and they’re now in danger of not finishing this race they’ve started

-Paul says what these Galatians are being hindered in is their obedience to the truth

-And this is why this first point here about legalism is that it is actually disobedience

-Trying to obey enough to get God to love me is actually a choice to disobey God

**imagine that a young mom has a part-time job of cleaning houses

-And on this particular day, for whatever reason, she has to take her 4 year old son to work with her to the house of a wealthy client who has a lot of expensive stuff in the house

-And she takes her son to one of the rooms and tells him, “I need you to sit here and play with this ipad and don’t move and don’t touch anything”

-And her son says, “but I want to help you clean!”

-And the mom, knowing how energetic and destructive her son can be, tells her son, “not today. I really need you to trust me and to just wait patiently here until I’m done.”

-And so the mom goes about cleaning for a while, and she comes back to the room to find that her 4 year old son has made a complete mess of things:

-He somehow found one of her smaller vacuums and has managed to vacuum up one of the window drapes and the owner’s cat

-He climbed up on a dresser to try and dust it and knocked over a huge, expensive TV

-And he’s currently heading towards the expensive-looking vase on the corner of the room to dust that next

-The mom quickly scoops up her wayward son and asks him, “what are you doing??”

-And the boy replies, “well, I’m trying to help you clean!”

-And the mom tells the son, “I told you, I need you to sit here and trust me! What you’re actually doing is disobeying what I’ve told you to do!”

-And while that analogy isn’t perfect, I think it helps us get to the heart of what Paul is saying:

-Legalism is disobedience because God hasn’t told us to do this list of things in order to gain his favor or love: He’s told us to repent and believe in His Son!

-And what people who are trying to earn their standing with God through their “obedience” often don’t understand (or choose to reject), is that they’re not being obedient at all; they’re being rebellious and disobedient. Why?

-Because God has already told us what to do to receive reconciliation: we must submit to the Lordship of Christ and rest in His finished work

-That’s why legalism is actually disobedient

2. Godless (5:8)

-Next, Paul tells the Galatians that their belief that circumcision and law-keeping to earn God’s favor didn’t come from God!

-God is the One who chose the Galatians and drew them to Himself, and they didn’t get this idea of earning their salvation from Him

-That’s because the message of “be a good person and God will accept you” has never been a message that God has put forth, either in the Old Testament or the New!

-If you go back to Genesis 3, where Adam and Eve sinned and fell, God didn’t tell them: “it’s ok, I’ll give you a chance to make up for it by doing a bunch of good things!”

-No, He simply gave a promise that He would send a descendant who would crush the serpent and win the victory!

-Throughout the Old Testament, even though God did set down laws for His people, He made it clear that simply conforming to the outward standards of the Law was not enough to make a person right with God

-And so He would reveal the shortcomings of the Israelites by saying things like, “these people draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13)

-Or in Jeremiah, He promised a New Covenant in which He would fundamentally change the heart of His people

-When Jesus came to earth, He spent His ministry criticizing and calling out the most fastidious keepers of the OT Law

-When the Jews asked Him, “what must we do to be performing the works of God?”

John 6:29 NKJV

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

The idea that if you’re just good enough and try hard enough then God will accept you has never been a biblical message

-It is a message that comes straight from the devil himself, not from God

3. Permeating (5:9)

-Next, Paul quotes what was probably a well-known proverb of his day to show the danger of tolerating these false teachers and their fake gospel of good works and law-keeping

-In our day, the most similar phrase would probably be “all it takes is one rotten apple to spoil the whole barrel”

-You see, the temptation might be to wonder if Paul was making too big a deal about all of this

-I mean, as we’ve pointed out before, these teachers were probably orthodox in every other way!

-They probably believed that Christ really was God, and that He really died die and rise from the grave

-Is is such a big deal that they’re adding circumcision and law-keeping to the gospel

-And Paul’s point here is that: yes, it is a really big deal!

-It only takes a little bit of false teaching to subvert entire churches, entire schools and seminaries, entire organizations and denominations!

**in 1636, a university was founded in America by puritans for the purpose of training future pastors and Christians

-The motto of the university was “veritas christo et ecclesia” which translates roughly to “truth for christ and the church”

-I read that Students were required to: Know that “the main end of [their] life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ.”

-However, in the 1700’s the school began to shift away from it’s puritan values and to embrace rationalism during the Enlightenment

-they began hiring faculty who did not rigorously hold to the veracity of the Scriptures

-In 1805, the university hired a divinity professor named Henry Ware, a Unitarian who denied doctrines such as the deity of Christ, the authority of Scripture, the Trinity, and other such doctrines

-Eventually the motto was changed from “truth for christ and the church” to simply “truth”

-And now, Harvard University is unrecognizable as a place that teaches or holds to any semblance of biblical morality or truth

-False teaching is permeating

-It really matters what kind of Christian books and devotionals you read

-It really matters the people you’re listening to on the radio or on youtube

-It really matters that our teaching and preaching at this church be theologically precise and biblically faithful

-It really matters that we hold firm to the gospel of salvation by grace through faith and not allow any semblance of a works-based gospel to creep into our lives

4. Dangerous (5:10)

-Paul has not lost hope

-He truly believes that the Galatians will receive this letter and return once again to the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith apart from the Law

-But he also sends a somber reminder that there are severe consequences for people who prey upon others with their gospel of good works

-Many of the people who hold to forms of legalism may be well-intentioned and well-meaning, groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Churches of Christ, or 7th Day Adventists who may come to your door

-These people often really do believe that what they’re doing is right and important

-But whenever a person undercuts the true Gospel of grace by their propagation of law-keeping, there is severe judgment from God

-Paul here may be echoing Jesus warning that Matthew 18:6

Matthew 18:6 NKJV

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

-We must remember the danger of promoting a gospel of works

-God will judge those who contradict His gospel and try to lead others astray

5. Subversive (5:11)

-This is a very poignant point that Paul makes here

-It seems that maybe some of the Judaizers, in trying to persuade the Galatian believers to accept their emphasis on circumcision, maybe said things like, “Even Paul himself would agree with us! He’s circumcised. And he tells converts to get circumcised just like we do!”

-And Paul seems to be addressing that here, emphatically denying that he still preaches the need for converts (especially Gentiles) to get circumcised

-And his main line of argumentation is this: “Look at how much persecution I suffer! Do you think I’d be getting persecuted if I was still preaching circumcision like I used to when I was a Pharisee?”

-I mean, the Jews were always following Paul around from town to town it seemed, stirring up people against him and trying to hurt him

-How much of that was he suffering when he was a Pharisee?

But brothers and sisters, more than that, legalism is a much easier message to preach than Christ crucified!

-Did you know that earning your way to God through your goodness is one of the least offensive messages you can possible preach

**imagine coming up to someone at work, or a neighbor, or someone at Walmart, and trying to evangelize them

-you ask them if they go to church

-Then ask them if they believe in God

-Then you ask them if they know where they’re going when they die

-They tell you, “I’m not completely sure, but hopefully heaven. I try to be a good person.”

-And then you tell them, “Great job, you’re on the right track! God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. He knows that you’re a pretty good person and are trying hard. Just do your best and you’ll end up in heaven one day. God bless!”

How often do you think people will get mad at you for that message?

-Why would anyone get upset with a message like that? It puts me and with efforts as the hero of the story!

-And this is exactly what Paul is saying when he says that when you preach a gospel of works, the offense of the cross has ceased

**imagine that I tell you that there’s a new movie out in theaters right now, a huge blockbuster movie, and I’m the star of it

-And I want you all to come and see this movie that I’m the star of

-And so I buy you all tickets, and we go to the theaters, and this whole time I’ve been hyping it up about how this movie is all about me

-And we’re watching, and perhaps it’s got a famous movie star like Tom Cruise or Denzell Washington, and they’re the ones getting all the screen time

-And you keep saying, “I thought you said this movie is all about you!”

-And I’m like, “just wait, it’s coming up, you’ll see!”

-And then, in the middle of a crowded scene, I’m like, “there I am!”

-And I’m one of the extras, and for about half a second, you can briefly see the back of my head

-And then I never appear in the movie ever again

-And everyone rightly tells me at the end of the movie, “that movie wasn’t about you! You were definitely not the star of that movie!”

-Brothers and sisters, when it comes to the Gospel, it is inherent in all of us that we want to be the star of the Gospel, the hero of our own salvation!

-And a gospel of good works allows me to do that!

-I get to be the star that accomplishes my own salvation through my own herculean effort, because deep down, I’m a really good person. Why wouldn’t God want me in heaven with Him?

-But you know what’s offensive? To tell that person at walmart, “you’re not good enough to get to heaven. As a matter of fact, you and are so wretched and sinful that we deserve the eternal wrath and punishment of God. The hero of the story is Jesus, who died a cruel death to appease the wrath of God on your sin. And the only hope is to give up your efforts at earning salvation and turn to this crucified man as your only hope to be accepted by God.”

1 Corinthians 1:18 (NKJV)

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing

1 Corinthians 1:22–25 (NKJV)

but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

Brothers and sisters, it can be easy to slide a little bit into a works-based salvation, isn’t it?

-It’s a lot more of a palatable message, isn’t?

-But understand this: when you tinker with the gospel in this way, you subvert the intended offense of the cross and thrust Christ out of the center of the Gospel so that human effort can be the hero

6. Disqualifying (5:12)

-I’ll be really honest, this is a pretty cutting and somewhat crude verse, and I wouldn’t even be talking about it if it wasn’t in the text

-Paul essentially says here that since the Judaizers are so obsessed with circumcision, that he hopes they miss and cut everything off

-This shows just how antagonistic Paul is against these false teachers, but I think he’s also hinting at something else here as well

-You see, in Deuteronomy 23:2, part of the Mosaic Law that these Judaizers loved so much, God tells his people that people who had castrated themselves (oftentimes as part of a pagan religion), these kinds of people were cut off from the assembly of God

-And so Paul seems here to be showing that people who are trusting their circumcision and law-keeping to enter heaven, these are people who are actually cut off from the assembly of God

-So far from earning them favor with God, this actually cuts people off from the true hope of the Gospel

So we’ve seen that Legalism is:

-disobedient

-godless

-permeating

-dangerous

-subversive

-and disqualifying

The danger of fleshliness

“I’ve got it Paul! Legalism is really bad! I can’t do anything to appease God or be made right him on my own! So I know the solution . . . do whatever I want! I mean, it’s all grace, right?? I can’t do anything to gain my salvation or lose my salvation, so therefore it doesn’t matter what I do and I’m free to live how I want to right??”

Galatians 5:13 NKJV

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

-Christ has set you free if you’re a Christian

-But He hasn’t set you free to live out the desires of your flesh

-Christ didn’t go to the cross and pay for your sin so you could enjoy pornography

-or so that you could be selfish and impatient with your family members

-or so that you could live as materialistically as your unsaved neighbor

-No, Christ set you free so that you could serve others (and especially your fellow Christians) out of love

Galatians 5:14 NKJV

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

-In an interesting twist, Paul actually comes back to the law, but in a positive way

-You see, Paul is against law-keeping as a way to earn salvation

-Christians truly have been set free keeping or fulfilling the Mosaic Law

-However, Paul never sets aside the Law as wisdom

-Paul knows that the Law is the Word of God, and while the Mosaic Law is no longer binding for Christians, it is instructive as wisdom from God

-And so Paul expects Christians to internalize the law and understand the how it points to Christ and instructs God’s people for wise and godly living

And so Paul says, “if you really want to honor God in your relationship to the Law, understand that God’s desire is for His people to love their neighbors as themselves”

-God’s design is not for His people to live out their fleshly desires, but instead to love and serve one another

And he ends this section with a warning:

Galatians 5:15 NKJV

But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

In other words, “if you go this route of living however you want because it’s all free grace anyway, you’d better watch out, because you’ll tear each other apart.”

-When you have an environment where people are only looking out for their interests and their desires, it will not be long before series hurt and betrayal will occur

You see, brothers and sisters, true freedom is not about living however I feel like living

-it’s not about watching whatever TV shows and movies I feel like watching

-listening to whatever music and podcasts I feel like listening to

-frequenting whatever kinds of places and gatherings I feel like frequenting

-That kind of freedom is not much different than the way that a drug addict is free when they get out of rehab and go back to their destructive lifestyle

-It’s not real freedom when someone tears their life apart pursuing dangerous and illegal substances

-And it’s not real freedom when you give yourself over to your fleshly desires . . . that’s slavery and destruction

-Real freedom comes in denying self and serving God by serving others

-The most wonderful and joyful times of my entire life are when I’m so focused on serving God and others that I forget to focus on myself

-And that is the kind of joy that God has set us free for

So legalism isn’t the answer:

-you can’t earn your standing before God through trying harder

-It’s disobedient

-godless

-permeating

-dangerous

-subversive

-and disqualifying

But fleshliness isn’t the answer either:

-It only brings destruction and chaos to your Christian community

Please don’t give in to either of these:

-they are cruel masters that will destroy your joy and peace

God has something far better for us:

It’s called “walking in the spirit”