Galatians Pt. 14

So, over the last couple of months we have been reading through the book of Galatians. We have learned all sorts of stuff. We have learned that God saves us, we don’t save ourselves. We have learned that we can not earn our salvation. We have learned that God has given us salvation by grace through faith. We have learned that All of us who follow Jesus, are Abrahams descendants and through that we are all God’s children’s if we are following Jesus.

So if we could kind of summarize everything into 2 things we would summarize it like this:

Jesus saves, not people

Followers of Jesus are brothers and sisters

But let’s jump into what Paul is saying:

Galatians 4:15–19 “15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,”

Paul begins by pointing out how the Galatian church responded to him when he first showed up with the Gospel. He says: you would have torn your eyes out and given them to me. Have you ever heard someone say: “That guy would give anyone the shirt off their back”? Paul is saying something similar to them. When I showed up and I shared the Gospel with you, you would have given me the shirt off your back. You loved me that much, that you would provide for me the things I did not have.

But then he says in verse 16: But now, you seem like an enemy of the Gospel! Paul is saying, I am worried about coming over to your church because you might treat me like I am the bad guy! You received the beautiful message of the Gospel, and you accepted this message and now, you have transformed into this mean group of legalistic Christians.

Do you guys remember the Pharisees from the Gospels? The pharisees were church leaders, and they knew he Bible. They memorized the Bible. But these guys were mean, and they condemned people. And this legalistic group of people began to separate themselves from God’s people because they were so legalistic. Now, sometimes we see Christians following God in obedience and we claim that those people are legalistic. A Christian that is doing God’s will is not a legalistic person.

So what is a legalistic Christian?

A legalistic Christian is a person who looks down on others for not following, what they believe to be, God’s law.

And that’s who was leading this church. Paul end by telling them, I see you turning away from God and it hurts me because I love you.

So let’s go back to the list of things we have learned from this book.

Jesus saves, not people

Followers of Jesus are brothers and sisters

The Galatians church forgot number 1. And it happens all of the time. When we begin to believe that we add value to our salvation, we become corrupt Christian. I want us to understand something very important. Just because we don’t add value to our salvation, does not mean God does value us or see us as valuable. Jesus values us enough to die on the cross for our sins. I want to read this up on the screen to you:

We add value to the Kingdom, but we cannot add value to our salvation because Jesus is the One who made salvation valuable.

Jesus saves, not people

Followers of Jesus are brothers and sisters

So, what can we do so that we don’t forget Number 1? Anyone have any ideas? We surround ourselves with our Christian family. We can hold each other accountable, we can remind each other of what is important. For me, that’s my wife. My best friend Paul. Mr. Chris, the people I go to church with. Those are the people that hold me accountable. But we must learn to be receptive to that accountability. If I’m preaching the Gospel and I begin to teach something that is completely wrong about Jesus.

for instance, Jesus was a carpenter. What if I went around telling people that Jesus was the owner of a subway restaurant? I’d be wrong right? Let’s imagine Mr. Rusty approaches me and says: Luis you can’t say that, the Bible doesn’t say that about Jesus. What would happen if I don’t listen to him? what happens if I am not receptive to what he says? Then I will easily forget number 1 on the list. And it will be easy for me to turn away from God and become alienated from the church.

God does not want that for us, God wants us to be a family.

Hebrews 10:24 “24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,”