FCS Devotion 9/27/2019

The Real

Have you ever been really proud of something that you didn’t earn?

7th grade basketball team

I think if we aren’t careful we can place ourselves on a pedestal.

The Read

Paul was writing about to the church in Galatia about some false teaching.

Teachers were trying to make themselves look better saying the good things they’d done.

They were trying to say that you had to follow the law in order to be saved.

Teachers were trying to make themselves look better saying the good things they’d done.

(ESV) But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Paul was writing this to say, “I’m not going to boat about anything good I’ve done.”

14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

But I’ll boast at what Jesus has done.

What did he mean by the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

He meant that all of the things that the world had told him he needed to do for approval were dead. None of that mattered. He was brand new because of what Jesus had done for him.

There’s a false message being spread in our world.

One is that we can some how earn our way to Heaven.

If I just do good, If I just give a lot to charity, If I just help those in need, If I just stay out of trouble and don’t do meth or kill anyone, If I can just look back at my life and I’ve been a good person then surely I’ll find my way into heaven.

Paul said in Romans that there’s no one who is righteous. None of us are good enough to earn our way to Heaven.

(ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It’s a gift that helps us to get to Heaven and it’s nothing we can do or have done that. It’s all by the power of Jesus Christ.

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A false assumption would be that since we can’t earn it, then we should just live how we want to and do whatever we want because we can’t earn it anyways.

(ESV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Paul says that this is the mark of a true believer. Does you life display this list?

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

The Ready

You don’t earn your spot in Heaven based off of good deeds. You ask Christ to forgive you and you trust in him because of his work on the cross. You can’t earn it.

But the way you can tell if a person in genuinely following Christ is if they display the fruit of the spirit. Which looks like good deeds?

14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.