Bewitched Galatians

Galatians 3:1-14 Bewitched Galatians Introduction: The contrast Paul continually makes in this letter is of two ways to approach God. Either we try to approach God through our own doing, whether it is our own righteous standard that we follow or the divine Law - the focus is on us, and what we do. Paul contrast this with faith or trust in what God has done to approach us in Christ. I think for Christians it's pretty clear that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, though we struggle to live this out perfectly. But the question is then how do I live as a Christian? Once I have been brought into Christ then what? Do we go back to the Law; is it up to my work to keep this salvation safe guarded? Often times in an attempt to answer this question we either demonize the Law of God or we overemphasize the Law's significance. Paul the apostle does a beautiful work of putting the law in it's right place. 1. The Galatians Personal Salvation Experience 1. O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by[a] the flesh? 4 Did you suffer[b] so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith" 2. Galatians 3 Paul begins by asking rhetorical questions to the Galatians about their own experience in receiving the Holy Spirit. Were they keeping the Law when God gave them the Holy Spirit or did they simply believe the message of salvation that was preached? They simply believed. Remember that the giving of the Holy Spirit was in direct connection with the New Covenant with the coming of the New Age, in Messiah (Jeremiah 31) So what about now? Will they be made perfect, whole, complete by adhering to the Law and circumcision or by the same way they received their salvation, by Faith? It is by faith that we receive the promise and that we continue in our salvation. 3. N.T Wright, in his commentary on Galatians, tells a famous story of a tight rope walker Charles Blondin, who set up a tight rope across Niagara Falls and walked across several times. He was so confident that he made the journey backwards as well as forwards, and performed various tricks on the way, like sitting on a small stool and eating a meal. But the most famous trick was when he asked for a volunteer to be carried over on his back. In what must be one of the most supreme acts of physical trust ever placed by one human being in another, a brave or perhaps foolish man stepped forward, and was carried over on the great man's shoulders. Now suppose, halfway across, the man had said to Blondin: 'look here, this is all very well, but I don't really trust you any more. I think i'd better do the rest by myself. Let me down and I'll walk from here without you.' You can only imagine the kind of reaction that would come not only from Blondin but from the watching crowd. Was this guy nuts? How could he possibly think he could do this by himself....This is exact reaction that Paul has about the Galatian situation. How could they think that they could now in their flesh, accomplish or add to the work of God in Christ Jesus?? 2. The Testimony of Scripture 1. "Just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify[c] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith."[d] 12 But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." 1. Paul issues a second direct appeal to the Galatians: it is not just their own experience of receiving the gospel by faith that should teach them that salvation is not by the Law but by grace. Rather, the OT example of Abraham also teaches that it is through genuine faith, not the law, that one is counted righteous. 3. Those of Faith - Children of Abraham 1. Abraham is the father of God's people not because he is the biological ancestor of Israel but because he has a family of spiritual children that follow in his foot steps by simply believing in God's promise. 1. "Thus Abraham is a living OT prophecy of the Gospel: he was not an Israelite but a pagan, and God justified him by faith." - ESV Study 4. Those who rely on Works of the Law - Cursed or Cast out. 1. Paul makes it clear that if you are going to rely on the Law for your justification you are obligated to continually keep the whole of the Law. We don't need to go into every detail of the Law to understand the weight or impossibility of this. You can sum up the whole Law in two commandments, according to Jesus: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."(Matthew 22:38-39) But let's be honest we can't even keep the lesser rules that we set for our lives, much more that our every thought, words and actions have been done in a way that perfectly obeys God and loves our neighbor. Paul says, if you go that route you will fail, and not only fail but the curse of the Law falls on you - to be cast out from the people of God. But then the question is what to do with the Law of God? It can't just be left, or ignored, can it? 3. Christ Redemption 1. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith." 2. Some see Paul as ignoring the Jewish law, which to most Jews would be the main part of the Jewish story, the heart of Jewish practice, and a key element in Jewish theology. But Paul doesn't ignore it. He tells the story differently. He speaks of a gigantic roadblock in the plan of God. God's promise to Abraham wasn't simply about the Jews: it was designed for all the nations, the very opening lines of Genesis 12 say so. That was the road down which the plan was supposed to be going. Abraham's family were to bring God's plan of salvation to the rest of the World. That's why there was such a family in the first place. 3. But what had happened to this family? And what, in consequence, had happened to God's plan and promise? Here Paul is quite clear: The Physical family of Abraham, the Jewish people, had overturned like a huge truck in the road, and were now blocking the original intention. God's promise still held good; God still intended to bless the whole world through Abraham's family; but Israel, the promise bearers, were not only themselves failing, but getting in the way of the wider fulfillment. Paul here shows how God has dealt with both aspects of this problem through the death of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit. 4. What had caused Israel to overturn in the road was the law and it's ensuing curse. The Law contained, if you will, the rules of the road which warned that certain types of behavior would result in cursing rather than blessing... Yes, this curse had to do with broken fellowship with God as well as punishment in the next life but there was a more physical way in which this curse was to be felt -often to do with oppression from their enemies, and a lack of monetary blessings, and territory; but the main way in which the scriptures show this curse is in being exiled from the land of Promise and the blessing. In Deuteronomy 28, the main book from which Paul quotes, the curse is something that will happen in history: Israel will go into exile away from the promised land. (Exile in Babylon) The curse of exile - the people of God devastated and deported by the pagan nations - looks uncomfortably like the exact opposite of what God had in mind..that he would bless the nations through Israel. Which means the the plan and promises aren't getting through. The road is truly blocked. Meanwhile, the scriptures themselves proclaim that there is another way through to the promise. Habakkuk the prophet, writing at a time when Israel was being devastated, speaks of faith as the only way to life - while Leviticus continues to stress that doing the Law is essential for life within the Law. But what happens when the Law itself has overturned the people who were bearing the promise?? 5. Here's where Paul brings in Jesus Messiah and it's masterful. The curse that Deuteronomy spoke of has been borne by Israel's representative, the Messiah. He has come to the point of the roadblock, where the nation of Israel had overturned (instead of blessing the nations they are being oppressed by the nations.) Now, what was the one of the most palatable signs of oppression for the Jews and the rest of the world for that matter in the days of Jesus?The sign of oppression in the first century was the cross, on which the Romans executed tens of thousands of those who opposed them. Therefore, Jesus, as Israel's messiah, took the weight of Israel's curse upon himself, not just in some abstract theological sense but quite literally and historically when he died upon the cross. Just as the Law said - "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree". He bears the curse so that the blessings and promises of God can come upon all the nations. We receive all that God had originally intended for us - Life in the Holy Spirit, fellowship with God in the spirit, the life of the New Covenant, through Jesus, By Faith!! 2. The roadblock has been taken out of the way. The traffic can now flow as God always intended it: from the promise of Abraham, through his family (his seed), and out to all the nations. "The blessing of Abraham comes on the nations in the messiah, Jesus: thats' Paul's short way of putting it. 6. How can we possibly think that we could add anything to that?? Can't you see how Paul was so disturbed? 2. "All hail the power of Jesus name let angels prostrate fall! Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of All!! Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, Ye ransomed from the fall, Hail Him Who saves you by His grace, And crown Him Lord of all!" Conclusion: Jesus worked for us, removing the curse that barred us from the blessings of God, it is finished. He bore the curse our sin deserves, all our sins on the cross, there is nothing you or I can do to add to it. In fact, to add to it would only be to take away from it. It is finished. These are words we need to hear again and again. It is finished, our redemption is accomplished. As we have freely received the Lord Jesus we are to walk in him. I think that this really is the key. Once we come into fellowship with God by the Holy Spirit, we aren't sent back to this impersonal Law. We are in a living relationship with God through Christ, we are following Jesus, discovering more and more what it is to be in him, and having our lives molded to his image because we are fellowshipping with him. But what does this look like in our lives? In our community group we were having a conversation about the work of sanctification. (thats the in-between bit of our salvation and glorification). Some believe and practice that sanctification comes as we put the flesh to death, so we must through deep introspection and rigorous effort seek to make every effort towards holiness, by constantly inspecting and repenting. Or some might suggest that we are saved, by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, and then we are sent back to the Law to fulfill it's righteous requirements. But Paul makes it clear that this is to go backwards and undo what Christ has done. This would be to get off the back of the one who is carrying us to safety and insist that we can perfect what he started. The Galatians didn't become Christians through keeping the Law, which deals with things of the flesh, they don't continue as christians by observing the Jewish Law. Being a Christian starts and continues as a matter of faith. Well then what do we do to grow in Christ likeness and progress in Faith? "We do not begin by trusting in Christ's curse-becoming, blessing-giving death for us, and then continue, "by human effort', as though we must now earn ongoing blessing. That is truly foolish as Paul says. We go on as we began, having our hearts melted and molded by knowing and trusting Christ crucified. We never move on from the gospel." -TK Putting the flesh to death, and good works are a part of sanctification of course; the New Testament teaches that. But they are done as a result of the fact that we are growing in our knowledge and relationship with God, they are being done as a result of what God has already done and continues to do, as we grow in that knowledge of how that original good news of God's grace applies to every part of our life we say no more and more to the old ways of living and walk in this new way of Gospel driven life. Tim Keller gives a wonderful example of how Gospel driven sanctification works- "To keep ourselves from sinning we must never say - I must stop this or I'm going to be punished - this nourishes the self centeredness of sin even as you think you are repenting. Rather we should say things like - How can I treat Jesus like this - who died so I would never be punished? Is this how I treat the one who has brought me into this unconditionally loved state? Is this how I treat him after all he's done? Will I fail to forgive when he died to forgive me? Will I be anxious over the loss of money when he gave himself to be my security and true wealth? Will I nurse my pride when he emptied himself of his own glory to save me??? It is the truth of the gospel - Jesus dying love, his unconditional commitment to us, his costly sacrifice, our adoption into God's family - that make sin itself hateful in our eyes. Richard sibs says, "Repentance is not a little bowing of the head.. but a working our hearts to such a grief as will make sin (itself) more odious to us than punishment." -Tim Keller