We Are All One In Christ
Paul's Travels • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsAs Christians we should alll remember that we are all one in Christ. There are no separations along political party lines, races, creeds, or social importance. Those who belong to Christ, belong to Christ, and we are all one family of God and God expects all of us to act accordingly.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome back!
This morning, if you will turn back in your Bibles to Galatians 3.
We are going to finish up with Chapter 3 this morning and then move into Chapter 4.
However, we are not going to cover the rest of Chapter 3, verse by verse.
If you recall from last week, we left off with Paul challenging the Galatians to live their Christian life guided by a faith in Christ that is informed and guided by the Holy Spirit and an obedience to the Holy Spirit.
And then he begins to tell them about the dangers of putting their faith and in the rules, regulations, traditions, and customs of their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers.
He wants them, and us by extension, to really understand that salvation comes through faith and faith alone.
And that faith is only adequate when it is a true faith in Jesus Christ.
And Paul offers us an example in the person of Abraham, who left all he knew to follow God.
But the Jews, like we do, were not satisfied with faith alone, and they could not be obedient to God so over time their faith was actually replaced by their religion, their rules, their regulations, their traditions, and their customs.
And that process resulted in them putting their own people into spiritual bondage, unable to really experience what it is like to have a meaningful and lasting relationship with God, built on faith and trust.
It was all about the rules and punishing those who didn’t follow the rules.
And Paul is pushing very hard against this trying to get the people to see that this line of thinking is #1 not of God, and #2 not sustainable.
And he wants us to understand the same thing.
And last week, we left off in verses 13-14 , where Paul tells us . . .
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
And there it is again, by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
That is the #1 thing to take away from any of this.
Everything we do and everything we are in Christ, must come by faith.
Not by works.
Not by good deeds.
Not by rules, regulations, or traditions.
It is all by faith in Jesus Christ.
So, making that point, Paul moves on and continues with the example of Abraham and and God’s covenant with Abraham.
And the reason Paul is spending so much time with this at this point is because he is wanting them to realize the point that he has been making that salvation is for all.
That salvation and God’s blessing was not reserved just for the Jews.
Remember, the Jews and the Jewish legalists who were causing all of the problems had the belief that they were better and above everyone else.
That anyone who was not a Jew, or a Jewish convert were not deserving of salvation and that God really didn’t like them anyway.
They considered others dogs.
And Paul had already made the point that . . .
The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
And now Paul is building on that premise and explaining to them the actual covenant that God made with Abraham and how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that covenant.
Which brings us to where we pick up this morning.
Starting in Galatians 3:23, Paul writes this . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
One In Christ
One In Christ
Now, Paul is really getting to the nitty-gritty challenging the Jewish converts who had, for a lack of a better word, been tormenting the Gentile converts over their heritage.
Ever since the formation of the Church only a few years before, there had been a separation of the people.
Those who came from Jewish heritage who were already “special to God,” who by birth were “entitled” to all the blessings God had to offer.
And those dirty old Gentiles, who were not worthy of anything.
But, God had made a way for them, but only if they followed all of the rules and accepted the “Jewish way.”
Which was completely inaccurate but what they had been living with.
And Paul says, enough is enough, because it was doing nothing but dragging both sides down.
The Jews were getting wrapped up in tradition and the Gentiles were giving up because they couldn’t live up to the yoke put around their neck.
And that was the entire purpose anyway.
The Jewish converts didn’t like them anyway so they were going to make things as hard as possible, so they would just give up.
And before we comment on how awful that was, we need to make sure we are not guilty of the same type of behavior.
How hard have we made it for people to come to Christ?
How hard have we made it for people to feel part of our fellowship of believers, our family of God?
What expectations do we put on other people?
And how do we react when they don’t live up to those expectations?
Because really that is what we are talking about.
We can analyze the Galatian behavior all day, but if we never see how it applies to us, then it’s pointless.
So, again Paul gets into it here . . .
Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
And what Paul is getting at here is that the Law actually served a purpose, but the Jews manipulated that purpose.
The purpose of the Law was to guide and lead the Jews toward Jesus Christ so that they could find their ultimate redemption in Christ.
The Law was hard enough to live up to, but they made it worse.
They made it so bad that they were held prisoners by it.
It locked them up, so that there was no real hope, until faith should be revealed.
And of course that faith was in Jesus Christ.
However, when Jesus came, the Law is no longer the relevant factor.
Not because the Law was not important, but rather because Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law.
Jesus Christ removed the yoke of bondage and the chains of sin.
But much to the Jewish converts dislike, Jesus Christ also removed the power and control they had over the people.
No longer did the people have to turn to them as their authority figures and bow down to them.
All were made equal in Christ and all remain equal in Christ today.
And it is important to point that out because all through the history of the Church at different times, there have been those who have tried to assert authority over others.
That was the whole reason the Protestant movement (which is the reason we and all other denominations exist) came about.
The Roman Catholic Church was exerting ungodly authority over people and oppressing people and Martin Luther and others, but mainly Luther stood up to them.
But the attitude re-emerges ever so often.
Lots of time in what we would call denominational-ism.
Where the denomination takes all control and precedent over the people.
And that honestly is one thing I do like about our denomination.
We have a governing body and authority in our denominational structure, but it is not overbearing and the local church has a great deal of authority and autonomy to operate how it sees fit, so long as it does not get out the bounds of what we consider Christian in nature.
But that is not always the case.
And sometimes, it even trickles down to the local church, where the pastor or the board, deacons, elders—or whatever they call their governing body in the church, exercises extreme power over people and expect the “do it my way or get out” type of obedience.
That is dangerous and that is not of God.
We are all free to express our relationship with Jesus Christ how we see fit, so long as we are expressing it in Christ and not in ourselves.
But when we go to that extreme we fall victim to these wordly attitudes that want to separate people based on all sorts of things.
In society we separate people by gender, by race, by ethnicity, by fame, by fortune, by social status.
It’s like we try to find ways to separate people and lift ourselves up above someone else.
Which is racist and totally against God.
Paul continues on with our passage . . .
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
And honestly, that is a message that we need to hear in our society today.
When we accept Jesus Christ we are all sons [and daughters] of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
There is nothing that separates us.
There is nothing that makes any of us any better than anyone else.
We are all ONE in Christ.
And there are some in the Church, that quite frankly need to get over themselves and realize that that poor person they stick their nose up to is just as valuable to God as they are.
Or that white person needs to realize that their black brothers and sisters are just as important to God as they are.
Or that person from that other denomination is just as relevant to God as they are.
Remember our “holiness committee” we talked about last week, well they don’t cut it with God.
Point blank . . .
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
And I know that this might strike a nerve with some.
And some watching online may turn it off, but it’s the truth.
If we call ourselves God’s children, they we have an obligation to act like it.
Not just toward our friends, but toward everyone.
And Paul goes on here to hash this out a bit more.
Moving into chapter 4, he writes . . .
What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.
And reading that we may say “huh?” What is Paul talking about?
We are children but we are also slaves?
Well, a lot gets lost in translation here.
Think about it this way.
We are children of God, but as children we also have responsibilities.
Think about your own children when they were/are growing up.
They are your children and you love and care for them.
But you also have expectations and rules they are expected to follow.
You have chores and duties for them.
But at the same time, everything you have is theirs as well.
We are God’s children and servants in the same way but as his children we are also heirs to everything.
Paul goes on . . .
He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.
We are subject to God’s rules—but wait, we are saved by faith, not by works!
Yes, but remember our Great Commandment of Jesus, that flows from our changed heart . . .
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
That is our great responsibility to our Father.
And to those who argue against this, Paul explains . . .
So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
In other words, before Christ, we were in bondage to the wages of sin (ie, death) and slaves to the ways of the world.
Jesus however, removed all of that and presented us with our inheritance.
Altar/Challenge
Altar/Challenge
And Paul finishes up our portion for this morning . . .
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
And the honest reality is this, are we heirs of God or slaves to sin?
And if we respond that we are heirs, then are we living up to the throne?
And that all really boils down to our attitude toward God and our attitude towards others.
So what is our attitude this morning?
Growing up, I often needed an “attitude adjustment.”
Do we need that this morning?
And are we willing to allow the Holy Spirit to adjust our attitude?
Let’s pray . . .