Focus on Faith
Notes
Transcript
To be free
Isn’t that a common desire?
We certainly hear a great deal about freedom today
Freedom is a topic for our governmental politics
Freedom is a topic when kids want to live without the “burden” of curfew
Freedom is a topic when we deal with many aspects of life
I will start with this caution
The freedom the Bible refers to is NOT what many seem to think
Galatians 5 is NOT referring to
the Declaration of Independence
The Bill of Rights
Or any other part of the US Constitution
There are conceptual connections
but Paul is not addressing “those” things
Throughout Galatians, Paul is dealing with distortion of the Gospel
It is so easy to read out of context and claim, “The Bible says...”
In Galatians 5, Paul is talking about us being free from the impossible burden of “the Law”
That our Justification
That our Salvation is through FAITH ALONE, not works
All by the Grace of God
One thing that Paul tells us that transcends all forms of freedom
The Enemy, Satan, will always try to take your freedom away
Satan wants us in slavery
And Satan will play the long-game
Satan will cheat and destroy
One little thing at a time
Even, especially, in church
4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—
Satan will seed doubt which will grow
The separation or division will start small
Unless we each FOCUS on what is most important
Those small little division will grow enough to cause a real problem
I hope you read the devotional in your newsletter this week
Floyd did a another great job with “Faith, Hope and Love Today”
This was about when Jesus cast demons out of the blind and mute man, He cited Matthew 12:25 where Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees
25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.
We’ve all heard that a divided house will fall, right?
A divided church, family, business they will all fall
One tool used by Satan to accomplish this division is lack of focus
Getting believers to focus on things that aren’t important
The next thing you know, there is no energy left to focus on what should be at the center of what you are doing
Some people are proud of their ability to “multi-task”
Some get excited they can “get a lot done”
Regardless, if God blesses us will breath in our lungs for the next month
We will each have 10,080 minutes
10,080 minutes to do something
10,080 minutes to think something
10,080 minutes to invest in something
A question for each of us is ‘HOW do we use the time God gives us?’
If we are not careful, whatever gain we have made in our lives, will be lost due to a slow erosion
If we fail to keep a focused eye on the blessing of freedom God has purchased for us
Then we will start to live as if we are not free
Simply put, Satan wants us enslaved and divided
If we pay attention to things that SHOULD be less important
Then we will not have time or energy to pay attention to what is MOST important
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
When I read the word “slavery”, I get a very clear image in my head
While it is NOT completely accurate to the use of the word in the Bible
I still think of the atrocity and horror of putting people in heavy chains and shackles
There is a very hard point in time when a free person is no longer free, right?
You see the master closing the shackles and binding the slave
And when the slave is set free, you can see the shackles coming off
The slavery Paul refers to is not like that here in Galatians
Jesus has already set everyone free from the slavery of sin and all the penalty associated with sin
We never see physical shackles come off
Unfortunately, we also don’t see the shackles of sin slavery going back on either
There is no big, ugly guy grabbing our arms and putting the cuffs on because we have done or said something
Remember that the context of this passage today is that Paul is talking to the church of Galatia
And the church is slowly allowing things to be added to their practices and beliefs
They are not intentionally ditching the Gospel of Jesus
They are letting a slow return to the practices and traditions of their religion to dilute the solid teaching they had
Religious traditions may serve a purpose, and may even be correct for the Old Testament life
But no tradition or practice should ever interfere with what Jesus said
And nothing should ever distract us from celebrating the freedom we have
Freedom from the penalty of the law
Because Jesus already settled that debt
That’s really what Paul is talking about
All the references to circumcision are just about the church drifting back to the old way “we’ve ALWAYS done church”
It’s the attraction to the familiar
When I’ve done these things in the this way at this time, then I’ve felt closer to God
I feel like I have really worshiped when...
It is easy to begin worshiping the process of religion instead of worshiping the object of our worship-Jesus
Remember from our service on worship that worship is about lifting God, exalting God
Worship isn’t about us except that we are the ones lifting God’s name to glorify Him
How is it, then, that we could say we are worshiping God by doing the things WE like or that make US feel a certain way?
Paul clearly tells us that we should instead focus our energy on “standing firm” to what God’s Word says
That we should not let man-made anything get between us and God
In fact, Galatians 5:4 tells us what happens when we let man-made practice get our attention or focus
4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Then we are “severed from Christ”
We were freed from slavery, but then our choices made us slave again
Separated from the One who came to save us
What makes this even worse is that in this “fall from grace” we can take the whole family (biological or church family) down with us. Look at Hebrews 12:15.
15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
Think about how bitter some become because a religious practice from their past is not maintained in the church today
Think about how upsetting it is when something we cherish from our church tradition is not continued
Due to the pandemic, we were unable to pass the plate for tithes and offerings
For those of us who believe giving to the Kingdom of God is a part of our worship, our mindset had to change
Worship is between us and God, so putting money in the plate is man-made
Karen and I never cared who saw us give
But we liked the act of putting the check in the plate
God didn’t care about that, did He?
Whether tithes are given online, by mailing a check, direct bank transfer, it is the same act of obedience and worship
The pandemic helped us get over that little distraction which was a stumbling stone for some.
Recall Paul’s letter to the Romans 9:31-32
31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Doing the religious traditions was not in and of itself sinful
Sin, what separated them from God was losing focus
When we focus on anything other than God, then we lose focus on our relationship with God
If we start to think too much about checking off all the boxes, we become legalistic
We could even do that with Communion Sundays like today
Our “tradition” at Grace church is to come to the Lord’s Table together on the first Sunday of every month
If we do that without the right heart
If we decide for instance, that we will ONLY go to church on Communion Sundays
Or to NOT go to church on Communion Sundays
All because we really like or dislike the WAY we do Communion
Then we have fail to celebrate with the right heart
Then Communion is no longer a practice of our faith
We would be worshiping the ACT of Communion the way we think it ought to be
As opposed to letting Holy Communion be a demonstration of our Faith
It could actually become a distraction to to true relationship with Jesus that we should have
The routine and checkbox nature of that kind of activity is exactly what Paul warned about in Galatians 5:6
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
When we love God, we must love God’s children
All of them
Even those of our brothers and sisters who think or worship differently than we prefer
Because, when we love God enough to focus on Christ always
The differences between us become a thing to celebrate
instead of a reason to divide us
May our focus on coming to the Lord’s table today be with focus on the unity that SHOULD BE of our Faith
That God has and will forgive whatever we have done wrong and
Amen
Closing Hymn/Invitation:
They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love
Communion
Pastoral prayer/Benediction