Galatians 5_ 1-14      One Thing Counts

Rev. David Holwick  ZA                            Galatians sermon series

First Baptist Church                                  Communion Sunday

Ledgewood, New Jersey                                  (short sermon)

September 3, 2000

Galatians 5:1-14


ONE THING COUNTS



  I. Lessons from the Union County fair in Maine.

      A. Our first event - ox pull contest.

            Teams of oxen lumbered in, yoked with a heavy wooden beam.

            They were hooked up to heavy sledges and then whipped by

               their driver.

            They dragged the sledges across the barn floor, rested a

               few seconds, then dragged them back again.

            They had gobs of drool hanging down, and for all that

               effort ended up in the same place.


            Celeste thought it was so cool she wanted to watch all

               seventeen heats.


            (The boys and I decided we wanted to watch the demolition

               derby instead.  They wrecked a lot of junky cars and a

               local woman won.)


      B. Many Christians want to be just like those oxen.             5:1

          1) They would rather be yoked than free.

          2) There is a yoke in Christianity, but it is different

                than most people think.


II. It's got to be Christ plus nothing.

      A. In verse 2, Paul's conflict over circumcision comes to a head.

          1) It was a simple ritual, a symbol of becoming a member

                of the people of Israel.

          2) Paul says if they resort to the ritual, they have to obey

                the entire OT law, and no one can do that.            5:3

              a) The end result is they will be cut from Christ.

              b) As Pastor James Boice put it, God will put a minus sign

                    before Christ in the lives of the Galatians if

                       they put a plus sign before anything else.


      B. This explains was he is so strong on the topic.

          1) The act itself is unimportant.

              a) Paul even had Timothy circumcised because it was

                    convenient for his ministry.

              b) It has no value either way.                          5:6

          2) The theology behind it is very important.

              a) The issue is grace vs. works.

              b) Do you receive salvation as a gift, or earn it?


III. They are about to be tripped up.

      A. In verse 7 Paul makes an allusion to a race.

          1) Greeks loved athletics.  They gave us the Olympics.

          2) The image is of a runner who is cut off and tripped up.

              a) It will have a ripple effect, like a traffic pile up.


      B. Could Paul himself be to blame?

          1) Vs. 11 suggests some accused him of preaching circumcision.

              a) Maybe because of Timothy.

              b) Maybe due to his attitude in 1 Corinthians - he

                    tried to be all things to all people.

          2) The clearest proof he didn't is the trouble he gets.

              a) The grace of the cross is offensive to worldly people.

              b) The ones who deserve trouble are his opponents.     5:12

                  1> He suggests a rather extreme treatment for them.

                  2> Sounds crude, and it is.

                  3> But it is not mean-spirited.   John Stott says:

                     "If we were as concerned for God's church and

                        God's Word as Paul was, we too would wish that

                         false teachers might cease from the land."


IV. What we really need today.

      A. Paul gives a great summary of true religion in verse 6.

          1) We need faith expressing itself through love.

              a) It can't be just intellectual.

              b) Jesus says if your faith doesn't produce something,

                    it is phony.   - Matthew 7:16-20

              c) James says we show our faith not with words, but

                    actions.       - James 2:18

          2) I have been more impressed by Christians who live their

                faith than those who can teach it.

              a) "Theory" is a distant second place.


      B. Our Christian liberty is not a license to do what we want.  5:13

          1) Some radicals today say God's grace is so extensive that

                a person's lifestyle, before or after conversion, is

                   immaterial.             [See illustration #3600 below]

              a) The way we live matters a great deal to God.

              b) Early in the 20th century, playwright and social critic

                    George Bernard Shaw wrote,

                       "Liberty means responsibility.

                           That is why most men dread it."

                                                                    #4087

          2) Our Christian liberty should be expressed in three ways:

              a) Self-control.

                  1> We don't indulge our sinful nature, but control it.

              b) Loving service of our neighbor.

                  1> Literally, we are to be a "slave" to our neighbor.

                  2> It is the only yoke we should accept.

              c) Obedience to the Law of God.

                  1> Jesus taught that the Law has two dimensions -

                        upward and outward.

                  2> You can't love God if you hate people.

                  3> Instead, as Leviticus tells us, love your neighbor.


      C. Servants are needed today.



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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:


#4087  "Virtue And The Free Society," by Jeb Bush, in Imprimis, Hillside

          College Newsletter, April 1997, page 1.


This and 16,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,

absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html

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Commentary Notes:


John R.W. Stott, "The Message of Galatians," IVP, 'The Bible Speaks

   Today' commentary series.


Galatians 5:1-12


  I. False and true religion.                5:1-12

      A. Believers false and true.               5:1-6

          1) The assertion: Christians are set free from the law.

              a) It is not so much freedom from sin as from the law.

              b) It is not so much our will set free from bondage to

                    sin as our conscience set free from guilt of sin.

              c) It is freedom of acceptance with God and of access

                    to God through Christ.

          2) The command: stand fast and don't be yoked again.

              a) Don't lapse into idea you are accepted because of

                    your own obedience.

                  1> We have been unyoked by Christ and can stand erect.

              b) Don't turn back to circumcision.

                  1> Their actions had heavy doctrinal implications.

                      A> It stood for salvation by works.  Acts 15:1,5

                      B> Moses must finish what Christ had begun.

                  2> By choosing circumcision they become bound to law.

                      A> It is impossible to receive Christ, thereby

                            acknowledging that you cannot save yourself,

                               and then receive circumcision, thereby

                                  claiming that you can.

                      B> Nothing can be added to Christ as necessary

                            for salvation.

              c) Faith must be expressed through love.

                  1> By faith we wait.

                      A> We wait instead of work.

                  2> In Christ what matters is faith.

                      A> Doesn't mean our actions no longer matter.

      B. Teachers(ing) false and true.           5:7-12

          1) You were running well.

              a) Not just to believe, or behave well, but to apply our

                    belief to our behavior.

              b) We must be integrated Christians.

          2) Its origin: not from God.

          3) Its effect: it hindered, troubled and unsettled them.

              a) One of most serious things about evil and error is

                    that they spread.

          4) Its end: God will judge them.

              a) Call for "emasculation" is coarse to our ears.

              b) We may be sure that it was due neither to an intemperate

                    spirit, nor to a thirst for revenge, but to his deep

                    love for the people of God and the gospel of God.  If

                    we were as concerned for God's church and God's Word

                    as Paul was, we too would wish that false teachers

                    might cease from the land.

              c) The message of circumcision is popular; the message of

                    the cross is unpopular.

                  1> To preach the cross is to be persecuted.

      C. Conclusion.

          1) We love tolerance and hate to make choices.

              a) Christianity forces us to choose: circumcision or

                    Christ.

          2) What is our motive?

              a) We must humble ourselves before the cross.

II. The nature of Christian freedom.        5:13-15

      A. Freedom is a popular theme of our age.

          1) Christian freedom is a freedom of conscience.

      B. The implications of Christian freedom.

          1) It is not freedom to indulge the flesh.

              a) It is freedom FROM sin, not TO sin.

              b) It is not unrestricted liberty to wallow in selfishness.

              c) We should not be slaves of our appetites.

          2) It is not freedom to exploit your neighbor.

              a) Instead, we are to be servants of one another.

              b) We have freedom to approach God without fear, not

                    freedom to exploit our neighbors without love.

              c) We are not slaves to sin but to our neighbor.

                  1> The meaning of Christian love: not to possess for

                        ourselves but to serve them for themselves.

          3) It is not freedom to disregard the law.

              a) Love does not mean we can break the law (situation

                    ethics).

              b) Although we cannot gain acceptance by keeping the law,

                    once we have been accepted we shall keep the law

                       out of love for Him who has accepted us and has

                          given us His Spirit to enable us to keep it.

      C. Conclusion.

          1) We are free not to indulge the flesh, but to control the

                flesh.

              a) Not to exploit, but to serve our neighbor.

              b) Not to disregard Law, but to fulfil it.

          2) Our Christian liberty should be expressed in three ways:

              a) Self-control.

              b) Loving service of our neighbor.

              c) Obedience to the Law of God.

          3) Stand firm in your freedom.

              a) Don't lapse into slavery.

              b) Don't fall into license.


_________________________________________________


James Montgomery Boice, Galatians (Expositor's Bible Commentary).


  I. Liberty should not lead to license.

      A. Ethics begins with grace, not legalism.

          1) Holiness does not come through man-made or even God-made

                regulations.

      B. God will put a minus sign before Christ in the lives of the

            Galatians if they put a plus sign before anything else.

          1) Explains his strong stand on circumcision.

              a) The act itself is unimportant.

                  1> Paul had Timothy circumcised.

                  2> It has no value either way.       5:6

              b) The theology behind it is very important.

          2) The issue is grace vs. works.

              a) To choose circumcision is to choose legalism.

      C. What matters is faith.

          1) Faith must issue in a genuine and self-denying love for

                others.

          2) It is a beautiful definition of Christian religion.

II. Concerning the false teachers.

      A. They are cutting the Galatians off in the race.

      B. The origin, results, and end of such doctrine.

      C. Paul preaching circumcision?

          1) He may have been accused of preaching it when it suited

                him, based on 1 Cor 7:18 and Timothy's circumcision.

          2) Paul's persecution is only response needed.

      D. Emasculation?

          1) Practice was known in ancient world, but caused expulsion

                from temple within Judaism.  (Deut 23:1)

              a) Therefore Paul is comparing them to pagans.

          2) Sounds coarse but shows his concern for gospel.


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HOLWICK COMBINED COLLECTION        Number: 3600

TOPICS: Homosexuality, American Baptists, Rules, Regulations, Law Of

    Moses, Re-interpretation, Hermeneutic, Canon, Circumcision,

    Perversion, Radical Grace

TEXT: Gen 19, Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, Judg 19:22-25, Isa 5:20, Matt 22:37-

    40, Matt 23:23, Acts 10, Acts 15:1-19*, Rom 1:26-27, 1 Cor 6:9-10,

    Gal 5:6, 1 Tim 1:9-10

SOURCE: Baptist Peacemaker

TITLE: St. Peter And The Jerusalem Protocol

AUTHOR: Ken Sehested

DATE: 3/1/95


ILLUSTRATION:


The Baptist Peace Fellowship added homosexual rights to its agenda and

had its status downgraded by American Baptists.  The sub-title is,

"Commentary on biblical fidelity and sexual orientation: why the first

matters, why the second doesn't and why Baptist Peace Fellowship members

should care."


Three lines of defense are given:


1. It is the right thing to do.

2. They have a ready-made opportunity to practice their calling as

     reconcilers within their own household.

3. The question of biblical authority has to be addressed.


The Sodom and Gomorrah story is interpreted along Boswell's lines.

Slavery is seen as a parallel issue, and inconsistency between the Bible

and fundamentalist interpretation (jewelry, veils, etc.) is pointed out.


When Peter associates with Cornelius the centurion, he is associating

with a religious pervert.  At the council in Jerusalem, some of the

fundamentalists are upset that these converts are not being required to

believe the Bible is literally true.  The missionaries (Paul) have gone

soft on the "law of Moses." The more conservative leaders argue that you

either believe all of the Bible or none of it.  Either it's authoritative

or it's not.  And the Bible (the "law of Moses") commands circumcision -

the texts are plain, their meaning is indisputable.


Finally, Peter stood up and said, in effect:  "I know what the Bible

says. What I'm telling you is that I've seen indisputable evidence of the

work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of these Gentile-perverts.  God has

cleansed their hearts by faith and has made no distinction between them

and us.  We don't exactly have a perfect track record when it comes to

being faithful to the Bible ourselves."


Peter was on to something important.  His was a precedent-setting

theological argument: clear evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit -

evidence attested to in the Bible - overrules any particular regulation.

The regulations, in other words, are in service to the Spirit, not the

other way around.  I call it the "Jerusalem Protocol."  The idea is

ancient and deeply biblical: "The only thing that counts is faith working

through love," according to Paul (Gal. 5:6).  Fidelity to the Bible, to

paraphrase Jesus, can be summarized in two intertwined statements: "You

shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and

with all your mind" and "your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-40).


Is homosexuality compatible with Christian faith?  Is heterosexuality

compatible with Christian faith?  Uncircumcised, or circumcised?  Neither

question, I would suggest, is relevant.  To quote sacred Scripture, "We

believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just

as they will" (Acts 15:11).

                                                               #3600


*



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