Grace Community Church of Ramona Podcast

We have a tug-a-war in our souls. It's between living for ourselves and living for God. In this passage its described as a tug-a-war between our fleshly desires and the desires of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. When we live for our fleshly desires, we do all kinds of bad things. The Judaizers (legalists) would say the only way to control our flesh is to live under the Law of Moses. In their minds, if we’re freed from the law the flesh will take over.  There will be nothing to keep our flesh under control. But there is another way to gain victory over the flesh. Through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is so much better than the law because the Holy Spirit doesn’t control our flesh, He transforms it.

Legalism shorts out the power for spiritual transformation.

A few weeks ago I was informed the toaster wasn’t working. Mom (and Willie, the dog) have toast every morning for breakfast. Not simple, straight ahead wheat toast but sweet, gooey cinnamon toast. This was a mini crisis. I took the toaster apart and found icing on the magnetic switches. The contacts couldn’t close because of the icing. In other words, the icing was cutting off the flow of power!

This is exactly what Paul addresses in Galatians 5:1-12 – not the toaster, but cutting the flow of power. Paul warns that if the Galatians give in to legalism they will cut the flow of power for spiritual transformation; they will not go on to become like Christ (4:19). Paul’s concern was their lack of sanctification, not loss of salvation.

In the latter half of Galatians 3, the Apostle Paul explained that one of the reasons the Law of Moses was given was to chase us to Christ in the sense that the Law of Moses makes it abundantly clear that we are transgressors, we cannot live up to God’s perfect and holy standard nor can we make up for all the ways we violate God’s holiness and transgress His law. The purpose of the Law of Moses is to bring us to the end of ourselves; to open us up to put our faith, not in ourselves, but in Jesus Who died on the cross to pay the penalty for our transgressions and rose again to give us eternal life. When we turn from ourselves to Jesus to make us right with God we are justified, that is, God the Father declares all our sin forgiven, paid as they are by the sacrifice of Jesus. God the Father declares that we are in a right standing with Him; He accepts us and is at peace with us. All of this is what is meant by the phrase justified by faith. In addition, He adopts us as His sons and daughters making us rightful heirs to His inheritance. This is what the Apostle Paul celebrates at the close of Galatians 3.

In our study of Galatians so far we have clearly seen that there is no way for the law to bring about justification. The only way to be justified and have a right relationship with God is through faith in Jesus Christ. This has always been the way, and will always be the way! The sign that we are justified and part of God’s family, is that the personal Spirit of God comes to live in our mortal bodies! These churches in the region of Galatia had experienced justification through faith, followed by the gift of the Spirit and the resulting fellowship with other believers, both Jew and Gentile alike. These legalistic false teachers had come in and claimed that when the law was given, it set up a NEW way to be justified and part of God’s family, and it replaced the old promises given to Abraham. In this section of Galatians, Paul clears up just what purpose the law does serve, and he shows us that it is a powerful one!

Paul gets straight to the problem as he addresses these churches in the region of Galatia. These Judaizers had come into these churches teaching that the Gentiles must come under the law of Moses and be circumcised in order to be Justified, aka. made right with God. It was a mixture of faith in Jesus AND following the law that would set people free, and make them part of God's family. As this teaching quickly took root in the lives of the believers, it drove a wedge between the Jews and Gentiles, and ripped at the foundation of the gospel. Paul's command is to get these false teachers out of their churches immediately!

As Paul shares the story of Peter's hypocrisy (Gal 2:11-14) to the Galatian believers, it seems like Paul is making a big deal out of something that isn't that important. Why would he oppose Peter "to his face"? Peter just made a small mistake right? It wasn’t as though he actually believed that the Law could justify, he just had a moment of cowardice and made a mistake. To Paul, this is no small mistake, it was giving approval to a message that was a direct assault on Jesus. When Peter and Barnabas broke table fellowship with the gentiles, they were giving approval to these Judaizers who were teaching that if the gentiles wanted to become part of God's family, they must come under the authority of the Law of Moses. Paul recognized this teaching was a direct attack on the authority of Christ, as it was an attempt to add the law to the gospel, so Paul puts Peter's actions on display to reveal these three implications from his false behavior.

Paul had brought the gospel message to the people of Galatia and they had been set free! But in his absence, the "agitators" had brought a two pronged attack into the Galatian churches, they took aim at the man and the message. On the one hand they were attacking Paul, his background, character, apostleship and authority. On the other, they were attacking the gospel Paul had preached, bringing doubt into its origin, authenticity, validity and authority.

Last week we saw that Paul began his letter with a tone of exceptional disapproval and shock, as the Galatian churches were being led astray by these agitators and false teachers. What we will look at this week is how Paul uses his life story to remove all doubt about his authority and the authority of the gospel he preached.

Key Truth: A Right Understanding of the Gospel will Deliver and Protect Us.

The Apostle Paul begins his letter with a brief reminder of the very heart of the Gospel.

The first verses of Galatians will begin to set the stage, or context, for what the whole letter is about. A cursory look at verses 1-7 will introduce us to the primary People as well as the primary Problem. If we keep these in mind through the duration of our study we will be sure to handle and apply God’s word accurately.

Thus far we have discovered that those becoming like Jesus will have a thought life that is centered on God; setting the mind on things above and letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. Those becoming like Jesus will also increasingly enjoy the positive feelings that accompany love, joy, and peace.

Becoming like Jesus also includes the transformation of our wills. Our will is the executive center of our lives. It is the power to choose and to create. Its primary power is to select what we think about and what we do in response to our thoughts and feelings.

The interplay between our mind (thoughts and feelings) and our will is important to understand. In the moment of choosing, our will is completely dependent upon the thoughts and feelings guiding it in that moment. The thoughts and feelings cannot be changed in that moment. Thus, our will is completely dependent upon our mind in the moment of choosing.