Dying to Live

There is a difficulty in reading a book like Galatians and understanding the spiritual questions and conflict of people who lived 2000 years ago with a different culture, language, and context. Even harder is the challenge of figuring out how this relates to us today, in the here and now.

The Galatian church was experiencing a crisis as they wrestled with the meaning of the Gospel. Was Jesus really enough? Should God's people not be required to obey God's law?

In Galatians 2:17-21, we find the one thing required of us in order to experience real life! One group was saying, "if you neglect the law you cannot be a Christian." The other group was saying, "unless you ignore the law you cannot be a Christian."

So what does the Gospel require of us?

Gospel-Centered Conflict

There are a few things you can always count on. Among them are change and conflict. If you live and move among other humans you will experience conflict. Even when alone one can experience internal conflict. Consider Chuck (played by Tom Hanks) in the hit movie Cast Away. While stranded alone on an island Chuck creates a friend he names Wilson (a former volleyball). Wilson never talks, moves, or argues, but Wilson and Chuck still manage to experience conflict and disappointment.

People generally fall into one of two categories when faced with a conflict: attackers or avoiders. For some, the best way to deal with conflict is head-on, and for others, the best way to deal with it is to ignore it or run. Regardless of your temperament, some things are worth fighting for.

In Galatians 2:11-14, we find one of the greatest examples of conflict, between Peter and Paul. You could even label this a Gospel-centered conflict. Avoiding this fight would result in Jesus' followers living out a false Gospel. Yet, to enter the fight could have split the early church in half.

In this passage, we find further clarity as to what the Gospel is and why it must be protected. Furthermore, this is an example of the importance of Gospel-centered confrontation.

The Gospel Rediscovered

We live in an age of division and misinformation. There are forces that are constantly dividing people into smaller segmented groups. Some of the obvious divisions include the older versus the younger, rich versus poor, north versus south, black versus white, Donkeys versus Elephants, men v women, and science versus non-science.

There are always dark forces working to divide and conquer. The tactic is to polarize and isolate people into groups or tribes so they are more easily controlled and influenced. This is nothing new.

In the first century, the unity of the early church was attacked by pitting Peter and the Jewish Christians against Paul and the young Gentile Christians. The argument against Paul and the Gentiles was simple. Paul's Gospel was a half version of the Jewish Gospel.

As the predominately Gentile church in Galatia celebrated their freedom in Jesus, there was clearly no effort to conform to Jewish religious laws. The Galatian believers were not concerned with looking nor acting like they were Jewish. A group Paul described as the "false-brothers," felt it was their duty to show the Gentile-Christians how to be better Jewish-Christians.

The conflict in the Galatian church was not just a difference of opinion or interpretation. The truth of the Gospel of grace through Jesus was under assault. The truth about man's only hope of salvation was being denied.

For this reason, every generation must diligently guard against the enemy's tactics to deceive them into slowly trading the true Gospel for a false Gospel (see Galatians 2:1-10).

Every generation is tempted to slide from assuming the Gospel, to neglecting it, forgetting it, and then denying it. How confident are you that you know and believe the true Gospel?

The Origin of the Gospel

Have you ever had a moment where someone tells you about something you have never heard of before?

Over the last year and half I have been inundated with new information, changing information, conflicting information, truthful information, and certainly false information. I have never had more times in my life where I have simply had this look of surprise, and uncertainty, knowing I was facing a mountain of unknowns.

All of us have gaps in our knowledge that is simply being human. When it comes to life in general there are three types of knowing; what you know, what you don’t know, and what you don’t know you don’t know. What you “know” will always be the smallest part of your knowledge with “what you don’t know” as the next smallest with “what you don’t know you don’t know” as the largest area of your knowledge or lack of knowledge. Once we understand this- how important is it to select the right type of knowledge to fill up our “what you know” aspect of who we are?

According to Donald Rumsfeld (former Secretary of Defense under two administrations), “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”

The Galatians through Paul had received the known knowns. This is all they needed to know. The grace of God, turned loose on the world through the death of Christ, is all the knowledge they needed to meet their spiritual needs. But others would come who attempted to discredit, to question the validity of the known gospel, and insisted that the Galatians needed to know more. They had now been confronted with known unknowns that would ultimately lead to unknown unknowns. This caused them to develop misgivings about whether the gospel they knew was the “whole story,” and whether the known gospel would get them to where they needed to go spiritually.

Come and join us as we continue in our study of Galatians as we understand that knowing the true gospel will always produce real faith rather than a false gospel that will always produce the fashion-- or favored truth-- of the day. Are you faithful, rather than fashionable?

Jesus +

Though there are many generational differences between the Millennials (ages 18 to 36), Gen-Xers (37 to 54), Baby Boomers (55 to 74), and Builders (75 and older). Despite those differences, there is a common worldview they all share, called Syncretism.

A Syncretistic Worldview relies on a patchwork of conflicting, often irreconcilable beliefs and values, used to navigate one's life (see CRC’s report on Syncretism here).

"The dominant worldview of all four adult generations in the United States is Syncretism—the mash-up of various worldviews that provides each individual with a customized understanding of, and response to life. In total, 88% of Americans have Syncretism, rather than a substantively coherent and recognizable worldview such as postmodernism or secular humanism, as their dominant worldview. A large majority of each generation relies on a syncretistic worldview when making their life choices. Overall, 89% of Millennials, 86% of Gen Xers, 83% of Boomers, and 86% of Builders have a syncretistic worldview (see CRC’s report on Syncretism here)."

We see the impact of a society shaped by a secular humanistic worldview rapidly changing the institutions, family structures, and sexual and social moralities that reflect a Biblically informed worldview. The greatest danger of our day is the confusion over the Gospel.

Every generation has a responsibility of understanding, living, and preserving the Gospel. When one generation neglects the Gospel, the next generation will forget the Gospel, and the third generation will deny the Gospel.

This is the precise reason for Paul's letter to the believer in the Galatian Church. The Gospel of Grace, through Jesus alone, was under assault. False brothers had come into their fellowship and were adding to the Gospel.

If 83-89% of the 4 adult generations have a syncretistic worldview, then it would be wise to evaluate your own understanding of the Gospel.

Have you considered ways you may be believing a False Gospel?

Have you ever struggled with looking back on what could have been or fearful of what the future may bring? Most of our discontentment is the result of focusing too much on the past or future while living for the wrong reward.

Can you imagine coming to the end of your life and dying with your reward in sight but out of reach?

Deuteronomy 34 is not only the last chapter of Deuteronomy but the last chapter of Moses' life. One of the greatest lessons to learn from Moses is not only how he lived but more importantly how he died. More often than naught, a person dies how they lived!

There is much encouragement for us to gain, looking at the greatness of Moses and more importantly, the glory of Christ.

A Song to Remember

Music is powerful! People may disagree about styles, genres, and volume but few would ever deny the power of music to evoke emotions or trigger the recall of memories previously forgotten.

"Generally, the music has a massive influence on the people and their emotions. It really doesn’t matter whether we like a specific kind of music, it will trigger an emotion – positive or negative. This is probably the reason why some of our deepest memories are closely connected to music" (Music and Memory).

The final task God gave Moses before his death was to write and sing a song for the nation. A song for them to remember. A song for them to make clear who God was, who they were, and what their future descendant would need to know.

Deuteronomy 31:21, "For I know what they are inclined to do even today before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.”

This may just be a song we also need to hear!

Transitions and Change

Life is full of transitions. Everyone is on the verge of a new transition, in the midst of a transition, or coming out of a transition. We may not like change but you will never be able to avoid it.

As Moses finishes his final message to the nation of Israel a great transition begins. Moses knows he is about to die. After many years and many miles, Moses is at the end of his life.

After faithfully serving God he knows he will not be allowed to lead the nation into the Promised Land. There are valuable truths to explore as we see Moses walk out his final days (Deut 31).

The most pressing question to consider as we look at Deuteronomy 31: How do you handle transitions and change?