Amazing Grace – Week 8 (10-29-23)
Amazing Grace
It’s Gonna Get Heavy
October 29, 2023
Christ = New Life
Christ + Anything = Life w/out Christ
Galatians 2:21
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Don’t compromise… Hold on!!!
Galatians 5:7-10
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
So let’s go back to the beginning of the section…
Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Freedom (eleutheria) personal freedom from servitude, confinement and oppression.
Is the Gospel a free ticket to do anything we want to?
Laws only reveal our ability or inability to obey.
Galatians 5:2-5
Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.
Flesh (Sarx) vs. Spirit (pneuma)
Grace – karis – unmerited or undeserved favor
Can you fall from grace because of sin?
Galatians 5:6a
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.
Confession: I have been very judgmental of the Jewish Christians and the Galatian Christians.
Concerning that same issue, Rabbi Samuel bar Sheilat, a teacher of children: Do not accept a student before the age of six, as he is too young, and it is difficult for him to learn in a steady manner. From this point forward, accept him and stuff him with Torah like an ox. – Talmud
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119
How difficult is it to let go of something you have been told, taught & held on to your entire life?
Galatians 5:6b
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
The ONLY thing that counts?