False teachers are perennial flatterers. It was one of the tactics being used by the false teachers in Galatia. Paul warns that you should be very wary of religious teachers who only tell you what you like, what you want to hear. Paul warned in 2 Timothy 4:3 about having “itching ears” and finding teachers who will simply tell you what you want to hear. If you go to a church that doesn’t talk about sin, doesn’t confront you with the law, that is false-teaching flattery. If you go to a church that just goes along with whatever the world says about sexuality, marriage, abortion, and things like that, that is a false teaching flattery.

The true Word of God does not flatter because it’s purpose is not to tell us what we want to hear but what we need to hear, it’s purpose is to tell the truth, even if that is hard. We need to hear about our sins in order to hear about our Savior Jesus. Beware of flatterers, listen only to Jesus!

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Have you ever lost a relationship with someone you once greatly valued? Do you ever remember that friend or family member, the closeness you had and just wonder “what happened?”

Paul’s anguish is palpable. His tone in this letter is harsh at times, the reason is love. He remembers the faith the Galatians had, the way they had shown that faith in their love toward him. The way they had welcomed and loved the gospel message he had proclaimed. His sickness hadn’t bothered them. They hadn’t viewed him as a problem or a burden. So how has it come to this? How can it be that they are listening to false teachers who are saying the opposite of what Paul preached? Never underestimate the power of the lies of Satan. Remember that to keep faith requires attention just as keeping a close relationship does. You can’t leave your bible sitting on the shelf, leave your car parked at home on sunday morning and expect that Satan will not take advantage. Like Paul does for the Galatians, eagerly and earnestly take up the Word of God for yourself and for those you love – Fathers for your wife and children, wives too, teachers for your students. Any day spent without hearing God’s voice in the Word saying “You are a great sinner but Jesus is a greater savior” is a day wasted. Don’t waste another day and end up wondering “What happened to us?”

In Christ
Pastor Ude

We pick up where our sermon text left off on Sunday. Paul makes a few important points here:

1. All religions (except true Christianity) are the same. They all have the common “ABC’s” or “elementary principles” which rule them. As Paul explains in Colossians 2:20-21, these are regulations about how to appease God. Every religion of the world is a religion of law, enslaved by the law and doomed for failure. For every such attempt to draw near to God is “weak and worthless.” Whether it’s Islam, or Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Mormonism, each is a weak and worthless attempt to do something to earn God’s favor or attain some goal. This is why Paul mentions “seasons and days and months and years.” He’s pointing out that keeping the mosaic law (which included all kinds of mandatory observances of days like not working on the Sabbath and feasts at certain times of the year) as a means for salvation is exactly like the paganism the Galatians had been called out of. It’s exactly like every other human religion – enslaved to these elementary principles and weak and worthless. But Christianity is the opposite…

2. Being a Christian isn’t about what you do, or even about your choosing God, it’s about (as Paul emphasizes) “Being known by God.” He chooses you. He saves you. He forgives you. He gives you faith. God in Christ is the only actor in the salvation of a Christian from beginning to end. The Christian doesn’t do a thing. For the things that we do are and can only be damning. But the things Christ does, these save us. Christ’s perfect life. His doing. His dying. His rising. These save and these alone.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

Here Paul proves that the law was always intended to be a servant to the gospel and not an equal.

1. It was given be an intermediary (Moses and angels who presumably gave it to Moses). But the gospel was fulfilled and preached by Jesus Christ who is Himself the true eternal God!

2. The law can’t give life or righteousness. No law can. Instead the law’s purpose was to imprison all people so that we might receive the promise by faith in Christ! If your salvation is by promise, it is not by law. There is nothing for you to do, nothing for you to add! That means you don’t need to look at your feelings or your life to determine if you are really a Christian. You need look only to the promise of God in Christ – “Your sins are forgiven!”

“My soul no more attempt to draw thy life and comfort from the law. Fly to the hope the gospel gives, the man who trusts the promise lives!”

We’ve been preaching through the book of Galatians in our lectionary series of late, but we can’t cover every verse. Sunday we will take up Galatians 3:23-4:7. Devotions today and tomorrow will look at the verses between where we left off a few sunday ago and 3:23.

“No takebacks!” You said to your friend after making a trade. You might find the same sign at garage sales “No refunds” “All sales final.” Or consider a will. If your father leaves you all he owns in his will and then dies, nothing can change that. It can’t be taken back.

So Paul says with the gospel and the law. Sometimes perhaps, we forget that the Gospel is older than the law. The gospel is the covenant of promise that God gave to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15), to Noah (Genesis 6-9) and also to Abraham (Genesis 12). It was the promise of a savior to come and die to forgive sins. It was a totally one sided covenant. It had nothing to do with the law. The law of Moses came after. Therefore, Paul says, it is clear that the law was never intended to supersede the gospel, or to change that covenant. For any tiny bit of law introduced into the gospel, causes the gospel to cease being the gospel. The gospel is lawless! And it is never changed. “No takebacks!” We could say to God, and He would agree. He has promised free salvation in His Son. Nothing changes that.

In Christ
Pastor Ude