All posts by David Ude
Galatians 6:1-10, 14-18 – July 17th 2016
Sons of the Free
Galatians 4:19-31
My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. 21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Paul is masterfully using “the Law” in the sense of what was called “the book of the law” also known as “the pentateuch” that is, the first 5 books of the bible, against the false teachers who were so dependent on quoting from those books.
He uses the example of Isaac and Ishmael. God had promised Abraham that he was going to have a son by Sarah his wife even though both of them were very old and had never been able to have children. Abraham believed God. But there was a period where Abraham, in weakness, perhaps despairing because God was taking so long, listened to Sarah his wife and went in to Sarah’s servant Hagar. Hagar conceived and bore a son named Ishmael. This was the son “of the flesh” as Paul says because it was the son whom Abraham had conceived through the manipulation and “works” of the sinful nature. But Isaac, whom God later gave to Abraham and Sarah was the Son of promise because his birth was not according to the works of man but to the miraculous, gracious, work of God.
So it is with all who believe in Christ. They are justified, not because of their manipulations, not because of anything they do to try to get God to like them but only through the gracious, miraculous work of God in sending Jesus, THE Child of promise and working faith in our hearts to make us heirs with Christ and children of Abraham.
In Christ
Pastor Ude
Flatterers Kills
Galatians 4:16-18, “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you.”
Have you ever been flattered? Did you realize it at the time or were you suckered into thinking that the flatterer was being serious? People who flatter never have good motives do they? A guy on a date who is just trying to “get some.” A businessmen who only wants to pad his bottom line.
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
What Happened To Us?
Galatians 4:12-15 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.
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
Christ Saves, Everything Else Damns
Galatians 4:8-11
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
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
The Law Imprisons, the Gospel Frees!
Galatians 3:19-22 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
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!”
Galatians 3:14-18
Galatians 3:14-18
“So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. 15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.”
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