Yesterday was great!  What an amazing God we serve, so caring, so loving and so near.  From start to finish, He was with us to do a work in us.  Kirk preached a wonderful sermon from Galatians 5:1-12 where Paul instructs us that we must stand firm in the freedom secured for us through Christ.  The main point was: In Christ, believers have been freely liberated, but we must diligently protect our freedom.  Kirk then explained three ways we can protect our freedom, 1) by rejecting legalism, 2) by embracing the gospel of grace, 3) by rejecting false teachers/preachers.  You can download or listen to the full sermon here.  We hope these questions will help you apply this message to your life.

1)  What does it mean that “for freedom Christ set us free”?  How would you define our freedom in Christ?

2)  What is legalism?  Why is legalism so dangerous to the gospel?

3)  In what areas of your life are you tempted to add to what Christ has done for you?  Where in your life do you sing, “Jesus and I paid it all, most to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, we washed it white as snow?”

4)  What is the true gospel?  In what ways do you seek to remind yourself of and continue to embrace the gospel of grace?

5)  What is a true Christian according to 5:5-6?

6)  How can you grow, how can we as a church grow at evaluating our walk with the Lord through the lens of “faith working through love” as opposed to “obedience working through law or lists”?

As Kirk wrapped up his final point about rejecting false preachers and teachers, I was so grateful to see a faithful pastor preaching the true gospel to us as a church!  We have been wonderfully instructed from God’s word to protect our freedom!  May God’s grace through His Spirit help us all to do just that!

Grace to you,

Eric

….now that I’ve figured out how to get video on the blog, did anyone put this on their Christmas list?

I’ve seen way to many people with the Snuggie in their shopping cart!  Just make sure you REALLY want to be a Snuggie person!  If you do, then go strong!

A little concerned,

Eric

I came across this cool program / website called “Wordle”.  Here’s the deal: you can copy a bunch of text into the program, then it creates a Word Cloud of all the words.  It takes the words that have been used most and makes them larger in the picture and the words used less are smaller.  So, the cool thing is the cloud that pops out shows a picture of emphasis.  Let me give you two examples:

1)  This first one is the “Wordle” for the entire book of Galatians!  I placed all the content of Galatians from the ESV in and this is what came out:

2)  This “Wordle” is from the sermon I gave on justification by faith alone from Galatians 2:15-21:

3)  And this one is from last Sunday’s sermon on Galatians 3:6-14:

Pretty cool, huh!?!

Last Sunday, as we continued in our study of the Book of Galatians we were reminded that the life we live should match the Gospel we profess.  In other words, as new creations in Christ we should be living consistently.  Yet every Christian knows this is easier said than done.  Sin has been dethroned by Christ’s victory on the cross but at times it can still exert a significant amount of control.  We find ourselves fighting a battle within our own hearts.  One part of us pursues the things of God and another part surrenders to the sinful desires of our flesh.  The apostle Paul described his own battle when he said “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand” (Rom 7:21).

How are we to fight this battle?  We can try to ignore our temptations to sin, pretend they don’t exist or just name them something more benign.  Or we can seek to suppress our temptations by covering them over with good deeds.  This is the mode of behavioralism.  The defect in these solutions is that they fail to identify the true locus of the problem — our hearts.

Recently I read a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson.  Stevenson is probably best known for Treasure Island but he is also the author of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyl, a respected medical doctor is tormented by the dichotomy of desires within his soul.  While outwardly he is a “good man” given to the care and concern  for others he is ever aware of inner pleasures which are not so respectable. He describes himself;  “Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look around me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.”  Jekyl is living a double life and it is driving him crazy!  How can he ease his inner struggles?  Jekyl goes into his laboratory and concocts a potion that will temporarily transform him into another person, the infamous Mr. Hyde.  The name of this alter ego suggests that Jekyl’s conscience, at this point has not been totally seared.  Under the guise of Mr. Hyde Jekyl can give full vent to his sinful desires, free of guilt or impunity.  And the good doctor has also created a potion which will change him back.  Jekyl is in total control of the transformation.

Initially, Hyde feels weak.  Jekyl records, “The evil side of my nature, to which I had now transferred the stamping efficacy, was less robust and less developed than the good which I had just deposed.  Again, in the course of my life, which had been, after all, nine tenths a life of effort, virtue and control, it had been much less exercised and much less exhausted.  And hence, as I think  it came about that Edward Hyde was so much smaller, slighter and younger than Henry Jekyl.”  Weakness was not the only emotion Hyde felt.  He was overcome with a great sense of freedom for he had been liberated from the restraints of morality.  Jekyl had been confronted with the battle that we all face with indwelling sin and he found a solution.  He made a compromise with his inclinations to sin.  The two opposing natures would live together, each getting some time for self-expression.  What could go wrong when Dr. Jekyl was in full control of the process?

Over time Hyde wanted to come out more, and every time he did he grew in strength.  Jekyl, with a sense of foreboding admits, “That part of me which I had the power of projecting, had lately been much exercised and nourished; it had seemed to me of late as though the body of Edward Hyde had grown in stature, as though (when I wore that form) I were conscious of a more generous tide of blood; and I began to spy a danger that, if this were much prolonged, the balance of my nature might be permanently overthrown, the power of voluntary change be forfeited, and the character of Edward Hyde become irrevocably mine.”  I don’t want to give too much away because I’d rather have you read the story for yourself.

Stevenson’s tale is a fascinating and insightful, if not chilling, study of the nature of sin.  Again, brother Paul describes a struggle we can all relate to; “for I not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Rom 7:15,19).  Sin is powerful.  The very nature of sin is insatiable —it isnever satisfied.  Sin will never tell you, “No thanks.  I’ve had enough, I’m full.”  The more you give in to sin the stronger it grows.  Sin is deceptive.  It can present itself as weak and convince us that we’re strong.  In those moments we might think we can handle it, that we’re in control… just like Dr Jekyl thought.  Left to ourselves though, we’re no match.  The Scriptures are clear, “the wages of sin is death”.

Jekyl thought the solution to his conflicting natures came from within himself.  It proved fatal.  There is only one true remedy to deal with our sin and it is alien to us.  Christ has leveled the decisive blow to sin and its dominion in our lives.  For all who have responded to the Gospel God has united them with Christ.  Our old nature hasn’t been tamed or reformed, it’s been crucified.  Through the miracle of regeneration we’ve been given a new nature and a new heart!  Therefore as Christians we are to “reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”.  Now through the grace of God we can “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and live self-controlled, upright , and godly lives” (Titus 2:11,12).  Contrary to what poor Dr. Jekyl thought there’s no “potion” to solve our sin problems.  There’s something better, the savor Jesus Christ.  With Christ in us we have real power.  We can stay in the fight with an assurance of victory.  Still, everyone grows weary in the battle.  So, how do we keep motivated in our pursuit of Holiness?  Check the blog next week and find out.

Because of Grace,

Brett