Grace For The Journey

   Today, I begin a five-part blog on the topic of “Our Glorious Freedom In Christ.”  We will look mainly in the Book of Galatians chapter 5; the chapter that details for us the life of freedom that the believer has in Christ.  I invite you to follow along in your Bible as we go through these biblical truths that will help us live a life of freedom, a life that will glorify and honor our great God!

We live in a society committed to self-love and to each one doing his own thing, pursuing his own happiness, comfort, and peace.  This commitment to self is destructive to society, to the family, and all other human relationships.  Such a perspective is the product of sins influence, Satan’s attempts to distort and destroy, and is directly opposed to the desire of God and the direction of the Bible for the life of the Christian.

The mandate on every follower of Christ is three-fold:

1)   Loving God supremely and loving our neighbor as ourselves . . .

Matthew 22:22:37-40, “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’”

2)   The pursuit and promotion of the kingdom of God . . .

Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

3)   Not living for self, but denial of the self-life that we might be free to live for God and others . . .

Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and have Himself for me.”

Galatians 5 is one of the key passages in the Bible that deals with the Spirit-filled life or walking by power of the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer.  It is important to understand that Paul’s argument centers around the believer’s freedom.

Note the following that is gleaned from a study of the Book of Galatians:

(1) The Galatian believers had been prisoners of sin, in bondage to its control and death  (3:22), and the Law had not been able to liberate them.  The Law had been merely a       temporary custodian to guide and teach the children of Israel until Christ would come       and man could be freed from sin and justified by faith (3:24).

(2) Before Christ, man was like a small child, under the tutor or guardianship of the law   and no different from a slave; in bondage, under the legal practice of the law and         Judaism (cf. 4:1-3).

(3) But with the coming of Jesus Christ, they were set free, made adopted sons with the     Holy Spirit’s indwelling which was also a proof of Sonship (4:4-7).

(4) However, because of false and legalistic teachers, some were trying to go back to     the works of the Law as a means of salvation and sanctification.  They were becoming entangled again as slaves under the Law (4:8-11).

(5) Thus, note Paul’s declaration and injunction in 5:1-12. Here the Apostle deals with the believer’s freedom and warns us against entanglements with the law or any kind      of human works system by which one attempts to be justified from sin’s penalty or           sanctified and delivered from sin’s power.

The Christian is one who is justified, saved by faith through the person and work of Jesus Christ.  He is also one who is sanctified, transformed in his spiritual character, through his new position in Christ and by faith in the Spirit who indwells him or her (3:1-5; 4:19; 5:4-5, 16, 25).

The believer in Christ is a freed man!  What does that mean?  How should that affect our lives?  We will look at the answer to these questions in our next four blogs.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.