13 For you, brethren, have been called to freedom;
(QUICKLY point out other two used of “freedom” in Galatians)
----------------------------
hmmmm… that could really be misunderstood!
only do not use freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another,
beware lest you be consumed by one another!
Go quickly through #1
1. BACKGROUND For you, brethren, have been called to freedom;
Freedom from what?---From keeping the law in
Just allude to…Galatians 2.4- 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
Freedom to eat non-kosher food with the gentiles
Galatians 3:2-3 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
· Saved by faith, walk in faith—not by keeping laws (rules)
Galatians 5:1
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
2. CAUTION AGAINST MISUSING “FREEDOM”
· If we are “free,” what will restrain our behavior?
· What is the meaning of this freedom? Freedom from what? Free to do what?
· How do we exercise this freedom?
A. NOT as an opportunity for the flesh,
Not to satisfy the desires of the flesh.
Eph 4.28 stole, but work to give
Eph 4:25 not corrupt, but edifying to build up
Eph 4:31-32 Not bitterness…malice, but kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
· Freedom from the slavery to selfish desires and impulses to freedom to give.
· Freedom from the rule our lower nature has over us.
· “Christian freedom is freedom from sin not to sin.” John Stott
B. but through love serve one another.
through love This love is a higher level that brotherly love.
· There is a difference between fulfilling the law of true love and keeping the laws through grudging obligation..
· It is not another set of rules to keep. Doing good deeds for the sake of doing good deeds.
· Allow God’s Spirit to fill you with His love to overflowing.
· Even the fleshly old nature can serve thru compulsion or pride.
serve douleo to serve (be a servant to).
· We have gone (as in Eph 4:28) from using our resources to gratify our excess, but to love, to give to others.
· There is an implication of humility in this expression.
· “You can tell whether you are a servant, by how you act when you are treated like one.”
· “Frustration at lack of reciprocity or appreciation are warnings that we are serving others, not the Lord. That we are acting from completion not love.”
· (The answer is not to not serve, but ask God to change your heart in service.)
3. The Critical contrast …The law of love over against vicious destruction
Leviticus 19:17-18
17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart,
But you shall reason frankly with your neighbor,
lest you incur sin because of him.
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge
against the sons of your own people,
but you shall love your neighbor as yourself:
I am the Lord.
· How do you hate your brother? By allowing offenses to go unaddressed
· Live and let live is often (if not always) not a Christian sentiment.
· What is the opposite of serving/loving?
But if you bite and devour one another,
watch out (beware) that you are not consumed (destroyed) by one another.
5:15. The ancients (especially in the Old Testament and Jewish sources, e.g., Prov 30:14) used the metaphor of being eaten by others as a grotesque description of a horrible fate or inconceivable wickedness (literal cannibalism horrified ancient sensitivities even more than it does modern ones).[1]
Mark 3 Jesus proving he did not cast out demons by Satan…
24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
Even Satan knows that you can’t fight each other and win!
Being ugly to each other should strike us as grotesque and foolish.
How do these verses express the heart of the Gospel?
[1] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ga 5:15.
No comments:
Post a Comment