Audio version of the Message:
Galatians 5:1-15
Key Verse: 5-6
“But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (vs. 5-6)
We all are very familiar with William Wallace’s famous line in “Brave Heart”, “Freedom!” What exactly does freedom mean? Paul says in verse 1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” What is freedom? To non-Christians, freedom may mean – “I’m free to do whatever I want as long as I don’t hurt anyone.” To some Christians it may mean freedom from O.T. laws. We don’t have to obey them anymore. To other Christians it may mean freedom from our moral sins – drinking, lust, swearing, anger. But none of these things lead to freedom. True freedom goes much deeper that. Freedom comes only from the gospel.
Gospel transformation is different from moral reformation. Gospel transforms you in and out. 2 ways to fix a rod that has been bent. One, by hand. But it’s weak. The fibers are destroyed. It looks straight, but it’s weaker than before. But, if you put it in fire and bend it back, it’s been transformed from within. It’s stronger. There are many ways to fix ourselves. We can bend ourselves back. But we’re still weak and might be weaker. The only way to completely fix ourselves is through the fire. God is stronger than we are. When we are shaped with God’s fire, we are changed from within and are stronger than ever. Now, let’s take a look at the difference between moral reformation and gospel transformation. Let’s see what Paul meant by, “If is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”
I. FREEDOM
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (vs. 1a)
The freedom that Paul is talking about is not the same freedom that William Wallace was talking about. It’s not the same freedom what we Americans push so hard to get – “I’m free to believe, to do, and to say whatever I want!” Jesus didn’t free us from our sins in order for us to do whatever we want to. God doesn’t give us a blank check saying, “Do whatever you want. Christ has purchased your sins.” Rather the freedom that Paul is talking about is the freedom from thinking that we have to do something to be saved, to be accepted, to be loved by God. Such thinking is not freedom, but slavery. Christ set us free from such thinking. Through his death and resurrection, he’s saying, you no longer have to obey to be accepted and saved. I have saved you. Now you can serve God and obey God because you want to. Not because you must, but because you are willing (1 Peter 5:2).
Of course, we have to be careful. If we keep preaching only on this part - that no matter what you do, in the end it doesn’t matter, then eventually you’ll think, “That’s right. What’s the use?” There’s a balance between work and grace. This is the point that Paul was trying to make. Of course we shouldn’t lie (Exodus 20:16). Of course we shouldn’t commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). Of course we should love each other (John 15:12, Galatians 5:13,14). We must stress these things. Paul didn’t say, “Okay, now you believe in Jesus. You no longer have to obey God.” In fact, Paul says in verses 7-8, “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.” Paul was saying that they were once obeying the truth. But the point Paul is trying to make is, why were they obeying it? Why do you get up in the morning to pray? Why do you come to church? Why do you struggle to overcome temptation? The “WHY” is everything. The “Why” is the freedom for which Christ has set us free.
II. SLAVERY
“Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (vs. 1b-4)
What’s the opposite of freedom? Slavery. In verse 1b, Paul uses the word “Again”. What is he talking about? False teachers had taught Galatians that Christ is good, but they must also obey the Mosaic Law, they must be circumcised, otherwise God won’t accept you. Galatians had never obeyed Mosaic Law. They weren’t Jews. They have never been circumcised. They never obeyed the Bible. They were once Pagans. They lived an extremely immoral life. Though they weren’t slaves to obeying the O.T. laws, and though they thought they were free, honestly speaking, they really weren’t free. John Sartre, a 20th century existentialist philosopher, said that if there is no God, then human beings can define what freedom is. But truthfully, even if there is no God, there are still limitations to our freedoms. Human beings in themselves are very limited creatures. They can’t freely eat whatever they want, if they want to maintain a nice good looking figure (like me). They’re not free to choose when or where they’re born, and can’t choose how long they want to live. Husbands, if they want to keep their wives happy, can’t just freely go out and drink and hang out with their friends without first confiding with their wives. Also, what some people might consider freedom may not coincide with what others think about freedom.
The Galatian Christians once had many gods they worshipped. They were under slavery to these idols. If they failed these idols, uh oh! - A storm wiped their homes because the gods were mad at them. Even if they did fulfill and please their idols, in the end, their idols could never fulfill nor please them. We Americans – both Christian and non-Christian - are also are under the slavery of idols - “I have to be successful, I have to love someone, I have to be good looking for someone, I have to make sure my children are successful.” If we fail any of these things, we’re miserable. Even if we don’t fail them, we still feel we need more. We’re never happy under slavery. Clearly the Galatians recognized this. They knew they needed a Savior when they were under the yoke of slavery. That’s why they accepted Christ into their hearts. But suddenly they were changing. The Galatians thought in order to be saved, they must also be circumcised. But Paul is saying that’s ridiculous. He’s saying that if you obey the law of God for the reasons you’re about to obey it, you’re going back into slavery. You will be no better off than you were before. In fact, according to verse 4, they will be alienated from Christ ,they will fall away from grace.
So many people think Christianity is meant to pull you away from an immoral life and lead you to a virtuous holy life. But Paul is saying that’s not the point of the gospel. According to C.S. Lewis, if you became a nice good moral person, you’re going to be harder to save. What Paul is saying to the Galatian Christians is, “If you’re obeying the law of God for wrong reasons, to be saved, you’ll be a slave again, burdened, and fearful.:” Why? Because we feel we have to do something good for God in order for God to love us and to accept us. If we don’t, then God will either punish us or will be mad with us. But this makes God into a slave master and us into slaves. We haven’t been changed. We’ve just been bent back.
This kind of thinking is dangerous. It’s not what Christ preached. It’s not what Christ died for. Paul says in verse 12, “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” The NASB says, “mutilate themselves.” Those are pretty strong words coming from the Apostle Paul. It would be the same as me saying to you, “If you’re only doing something to get God’s approval or even man’s approval, you might as well just cut your whole bleepidly blank off.” Or for women, “You might as well mutilate your entire body!” Paul is saying, if you’re going to change the gospel, then just don’t just go half way, do it all! Jesus did not come to die so that we will become slaves again. But he came to free us from slavery.
III. HOPE, LOVE, FAITH
“But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (vs. 5-6).
In verses 5 and 6, Paul offers us an alternative. What he’s saying is, “If Christ set us free, then why should we want to obey God?” What then is our motive? What’s the point? In verses 5-6, Paul gives us 3 reasons – hope, faith, and love.
1st, Hope (vs 5). We as sinful human beings can never be perfected. We can never be righteous. No matter what we do, we can’t do it. This is hard for us to accept. In fact, in verse 11 Paul says that this is the offense of the cross. A lot of people like the law, because there’s some benefit to it, there’s something that I can visibly do. On the inside, the law is negative, but on the outside it’s affirming. Being told to do good things is noble, it feels good when we do. It feels good when we help others, when we overcome sin. There’s a sense of accomplishment. But the gospel is completely opposite. It’s affirming on the inside but negative on the outside. Cross says nothing that you do counts. Law says, if you don’t obey God will get you. So we try to obey. But cross says, if you don’t obey, God loves you no matter what. That’s offensive! Paul says in verse 5, “But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.” What Paul is saying is, righteousness will come. Someday we will be perfected when Jesus comes again. And we must believe this. The word “Hope” in Greek is far different than the word “hope” in English. Hope in Greek means certainty. Paul says, “We eagerly await.” He knows it’s going to happen. But for us, hope means that it may happen, but I doubt it. For instance, millions of people who play the lottery hope that they will win. But more than likely they won’t. What Paul is saying is, when we know that we’re saved by grace alone, we’re filled with an absolute certainty, we can see our future. What I do now, I know it won’t perfect me. I know that it won’t help me to be accepted or loved by God. I know it won’t save me. So I’m doing it simply because God loves me.
2nd, Love (vs. 6). In verse 6a Paul says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value”. When we do something good, we must say it means nothing. And when we do something bad, we must say God doesn’t look at me any differently. The motive, the reason for us obeying God is not because of fear, not because we want our salvation. God doesn’t look at these things. Rather, Paul says in verse 6, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” We, as Christians, should say, “I did this because God loves me. Because Christ Jesus died on the cross for my dirty wretched sins.” Christians should never say, “Look at me. I loved this person. I sacrificed. I gave up my life. I read the Bible. I stopped sinning. Aren’t I a good person?” God doesn’t accept me or approve of me when I do these things. He doesn’t approve because I’ve been “circumcised”. The same thing goes for uncircumcision. When we sin, blow it, give into sin and think, “And you call yourself a Christian”, we must realize that even if we didn’t blow it, even if we overcome sin, that doesn’t make us any more fit for God’s presence. Uncircumcision means nothing. I’m righteous only because of what Christ has done for me. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he [Jesus] first loved us.”
Charles Spurgeon, an 1800’s British pastor tells a story of a carrot and horse. The point is, until you know that you’ve been saved by grace, you have never done a single thing for God. If you think God doesn’t love you, if you live in fear, then you have never done a single thing for God. If you’ve done something to get into heaven, you’ve done nothing for God. Because it’s all done for yourself, not for the joy or delight in God. If you fed the poor and clothed the poor in hopes you’ll get into heaven, then you’re using God. In fact, you’re using the poor. The only reason why you’re saved is because God was willing to lose his Son for you. He was willing to lay his life down for you. There is nothing we can do for God. What can we do for God? What does God need from us? Little scary what Spurgeon is saying. We’ve done nothing at all for God if it all the things we done were for ourselves.
3rd, Faith (5,6). In verses 5 & 6, Paul repeats the word faith, “But by faith we eagerly await...” “…The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” What is the faith that Paul is talking about? Isn’t faith something that we do? If so, isn’t it then related to works? Faith is probably one of the hardest things to understand. We human beings get a sense of satisfaction when we do something. We also feel confident in the things that we can physically see. These days, Wicca is one of the fastest growing religions. Why? Because they physically can see the results of their witchcraft. So they think it must be real. But faith is invisible. It can’t be seen, touched, or felt. It’s something that we can’t get on our own. It’s given to us through the Holy Spirit. Paul says in verse 5, “But by faith we eagerly await trough the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit gives us the faith that we need. It helps us to have faith that whether I’m circumcised or uncircumcised, it doesn’t matter. What only counts is what Christ has done for me. Verse 6 says, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Jesus Christ died for our sins. He died for all of our imperfections, iniquities, failures, successes, good deeds, good works, everything. When we have faith knowing that God loves us, which was expressed through the cross, then whatever we do, good or bad, we can do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). We can serve others, struggle to overcome sin, read the Bible, preach, even love our wives, not because we want salvation or because we feel like we must, but because God loves us. This is our faith expressing itself through love.
Jonathan Edwards, a highly recognized 1700’s preacher, wrote: “The apostle teaches us (Gal. v. 5:6) that "faith works by love." A truly Christian faith is that which produces good works; but all the good works which it produces are by love. No matter how many acts of our justice, generosity, or devotion, there is nothing given to God if God is not the end or ultimate aim for what is given. If your aim is the gaining of reputation and love, then the gift was offered to your profit. Indeed in such cases, the gifts are but an offering to some idol. But in gracious (grace filled attitude), Christians are affected by God’s goodness and free grace, not only as it benefits them, but as infinitely glorious in itself. A result of faith working by love is freedom. On this basis, obedience is called evangelical, gospel based. The obedience of children to a father done with love and delight as opposed to legalistic slavish enforced, God is now chosen for his own sake, holiness is chosen for its own sake, and for God’s sake.”
We all want to be loved for who we are. We want to be considered beautiful. When we love something, such as art, we love it. There is no reason why, we just do. This is how God loves us. God wants us to love him the same. He wants us to love others them same. If you did something for God or something for someone else just to get some benefit, in the end, it doesn’t count. Paul concludes in verses 13-15 says, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other..’"
In conclusion, Jesus set us free so that we can freely obey and love God, for this is what God really wants from us. This is the way to true freedom. Tim Keller once said, “You have done nothing for God until you know that you have done nothing for God at all.”