Galatians

Good afternoon, welcome again to Ealing Lunchtime Talks. It's really good to see you. I'll probably say this at the end, but this is quite a momentous time isn't it?

This is the last meeting that we're going to have in this room, at least for the foreseeable future. We might be back when they've done whatever they're doing with the building.

But we give thanks, don't we, for the provision of this room. I'll tell you a bit about where we're going to be next week at the end, so stick around for that.

We're going to read our passage for this afternoon from Galatians 5, which is on our sheets. So let's listen to this together.

Paul writes,

Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything.

But only faith working through love.

You were running well.

Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view.

And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?

In that case, the offence of the cross has been removed.

I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves.

For you were called to freedom, brothers.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we pray, Lord, that your written word would lead us to the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Help us to listen by the help of your Holy Spirit, we pray.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen.

In this section, Paul argues that something should mark out Christian people from every other people and every other person.

People who have faith in Jesus Christ have something that nobody else has.

I don't know if you spotted it.

Freedom.

Christians are free people.

That's the idea in verse 1, isn't it?

For freedom, Christ has set us free.

It's at the end of this section as well, at the beginning of verse 13, if you look at the bottom.

You were called to freedom, brothers.

The implication is that without Jesus Christ, people are not free.

Now, I don't know if that's your perception of the Christian life, or of Christians themselves.

Maybe not.

You don't hear people saying to you, I wish I could be free like those Christians down the road in that church.

Shackled in their outdated religion.

Wish I could be like them.

Even Christians themselves might not use that word to describe their lives.

Many Christians don't get this about the Christian life.

This freedom.

And the Galatians didn't get it either.

They don't feel this freedom.

They don't get the freedom of the Christian life here.

Isn't it funny what Paul says to them in verse 1?

Look how he phrases it.

For freedom, Christ has set us free.

Now that sounds odd, doesn't it?

Because Paul wouldn't say, for slavery, Christ has set us free.

Makes no sense.

But that is just a little hint of the absurdity of where the Galatians are at.

In effect, that's what they think the Christian life is like.

Paul has been saying all along, hasn't he?

Galatians, you have become free people.

Free in Jesus Christ.

The most free people that there are in the whole world.

You've been freed, do you remember last week, from the elementary principles of the world.

Of the human merit project.

You're free from people's opinions of you.

You're free from human traditions.

You're free from human techniques and regulations.

Your freedom from slavery to God's law as well.

Chapter 4, he says, we were slaves to the law, but now we're sons.

We're adopted into God's family.

When God looks at you, he welcomes you into his heaven freely.

There's no small print.

There's no kind of little type at the bottom that says,

You are free to come in as long as you do this and that.

They've got this freedom through faith in Jesus, but they can't seem to live it out.

It's why in verse 1, Paul says,

Don't submit again to a yoke of slavery.

You see, the heart and mind of a human being is like the heart and mind of an institutionalised prisoner.

After a long sentence, 30, 40, maybe 50 years,

who on release day can't cope with the outside world.

Can't cope with freedom.

We're so tuned, aren't we, to being slaves to our own pride and our own performance,

that we just don't get it when God removes those burdens.

And it's been the same for the history of God's people right from the beginning.

Do you remember, God rescues his people from slavery in Egypt, doesn't he?

He brings them out from their chains and from their slavery.

And what's the first thing they do when they get out?

They want to go back in.

They moan about wanting to go back to Egypt,

because they think it was better.

So this freedom that God gives in Jesus Christ

is something that we want and we long for,

and yet something in us makes us go back.

We submit again to a yoke,

to the shackles of performance.

And that can happen in all kinds of subtle ways, can't it?

But for the Galatians here,

it was happening in this particular work,

or performance, of circumcision.

That's what he talks about in this passage, isn't it?

Paul says in verse 6,

it doesn't matter whether you're circumcised or not,

that doesn't count for anything when you've got faith in Jesus.

Now, the point of circumcision was,

it was something given,

not as a way to be acceptable before God,

but as an expression of faith.

Do you remember when God gives Abraham circumcision,

as a sign of his promises,

in Genesis chapter 17,

Genesis 17 · chapter mention

that Abraham is to be circumcised,

he is to cut off the skin of his foreskin,

and do that with his sons.

And that was an expression of faith in God's promises,

that he'd already given two chapters earlier in Genesis 15.

But what happened over time,

was that the expression of faith,

became the object of faith.

Rather than helping Abraham trust in God,

circumcision in the life of God's people,

became the thing that was trusted in,

do you see?

It became the object of faith.

And that is what has happened with the Galatians here.

We know people around them,

are demanding circumcision as a way of salvation,

as the object of faith.

And Paul is incensed with this.

There should be one object of faith,

the Lord Jesus,

but now there's this false contender that's come along.

So what Paul does in this section,

is pepper his arguments,

with ironic references to the cutting of circumcision.

It's very clever.

He intentionally uses words that sound similar

to the physical action of circumcision.

Now I don't know if you noticed these words.

The kind of cutting, slicing words.

And the separating words.

It's quite uncomfortable reading.

It should be for them,

particularly if they're men.

He says, doesn't he,

accept circumcision as the object of faith,

verse 4,

you are severed from Christ.

He says again in verse 4,

you have fallen away from grace.

You're separated,

you're severed from grace.

He talks about verse 11,

the offence of the cross

being removed or severed.

Verse 12,

he says that these false preachers,

he wishes that they would emasculate themselves.

It's pretty crude, hard language, isn't it?

He's saying to the Galatians,

it's as if he's saying,

well, if you're so into circumcision,

I'll show you what the slicing

and separating is really doing

and what is really going on.

It's a backhanded, sarcastic slur.

And he gives them three implications

of the things that they are doing here.

Accept the work of circumcision.

And number one,

you are slicing off Christ.

You are slicing off Christ.

The way you rely

on this cutting action of circumcision

is cutting you off from Christ himself.

Verse 4,

you are severed from Christ.

You see, for Paul,

it's either all or nothing

with Jesus Christ.

You either trust him fully

or you don't trust him at all.

You can't trust Jesus

for your salvation

and a bit of something else

and someone else as well

at the same time.

No, it's all or nothing

with Jesus Christ.

You can only have one object of faith.

You either throw your lot in

with Jesus Christ

or not at all.

It's either one or the other.

So when they choose

to add circumcision,

they think they can do both,

don't they?

They think they can trust in Jesus

and in this work of circumcision.

So what they are doing

is when they add

to the work of circumcision,

they're getting involved

with some weird maths here

because when they add,

they actually subtract

from the gospel.

They add the work of circumcision,

they subtract Christ.

They sever Christ.

They take him away.

And this is how the true gospel works.

Paul's been arguing

if you add your own work

to the gospel,

you will subtract from the gospel.

Adding is subtraction

because it's all or nothing.

It's one or the other.

So he says, doesn't he,

verse 2,

if you keep slicing

in this work of circumcision,

Christ will be chopped off.

He'll be no advantage to you.

The connection with Christ

will be lost altogether.

It's either all or nothing.

It's one or the other.

So you're slicing Christ off.

Now why is that bad?

What's so bad about that?

Well, he says,

secondly,

by doing that,

you're slicing off grace.

You're slicing off grace.

Verse 4,

you're severed from Christ,

you who would be justified

or counted righteous

by the law.

you've fallen away

from grace.

The word fallen away

is the word you might use

if you can imagine

a boat in a harbour

and someone cuts the line

or the rope

holding the boat in.

And the boat is left

to just drift out

with the tide.

That's the kind of image here.

Losing Christ

will mean

drifting away

from this thing

that Paul calls grace.

Grace is not a substance,

it's not a thing

like water,

but it's a disposition,

it's an attitude

of God

towards human beings.

It is God's

undeserved goodness

in our badness.

Grace is God

giving us

what we don't deserve,

his goodness

in our badness.

So they are

cutting themselves off,

Paul says,

from that goodness

and they are saying,

Lord,

give me what I do deserve.

It's not something

we ever want to ask

from God,

give me what I deserve.

We should never want

to ask that

from God.

What we deserve

from God

is his punishment,

isn't it,

and his wrath.

John Piper,

the American preacher,

says that when people

ask him how he is,

he always has

the same response.

He says,

I'm doing better

than I deserve.

I'm better

than I deserve.

And the only way

that we can know God

and be forgiven

is that this

grace thing

must happen.

That God

must find a way

of treating us

better than we deserve

to be treated

through the work

of Jesus Christ.

And so those two things

must come together

and they are together

and you can't

separate them.

To have grace,

to be treated

better than you deserve,

you must have Christ.

And without Christ,

there is no grace.

I don't know

if you've seen

the movie Gravity,

starring Sandra Bullock

and George Clooney.

It's a thriller

set in outer space.

And disaster strikes

when Bullock's character,

her cord,

breaks

that attaches her

to the space station.

And she is left

to drift

aimlessly

into deepest,

darkest space.

It's a really

terrifying moment

until of course

George Clooney

appears

and rescues her.

But it's the idea

here, isn't it?

That as they

slice their skin

in this added work,

they slice

their Christ away

and so by

they slice

any hope

of this grace away.

they drift

away

from the

kindness

that they don't

deserve from God

towards what

they do deserve.

And it's like

a domino effect.

If you add

to the work

of circumcision,

it's one or the other,

so you cut off

Christ

and so you cut

off grace

and thirdly

you cut off

righteousness.

You're slicing

off Christ,

you're slicing

off grace

and you're slicing

off righteousness.

Look at verse 5.

For through

the Spirit

by faith

we ourselves

eagerly wait

for the hope

of righteousness.

When I was

a bachelor,

a fellow

lodger

in our house

took it upon

himself to

renovate one

of the rooms

on the first

floor.

It was a big

old Victorian

house

and he wanted

to turn this

room into a

kitchen.

And it came

to the job

of removing

the old

floorboards

and putting

down new

ones.

But as it

got to the

point where

he was kind

of slicing

these old

oak wooden

floorboards

he accidentally

severed a

main water

pipe that

he'd not

detected.

It was part

of the old

Victorian

plumbing.

He was

cutting one

thing but

unwittingly in

the same

action he'd

cut something

else that

he didn't

want to

cut at

all.

The main

water supply.

The whole

room on the

first floor

was flooded.

It was a

disaster.

It was ruined.

And Paul is

saying here

isn't he,

with your

cutting you

are unwittingly

severing the

mains.

You are

severing the

way to

righteousness.

To being

right with

God.

God.

In this

act of

self-righteousness

you are

severing

yourself from

true

righteousness.

By contrast

Paul says

doesn't he,

the only

way to

final

righteousness,

to final

rightness

with God

is by

this

connection

to Jesus

Christ

in faith

through the

Holy Spirit.

Verse 5.

It is,

as he says

here,

by eagerly

waiting with

hope in

what Jesus

supplies.

We can't

see that

connection,

can we?

It's not like

the film

Gravity.

There's no

umbilical

cord between

us and

Jesus Christ.

It's a

spiritual

connection,

a spiritual

union.

But it's a

real connection.

It's beyond

our understanding

isn't it?

But Paul says

it's the work

of the Holy

Spirit who

unites people

to Jesus

Christ,

the source

of righteousness.

Like a

husband and a

wife are

united in

marriage.

That is what

this connection

is about as

we wait

eagerly for

the righteousness

that comes by

union to

Jesus and

what that

entitles us

to.

It's a

crude

illustration but

it's like if

Jesus takes

us to the

door of

heaven and

we're asked

well why

should I

let you

in and

Jesus says

well actually

she is with

me.

My church

is joined

to me.

She is my

bride.

My name is

on the list

of people who

deserve to

get into

heaven and

she shares

my name

she comes

with me.

So this

union means

that we

share

Christ's

righteousness

and so

you're either

united to

him

getting into

heaven or

you're united

to your own

works.

You're either

hoping in

him and

that union

or hoping

in your own

performance.

and so if

you sever

the connection

of faith

once you

stop waiting

and hoping

in him

and you

take

righteousness

into your

own hands

even just

a little

bit

the mains

are cut

and you

are drifting.

We're not

tempted are we

to do

circumcision.

Pretty sure

we're not

tempted to do

that today

but there

are plenty

of things

that we

are tempted

to do

and things

that are

meant as

an expression

of faith

in the

Lord Jesus

things that

are meant

to aid

our faith

can easily

become objects

of faith

can't they?

Even good

things that

Jesus commands

us to do

Paul throws

in that little

proverb in

verse 9

if you look

there

a little

leaven

leavens

the whole

lump

at the

point being

of that

proverb

little

things

can have

big

consequences

small

things

can have

big results

they can have

devastating

results

just one

little

pipe

and it

can flood

the first

floor

a little

addition

here

and a

little

thing

to add

on to

Christ

there

will prove

disastrous

and it

can happen

so sadly

can't it

even with

the things

that are

good

just thinking

on reflection

on this

passage

I kind of

asked the

question

what would

the Apostle

Paul say

to Londoners

to Christians

in London

today

what

expressions

of faith

are you

turning into

objects of

faith

it's not

circumcision

is it

for most

of us

the Apostle

might say

to a

priest

who makes

the sacrament

the object

of faith

in itself

who cuts

the bread

for mass

he would

say you

are cutting

off Christ

if you

make the

sacrament

the object

of faith

or to

a leader

in a

church

who makes

singing

lots and

lots of

songs

we love

singing

don't we

but if

you make

songs

the object

of your

faith

if we say

God is only

pleased with me

when I

sing so many

songs

or I feel

a certain

emotion in

church

you are

singing

Christ away

if you're

doing that

or he

would say

wouldn't he

to the

evangelical

presbyterian

preacher

who studies

and preaches

and loves

expository

preaching

if that

in itself

has become

the object

of your

faith

if people

trust in

the preacher

rather than

the Christ

he preaches

you are

preaching

and studying

Christ away

you can

preach about

grace

can't you

and at the

same time

preach

grace

away

if

preaching

itself

becomes

the object

of faith

and so

do you

sense

of the

irony

of what

is going

on here

isn't it

in verse

7

Paul says

look

you were

running

well

Galatians

but who

hindered

you from

obeying

the truth

it's tragic

isn't it

it's ironic

that in

their desire

to be

perceived

as obedient

they forsake

real obedience

here

in their

desire to

be perceived

as righteous

in this

work

they sever

themselves

from true

righteousness

because they've

made their

works the

object of

faith

and they've

cut themselves

off from

the only

true source

of it

Jesus

himself

they've

divorced

themselves

from their

husband

Christ

because

with Jesus

it's really

all or

nothing

and you

either

trust in

him

alone

or not

at all

it's either

one thing

or the

other

add to

Jesus

even good

things

and you

will take

him away

and you

will cut

yourself

off from

him

and you

will

submit

yourself

again

to a

yoke

of

slavery

but Paul

says for

freedom

Christ has

set us

free

so stand

firm

therefore

you were

called to

freedom

brothers

let's pray

father in

heaven

lord we

thank you

that it

is your

desire

it is your

design that

we might be

truly free

people

free from

the opinions

of men

and women

free from

outwards law

keeping

free from

needing to

deserve your

kindness

and your

grace is

given

precisely

because we

don't

deserve it

lord we

know that

a little

leaven

leavens

the whole

lump

and there

are so

many ways

we are

quick to

add to

the work

of Christ

and thereby

unwittingly

cut him

off completely

lord we

know that

he is

sufficient

alone

to make

us right

with you

so we

ask that

you help

us to

stand

firm

not

submitting

again to

a yoke

of slavery

even in

the good

things that

you call

us to

do

keep us

from falling

away from

grace

as we

eagerly wait

for the hope

of righteousness

in him

and we pray

in Jesus name

amen

amen

well

normally I say

don't I

same time

same place

next week

but I can't

say that

this week

so details

of where

we are going

to meet

next week

are on the

back of

the sheets

I'm sorry

we have

got flyers

but they're

coming tomorrow

so we're

going to meet

not Tuesday

but on

Thursday

same time

in Christ

the Saviour

Church Hall

if you don't

know where

that is

we'll be

around

kind of

next to

the church

just down

the road

to help

you find

your way

so we'll

see you

next week

Thursday

ten past

one

outside

Christ

the Saviour

Church

great