Galatians

You know, these days when I read the news, I find myself asking the same question again

and again.

I find myself asking, how do we make sense of and explain these headlines?

You know, just this week I was reading my news feed and there are headlines about the

ongoing reality of racial injustice, sexual violence.

There are headlines about the rise of nationalism in the West.

There are headlines about the outrage culture and the call-out culture that has arisen over

the last decade and continues to wreak havoc.

Headlines about the rising political polarization that's dividing our country into smaller and

smaller subgroups.

And you look at headlines like this and realities like this and you ask, is this just the result

of technology?

Is this just the result of smartphones?

Is it just the impact that Twitter has had on our culture?

Or is there something deeper at work?

And I find myself longing for some kind of unified theory of everything that can explain what's

happening.

And I've been thinking about that and I've been reading and studying Paul's letter to

the Galatians and I began to realize that if we were to ask the Apostle Paul to explain

these headlines, that he would probably pull out his letter to the Galatians and he would

probably turn to the middle of the letter to chapter 4 and he would probably point us to

the middle of that chapter.

This is the very heart of Paul's letter to the Galatians and many of the themes that we've

been looking at over the past several weeks as we've been looking at this letter are distilled

here in these verses.

Paul would probably start in verse 8 and read this.

Now that phrase, the elementary principles of the world, that's our focus this evening.

Because that word in the Greek is the word stoikia.

And stoikia is a very philosophically dense word.

Entire books have been written about the meaning of this word and so it's not often explored

or preached on because it's frankly kind of difficult to understand exactly what Paul means

with this word.

We translate it as the elementary principles of the world but I want to give you maybe a more

helpful way to think about it.

When Paul talks about the stoikia, he's talking about all of the ways that sin has been written

into the operating system of the world.

He's talking about all of the ways that sin has been written into the code.

These are all of the manifestations of sin that tend to show up in societies everywhere.

And that's interesting sociologically speaking that when you look at societies both ancient

and modern, when you look at societies both eastern and western, there are certain tendencies,

certain characteristics that tend to manifest themselves across the board.

And Paul would say these are the stoikia.

These are the ways that sin has been written into the operating system.

They govern us.

They, as he says, enslave us.

They limit and constrain what is possible in life.

And he says in the point of Galatians, really, is that Paul is saying that Jesus Christ came

to set us free from sin.

And thus he came to set us free from these stoikia, these limiting factors.

Jesus came to bring an entirely new operating system.

And so the gospel isn't just about being saved from sin.

The gospel is about discovering and making possible a new way to be human together.

A new way for society to operate.

And so Paul's entire concern with the Galatians is that they are people who have been set free

by Jesus and yet they're not living like it.

He says you're living like you're still under the old regime, the old operating system.

So what we're going to do with our time this evening is we're going to look at these stoikia,

these elementary principles.

And we're going to look at three examples, three ways that sin has been written into the

code.

And these are things that Paul was facing.

But as you'll see, they're things that we face as well because they're present everywhere.

Apart from the gospel, they're unavoidable.

So let's pray and then we'll look at Galatians chapter 4 together.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

Lord, we thank you for your word.

And we now ask that rather than relying on human insight or wisdom, rather than relying

on spiritual platitudes or principles to live by, that Lord, we would sit under your living

word and that you would speak.

And Lord, we pray that by hearing your word, we would be nourished, we would be strengthened,

and you would be glorified.

And we pray this in your son's holy name.

Amen.

So three ways that sin is hardwired into the world.

The first example is the example of tribalism.

Tribalism.

By tribalism, I simply mean the innate human tendency to see people in terms of in-group

and out-group, us and them.

People in my group and everyone else.

And Paul would say that apart from the gospel, all human beings tend to divide the world into

insiders and outsiders.

And you know, this is very evident in Galatia.

We've already talked in this series about how divided Galatia was.

It was divided religiously.

It was divided politically.

It was divided along racial and ethnic lines.

It was divided in basically every way you can imagine.

Very divided society.

But this is also something that happens in societies everywhere.

And in fact, there's a huge body of research that we've mentioned in this series already,

but I think it's worth mentioning again, on this innate tendency in human beings.

It's called in-group, out-group bias.

And this research shows conclusively that you can take any group of people and you can

divide them arbitrarily by a coin toss, heads group, tails group.

And that within hours, those groups will begin to manifest more positive attitudes toward

their own group and more negative attitudes toward the other group.

This is hardwired into human nature.

And the same realities that divided Paul's society divide our society as a result.

Paul would say that when you see that phenomenon, you're not just seeing sociology.

You're not just seeing evolutionary psychology.

That you're seeing stoichia.

You're seeing sin wired into the world.

And you know, our society is subdivided into smaller and smaller special interest groups.

And you ask people, what's wrong with the world today?

And most people have some group that they blame.

You know, people will say, well, it's all those on the radical left.

It's those neo-Marxists.

Or it's Trump and his supporters.

Or it's the rich and big business.

Or it's those conservative Christians.

Or it's those secular atheists.

Or it's the terrorists.

And everybody has some group they want to blame.

It happens in this very church.

Right?

This happens in churches all around the world.

One of the most damaging realities that churches have to contend with is the development of factions and cliques within the body of Christ.

This is the path of least resistance for any group of people.

But Paul would say that this is what life is like under the stoichia.

And that is exactly why Jesus came.

The gospel changes everything.

It reformats us.

And a great example of this is Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was a Marxist officer of the Red Army.

And in their society, they had very clear lines between good guys and bad guys.

And in their world, you sent all of the bad people to the prison labor camps.

And then the unthinkable happened.

Solzhenitsyn was actually caught criticizing Stalin.

And so he was then sent to a labor camp himself.

And this radically transformed him because he began to form relationships.

And his entire worldview began to break down.

And he began to rethink what does it mean to be human.

And he began to realize that there's not such a clear line between good people and bad people.

And in fact, he says, gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states,

nor between classes, nor between political parties,

but right through every human heart and through all human hearts.

And once he realized that, he realized that his entire worldview needed to change.

And he began to search, who can offer hope to someone with a heart like that?

And that's what led him to Jesus Christ.

Right?

So the gospel rewrites the operating system.

The gospel says that there's no such thing as good people and bad people,

that all hearts are broken.

And yet all hearts are at the same time beautiful because they were created by God.

The gospel says that ultimately all human beings are at a fundamental level the same

because we're all created by God to bear his image.

And yet we've all been broken and twisted by sin.

And yet for all of those who come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness,

we are all able to become one in him.

One in Christ.

And that's this explosive verse that we spent three weeks looking at.

That for those who are in Christ, there is no longer Jew nor Greek.

There is neither slave nor free.

There is no male and female.

He says all of those distinctions have been done away with.

You're all one in Christ.

So this reality, this new operating system, this new way of being human that the gospel

brings into the world has been transformative throughout history.

I'm always reminded of the city of Antioch, the ancient city of Antioch.

This is the place where followers of Jesus were first called Christians.

And when the city was built, they didn't just build a wall around the perimeter of the city.

They also built walls all throughout the city.

And in fact, the goal was to create separate zones for every ethnic and racial group represented

in the population of Antioch.

So they had 18 different walled-off ghettos.

And each of those areas had their own cultures and customs and religions.

This is literally the architecture of tribalism.

I mean, this is what a tribalistic city planner would do.

And this is the way Antioch was until the Christians came.

Because the Christians were the first people to go over the walls.

They were the first people to believe in a God who wasn't limited to one ethnic group

or one geographic area, they believed that Jesus came to save people from all nations.

And that the gospel was meant to be preached to everyone.

And so they went over the walls and you look at this new forming church in Antioch.

You read about it in Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

The leadership team of the church in Antioch was made up of people from four different ethnic groups.

That's an amazing thing to look at at this point in history.

And what it shows you is because of the gospel, Christians no longer have to be governed by tribalism.

In other words, let me put a finer point on it.

Christians don't build walls.

We go over the walls.

That's what it means to be a Christian in our world.

So that's the first example.

Tribalism, you see it everywhere, but the gospel frees us from it.

We don't have to be subject to it anymore.

The second example of these elementary principles is the example of idolatry.

Idolatry.

Again, apart from the gospel, all human beings tend to turn good things into ultimate things.

To take things that are important and make them ultimately life or death important.

And you see this in Galatia.

You had lots of different kinds of idolatry.

Paul was dealing with pagans who were worshiping pagan deities.

He was dealing with the emperor cult.

People who worshiped the Roman emperor as a divine being.

But he was also dealing with Jewish converts to Christianity.

Who insisted on continuing to live under the Mosaic law.

They had taken the Mosaic law, which was a good thing, and they had turned it into an ultimate thing.

This is what determines salvation.

This is what determines who's really in with God.

And Paul does something shocking with that.

He essentially tells these Jewish converts to Christianity.

He says, when you do that, when you elevate the law to the level of importance that you've given it,

you're just like the pagans.

And you see, in their worldview, there were two kinds of people.

Jews who were in with God, people under the law, and everyone else.

And Paul says, no, no, no.

When you live like that, there's no difference.

You might as well be a pagan.

And for them, that would have been deeply offensive.

And that's exactly why Paul says it.

He's trying to shock them awake.

He's saying, all of this is idolatry of one sort or another.

And you know, idols, as I said before,

it's simply things that we take that are often good things,

and we make them ultimate.

So it could be any good thing in our lives.

It could be marriage.

You know, the marriages that we have are the marriages that we want.

It could be our kids, or the kids that we hope to have.

It could be comfort.

It could be convenience.

It could be the approval of others,

and wanting other people to like us,

and think well of us, and respect us.

It could be financial security.

See, all of these things are good things.

It's good to be thought well of.

It's good to have a family.

And yet, these things can very subtly

become more and more and more important

until we find ourselves thinking,

unless I have that,

I don't know if I'm going to be okay.

Unless I, unless that happens for me,

I don't think that I'm going to be,

I don't think that I'll survive.

Or if I ever lose this,

it will destroy me.

And when you begin to think that way

about anything in your life,

that thing has started to become

an ultimate thing for you.

It's taken hold of your heart

in a religious way.

So think of the role,

just to give one deeper example of this,

think of the role that politics

has come to play in many people's lives

in our society today.

You know, 30 years ago,

you could disagree with somebody

over the presidential candidate

that they voted for.

You could disagree with somebody

over the platforms or policies

that they like.

And you could disagree and still be friends.

And nobody would think

that it would threaten your friendship.

And yet these days,

and I hear this all the time,

I see it in my own family,

politics and disagreements

rip families apart.

I mean, there are family members

who will not speak to each other

because of the presidential election.

People who have broken off all contact.

Right?

And so we ask,

why are we so deeply divided?

And the answer is because politics,

which is a good thing.

You know, God instituted

our political leaders.

God decrees that He works

through our political leaders.

He calls Christians

to pray for our leaders

and to submit to our leaders.

And yet this good thing

has become an ultimate thing

for many people in our country.

There was a great piece

by Andrew Sullivan

that came out

at the end of last year

called America's New Religions.

And he's talking about

the decline of Christianity

in the West

and the subsequent impact

that that's had

on the way we view politics.

And here's what he says.

He says,

so what happens

when this religious rampart

of the entire system

is removed?

I think what happens

is illiberal politics.

The need for meaning

hasn't gone away,

but without Christianity,

this yearning looks to politics

for satisfaction.

We no longer just endorse

a candidate.

We no longer support

this or that policy.

People are increasingly finding

their entire sense of meaning

and identity

and purpose

in politics,

in their political party affiliation.

our political world

has become

a kind of ultimate

battleground

of good versus evil.

And it's interesting,

you know,

people increasingly

don't think of their

political opponents

as simply people

with whom they disagree.

We treat political opponents

like heretics.

We treat them

like a heretic

would have been treated

500 years ago.

You know,

and I'm sure there are

many people,

if they could,

they would burn

their opponents

at the stake.

We may be less

religiously affiliated

according to a lot

of the research.

I think that's absolutely true.

We're less

religiously affiliated,

but we're every bit

as much

religiously inclined

as people.

And the reason is

because human beings

are by design

worshipers.

We are made to worship.

And so if you remove

the object of your worship,

if you remove that,

a lot of people

would think,

well,

then you just

continue through life

not worshiping anything.

But that's not,

in fact,

what happens.

What happens is

when you remove

the thing that's up here,

it creates a vacuum.

And then all of the things

that are down here,

all of those penultimate

things in your life,

your political involvement,

your family,

your job,

your desire for security,

your desire for affirmation,

all of those things

that are down here,

they start to get

pulled upward

to fill that vacuum.

And so inevitably

when you create

that vacuum,

something else

is going to come in

and fill it.

And so Sullivan is saying

that's what,

for many people,

it's their political

involvement.

But it could be anything.

And so this is what

Paul is getting at

in verse 8.

He says,

Formerly,

when you did not know God,

when there was nothing

up here,

you were enslaved

to those that by nature

are not gods.

That's an idol.

Something that's not a god

that you treat like a god.

But now,

he says,

you have come to know God

or rather to be known

by God.

The old preacher

Thomas Chalmers

used to call this

the expulsive power

of a new affection.

You have something

that you're worshiping

and that God comes

into your life,

he breaks into your life.

His love and his grace

invade your life

and they displace

that thing.

And God rightfully

takes his place

as your object of worship.

And everything else

has to take a shift

down

to accommodate

your new object

of worship.

Because of this reality

and because Christians

experience this

when the gospel

restores them

to right relationship

with God,

to the right worship

of God,

and because everything else

has to shift downward,

Christians don't worship

political leaders.

They don't worship

kings or emperors

as being divine beings.

And so all throughout

history,

Christians have been

instrumental in challenging

totalitarianism on the right

and on the left.

Because Christians know

that at the end of the day

there is only one true king.

And his name is Jesus Christ.

And while in this period

of time we're called

to honor and respect

and submit to our leaders,

one day those leaders

will be held accountable

by the one who truly

has authority,

Jesus Christ.

So Christians are no longer

governed by idolatry.

We don't have to be slaves

to idols.

Because we've been set free

to worship the one

for whom we were made.

So that's the second example.

Christians are set free

from tribalism.

We're set free from idolatry.

The third and the final example

of the way that sin

has been wired into the world,

wired into us,

is the example of moralism.

Moralism.

Apart from the gospel,

all human beings

tend to become moralistic.

You see this in societies

ancient and modern,

east, west,

happens everywhere.

And by moralism,

I don't just mean

that we all have a sense

of right and wrong.

Every society has a sense

of right and wrong.

But more than that,

every society

and every person

tends to want to assert

their moral righteousness

and their moral superiority

over other people.

So every society

on its own

develops a kind

of moral hierarchy.

Now the moral codes

shift from one side

to the next.

But that impulse

to assert your superiority

over another person,

that's hardwired

into all of us.

So Paul was,

of course,

speaking to a very

moralistic culture.

We've talked a lot

about that in this series.

But what we need to see

is that our culture

is every bit as moralistic.

And in fact,

I think you can make

the argument

that our culture

is more moralistic

than the first century world

that Paul was speaking into.

It's just that the moral codes

are defined differently.

So think about food.

Right?

In Paul's day,

the Jewish converts

to Christianity

believed that they were

morally superior

over other Christians

because they maintained

the practice

of only eating food

that was considered clean

by the Mosaic Law.

Because I eat clean food,

I'm morally superior to you.

I have a closer relationship

to God than you do.

And yet,

we do the same thing.

In our society,

we have a very strong

moral sense

when it comes to the food

that we eat.

It's just that we define

clean food differently.

You know,

we define it in terms of,

you know,

non-GMO,

organic,

sustainable,

locally sourced.

That's our version

of eating clean food.

Right?

But it's the same thing.

And so you get to feel

a sense of moral superiority

walking out of the store

with your bag of Whole Foods.

You know,

you're asserting

your righteousness.

And,

you know,

it's interesting.

You know,

along those lines,

I kind of have a confession

to make.

I was,

you know,

the other weekend,

I took Maddox

to basketball

and he did a great job

and he did all the things

we talk about,

good sportsmanship

and play hard

and listen to the coach.

And so I wanted to get him

this reward

and so I said,

hey buddy,

let's get a milkshake

afterwards.

And so the only place

that we pass

where you can get a milkshake

on the way home

is McDonald's.

So we go to McDonald's

and we pull up

and I say,

hey,

I'll have one milkshake.

Thank you.

And the lady says,

is that,

will that be all?

And I'm like,

oh man,

you know,

and I look at that menu

and I end up ordering

a bacon double quarter pounder.

This is my confession to you.

And it was so good.

It was so good.

I slammed that thing

and on the way home

and I'm eating as fast as I can

so I don't have to admit to Laura

that I've done this.

And no,

it was just the milkshake,

I promise.

And so I eat this thing

and the entire time I'm eating it

I have Isaiah's words in my mind,

you know,

woe is me

for I am a man of unclean lips,

you know,

because I just slammed

a double quarter pounder.

And I felt such shame

and I felt this sense

that,

oh,

if anybody knew,

you know,

I would just feel,

I feel unclean.

I feel unclean.

But that's the way

we think about our food.

That's the sense of morality

that often accompanies our diets.

And so the problem with this,

the problem with moralism

is that every society

has these moral codes

but moralism quickly

becomes judgmentalism.

And this is what we see

in our culture.

We have an extremely

judgmental culture.

We,

especially online,

the internet

is filled with judgment

and shame.

And every day

there's a new outrage

du jour.

And people want to feel

a sense of their superiority

and the easiest way

to do that

without having to get up

from behind your computer

is simply to

call someone out

for the slightest infraction.

And when you do that,

you get to feel better

about yourself.

You're signaling

your moral excellence.

And so people have no qualms

about doing this.

And so what we have

are we have careers

being ruined

in an afternoon.

We have lives

being destroyed.

We have people

getting death threats

from people

they don't even know.

And these are public

excommunications

and they are swift

and they're brutal

and they're final.

Once you've been

excommunicated,

there's no coming back.

And the problem is

is that most religions

are built around

a similar sense

of moralism.

Most religions

of the world

are built around

the same assumptions

that if you are

a good person

and you do good,

then you will be

blessed and rewarded.

And if you're a bad person

and you're found out,

then you will be

punished and condemned.

All religions

essentially operate

that way

except Christianity.

Because Christianity

is not built

within the old

operating system.

Christianity brings

something entirely new.

It's built around

the concept of grace.

Grace.

Completely different

way to operate.

So verse 4,

when the fullness

of time had come,

God sent forth

his son,

born of a woman,

born under the law

to redeem those

who were under the law

so that we might

receive adoption

as sons.

And because you

are sons,

he says,

God has sent

the spirit of his son

into our hearts

crying,

Abba,

Father.

So the gospel

utterly destroys

moralism

because the gospel

says that your hope

and your salvation

is no longer

based on your

moral excellence.

it's no longer

prevented by your

moral bankruptcy.

In fact,

your moral performance

has nothing to do

with it.

It says that God

has come into your life

and redeemed you

through his son.

Not because you

earned it,

but because he loves you.

And that when he does

this,

he doesn't just

forgive you

and say,

now try not to do it again.

He adopts you

as his child.

And it says,

as a son of God,

now for us,

we miss the power

of that.

In the first century,

you would have read that.

A son of God,

firstborn son of God,

that's the most

privileged position

you could hold

in their society

was to be the firstborn

son of a family.

And so Paul is saying

that when you're adopted,

you become like

a firstborn son.

You get the position

of highest privilege

and highest honor

they could imagine.

An entirely new identity

as a child of God.

And you know

what it means

to be a child of God

rather than a servant of God

or simply a follower of God.

A child

knows that

no matter what you do,

there's nothing

that you can do

that will make God

love you any more

than he loves you

at this very moment.

And there's nothing

that you can do

that will make God

love you any less

than he does

at this very moment.

You know that

if you're a child,

you always have

God's love,

you always have

God's embrace,

you always know

that you belong to him

because you will

always be his child.

And so this eradicates

moralism.

It just takes it

out of the equation

altogether.

You know,

to push the metaphor

maybe a little far,

moralism is incompatible

with the new operating

system of the gospel.

It has no place

in this new way

of being human together.

So the gospel

sets us free

which means

there's no place

for moralism

in the Christian community.

There's no place

for judgmentalism

in the Christian community.

Now you ask,

well what does that mean?

Like when people

are sinning,

do we just ignore it?

Do we just say

it's all okay?

No, no, no, no.

Quite the opposite.

We confront people

in their sin.

But not because

we're being moralistic,

not because we're judging,

not because we're asserting

our own superiority

over them.

We confront sin

because we know

that we are children

of God.

And we know

that one of the best ways

to experience

the fact that you belong

to God

and have His love

is to repent.

Because we know

the moment that you repent

you are drinking

more deeply

from the well

of God's grace.

You're being reminded

yet again

of the depth

and the power

and the strength

of God's love for you.

And so people say,

well I want to feel

the love of God more.

I often say,

when's the last time

you repented?

When's the last time

you did a moral inventory

and went to your knees

before God?

It's one of the best ways

to experience

the fact that you're

His child

and that He loves you

and delights in you.

So the gospel

eradicates moralism.

Right?

So just to kind of

draw all this together,

and this is just kind of

my take on things,

I don't think

it's a coincidence

that as Christianity

recedes in the West,

at the same time,

we are becoming

more tribalistic,

we're becoming

more politically

idolatrous,

and we're becoming

more and more

and more moralistic

and judgmental,

and we have this

outrage culture.

I don't think

that's a coincidence

because I think

Paul would say,

Paul's explanation

would be,

in the West,

our imaginations

are shaped less

and less and less

by the gospel.

And whenever that happens,

the stoichia

become more prominent.

And so this is why

it is absolutely essential

that we recognize

that our calling

is not simply

to intellectually

believe the gospel,

but what the world

actually needs

is people who live

the gospel out

in community,

make the gospel

visible,

make visible

a new way

of being human

together,

a new way

of building society,

a new way

of relating

to one another.

This is what

the gospel is for.

And so in our world,

when you see

a community of people

who are actively

breaking down

walls of tribalism,

and when you see

a community

of people

who are politically

engaged

without being

politically idolatrous,

and when you see

a community of people

who believe in grace

and forgiveness

and restoration

rather than moralism

and judgmentalism

so that anyone

can come,

no matter how morally

bankrupt they are,

when you see

that kind of community,

it is like seeing

someone walking

on water.

And people look

at that and they say,

how is that possible?

And of course,

then we know

the answer.

It's possible

because of Jesus Christ.

And it's possible

because of the new life

and the new way

of being human

that He is bringing

into the world.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.