Sermon, Leichlingen 6.5.97

Letter to the Galatians

0. key verses:
Ch. 1, 6; - quick turning away from the gospel to another gospel;
Ch. 1, 7; - Reversal of the gospel of Christ, some are confused about it;
Ch. 1, 10; - If I pleased men, I would not be Christ's servant.
Ch. 1, 11; - Gospel not of man's kind
Ch. 1, 16; - Paul did not consult flesh and blood;

Ch. 2, 2; - Paul presents his gospel to the honourable.
Ch. 2, 4; - False brothers want to stalk our freedom in Christ in order to bring us
to bring us into bondage.
Ch. 2, 5; - to whom we do not yield;
Ch. 2, 10; - remember also the poor;
Ch. 2, 14; - Paul publicly rebukes Peter for his hypocrisy (confessing freedom).
Ch. 2, 16; - righteous only by faith, not by works of the law;
Ch. 2, 20; - I no longer live, but Christ lives in me;

Ch. 3, 1; - who has bewitched you?
3, 3; - begun in the Spirit, finished in the flesh;
Ch. 3, 8; - nations justified by faith;
3, 10; - Cursed is he who does not do everything in the book of the law.
3, 12; - Whoever does these things willlive by them.
3, 13 - Christ has redeemed us from the curse.
3, 19; - The law because of transgressions;
Ch. 3, 22 - All things are included under sin,
so that righteousness may be by faith.
3, 24; - The law is a disciplinarian for Christ;

Ch. 4, 3; - Minors enslaved to the elements of the world;
Ch. 4, 6; - Spirit of the Son in our hearts;
Ch. 4, 8; - formerly served gods who were not gods;
Ch. 4, 9; - back to the weak and miserable elements;
Ch. 4, 10; - observation of certain times;

Ch 5, 1; - made free for freedom, not a new yoke of slavery;
Ch. 5, 4; - separated from Christ, whoever wants to be justified by the law;
fallen from grace;
Ch. 5, 6; - no power in circumcision, but in faith working through love;
Ch. 5, 7; - Who has hindered you from obeying the truth?
Ch. 5, 9; - A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Ch. 5, 13; - Freedom as a cause for the flesh;
Ch. 5, 15; - Strife in the church;
Ch. 5, 16; - Walking in the Spirit, and the lust of the flesh is not fulfilled;
Ch. 5, 17; - The flesh rebels against the Spirit;
Ch. 5, 19; - works of the flesh;
Ch. 5, 22; - fruit of the Spirit;

Ch. 6, 1; - rebuke in meekness in case of transgression;
Ch 6, 8; - sowing to the flesh brings destruction, sowing to the Spirit gives eternal life;
Ch 6, 9; - do not grow weary in doing good;
Ch. 6, 14; - boasting only in the cross;


I. Introduction:
(Galatians 1, 5-10; read)
After the greeting, Paul gets straight to the point.
He speaks of the fact that they have quickly turned away to another gospel.
In order to better understand the letter to the Galatians, I have tried to read it without
any previous knowledge. In this first paragraph I did not realise at first
not realise what kind of false gospel Paul is writing about here.
However, one word stands out, namely the wordrepent.
It would certainly be interesting to discuss the question of what the gospel of Christ could look like "in reverse".
Paul works out this difference between "his" gospel and the inverted gospel of the Galatians in this letter.
gospel of the Galatians in this letter and I would like to look at this together with you.
with you.

II.
First Paul explains "his" gospel. According to chapter 1:11, it is not of a human nature.
kind. And according to v. 12, he did not receive it from a human being, but by
revelation of Jesus Christ. He also says in v.16 that after his conversion he did not consult
with flesh and blood, that is, he did not consult with other people
but remained alone for a time in Arabia and Damascus to listen to God.
to listen to God. Now you might think that anyone can say that,
that the Koran was given to him personally by God. Anyone who doubts this is considered a blasphemer in
Islam as a blasphemer and lives dangerously. Others have also written down so-called personal
revelations and "gladdened" the world with them.
But St Paul does it differently. In chapter 2, he presents "his" gospel to the church in Jerusalem
especially to the respected ones, who are probably the apostles and elders.
These people, some of whom were appointed by the incarnate Jesus as those responsible for the gospel
here on earth, recognise it as right. And so it is not only
"Paul's" gospel but the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In his description in chapter 2, another important concept emerges: Freedom.
There were false brethren who harassed the freedom of Christians and wanted to bring them into bondage.
wanted to bring them into bondage. Paul is certainly not just telling us this for fun and games, but the
bondage is connected to the reversed gospel mentioned at the beginning.
I would like to go into this later.

I would now like to jump to chapter 3.
Here Paul asks in v.3:
"Having begun in the Spirit, will you now complete in the flesh?"
They began with Jesus and now want to continue to live their faith through works of the law.
live their faith. In this case, works of the law means that they allow themselves to be circumcised, observe
Old Testament holidays and purification customs and consider this to be absolutely necessary.
necessary. Perhaps they even began to sacrifice animals according to the
according to the Old Testament.
They did all this to please God.

Now you might ask yourself, hey, what does that have to do with us?
Leichlingen, nobody would probably think of pleasing God by observing ancient Jewish customs.
to please God.
But we are certainly not immune to the motive behind the Galatians' actions.
On the contrary, I even believe that it is widespread in today's society and
and also crops up again and again in the church of Jesus.
The motive is: I do what is in my power, according to my own decision, for God.
for God.
The problem is that as a Christian you have to learn to listen to God's decisions and to accept them.
and thus surrender their own independence of decision to God;
Mind you, to God, not to other people!
And living according to one's own decisions naturally entails living by one's own strength.
after it. And this way of life is theopposite of the gospel of Jesus
Christ in the same way as the Galatians' desire to live by faith through works of the law.
I will go into this in more detail later.
So the expression "fulfilment in the flesh" does not refer to base carnality,
but simply acting according to one's own decision out of one's own strength.
According to Galatians 5:2, some Galatians even had themselves circumcised as adult men.
according to Genesis 34:25; extremely painful -- in order to please God, to do it right.
to do it right. They showed commitment and consistency and yet it was wrong.
I think that even today there are many things in the church of Jesus that are done with a great deal of commitment but
own decision and with their own strength and is therefore in vain.

I found it very difficult to find examples at home.
For example, circumcision, which is mentioned here in Galatians, is not fundamentally wrong.
fundamentally wrong. In Acts 16:3, Paul circumcises Timothy for the sake of the Jews. But some Galatians did it for their salvation and therefore it was wrong.
It is the motive behind the action that counts, not so much the action itself.
difficult to say that this thing is always done by one's own decision out of one's own strength
and this one is not.
If, for example, a congregation thinks to itself, well, the three years are up, it's time again
for an evangelisation. So let's make an effort and organise it. We look for a
super evangelist, form prayer teams, of course, and off we go.
Working together seems to do the church a lot of good.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think evangelisation is wrong in principle, but I think it's easy to
but I think it's easy to get on the track of serving God in your own strength
serve God in your own strength, perhaps simply because you are doing things that you have
have always done. You think it's right because it can't be wrong.
Evangelisation is good, so let's just do it.

I would like to dwell on this idea of doing things under one's own steam for a while.
Let's start with people who have nothing to do with Jesus.
For such people it is natural to live a life according to their own decisions and
own strength.
But because, according to Ecclesiastes 3:11, every person has a sense of eternity in their heart,
there are points in everyone's life where they think about God.
And religions where people are allowed to work for their salvation are always popular.
Whether these are organised religious communities such as Jehovah's Witnesses, where you have to
Jehovah's Witnesses, where you really have to work for your salvation, or whether it's the standard German religion:
Standard statement: "God will accept me." and unspoken is part of it
"I'm not that bad", but then you don't say that.
The man is himself, so you can also be reasonably good enough for God.
Even with people who belong to Jesus, there is a great danger that you live Christianity according to your own
decisions of Christianity. Paul asks in chapter 3:1: "Who has bewitchedyou?
Apparently, living according to your own decisions has an enchanting effect.
I have everything under control, I am so experienced in faith, I know how to do it.
According to chapter 1, 6; the Galatians quickly turned away, so you can get on this wrong track in no time at all.
this wrong track.


III Consequences
What are the consequences of living by one's own decisions out of one's own strength?
It says in chapter 3, 10; about the law:
"Cursed is everyone who does not abide in all that is written in the book of the law, to do
to do it!"
The Galatians wanted to finance part of their life of faith by doing the works of the law
and that doesn't work; either all faith or all law.
I think this applies just as much to living by your own choices in your own strength.
God will not share his honour with anyone. He will not say: "Live your life as you see fit.
as you see fit. And if something doesn't work out, then come to me and I'll help you."
If you want to lead parts of your life under your own direction, then you are cursed to do so,
to doeverything on your own. I think that's one of the main reasons why so many
Christians are shipwrecked. They want to let God manage parts of their lives
and do the rest themselves. That doesn't work. God either wants to manage everything or
nothing at all. Of course, you have to learn this step by step in daily practice. But
if you are not fundamentally prepared to surrender everything to God, then it won't work.

In this context, I would like to return to the concept offreedom and slavery.
again in this context. On the surface, you might assume that you become unfree,
when you submit to Jesus. After all, it is he who decides and no longer me.
Freedom lies in the fact that I don't have to do anything. I no longer have to shake hands
to please God. I am free from having to work for my eternal salvation.
It is already mine.
This freedom is scary to many. At the beginning I mentioned that Paul was harassed by certain
Paul was harassed by certain people because of this freedom and they tried to talk him out of it.
Even today, this freedom from the gospel is scary to many:
In the Council of Trent, for example, the Catholic Church stipulated that "whoever claims that
claims that man is justified solely by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ...
is justified... is accursed." Likewise, anyone who is sure of his salvation is cursed.
salvation and also whoever believes that Jesus not only bore the sin but also the
the punishment for sin, i.e. rejects purgatory.
A Catholic who adheres to official Catholic doctrine can therefore never be sure
that he will go to heaven; he is forbidden to do so.
This is similar for most other religious communities.
there remains a residual risk, and there is no certainty there either.
This freedom only exists if you give your whole life to Jesus. If you
If you want to take over the leadership of parts of your life yourself, then you lose it.
Paul writes in chapter 5, 1, that we should stand firm in this freedom and not place ourselves under a yoke of slavery.
under a yoke of slavery.

I would now like to mention another consequence of living according to our own decisions
by our own strength, which is what is meant by the expression "life from the flesh".
Living out of the flesh also gives room to carnal desires.
In chapter 5, 16, it says: "Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
fulfil thelust of the flesh." Walking in the Spirit is the same as living under the Lordship of Jesus.
The works of the flesh are mentioned (read) in v. 19. Most of these works of the
of the flesh concern the interpersonal sphere.
So you could say quite bluntly that if you live your life according to your own decisions and
own strength, then it is very likely that there will be difficulties with
with various fellow human beings and fellow Christians.
People are often not prepared to admit that they actually determine their own lives.
They tend to say: I have converted and I belong to Jesus and he is my Lord.
I know from my own experience that people often delude themselves;
Because who likes to admit that my life is somehow on the wrong track?
But the works of the flesh in yourself can open your eyes.
Of course, you are never finished, you will need forgiveness your whole life long,
but if there is no clear growth, if the things from v.19 become more and more
resentment, jealousy, unforgiveness, not being able to forgive,
quarrelling, etc. and it doesn't really bother you at all, then you are a good candidate for "perfecting in the flesh".
flesh" and you will eventually run into a brick wall.
I am convinced that living according to your own decisions in your own strength cannot
can go smoothly for a whole lifetime, because the works of the flesh from v.19 will at some point
will have such a powerful effect that there will be a bang.
It has always shocked me that there are Christians who, after many years of belonging to the church
church membership, or that seemingly happy Christian marriages suddenly break up after many years.
marriages suddenly break up after many years. I am sure that in many cases
a life lived according to one's own decisions and in one's own strength.
But you can hardly judge that for others, because you can't look inside their heads.
cannot look into the head. Everyone has to examine themselves.

IV. Solution
Finally, of course, there must be a solution.
Some people say: Prayer alone is not enough, you also have to do something.
This sentence is certainly the starting point for the suffering of many people who
who then wanted to lead their lives with their own decisions in their own strength.
I think the right way to put it would be this:
Praying alone is not enough, you also have to listen .........
You only get the ability to listen if you give your whole life to Jesus.
It is often said that you should give your life to Jesus and then go off.
because you can't steer a stationary car.
That is correct. But setting off only makes sense if you have really given your life to Jesus.
to Jesus, otherwise you are going 100% wrong.
Paul says a very striking sentence about this in chapter 2:20:
"It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; but what I now live in the flesh,
I live by faith, and that by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
gave himself for me."
This is the true gospel. If this gospel is reversed, then it becomes
as already mentioned several times, it becomes a life according to one's own decisions by one's own
own strength.
If he lives in me, then I can hear him. He gives me strength and helps me
to make decisions according to his will. Then it makes sense to start running.
Then life is over by your own efforts.
If you hand everything over to him, regardless of whether you are starting afresh or coming back from a wrong
wrong path, then it seems as if you have to give up a lot.
You have to admit that you are on the wrong path, which for many is the biggest hurdle to turning back.
hurdle to repentance. This also includes recognising and confessing sin.
Then you also have to say goodbye to the phrase "I know best what is good for me".
I know best myself ."
In return, you not only receive freedom, but Him. The personal relationship with Jesus
is created or revived and that is the greatest gift.

AMEN