Spending time in Galatians...

Let's spend some time in Galatians.

Why Galatians...

I love the book of Galatians, in it we read Paul's impassioned letter to the churches in Galatia. He had visited the church in Galatia previously but here Paul has heard word of the church being led astray by new doctrines and in his words "a different gospel". Paul is compelled to write to the church and call them back to the true gospel("not that there is another one" - Gal 1:7). He calls them back to the good news that they first accepted and away from the distorted gospel preaching that was sneaking in and eroding the churches in the area. Paul's love for the gospel and his urgent unwillingness to let any false teaching into the church has never been more relevant than for the church today. False teaching and man-made gospels that satisfy our every whim, promises of prosperity and an assurance of salvation through an easy feet-up life, are seeping into the western church today. With so many churches being seduced by new gospels and preachers proclaiming exactly what itching ears long to hear, the church needs Paul's letter to the Galatians more than it sadly knows.

"we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved" - Galatians 2:5

 

We also see Paul's wonderful love for the truth that our salvation is through faith. As someone who had lived his whole life trying to be saved through the law, he has a love and a way of explaining salvation through faith and freedom from the power of the law, that brings me to a place of awe and worship. Reminding me at the same time that our freedom comes because our old sinful self is crucified and we are raised with him to new life, where we are free from the power of the law and the curse of the law to now live as Jesus lived.

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there." - Galatians 5:24

 

Galatians is a wonderful part of scripture, filled with wonderful blessings, teachings and warnings for the church, and I haven't even covered the well-known passage on the spirit and its fruit, we will look at that in a separate post later this series.

But I want to give a final reason why Galatians is so worth our time, to spend some time in, and that is at it's core it is a letter to a church that is in a trouble. It's to a church that has forgotten the truth that first defined it, it's to a church that is redefining core gospel truths to whatever the speaker of the day is promoting, it's to a church that has forgotten at its very core that it needs Christ and the difference that having Christ brings. It's written to a church that once "got it" but is now in serious danger of becoming nothing more than a different label for the teaching and ways of those that surround it and seek to bring it down and if that's not a letter applicable to the church in the west today I don't know what is. But on top of this it is a letter that calls the church back to Christ, who's body it is meant to be a part of. Paul follows up his call back from the brink they have wondered towards, with a call to living by the spirit, what this means, what it looks like, and the power and reward it brings, and teaching like this is worth spending some time with...

"But those who live to please the spirit will harvest everlasting life from the spirit." - Galatians 6:8

 

So this series...

In this series we will take a look at the challenges God placed on my heart for me and hopefully for you as well as I spent some time in Galatians...

We will look at:

Who are we really living for?
Are we trying to add to God's grace?

How developed is Christ in our lives?

Is the spirit really directing our lives?
Does the church today better reflect Christ or the church in Galatia?