Jun 01

The Choice is Yours

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

In helping the Galatians build a fully inclusive church, the Apostle Paul warns them of the other side of the coin, the chance of being entangled in sin again.  We are being warned that there are two forces battling within us.  These are “the flesh”, our desires and self-gratification, and the Spirit of God that produces freedom.

In AA, the first step is an admission that something is controlling you and taking you on a self-destructive path.  That is based on the idea that we have here, something, the flesh, is dragging us down, that wants to take away our freedom.  And just as with alcohol there is a danger of relapse, so it is with the nature that drags us away from God.  There is always the temptation, the lure of something that will ultimately destroy us.

In our passage this week, Paul contrasts the manifestations of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.  The freedom that is in Christ Jesus allows us to live in the fruit of the Spirit.  But we always have the danger of misusing our freedom and being entangled again in the manifestations of our nature outside of Christ.  So we must walk carefully in this world, not judging what others do in their freedom, but realizing the choice that we must make to keep the freedom of Christ abounding in us.

Pastor Greg

May 21

What is No Longer in Christ

Galatians 3:1-9;23-29

Is the Gospel of Inclusion also one of exclusion?  Yes it is.  For there are many things that are not compatible with the Gospel of Grace.  In our passage this week, Paul includes some of these in his exhortation to the Galatians that salvation is all of grace and not of the law.  Maybe this week you can read through the passage, even all of chapter 3, and see what is a “no” in the Gospel if Inclusion. 

But then, what about the Law?  Paul says the Law is a tutor, a disciplinarian, an instructor for us to know what is right.  As a young child has to be taught to say “please” and “thank you”, so the law gives us direction on how to behave.  The law is to teach how we are to love God with all our hearts, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Then when we come to Christ, we are fully formed as mature in Christ.  A mature one takes responsibility for his or her self and knows how to act toward others.  That is the goal of faith in Christ, to form us completely in Christ Jesus.

Pastor Greg

May 15

Accept No Substitutions

Galatians 1:13-17; 2:11-21

Last week’s sermon examined the first church council in Jerusalem.  Where it was recognized that the Gentiles have full acceptance by faith alone in Jesus Christ.  Shortly after this Council, Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians.  This was probably the first book in our New Testament that was written.  For the next three sermons we are going to consider the challenges facing the church especially the challenge of full conclusion.

He begins this letter with something astonishing, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel (1:6).”  Of course, he quickly adds, that there is no other gospel, but there are perversions of the gospel that can send us in the opposite in a hell-bound direction.  The manifestation of the perverted gospel that Paul address in Galatians has to do with the mixing of works and faith, especially ritualistic works of the Old Covenant.  The perverters taught that to be saved, you must have Christ plus ______.

Beliefs and practices that pervert the gospel have always been a temptation to believers.  They may be things that we are comfortable with, or practices that we think prove or devotion to Christ, or rituals that set us apart from the not-so-committed Christians.  Requirements are piled upon believers that are supposed to make them better Christians.  All these things only bind believers and keep them from the freedom that is in Christ Jesus.  We are set free from the evil age by the grace of God in the giving of Christ for our sins.

The call of Galatians is to stand firm in the freedom that Christ has secured for us.  We cannot allow the gospel to be added to, or diminished.  We can only proclaim grace and peace given to us by God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins o set us free from this present evil age, so that we can live according to the will of our God. (1:3-4)

Pastor Greg

May 07

Faith Formation on the Wilderness Road

Acts 8:26-39

When you hear “evangelize or evangelist” what do you think of?  Often the idea of someone pointing a finger into someone’s chest and saying if you do not believe, you are going to hell.  I think the Scriptures this week is helping us realize that we are involved in “faith formation” in our interactions with others.

Faith formation is every action, experience, or relationship that nurtures a relationship of trust with God and shapes the way we see and interact with God’s world.  Faith formation is the very mission of God’s church, to equip followers of Jesus Christ and send them out into the world to spread God’s kingdom.  The question in faith formation is are you leaving the person closer to God than when you first met.  The view of faith formation tells us that we are tellers of good news, and sometimes, even THE Good News! 

The angel from the Lord took Philip from an active and fruitful ministry in Samaria, to an almost deserted road in the wilderness.  Philip sees an entourage with the primary individual sitting in a fine chariot.  He notices the primary individual is doing something unusual, he is reading a scroll, the book of the Prophet Isaiah.  When Philip greets him, the important individual, the head of the treasury for Queen Candace, says a very sad phrase, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”  The Official of the Queen has come from south of Egypt, to Jerusalem, to the Temple itself, he had purchased an expensive item, the scroll of Isaiah, but after the sale, no one had helped him understand the words of the Scripture he had just purchased.

In faith formation we take the person as they are, from where they are, and help them get closer to God.  The man was not an unbeliever, he was a seeker of the God of Heaven and Earth.  Yet, when he sought out the faith represented by the Temple, he was not allowed inclusion because of his physical condition of being a eunuch.  He was pondering the section of Isaiah that talks of God’s restoration of all things and hope for the eunuchs.  All because of the work of the suffering servant. 

Philip helped him understand the work of the suffering servant, Jesus Christ, and to find full inclusion into the people of God.  The man was not excluded, but included through baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ.  Faith formation was helping him see the love of Jesus Christ for him and brought him to full inclusion into the kingdom of God.

How are our efforts in faith formation working?

Pastor Greg