Vineyard Church of Knox County
The Free Life Begins with a Rescue
Sermon Audio from Sunday, February 20, 2005 — Imagine for just a moment that we are a church in Galatia, and some missionaries come by from the mother church in Jerusalem, the church led by the original Apostles. [In character] "We know, dear church, that Paul is a brilliant man, a Christian man who makes many wise and impressive points. You came to love him during his visits here as the church began. His message is very persuasive and very attractive. But remember, he did not know Jesus personally, as the leaders of the Jerusalem church did. Though Paul met with the apostles after his conversion in order to be taught the true message, he clearly has changed his message since then. So the message he gave you about God's grace and freedom is only partly true. He has taught you an incomplete version of how to be accepted by God and how to live the Christian life. We are here to complete the story.
"He told you that you only need to have faith in Christ to be fully accepted by God and to live a blessed life. Well, that's partly true. We do need to put our faith in Christ, but we all know that faith without works is dead. So, real faith that God recognizes is faith that is coupled with obedience to the laws of God. To put it simply, God will accept you and bless you completely if you follow some of the laws - like circumcision, for instance. By following just a few of the Jewish laws you non-Jews will move closer to maturity and perfection. Don't you want that? I thought so." Scan the Book of Galatians and you'll get a taste of how Paul feels about these Judaizers and their message. Paul's says these Judaizers had persuaded the Galatian Christians converts to turn away from the one true gospel (2:5, 14) to "a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all" (1:6-7). Well, Paul was furious. He knew that adding anything to simple gospel, the good news that we are accepted by God by faith and faith alone in Jesus Christ, adding anything to that truth doesn't complete it, in fact it totally undermines it. Paul understood the danger of such a message. And with his new church hearing this message, he bangs out a letter reminding them, as 5:1 says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm [in your freedom in Christ] and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery [of the law]." So, as we read and discuss Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia, we'll hear over and over again the good news of the gospel, the central message of Christianity, we'll come to understand what true freedom in Christ looks like and how to live it, we'll be better able to recognize how we as Christians tend to make (what we think are) little additions to the gospel in our lives and how we make those same requirements of others. We'll be set free from performance-based Christianity and set free to follow the Spirit of Freedom.
