Starting By Grace, Living By
Grace
Galatians 3:1-5
We’ll be taking a break from
our Galatians study until Jan 13, which is a little unfortunate because we’re
in the middle of a section. But I hope
we’ve gotten enough of Paul’s gospel to begin to re-think our own Christianity
and to begin to live out the gospel.
Imagine someone in the
So you rush over and in that moment of crisis, you
jump into the river, swim over to him, grab him, and pull him to the side. He profusely thanks you, you saved his
life.
And then oddly, he gets back to the riverside and goes
into the water. And you yell, Woah! What are you
doing? And he says, Well, I know I’m not
that good, but I think I can swim across.
What would you say?
Are you crazy? Don’t you
understand what just happened? What’s
gotten into you?! And that’s pretty much
what Paul says in our passage here today.
Paul is preaching this gospel to Christians in
So Paul is preaching the gospel is not just how we begin the Christian life, it is how we
must live the Christian life.
Peter
was rebuked for not “living in light of the truth of the gospel.”
After
beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human
effort? (3:3)
The gospel is how we begin and how we live the
Christian life.
I think many of us recognize that the Gospel is how we
start the Christian life. That’s how
we’re “saved.” But the problem is that
for many of us, that’s where it ends.
Perhaps we’ve heard the line, God has given us this
gracious gift of salvation, and our Christian lives are just a “thank you” to
Jesus. God has given us salvation, and
now we need to live for Him. He’s done
this for us, we need to do this for
Him.
For many of us, the gospel is for how we start the
Christian life, but once we’re saved, a lot of Christian living is up to us,
its about what we do. We need to “be
good Christians,” and “obey” and “do good works.” And we certainly should. But there’s something very “works-oriented”
about how we do them. We think we’re
trying to score points, that God’s approval depends on our performance.
I think most of us recognize that to become a
Christian, to find salvation, our Bible reading (praying, ministry) doesn’t
gain points with God. But somehow we
think it does gain points now.
We
can’t do anything to merit God’s favor . . . ever.
We are helplessly dependent on God’s mercy &
kindness, then & now. It’s always a
gift.
For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. But it is by effort that you grow—and this
from yourselves. You must fully apply
yourself. The difference between the
mature and the immature is the difference between the law-keeping and the
law-failing, the diligent and the lazy, the faithful and the unfaithful. You were saved by grace, but you now it’s up
to you to grow in character and in your relationship with God.
Does that sound right to you?
Have you lost your mind? Did someone cast a spell on you? This just doesn’t make any sense!
This is a big deal!
Are
we so stupid?! Bewitched? Out
of our minds! Paul is astonished (1:6).
“You
crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex
on you? Have you taken leave of your
senses? Something crazy has happened . .
.” (The
Message)
It can all be for nothing (3:4). We
don’t know exactly happened. Maybe these
Christians faced some persecution or suffering, but in any case, the point is
that it could have been in vain.
Notice again chapter 1. We can turn away from God, deserting the one who called us (1:6). If we preach another gospel, may we go to
hell (1:9)!
This is very serious!
I don’t want to say that you can lose your salvation, but let’s acknowledge,
getting the gospel right in our Christian living
is part of our very salvation.
Paul offers 2 reasons for why
this is so absurd, why this is so inconsistent:
Look at
Christ crucified (3:1)
Christ crucified proves that we cannot be justified by
ourselves. If we could, then Christ died
in vain (2:21). But that He died on the
cross proves works cannot be good enough.
What does the cross say?
Suppose you wake up in the hospital [hospital bed/room
picture] one morning and someone explains that you were sick. You don’t remember anything, and so you ask,
“What it serious? What did they do to
me?”
Suppose the nurse says, “Oh, they just gave you some
fluids. You were pretty dehydrated.”
Or she says, “Well, actually, your sister had to
donate her left lung. She passed away on
the operating table. She knew it was
risky, but she understood it was the only way to save your life.” This is more serious than you realized. You needed a lot more help than you had
originally thought.
Suppose you are released from jail [empty jail cell] and
someone explains that you were on trial but now acquitted. You don’t remember anything so you ask, “What
it serious? What happened?”
Supposed a friend says, “Oh, your mom came and paid a
$100 fine and they released you.”
Or suppose he says, “Oh, your mom begged to take your
place, and the judge actually agreed.
She’s on death row, but they let you go.”
What did Jesus have to do to save us? He didn’t just have to give us fluids or pay
a $100 fine. He had to die on a cross.
The cross
says I was in serious trouble and was helpless to save myself.
Jesus didn’t just give us a helping hand. He had to give his very life to save
mine. I was in serious trouble.
I have to confess that I don’t always think this
way. I’ve thought I was a good person,
or at least, better than some. I think
I’m an honest, decent citizen; I try to be a good husband and father; and I’ve
devoted my life to serving Christ and His people as a pastor.
But the gospel strikes at our pride. I thought I had something. I knew I wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t think I
was that bad. But the gospel says, No, you
were helplessly and hopelessly sinful.
And all our good works and effort are worthless—monopoly money. Paul, you’re no better than any other person in
the pews or on the streets.
The cross
says I cannot produce true good works.
In myself, I am completely powerless to do anything righteous or
pleasing to God, then or now.
To use our introduction, by calling on Jesus we’ve
said, I can’t swim, save me! But then we
try to swim! In the Gospel we say, I am
not righteous but sinful. But as we live
our Christian lives, we think, I’m somewhat righteous. If I try hard enough, I can be
righteous. We couldn’t swim then and we
can’t swim now. We were unrighteous then
and, in ourselves, we’re unrighteous now.
The cross stands to condemn me as a hopeless sinner—that’s
who I am. To think that I can now
produce good works is to fail to understand who I really am and what had to be
done to save me. In ourselves, apart
from Christ, nothing good will come from us.
To be clear, in Christ, yes, we are righteous, we do
produce good works. In Christ, we can
swim! But in ourselves, we cannot
produce good works today any more than before we met Christ.
Look at how
you received the Holy Spirit (3:2, 5)
We might say that the greatest gift we receive is the
gift of the Holy Spirit. More than
health or material provisions, we’ve received the third person of the
Trinity. We have access to His power and
resurrection life.
And how did we receive this ultimate gift? Even though we’re helplessly and hopelessly
sinful, how was it that the 3rd person of the Trinity would dwell in
us?
Did we get it by working for it? Did we get it because we obeyed all the
commandments? Was it because we read our
Bible and prayed so hard? Or was it a
gift, received by faith? No!
We can’t do anything to merit God’s
favor . . . ever. It’s always a gift.
The
Christian life is always, from beginning to end, about faith and receiving.
We
don’t receive the gift of salvation and then repay Him with our good works.
It’s
not, He did this for me and I’ll do this for Him. No, we receive the gift of salvation and then
we receive the grace to be faithful and obedient. Anything good we do “for Him” was first given
to us “from Him.” Eph 2:10, our good
works are God’s gifts prepared for us.
We do not come in as a prodigal son and then live as a
wage-earning employee.
We
come in as a prodigal son, poor and undeserving, and we live as a prodigal son,
poor and undeserving, sustained only by His grace. We are always unworthy recipients.
The Gospel is not just about the free gift of
salvation but also about God’s gracious work in sustaining, sanctifying and
glorifying us.
The
Gospel is not a story about how God rescued us in the moment of our salvation
and then we pick it up from there. The
Gospel is a story about how God has rescued us, redeemed us, trained us,
sanctified us, sustained us and glorified us.
Our Gospel is too small. It is,
from beginning to end, about what He has done for us as we trust in Him. We never earn anything, we always receive!
It
is utterly absurd and a betrayal to the gospel to think that through we start
by grace, we now live by works. There is
nothing to boast about in our Christian lives.
We start by grace and we live by grace.
It is all and always by grace, through faith.
That may be nice theology,
but let me make 2 more comments about how to live this out.
Christian Living is Living in the Spirit
It
is interesting how much Paul talks about the HS in this passage.
Receiving
the HS is from the very beginning of our Christian lives.
3:3,
After beginning with the Spirit, are
you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
It
seems to me that Paul does not distinguish receiving the Spirit from receiving
salvation.
As we mentioned before being alive to God (2:19), Christ
living in me (2:20), living by faith in Christ (2:20), living by grace (2:21),
and living by the Holy Spirit (5:16-26) all refer to the same thing.
God’s gift of salvation is a Holy Spirit
experience.
As
we’ll see in chapter 5, we’re to live in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, bear
the fruit of the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit.
There
should be evidence of the Spirit in our lives—that’s normal Christian living.
For the Galatians apparent there were miraculous
works of the Spirit (3:5). And
though we don’t see as much of that today, there should be evidence of the
Spirit.
We have a Spirit that cries out with in “Abba, Father”
(4:6)
Inner testimony,
a spirit of sonship.
The
fruit of the Spirit is love (5:22)
The
only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (5:6)
But
do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another
in love. (5:13)
Spirit-generated
love.
We
ask for the empowerment and guidance of the HS.
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk 11:13)
There
should be evidence of the work of the HS in our lives.
APTAT
Practical Advice (from Piper)
How do we avoid the Galatian Heresy? How
do we die to self and live to God? What
does it mean to live by faith, to live in the Spirit?
I Acknowledge
that apart from Christ I can do nothing of eternal value (Jn
15:5); that in ourselves we can’t do anything righteous, in the past and in the
present. I acknowledge I can’t swim.
For others, we may think we can do something. Though it sounds nice, we may have trouble
truly having this attitude. Our “can-do”
spirit, our pride goes deep.
For some of us, this is easy—we know we fall way
short. But we just stay in our guilt and
shame. We need to turn to Christ.
I Pray that
Christ would produce righteousness in me.
I for the HS, I pray that the HS would bear the fruit of love in my
heart, that He would keep me pure, that He would empower me to resist
temptation. It is saying, “Have mercy on
me, a sinner. I can’t do anything
good. I need You. I’m depending on You.” It is the posture of dependence. Jn 15:5.
Jesus loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak
but He is strong.—that is the
posture, attitude of Gospel living.
I Trust in
God’s word & promises. We claim
God’s promises.
But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given
to you as well. “Do not be
afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” (Lk 12:31, 32)
His divine
power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge
of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2
Peter 1:3)
If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us
from all unrighteousness. (1 Jn 1:9)
When we ask, we do ask sheepishly. We do not wonder if God will hear or answer
us. We can pray with assurance, not
because we’re so righteous, but because God cannot break His promises.
We live with the assurance that we already have all
that we need. Gospel Living is not
“trying to get” but “because it’s already given.” We believe and rejoice in what we have.
I Act in
obedience. If God’s word says to love,
we love. Living by grace does not mean
we don’t love. We know that in
ourselves, we are not truly loving. We
pray and ask God to fill us with His love.
We believe that God forgives us of our lack of love and will supply the
HS to produce love.
We act, but it is not human effort or striving. This becomes an act of faith, and as such, it is an opportunity for the HS to work
in and through us.
It is going back to the river, knowing you can’t swim,
but you’re asking God to help you.
You’re claiming His promises, and then you go out into the river! It is an act of faith.
I Thank God
for whatever good may have come.
There is no boasting.
It is clear that we are sinful, but as we depend on God, and as He shows
us in our lives, He gets the praise and glory.
As we mentioned at the beginning: grace to me, glory
to God, all because of Jesus.
Before we go and try to do
all this, we pray, Lord, I can’t. Of
course I want to, I am hungry for more of You.
But I know I can’t even properly depend on you and trust in You unless
you enable me. I am helpless. But You are gracious, loving and
faithful. As I depend on You, I now
act/obey/follow, believing You will supply and empower me. To You be all glory.