STUDY OF GALATIANS (Part-5)

Study of Galatians (Part-5)

Question:
How would you define freedom?

Question:
What is the difference between people who
are free and people who are under bondage?
    – Free people have:
          – A different outlook on life (brighter outlook).
          – Different responsibilities.
          – Different attitudes.
          – Different way of life.
          – Creative opportunities.

Question:
How does this relate to us as Christians?

Question:
When someone under bondage has been freed,
would they ever want to be in bondage again?

Question:
How does this relate to us?
    – After we have been freed from the bondage of sin,
      we should never want to be chained to it again.

Many of Paul’s readers were slaves and had never known what
freedom was. They must have been thrilled when Paul reminded
them they were free. Their freedom was spiritual, not physical.
They knew the burden of guilt when they realized their sins made
their lives displeasing to God.

The freedom of a slave was sometimes purchased by the slave,
or the family of the slave. This spiritual freedom, however, was
purchased by Jesus Christ.

GALATIANS 5:
VERSE 1.
Paul was saying:
    “Through Christ, you are free;
     don’t succumb to the bondage of sin again”.

When he says, “stand firm”, he is implying that we should continue
moving forward in our efforts to become more like the One we are
following; Jesus is righteous, so that should our goal as well.

If “stand firm” meant to do nothing other than trying not to
‘backslide’, how would we be improving our lives as a Christian?

Becoming more holy and righteous is part of God’s plan to
‘sanctify’ those He has saved. It is a continual process for
transforming us into a ‘likeness’ of Jesus. It means that we
must agree to allow God to change us through the work of
the Holy Spirit.

We have to be ‘doing something’ and expect our lives to be constantly
changing by eliminating the things that displease the Lord and adding
things that please Him. This is all encompassed in Paul’s advice for us
to “stand firm”.

Look at how important ‘sanctification’ was to Jesus. He included it
in His prayer for the disciples (Note: When we are saved, we have
become disciples, so His prayer is for our sanctification as well).
    Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you
    sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
    For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly
    sanctified.
    (John 17:17-19)

We should think of ‘sanctification’ as ‘phase 2’ of our salvation.
It is a ‘natural’ byproduct of God’s salvation, so we should be
aware of how He is changing us daily. Each year we should be
able to see the things He has changed in us that have made us
more holy and righteous than the previous year.

Question:
How can we do that?
    We can use the ‘fruits of the Spirit’ as our measurement.
    We should ask ourselves these questions:
        “Has my level in these areas improved over last year?:
        “What evidence of change in these areas can I identify in myself?”

Fruits of the Spirit (with sample questions for comparison):

Love
    Do I show more love toward others, and toward God?
    If someone asked me how I have shown more love
    toward God and others, how would I respond?

Joy
    Do I have more spiritual joy in my heart and attitude?
    What evidences of these changes can I identify in myself?

Peace
    Have I removed things which can disrupt a peaceful
    environment, such as: gossip, rudeness, foul language
    that may be offensive to others, etc.?

Patience
    Have I learned and accepted the fact that the timetable
    for others (and God) are different than mine, and how
    do I react to our differences? Do I try to force them to
    get on my timetable, or do I look for ways to compromise?

Kindness
    Have I given more value and importance to the needs
    and desire of others? Have I incorporated the theme
    of Philippians 2:3-4 into my own life?

Goodness
    In what ways have I gone ‘out of my way’ to do something
    special for others, with no expectations of anything from
    them in return? When is the last time I made a special
    effort to encourage someone, or to comfort someone who
    is hurting, or going through a difficult time? Am I even
    sensitive to the needs and hurts of others or am focused
    only on myself (my wants and my needs)?

Faithfulness
    In what ways can I see that my ‘faith’ is growing, and my
    relationship with the Lord is closer than it was last year?
    How has my prayer time, bible reading, worship, and
    consideration of others increased?

Gentleness
    Have I learned that the opinions of others may be different
    than mine, and how do I handle it? Do I get loud and try to
    force them to think like I do; do I tell them (and possibly
    others) how stupid they are? Or, do I consider their opinions
    as important to them, and ask them to explain the reasoning
    of their thoughts? Do I listen to them in order to get a better
    understanding of their thoughts, or do I listen so that I can
    respond by refuting their opinions and proving that I am much
    smarter than they are, as if we are having a debate?

Self-control
    How much have I allowed the Holy Spirit to gain control of my
    thoughts, words, actions and attitudes? How many of my habits,
    attitudes, and actions are still the same as they were before God
    blessed me with His gift of salvation? Am I still trying to justify
    any attitudes, habits, or actions in my life?

Overall, when we think about the fruits of the Spirit and the
sample questions we could ask ourselves, our changes are really
about giving up our selfishness and becoming selfless like Jesus,
aren’t they?

VERSE 2.
Paul’s opponents were constantly pointing
out that the Jews were God’s chosen people.

They said that others must identify with the Jews
in order for them to have a relationship with God.
    – According to them, the only way to do this was
      through circumcision and obedience to the laws.

Paul however, knew that salvation is a result of faith and
not on trying to obey the laws. He felt that if salvation is
based on keeping the law, then all the laws had to be kept.
Breaking one law, was equivalent to breaking all of the
laws. Obeying the laws alone, would cause a misunderstanding
of the significance of Jesus becoming the sacrifice for our sins.

Paul was saying:
    “If you believe this, and you have been circumcised because
     of this belief, then Christ is of no use to you at all, and His
     death means nothing”.

VERSE 3.
His Jewish opponents did not tell the whole story.

Paul reminds them of the implications involved with circumcision:
    – To accept part of the law means the entire law should be
      applicable (which would include achieving salvation on the
      basis of personal merit (by works)).

Question:
Do we have people today with different ideas regarding salvation?
    Examples?
        – Through church attendance.
        – Through baptism.
        – By living a good life.
        – By works.
          Question:
              What kind of works?

VERSE 4.
Paul was saying:
    “Conforming to, and believing in the Jewish
      law is to cut oneself off from Christ”.

    “To seek salvation in any other way than faith
      is to ignore the grace of God and Jesus”.

    “If you choose to be saved by law or works,
      you cannot be saved by grace (which is a gift).
      In effect, you have rejected the gift of salvation”.

VERSE 5.
Paul was saying:
    “The Holy Spirit will give us the patience and eagerness
      we need for anxiously seeking the righteousness that
      will be given to us as a result of our faith”.

VERSE 6.
Paul was saying:
    “Faith in Jesus Christ is all that matters for salvation.
      Being circumcised or uncircumcised has nothing to
      do with being saved”.
      Note:
          If being circumcised was a requirement for being
          saved then where would that leave women? Would
          it be impossible for them to be saved?

    “Faith is what is important, and it shows itself through love”.

Note:
Paul could agree that circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant,
but he knew that it accomplished nothing as far as salvation is
concerned.

Paul wanted to encourage the Galatians to resist his opponents’
challenges, and to exercise their freedom by trusting in Christ.

VERSE 7.
Paul was pleased with their progress, but he wanted to know
who the false teachers were. Why? Because they were causing
the faith of the Galatians to fade (they were not obeying the truth).

VERSE 8.
Paul was saying:
    “God (the one who calls you) would not lead you away from
      Himself, so these ideas from false teachers are persuading
      people to follow another path for salvation”.

VERSE 9.
Paul makes a correlation:
    – A little yeast can have a strong effect on a large lump of dough.
    – A few giving in to the belief of circumcision creates a danger
      of having a strong impact that will mislead many from the truth.

VERSE 10.
Paul expresses his faith in the people;
    – He felt their faith would win out and
      that God would punish the false teachers.

VERSE 11.
Paul was saying:
    “If I preached circumcision, I would not be persecuted;
    they wouldn’t mind my preaching to the Gentiles, as
    long as I included circumcision”.

Note:
Paul never changed his message.

Note:
To preach the death of a man on the cross was a scandal to Jewish
hearers; crucifixion was punishment for the worst type of criminals.
Paul felt that if he preached circumcision, the sacrifice Jesus made
for our sins would no longer be shared by others.
Note:
    Paul was confident that faith would help the
    people to accept the sacrifice of Jesus as truth.

VERSE 12.
Paul felt they shouldn’t stop at a small piece of flesh as
circumcision, but if they believed it so strongly, then go
all the way and make themselves eunuchs.

Question:
Was he making a mockery of their belief?

VERSE 13.
Paul was saying:
    “You have been freed, but you are not free to live any way
      you want to. You must be under the control of God, and
      not the flesh, or world’.

    “Freedom should be controlled by love. Love makes freedom
      a reality. Love includes having an interest in the welfare of others”.

VERSE 14.
For some, the law is easier to obey (because it is specific).
Love is not as clear and well-defined, so it requires the
development of a new and more righteous attitude.
Note:
People can obey the law while having any type of attitude.

Four things we should learn from this lesson
1. We have been set free from the bondage of
    Satan and the world through the sacrifice of Jesus.

2. Outward rites and practices defined by man
    cannot make us right with God.

3. Freedom is not an excuse or a ‘free pass’ for sin and bad behavior.

4. Thankfulness for freedom is expressed by
    serving one another (and God) through love.

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