Sometimes one or more of my children seem so needy, or I'm so battle-weary, I can read the Word but not study it. Other times two weeks might go by in which I read and study. Whatever stage you're at, never feel like it's all or nothing. Never give up.
Sometimes I read the Bible aloud with my children because it's the only time I'll have with the Word that day--not just because they need it. Do what you need to do to get those living words in, not as a condition of your salvation, but as a means to the abundant life here on earth. God designed our souls to crave Him. We need Him more than we know and nothing else satisfies. That is why we read and pray..because man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
Deuteronomy 8:3
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
John 15:26
"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
Now on to our study for today...
Today God has a message for us about the simplicity of Christianity. Beware of those who make it complicated and burdensome, as the Judaizers did in Paul the Apostle's day, forty-nine years after Christ died. And secondly, beware of pleasing man instead of God.
Our Text Today: Galatians 1:1-10
1 Paul, an apostle —sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead — 2 and all the brothers and sisters[a] with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
Paul's words here? Very strong compared to his other letters. Paul and Barnabas had just completed their first missionary journey, in present-day Turkey. Soon they received word of poisonous preaching by Paul's Jewish-Christian opposers, called Judaizers. We know that Christ called Paul to preach to the Gentiles, who naturally knew nothing of Jewish laws and customs. Christ came to save all, through faith in his blood, not by works, so no man can boast. What Christ did was not simple by any means, but the message for us? Beautiful in its simplicity. Just believe that when Christ said, "It is finished", he meant it. We mustn't add anything to that statement...mustn't burden believers, or potential believers, with rules or customs.
The Judaizers undermined Paul's authority by telling the Gentiles they must be circumcised and follow other Jewish laws, in order to be saved. In other words, they had to become a Jew first, then a Christian.
The new Gentile Christians? How did this make them feel? Extremely burdened I would imagine, and equally confused. How angry this makes God, as evidenced by Paul's strong words here. "If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!"
I know of one Christian woman who quit wearing her wedding ring because the Bible says women shouldn't be adorned with expensive jewelry. Some Christian women cover their heads and secretly think every Christian women should. Some wear only long dresses and secretly think every Christian woman should.
While covering your head is fine--the Bible never said to stop doing it and some argue it is more than a cultural thing--it isn't fine to see this as a good deed or as something a more spiritual woman does. All these things--dropping a wedding ring, wearing prairie dresses, covering the head--smack of the Judaizers. Is faith in Christ's blood not enough? Is it our own lack of humility that makes us want to add things to the Gospel? We want to feel as though we have something to do with our salvation?
The zealot Jews who insisted Gentiles get circumcised? What was their real issue? Did they want to stand out in the crowd of Believers--feel extra special and extra spiritual, like a mini-God? They weren't willing to get down low, and be under God?
We are utterly dependent on God. Worthless without Him, even. We are called to believe, and then to develop and maintain relationship with Him. Christianity is very much about relationship. God wants relationship with us...so much so that he willed his Son to suffer just so He can get back into relationship with us (like He originally had with Adam and Eve).
That's God's heart...relationship with us. While there are certainly behaviors, such as caring for widows and the poor, that please God, these behaviors have their root in relationship with God. God infiltrates our heart, making it beat like His. The longer we are in sustained relationship with Him, the more our lives will resemble His will.
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
It's very hard to cling to Christ and do what's right...especially when it isolates you. If all your peers have the latest gadgets, the bigger houses, the most fashionable clothes, where does that leave you, who wants to honor God with first fruits and with charitable giving?
Or if your friends go to worldly movies and invite you along, or take worldly media into their homes and invite you over, where does that leave you, who wants to dwell on the pure and lovely?
Philippians 4:8 NLT
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
It leaves you isolated. Cling to God and know that as your peers grow relationship with Him, they too, will want to give rather than store up treasure, and want to dwell on the pure and lovely. Let God take them where they're at. And love them where they're at, as He does.
Just don't follow them. Excuse yourself before the movie comes on, for example. If pressed, explain why, and say that your position is one that comes from the Holy Spirit, who works on different areas at different times, in each person.
The Jews who knew the Judaizers were wrong? They had to stand firm in the True Gospel. They had to reject the false one, even when it isolated them from their Jewish peers and created tension.
The key is to live as Christ but not burden others with all the "shoulds". Be an example, but a humble one--not a haughty, self-righteous one. Let Christ in you speak.
And if you're clinging to something burdensome in your own life, be sure it's from the Holy Spirit and not from a desire to stand out as more "spiritual" than others. Is it a "circumcision" issue? Or a God-honoring issue?
Prayer Time: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for creating us for relationship with You. Thank you for filling us with living water, for satisfying our souls. May we never complicate it, God. Not for ourselves, nor for others. May be humble ourselves before you daily, knowing we are nothing without you. May we love others where they're at, and let Christ in us speak. Guide our every action and thought through Your Holy Spirit, whom you sent to give us the Spirit of truth. Let us be receptive to the Spirit and maintain relationship with You, despite the difficulties of caring for young children. Strengthen us always, give us an overpowering thirst for your Word and for prayer. Forgive us for our sins, Father.
In your Son's name I pray, Amen.
photo credit
Now on to our study for today...
Today God has a message for us about the simplicity of Christianity. Beware of those who make it complicated and burdensome, as the Judaizers did in Paul the Apostle's day, forty-nine years after Christ died. And secondly, beware of pleasing man instead of God.
Our Text Today: Galatians 1:1-10
1 Paul, an apostle —sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead — 2 and all the brothers and sisters[a] with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
Paul's words here? Very strong compared to his other letters. Paul and Barnabas had just completed their first missionary journey, in present-day Turkey. Soon they received word of poisonous preaching by Paul's Jewish-Christian opposers, called Judaizers. We know that Christ called Paul to preach to the Gentiles, who naturally knew nothing of Jewish laws and customs. Christ came to save all, through faith in his blood, not by works, so no man can boast. What Christ did was not simple by any means, but the message for us? Beautiful in its simplicity. Just believe that when Christ said, "It is finished", he meant it. We mustn't add anything to that statement...mustn't burden believers, or potential believers, with rules or customs.
The Judaizers undermined Paul's authority by telling the Gentiles they must be circumcised and follow other Jewish laws, in order to be saved. In other words, they had to become a Jew first, then a Christian.
The new Gentile Christians? How did this make them feel? Extremely burdened I would imagine, and equally confused. How angry this makes God, as evidenced by Paul's strong words here. "If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!"
I know of one Christian woman who quit wearing her wedding ring because the Bible says women shouldn't be adorned with expensive jewelry. Some Christian women cover their heads and secretly think every Christian women should. Some wear only long dresses and secretly think every Christian woman should.
While covering your head is fine--the Bible never said to stop doing it and some argue it is more than a cultural thing--it isn't fine to see this as a good deed or as something a more spiritual woman does. All these things--dropping a wedding ring, wearing prairie dresses, covering the head--smack of the Judaizers. Is faith in Christ's blood not enough? Is it our own lack of humility that makes us want to add things to the Gospel? We want to feel as though we have something to do with our salvation?
The zealot Jews who insisted Gentiles get circumcised? What was their real issue? Did they want to stand out in the crowd of Believers--feel extra special and extra spiritual, like a mini-God? They weren't willing to get down low, and be under God?
We are utterly dependent on God. Worthless without Him, even. We are called to believe, and then to develop and maintain relationship with Him. Christianity is very much about relationship. God wants relationship with us...so much so that he willed his Son to suffer just so He can get back into relationship with us (like He originally had with Adam and Eve).
That's God's heart...relationship with us. While there are certainly behaviors, such as caring for widows and the poor, that please God, these behaviors have their root in relationship with God. God infiltrates our heart, making it beat like His. The longer we are in sustained relationship with Him, the more our lives will resemble His will.
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
It's very hard to cling to Christ and do what's right...especially when it isolates you. If all your peers have the latest gadgets, the bigger houses, the most fashionable clothes, where does that leave you, who wants to honor God with first fruits and with charitable giving?
Or if your friends go to worldly movies and invite you along, or take worldly media into their homes and invite you over, where does that leave you, who wants to dwell on the pure and lovely?
Philippians 4:8 NLT
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
It leaves you isolated. Cling to God and know that as your peers grow relationship with Him, they too, will want to give rather than store up treasure, and want to dwell on the pure and lovely. Let God take them where they're at. And love them where they're at, as He does.
Just don't follow them. Excuse yourself before the movie comes on, for example. If pressed, explain why, and say that your position is one that comes from the Holy Spirit, who works on different areas at different times, in each person.
The Jews who knew the Judaizers were wrong? They had to stand firm in the True Gospel. They had to reject the false one, even when it isolated them from their Jewish peers and created tension.
The key is to live as Christ but not burden others with all the "shoulds". Be an example, but a humble one--not a haughty, self-righteous one. Let Christ in you speak.
And if you're clinging to something burdensome in your own life, be sure it's from the Holy Spirit and not from a desire to stand out as more "spiritual" than others. Is it a "circumcision" issue? Or a God-honoring issue?
Prayer Time: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for creating us for relationship with You. Thank you for filling us with living water, for satisfying our souls. May we never complicate it, God. Not for ourselves, nor for others. May be humble ourselves before you daily, knowing we are nothing without you. May we love others where they're at, and let Christ in us speak. Guide our every action and thought through Your Holy Spirit, whom you sent to give us the Spirit of truth. Let us be receptive to the Spirit and maintain relationship with You, despite the difficulties of caring for young children. Strengthen us always, give us an overpowering thirst for your Word and for prayer. Forgive us for our sins, Father.
In your Son's name I pray, Amen.
photo credit
1 comment:
SO very true! It is easy to become legalistic with a superior air when you have been a christian for a long time. Because we have made some radical decisions like no TV we have to be careful in the way we present that no to sound condemning to others. Wise words here, my friend.
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