R Y A N S T R A T T O N

Life in Peace

One of the things I enjoy about Paul is how he can bring the Old Testament to life in profound ways. When we read his writings we can learn more about the Old Testament and begin to look at it as important to our faith today.

Galatians 4:21-27 ²¹Tell me—those of you who want to be under the Law—don’t you listen to the Law? ²²It’s written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. ²³The son by the slave woman was conceived the normal way, but the son by the free woman was conceived through a promise.²⁴These things are an allegory: the women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to slave children; this is Hagar. ²⁵Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and she corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because the city is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷It’s written:

Rejoice, barren woman, you who have not given birth.

        Break out with a shout, you who have not suffered labor pains;

because the woman who has been deserted will have many more children

        than the woman who has a husband. 
I believe we can learn something from this passage today. The questions that come to mind is “How do we want to live?” and “How do we ask others to live?” I believe these are important for us to consider.
Paul is quoting Isaiah in this passage and also telling the story from Genesis about Sarah and Hagar and Abraham. I also think this is telling us that we have a couple of options when it comes to our faith: we can live legalistically (meaning we have to live with every rule and are not allowed to break any of them); or we can live as redeemed people from the rules and the Law because of Jesus Christ.
Life already has many rules, why would we want to try to add more rules to our life? I love how Jesus summed up the Law in two phrases. This is in Matthew 22:37-40
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being,[c] and with all your mind. 38  This is the first and greatest commandment. 39  And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. 40  All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
He is telling us how we can live as free people in our faith. When we truly love God, we can love people more. (We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19). Then when we love people, we show our love of God. It’s almost too simple, really. The rest is just thinking and other things we want to add to our lives.
So we do not need to create rules (though we should follow the rules and laws we have); and we should not impose hardships on people. Paul fights this throughout his letter. He is making sure the motives for living the life Christ desires us to live is not done to earn any favor. Paul desires that the people, including us today, realize we are free. We should live our lives as redeemed, forgiven, Holy Spirit led people who live our life in peace because we are not trying to earn anyone’s favor or grace, including God’s.
#LiveFreeInChrist

Influence

Galatians 4:12-20 ¹²I beg you to be like me, brothers and sisters, because I have become like you! You haven’t wronged me. ¹³You know that I first preached the gospel to you because of an illness. ¹⁴Though my poor health burdened you, you didn’t look down on me or reject me, but you welcomed me as if I were an angel from God, or as if I were Christ Jesus! ¹⁵Where then is the great attitude that you had? I swear that, if possible, you would have dug out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?¹⁷They are so concerned about you, though not with good intentions. Rather, they want to shut you out so that you would run after them. ¹⁸However, it’s always good to have people concerned about you with good intentions, and not just when I’m there with you. ¹⁹My little children, I’m going through labor pains again until Christ is formed in you. ²⁰But I wish I could be with you now and change how I sound, because I’m at a loss about you.

Throughout the letter to the Galatians, Paul is emphasizing the point and the truth that faith in Jesus Christ brings freedom. He was such a good leader that he made sure he lived like the people he served. This is an important point for us today. When reaching out and serving others, we can gain more influence by living life with the people hand in hand, and not just going in and leaving after we served.

This kind of lifestyle and living faith of Paul was so encouraging to the Galatians, they did not want to see him suffer and would have done anything to make sure he would get healed, even giving their eyes. So now we ask the question, who are we trying to influence for Christ and what are the methods we are using? Is life being shared and community being developed?

But, it seems that every time something good comes along, there is someone or something there to try and dismantle the work being done. This is something that Paul has been arguing against throughout the letter. This time he adds something interesting. He makes the point that the only way the Galatians will be accepted by the people is if they begin acting like them. How often this happens today. Paul accepted the Galatians because Christ accepted them. He brought them to faith in Christ and worked with them so they can have their lives transformed by Christ, not by trying to earn God’s favor. The new people coming in, that changed Paul’s message, are only trying to make themselves look so good by making the Galatians feel bad.

Paul is emotional because the congregation he formed is now doing things and living a certain way to impress another group and not living for Christ. He longs for them to be free from having to impress others. Part of the freedom Christ gives is the freedom to look to Christ as the example and not try to change our lives to emulate another flawed person.

The final thing I notice is that Paul longs to be with the Galatians in person. It is easy to try to communicate with people via text, call, email, Facebook, etc; but it is more important and more impactful to communicate face to face. When we communicate face to face we will be able to examine and find the true motives behind the actions.

Christ breaks us free to follow him.

#LiveFreeInChrist

Don’t Turn Back

Galatians 4:8-11 ⁸At the time, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved by things that aren’t gods by nature. ⁹But now, after knowing God (or rather, being known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless world system? Do you want to be slaves to it again? ¹⁰You observe religious days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹I’m afraid for you! Perhaps my hard work for you has been for nothing.

Paul is saying something here that I think we can’t overlook. After we have faith in Christ, it is easy to forget about the faith and go on living our old way of life.

One of my favorite sayings goes something like this, “Christ meets us where we are but doesn’t leave us as we are.” I think this is a telling reminder of how the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives really can and does make all the difference. We are different people after an encounter with Jesus the Christ. Or something else can happen. We can be so zealous of the faith that we begin to follow a prescription for how to live for God and we can actually create a set of rules that make it difficult to be a Christian unless they are followed. Or the person is not worshipping Christ “correctly.”

To order our lives around a set of “rules and regulations” can enslave us again. Jesus Christ calls us and invites us to live in freedom. Here we do not focus on what we cannot do (or what we are against). We instead focus on what we can do (or what we are for). For us to be enslaved to the “world’s system” means that we will care more about what other people think or are doing than we think about God’s desires. It is easy to go with the crowd, but w should be careful not to have the crowd bind us into something we cannot be or know is not true.

We should also take time to pray for and encourage our leaders. They may not always get everything right, we are all human after all; but they have worked to bring us to a place in our faith that it would break their hearts to know we have fallen away. This is the tone in Paul’s voice and attitude toward the people of Galatia. He is heartbroken they are more easily swayed by the winds of something new and exciting, than to be firm in their faith and live in freedom.

Paul is asking the people to remember who they follow, Jesus Christ, and asking them to re-examine their lives and faith. I believe we should do this as well. It is important for us to stand firm in our faith in Jesus Christ, because his message is the only one that keeps us free.

Remember, we are FREE from trying to be like everyone else. We are FREE to be like Jesus Christ in all we say and in all we do.

#LiveFreeInChrist

Heirs

Galatians 4:1-7 I’m saying that as long as the heirs are minors, they are no different from slaves, though they really are the owners of everything. ²However, they are placed under trustees and guardians until the date set by the parents. ³In the same way, when we were minors, we were also enslaved by this world’s system. ⁴But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent his Son, born through a woman, and born under the Law. ⁵This was so he could redeem those under the Law so that we could be adopted. ⁶Because you are sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” ⁷Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and if you are his child, then you are also an heir through God.

When I read the first few verses of this, I am reminded that before I learned and knew about Jesus Christ, I would allow what everyone around me to tell me what was right. This, to me, is “being enslaved by this world’s system.” So what do you think enslaves you? This is something I do not think we consider very often.There are many things that attempt to “enslave” us: TV, money, sex, being better than everyone else, not feeling any value, etc. These are some of the world’s systems that try to hold us down.

Then we get to verse four and everything changes. “But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent his Son.” From this point on in the passage for today, there is new hope. There is something new that is about to happen. God, Himself, is claiming us by becoming one of us. He sent His Spirit to us so we would cry out to Him and recognize Him as our Creator, our Redeemer, and giver of Life. This allows us to be “heirs” and be adopted into the family of God.

This is a family like no other. In this family there is freedom from the Law. We are no longer bound to do what “the world” tells us to do, or believe in what everyone else says is truth. We are free to live differently and experience the inheritance of eternal life and the riches of God that He generously wants to give. This is not always what we think it may be.

Eternal life and salvation are for right now, not just a future time. For God’s riches, mercy, grace and blessings to come through us for us to live in, we should be open to receive and allow these to be evident in our lives. So what is it we can receive? God can and does bless in many ways; but we can and do receive peace, hope, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, wisdom, the presence of God Himself, and much more.

Remembering this is what God is wanting to give us and live through our lives, we can know we are His child, call upon Him and receive all He wants to give so that we can live differently in a world that really wants to hold us down and think only of ourselves and keep us addicted to something so we are held back.

What enslaves you? Technology? Now we go back to the beginning, but this time we remember that we are FREE from being in bondage of anything that keeps us from Jesus Christ.

#LiveFreeInChrist

Family

Galatians 3:25-29 ²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian.²⁶You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹Now if you belong to Christ, then indeed you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.

Here is one of the things I love about the letter to the Galatians. In Christ everyone is equal. What an amazing thought. Those who do not have are equal with those who do have because of Christ. Those who are uneducated are equal with those who are educated because of Christ. Those who are ___(fill in the blank are equal with those who are (fill in the blank) because of Christ.

When we are baptized into the faith, we have been clothed with Christ. What does this mean to be clothed in Christ? Colossians chapter 3 gives a good definition of this. “¹²Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other.” And because we have been clothed in Christ, we are reminded we are children of God along with the people we may not like or agree with.

Another thing that I find amazing, again, is that when we are baptized into the faith, we join all of the other believers through history, even down to Abraham and Noah! We are part of a huge family of God. We do not always get along with our own family members but we can still love them and do what we are able to to guide them in their life and faith.

Let’s see this verse again (which also appears in Colossians 3): There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female; Aggie or Longhorn; black or white; purple or gold; American or (other country), for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

God’s family is bigger than we sometimes want to think about. But we are free to live as a family, especially as a family of God.

#LiveFreeInChrist

Released by Faith

Galatians 3:19-24 ¹⁹So why was the Law given? It was added because of offenses, until the descendant would come to whom the promise had been made. It was put in place through angels by the hand of a mediator. ²⁰Now the mediator does not take one side; but God is one. ²¹So, is the Law against the promises of God? Absolutely not! If a Law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would in fact have come from the Law. ²²But scripture locked up all things under sin, so that the promise based on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ might be given to those who have faith. ²³Before faith came, we were guarded under the Law, locked up until faith that was coming would be revealed, ²⁴so that the Law became our custodian until Christ so that we might be made righteous by faith.

Without rules and law, would we know what is right or wrong? The book of Judges says over and over that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Does having law keep us down and keep us from receiving God? No, in fact it point us to a life of faith and freedom.

Paul can be confusing in his writing. The Apostle Peter even says that Paul is hard to understand. But I think Paul is saying something awesome here. The Law was there to cover up (forgive) offenses against God and people. This meant a series of required sacrifices. I don’t know if we can fathom how many animals were killed and sacrificed as a way to receive forgiveness from God. Can you imagine if we had to still do that today?

So were the sacrifices enough to receive forgiveness of God? No. What was there, with the sacrifice offerings, was the faith of the people that God would forgive them. We can look at this as a precursor to Jesus Christ.

Today we do not need to offer any animal or grain sacrifices because Christ was the final sacrifice that we can look back upon in faith. So it is really by faith that we are free and it is by faith we can trust Jesus with our whole being. The Law was not meant to give live, but to show us we cannot live by our own righteousness, we need someone who can make us clean and holy. That person is Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law by removing our requirements to earn God’s forgiveness and favor and instead we receive it by faith.

The people in the book of Judges did what was right in their own eyes. We have the faith to be able to see life as God sees and gives us freedom to voluntarily (not out of obligation) to live as Jesus lived.

#LiveFreeInChrist

Promise of Inheritance

Galatians 3:15-18 ¹⁵Brothers and sisters, I’ll use an example from human experience. No one ignores or makes additions to a validated will. ¹⁶The promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn’t say, “and to the descendants,” as if referring to many rather than just one. It says, “and to your descendant,” who is Christ. ¹⁷I’m saying this: the Law, which came four hundred thirty years later, doesn’t invalidate the agreement that was previously validated by God so that it cancels the promise. ¹⁸If the inheritance were based upon the Law, it would no longer be from the promise. But God has given it graciously to Abraham through a promise.

When I read these words from Galatians, I am reminded that the Bible can really be summed up this way: Jesus Christ. As we read the scripture, we can see precursors and forerunners to Christ. God’s promises are never invalid or void. Jesus came so that each and every promise of God would be fulfilled in Him.

This is also one of those passages we have to be careful and not take out of context of the letter or of the Bible. I encourage you to read the entire book of Galatians today (it’s only six chapters) and see what God may be speaking to you through this short book and how the gospel of Jesus Christ is spoken of throughout: we have freedom in Christ!

I am also reminded, again, that we who are in the faith are considered part of the family of Abraham, which shows that the presence of God and the character of God is unchanging. What God says He’ll do, He does. What God promises to His people, He fulfills. Maybe not in the time we want, but God does come through on His promises.

The inheritance spoken of is of more value than money or property. It is God Himself. Think about that. We are heirs to receive the incredible presence of God in our everyday lives and even into eternity. Salvation is not for a distant time, it is now.

God has promised to give people, by faith, the inheritance promised Abraham. Will you accept this precious gift? God’s promises never expire or become invalid or void. We can live freely in Christ because of His gift.

#LiveFreeInChrist

Live Different

Galatians 3:10-14 ¹⁰All those who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone is cursed who does not keep on doing all the things that have been written in the Law scroll. ¹¹But since no one is made righteous by the Law as far as God is concerned, it is clear that the righteous one will live on the basis of faith. ¹²The Law isn’t based on faith; rather, the one doing these things will live by them. ¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—because it is written, Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed. ¹⁴He redeemed us so that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, and that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

How do you like the idea of living under a curse? I don’t. We can, if we’re not careful, focus on the first part of this passage and negate the second part.

I have read this passage many times and have thought, “how can someone be under a curse if they follow the Law?” One day it made sense to me. When we watch people in movies or on TV who have had a curse placed on them, they are not able to control what they are doing. This is a similar kind of thing that happens to people when I read this passage.

If our lives are lived in a way in which we are trying to please everyone (especially God), then we begin doing routines, superstitious that if we don’t we will have something bad happen to us. Following the Law to the letter is like us trying to earn God’s favor, and we forget God’s grace is absolutely free…to us.

Our challenge is to not let our lives revolve around rituals and acts to win approval, because we are already approved by God through Jesus Christ. Have you accepted this? We “receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” So it is through faith that we are accepted by God. It is through faith that we are free from “having” to do certain rituals. It is through faith that we accept God and “receive the promise of the Spirit.”

Faith means that we believe without seeing and without trying to earn God’s favor and love. Many of us, though, still try to complete our daily check-list of items and still do not accept God’s great gift. We are still unchanged and calloused. But Christ comes in the picture and we have the opportunity to see what God has done for us. God’s grace is absolutely free, to us; but it cost God greatly.

Jesus Christ was nailed and hung to a cross. The Law says that anyone hung to a tree (in other words poles from wood), they become a curse. Jesus paid the price of every sacrifice in the Hebrew Law so that would would not have to. He was able to do this because he lived the perfect life and willingly became a curse so that we would not have to give anymore payment for our sins, our transgressions. All we have to do is have faith it is completed.

Do you believe this? Has Jesus Christ changed your life? If so, then don’t worry about trying to earn his love and acceptance. Just allow his life to live through you. We can stay “cursed” if we do not demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in our lives. We won’t live completely joyful, peaceful, grace filled, etc lives if the message of Jesus Christ does not change us.

This is how we are free from the curse. We don’t need to worry about how other looks upon us. We know that God loves and even likes us (with faith) and that we are free to be loving, patient, generous, graceful, kind, good, gentle….

#LiveFreeInChrist

Joined Together

Galatians 3:6-9 ⁶Understand that in the same way that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, ⁷those who believe are the children of Abraham. ⁸But when it saw ahead of time that God would make the Gentiles righteous on the basis of faith, scripture preached the gospel in advance to Abraham: All the Gentiles will be blessed in you. ⁹Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham who believed.

We are all in search of belonging. Many people look to find fulfillment in passing fads. Others with people who really don’t care about them or make them feel worthless. Still others search for meaning and escape through different methods.

Where do you find your meaning and place of belonging? There have been times where I was searching for where I belonged and I made my identity wrapped up in my job. This is dangerous too, because we are always more than what we do. We are made in the image of God. This is where identity begins.

Look at the people who are surrounded by a community who supports, encourages and builds up. Who is actually more fulfilled? The person who attempts to find themselves in what they do, substances, people who make them feel no value? Or is it the person who is surrounded by a support structure to guide and encourage them through life’s journey?

The answer may seem obvious. (I hope.) This is what we find when we join in the Christian faith. Yes there are people who have been the wrong image and have done acts in the name of God that actually destroyed countless lives; but there are so many others who have professed faith in Christ that are good models and encouragers to help us live the life God calls us to live.

Think about this for a minute. When we profess faith in Christ, we actually are connected with people in the faith as far back as Abraham and Noah. This means that we can read their stories and we are reading about our family. We can see how they failed and how they succeeded. Yet through their failures, God was always with them. This gives me great joy because God is with me, and God is with you, especially when we fail and fall short of the glory of God.

We are children of God and this makes us part of the “blessings” that God promised Abraham. All it takes is childlike faith and trusting in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (we’ll see this tomorrow).

Believing in Christ does bring incredible blessings; but be careful how blessings are thought of. We can lose everything in our life, yet still be the most blessed people because we have Jesus Christ with us and the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

Are you searching for belonging? Faith ties us together with the people of faith before us. Follow their life and notice how God still worked through their life. He is working in your life too!

Praise be to God for this awesome community we belong to. We are free to know that we do not have to live this life alone.

#LiveFreeInChrist

Never Forget

Galatians 3:1-5 You irrational Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Jesus Christ was put on display as crucified before your eyes! ²I just want to know this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the Law or by believing what you heard? ³Are you so irrational? After you started with the Spirit, are you now finishing up with your own human effort? ⁴Did you experience so much for nothing? I wonder if it really was for nothing. ⁵So does the one providing you with the Spirit and working miracles among you do this by you doing the works of the Law or by you believing what you heard?

So here we are beginning the third chapter in the letter to the Galatians. This short letter is written to a church of believers who have drifted away from the grace of God and have tried to earn it or just add things and rituals to their faith. Paul writes this letter to admonish them and to remind them of the simple message of the gospel: Jesus Christ brings freedom not bondage!

We do not like to be told we are off base or that we are off track; but I wonder what would happen if we placed ourselves into this passage today. I invite you to read it again, this time putting your personal name in the blanks and see what the Spirit inside you might say or be doing.

You irrational ________! Who put a spell on ________? Jesus Christ was put on display as crucified before ________’s eyes! ²I just want to know this from ________: Did _________ receive the Spirit by doing the works of the Law or by believing what _________ heard? ³ Is _______ so irrational? After _________ started with the Spirit, is _________ now finishing up with your own human effort? ⁴Did _________ experience so much for nothing? I wonder if it really was for nothing. ⁵So does the one providing __________ with the Spirit and working miracles among you do this by you doing the works of the Law or by you believing what you heard?

As I was typing this, I placed my name in the blanks. Ouch! These are words I really don’t want to hear; but at the same time, they are words you and I need to hear.

We are often irrational (some translations say “foolish”) because we do not collect enough information before we make a judgment about another person. Typically this is because the other person or group says something or does something we just don’t like.

When we first believe, we knew the incredible presence of Jesus Christ and how his sacrifice has changed everything for us. We can now go to God personally. We can work in the Spirit. We can have the wisdom from heaven. We can do and receive so much. But, we forget this as we go on in our day to day lives. Instead of talking with God, we listen to negative people and news. Instead of praying or reading the Bible, we find others to talk through events, emotions, etc and we’ll read fiction books or anything else that is not the Bible.

There is so much potential in the world but we, like the Galatians, can go back to relying only on human effort. How can we do this? We do this by solely looking at our available resources and can forget that God promises to provide. We will talk bad about an idea before we try to understand what it is or how it will benefit the organization. To rely on human effort means that we forget that God is right here with us and will work and walk with us through everything in life.

This really is kind of a harsh passage; but one that we cannot overlook or assume it is really just meant for another people in another time and another place. I pray that reading the words from Paul in this letter can remind us of the greatness of God’s never-ending love for us. I pray you and I can live in the grace He provides. I pray the spark we experienced when we first believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ never dies down and we remain (or become) passionate for God because He is passionate for us.

Living free in Christ means that we are free to be loving, Spirit-filled people who do the work of God unashamedly and will reach out to all people with love and grace. This love and grace we give comes from God because “He first loved us.”

#LiveFreeInChrist

(Ephesians 4 is a great chapter as well, to help us remember this message.)

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