Galatians 4:21-31 offers a bit a sidetrack in the straightforward message that has been presented throughout the letter. The sidetrack is important, however, because it uses a well-known story from the Old Testament to illustrate the overall point that salvation by grace through faith is greater than the covenant of works found in the Mosaic covenant. To understand the illustration, …
Matthew 20:25-28 The paradigm of leadership that Jesus gave to his followers is one that turns every non-Christian view of leadership on its head. Whereas the world (Gentiles) typically view leadership as an exercise of power (lording authority), Jesus teaches that those who would lead in his kingdom must be servants first. Leaders who lead the way that Jesus taught …
In Galatians 4 Paul gives extended usage to a metaphor to describe our relationship to God as well as the former relationship that God’s people had to the law. That metaphor concerns how the relationship of an heir to his father changed over time under Roman law. An heir becomes such because he is the son of his father. Nothing …
One of the great themes of Galatians about which we have discussed in many different ways over the last several weeks is the comparison between religious law and relationship with God by grace through faith. Grace is superior to religion in every way imaginable. A natural question for people reading Galatians might be “so if the law of Moses is …
The story of religion can be summed up as the story of making and trying to keep divine laws. Even Biblical religion can be described in this way. There is no doubt that God gives laws in the Scriptures and that the laws that he gives are good. But the greatest gift that God gives to humanity is his Son, …
“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worshipdoesn’t.” John Piper As individual Christians we should find our purpose in life by looking at God’s purpose for hisbody. We often refer to the purpose of the church as missions….doing the things that Godcommissioned the church to do (Matthew 28:18-20). The problem is that many …
Galatians 3:1-6 One mistake that we often make when referring to the Gospel is to believe that God’s salvation is cheap. We think this way out of a misunderstanding of grace. Our salvation is a gift from God to us which we did not and cannot earn. But that does not mean that the Gospel is cheap. Jesus paid a …
Galatians 2:15-21 The theme in Galatians over and over is that no work can ever justify us before God. Only faith in Jesus Christ is sufficient to make us right before God. What is remarkable about Christians is how we so easily slip back from pure faith in Christ to religious works as a means of justification. Paul is pushing …
Overcoming Demons Read Psalm 95 and Luke 11:14-23 What does it mean to acknowledge the greatness of God? How exactly are we to relate to Jesusas a king? The Psalms have many such songs where praise is going up to God as the Almightypowerful and strong King. Psalm 95 is one such example. It begins with a call to enter …
Galatians 2:1-14 Discussion Guide One of the saddest statements about the American church in recent years is that we are mostlyknown for arguments and disagreements with other Christians. Some of these disagreementsare over important matters, but others of them appear stupid and petty to everyone who is notdirectly engaged in the argument. One of the great characteristics of Paul in …
