Motives

Almost every sermon series that we teach at Venture seems to have a focus on right motives in the acts of obeying God. This is not coincidence. The theme of right motives for Christian living is actually a major tenet of what it means to be a Christian. Think about some of the things that Jesus said to people who …

The Humility of Bearing a Burden

The timing of this discussion comes during a month when modern Western culture celebrates the fact that it is rushing headlong into a moral abyss that will culminate in its eventual implosion. All our cultural institutions and leaders are trying to outdo one another to see who can demonstrate the greatest “pride” in a particular angle of humanity’s fallen state. …

Restoration

Very few weeks go by without a news story about a prominent Christian who has been caught in sin. This becomes a common theme that people expect when they hear things about the American church. But it’s even more jarring that every church has moral failings by people within the body. Some of these are big and noticed by others; …

Life by the Spirit

One of the great ironies of religious life is how some of the people whose lives are most dictated by rules are often the people who are greatest offenders of the rules. This makes no sense to many people who are outside of religion. Religious people who fail to uphold the rules are very quickly labeled as “hypocrites” and cast …

False Doctrine

I often say that I love the academic environment of seminary or anywhere that is set aside for in-depth learning about theology and the Bible. However, there is one negative aspect to seminary when I attended that is very easy to assume as the reason you are there. Seminary students (and I include myself) can be some of the most …

The Yoke of Slavery

One of the greatest works of literature in the history of the English language is the allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress. Many of the themes of Galatians take great prominence in Bunyan’s masterpiece. Not least of these is the comparison between works of religion and salvation by grace through faith. A great illustration of this juxtaposition takes place on one of the occasions …

Motives

Religion vs Relationship

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, …

Shepherds and Wolves

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 …

What Does It Mean to be Adopted?

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 …

The Purpose of the Mosaic Law

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 …