Pastor Ryan Moore
Devotional Plan for: Week of July 5 - July 9 Monday - Read Galatians 2:19-20 Galatians 2:19-20 NIV: "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
When we think of freedom, we often think of having the ability to do whatever we want to do. We can make our own choices with our own selves in whatever way we wish. But what if that weren't freedom, but actual bondage?
In our passage today, Paul is writing to a church in Galatia and informing them about "the law". Now, this does not translate to "rules"; it specifically refers to the Old Testament law, and how now that Jesus has come and fulfilled the law, we aren't under the old law anymore. Sometimes, when we read passages like this, we think Paul is writing against "rules" or having to do things. We think this is about our new freedom to do whatever we wish. But, that's not at all what he's saying. Freedom doesn't come from the Old Testament law not existing anymore: freedom comes when we die to ourselves.
Freedom is not about endless optionality. The reality is, when we're the ones making all of our own decisions, then we are bound to our own broken and fallen decisions. If we're aware of anything in life, it's of our own brokenness. Instead of asking for the freedom to do whatever we want, we should ask to be free from ourselves. We want to die to ourselves, so that we can be alive in something, or someone, else: Jesus. No longer, as Paul says, do we live, for we have died but now Christ lives in us.
We all experience moments in our lives where we're trapped. Sometimes, we can look around at our circumstances and blame them. Perhaps we should first look at ourselves and wonder if our approach or our perspective is what's actually trapping us, and that if we die to our brokenness and take Christ's perspective, perhaps we'll experience true freedom.
True freedom comes when we let go of ourselves, and take on Christ.
Reflection Question(s): What's something that you would like freedom from? How are you asking God to free you from yourself regarding that issue?
Tuesday - Read Galatians 3:27-4:7 Galatians 3:27-4:7 NIV: "...for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir."
Captivity, incarceration, imprisonment, custody, detention, bondage, confinement are just a few of the words that come up when you ask Google to search, "what is the opposite of freedom?" Freedom and its antithesis are exactly what Paul is talking about in today's scripture reading.
In chapter 3, Paul argues that God's promise to Abraham precedes and takes priority over the law. The law served its purpose, functioning with the authority to restrain sin, yet lacking the power to liberate us from sin. The law served as our disciplinarian until Christ came. But now in Christ we are set free, justified, and made children of God through faith. This is true for Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female alike. When we come to faith, we belong to Christ; we are all one in Christ and heirs to God's promises.
In chapter 4, Paul expands on what it means to be an heir. While heirs are still minors, they are "no better than slaves," for they and the property they will inherit remain under the control of guardians and trustees "until the date set by the father". "So with us," Paul continues, "while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world".
Paul makes the astonishing claim that for the Galatians to adopt the Jewish law is the equivalent of returning to their former pagan practices. Being "imprisoned and guarded under the law", or being minors, means being "no better than slaves". It is the same as being "enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world". But there is no need for that, because the "date set by the Father" has arrived!
"But when the fullness of time had come" — at the end of one age and the beginning of another, at the time God deemed just right — "God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children". God's sending of his Son ends the reign of the law and inaugurates a new age. The Son is "born of a woman," fully human, and "born under the law." Jesus is born under the law in order to redeem us who are under the law, "so that we might receive adoption as children."
Then Paul shifts metaphors to a child being adopted. Under Roman law, adopted children had the same legal status and inheritance rights as biological children. It is significant that Paul does not identify Jews with biological children and Gentiles with adopted children. Rather, he suggests that we are all adopted children. None of us have any prior claim on the Father. Our adoption as God's children is a pure gift. While Jesus alone is Son of God from birth, he has chosen to share his kinship and inheritance with us.
Our adoption as God's children means that there is absolutely no reason to return to a life of bondage. In Christ we are children of God and full heirs with him to all that God has promised.
Reflection Question(s): How have you practically experienced the freedom that Jesus affords us? What did it mean for you when you first realized that you don't have to earn God's love or forgiveness? What does it mean now?
Wednesday - Read Galatians 5:1-5 Galatians 5:1-5 NIV: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope."
The idea of "gospel freedom" is sometimes lost on us. We do "Christian things" because they are "Christian things". We go through the motions. We forget the joy and the liberation that is in it, and in doing so inch close to falling back into that yoke of slavery. But that's not the life that we are called to! That's not why Christ died! Gospel freedom is not only freedom from sin. In this verse, it also clearly constitutes freedom from the weight of the law's call to personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience - a weight that Paul likens to a "yoke of slavery".
Stand firm in your freedom, Paul says. Don't budge from the freedom you have in Christ. There is a big principle that we draw from this passage and it's:
Stand firm in your freedom by realizing what's at stake. In this passage, Paul wants us to realize what's at stake when we take "Jesus + something else = acceptance with God." What's at stake? Three things:
A. Christ and his work will be of no value to us. Gal 5:2 reads "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all." This is shocking. If we trust in Christ plus our own obedience, we lose all the benefits of trusting in Christ. That's exactly what we do to Jesus' work when we try to add to it. It's either Jesus Christ in his perfection or our own works. There is no middle ground. If we trust in our own obedience, we deface the work of Christ. Jesus and his gospel will be of no value to us.
B. We become debtors to God's entire law. Verse 3 says, "I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law." You can't pick and choose from the law and add a bit of obedience. It's a package deal. Once you try to pick up a bit of the law, you have to pick up the whole thing. You can't pick and choose. The minute you begin to rely on your obedience, you become obligated to keep the entirety of God's law. The problem is that nobody, except for Jesus Christ, can keep God's law. So, we become hopeless. We become debtors to God's law with no hope of repayment.
C. We're cut off from the grace of Christ. Gal 5:4 says, "You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace." If you try to justify yourself before God based on your own obedience, then you cut yourself off from God's grace. Why is this? Because grace and self-justification are mutually exclusive. You have to choose. The minute you try to accomplish your own salvation, you're removing yourself from the grace and mercy of Christ.
What's the alternative? Gal 5:5 says: "For through the Spirit, we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope." This is what it means to follow Christ. Instead of relying on our own obedience, we wait for God to give us righteousness by faith. It means looking to Christ instead of to ourselves. We're waiting for God's final verdict of righteousness on the last day. One day, God will appear and declare us righteous based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. That is a whole lot better than relying on our own righteousness! This is really what matters. The issue isn't circumcision or keeping the law; the issue is whether our faith is in Jesus Christ rather than in ourselves.
Reflection Question(s): As you run your race for Christ today, how can you free yourself of unnecessary rules and regulations that hinder your progress?
Thursday - Read Galatians 5:13-14 Galatians 5:13-14 NIV: "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
The great evangelist D. L. Moody illustrated a point by quoting an old former slave woman in the South following the Civil War. Being a former slave, she was confused about her status and asked: Now is I free, or been I not? When I go to my old master, he says I ain't free, and when I go to my own people, they say I is, and I don't know whether I'm free or not. Some people told me that Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation, but master says he didn't; he didn't have any right to. Many Christians are confused on the same point. Jesus Christ has given them an "Emancipation Proclamation," but their "old master" tells them they are still slaves to a legal relationship with God. They live in bondage because their "old master" has deceived them. Dotting every i of the law and crossing every t of the law feels good to the flesh because it serves as a form of accomplishment. However, it can soon become bondage because we end up gratifying our fleshly self-righteousness rather than embracing the grace and mercy of Christ.
Galatians was written to a group of believers who were being deceived of what "salvation" looked like. Paul wrote this letter to the church in Galatia because there were missionaries, a group known as Judaizers, who were teaching these new Christians that in order to be saved, they must take on certain elements of the Jewish law.
One constant theme we see in Paul's writings is his tenacity in keeping believers focused on true doctrine. Another thing Paul does is give practical steps in how to apply what he was teaching. So, let's put two and two together. First, he tells us that we were called into freedom. Then, he tells us that true bondage comes from us gratifying the flesh by "keeping up with the law". Then lastly, he tells us to love our neighbors. As I (Joao) was reading this, I began to ask myself, "Why?". Isn't that random? First, he is telling us about bondage and freedom, then he's telling us to love people. Interesting, huh?
Here is why: loving others takes the focus off of you and onto others. And what does that have to do with bondage? Because it's bondage to live your life gratifying the desires of the flesh. Jesus could have come on earth and gratified his own flesh, yet instead, he gave up his flesh and loved others for our right standing with God. True freedom begins when you start putting others before you. Many of us have been incarcerated by our own flesh. You see, Galatians is all about finding freedom FROM the flesh as we begin to walk out in the true freedom of the gospel. Now, this does not mean that we are "rule breakers" it simply means that we don't trust in our flesh for our righteousness. Our righteousness comes from Jesus.
Reflection Question(s): What act of love can you do today that takes sacrifice?
Friday - Read Galatians 5:16-23 Galatians 5:16-23 NIV: "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
This week we have looked at the recurring theme of freedom in Paul's letter to the Galatians. In today's culture, any mention of the word freedom tends to be understood as being related to political issues and/or individualistic guarantees. Paul's urgency for the Galatian church to experience freedom is not a political issue per se, but more of a spiritual gift given to each of them through Christ.
Paul is urging his audience to walk by the Holy Spirit rather than walking by the desires of our flesh. Living by the Spirit means living in freedom and abundance and not under the law. Living by the flesh means living controlled by things that aren't from God – things like idolatry, jealousy, and anger. He says that living by the Spirit and living by the flesh don't go together. They are actually opposed to one another – meaning you can't do both or just flip flop between how you're feeling that specific day.
The reason Paul refers to worldly, not-from-God things as "the flesh" is because that's what our natural, human inclination will lead us toward. According to the world we live in, it's normal and acceptable to live by the flesh. The good news is, even though it's difficult to tune out these desires and inclinations, it's entirely possible because of the Holy Spirit. That's one of the reasons why God even gave us the Holy Spirit – to empower us and help us to live in freedom and wholeness. Because of the Holy Spirit, we get to have hope in something much bigger than us and our world and actually live the life God has called us to.
To live a life by the Spirit and not by the flesh, we need to be tuned into the Holy Spirit. When our selfish desires or sinful nature start to take hold or overcome us, we can remember the fact that Jesus died so we wouldn't have to live like that anymore. When with sincere gratitude, we continually return to the truth that because of the cross, we don't have to live as slaves to our flesh. A miracle occurs because through God's changing our hearts, we begin to desire to live by the Spirit. Not only does this way of living begin to make perfect sense to our transformed minds, we come to do what we truly want and desire to live that way. So, next time you are really angry and frustrated or you are tempted by an old habit, remember that Jesus has more for you. He has freedom for you and you have access to that freedom right now!
Reflection Question(s): Have you experienced a change in your desires since you have come to faith? What are fleshly things that you use to desire that you no longer desire? When did you notice this change taking place? Has anyone else noticed this change in you?