On the pulpit this Sunday and beyond…

Turns out many people do not understand where the “IANS” tag comes from. It’s the last part of all the letters that we are going through this year, hence the title ‘IANS JOURNEY’. Last week, we had a look at the second part of Galatians 2. Here is a quick summary.

 

Sin is missing the Mark. i.e., your own Mark, Mark set by others, and God’s Mark

 

In Galatians, we see Paul using ‘justification’ for the first time. The Greek word is “Dikaioo”, a legal concept meaning “one who gets a favourable verdict in a court of law”.

 

Paul is effectively saying that we cannot go back to my old ways of trying to find God through the law. There is more sin in trying to find acceptance from God by keeping the law than sin in everyday life. This is because every time you come up against the law, you will lose, because you are not good enough. It kills you slowly. Addictions will never go away. Family
curses will never be broken. Anger, pride, ego, blame, self-loathing, distractions, and ingratitude keep a grip on us.

 

So Paul concludes by saying, rightly so, that we need to choose to die willingly.

20 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. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
 
Galatians 2:20

Paul, in Romans, concludes on how we should all live now that we are not slaves of the law but live in Christ…

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
 
Romans 8:1-4

This week, Matt McFedries will be speaking to us as we get into Galatians 3.