A Different Gospel – 09/14/2025

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us today

It is easy to say we are yours
That we follow you
That we carry your name in honor
Sacrifice
No turning back

But so many are afraid today
Terrified
Terrorized
They are unsure of what is real
Of what is true
And fear gains a footing in them

And some wander from the path
Hoping to find safety, shelter
In power and
In the power of violence

Protect us from those who manufacture fears
Who profit from fears
Who leverage fears
Protect us from those things
That are nurtured and encouraged in fear
Like resentments
And self-justification
And revenge
And contempt
And rage
And hate

Day by day
Moment by moment
Bring us back
To learning the way of love
Our focus and our practice
Our path for living
For abundance
For healing

So our words are not empty
When we claim that we are yours
And our lives bring you honor
Full of gratitude for your love
Always
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery Galatians 5:1

Intro: I assume most of us are familiar with The Message Bible

One of the more popular versions, and easiest to understand
– Eugene Peterson did not set out to write a new translation
• beginning in early 1980’s the U.S. economy went into a slump and mortgage interest rates were rapidly climbing
◦ people in his church were feeling the pinch, and reacting in the same way as people in town
Peterson, “Paranoia infected the small talk I would overhear on street corners and in barbershops. To my dismay, all of this seeped into my congregation without encountering any resistance.”
• to turn them from worldly concerns and find freedom in Jesus, he chose to immerse them in Galatians
Peterson, “Here I was laying the groundwork for a major renewal of Spirit-torched imagination in my congregation. Galatians, Paul’s angry, passionate, fiery letter that rescued his congregation from their regression to culture slavery was on the table and nobody was getting it. . . . I tried to imagine Paul as pastor to these people who were letting their hard-won freedom in Christ slip through their fingers. . . . I just wanted them to hear it the way I heard it”
– so he began translating Galatians, giving the sense of the words, but with contemporary expressions
• it was eye-opening for his Bible study group, and they began to feel Paul’s passion
◦ they were brought into the Bible in a new way
◦ in fact, his church wanted more of his translations of scripture – other people also wanted more
• that is what eventually led to The Message Bible
◦ and it began with Paul’s “angry letter” to the Galatians

From the founding of our nation, we have cherished freedom

But Paul’s idea looms much larger than political freedom
– we can live in a “free society” yet be inwardly enslaved
• many are mastered by fear, others by greed, hate, or longing for something they’ve never had
◦ in the New Testament, there’s always the danger of slavery to sin
“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34)
◦ but Paul also saw the danger of a religious form of slavery
• this is one of the goals of Jesus’ work in our lives
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:31-32
◦ it makes sense that once in awhile we would ask ourselves, “Am I free?”
◦ some of the things that control us are very subtle, so it pays to ask
– religious slavery reduces a person to law-keeping — a focus on jurisprudence rather than God
• there is very little joy in that – and not much life in it either
◦ rule-keeping doesn’t make anyone a good person
◦ but it can make a person self-righteous and judgmental
• Paul tells Christians, “Protect your freedom! Stand firm”
◦ there is an illusion that if you’re not in prison, then you’re free
◦ don’t let anyone strap a yoke of slavery on you–Again!

Before moving on, I have a question for you
– Paul doesn’t say “Jesus has set us free,” but “Christ” – Why?
• name of Jesus always feels warmer to me, more personal than “the Christ”
• but in these first four verses, Paul doesn’t use name, Jesus, but refers to Christ three times
◦ he’s the same person–Jesus and Christ–and in verse 6, Paul says, “Christ Jesus”
– I think the answer is “Christ” is specific to his role as the Savior
• Christ is his title – it reveals the work God gave him to do in us
◦ the Christ (“anointed one,” Messiah) is also the One true Ruler of God’s people
“For freedom Christ has set us free”

Paul projects a picture on the screen and says, “Look”
“Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified^[a] by the law; you have fallen away from grace” Galatians 5:2-4

Paul wants us to see what happens if we capitulate to legalistic religion
– there are four consequences:
First, Christ is no longer of any profit to us
– Paul’s use of “circumcision” is symbolic
• it refers to people who attempt to make themselves right with God through obeying the laws of Moses
• this is serious!
◦ if someone talks us into a legalistic form of Christianity, we lose Jesus – even if we still use his name
Second, you’re obligated to keep the entire law
– we’re signing up for everything in it
“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law” (Jas. 2:10-11)
Third, we become cut-off, alienated from Christ
– we either go with Jesus and follow him, or we go on our own
Fourth, we’ve fallen out of grace – thrown ourselves overboard
– we pick up the backpack of religion and head out on our own — and God’s grace does not go with us

Here we learn what works and what doesn’t work
For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love Galatians 5:5-6

What works: first of all, the Spirit
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as [children], by whom we cry ‘Abba! Father!’” (Ro. 8:15)
“it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, and who has put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a down-payment” (1 Cor. 1:21-22)
– the Holy Spirit holds us in God throughout our lives
• his presence sustains our hope
Secondly, what works: faith, operating through love
– we shouldn’t be surprised to find these triplets in Paul’s letters — hope, faith, and love
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest is love” (1 Cor. 13:13)
(a strong statement is coming in verse 14)
What doesn’t work:
• neither circumcision nor uncircumcision if you make a big deal of it
• the critical factors are faith and love

Paul turns their attention again to the agitators among them
You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump Galatians 5:7-9

They were off to a good start, running well,
– so who tripped them up? Who refocused their attention
• carrying all the weight of religious legalism, they are unable to run well (if at all)
◦ they’ve veered off the track and away from “the truth”
• Paul can tell them who it was not that did this to them!
“This persuasion is not from him who calls you” – God did not put this on them!
– in some matters, even a slight turn, ruins everything
• “a little leaven leavens the whole lump”
• the significance of yeast as a symbol in the New Testament it is permeating influence

Finally we come to something positive
I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! Galatians 5:10-12

Paul expresses his confidence in the Lord regarding the Galatians
– he’s not so certain about their stability, but absolutely certain regarding God’s faithfulness
• at the same time that he trusts God for their welfare,
◦ he trust God to deal with the troublemakers
• this can be very liberating too!
◦ it’s not up to us to take action against cults and their leaders
– apparently, some were saying Paul still endorsed rule-keeping
• but he argues if he were, they wouldn’t be persecuting him
◦ what offended them was that the cross covered everything,
◦ leaving them no room to add any religious accomplishment of their own
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14)
– regarding the religious agitators, Paul suggests that they don’t stop with circumcision,
• instead, they should go the whole distance and castrate themselves
◦ I think this is the point Paul is making, is that if they were castrated, that if they would become infertile and incapable of producing offspring
◦ in other words, they would no longer be able to make new converts, and, therefore, no longer pose a problem

Paul closes this section by returning to freedom
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another Galatians 5:13-15

Again Paul reminds them that they have freedom,
– but here he tells them not to misuse it
• it’s freedom from religious bondage and sin,
◦ but sin isn’t irrelevant and our freedom doesn’t void the law
◦ we still adhere to its ethical and moral guidance
• we use our freedom in loving and serving others
◦ and though we are not made right with God by the law,
◦ love fulfills the law (v. 14), we cannot say this enough
– this statement isn’t scripture, but it’s true, “All you need is love”
• Paul leaves s with this warning
– we have freedom, but don’t misuse it
• it’s freedom from religious bondage and sin,
◦ but sin isn’t irrelevant and our freedom doesn’t void the law
◦ we still adhere to its ethical and moral guidance
• we use our freedom in loving and serving others
◦ and though we are not made right with God by the law,
◦ love fulfills the law (v. 14), we can’t say this enough
– it isn’t scripture, but it’s true, “All you need is love”
• Paul leaves us with this warning–choose love in the community or it becomes a dog fight
And with all the biting and devouring, someone is going to be consumed by the others

Conclusion: We constantly need to practice spiritual disciplines that help create new habits

A good habit to develop would be to train ourselves to “think love”
That would mean, making the first step in every new encounter,
whether with other people in the world or in our Christian community, would be to think love
Reminding ourselves, “God placed me here to be his love in this situation
Then, feel God’s love
Inhale his love
Become his love
THINK LOVE