Jerry Bridges is an
author who died recently. He wrote a
number of wonderful books on grace.
Including one called ‘Transforming Grace’, which influenced me as a
young Christian. In it he writes, ‘we
cannot exercise love unless we are experiencing grace. You cannot truly love others unless you are
convinced that God’s love for you is unconditional, based solely on the merit
of Christ, not your performance … Our love, either to God or for others, can
only be a response to His love for us.’
It is true that even
the wicked love those who love them (Matthew 5:46-47). But we are called to a greater love. We are called to love our enemies. We are to let love cover a multitude of
sins. We are to forgive, as we have been
forgiven. We are to lay down our lives
for each other. Such love finds its
source in God’s lavish love for us.
This morning we are
going to see that we must not try to contribute towards God’s acceptance and
that understanding God’s acceptance is free is the key to change.
1. What is so wrong
with trying to contribute towards God’s acceptance?
(2)
Mark
my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ
will be of no value to you at all (2).
The false-teacher told
the Galatians that you must be circumcised if you are to be accepted by
God. Paul doesn’t have a problem with
circumcision. He has a problem with
using circumcision (or any work or ritual) as a means of earning God’s
acceptance. You have not understood the gospel
if you are trying to purchase God’s love!
What is so wrong with
trying to earn God’s acceptance?
It is wrong because
trying to contribute towards your salvation shows that you don’t understand the
nature of God's holiness. Do you really
think that a perfectly pure and holy God would be appeased by our empty rituals
and self-righteous good deeds?
It is wrong because
trying to contribute towards your salvation reveals that you don't understand
human sinfulness. Our attempts to earn
God's acceptance are rooted in our own selfishness and pride. Our hearts are incapable of true good and need
God's cure.
Most significantly, it
is wrong because trying to contribute towards your salvation demonstrates that
you do not see the true beauty of the life and death of Jesus. Jesus lived the perfect so that God could
treat you as if you always perfectly obeyed God. Jesus died a sacrificial death so that we
could have the punishment for our sin taken from us. Is that not enough to earn God's acceptance
for you? Do you think that you need to
add rituals and works to the finished work of Jesus? What rituals did the thief on the cross
perform in order to be accepted into paradise?
You are far worse than you ever dreamed you are, but the life and death
of Jesus is sufficient to deal with the worst of sinners.
2. Why can’t I earn God’s acceptance? (3-4)
Paul says that if we
try to earn God’s acceptance we nullify the gift of grace. The only attitude which receives grace is the
one that can sing, ‘nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.’
Why is it that we can’t
earn God’s acceptance?
Again
I declare to every person who lets himself be circumcised that he is required
to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been
alienated from God; you have fallen away from grace
(3-4).
Some of the Galatians
were trying to earn God’s acceptance by obeying the Law of Moses. But the only way you could obey God’s
acceptance through law keeping was to obey all of the law, all of the
time. If you broke one bit of the law
then the law showed you that you are a law breaker. It was like a sheet of old glass, whereby
when you break one piece the whole thing smashes into smithereens.
The Law of Moses, which
was in place from the time of Mount Sinai until Jesus, was designed to expose
people’s sin and point them to their need of free grace. Law exposes our short-comings. Have you always loved the Lord your God with
all of your heart, soul, mind and strength all of the time? We need grace! When you look back on your past don’t you see
an uncountable number of ways in which you have done what is wrong? We need grace! Haven’t you failed him already today? We need grace!
The wonderful news of
grace is that Jesus never turns away anyone who comes with an awareness of
their moral brokenness, repentance and simple faith. Isn’t it obvious that our only hope is grace?
3. What about the fact that I still sin? (4)
I think that many
people can accept the fact that when they come to Christ their past is
forgiven, but they worry about the sin that they have committed as a Christian. They worry about today’s sins and tomorrow’s
sins. They need to realise that the
grace that saves us also keeps us. This
is implied in our fourth verse. 'But by faith we eagerly await through the
Spirit the righteousness for which we hope' (4).
Paul is acknowledging
what we all know. We know that we are
not yet what we ought to be. We are not
yet what we will be when we go to be with Jesus. Tim Keller calls Christians, ‘saints who
sin.’ The great reformer Martin Luther
talked about being simultaneously justified yet sinful.
We are now legally
righteous, but we often act unrighteously.
We look forward to that time when we will be both legally and actively
righteous. We look forward to when we
see Christ face to face and are no longer troubled by the sinful nature. We look forward to that time when we are at
home with Jesus and are no longer able to sin.
In the meantime we go on depending on the grace of the God who keeps us
even when we sin.
4. Does grace mean that it doesn’t matter how I
live?
(5-12)
‘But what about
obedience—are you saying that it doesn’t matter what I do? After all, I can’t earn God’s acceptance, and
God will no longer condemn we even when I sin.’
When you ask that question you show that you simultaneously understand
and fail to understand grace. You get
the fact that grace is free, but you don’t understand what it means to be free!
Paul has some strong
words for the false-teachers. They say
that you can be justified by obedience.
They say, ‘God will accept you if you are good and obey the law.’ Their message leaves people dead in their
sin. They talk about circumcision. I which
they would go the whole way and castrate themselves (12).
But far from giving us
an excuse to sin, grace gives us the true motivation to obey. We no longer obey God to earn his
acceptance. Our obedience is no longer
selfishly seeking to buy our way into heaven.
Our obedience is not the reluctant and insecure cowering of the
condemned before a severe judge. Our
obedience is the Spirit-empowered delight of a beloved child. Our faith expresses itself through love
(6b). Obedience is no longer what we
resent doing. It becomes what we want to
do.
5.
How can I love as God calls me to love?
I want to finish where
I began, by showing that we cannot exercise love unless we are experiencing
grace.
The false-teachers were
obsessed with the Law of Moses, but they failed to see that the law centred on
love. You, my brothers, are called to be free. Do not use you freedom to indulge the sinful
nature; rather serve one another in love.
The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbour as
yourself.” If you keep on biting and
devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other (13-15).
Next week we will see
that such love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. What I want to point out now is that such
love is fanned into flame when we see how secure we are in grace. As the Holy Spirit opens up your eyes to see
how much the Father loves you, how much the Son has achieved for you, and how
you are cherished and secure then change will come. The most obvious change will be love.
Grasping the grace that
saves us will inevitably transform us.
As one writer says, ‘God not only accepts you. He wants you to know that he accepts you. Because you will never see liberating
breakthroughs to new levels of personal holiness except in the reassuring
atmosphere of grace …’ (Ortland). Far
from providing an excuse for sin, grace is God’s means of changing us!
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