We're going to take up where we left off in Galatians chapter three. If you open your bible to verse 15, you will see more than Paul's intellectual understanding of grace. He makes his greatest argument for grace through the work of the Cross, versus works of the law. The arguments are simple yet profound, and display Paul's deep understanding of Torah, and the principals of the promise. Even more astounding is the fact that Paul is addressing gentiles who didn't have the cultural heritage of Judaism, or even a race identity as Hebrews. Paul would eventually give his life to erase the divide between Jews and gentiles. Sadly, the divide still exists.
It would be easy to think that with Christianity having spread to almost every nation on earth, that this divide wasn't an issue, but it continues because of erroneous teaching in the church. It still continues because men simply can't give up control of their fate to their creator. Just because someone calls themselves a Christian, doesn't mean they are. Sadly, even well meaning Christians can become confused if they fail to listen to Holy Spirit, and ignore the cultural backdrop onto which Paul's message was put in front of.
There are many awesome ideas that Paul puts forth in the 15 verses we're going to look at, but here are three that stand out to me.
The Promises to Abraham and His child.
The purpose of the law.
The Promises to all who believe.
If we can't clearly express the promises of Abraham, and how they are important to others, we risk losing our ability to bring the nations to Christ. We don't have to make the gospel relevant to the day and age we live in, we have to know what the gospel is and does for everyone we touch on a daily basis. Just as Holy Spirit used Paul to make the gospel appealing to a bunch of rowdy Celts in Galatia, we can still make the gospel appealing to a dying generation.
Last week I was talking to a wonderful man of God who is also a landlord. He was about how his denomination was facing a crisis in reaching out to young people. Among the denomination's leadership there was a sense that they could no longer reach young people for Christ. As the leadership began to brainstorm the problem, they used old worn out ideas about relevancy, modernization, technology, and message. I asked him what the average age of the people in his church was, and he told me about 68 years old. What he said next surprised me; Some of those need to die out in order for new blood to come in.
I said NO, they need to pray like never before for a revival to sweep through their churches, and to preach Christ, and HIM crucified. Everything else we do is 'pop culture' and generational reaction to the gospel. If I want to praise God today, I'm not going to go find a harpsichord and play Bach. Even as beautiful as it would be, it wouldn't 'appeal' to this generation. However, if I tell what Christ has done on the cross for all mankind, it will have the same effect as it did 40 days later when Peter preached his Pentecost sermon. We are the relevance to this generation, and the message of Christ is the appeal. Holy Spirit knows who we are going to face everyday, and if we are listening to Him, He will fill our mouths with the relevance, and the message. If you don't think you know what to say, just open your mouth and watch what spills out.
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