Microchurch Minute
We have spent the last few weeks going through the book of Galatians together. It’s been a powerful journey to see Paul’s complete anguish for the people of Galatia that are still buying into the idea that grace just isn’t enough. This letter wraps up on a few key points, the first of which is how believers handle the transgressions of other believers. We are called to lovingly address the sins of our spiritual family out of a place of desiring spiritual restoration for them – not a place of boasting our own superiority. This ideology is pretty backwards from worldly thinking. As the human race, we intrinsically want to point out the flaws and errors of our fellow man, put them on display at the whipping post and stand with a false sense of earned smugness as we watch them get what they “deserve”. But God. He wants us to leave the judgements, consequences and condemnations to Him. If we truly love God and have received His grace, we may simply desire our fellow believers to be forgiven and reconciled to the Father. After all, do we not trust the God of the universe to dish out consequences far more justified than we could ever imagine? Then we are called to share one another’s burdens. This required openness and vulnerability on both the burdened party and the believing brethren. Keep in mind, no one on earth may ever know just how obedient you are in this act of shouldering the burdens of other believers and your spiritual leaders, but God sees it. Are you pouring into your flesh or into the Spirit? God knows. Paul reminds us that we reap what we sow. If you’re stuck on using your resources to gratify your flesh, you will awake one day to find yourself disappointed in the unavoidable decay and ultimate death of the flesh. However, when you use your resources to pour into the Spirit as you are convicted to do, it is increased tenfold (or more!) for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. This falls into the discipline of tithing, but we will get into that at another time.
Our house church family is positioned in such an intimate way, that we can easily access one another to serve each other as needed. Do you ever notice that individuals who make statements like “why didn’t anyone at church help me?” are generally the individuals who tend to isolate and withdraw from community? But when we are actively in pursuit of our spiritual brothers and sisters, the fruit of the Spirit is often times evident in the way that we show up for, care for and pray for one another. That’s my kind of community! That is the community we are not only invited into but have the responsibility to help build on earth as we allow the Spirit to direct us.
Throughout our reading of Galatians, has Paul made his point abundantly clear? DO YOU UNDERSAND THAT THE JUDAIZERS ARE MISLEADING? I imagine that Paul’s handwriting must have been big and bold by the way he wraps up this letter. These legalists had an end goal of growing their list of converts to boast in their own achievements, not in anyone’s actual salvation. Believers want only to boast in the cross. The cross is a dividing barrier between the worldly wants of the flesh and the eternal deliverance of the Spirit. The flesh hates the cross and what it stands for, but I will boast proudly in the cross and Jesus Christ who reconciled me to the Father!
There were those that believed circumcision was required. There were those that boasted in their refusal to partake in such ritual. But neither mattered to God. He is still seeking to see the new creating that you become when you accept the free gift of grace offered by Jesus’ death on the cross, His perfectly pure sacrifice. I can imagine by this point in his letter Paul would just be at an absolute breaking point in his frustration with the Jesus+ doctrine that he was trying so desperately to refute. After a long letter of rebuking, correcting, warning and pleading, we see that he ends his letter with grace, not law, to the people of Galatia.
Microchurch Minute
Freedom. Full freedom, in Christ. Freedom to rest in His protection, to be released from your old self that has passed away, to live as who you are called to be.
Freedom isn’t a side effect of the gospel of grace. Freedom is what we receive when eternity is secured in Christ. It still takes a level of personal accountability, we must guard our freedom. False prophets and partial truths from the enemy have been trying to lead believers astray since the dawn of Christ’s good work. We must be careful to acknowledge that the freedom we receive in Christ, isn’t some sort of permission to sin freely access. Instead, we have the permission to freely worship and serve one another. Freely giving of our time, money and talents – because at the end of the day, they all belong to God anyway. We have the freedom to trust that God will use all of these for His glory and we can follow His lead as the vessels through which He chooses to work. What beautiful responsibility to be entrusted with. His grace says that you are enough, you no longer have to strive to attain perfection to be worthy of the Kingdom of God. Even a child knows, none of us could ever earn that on our own. Paul reveals that there is an ongoing battle of the flesh and the Spirit. But flesh could never inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh strives for earthly glory, greed, immorality, gluttony and temporary pleasures. While the Spirit seeks God first and produces a good fruit. Others should be able to see by our lives that we are feeding off of God, in the same way that a plant grows fuller and brighter when given the correct nourishment. Do you see the fruits in your own life? Do others? Is there no doubt that you are producing:
-
love
-
joy
-
peace
-
patience
-
kindness
-
goodness
-
faithfulness
-
gentleness
-
self-control
Let you love for Jesus and your true freedom in Him leave no doubt that you are actively choosing to live for something greater than yourself. Our victory against sin flows from our identity in Christ, it’s not something we can achieve on our own. The Spirit is alive in you and wants to move. Are you so desperately leaning in to God’s teaching that your desire is to allow the Spirit to move you?
Microchurch Minute
Paul continues his communication to the Israelites here. They were God’s chosen people, yet still rejected Jesus. The calling on Paul’s heart truly is for their salvation. He understands that God’s covenant with Abraham applies to all spiritual descendants, not just bloodline. Divine adoption is a powerful thing. It proves that God’s discernment is always the final say. His mercy has always chased after His own creation – Jew and Gentile through grace, not based on bloodline or human efforts. The mercy offered to us is forever undeserved. We are born sinners, the punishment for sin is death. We are incapable of living a life that could satisfy the law. Our striving efforts are in vain, if our heart isn’t heart fully yielded to God. Salvation is strictly dependent on God’s mercy for His creation. What glorious news!
There is an illustration given of the potter and his clay. Imagine the craftsmanship that goes into each piece of wetness. A blob of goo, carefully chosen my the potter. As he works with it and brings it to life. The potter determines the shape, size, depth, details and functionality of each piece before it is presented for use. Some of these might be everyday work pieces, used to bring water back and forth for animals and home, or a dinner plate to take in nourishment that God has blessed you with. Some pieces may be more ornamental and used for display purposes, to serve and be seen at the appointed time. Who is the clay to say to the potter “why did you make me this way?” We are to assume the posture of the clay piece, whatever it is, with thankfulness for the thought and creativity that went into every detail of our being.
God’s mercy chases us all. Paul even references back to Hosea where we see the similarity to when God called out Israel – they will be called His people. Those once rejected will be welcomed into the family of God. God has a chosen remnant, those that will not be abolished like Sodom and Gomorrah. Redemptive grace extends to all, Jew and Gentile alike. But it requires true faith in God and the actions that Christ took on the cross. Israel continued to pursue righteousness by works, the belief that Jesus’ death on the cross was enough for their salvation became their stumbling stone. It’s here that we see Jesus’ death is received one of two ways: either as an offense to the prideful or as salvation to the humble.
Microchurch Minute
We gathered on Sunday to discuss Galatians 4 – Paul takes a moment here to turn from argument to emotion, but not before expressing his frustration again. The Galatians lived as slaves to the law, in the same manner that the son of a wealthy man might be under the care of stewards and guardians, waiting to mature enough to officially inherit his father’s estate. This is wat Old Testament faith looked like, working to abide by the laws (the people’s “guardian”) under the care of stewards and guardians, awaiting the fullness of time when God would reveal the inheritance already promised. But isn’t it beautiful that Jesus, the Son of God, became the son of man so that all believers, sons of man, could become heirs to God. What a beautiful exchange! No wonder Paul is bewildered and pained when he sees the children of God falling back into the old rigidity of the law. Our lives look different when we are zealously living out our love for the Lord instead of vigorously checking off the next thing to-do on our sanctification check list. The enemy works in this way, to take parts of the gospel and counterfeit it into patterns that lure away timid sheep. How do we learn to discern the counterfeit teachings of false prophets? By knowing the Word in all of it’s glory. Personal accountability comes in here – are you using your time to deep dive into rabbit holes of counterfeit mis directions? Or are we simply turning to fact-check alluring doctrines to God’s Word that we know to be true? There is a whole profession dedicated to getting counterfeit money out of circulation. They don’t spend their time studying the wrong monies, they master the knowledge of what is authentic to have no doubt when something sketchy pops up.
We have very early documentation of this in the story of Abraham’s sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Through Abraham’s own efforts with Hagar, Ishmael was born—representing what is produced by human striving rather than God’s promise. But when God intervenes in His amazing grace, Sarah is blessed with Isaac (representing a covenant of grace). It’s been a question asked in our house before “Are you trying to man-handle this? Or have you actually surrendered it to God?” His grace and provision is always enough. Part of the radical faith of Christianity is accepting that your work is not what is required by God – appreciated, yes – but not what is necessary to earn grace. We are not just forgiven we are adopted. As we choose to accept His divine grace, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. The goal? Christ being formed in us. Our humanistic egos can often times interrupt this design. The lies of busyness, fear of condemnation and selfishness actively act against our calling to live vulnerably among a family of believers.
To live as sons and daughters means embracing the lost, just as Jesus did. It means resting in grace by faith and freely sharing the truth of God’s love. We don’t just follow Jesus—we get to reveal Him.
Microchurch Minute
Wow—what a morning. In Galatians 3, Paul doubles down on the doctrine of grace through faith. The Galatians were still clinging to a Jesus + mindset, as if the grace received by faith alone wasn’t enough. But if works could save us, why would we need a Savior at all? They can’t. On our own, we will never be “good enough” for the Kingdom of God.
The law was never meant to save us—it was meant to expose our inadequacy and reveal our need for a Savior who could bear the penalty for sin (death) that we never could. Can you fully believe that accepting Jesus is all that is required for salvation? That kind of trust takes real faith in God’s promise.
I believe the covenant God made with Abraham is true. And I believe that by sending Jesus Christ—Abraham’s descendant—to earth, and allowing Him to be seen as cursed while hanging on a tree, God fulfilled that promise. Our mistakes could never void a covenant that came directly from God.
Once we accept this divine forgiveness, obedience flows from the joy of loving the Lord, not from striving to earn His approval. There is a difference between conviction and guilt: conviction draws us to acknowledge our sin, turn from it and run into the arms of Jesus; guilt is a weapon of the enemy, trapping us in the lie that we must fix ourselves. Send that guilt packing—it was already carried to the cross. Jesus does not require you to hold onto it.
The law was introduced for our good, to guard us like a babysitter watches over children. And though the babysitter has stepped aside, it doesn’t mean the rules no longer matter—it means we now answer directly to Abba.
How comforting it is to know that we are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, with no spiritual hierarchy, no second-class Christians, no competition for God’s favor. We are all equally covered by the righteousness of Jesus. I am deeply grateful that I don’t have to be a prosperous Jewish male to inherit the Kingdom, but am fully embraced, cherished, and chosen by the Creator of the universe.
We already belong to Him. Now, our calling is simply to walk out our true identity in everyday life.
