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.