Galatians: Prologue

Scot McKnight said, "The modern western reader always collides with the cultural context of the Bible.  This collision is routine experience for the one who wants not only to read the Bible well, but more importantly, who wants to make the message of the Bible relevant to our world.  It will not do to think that we and the Bible inhabit the same cultural, intellectual, and social world.  There are too many differences, too many years, too many miles, and too many social upheavals. To intrepret the Bible requires an ability to study two horizons - the ancient horizon and the modern horizon.  Furthermore, it requires people who desire to bridge those contexts and make the ancient one speak forcibly to the modern one."

It is important as we start our journey through the letters of Paul not to interpret it from the modern horizon looking backwards, but from the ancient horizon looking forward.  To fall into the former trap will lead us into misunderstanding and false teachings.  So each time we pick up the Bible to read Paul we need to remember Paul's background, the spread of Christianity (from Jerusalem to Antioch to Asia Minor to Rome), the people he was writing to, and the influence of the Roman Empire.

After Paul's conversion in Damscus, he went to Jerusalem and was befriended by Barnabas.  Paul began to preach and encountered opposition from the Jews.  He was sent away and after passing through Arabia and Syria, he eventually went back to Tarsus and stayed there for many years.  The early church went through a time of peace; the gospel spread and eventually a church grew in Antioch. 

The apostles sent Barnabas to the church to guide its growth.  Eventually Barnabas went to Tarsus to seek out Paul's help and brought him back to Antioch.  During this time, Peter witnessed the Holy Spirit descending upon the Gentiles and the apostle James was killed by Herod.  The church was managed from Jerusalem by the apostles, but specifically by John, Peter, and James (the brother of Jesus). 

At this point, the church at Antioch sends out Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey through Cyprus and Galatia.  You can read their travels in Acts 13 and 14.  At each stop, Paul preached the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ.  In order to understand what Paul is defending, we need to get a handle of what he was preaching.  The gospel he preached can be found in Acts 13:16-41. 

"Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses."

By the time they got back to Antioch, the Jerusalem council had sent out messengers from Jerusalem.  These messengers (called Judaizers) began to add the Mosaic Law to the gospel of grace through faith in Jesus.  These same messengers went from Antioch to the Galatian churches that Paul and Barnabas had started in Pisidian Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium.  When Paul received news of the churches in Galatia, he was surprised at what was happening - they were deserting the gospel! 

May we listen to Paul's letter in the ancient horizon looking forward,
troy

The Rest of the Stones

It was a great morning in Sunday School.  Thank you for everyone that came.  I am sorry that everything got rushed in the end.  Here is the entire list of my Twelve Stones of remembrance. 

Stone #1 God is the Creator, I am the gardener
(Genesis 1:1; 1:27; Isaiah 42:5; Genesis 1:28)

Stone #2 There is no division between secular and sacred
( Colossians 1:16; Colossians 2:3)

Stone #3 The Bible is the Word of Truth
(John 17:17; Psalm 19:7-9; 2 Timothy 3:14-17)

Stone #4 Satan is real, don't dwell on or dismiss him
(1 Peter 5:8; 1 John 3:8; Ephesians 6:11-12)

Stone #5 Sin is not a joke, it is an addiction
(John 8:34; Romans 6:7; 6:14; 6:16)

Stone #6 Grace is free, but it is not cheap
(Romans 5:15; Ephesians 2:8; Phillipians 2:5-8; Romans 3:25; Isaiah 532:5)

Stone #7 Love cannot be separated from obedience.
(1 John 5:2; 1 Peter 1:22)

Stone #8 Faith is not a subsitute for knowing.
(Romans 12:2; Mark 8:33; Mark 12:30; 1 Corinthians 14:15; 2 Corinthians 9:7)

Stone #9 Hope is in my position, not in my circumstances
(1 Peter 1:13; Titus 2:13; 3:7; 1 Timothy 4:10; Colossians 1:27)

Stone #10 Fellowship is a communion, not a potluck
(Acts 2:42-47)

Stone #11 Church is not the same as service.
(Romans 12:10b; 13:8 15:5; 15:7; 16:16; Colossians 3:9; 3:16; Galatians 5:13; 6:2; Ephesians 4:2; 4:32: 5:21;  Romans 12:10a; 14:19; 1 Corinthians 12:25; 1 Thessolonians 4:18;; 5:11;  James 5:16; 1 Peter 4:9)

Stone #12 You are either a conqueror or a captive
( Galatians 3:23; Colossians 2:8; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Romans 8:37)

And here is your baker's dozen
Stone #13 God's Story doesn't start at the Fall, or end at Redemption

• Creation (John 1:1; Genesis 1:1)
• Fall ( Genesis 3)
• Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 1:13-14)
• Restoration (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1)

This is my list of memorial stones, yours may be quite different.  Please share of few of yours in the comment section.

Thanks, troy

Stone #4 Satan is real, don't dwell on or dismiss him!

1 Peter 5:8
"Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

1 John 3:8
"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."

The word Satan is mentioned 56 times in the Bible. 
The word devil is mentioned 61 times in the Bible.
The word devils is mentioned 55 times in the Bible.

C.S. Lewis states in Screwtape Letters "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.  One is to disbelieve in their existence.  The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.  They themselves are equally pleased by both errors."

I believe that Christians also fall into two equal and opposite errors.  One is to give him and his minions too much credit and power.  The other is to ignore the limited power that he is able to wield in this world.

Most times our sins and their consequences are our own making.   We fail to take God at his Word and flee temptation or stand firm against the sins of the flesh. 

On the other hand, we also fail to prepare ourselves, our families, and our friends through prayer and meditation on the word. 

Ephesians 6:11-12
"Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spirtual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

May God grant us His wisdom and discernment to know when temptation comes,  the courage to shine the light of Christ in the darkness of the world, and power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the devil and his schemes.

troy

Stone #3 The Bible is God's Word of Truth

John 17:17
"Santify them in the truth, your Word is truth."

Psalm 19:7-9
"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether."

2 Timothy 3:14-17
"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

If God created everything in this world and there is no division between what is secular and sacred, then knowing God and His Word should be the chief aim of our lives. 

For this particular stone, John MacArthur has some comments that express it much better than I could.  The following are excepts from his book "Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong."

"It is common in the evangelical church today for people to verbally acknowledge that the Bible, as God's Word, is the final authority for both what they believe and how they live.  Yet in reality, a clear connection between that public confession and personal conduct is rare.  The fact is that far too many professing Christains live their lives, day in and day out, on the basis of something other than the Bible.  As a result, their priorities reflect the world's priorities, not God's."

If I remembered this stone more often; then the way I honor my wife, the way I raise my children, the way I perform my work, the way I spend my money, and the way I treat others should be a reflection of God's grace, love, and righteousness.  If my actions are otherwise, then I either don't know his Word or refuse to obey it.  May God continue to grant us mercy when it's the latter.

May we be captivated by His Truth and compelled to His service,
troy

Stone #2: There is no division between secular and sacred

Colossians 1:16
For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or domnions or rulers or authorities -- all things were created through Him and for Him

Colossians 2:3
(Christ) in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

All things were created through Him and by Him.  All the knowledge and wisdom are hidden in Him.  If God created it all, then there is no division between secular and sacred, spiritual and natural, fact and value.

Most of us would probably agree with those statements in theory, but they rarely get practiced in our life.  The world will tell you that our faith does not belong at work, in school, much less in politics or the public square.  In fact, over the last few decades this is where Christians have waived the white flag of surrender and handed the world over to those who don't believe in God, or believe in a god of their own making.

Let me explain with some examples.
A Christian lawyer is a deacon, sunday school teacher, and tithes his money.  During the work week, his responsibility is to void contracts that his company no longer wants to be held accountable to.  Because thats just his job.

A Christian car salesman who attends church on Sundays and Wednesdays, has no problem selling a car to a person one day for $2000 over the invoice, then the next day a similar car for $4000 over the invoice.  Because thats just the way the car business works.

A Christian congressman who attends church regularly always votes for abortion rights.  Because he can't impose his beliefs on other people.

A Christian science teacher who teaches sunday school, sees no problem with teaching Darwinian evolution to her students.  Because the school decides the curriculum.

I could go on and on with the examples, but the point is that we all lead divided lives.  We have accepted the false premise that our faith is somehow separate from how the world operates.  That our beliefs are subjective, while science and law are objective.  Whether it is politics, law, science, education, morality, government, family, etc.   There is no where we can go that is away from God's presence and sovereign rule.  The reality is that it is God's world and what He says is the only objective truth.  All things were created by Him, all things consist because of Him, all knowledge and wisdom are found in Him.

Sad that I seem to forget that too often.  Even worse when I am the one that raises the white flag and gives another piece of ground to the prince of this world.

May we be captivated by the His Truth and compelled to His Service
Troy

Stone #1: God is the Creator, I am the gardener!

Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Genesis 1:27
"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Isaiah 42:5
"Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spririt to those who walk on it."

I know you were probably expecting something more profound and theological, but almost everything else in our lives stems from this fundamental concept of origins and ownership. God created the world and everything in it. It is His world and His rules.

So, how does remembering this stone help us in our daily lives? If a person believes the world was not created by God, but spontaneously generated by eternal matter which evolved into living things and finally produced human beings; THEN there are no rules, no standards, no differentiation between good and evil. It's easy to live a life governed by evolution and materialsim because I make the rules as I go along.

However, if you believe that God created the earth and everything in it, then He gets to make the rules and determine the purpose of our lives.

So what was the first set of directions that God gave man in the garden?
Genesis 1:28
"And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over ever living thing that moves on the earth."

Nancy Pearcy (who co-wrote How Now Shall We Live with Chuck Colson and wrote Total Truth) states: "In Genesis, God gives what we might call the first job description: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it." The first phrase means to develp the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, laws. The second phrase means to harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music, etc.

In other words, we are the gardeners of the world He created. And as the earth's caretakers he tells us "So,..., whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31). And if everything I do is for the glory of God, then it will have the right direction, the right purpose, and the right meaning.

So, tomorrow morning when you wake up, don't forget to grab your tools: there are plenty of weeds to remove, trees to prune, and plants to water. Sola deo Gloria!

Let us be captivated by His Truth and compelled to His Service

Troy

Twelve Stones

What prevents you from living a life of victory over sin, driven by a passion for God’s glory, which willingly partakes in Christ’s sufferings, and is profoundly touched by all the devastation that exists around us?

For most of us, it is because we live in our American, middle-class, five-day work week, play on Saturday, and go to church on Sunday little world which is quite separate from God’s reality as portrayed in the Bible. There is a war going on and it’s not just located in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is located in the hearts, souls, and minds of every man and woman on the planet. It is a war that requires us to be vigilant and remember the things God has done.

We have forgotten some basic fundamental principles about God’s world and how it functions. I am not talking about the simple fact that “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” or “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son”. No, I am talking about basic principles that put everything we do in context; that provide a blueprint for every thought and every action in our lives. Because the reality is that everything you do and everything you say proceeds from something you believe.

For example, there is a myth that has spread through our churches that says “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle”; which is a poor interpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:13.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

First of all, the scripture isn’t talking about “everything” that happens to someone. It is specifically talking about temptation. For most of us, if we just sit around temptation long enough, our flesh will submit to sin. That is why God warns us to flee from immorality (1 Cor 6:18); flee idolatry (1 Cor 10:14), and flee from lust (2 Tim 2:22). What God actually promises is a way out of temptation when it is happening. Unfortunately, few of us ever run away from the temptations that surround us.

Some of those things we believe are lies that we learned from the world. One of the most damaging lies we believe is that “there is a division between what is secular and what is sacred.” You can’t talk about God in government or Jesus at work. God has no place in school, specifically in biology and earth science. This lie has infected our minds so much that we accept an overdeveloped separation between church and state, science and creation, religion and education, church and work. What’s worse is that most of us have resigned ourselves to the fact that our faith in God is something separate from what we do or who we are.

So how do we start to live our lives where our faith is more the mark of our identity than our last name, our address, our place of work, and even our country? I say we start by remembering some things that we have forgotten, and then use God’s word to find the Truth and destroy the lies we uncover one by one. In order to do that, we are going to have to take a journey back to the Jordan River.

When the Israelites crossed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land, this is what God said” Joshua 4:1-7

When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,and command them, saying ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight,’ Then Joshua call the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, ‘Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.

Unfortunately, in Judges we find that the very next generation grew up and did not know the Lord or remember what He had done. We are doing the same thing today. What is even worse is that the majority of Americans say they believe in God, but he doesn’t resemble the One from the Bible. He resembles Morgan Freeman from Bruce Almighty or George Burns from Oh God.

One of the keys is that we condition ourselves to be in a constant state of remembrance. The only way to do this is to develop a habit of remembering key elements of God’s reality. To build our own twelve stone memorial to God. This week, I will share with you my twelve stones.

Let us become captivated by the Truth and compelled to His Service.
Troy