Love (2)
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I remember growing up in the catholic church. I didnt know Jesus all I knew was I had to stick to all these rules and if I broke one I had to go to confession. I felt trapped like this impossible!
SEVEN DEADLY SINS
In the Roman Catholic Church there is a list of the seven deadly sins: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Wrath, and Sloth. The Catholic Church recently added seven additional sins to the original seven.
The Vatican newspaper cites an additional seven "violations of the basic rights of human nature." They are:
1. Taking part in polluting the environment
2. Genetic engineering
3. Being obscenely wealthy
4. Taking or selling drugs
5. Having an abortion
6. Engaging in pedophilia
7. Causing social injustice
When I came to Jesus I was free from the law, but that didn;t give me liberty to sin.
Paul is going to talk about out Liberty in Christ Jesus.
Introduction
Paul is writing to a group of churches which he had helped to establish.
After having established these churches, there were a group of teachers called "Judaizers" who came in and began spreading their own doctrines.
The Judaizers felt that a Gentile couldn't really be saved apart from first becoming a Jew, and that started by being circumcised.
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Title Today Is:
Don't abuse the liberty
:13 have been called to liberty
Paul has spent much of the last few chapters showing how we are free from the Law when we come to the Lord.
He's been showing us that trying to please God by keeping the Law was a form of slavery, and that we have been bought from that slavery and set free.
:13 only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh
flesh - sarx - flesh (the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood) of both man and beasts... ;
But here it means - human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore open to sin and opposed to God
Paul is warning the Galatians not to abuse this liberty in Jesus.
Some would say, "Gee, I don't have to obey the law anymore? Whoopee!!"
And then they would use this knowledge as a springboard to go out and break every law that was ever written.
Lesson:
Freedom from the law doesn't mean it's okay to sin.
Paul is concerned that the Galatians don't go from one form of bondage to another.
He doesn't want them to go from being enslaved to the Law, to becoming enslaved to their own sin nature.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
1Co 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
For some people, being under the law is like being in prison.
As long as certain people remain in prison, they don't break the Law.
But as soon as they get out of prison, they can't handle the freedom, and they go out and break the Law, almost seeming as if they want to go back where they're safe.
Some people had accused Paul of teaching that since we are free from the Law, that we can do whatever we want to.
Paul taught that when a person came to Jesus, there was a radical change in their nature, and they now had the ability to say no to sin.
WE HAVE THAT ABILITY TO SAY NO TO SIN.
It.
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
We need to wake up to the fact that when we accepted the Lord, He put a new nature within us, a nature that no longer has to sin.
:13 through love serve one another
This becomes the overall guiding influence in our lives, love.
Jesus said that this was His commandment:
Joh 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Joh 15:12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you
1Jo 3:23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave [us commandment.
2Jo 1:5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.
Lesson:
Get your eyes off of yourself, and serve others.
Rather than our focus being on fulfilling the lusts of our flesh, we need to turn our focus on serving one another in love.
I think that sometimes the greatest problem I have is ME.
When my focus is too much on ME and what my needs are, I center my life around getting my needs met, and my whole focus is selfish.
But when I focus on others, I'm a lot closer to what God wants me to be like.
Philippians 2:1-4 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The one word is "love".
Matthew 22:36-40 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
If you love your neighbor, you aren't going to kill him.
If you love your neighbor, you aren't going to steal his Golf Clubs.
If you love your neighbor, you aren't going to commit adultery with his wife.
If you can just get down this "love" thing, you've got it made!
Note:
Isn't it interesting that Paul has made such a big deal about not being in bondage to the Law, and not trying to please God by trying to keep the Law, and now he turns around and tells us how we can fulfill the Law?
The issue has never been getting rid of the Law, as if the Law were a bad thing.
The issue is only that we understand that we can't make God's standards by trying to keep the Law on our own.
Ro 8:4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
:14 love your neighbor as yourself.”
A lot of people make a big deal out of the fact that if we are to do this correctly, loving others, that we must first love ourselves.
But the Scripture never asks us to put the focus first on ourselves.
In fact, the Scripture assumes that we already do love ourselves, probably too much.
Eph 5:28-29 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
If you didn't love yourself, then you wouldn't care what you looked like.
But the fact that it bothers you that a hair is out of place shows that you very much love yourself.
Lesson:
Get the focus off yourself, and onto others.
Then your perspective is correct.
15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
bite - dakno - to bite with the teeth; metaph., to wound the soul, cut lacerate, rend with reproaches
devour - katesthio - to consume by eating, to eat up, devour;
consumed - analisko - to expend; to consume, use up, destroy
What if we really believed that every time we put someone down, made a rude remark, or rolled our eyes in response to someone else, sooner or later we would be hurt to the same degree?
Scripture says flat out, straight on, and with great clarity that if you bite and devour, take heed—you will be consumed by another.
Others will talk about you to the degree you talk about others.
On the other hand, the more grace-oriented you are, the more loving you’ll be.
Remember:
Christian freedom is freedom to serve one another in love.
Love for other believers flows outward from what God has done in each believer’s heart.
The Greek word for love (agape) refers to selfless, self-giving love.
Christian freedom does not leave believers wandering through life without laws, rules, restraints, or guidelines.
Instead, they freely live according to God’s standards and glorify God through loving service to others.
QUESTIONS
Is it easier loving others now knowing God or before knowing God and Why?
What does Liberty as a Christian mean to you?