Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

 


Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, "On the road again..."  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. "...I can't wait to get on the road again." One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please.

Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in Galatians 6:15 (LSB).  "For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation."  Translated another way earlier in Galatians 3:28 (LSB), "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

One of the things I have appreciated about going through this book of the Bible is Paul's affection for the people.  He calls them "brothers" at least ten times stressing the family relationship in the body of Christ.  He also calls them "beloved" at times, those worthy of love.  He finishes out the letter in his own handwriting that apparently was very large.  He adds this as his personal touch to them that it truly is he who is sending this communication to them.

When was the last time you received a handwritten letter?  You think of what went into that effort and also what you have in your hands.  You see the handwriting of another and if you have received many from them, you recognize by the handwriting that it is from them.  In our world of digital, the personal touch is still the greatest way to communicate that you care.  It is similar to my children texting me but sometimes I just need to hear their voice.  In the church, we need to make sure that we are providing a "personal touch" to those who are gathering.  They know us by our "handwriting" and that this has been sent or said because we love them so much.  

Paul, the man whose method is discipleship (walking alongside with others to grow in Christ), who gives them the message of Jesus (the good news of God's grace and peace), relays that message with the motive of love.  He loves his God so much who gave His one and only Son to provide him salvation and he loves others so much to even bear the marks of His Savior to tell them about God's love too.  I pray we mimic Paul's actions as he was mimicking the actions of Jesus.  

And so ends another book of God's wonder love letter to us!

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connect a bit of Scripture with a bit of life - Spurgeon

     I heard this phrase today along with another that if you connect a bit of Scripture with a bit of life, it will end up effecting all of your life.  This came up in my study of the book of James and specifically the verses dealing with not just being a hearer of the Word but also be a doer of the Word.  It is all about application.  I can't look at preaching the Word without giving steps of applying the Word.  It really is an incomplete sermon if I don't.      Many times I think it has to be big and many points and given cute aliteration that makes it snappy and I think easy to remember and fun to write down.  Reality is, if I would make it a bit of Scripture connected to a bit of life and just that it would probably accomplish much more.  How much time I spend on the opening statement and lame joke and research and introductions and how many points and the closing statement and so little time on connecting the bit of Scripture to the bit of life.      So I guess I ha
Read more

Sermon prep and maybe a video...

     James 4 has brought up some interesting study.  First, "the quarrels and fights among you."  Those are usually worse than you think even though we try to minimize them.  The source is simpler than you think because it is coming from within you.  The solution is easier than you think because the solution that James gives is that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord.  Any sincere resolution is specific and brief.  Beware of lengthy resolutions that usually include explaining it away or excusing some of the behavior.      As I have seen before, the words are a sign of the heart.  I read this week that if we have a critical heart we usually start by speaking evil of another to ourselves.  Then we progress to speaking evil of another to that person with a running tally in our heads of all their wrongs.  Finally, we speak evil of another to others and broadcast in a way that we are thinking that we are helping.  Giving judgment is always easier than giving mercy.  I
Read more