Galatians Chapter 5 Verses 7 – 9

· Starting well isn’t the challenging part of walking with the Lord. You receive the Gospel and you get saved from a realization of the goodness of God and the grace of God and what Jesus has done for you! Everyone gets saved the same way. Through receiving Jesus as the Way the Truth and the Life and giving your life to Him!

· It’s what comes after that, or may I should say, WHO comes after that, that can be so laborious and demanding. You begin to be educated as to all the things you should do, or already should have been doing, and all the things you should be aware of and stay away from… And it’s not that any of those things are bad, they just aren’t primary but its as if they become primary!

· What’s primary is the same as it was at the beginning! The foundational champion of our salvation and that is Jesus Himself and the Gospel that He purchased exclusively and single-handedly with His blood because of His great love for you! This is where the legalist errs! Later in this chapter we will read Paul write, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” The legalist turnst that around and says, “Do not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and you shall walk in the Spirit.” Sounds right but it’s out of order and ultimately will lead you to fatigue and strife and division in the body of Christ!

· This was the beef Jesus had with the church of Ephesus in Revelation Chapter 2. Jesus said in Revelation 2:2-4, “I know your works, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake, and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love!’

· This was Jesus’ rebuke to Martha in Luke 10 when she complained that Mary wasn’t doing the work with her as she was just sitting at His feet and Jesus said to her in Luke 10:41, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

· Works will never be enough. Doing all the things will never happen and staying clear of all the things we ought to stay clear of will never happen. No one will apprehend perfection in this life. And so there will always be more to do and more to learn not to do… But the love of God that brought you to eternal life in the first place is the same yesterday, today and forever. Who moved you off of that truth, Paul says…

· Well, actually he says here in the Greek, who broke that road up!? That’s the wording he used. And that’s wild. Think of a highway. We are spoiled by our smooth roads! Imagine the ride if that road wasn’t there and it was bare ground or worse, the road itself was broken up!? That’s the imagery Paul places in front of them pertaining to those who derail from the grace and love of God in pursuit of behaviorism, or in the case of the Galatians, the law.

· Jesus is infuriated by this type of thing. He said in Luke 17:2, “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” You know, the old Italian necklace!

· And look, once again, behaviorism is not bad; its just not primary! It’s not primary! And when it is placed in the position of dominance it corrupts the entire mind-heart-set! A little leaven leavens the whole lump! We actually should be intentional and careful to bring ourselves and others up in the things of the Lord strongly and firmly and consistently within the architecture of God’s unconditional and unrestrained favor through what Jesus has done for us!

· Anything else, any other way of interpreting, teaching or living the scriptures Paul says something alarming here, IT IS NOT FROM GOD! And then he goes on to say that anyone who breaks the road up for others as they pursue Jesus, derailing them from how much they are loved and cherished, that they have judgment coming… Perhaps not final soul-loss judgement because true Christians, I HAVE DONE THIS, but the word in the Greek is penalty or fault or avengement!

· Can you just imagine for a second… We as Christians harp on someone with a spirit of condemnation and harshness and then one day they realize through a Jesus-knowing Christian, “What a minute, God loved me with a perfect love that whole time…!?” They’ll be furious at you and that fury will manifest in contempt… Paul says that’s…, oh wait, we haven’t even read that verse yet…

Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 10

· Paul says, I trust the Lord in you, and I trust God is stronger than them, that in time He Himself will show you His goodness even if they won’t and then they will bear their judgement! A spirit of contempt will follow them around while they blame everyone else for it… It’s THEIR judgment, not others…, Paul says!!

· We have to go this route also, by the way. At some point we have to give someone enough space to learn to relate directly to the Lord and not to us or through us to Him. Jesus is our High Priest and so every other earthly priest is an abomination to the Lord!

Galatians Chapter 5 Verses 11 – 12

· Judaizers were no doubt saying, “Paul teaches this…, he teaches circumcision! He circumcised Timothy, He is a Pharisee,” and Paul says, if that were true then why do they speak also against me…? It’s just a rational argument!

· And then Paul gets down right combative and contentious in this statement, “I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!” That’s contempt! The Greek speaking folks would know by the words he used that what he just said is if these guys want to be circumcised why not just finish the job and cut the rest off too! And then go and buy a Prius or something! HA! Just kidding (about the Prius part)!

Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 13

· The wording here in the Greek is great! The word that Paul uses for “occasion,” is the word “aphorme” and it means a place from which an attack is made. A militaristic base designed to supply attacking forces! I love that illustration! Yes, in Christ we are free to do as we please however IF Christ has set you free then what you please should align more and more, day in and day out, greater and greater as life breathes by, to what God pleases! Listen to this, it’s not bondage in the law and freedom in grace. It’s bondage in the law and freedom in CHRIST!

· If your liberty in Christ is weaponized against God or your neighbor then you will be consumed, and that is not grace being applied... Liberty that consumes you IS NOT liberty! Paul is challenging true conversion here with this directive! What do I mean by that?

· Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart!” In other words, as you walk with Him and know Him and continually learn more and more about Him, He does a work in your heart of delivering and installing what He wants for you and your life. Which is entirely the best for you! Little life secret here, Proverbs 22:4, “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life!”

· SO, if you can walk in “liberty” that you have received in Christ and grieve the Holy Spirit and harm your fellow man and just keep on keeping on, bruh, how is it that you are actually set free from the bondage of the flesh? You are still swimming in it! You are still under the law… The fact of the matter is until your heart aligns to God’s, it’s not surrendered to God. A heart not surrendered to God is not set to liberty! Perhaps that’s why Paul says, “You have been CALLED to liberty!?” He is challenging them!

Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 14

· Is Paul confused? That’s not a word, that’s a sentence. No, he’s not confused at all… The word is love. This world has so tortured this word that it’s hard to even know what it means anymore. Love is not to seek what is best or right or fair or convenient or desired so that you have all that you should and could have. All of that is lust.

· I’m going to get really ethereal with you in this explanation. 1 John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” Set every lesser definition aside for a moment. God is love and therefore to walk in love, to love someone, love is what is aligned with the Lord. It’s just that simple. So, if you have no desire for that then you yet do not know love…

· And what does that look like most practically? Serving one another. I LOVE what Guzik says here, “But through love serve one another: This is the antidote for using liberty as an occasion for the flesh. The flesh expects others to conform to us, and doesn’t care much about others. But when we through love serve one another, we conquer the flesh. It isn’t through an obsessive, contemplative attitude of navel-gazing that we overcome the flesh, but by getting out and serving others. Exactly the pattern set by Jesus!”

· All the law is fulfilled in walking in the liberty of which Christ has set you free, in communion and connection and communication with God Most High, and allowing Him to teach, correct, lead, and call the shots (because you trust and know Him) in how you conduct your earthly business with one another. Against such, there is no law because in that there is no sin. Here’s the alternative…

Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 15

· Any other mindset or life-goal that takes a premiere seat over the one Paul has described and we have discussed is, (just speaking rationally here), idolatry and the result is that we are taking bites out of each other and one day we get to the point that there are no bites left and that relationship ends and baggage of weight is added to our souls. You end up destroying yourself through strife!

· The waves in the wave pool get a little bit stronger as the enemy scores unperceived points on us and standing FAST in the grace and liberty of Christ grows harder as we can’t forgive them or ourselves… Or, we can forgive them and us but forgetting isn’t possible… Weighed down souls don’t soar as high as light ones…