Sermon: Galatians 6: 1-18 Freedom to do good

We’re getting into that time of year when you start thinking about the year that is almost past, and you start thinking about the year that is coming up. It’s three weeks today until New Year’s Eve, and 2017 will be behind us, a new year will be opening up before us. And perhaps that makes you think of New Year’s Resolutions.

Maybe you think back to 1st January this year, to see how you got on this year with those resolutions... if you kept them past January, or if you’ve still been keeping them up. So, with January coming, you think to yourself, next year, I’ll give it a go. Next year I’ll make a change. New Year, New Me, and all that.

But you don’t have to wait for the new year to have a new you. You don’t need to have a new calendar or diary to make a change. You can do it today. As Paul closes his letter to the Galatians, he calls us to do good.

But this isn’t the Santa Claus is coming to town kind of command to be good - you know, he’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty or nice... he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake!’ Be good or you won’t get anything. Now it seems it’s the elf on the shelf doing the same job of you better be good...

But as we’ve seen throughout Galatians, we can’t be good without God - it’s only God who gives us the freedom to do good, because we are his.

The Galatians were suffering from false teachers, who were promoting a kind of DIY religion - you can Do It Yourself, by obeying the law and earning your place by your own efforts. But the whole way through the letter, Paul has been showing us that we can’t do it by ourselves. We’ve all broken the law - it only condemns us. We can only be ransomed, freed through the death of Jesus for us, giving us his undeserved grace - received by faith alone in Jesus alone.

But now that we ARE saved, we have the freedom to live by the Spirit. We saw that last week, as the Spirit wants to grow his fruit in us - that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control that only he can bring. It’s as we keep in step with the Spirit that we become more like Jesus. And this morning’s reading shows us how this works out in a church community. How can we, together, live out our freedom by the power of the Spirit? How can we do good?

Church should be the place where we bear one another’s burdens. V1: ‘Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’

Paul doesn’t say - if someone is caught in a sin, then go and tell everyone about it; gossip it far and wide. No, if (or when!) someone is caught in sin - then we are to restore them gently. Gossiping relentlessly, or gently restoring? And who is to do it? You who are spiritual - those who belong to the Spirit, the Christians. Not just the pastor or elders. We’re to be a community of caring Christians - bearing one another’s burdens - and watching out in case we are tempted in the same way.

Is this a picture of what St Matthew’s is like; or something we need to grow into?

The next verses (3-5) ask us to evaluate ourselves individually - to take a good hard look at ourselves. I was reading recently about Illusory Superiority. What it means is that people tend to think more highly of themselves. So, in an American survey, 93% of people thought they were an above average driver (but only 50% can be above the average...). This effect plays out all the time in surveys where people are asked to rate themselves.

And Paul says it can happen with us as well, in the spiritual realm. ‘If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.’

Paul says we’re deceiving ourselves if we think of ourselves more highly than we should. Rather, we should test our actions. Don’t compare yourself with anyone else - because at the end of the day, you’ll stand before the judge by yourself - carrying your own load.

We’re to share one another’s burdens, but we have to carry our own load (a different word, a different idea). (And therefore not a contradiction!)

As we think about ourselves, our actions, our choices, Paul wants us to consider what it is we’re sowing; what we’re investing in; what we’re working towards. That image of sowing and reaping runs through verses 6-10. The principle is in v7: ‘Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.’

The farmer decides what he wants to harvest, and then has to sow that very thing. It’s no good sowing potatoes if you want to grow carrots. Or planting apple seeds if you want strawberries. Whatever you sow, you will reap. Whatever you invest in is what you will receive in return. ANd it’s no good deciding at the harvest time what you want to get - you’ve already made that decision beforehand.

So if we sow to please our sinful nature - we will reap destruction. But if we sow to please the Spirit - we will reap eternal life.

So what are you sowing towards? How are you investing your time, your money, your talents? When you have a free half hour, what do you turn your mind to? We’re called to sow to please the Spirit, to do good. John Wesley put it like this: Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can as long as ever you can.

And yet, sometimes, you can get a bit fed up of doing good. When you give, and give, and give. Or when you’ve given up your time to serve in an organisation so that boys and girls get to hear about Jesus. Or when you see how much easier people without faith seem to have it. So in verse 9 Paul becomes a cheerleader, urging us on, wanting us to keep going, like the people cheering on the marathon runners... ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ Don’t give up. Don’t become weary. Keep an eye on the harvest to come. And therefore, v 10: ‘Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.’

Our doing good is for all people, everyone, but with a special focus on the family of believers. We have been freed from our sins in order to do good, as we sow to the Spirit. So let’s do it. Let’s share the good news as we do good.

It’s at this point that Paul takes the pen to write a bit himself. Normally there was someone acting as scribe, writing down the letter, but here, Paul writes: ‘See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!’ He’s wanting to emphasise this last bit of the letter. It’s as if we’re using bold type, underlined, font size 50 (this sermon is font size 12).

So how does he close the letter? What is it he wants to leave with us? He returns to circumcision, and to boasting. All the way through the letter, Paul has been warning them about the dangers of being circumcised. And there’s one last warning here. Why did the false teachers want them to be circumcised? So that they wouldn’t be persecuted for the cross, so that they would boast in the Galatians’ flesh.

The false teachers could avoid the persecution from the Jews if they could show that they were obeying the law. In that way, the cross wouldn’t matter to them. The important thing, the thing they would boast in, was their circumcision. The false teachers wanted to boast in the flesh, the skin of the Galatians. That was what they valued above everything else.

But Paul says there’s only one thing to boast in. It’s not our achievements; not our religious observance; not our goodness or our good deeds; it’s simply the cross: ‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’

The only thing to boast in; the only place to find our value; the only thing that frees us from our sins, and frees us to live lives of good by the power of the Spirit - it’s the cross. We can’t boast in ourselves, we must boast in Jesus, what he has done for us. Because it’s only his death for us, that makes us a new creation - the only thing that matters.

Circumcision doesn’t matter. uncircumcision means nothing. ‘What counts is a new creation.’ As Paul says elsewhere, ‘if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.’

Have you been made new? Forget about new year’s resolutions, or diets that always start tomorrow. Jesus will make you new. A new creation. A fresh start. It comes as you trust in Jesus. So have you trusted in Christ for your forgiveness and salvation? Then boast only in Christ and his cross. See the whole world as your mission, to live out the life of love that Christ has set you free to live. You’re free to love, free to do good, so don’t be weary. Look to the harvest, and keep going.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 10th December 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 5: 16-26 Freedom to live by the Spirit

Sermons can sometimes be lengthy affairs. A few years ago, the former rector of Lambeg preached a record-breaking sermon, which lasted for five hours and fifty minutes without a break. But the Guinness World Record for the longest speech was a sermon preached by Pastor Zach Zehnder from Florida, which lasted 53 hours and 18 minutes. Now, as Roy Castle would have said on his TV programme, dedication’s what you need if you want to be a record-breaker, so, if you’re sitting comfortably, let’s break some records!

No, don’t worry, we’ll not try to beat five hours or fifty-three hours today. In fact, this could have been the shortest sermon ever. Could have been - not will be! You see, we can sum up the whole sermon in four words that Paul gives us in the first verse of our reading. Just four words. Do you see them there in verse 16? ‘Live by the Spirit.’ That’s what Paul wants to emphasise; it’s what God wants us to hear today; it’s the application right at the very start of the sermon.

God says: Live by the Spirit. So go and do it.

It might have been the shortest sermon, but I’m not sure it would be the most helpful sermon. So let’s take some time to unpack those four words, to understand what we’re being told to do - and then how to do it.

You might have noticed that we’re near the end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. And in quite a few of his letters, Paul arranges them into two parts. First up, the doctrine; and then the doing. He gives us the truth, and then shows us how to live it out. It’s a bit like doing your driving test - you do the theory first, and then the practical.

So over the autumn term, we’ve worked our way through this letter. And we’ve seen that the Galatians were in danger of forgetting the free grace of God. They had started by believing, but now they were trying to earn their way by observing the Old Testament law, and by submitting to circumcision. So Paul has reminded them of the grace God has given us in the Lord Jesus - how he was crucified for us to redeem us, and so that we would receive the promise given to Abraham - the promise of the Holy Spirit. That’s the theory bit. As we trust in Jesus, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now comes the practical instructions.

We have the Holy Spirit if we’re believers, but we need to live by the Spirit - not being like Walt Disney’s housekeeper whose story I told a few weeks ago. Remember? She was given these bits of paper for her birthday and Christmas, and put them away safely. She died a millionaire, and she didn’t even realise. She didn’t know the resources she had. So don’t be like her. Live by the Spirit.

You see, God has given us his Holy Spirit in order to help us live out our Christian faith. We just can’t do it by ourselves. And yet many of us think that we CAN do it by ourselves. That’s what the Galatians were trying to do, as they tried to add what Jesus has done for us on the cross. Or, to think of Roy Castle again, we think that to live out the Christian life, to defeat the sin that so easily entangles us and the powerful sinful desires that rise within us, dedication’s what we need.

But Paul tells us what we need to do. Look again at verse 16. ‘So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.’ Notice what he doesn’t say - he doesn’t say try really hard to resist your sinful desires, and then you’ll be able to live by the Spirit. He doesn’t even say, live by the Spirit and then try really hard... No, he says, live by the Spirit (by his power), and you WILL NOT gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Live in this way, by the power of the Spirit, and you will not gratify those desires.

You see, there are two ways to live presented in these verses. We either live by the Spirit, or we live by the sinful nature (the flesh). But it’s not a take it or leave it kind of choice - that it doesn’t really matter which you follow. Rather, they are in conflict. It’s like the line from Dad’s Army - ‘Don’t you know there’s a war on?’ But the battle isn’t out there somewhere else - it’s a battle on the inside, for our heart, our choices, our actions.

Have you ever had a time when you want to do something good, but then you follow a different prompting and so something selfish, or downright evil instead? Like, maybe seeing someone waiting for a bus, so you think to yourself, I’ll stop and give them a lift... only for you to instead drive up close to the kerb and splashing them... I hope that hasn’t happened, but you get the idea? We’re in a war - or rather, a war is in us, between the Spirit and our sinful nature.

Whenever you do not do what you want - this is what’s going on. Now that’s not to give us a way out, an easy excuse, to just go and be nasty to someone and then say, sorry, it’s my sinful nature just getting the better of me! No, Paul calls us to live by the Spirit, and so not gratify those desires that rise within us. As he says in verse 18: ‘but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.’

The law has no hold on us if we’re led by the Spirit, because if we have the Spirit, then we’ve already been justified, declared righteous. So what are you being led by? Your sinful desires, or the Spirit of God?

To follow our sinful desires is to follow a path of destruction. That’s the point of v19-21. Paul lists out the acts of the sinful nature - obvious things. And he seems to group them into four categories (indicated by the semi-colon in the NIV) - sex; religion; relationships; and drink. When you’re following your sinful nature, these are the outcomes - sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.’

And look at where these lead: ‘I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.’ To live by the sinful nature, to do what we like, is to end up outside God’s kingdom. To go through life saying, ‘my will be done’ will end with God saying, ok, your will be done.

But there is another way to live. Not following our sinful desires, but living by the Spirit. Taking our lead from him, letting his power guide us, and grow us. Do you see the contrast at the start of verse 22? The acts of the sinful nature are like this... ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is...’

Have you got your Christmas tree up yet? What’s the difference between a Christmas tree and an apple tree? The decorations are hung on the Christmas tree (and getting the lights untangled...), but the apples on the apple tree are produced by the tree itself. And the Holy Spirit wants to produce his fruit in our lives. As we live by his power, and we allow him to lead us, he will produce the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do you see how they contrast with the acts of the sinful nature?

Some writers point to the three groups of three - the first three (love, joy, peace) all about our attitude to God; the next three (patience, kindness, goodness) in relation to other people - ‘social virtues’ (Stott); and the last three (faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) in relation to self.

We can’t work these things up by ourselves - they come as the power of the Holy Spirit works through us, moulding us, shaping us, changing us to be more like the Lord Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit point us to Jesus - his life of perfect love, perfect joy, perfect peace and so on. There’s no law against this fruit.

So how do we do it? How do we live by the Spirit, triumph over our sinful desires, and produce the fruit of the Spirit? In our final two verses we’re told how - one past, one present continuous.

V24: ‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.’ If we are Christ’s, then we have crucified our sinful nature. We’ve nailed it to the cross. We have put it to death. We don’t need to listen to it any more.

And instead of following our sinful nature, we’re told the positive steps to take in v25. ‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.’ A long time ago, the BB World Council was held in Newcastle. On the Sunday, all the companies from Down Battalion took part in the parade to church - which was in the Slieve Donard hotel. But our company made their way up the street like Brown’s cows. What was the problem? We were a good bit back from the band we were following, trying to keep in step with it. But the band behind was keeping a different beat, a different step. So some of us were in step with the band in front, some with the band behind. Brown’s cows.

Paul says we’re to keep in step with the Spirit. March to the beat of his drum. Live by his power, following what he wants us to do, and what he wants to do in us. And one of the ways we do that is by not being conceited (proud); provoking and envying each other. (26)

Well, it didn’t turn out to be a short sermon. But it does have just one point, and one big application - live by the Spirit. You’ve crucified your sinful nature, so don’t listen to it; yield to the power of the Spirit, producing his fruit, keeping in step with him.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 3rd December 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 5: 1-15 Freedom to love

Today, we pause to remember - to remember those who gave their lives in the service of others, and the cause of freedom. Men from this village, and from every village, town and city, signed up to serve, and to stand against the forces of tyranny in Europe and around the world, to bring about the freedom we enjoy. We are free today, because of their dedication and sacrifice.

And yet, as our Bible reading tells us today, there was an even greater sacrifice, which has brought about an even greater freedom. We’re told in Galatians 5:1 that ‘It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.’ As we’ve been working our way through this letter over the last few weeks, we’ve seen how the death of Jesus on the cross brings freedom. Christ has set us free from sin, and the law, as we trust in him.

That freedom is available to you today - the freedom from guilt and shame; the freedom from the burden of our sins; Paul describes it as being released from prison, and coming to the end of school. Freedom! But what does our freedom look like? Can we really do whatever we like?
When I was becoming a teenager, one of the songs that played nonstop on the radio said this: ‘I’m free to be whatever I, whatever I choose and I’ll sing the blues if I want... I’m free to say whatever I, whatever I like if it’s wrong or right it’s alright... Whatever you do, whatever you say, yeah I know it’s alright... Whatever you do, whatever you say, yeah I know it’s alright.’ (Oasis)

So when Jesus sets us free, is it for us to be whatever, say whatever, do whatever we want? Well, imagine that you had a goldfish in a bowl in your living room. And, if it could think for long enough (because it has its short term memory), and it decided that it was imprisoned in the water in the bowl. Goldie might decide that freedom for him is to jump out of the bowl, to be free of the water. But if Goldie does manage to jump out of the water, and free himself, is he really free? Well, no. He can’t survive outside the bowl! He’s only free in the water.

In our reading today, Paul shows us what our freedom in Christ really looks like. In verse 1, we are free to not be slaves again. Jesus died to free us from the demands of the Old Testament law. We simply couldn’t obey them by ourselves. That was what Paul taught the Galatians when they became Christians. But now other teachers, false teachers had arrived, and they said that to be a real Christian, you needed to become a Jew. You needed to obey the Old Testament laws, in every detail. And it was as if they were coming to make the Galatians slaves all over again.

But what the false teachers were doing was stopping the Galatians from being free. And Paul uses a couple of pictures of what they were doing in verses 7-8.

So, imagine it’s sports day, and you’re running in one of the races. You’re doing really well, you might win a medal, and then someone gets in your way, trips you up, and puts you out of the race. The Galatians had been running a good race, but someone had cut in on them and kept them from obeying the truth.

Or, imagine you’re baking some bread. You’re going to make some flatbread, but you accidentally add in some yeast. The yeast will work through the whole batch of dough, it will affect everything. And the false teaching in these churches was affecting everyone.

So much so that, if they followed that teaching, they would be alienated from Christ, fallen from grace. So in Christ, we are free to not be slaves.

In verse 13, we are free, but not to sin. Paul says: ‘You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.’

We are free, but not to do whatever we want. You see, each of us has a sinful nature, we want to do what we want to do. We want to please ourselves and have other people serve us. We want to go our own way, rather than God’s way.

But Jesus has freed us from our sinful nature. So we don’t have to follow it any more. We shouldn’t follow it any more.

Rather, we are free, to serve one another in love. That’s what Paul says in verse 13. ‘Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.’ This is why Jesus freed us - not to be selfish, but to serve one another, in the way that Jesus has first served us, as he gave himself for us in love.

And what does it look like to serve one another in love? It looks like the summary of the law - the whole law is summed up in one command, from Leviticus 19: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

Originally, this command was a demand we couldn’t attain. Could you ever really say that you always, in every moment, with every effort, were loving your neighbour as much as you love yourself? The law condemned us. But Jesus perfectly obeyed this command, he freed us from the demand; and he now makes this a delight. We have been set free, so that we serve one another in love, and do what we otherwise couldn’t do.

One of the greatest war films is Saving Private Ryan. When the American Army realise that all three of Private Ryan’s brothers have been killed in the war, a group of 8 soldiers are sent behind enemy lines to find Private Ryan, to save him, to be able to send him home to be with his mother. The film charts the efforts of Captain Miller and his men to find Ryan.When they eventually find him, Miller dies as the Germans advance. And Miller whispers in Ryan’s ear: ‘Earn this. Earn it.’

Miller wants Ryan to live in such a way that he deserves the sacrifice of the men who came to save him. As the film ends, an elderly Private Ryan stands at the war grave of Captain Miller, and he’s still haunted by those words - Earn this. He asks his wife, surrounded by his family - tell me I’ve lived a good life, tell me I’m a good man. Has he earned it? That’s the question that haunts him.

But Jesus doesn’t need or want us to earn our freedom, or somehow pay him back for all he’s done for us. We couldn’t do it! Instead, he gives us freedom - freedom to not be slaves again; freedom to not sin; freedom to serve one another in love.

So have you received the love of Jesus? The love that caused him to give himself for you.

Have you received the freedom Jesus gives? Receive it today!

When we receive the love of Jesus, we’re to pass it on. When we receive the freedom he has given, we’re to live it out in love, in a life of service, for the good of others.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Remembrance Sunday, 12th November 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 4: 8-31 Freedom from slavery

I wonder if you’ve heard of Stockholm Syndrome? It’s not where you start to shop in Ikea and develop a fondness for Abba music. The idea of Stockholm Syndrome was developed after a hostage situation in a bank in Stockholm, Sweden in 1973. Two men walked into the bank, and took four staff hostage. After six days, the four were released - but ended up siding with their captors. None of them would testify in court against their captors - indeed, they even raised money for their defence fund.

That was the first time it had been analysed and identified, but now it’s a seemingly common problem in hostage or kidnapping situations. The person who was a slave is freed, but then decides to go back to the person who enslaved them.

Or think of some who have been in prison, they’ve been released, but they just can’t cope with life on the outside, and so they reoffend, to be able to get back into prison. They can’t cope with freedom, they would rather be on the inside, prisoners again.

Now perhaps those thoughts seem strange to you - the idea of Stockholm Syndrome, falling for your enslaver; or reoffending to re-enter the prison system. We like our freedom, we wonder why anyone wouldn’t want it. We would find it strange that someone, having been freed would want to become a slave again. And yet that’s exactly what Paul says the Galatian Christians were in danger of doing.

And it could be that we are in the same danger. It seems as if our Galatians series has been significant for some of us; that we’ve been understanding the gospel of grace through Christ alone in a fresh way; that we’ve been enjoying the freedom of knowing that we are forgiven and welcomed into God’s family; that we have been saved, and we’re now sons of God. Now if that’s you, Paul has a warning - you’ve been freed, so don’t become a slave again!

As we dive into the passage, we see that Paul is reminding them of how they were freed; as he warns them of the dangers of slavery. V8: ‘Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God - or rather are known by God - how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?’ Do you see what he says there? You used to be slaves - slaves to the pagan way of thinking, slaves to the demons.

They were freed from being slaves, by knowing God (and being known by him) - isn’t that what we pray in one of the morning collects? ‘To know you is eternal life, and to serve you is perfect freedom...’

But now, they’re turning back to the weak and miserable principles they knew before - in a different form, perhaps, but with the same basic idea. Do all this, and you’ll succeed. Observe these rules, do these things, keep these feast days, and you’ll make it by your own efforts. They’re in danger of being enslaved all over again.

In verse 12, Paul makes his appeal to them. He’s pleading with them. (This is the first imperative, the first command, the first thing they should do in the letter). ‘I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you.’ He reminds them of how he became like them - how he lived among them, because of an episode of ill health. Now we’re not told what it was, but there’s a hint it might have been eye trouble of some sort. He says there in v15 that they would have torn out their eyes and given them to him.

Whatever the exact problem, this was the reason Paul stopped in Galatia and preached the gospel to them. And even though his illness was a trial to them, they welcomed him with a great welcome - as if he was an angel, or even as if he was Christ Jesus himself. Why the welcome? Because they heard the good news of the gospel, and they experienced the freedom Paul proclaimed - freedom in Christ. But now - ‘What has happened to all your joy?... Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?’

They knew the joy of being freed, but the joy had long gone. Now, they were trying to get back into prison, submitting to a new slavery. And they’re cross with Paul for pointing it out to them!

We see the enslavers crouching in v17. ‘Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want us to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.’ There’s a lot of zealousness in those verses! The enslavers are zealous to win them over - but not for good. They want the Galatians to be zealous for them, not for Paul or for the gospel.

The Galatians were really taken by the Judaizers. They felt important, because these guys were taking an interest in them. They seemed as if they were trying to help them! But Paul gives the warning - don’t fall for it! Don’t become slaves again!

These Judaizers are a bit like the Child Catcher in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He brings his horse-drawn wagon into the town square, offering free lollipops and ice cream to the children. When they wee boy hears there’s treacle tarts, he rushes out. But when the children climb into the wagon where the free treats are, they find it’s a trick; they’re trapped; they’ve become slaves. This is the danger the Galatians were in, and it’s the danger we might find ourselves in.

Someone who sounds as if they’re helping, wanting to explain things better, but they’re actually working against the gospel, making you a slave all over again. It’s no wonder Paul was concerned, it’s as if he’s experiencing the pains of childbirth all over again, wanting Christ to be formed in them. He wishes he was with them to change his tone.

Now in the last part of the passage, Paul shows from the story of Abraham that there are two ways you can go about something. You see, we imagine that the people in the Bible were all good, and moral, and perfect - that is, until we read their stories! Abraham could well inspired a storyline on Eastenders or Emmerdale; you could almost see him appearing on Jeremy Kyle.

You see, Abraham had received the promise of a great nation through his son in Genesis 12. By Genesis 16, 11 years have passed and still no son. So Sarah his wife says to Abraham - go and have a child with my slave girl Hagar. They try to take matters into their own hands, and work things out by themselves. So Ishmael is born, a son by the flesh, but not the son of promise.

Fourteen years later, the promised son, Isaac, is born. At his weaning, Ishmael is mocking Isaac, and Sarah gets upset. So she tells Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. And Abraham does it.

And Paul takes this story and sets out the two ways you can go about something - you can work it out yourself; or you can trust God for what he has promised. And those two ways are represented by the two women - Hagar the slave, and Sarah the free. The slave woman can only produce slaves, and only the free woman can produce free children.

And what Paul says there in verses 24-26 would have been shocking to those who read it. We know that because Jesus basically says the same thing in our gospel reading from John’s gospel. Here in v24, he looks at the covenant from Mount Sinai, when God gave the law to the people of Israel through Moses. So which woman is it? Slave or free? Paul says that the Law, Mount Sinai, is like the slave woman, Hagar - it can only produce slaves (as we’ve seen in recent weeks). Hagar is like the present city of Jerusalem - the temple was still standing, in slavery with her children.

Remember in John’s gospel when the Jews say ‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.’ (Jn 8:33). But Jesus says they are slaves - ‘everyone who sins is a slave to sin.’ (Jn 8:34) And they’re not children of Abraham, because they aren’t doing what Abraham did - believing God and the one he sent.

Do it yourself religion of whatever flavour - they produce slaves, slaves to sin who will never inherit, who will be driven out, as Hagar and Ishmael were.

v26 ‘But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.’ The heavenly Jerusalem is our mother, We are her children, the children of God’s promise, just as Isaac was all those years ago. The child of promise was persecuted by the slave son then, and it’s still happening now. Therefore, as Paul sums up, in v31 ‘Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.’

You used to be slaves. You’ve been set free. So don’t become slaves again. As we take bread and wine, we rejoice in our rescuer, the one who gave himself to free us. You’ve been released, so live out your freedom, live out your inheritance, and don’t become slaves all over again.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 5th November.

Sermon: Galatians 3:15 - 4:7 Freedom in Christ

A couple of weeks ago, an Australian court decided that an unsent draft text message was indeed a valid will. A man had died, and his widow had expected to keep everything, but this unsent text message was found on the man’s phone, leaving everything to his brother and nephew. After a long court case, the judge declared the will to be valid, because the man’s intentions were clear. This human covenant had been duly established, so it couldn’t be set aside or added to.

I’m not sure that the law is the same here in Northern Ireland, so don’t be depending on a text message to serve as your last will and testament. So why am I talking about wills and such like? Isn’t it a bit morbid to talk about? Well, no, it’s better to have such things in place. But the reason I’m talking about wills is because that’s what Paul turns to in this part of Galatians.

Last week we saw that Christians receive the Holy Spirit - not by obeying the law (because we can’t do that), but by faith in Jesus. Jesus obeyed the law for us, and redeemed us on the cross, so that we receive the promise given to Abraham, the promise of the Holy Spirit. And now Paul is continuing with his line of reasoning. And, as Jimmy Cricket would say, come here, there’s more... We’ll see that we’re not just justified and left like that - there is even more for us than that.

So Paul introduces the idea of a will in verse 15. He does that to help explain the relationship between the promise given to Abraham and the law given to Moses. Just as a will isn’t set aside or added to once it comes into effect on the person’s death, so in the same way, God’s promise to Abraham isn’t changed or added to. The promise stands throughout the Old Testament period, and isn’t changed even though the law was given 430 years later.

As we saw last week - verse 18 - the inheritance doesn’t depend on the law; it depends on the promise given to Abraham - by God’s grace. But straight away, Paul knows there’ll be some objections. He voices it in verse 19. ‘What, then, was the purpose of the law?’ Why did God bother to give the Old Testament law? What’s the point of it?

He goes on to answer it in verse 19: ‘It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.’ The law was given because of sin - to highlight and flag up our sin. We can’t be saved by the law, but the law shows that we need a Saviour.

We see that in verses 21-22. ‘Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.’

The law shows us that we’re prisoners of sin. The law declares what sin is, and so when we do those very things, then it declares that we are sinners. The law only condemns - but it shows us that we need the Saviour, the Saviour we put our faith in.

In verses 23-25, Paul gives us two pictures of what the law is. In verse 23, the law is a jailer, a prison guard. Perhaps you’ve been on a tour of a prison - Crumlin Road or at the Down County Museum in Downpatrick. You’re put in the cell, and the door is locked. That’s what the law did - it kept us as prisoners, ‘locked up until faith should be revealed.’ There was no other way out; only by believing in Jesus, trusting that his death has paid the sentence, and so we can go free.

In verse 24, Paul says, ‘So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.’ That phrase ‘put in charge’ is the idea of a tutor, nanny or governess, who is in charge of the children to make sure they go to school and do their lessons. Harsh, perhaps, but only has power until the child grows up. Now, paul says, ‘Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.’ We’ve been freed from prison; we’ve been freed from the schoolmaster!

That freedom comes in Christ, and in him, we have a new status and a new relationship. The new status is the one we’ve already seen - justified, declared innocent. But there’s more than that - we also have a new relationship, verse 26: ‘You are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.’ We’re not just forgiven, we’re also family. We’re not just saved, we’re also sons.

Now, that might sound a bit strange, that we’re all sons. Why not sons and daughters? Well, it’s because in the culture of the time, sorry ladies, only sons inherited. So for the Bible to say that we are all sons means that we all share in the family inheritance, we all receive the blessings that God gives us. We see that radical inclusion in verse 28: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what your standing is, there is a welcome in Christ Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, makes us sons of God in him.

As verse 29 says, ‘If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’ In Christ, we are the seed of Abraham, and our name is in the will, we are heirs according to the promise. So when a will is read, what do you need to do to inherit? Just receive. It has been promised to you. And we receive the blessings God gives to and through Abraham by believing in Jesus.

Now that is an amazing thought - that we are heirs in Christ. But even more amazing, is this - your name was always written in the will from the very beginning. Back in verse 15 we saw that wills aren’t set aside or added to when they’re established. So your name was in the will, included in the promise, when it was to Abraham (and in fact, from before the foundation of the world). It’s not that God is sitting in heaven, pen poised, waiting to add someone’s name in when they believe. No, God has already named his heirs from long ago, your names are already written in heaven, and the promise is yours already.

In 4:1, the heirs were children, back in the prisoner / schoolmaster period of the law. They own the whole estate, they’re going to receive everything, but they’re still subject to guardians and trustees - they’re just like a slave.

Or, to give an up to date example. Now, perish the thought this would happen, but if the Queen, and Prince Charles and Prince William were all to perish, then who would be king? Prince George. But he’s just 4. How could he be king? There would be a Regent appointed, someone to rule on his behalf, until he came of age.

And Paul says it’s the same with us. Until we come to faith, we’re slaves (even though we’re going to be heirs). That’s what used to be the case. ‘But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.’

Now, hopefully you remembered to change your clocks last night, or managed to work out if your phone would automatically change to the right time. Hopefully no one turned up just before 10am thinking it was 11am. It’s the spring time change that’s more dangerous - I’ve had people arriving as the service is ending thinking they’re just on time... But Paul says that at just the right time, when the time had fully come, God sent Jesus - born of a woman (fulfilling the promise to Eve that her seed would come), born under law (fulfilling the law and perfectly obeying it), to redeem those under law.

When we come to faith, it’s as if we are coming of age, entering into our inheritance, receiving the full blessing of heirs and sons. And what is the blessing? It’s the one we saw last week - ‘Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’

We’re not just forgiven, we’re also family. We’re not just saved, we’re also sons. We have the Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus the Son, the Spirit who confirms that we are God’s sons by calling out ‘Abba, Father.’ We have freedom in Christ - no longer slaves, but sons; and because we’re sons, we’re also heirs.

We’ve covered a lot of ground this morning. At times I wondered if I’d bitten off more than I could chew. But God is telling us today that we are named in his will; his blessings are ours, because we’re not just forgiven, we’re his family. We’re not slaves, we’re saved. We’re not just saved, we’re his sons.

This is who you are. So live out of this identity - I am a child of the heavenly Father, redeemed by his Son, and filled with his Spirit, receiving all his blessings, and it can’t be amended or taken away from me.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 29th October 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 3: 1-14 Freedom from the Law

In 1936, Dale Carnegie published one of the first self-help books. It contained a series of principles on how to handle and deal with people, how to get on in business and in the home. The title? ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People.’ The promise is that if you follow these steps, then you’ll succeed by making friends, and influencing people to come round to your way of thinking.

The very first principle is simply this: ‘Don’t criticise, condemn, or complain.’ That’s the first step to winning friends and influencing people. Well, as we open up to Galatians 3, it’s quite clear that Paul hadn’t read How to Win Friends and influence People. Don’t criticise, condemn or complain? ‘You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?’

I’m fairly sure Carnegie wouldn’t advise calling the people you’re trying to influence - fools! But this is to show us how desperate Paul is to bring them back from the brink, to shock them out of their foolishness. If you’re jumping into Galatians for the first time, or if you’re fairly new around here, don’t worry, we’re not in the habit of calling people fools as directly as Paul does here. The reason he does it is because he’s so concerned for the Galatians. Paul had originally planted the church there, but now they were listening to false teachers, who were urging them to observe the law and be circumcised in order to be truly accepted by God.

Paul has already showed them that listening to the false teachers would be dangerous and wrong, now he says that they’re being foolish. They haven’t thought things through. So he’s going to get them to think about their experience of becoming a Christian, and their experience of being a Christian. And so he sets a question before them in verse 2. Here’s what he wants to know: ‘Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?’

In asking the question, he’s saying that they do have the Holy Spirit living and working in them. If you’ve been listening carefully, you’ll have noticed that this is the first time the Spirit is mentioned in Galatians. But it won’t be the last time we hear of the Spirit. In fact, the presence of the Spirit in the Christian is a big deal for Paul, and should be a big deal for us as well. The third person of the Trinity, living and dwelling in us, giving us power to live for God and become more like the Lord Jesus. Over the next few weeks we’ll see more of the Spirit’s work in our lives, but for now, the question is, how did they receive the Spirit? Was it by observing the law, or by believing what they heard? What do you think? (It’s like Who Wants to be a Millionaire - a 50:50 chance of getting it right, or 100% chance if you know what Paul has been saying).

In verse 3, he asks them again are they foolish? After they began with the Spirit, were they now trying to finish off by their own efforts? As if the Holy Spirit is like jump leads when your car battery is flat - just get me going and I’ll be ok by myself after that. They had even suffered because they were Christians, because the Spirit was in them - was that all for nothing now that they were turning their back on the Spirit and trying to do it themselves?

Again Paul asks in verse 5: ‘Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?’

To help them answer the question, he points them to the Old Testament, and to Abraham. ‘Consider Abraham: He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Abraham (or Abram) was minding his own business, when God called him to follow him. God made promises to him - promises of descendants, and a land, and great blessing. And in Genesis 15, the promise of a son hadn’t yet come about. Abraham was 75 by now, and Sarah his wife was 65. But God told Abraham to go outside, and said that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars.

Abraham believed the promise, and God credited to him as righteousness. Abraham took God at his word, and God counted Abraham as his friend. And Paul says that as Abraham looked at the stars, he was seeing his children pictured - he was seeing... us. Abraham was the man of faith, and we become his children by believing God’s promise as well.

That’s how the gospel was preached in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ The Gentiles are being justified by faith, we’re being made right with God in the same way that Abraham was - as we believe God’s word and depend on it.

Now, just to make absolutely sure that the Galatians know how they received the Spirit - by faith, not by the law - Paul shows the futility of depending on the law. You’ll notice that in verses 10-13, Paul quotes a bit from the Old Testament in each of those verses. ‘For it is written... because... on the contrary... for it is written.’ Paul’s argument is grounded in the Old Testament to show that it’s by faith, not by observing the law.

If you were to take Dale Carnegie’s principles on how to win friends and influence people, it wouldn’t matter if you only did one or two of them. You can take them or leave them. But with the Old Testament law, their demand was total commitment. Verse 10: ‘All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law’.

When I was studying at the Church of Ireland college, our degree was simply pass or fail. And the pass mark was... 40%. But with the law, the pass mark is 100%. Break any one of the 623 laws, and you’re under the curse. Just think of that - you’ve managed to keep 622 of them, but you fail in just one, and you may as well have broken all of them.

We just can’t do it; we can’t be justified by the law - declared in the right - because, (Hab 2:4) ‘the righteous will live by faith.’ This was the verse that caused Martin Luther to kickstart the Protestant Reformation. He had tried to be the best monk ever, in fact, he said later, ‘If ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery, it was I.’ But in trying to keep the rules of his monastery, he only knew despair, and failure. But when he realised that the righteous will live by faith, his life was transformed.

But the law doesn’t give comfort, only challenge - ‘The man who does these things will live by them’ (Lev 18:5) - to live by the law, you needed to perfectly obey it. but we can’t do that. Rather, we’re all under the curse. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all missed the mark. We can’t do it by ourselves.

We needed someone to do it for us. Someone to take away our curse, by suffering the effects of the curse himself. And that’s what Jesus has done for us - his gracious act of loving us and giving himself for us. We see it in verse 13:

‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”’

To redeem is to buy back. And Jesus redeemed us from the curse, by becoming a curse for us. He had perfectly obeyed the law; he didn’t deserve to die; yet he died so that we could live. He died under the curse of Deuteronomy 21:23 - cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree - the cross. This was the message Paul had portrayed to the Galatians (see verse 1). And the word of the crucified Christ is the message of freedom from the law, freedom from the curse that condemns us, freedom to live.

But Paul says something which might be a bit surprising in verse 14. How would you complete this sentence: Christ died so that ...?

Christ died so that we could be forgiven.
Christ died so that we can go to heaven.
Christ died so that we can have hope / peace / joy.

All those answers are right, and good, and they’re the answers I would have given. But Paul tells us something else that Christ died for in verse 14.

‘He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.’

Now that’s a big sentence. But what Paul says is that through the death of Jesus, Gentiles like you and me can receive the blessing given to Abraham. We can share in Abraham’s blessing through Jesus. And what is that blessing? ‘So that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.’

Paul asked the Galatians how they had received the Spirit - by law, or by believing? It is by faith that we receive the promised Holy Spirit. God’s plan was always that his people would have the Holy Spirit living in them, empowering them to live in God’s way. And through Jesus, the promise given to Abraham is fulfilled in you and me.

As you trust Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit living inside you, helping you to live. It would be entirely foolish to start with the Spirit and then go back to our own efforts. This blessing is for you today - for the first time as you come to Christ and trust him for salvation; - or as you realise what you have already received, but have never experienced.

Thelma Howard died in 1994, just before her 80th birthday. She lived simply, frugally, and when relatives gathered to have her will read, they didn’t expect much. But Thelma had been a housekeeper for the Walt Disney for more than 30 years. She was paid her wages, given free board and lodging, and for Christmas and birthday, she was given bits of paper. She didn’t understand them, but kept them all safely in a box. It turns out they were stocks and shares in Disney. And at the time of her death in 1994, her shares were worth $9.5 million. She had this great resource, yet she never realised, and never used it.

As you trust in Jesus, you are given something even more valuable than Disney shares. You are given the Holy Spirit, living in you, the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, the outworking of Christ’s redemption. Realise your blessing today, receive your inheritance - given freely as you believe.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 22nd October 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 2: 11-22 Freedom by faith

Have you ever noticed that before a football match, the two captains come into the centre with the referee. They’ll toss a coin to see who kicks off. They shake hands, but once the whistle goes, it really does kick off. For a moment they were friendly, but now they are sworn enemies, out to beat the other team. As the bowling club tournament runs in the hall this week, you’ll see the same idea - a polite handshake one minute, then opposed the next.

As you listened to this morning’s Bible reading from Galatians, you might have wondered if the same sort of thing was going on. Glance back to verse 9 in Galatians 2 and you might remember from last time (before the harvest) that Paul and Barnabas shared the right hand of fellowship with James, Peter and John. They shook hands to show that they were in agreement, they were on the same team.

But was that just a formality? Was it all for nothing? Did it mean absolutely nothing, when you read verse 11, just two verses later, and discover that suddenly Paul is opposing Peter to his face, calling him out in public! What is going on? Why were they friends and brothers one minute, and then the next are at each other’s throats?

And when you see why Paul was opposing Peter, you might think, was it a storm in a tea cup? The row arose over something as small as eating arrangements - who sits with who, and what that says. Now, maybe you’ve planned (or are planning) a wedding reception, and you have all the names on bits of paper, seeing who can sit with who, and which people need to be kept apart for everyone’s sake.

That gets us so far in thinking about the importance of sitting and eating together. But the actual issue is there in verse 12. Peter was visiting Antioch - a city in modern day Turkey. The church was made up of Gentile believers. Peter would gladly share in fellowship with them - sharing meals with them, sitting at the table together, with no problems.

But all that changed when some people came from Jerusalem - members of the circumcision party. They were those who insisted that Gentiles had to be circumcised in order to be real Christians. And when they arrived, Peter withdrew from the Gentile Christians, wouldn’t sit and eat with them as he had before, and would only eat with Jews. When Peter did this, he influenced all the other Jewish believers to also draw back from the Gentiles, in effect making a distinction between Jews and Gentiles.

It was as if Peter was saying there are Premier League Christians - those who are Jews; and there are second division Christians - the Gentiles. Or imagine that as you arrived for church today, the churchwardens asked which football team you supported, and you only sat with people who support the same team - and then insisted that Man United supporting Christians are the real deal, while the Liverpool supporting Christians are at best, second rate.

Paul gets to the heart of what Peter is up to in verse 13. ‘The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy.’ None of us wants to be a hypocrite - saying one thing but doing another. But that’s what Peter was doing - he was saying that all Christians are the same, but then by his actions he was showing that some were more important than others. That to eat together, you Gentiles would have to be circumcised. Without it, you would miss out.

But as Paul says, in verse 11, he was clearly in the wrong. Peter was in the wrong because, verse 14 ‘they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel.’ Peter was a bit like a picture hanging on the wall that isn’t level. Maybe you never notice, but sometimes when you see a picture that’s askew, it just needs to be straightened up, to hang right. Peter was out of line when measured against the plumbline of the gospel.

And so Paul confronts him - not privately, but publicly. It’s right that in Matthew 18, Jesus gives us guidelines for resolving a private dispute with a brother or sister, but this is a public matter. Peter was leading people astray, so needed to be publicly rebuked. And the rebuke comes in verse 14.

‘You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?’ Peter was a Jew by his family line. But now he wasn’t living according to the strict food laws and cleanliness code. Jesus had taught him that all foods were clean, and so he was living like a Gentile. Yet now, by his actions, he was forcing Gentiles to follow Jewish customs in order to sit and eat with him. He wasn’t living that way himself, so why was he forcing others to do it?

In verses 15-16, we get to the heart of the matter. What does it take for someone to become a Christian? What is needed to be justified - to be declared in the right with God, declared innocent? There are two alternative paths to take; two approaches to being justified. Either we can do it by observing the law - obeying every detail of the Old Testament law, by living not just a good life, but a perfect life; or we can do it by trusting Jesus.

Listen again to these verses. Three times we’re told the right answer, the only way to be justified: ‘We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.’

How is someone made right with God? Not by observing the law - because no one will be justified that way. It’s only by faith in Jesus Christ. Trusting him. Depending on what he has done for us, because we can’t do it by ourselves.

And it’s the same whether you are a Jew or a Gentile. Only by faith. Yet Peter was showing by his actions that faith in Jesus wasn’t really enough - you would also have to be circumcised. It’s right that Paul confronted Peter, so that Peter’s words and right hand of fellowship weren’t just meaningless, weren’t just hypocritical, but were followed through in his actions in welcoming all who believe in Jesus.

We are only made right with God by faith in Jesus. Nothing else will do. Nothing else can make it. Paul then goes on to answer an objection to this. Ok, someone says, you trust in Jesus, does that mean you can live how you want? If you’re not obeying the law, then does that mean that you can sin freely and still know that you’re saved? Like the person who sets out to commit some terrible sin, saying to themselves, it’s ok - God will forgive me after. ‘Does that mean that Christ promotes sin?’

‘Absolutely not!’ Paul says that being justified by faith doesn’t give us a free pass to live how we want, and sin freely. Rather, we will be changed when we’re justified ‘in Christ’ - united with him. When we trust Jesus, we are then ‘in him’ - so that what he does, we do and where he goes, we go.

In verses 19 and 20, Paul talks of the death and the resurrection of every believer. But it’s not a future thing, something that will one day come to pass. No, he speaks of it as something that has already happened, when we first put our faith in Jesus:

‘For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’

As we put our faith in Jesus, we go through death and resurrection - dying to the law and its demands. Crucified with Christ so that ‘I’ - the old me, the unrighteous me, the sinful me, the trying to be justified by myself me - my old self has died. Instead, Christ lives in me.

No longer do we live for ourselves, no longer do we try to justify ourselves by our good works or obedience to the law. Now, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God’ - the Son of God who did all that was needed for me to be saved - ‘who loved me and gave himself for me.’

The only way to be made right with God, to be justified, is by faith in Jesus, who loved you and gave himself for you. Trusting in Jesus is the only way to be saved - by the grace of God, giving us what we don’t deserve. So how could Peter insist on faith in Jesus plus circumcision?

Or how could we insist on faith in Jesus plus anything else? It’s all, and only by grace. We cannot achieve it by our efforts, we simply kneel at the foot of the cross. And, as Paul says in verse 22, if righteousness could have been gained through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

So stop trying to earn God’s favour by your good works - your giving to charity, your prayer times, your church attendance, whatever it might be. And don’t look down on others who don’t match your supposedly high standards of achievement. Your high standards are still useless to save you. Instead, simply receive. Take hold of the grace given by the death of Jesus for you. You just need open hands to receive - as we’ll do in a few moments at the Lord’s Table.

As you come forward, as you receive the bread and the wine, remind yourself of these words: ‘The Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’ Stop your striving, and stand in his grace.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 8th October 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 2: 1-10 Freedom in fellowship

Has anyone ever ran a marathon? Just in case you’re wondering, I haven’t either. I might be able to run the 0.22 miles, it would just be the other 26 miles that would give me bother. But imagine that you had done all the training, you ran the race, and then discovered that it was all pointless, that it wouldn’t count, that you were disqualified.

That’s what’s happened to the 5000 participants in the Marathon of the North in Sunderland in May 2013. It turns out that along the way, they followed the wrong directions of the marshals, and the course they ran was 264 metres short of a full marathon (288 yards). One runner went the right route, but all the rest went the wrong way. They hadn’t run a marathon; they didn’t get a finishing medal; they had run their race in vain.

Imagine how they felt when they heard it was all for nothing. All their efforts wasted. Well, that’s the same fear the apostle Paul had - as he says at the end of verse 2. ‘For fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.’ But it wasn’t a messed up marathon that caused this fear. He wanted to make sure that he really did have the true gospel - he wanted to be sure that he hadn’t wasted the last fourteen years of his life, running in vain, by preaching the wrong thing.

If you’re jumping into Galatians this morning for the first time, it might be good to help you catch up. Paul is writing this letter to the churches in Galatia to call them back to the gospel of God’s free grace, the gospel that he had preached to them. But since he had been with them, false teachers had arrived in the churches, insisting that to be a real Christian, you first had to become a Jew - by observing the law, and particularly by being circumcised. Paul has been saying that circumcision isn’t needed, that it’s not part of the gospel of grace, received by faith.

Last time we saw how Paul had received his gospel directly from Jesus. But the false teachers seem to have been saying that Paul’s gospel was different to the other apostles’ gospel. That Paul was missing something important. So Paul tells us about a visit to Jerusalem, where he just wanted to make absolutely sure that he was in the right. In verse 1, he tells us who he brought with him - Barnabas and Titus. And in verse 2 he tells us what he did to be sure that he was right.

Notice that he went to Jerusalem because of a revelation. We find this in Acts 11:28 - where Agabus predicts a severe famine, and so Barnabas and Saul (Paul) were sent to Jerusalem with a gift for famine relief for the Christians in Judea. It wasn’t that he had been summoned by the apostles, like being sent for by the headmaster. He was there for one reason, but while he was there, he ‘set before them [the apostles] the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles.’

It would be a bit like checking your homework on the school bus - not copying, but just making sure that you had the same answers as someone else. Just to make sure that you weren’t barking up the wrong tree, that you hadn’t run your race in vain.

So what was the result of Paul’s visit to Jerusalem? He has confirmation that he is preaching the one true gospel. We see this in a couple of ways. The first is there in verse 3. ‘Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.’

Titus, was a Greek, and therefore a Gentile, and therefore uncircumcised. But the apostles didn’t say, hold on, we’ll get a knife out. They didn’t require or compel him to be circumcised. This despite the desire of some ‘false brothers’ to have it done. These false brothers were undercover spies, trying to spy on the freedom Christians have in Christ Jesus, and to try to make us slaves. But Paul and the other apostles didn’t give in to them ‘so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.’ (5)

Paul is sure he has the one true gospel, because Titus didn’t have to be circumcised. He’s also sure because the apostles in Jerusalem didn’t add anything to his message. Paul had set before them the gospel he preaches. And the apostles didn’t see anything he had missed; didn’t need to add anything he was lacking. He hadn’t run his race in vain. They confirmed that he has the one true gospel of freedom.

So what about us? Are we confident that we have the one true gospel of freedom? Are we sure that we haven’t believed in vain, or taught in Sunday School in vain, or preached in vain? Is it in line with Paul’s gospel - what he sets out here in Galatians? Does our gospel bring freedom, or does it make people slaves by having to obey extra rules that we add to the free gospel? For us, the issue might not be circumcision, but it might be certain behaviours that we expect everyone to follow. Paul gives us the one true gospel.

And in the rest of our passage, we see that the one true gospel of freedom is for everyone. We see this in three particular ways.

First of all, in verse 7-8, the gospel is for everyone - not just Jews. I’m sure you know the song ‘If you’re Irish, come into the parlour, there’s a welcome there for you.’ That’s not the case here. You don’t have to be Irish, or Jewish, or any particular nationality. The gospel is for everyone!

The apostles in Jerusalem didn’t add anything to Paul’s message, but they did see something in it. ‘On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews.’ (7) The same gospel is for everyone, but there’s a division of labour. Peter was entrusted with the job of preaching the gospel to the Jews (or as the footnote reminds us, the original Greek says ‘circumcised’). And Paul was entrusted with the job of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles (footnote: uncircumcised).

The same gospel is for everyone - so everyone has a job to do. Peter’s mission field was different to Paul’s, but they brought the same gospel. God was at work in Peter’s ministry as well as Paul’s, so that the gospel goes to everyone. So who is your mission field? Who is the ‘everyone’ that you’ll be in contact with this week? It probably won’t be the same as the person sitting beside you, or in front of you. Your mission might be at your workplace - I might never meet your colleagues, but you will. You’re there for a purpose. Or the sports club you’re involved with. Or a choir. Or lodge. Or the parents you rub shoulders with at the school gate. No matter who you meet this week, they’re included in the everyone who needs the gospel.

Secondly, in verse 9, the gospel is for everyone - and it brings us together. The Jerusalem apostles (and James), the so-called pillars of the church, they recognise the grace God had given to Paul, and so they recognise the fellowship they have with him. The gospel doesn’t just bring us to God, it also brings us closer to one another.

They gave Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship - they shook hands on it, they recognised that they were brothers. On some Friday evenings, I can be found at Ravenhill. People from all over the province come to get closer to the Ulster team, to stand up for the Ulster men. But as the supporters do that, they also come closer to one another. Shoulder to shoulder in the stands.

The gospel brings us closer to God and closer to one another. Are we living out that fellowship? Are we growing closer together as we follow Jesus together? Are we welcoming others to join us? (How sad it would be if new people were joining us but they weren’t welcomed, weren’t even talked to, just ignored as we talk to ourselves...)

The gospel is for everyone, bringing us into fellowship together. So how can you be a part of this?

Finally, in verse 10 we see that the gospel is for everyone - especially the poor. ‘All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.’

It’s not that the Jerusalem apostles tell Paul to start remembering the poor - they ask that he continue to remember the poor. That was the very reason he was in Jerusalem - the famine relief (Acts 11:28-30). And he was eager to do it anyway. Caring for the poor is an outflow of the gospel - it naturally follows, because the gospel is for everyone; the gospel of free grace which can’t be bought or earned; but which is freely given.

Is care for the poor an essential part of our Christian life and witness here? Are we continuing to remember them? Or is is something we need to start doing? Are we as eager as Paul was to do it?

One of the ways we can do this is through supporting the Craigavon foodbank - towards the end of October we’ll have our foodbank collection - more details will be coming shortly. But are there other ways we can remember the poor, and bring the good news to them?

Five thousand runners went home disappointed from the Marathon of the North. Their aches and pains were all in vain; all their efforts had been for nothing. Make sure that you aren’t running in vain - make sure that you’ve got the one true gospel of freedom - the gospel for everyone: no matter who you are; whatever your income; it brings us together in fellowship, united to God and to one another. This is the gospel Paul preached, the gospel all the apostles preached. The only gospel that saves.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 24th September 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 1: 11-24 Freedom from the past

One of the games we used to play at Youth group was a game called Telephone. You might know it better as Chinese Whispers. The young people sat in a line, and a message was given to the first person. They then had to whisper it to the next person, and so on, down the line, until the last person would reveal what they had been told. If it worked, you’d hear the same message, but most times it didn’t, and you’d get something entirely different! So you’d trace back to see where the message came from, and who said what.

The more grown-up version is when you hear some piece of news (or is it gossip?), and you ask them, where did you get that from? Who told you that? This is the question that Paul addresses in this next section of Galatians. Last week we began the letter by hearing that Paul is God’s man with God’s message, so don’t turn away from the gospel of grace. And Paul was quite insistent that his gospel is the real thing, the genuine article - whereas any other gospel is no gospel at all.

The Galatians may well be asking, well, how can we be sure that you’re right? Could Paul have been at the end of the Telephone game and got it wrong? Had he missed out on something that the false teachers said was true?

To help us understand all this, we need to know a wee bit about the false teaching. It was insisting that in order to be a real Christian, you also had to be a Jew, by submitting to the whole Old Testament law, and especially by being circumcised. Paul was saying that you didn’t have to be circumcised, or obey the law to be saved - you just had to believe. So which is right? Had Paul misheard the real gospel? Was he lacking some important element of it? So the question is, Paul, where did you get your gospel from?

He tells us in verse 11-12. And in these verses, he tells us where he didn’t get it from, first of all: ‘I want you to know brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.’ This isn’t something that Paul invented one day; he didn’t make it up; this isn’t just a wee story. Ok, so, maybe he heard it from someone else?

‘I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it.’ So he’s clear that he hasn’t misheard when someone else told him the gospel, that he hasn’t missed out or added to it. So where did he get it from? ‘rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.’

There were no middle men, no bits added or missing, Paul received the gospel directly from Jesus, by revelation. We can be sure that Paul has the real thing, the genuine article. And Paul shows it by pointing to two things from his story - his testimony, and his travels.

First up, Paul reminds them his testimony. A testimony is a story of how you came to faith - and also how God is continuing to grow you. At it’s most basic, it’s divided in the same way that time is - BC and AD - Before Christ, and Anno Domini (the year of our Lord, or after Christ). Paul’s BC is there in verse 13-14. ‘For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.’ Before Christ, Paul was a persecutor. He was intense, he tried to destroy the church.

Move on to verse 16, ‘so that I might preach him (Jesus) among the Gentiles...’ The persecutor became the preacher. What a turn around! From one extreme to the other. And how did this happen? What was it that brought about the change? We see it in verse 15:

‘But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles...’

Three things happened to Paul. It wasn’t that Paul woke up and decided to change. It wasn’t that he decided to retrain as a preacher. It wasn’t that he so completely followed the traditions of his fathers that then impressed God enough to save him. Paul didn’t DO anything. It was all of God - the three things that happened to Paul, to turn his life around - they’re the same things that happened to us when we believed (or will happen when you do believe):

1 God set me apart from birth - or as the footnote puts it, from my mother’s womb. That’s an echo of the call of Jeremiah, but it’s the truth for all God’s people. God sets us apart, before we can do or say anything, he has chosen us.

2 God... called me by his grace. Paul definitely didn’t deserve to be saved. He was persecuting Christians, trying to destroy the church! But God’s call of grace is always undeserved. He just calls us.

3 God... was pleased to reveal his Son in me. Paul may have known something about Jesus, but it took this revelation, this turning on of the light, this moment when he saw Jesus, and everything changed. We may not get a visible revelation of Jesus, but we suddenly see him revealed to us in God’s word.

Paul knew all about the gospel of grace, because he had experienced it for himself. His own testimony showed that his gospel had come by revelation from Jesus. His life was flipped turned upside down - from persecutor to preacher, all and only by grace.

What’s your story? Have you got a testimony to share? How life was before - you may not have been a persecutor beforehand, your story may not be as extreme as Paul’s, but there will have been a change (and there’ll still be changes happening...). Have you experienced this grace in your own life? Have you received all that God does for us in the gospel - setting us apart by his sovereign choice; calling us by his grace; revealing his Son to us - have you experienced these things for yourself?

Paul’s testimony shows that he has the real gospel. But then he goes on to talk about his travels. Now when you hear that travels word, you might think - time for a snooze. Is this going to be like having to sit through someone’s holiday photos? Or listening to someone go on and on about every detail of where they went on holiday, and where all they’ve ever been?

It’s not, I promise you. You see, Paul has a purpose for mentioning this. He’s showing us again that he didn’t get his gospel from other people - and definitely not from the Judaisers (as they’re known - the people wanting to add to the gospel the principles of Judaism, like circumcision). And he shows us this by telling us about his movements.

We see this sort of thing all the time in detective series - when the policeman asks, where were you on the evening of the 20th March? Will the suspect have an alibi, making sure that they weren’t at the scene? That’s what Paul is doing here. It starts back in verse 15 again. ‘But when God... was pleased to reveal his Son in me... I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.’

So when Paul became a Christian, he wasn’t taught by others, he didn’t go to Jerusalem. He was far away, in Arabia and Damascus. He then did go to Jerusalem - three years later - to get to know Peter, but it was only a short visit, fifteen days. He only saw Peter and James (the rest of the apostles were afraid of him - Acts 9:26). Then he went away again, to Syria and Cilicia.

Do you see what he’s saying? He wasn’t depending on being told the gospel in Jersualem, he already had it from Jesus. And he was only with them a short time. And as for the churches in Judea - the place where the false gospel of the Judaisers may have come from - he didn’t know them, and they didn’t know him.

‘I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me.’

Paul’s travels show that he didn’t receive the gospel from anyone else, and so didn’t mess it up. He received it directly from Jesus. We can believe it, and receive the gospel of grace that was evident in Paul’s testimony.

That grace of God shown to Paul led to God’s praise. As the churches of Judea heard how God’s grace had changed Paul from persecutor to preacher, they praised God. And God’s grace continues to lead to God’s praise.

Just think how amazing it would be if those who are currently persecuting Christians became Christians themselves. Those involved in the North Korean regime; or any of the other countries on the Open Doors world watch list. If God’s grace called them, and revealed Christ to them - what praise there would be. So pray for it!

Or the celebrity atheists - Richard Dawkins, or Stephen Fry, or some of the others you see on TV or read in the paper. Could God save even them? Yes, by his grace, and by revealing his Son to them. Pray for it to happen!

Or what about you? Could God save you? It happens as God calls us by grace, and reveals his Son to us. As we respond, it brings about a big change in our life, but even more praise to God.

One man would have been considered too bad for God to save. He tried to desert his Royal Navy ship. He was transferred to a slave ship, and became a slaver captain; a particularly cruel one at that. But one day, he cried out to God in a storm off the north coast of Ireland, and in St Columb’s cathedral, discovered the wonderful grace of God - or as he (John Newton) puts it in his hymn, ‘Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.’

Is this your testimony? I pray it will be so. Amen.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 10th September 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 1: 1-10 Freedom by grace

Some mornings when I’m working in the study, I hear when it arrives, but other days, when I arrive home, I take a wee peek into the box to see if there’s anything there for us. What am I talking about? The post / mail, of course! Most days there are a few different things, so in the porch you sort it out - things for Lynsey, and things for me, But then, you still have to sort out the post further. It seems that there are three categories of mail: the things you want to get - wedding invitations and thank you cards and such like; the things you don’t want to get - all the junk mail which is quickly filed in the recycling bin; and the things you don’t really want to get, but that you need to get - bills, or appointment letters.

This autumn, we’re focusing on a letter that Paul sent to the churches in Galatia. But which sort of a letter is it? As the churches gathered to hear the letter read to them, would they want to get it or not? We’ll see that it’s one of those letters that they might not have wanted to get, but that they needed to get. We’ll see that Paul says some hard things to them, but only because he wants to bring them back from a dangerous place. He sees that they’re in trouble, so he writes to them, calling them to get back to safety, to see the danger that they’re in.

So this morning we come to the start of the letter. When we sit down to write a letter, we know how to go about it. You start off with the ‘dear so and so’, and at the very end you finish off with (is it) yours faithfully or yours sincerely, and your name. Well, here, the name of the person writing the letter comes first. The author introduces himself: ‘Paul, an apostle - sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead - and all the brothers with me.’

You know if you’re writing to people you don’t know, you might include a wee bit of background to help them understand who you are? Well, Paul knew these people. They know him already. He had started their churches. This would be a bit like a husband turning to his wife and saying, hello, I’m your husband, we met so many years ago and got married on this date... So why does Paul write all this in verse 1?

He’s showing that he is God’s man, God’s apostle. The word apostle means someone who is sent - and Paul makes sure that the Galatians know that he wasn’t sent by other people, that his authority isn’t from anyone else. He was sent ‘by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.’

You might remember that this happened on the road to Damascus. Paul (who was known as Saul at the time) was on his way to arrest or kill Christians, but then he met the risen Lord Jesus. His life was turned around. Jesus sent him to share the good news, to make other people Christians. Paul didn’t wake up one day and think, I’m going to be an apostle; he wasn’t sent by other people. He was sent by God to proclaim the news that Jesus is alive. Paul is God’s man, God’s apostle. And he’s writing this letter.

So who is the letter to? Verse 2: ‘To the churches in Galatia.’ Galatia is the middle bit of modern Turkey, including the capital Ankara. Paul had travelled through the region planting churches on his first missionary journey which you can find in Acts 13-14 - Antioch, Lystra, Iconium and Derbe.

And to these Christians, Paul the man of God brings the message of God in verse 3. It’s so easy to just pass over those first words. ‘Grace and peace to you.’ This is more than just a formal greeting, this is the summary of salvation. God gives us grace (his undeserved favour and goodness towards us), and peace (welcome and acceptance where previously there was wrath and hostility). This is the message of God - and we receive grace and peace because of what Jesus has done for us: ‘who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.’

The message of God is freedom - freedom from the present evil age, freedom from our sins - freedom by grace, because Jesus gave himself for our sins. He died, and was raised from the dead to give us grace and peace. Have you received that grace and peace to you that God offers in Jesus? Have you marvelled at the free gift you don’t deserve?

This is the longest formal introduction that Paul writes in any of his letters. Flick over to Ephesians (p. 1173) and it’s a lot shorter and quicker. But here in Galatians, Paul wants them to be sure that he is God’s man with God’s message.

Now if you’re still in Ephesians, have a look at 1:3. There’s some praise. In all of Paul’s letters, he’ll share some praise, or offer thanks, or tell his readers he’s praying for them. In every letter, apart from this one. Beyond the formal introduction, there’s no small talk, no chit chat. It’s like the awkward phone call you have to make, so you ring up, and you get straight down to what you need to say. Here, in verse 6, Paul gets straight down to it.

‘I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all.’

Paul simply can’t believe what he has heard about the Galatians. They had heard God’s call to repent and believe, to receive the grace of Christ, when Paul had been in Galatia; they had set up their churches; they were rejoicing in the grace of Christ. But now, they were deserting the grace of Christ - so quickly too - and they were turning to a different gospel.

They were jumping ship, deserting the gospel of grace, and turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all. Our word gospel means good news. So what Paul is saying is that they were turning to what they thought was good news, but it’s really bad news.

So how had this happened? How had the Galatians turned from the true gospel to a false gospel so quickly after Paul’s visit? Verse 7: ‘Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.’ Some false teachers had come to town, they were changing the gospel, adding something to the gospel, so that it’s no longer just by grace that we’re saved, but by something that we do, it’s partly by our efforts, our works.

(We’ll see in the weeks to come what exactly it was)

Now why does this matter? Why does it matter what we believe? Can’t we all just get along with our own opinions and ideas about God, and our own pick and mix gospel? Paul says no - this is serious. So serious, in fact, that Paul proclaims a curse on those who preach another gospel - because other gospels themselves will lead people to be condemned. And he says it twice - in verse 8, ‘But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you...’ and in verse 9 ‘if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted...’ ‘Let him be eternally condemned.’

Paul is saying that it’s only the gospel of grace in Christ that will save us. Or, as the reformers put it, ‘grace alone.’ There’s nothing we can contribute, nothing we can add, nothing that’s lacking that we can give a helping hand, nothing that we can top up - it’s all by grace, and only by grace.

It is God who calls us by the grace of Christ. He is calling you today, perhaps for the very first time, to receive his grace, to receive what Jesus has done for you on the cross. Receive it as a free gift, with open hands.

Or maybe you’ve been a believer for a while. But it seems as if you’ve been believing a different gospel, which isn’t good news, only bad news. And as you look back over the past while, you realise that you’ve done what the Galatians were doing - you’ve deserted the grace of Christ, and you’ve been trying to please God by doing it yourself. It’s bad news, because it hasn’t been working. You’ve been exhausting yourself trying to do better, or been plunged into depths of despair because you’re not succeeding.

Turn back to the one who calls you by the grace of Christ. Rediscover the joy of knowing your sins have been paid for, that Christ has been raised, that God is for you and loves you. We can be sure of this, because Paul is God’s man with God’s message. He writes this letter, not to please people - but in order to please God, and serve Christ. As we continue in this letter, we’ll hear from God as he speaks to us, as he shows us the glorious freedom that we have, only by grace.

But this morning, here’s the summary of this first section: Paul is God’s man, with God’s message, so don’t turn away from the gospel of grace.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 3rd September 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 6: 7-10 Not Growing Weary

As you can probably tell, I’ve never ran a marathon. But I have friends who have run part or all of the Belfast marathon. Seemingly when you’re running such a big distance, you can hit the wall - each stride is difficult; the pain is increasing; your body is screaming for you to stop; it would be easier to give up and lie down somewhere. All my friends have said that what kept them going was first of all getting to the finish line; but second the crowd cheering them on willing them to keep going and running.

Tucked away at the end of his letter to the Galatians, Paul does something similar. It’s as if he dons a cheerleader outfit, grabs his pompoms, to urge us to keep going. We’re not running a race; we’re not playing a sport; but we need the encouragement to keep going. If you’ve ever wondered if you should keep coming to Mothers Union; if you’ve ever been tempted to think, och, I’ll not bother tonight, I’m sure somebody else will go; if you’ve ever thought that you should just forget about church or Bible reading or giving to charity or loving and serving in a multitude of ways, then you need to hear the word that God has for us tonight from the lip and pen of Paul.

We hear his cheerleading in verse 9: ‘And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.’

In this section of Galatians, Paul is showing the Christians that everybody is investing towards something. Everybody is building a future of one kind or another. We’re all working towards a future outcome. It’s a readymade illustration for a rural community, because he talks about sowing and reaping.

We all know how sowing and reaping works. Whatever you sow, that is what you will reap. If a farmer sows barley seed, he will reap barley. If he wants to grow potatoes, then he needs to plant potatoes. It’s obvious in your garden and on the farm. But when it comes to spiritual things, we somehow think that it’ll work differently. But look at verse 7. Paul spells it out: ‘Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.’ Whatever we sow is what we will eventually reap.

In spiritual things, there are only two options open to us. We can either sow to our own flesh (the sinful nature NIV) or we can sow to the Spirit. These are the two categories that Paul has been talking about the whole way through the letter to the Galatians. We can either decide to follow our sinful nature, to go the way of the flesh, to sow to please ourselves in selfishness. Or we can sow to please the Spirit.

It’s like a farmer who has to decide which seed he’ll sow. When he pays his money and makes his choice, that’s what he is working towards. The crop is what he’s looking for.

Paul says we are sowing every moment of every day. In the things that we think - what we dwell upon, what we focus on; in what we say - how we use our tongue, the words we speak; in what we look at; what we do with our hands; how we spend our time, money, all these and much more - everything that we do, we are sowing towards one or the other - the flesh or the Spirit.

So often we can breeze through life, not really thinking about the consequences of our decisions. In a way, that’s what the hard-hitting road safety adverts are trying to confront. There’s the one which simply repeats over and over again: ‘Every drink increases your risk of crashing.’ The message is clear - if you decide to drink and drive, if that’s the choice you make, then there could well be consequences.

Paul shows us the results of our sowing. The two seeds have very different outcomes - ‘For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.’ Corruption or eternal life. Both are within our grasp. Both lie at the end of the choices that we make.

The world around is sowing to the flesh. You only have to watch the news or open a paper to discover that most people are living to please themselves - in many ingenious and varied ways - but all for themselves, whether it’s the pursuit of fame and fortune; power, sexual pleasure or whatever it might be.

The Galatian Christians had come across another type of flesh sowing - legalistic religion. After Paul had come and preached the gospel, another crowd of religious teachers had arrived. They tried to claim that in order to be real true proper Christians, the Gentile converts would have to submit to the full law of Moses, including circumcision. They tried to claim that you could work hard at religious practice and get in with God that way. If you gave enough or fasted enough or prayed enough, then you would get a step up the ladder.

But it’s just another kind of sowing to the flesh - if our religion is all about what we’re doing, then it’s just that - selfish, sowing to the flesh religion.

Throughout the letter, Paul has been helping the Galatians see that Christianity isn’t about law-keeping (because we can’t do it); Christianity is all about faith in Jesus who kept the law and became a curse for us who were cursed. We have been set free from law-keeping to instead walk by the Spirit.

This is what we’re called to. This is the Christian life: to sow to the Spirit, doing the things that please the Spirit. It’s what Paul is urging the Galatians Christians to do, more and more. But he knows, and you know, that to choose to do the right thing is hard. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, to keep choosing to follow the Spirit each day. Just like my marathon mates, the flesh is arguing back, trying to get them to give up.

Ever had days like that? You know what you should be doing, but deep within you suddenly think - but I won’t! Or you come up with a thousand and one reasons why you can’t go to church, or so many things you’d prefer to do rather than help out. It’s at moments like these that we need to hear the voice of the cheerleader: ‘And let us not grow weary of doing good [sowing to the Spirit], for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.’

Imagine a farmer who decides he’ll not bother sowing. He can’t be bothered to do any more. He’s maybe done half a field but then he got a bit bored. He remembered that it was nearly time for The Chase or Pointless or whatever. Could he expect to reap a whole field when he’s only sown half a field?

Don’t give up following the Spirit, doing those things that are good - not to win God’s favour and be saved, but because we are saved already by God’s favour - now is the time of sowing. The time of reaping is coming. Keep going and keep growing.

The work of Mothers’ Union in this parish is so vitally important, as you do so much in so many ways. Now, it can be hard to see the benefit if you’re up to your elbows in suds, but be assured - the harvest is coming. Nothing done for the Lord is wasted or unseen.

This sermon was preached at the Mothers' Union Holy Communion service in Aghavea Parish Church on Tuesday 14th January 2014.