Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] That sermon was awful.
[00:00:04] Now, these were not words of someone who was upset, someone who was rejecting the gospel, rejecting Christ.
[00:00:14] These words didn't come from someone who was upset with me and wanting to leave the church.
[00:00:21] They weren't even a joke.
[00:00:24] I hadn't preached on a controversial subject in the culture per se, and they weren't given as a critique of my delivery that day.
[00:00:35] No. These words were spoken by my wife, Denae, and it may be the only time she's ever said anything negative about a sermon. She's obvious. She's always very, very encouraging.
[00:00:51] But we were sitting around the table at lunch that day talking about the sermon, and the topic of the sermon was love. So I wasn't expecting that from her.
[00:01:05] And just so you know, I get the worst feedback on sermons when I preach on love.
[00:01:14] When we talk about loving our enemies is when I usually get the worst feedback.
[00:01:21] It's because this topic is very convicting.
[00:01:26] And it's extremely hard for us to think about love in the way that the Bible unpacks love for us.
[00:01:34] It's not some sentimental feeling, some emotion. It is a commitment to another person's good, no matter what it cost you.
[00:01:42] And the scandalous thing about love is that Jesus calls us to love our enemies.
[00:01:50] And so often we hear sermons about love, and we'd say, that was awful, because we don't want to hear that.
[00:01:57] And that's why today love presents us a problem in Galatians.
[00:02:03] Throughout the book, we have really drilled into our brains and our hearts that we cannot earn acceptance before God with our works by what we do.
[00:02:18] We are accepted by faith alone, in Christ alone, by the grace of God alone, nothing that we do.
[00:02:27] And we've talked about the fact that in Christ, nothing we can do can separate us from the love of God.
[00:02:37] And for some of us, that's very difficult to understand.
[00:02:42] There's something in our hearts that, as we talked about last week, keeps saying, yeah, but.
[00:02:48] Yeah, but we got to. We need to do something, right?
[00:02:52] As Christians, we're not supposed to do nothing.
[00:02:55] And are you saying we can just do whatever we want and that's going to lead to sin in our life?
[00:03:03] No.
[00:03:05] What the Gospel does in our hearts and our lives is way more difficult than anything we probably imagine.
[00:03:14] When we think about how the Christian is supposed to live.
[00:03:17] So often we think about Christianity in list.
[00:03:22] I believe the Gospel, now give me a list to obey. I need a list to know that God is happy with me. And that's legalism to earn God's favor. Through a list.
[00:03:36] And so when we get to this part in Galatians and we ask Paul, so we're saved by grace, what are we supposed to do?
[00:03:46] He doesn't give us a list. He doesn't give us legalism. He gives us love.
[00:03:52] And love is way more difficult than any list we would come up with.
[00:03:59] Lust, love. That too can't be defined in a list.
[00:04:05] It's defined by Christ.
[00:04:08] And we're going to see in our passage. That is the most scandalous thing that Paul talks about here. Notice first of all in verse two, legalism separates us from the love of God.
[00:04:23] Notice verse two. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.
[00:04:33] Now the Judaizers, the false teachers who are preying on the Gentiles in this church of Galatia, are telling them it's all well and fine, that you've believed in Jesus, that you've trusted in Jesus alone for salvation, that you've accepted the grace of God and that now you believe you're a part of the community and family of God.
[00:04:57] But faith alone isn't enough.
[00:05:00] You've got to add specifically this act of the flesh, circumcision, to your faith. It is circumcision that sets apart the community of God. It is circumcision that set apart Israel to God.
[00:05:17] Faith alone in Christ alone is not enough to set you apart.
[00:05:22] Maybe spiritually, but physically.
[00:05:25] You still need this act to truly be a part of the community of God. And Paul's point in Galatians over and over and over again is if you add anything to Christ, no matter the significant of the act, you are saying Jesus is not enough.
[00:05:47] When you come to Christ and you say, okay, I believe in Jesus, I trust in Jesus alone for salvation. I But I've got to also do some things to really make sure I'm saved. Or if you require that of other people, you say to them, yeah, you believe in Jesus, but let me give you some things to do so that you can really know that God loves you and you're accepted. You are saying this Jesus is insufficient. And faith that says Jesus is not enough is not saving faith. And he's driving that point home. Palm here.
[00:06:28] Legalism separates you from the love of God.
[00:06:32] Verse 3.
[00:06:34] I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law according to the Judaizers teaching.
[00:06:45] You believe what they say. You accept this, right?
[00:06:49] You are saying that what they are teaching is True and right.
[00:06:54] And he says, at that point, you're obligated to keep the whole law.
[00:06:59] So this tradition, this right, is a crossroads for the people in Galatia.
[00:07:05] Are we going to trust Christ alone, or are we going to believe that we must add something to Christ, that Christ isn't enough?
[00:07:15] And he sums it up here. He says, if you accept this, you are obligated to keep the whole law. You have chosen a different road to God, not just through Christ alone, but also through your works alone. And you have jumped the road of grace to the road of works. This is a crossroads. And he says, I testify again. Because in chapter 3, verse 10, he tells them that if you are committed to keeping the law, you must keep the whole law. And he says it again here.
[00:07:49] It's not just one commandment in the law that you can keep to be made right with God.
[00:07:55] Circumcision is one command in the law that was given for a reason to set Israel apart. It doesn't sum up the whole law.
[00:08:04] No, the whole law of God is perfect and righteous and reflects God's character. And if you're going to go this way, you must be perfect. You must be completely righteous.
[00:08:19] This act will not make you completely righteous. And so verse four, you are severed from Christ.
[00:08:28] Now, this is a play on words, as we're going to see throughout this passage. Literally, you are cut away from Christ, you who would be justified by the law. And then he says, you have fallen away from grace.
[00:08:46] Grace, unmerited, favor of God despite what we deserve.
[00:08:52] Grace doesn't work when someone gives you a gift and you say, thank you for the gift, now let me pay you back.
[00:08:59] That's no longer grace. And he said in chapter two, you nullify the grace of God if you say, okay, Christ alone by grace alone. Now let me try to be good enough to earn what you just gave me. No, you wipe the gift out.
[00:09:13] And in chapter two, he says, then Jesus died for no reason.
[00:09:17] If you could be good enough to earn God's favor, then you nullify God's grace when you try to work for it. Now, I don't believe here. He's saying that they have lost their salvation.
[00:09:31] Once you are united to Christ by the Spirit, you can't be separated from him.
[00:09:38] What I think he's saying here is a true believer in the Gospel understands from the very beginning that they can't save themselves.
[00:09:47] The law condemns us.
[00:09:49] There is no way we can be good enough to earn God's favor in and of ourselves. Only Christ is sufficient.
[00:09:57] And what he is saying here is you were moving toward Christ. It seemed as though you believed in Christ. But this act would declare that you really don't understand the gospel. You really don't understand what we're saying when we say Jesus is the only way. He is the only one who is sufficient. And you have proven that you really don't have genuine faith.
[00:10:22] But even so, the warning for us must still be real, because in our hearts we drift toward legalism.
[00:10:32] And you've got to understand the degree to which you and your heart are drifting toward that legalism, earning God's favor, earning God's love by what you do. And you are separating yourself from Christ.
[00:10:48] You are moving away from him. Either Christ is a sufficient savior or he's not.
[00:10:58] Either he's done it all or he hasn't.
[00:11:03] Either you're going to be saved by your works and something you offer God, or you're not.
[00:11:09] And so the warning here, as we hear that, is not some theological debate, can you lose your salvation? Can you not? The point he's saying here, or what he's getting at here, is to warn us not to drift in that way. That's the application for us today is to search our hearts and see how am I cutting myself from Christ, severing myself from Christ, and to stay away from any teaching that would add to Jesus, whether it's baptism or the idea that faith is this sort of participating in what Jesus has done and what Jesus will do in our life. And we participate with him to be. No, it's Christ and Christ alone.
[00:11:53] Don't sever yourself from Christ. Legalism separates ourselves from the love of God. But then we see verse five, the Gospel frees us up to love.
[00:12:04] Notice verse five.
[00:12:07] For through the Spirit, by faith.
[00:12:09] Now he's emphasizing again. When we believe in Christ alone and we look to his death and his righteousness alone, at that moment, the Spirit takes us and unites us to Christ.
[00:12:23] We're not severed from Christ, we are united to Christ.
[00:12:28] When we believe the Gospel by the Spirit, we are literally immersed into Christ in everything he's done and everything he is before God. We are one with him. And the Spirit binds us, unites us to Christ.
[00:12:43] And he says, if that has happened, the verse continues, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. And so his point here is, you can't make yourself righteous. You are united to Christ.
[00:13:00] You've been declared righteous, and God will make you righteous. The righteousness he talks about here, notice hope, notice waiting. This is something that is to come. He's talking about vindication. On the Day of judgment, when you stand before God, you want to be declared right. You're waiting for that moment when you stand before God and. And he looks upon you and says, righteous.
[00:13:26] God will do that. How do you know? Because you believed in Christ now, and he's united you to Christ. If you've been united to Christ now God will ultimately be the one to make you righteous. Your union with Christ now is a guarantee that one day you will be made completely righteous. And that's what we wait for. That's what we expect. Respect.
[00:13:51] Notice we don't work for that.
[00:13:54] We don't work to make up some sort of righteousness that Christ didn't give us. No. Before God, we are righteous. And we wait for the day when we will become what we have been declared to be. You've been declared righteous in Christ. We wait.
[00:14:11] And one day he will make us completely righteous. You see, the judaizers are saying circumcision and the rites of the law and traditions and festivals, that's what completes your righteousness.
[00:14:25] Believe in Christ? Yeah. You're forgiven of your sin. Now work to be righteous. No, no, no, no. We believe in Christ. We're declared righteous, and he will make us righteous one day. We wait and we expect this. We believe what the scripture says. When Paul writes to the Philippians and says, he who began a good work in you will complete it on the day of the Lord Jesus. When we see him. We will be made like him, completely righteous before God. Your justification. When you believe the gospel, you're declared righteous. Not guilty is a promise.
[00:15:03] It's a promise to you that one day you will be just like Jesus. Completely righteous. That's why he says verse 6. For in Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything. So this mark of the flesh doesn't make you more righteous?
[00:15:21] Adding it to faith doesn't make you more righteous? No. We wait for this completed righteousness that comes to us in Christ.
[00:15:30] And so many of us at this point are going, so what?
[00:15:36] We just believe in Jesus?
[00:15:38] We get his works forgiven of all of our sins. So what now? What do we do?
[00:15:44] I need you to tell me to do something.
[00:15:48] What is it you want me to do?
[00:15:52] What counts?
[00:15:54] Notice the word counts, meaning God doesn't credit this act of the flesh as righteousness. So what does he count?
[00:16:04] Look at verse six again.
[00:16:07] Only faith.
[00:16:10] What does God count for you? Your faith in Jesus?
[00:16:16] What does God credit your faith in Jesus? Your believing in Jesus is how you get the credit of Christ. His death and his life in your place. That's what God counts. That's what counts before God.
[00:16:30] That's what God accepts. Faith in Christ alone.
[00:16:36] So what do you want me to do?
[00:16:40] What does. What do we do?
[00:16:44] Notice.
[00:16:45] Working through love.
[00:16:48] Oh, man. Love.
[00:16:52] Love is what you want. Hold on. All of this has been so easy.
[00:16:57] Grace alone, faith alone, in Christ alone. It's all so easy.
[00:17:02] Oh, now it gets really hard.
[00:17:05] Love.
[00:17:06] No, no, no. Give me a list of things to do.
[00:17:10] Let me check the box so I know that I got it. Love.
[00:17:14] You want me to love? Notice. Love qualifies the type of faith that we are to have. If you genuinely believe in Jesus, you are genuinely going to love others.
[00:17:27] Love qualifies your faith. It expresses your faith.
[00:17:32] It's not faith plus works, but it is faith that eventually works. How does it work in love?
[00:17:43] The New Testament ties love to our faith.
[00:17:46] If we believe in Jesus, we will love.
[00:17:50] We don't add to our faith. Notice. Love flows from our faith. Love is not a condition to be saved, but love is the consequence of being saved.
[00:18:05] If you don't love, you're not saved.
[00:18:12] Can you give us a list?
[00:18:15] I didn't want that answer.
[00:18:19] Why is love so hard?
[00:18:21] Well, let's take a moment and think about our own lives and ask the question, why do you love?
[00:18:31] Ask yourself the question right now.
[00:18:33] Why do you love God and others in your own life?
[00:18:39] When you say, I need to love God and I need to love others in worship service, devotion to God, service to others, why do you do it? Why? What is the reason for your love?
[00:18:55] Because the love of a legalist has ulterior motives.
[00:19:01] There's always something beyond God and others that a legalist is working toward.
[00:19:07] There's something beyond the worship. There's something beyond the service.
[00:19:15] I got to get to something beyond God and others.
[00:19:20] The legalist is doing these things to earn points with God.
[00:19:26] It's not. I just love God. No, I'm doing this so God would do something for me.
[00:19:32] That's legalism.
[00:19:35] Or I don't just love this person in front of me.
[00:19:39] I'm doing this so they will say good things about me and others would say good things about me. There are ulterior motives to the legalist. Love.
[00:19:50] That's why we need the gospel. Right?
[00:19:53] That's why the love of the gospel is so radical and scandalous.
[00:19:58] Because at this point in Galatians, we don't have to earn God's Love.
[00:20:04] So we're not doing things for God so he would love us back? No, we just love God.
[00:20:10] We're not doing things for others to earn points or praise so we will look better than others. No, we just love the person in front of us.
[00:20:22] The gospel frees us from legalistic love, and we begin to love genuinely.
[00:20:28] We begin to say, there's no strategy behind my love.
[00:20:33] There's no ulterior motive. I just love God for who he is and what he's done for me. And so when I praise him, it is an act of love and gratitude. Thank you, Lord. You are faithful and you are good and you are holy and you are sovereign and you are good and kind to me. And I just love you, God.
[00:20:59] That's genuine love.
[00:21:02] And that's the only.
[00:21:03] The only way you're going to love that way is the gospel, because the gospel frees you from coming to God and saying, look at me. Look at what I'm doing. Look at what I'm doing. Bless me. Bless me, because I'm doing good stuff. No, no, no. I just love you, God. That's what God wants.
[00:21:18] And then when you love others, there's no strategy behind it.
[00:21:23] You're not trying to manipulate service.
[00:21:26] When you love others, think about your marriage.
[00:21:29] I'm not doing these things for you, so you will do these things for me. No, I just love you.
[00:21:37] I've been set free from that kind of legalism and bartering. I just love you. This is the scandalous love of the gospel. I'm not doing things for you so you would serve my agenda.
[00:21:51] And this is the sort of love that the church is to be made up of.
[00:21:56] We don't look at other people in the church and say, what do you offer me?
[00:22:02] And we look around the room, and our church is so diverse in age and in other ways. People from all across the United States are starting to gather here. And we're so different.
[00:22:16] And so we've got to learn to love one another. Because in situations like that, what normally happens in churches and is this place is becoming so different. Let me find the people who are like me and who can do something for me and let me huddle up with them.
[00:22:32] That's not the love of the gospel. That's to be seen in the church. No, you're to look across the aisles and say, what does that person offer me? Absolutely nothing. So I'm going to love them.
[00:22:45] We think about that when we do ministry around here.
[00:22:48] What do the children in the back offer me?
[00:22:52] Nothing. I Go home on a Sunday, exhausted. When I go back there, it doesn't feel like I'm getting anything in return. Well, we love anyway.
[00:23:02] What did college students offer me?
[00:23:05] Not much. We're not even. We're on different planets. We live in different worlds. Well, you still pursue them and love them.
[00:23:13] What do these young families offer me?
[00:23:17] I've been retired and I'm trying to figure out life at this stage. No, you pursue them anyway. And you love. You build those relationships and you serve, knowing you may not get anything in return.
[00:23:30] There may be folks who zap everything out of you, and you still love them because the Gospel is what satisfies and fulfills you. The love of God is to overflow in the church in this way.
[00:23:44] And we serve those who can offer nothing in return.
[00:23:48] This is what the Gospel does because Jesus has freed us from earning points or gaining credit. No, there's no more credit to gain. Jesus is completely righteous and we're in him.
[00:24:02] So next we see legalism separates us from the love of God, but the Gospel frees us to love God and others.
[00:24:13] And now we see legalists separate us from one another. Notice verse 7.
[00:24:18] You are running well.
[00:24:21] Now, here he says, you were moving toward Christ, toward the Gospel, preaching the Gospel.
[00:24:28] Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
[00:24:32] Now the word hinder is interfere. It's as though you were running a race and someone ran onto the track and got in your way and tripped you. Who interfered in your race?
[00:24:43] Who interfered from you obeying the truth? Which in Paul's mind here is still a question with some of them. Have you really trusted the gospel?
[00:24:52] Verse 8. This persuasion to take on circumcision, the law, traditions, is not from him who calls you.
[00:25:01] This argument is not from the Spirit. The Spirit lures us to love, not legalism. He says, verse nine, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Now, in First Corinthians, this phrase or this phraseology is used to describe sin that destroys the church.
[00:25:20] And he's talking about leavened bread here. The Israelites, when they were leaving Egypt, they were not to leaven their bread because God says, you're going to be rescued and you're not going to have time to. So at every Passover, do not leaven the bread. It's unleavened bread to be reminded of God rescuing you from Egypt.
[00:25:42] And the point is, if you just put a little leaven in the bread, it leavens it. It ruins, destroys what it was meant to serve at this festival.
[00:25:54] And he says, this is the Same way, one teacher, one false word, one word about works or circumcision or tradition added to Jesus ruins it all.
[00:26:07] And eventually this false gospel will destroy the church. One of the things he's going to argue here is if you in any way trust in your flesh what you do, you're going to divide the church because you're going to begin to compete with one another. You're going to begin to divide up who's more righteous, who's got it together, who doesn't.
[00:26:27] He says, this false gospel, just one word of it, just one false teacher. With this false gospel, we will destroy the church. Verse 10.
[00:26:36] But I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view.
[00:26:43] And the one who is troubling you bear the penalty, whoever he is meaning. And we go back to chapter one, he will be accursed by God, cut off from God, whoever this false teacher is.
[00:27:00] And then verse 11, he wants to clarify, but if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted in that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. It seems as though this false teacher is saying, paul believes the same thing I do. And we think about Paul with Timothy. He requires him to be circumcised at one point for the sake of the gospel. And so now they're saying, see, Paul believes the same thing. And Paul says, no, no, no, that was for the sake of our witness and mission. I don't believe that. And if I did believe it, why do they hate me so much?
[00:27:35] And why are they so offended?
[00:27:39] It's because I am preaching Christ and Christ alone.
[00:27:44] And that reveals our sin and our inability to earn our way to God. And these false teachers hate it, so they hate me.
[00:27:52] And then verse 12.
[00:27:54] Here we go.
[00:27:56] I wish that those who unsettle you, trouble you would emasculate themselves. And yes, the word means exactly what you think it means. The medical procedure.
[00:28:10] He says here, I wish they would go all the way with this act of circumcision.
[00:28:18] And Paul is very graphic here.
[00:28:22] And we see into Paul's heart his hatred for legalism.
[00:28:26] And we see in Paul's heart his hatred for false teaching.
[00:28:30] He says, they are cutting people from Christ, and I wish they would be cut away as well.
[00:28:40] Now, one of the things that happens with this procedure is you're incapable of having children at that point.
[00:28:49] And Paul is saying, I hope and pray that they would lose their power in the church.
[00:28:56] Remember a few weeks ago, I have labored in vain.
[00:29:00] I wish they would become impotent. In their ministry.
[00:29:04] Why?
[00:29:05] You're probably saying we're talking about love today.
[00:29:10] Talking about love our enemies. That doesn't sound loving, Paul.
[00:29:14] That's probably the worst thing in the Bible I've ever read.
[00:29:22] No, Paul is defending the Gospel because he loves them so much.
[00:29:27] He's standing for truth because he loves them so much. You see, legalism will send you to hell, and it will destroy the church on the way.
[00:29:37] Those who think they can earn favor with God by their works will send you to hell as they teach it.
[00:29:46] And as they teach it, they will destroy the church. Why? Because they begin to divide each other up. These are the people that got it together. These are the people don't. And what happens? The church begins to hate one another.
[00:29:57] So legalism separates us from one another.
[00:30:01] But then we see again, the Gospel frees us to love. Verse 13.
[00:30:06] For you were called to freedom, brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Now, normally in the New Testament, especially with Paul's writings, flesh refers to our sinful desires or the patterns of sin that we've established in our life according to our physical desires and the desires to sin. And so he's saying in verse 13, you've been freed by the Gospel. You should not add this work to your life or buy into anyone who's teaching that you should.
[00:30:41] No, you've been called to freedom.
[00:30:45] And he says, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, an opportunity to sin.
[00:30:51] So you might be saying here today we believe the Gospel, we're free, so now we can do whatever we want. And Paul says, no, no, no, again, we're going to go back to love.
[00:31:01] And I think in context, he's referring to the reaction or revenge of the Gentiles that they might have toward the Judaizers who have been teaching this and requiring this.
[00:31:12] You see, this act of the flesh, it exalted the flesh ethnicity of the Jews. And he said, it's of no advantage. You're equal in Christ, you're one in Christ. So you don't have an advantage over one another. The Jew doesn't have an advantage over the Gentile, and the Gentile doesn't have an advantage over the Jew in the church either way. So he's saying to the Gentiles here, you've been freed by your status in Christ, freed from fighting for status.
[00:31:39] So now don't turn around and do the same thing the Gentiles have been doing to you.
[00:31:44] Don't use that freedom as an opportunity to be like them, to condemn them.
[00:31:52] The people who've called you dogs, the people who said we would rather spit on you than accept you into our community.
[00:32:05] This division in the church between Jew and Gentile, he says, the gospel frees us from that.
[00:32:11] The word here for opportunity can also be translated higher ground. It's a military term.
[00:32:18] Don't all of a sudden, because you are uncircumcised, think you have higher ground than the Jew and begin to shun them.
[00:32:32] Don't begin to think we are now holier than thou, holier than thou's.
[00:32:41] Don't become self righteous about not being self righteous.
[00:32:46] Don't become legalistic about not being legalistic.
[00:32:51] We're not like you. We're free in Christ.
[00:32:57] But what through love, serve one another, we come back to love.
[00:33:04] Don't be separated by a false gospel.
[00:33:06] Don't act out toward one another in light of fleshly division, but love through acts of service, faith produces love.
[00:33:18] The Jew and Gentile in the church must love one another. The gospel provides no higher ground.
[00:33:25] We have the same status before Christ.
[00:33:28] The gospel actually provides us a strategic place to love others.
[00:33:35] You are now in the gospel, free to love one another because you're not fighting with one another.
[00:33:41] And that's why he says, verse 14, the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So the one walking around saying, what about the law? The law is good, the law is holy, the law is righteous. The law is to be a delight. What about the law? Oh, you want the law? Love your neighbor as yourself, which in the context of the church is the Jew, now is the Gentile. Those you used to hate, you love them as yourself.
[00:34:10] This is notice he says, the law is fulfilled. We get to the end of the law when we are loving our neighbor as ourself, meaning the same commitment that you would have to yourself, you now have to others. This is where God was getting with the law. He was saying, love me first with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength.
[00:34:33] And as you love me, love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:34:39] This is where the gospel gets us. You can't fulfill the law apart from the gospel, but now in the gospel you can love. And that's what the gospel calls us to.
[00:34:50] And what's so scandalous about it is when Jesus talks about the greatest command to love the Lord and to love our neighbor as ourself, we have to pay very close attention to when Jesus talks about it. He talks about it with the rich young ruler he talks about it with the Good Samaritan.
[00:35:10] And Jesus is teaching us something about loving our neighbor. And it's not just the person who lives next to you or the people you like.
[00:35:19] Jesus tells a story about the Good Samaritan. And in the Good Samaritan story, who's the hero? The Samaritan. And the Jews are standing there saying, we hate Samaritans. Yep. And if you want to fulfill the law, you better love your enemies.
[00:35:33] This is where Jesus gets to with the command.
[00:35:36] It's not generic, it's love your enemies.
[00:35:39] In First John, he says, a new commandment I give you. And we would say, jesus, what is this new commandment? He would say, love one another. That's not a new commandment. And then he would say, it's new because I've shown you how to love one another.
[00:35:52] I've loved you who were once an enemy.
[00:35:56] I loved you by giving my life for you. My enemy. Now you love the way that I've loved you. Love your enemies as yourself.
[00:36:04] Oh, that's really hard.
[00:36:07] I thought we were just going to have a list of things to do.
[00:36:11] Love my enemy as myself.
[00:36:16] How in the world can you do that? Well, the gospel, the gospel frees you to do it.
[00:36:22] You see, the Jew is now to have the Gentile over for dinner and put the kosher food up.
[00:36:28] And the Gentile, the Jew over for dinner and put the pork up.
[00:36:33] That's the way it's supposed to work in the church.
[00:36:36] Love your enemy as yourself. But he warns in verse 15, but if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. He goes back to these fleshly divisions that turns the church into survival of the fittest.
[00:36:52] These animal like tendencies that bite, that want to devour, that want to consume. In the context of the church, we think about gossip, we think about slander, we think about things behind people's back, that is seeking to destroy them because they're not on board with me and they're not like me. He says, no, you've been called to love.
[00:37:13] Stop trying to destroy one another and be united in Christ.
[00:37:18] Now this is scandalous for the New Testament church.
[00:37:22] The whole New Testament addresses this issue from Christ's ascension to Revelation, how Jew and Gentiles are to get along in the church because they hated one another, they despised one another.
[00:37:38] And here he's saying, love one another.
[00:37:41] And it's nothing like the divisions that we experience in our culture right now.
[00:37:48] We would look at our society and we would say, we are extremely divided.
[00:37:55] Everybody's always siding up. There's no nuance.
[00:37:59] There's no nuance about anything anymore. It's black or white, and you pick a team and everybody's divided.
[00:38:07] Everybody's even more vicious because we don't have to look people in the eyes anymore to tell them what we think.
[00:38:14] We have the courage of the keyboard, and we can rip people to shreds without ever having to look them in the eyes.
[00:38:23] And what's gone on in our world is we think things about people we've never met that aren't even close to being true.
[00:38:31] And we hate them and we despise them.
[00:38:35] And sometimes they show up at church and we begin to have preconceived ideas about people across the room that aren't even true.
[00:38:46] Here at this church, we're doing away with that.
[00:38:51] That is legalism that will destroy us and is a hindrance to our gospel witness.
[00:38:58] We love those who are different. We run to those who are different from us. Whether it's political.
[00:39:05] I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of cultural differences that are showing up around our church these days. We got a lot of folks from up north and out west, and us Southeasterners don't really know how to handle that. Sometimes you got a weird accent.
[00:39:26] Oh, it's the glory of the gospel that brings us together.
[00:39:30] And we don't huddle up.
[00:39:33] We don't huddle up with people like me. No, we run to those who aren't like us.
[00:39:38] You know how hard it is coming into a Southern context from somewhere else? And I say that as a true blue Southerner.
[00:39:46] More Southern than y'. All. I'm from a state lower.
[00:39:52] It's hard.
[00:39:53] We're weird.
[00:39:56] And we run to those who aren't like us.
[00:39:59] And that's what's glorious about this church. We pursue those who are different, and we love them.
[00:40:05] But maybe it's more than that. Maybe you're sitting here today and you're thinking about love. My enemies. And that person's face comes into your mind. That is my enemy. That is my rival.
[00:40:16] Something happened in your life, and from that moment on, that person is the face of enemy to you. And you spend the rest of your life thinking, what will they think? I'm trying to get back at them. I posted this. I hope they see it and they're your enemy.
[00:40:36] Well, I invite you today, whoever in your mind, top of the list is your enemy. You spend a day praying for them.
[00:40:44] Start praying for God's goodness in their life. If they need to repent and believe the gospel. Pray today that they would get saved.
[00:40:52] Pray that God's goodness, whoever it is in your life, you say, that's my enemy. That's who I despise. Only you can check your heart in that way.
[00:41:01] When those feelings of bitterness come up in your heart, and God forbid it, be someone here, if it is you pursue them and you repent and you are reconciled and you throw the grudge aside and you love one another. That's what he's talking about here.
[00:41:19] The law is replaced by the spirit. And you know what the spirit does? It causes us to love.
[00:41:26] And some of you are going to say today, that sermon was awful.
[00:41:31] That was horrible.
[00:41:33] It's because in this moment, you feel it's impossible.
[00:41:36] You feel it's impossible. You're thinking about those situations. I can't do that.
[00:41:41] That's why we need Jesus when it comes to love, we need Jesus. Jesus fulfilled the law of love for us.
[00:41:49] He loved God perfectly and he loved us.
[00:41:52] And so we believe in him. We're credited with his love. And what does that free us up to do? Love?
[00:41:58] In the story of the rich young ruler, when Jesus is teaching on the great commandment, the rich young ruler says, how can I get to heaven? How can I inherit eternal life?
[00:42:08] And he talks about obeying the commandments. He says, I've done that.
[00:42:13] Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus says, okay, if you've done that, go sell everything that you own and follow me. Meaning, love God, love me, and love your neighbor as yourself. Give him all your stuff and the man goes away sorrowful. And the disciples turn to Jesus and say, if this is what it takes to get to heaven, who can get there?
[00:42:36] And Jesus says, with man it's impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Why is it possible with God? Because Jesus loves in our place. That's the only way you're going to get to heaven, is if you trust in Jesus. Love in your place. He loved his enemies as himself. We are the enemies. And when we believe in him, our hearts are free to love. When we are united to him, he replaces our desires to hate with his desire to love.
[00:43:08] So if you're having trouble with whoever revved their car up right now and distracted us all, let's pray for them.
[00:43:17] If you're having a hard time loving in this moment, look to Jesus.
[00:43:23] Believe in Jesus, the one who loved you despite your love for sin and hatred of him.
[00:43:34] And remember, all things are possible through him, especially love.
