Sermon Tone Analysis

Galatians 3 flow of argument

3:1-5: We must live with the same power which gave us life in this first place.

If we have received the Spirit of God through faith in Christ and not through works of the law to begin our renewed lives, then the only way to continue to go on living empowered by the Spirit is by faith in Christ and not through works of the law.

The problem was there was teaching in the Galatian church and there were members of the Galatian church who were bewitched into thinking that while Christians begin their lives by faith, but can complete themselves by works (effort).

If you remember last week, we suggested what is made clear in this chapter is that Christians’ effort is not for attaining but for revealing.

The Spirit is not a defibrillator to jump-start our spiritual lives and then we can expect to continue on our own power.

This would nullify the grace God extended to us in Christ, and dishonors Christ.

3:6-9: Paul continues this argument by using the example of Abraham and making clear that the only way to be a child of Abraham was through the same faith as Abraham had.

The blessing of Abraham does not come to people by means of their works of the law, but through faith in the promises of God.

3:10-14: Paul makes the same point, and last week we suggested that our effort is not for attaining favor from God, but for revealing that we are favored by God.

If we strive for God’s favor and expect to maintain our favored status by striving we are under a curse.

Only through what Christ has done through death and resurrection can anyone enjoy the blessings of God’s covenant with His people.

Bottom line to the chapter so far is that we cannot become or remain a child of God, that is, part of God’s covenant community in which everyone is forgiven of their sins, and given the Spirit of God in order to live sanctified, God-honoring lives by works of the law instead of faith in the Son of God.

The Judaizers were teaching that works of the law were necessary fr Christians to do in order to remain part of the covenant community, and Paul is urging the Galatian Christians to reject this blatant legalism.

But, Paul anticipates an objection from the Judaizers, and what we see in verses 15-18 is a response to this potential objection.

It’s not that we see this objection anywhere, but Paul seems to either have heard it somewhere, or he anticipating it here.

Here is the objection in a nutshell:

Even if we (the Judaizers) were willing, for the sake of argument, that Abraham was justified by faith and not through works of the law, but what about what God determined to do 430 years later?

God brought the law to His people through Moses.

And why did He bring the law to His people?

Because no one can remain in God’s good graces by faith in Christ alone.

The 600+ commands of the law teach that the inheritance of God’s people comes on the basis of woks.

If anyone wants the inheritance God offers, then they must obey the law.

They must put in their effort.

People begin with faith, but their sanctification is completed through works of the law.

This is how it works, so say the Judaizers.

Why else would God have added the law 430 years later?

And I’m suggesting that Paul is countering this objection in our text today.

So let’s go there now.

Introduction

The shopping cart & Sylvan Goldman

Banks & ancient temples

Clothes & disobedience

The everyday items listed are paired with what is not everyday.

Shopping carts are everyday.

Banks are everyday.

Clothes are everyday.

But who is Sylvan Goldman, what do ancient places of worship have to do with banks and what does disobedience have to do with the clothes we wear?

This is often the way we think.

We are concerned with the everyday and not concerned with what does not appear to be everyday.

If something or some bit of information does not appear to be relevant to the here and now, at least in our lives, we’re not interested.

But sometimes, what appears to not be everyday is often connected to everyday.

But sometimes, this hasty approach to how we approach to what we often call everyday, can lead to us not really understanding the everyday.

We may not fully appreciate the everyday.

Some pieces might be missing in our everyday.

When it comes to the Christian life, there is an everyday.

The Westminster Larger Catechism helps us know what the Christian’s everyday is.

The first question is this:

What is the chief and highest end of man?

And the answer

Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully enjoy Him forever.

To simply this a bit: What is most important in life is to glorify God.

How do we glorify God.

Obey Him.

This is the Christian’s everyday.

Obedience.

But we all know that obeying God is not always easy, sometimes if we’re honest, it’s burdensome and not appealing.

We don’t like that we feel that way about obeying God, but never-the-less, we do from time to time.

The reasons we feel this way are many, but one of the significant reasons is because we fail to see the connection between what we see as our everyday (obedience) and what I will suggest is the foundation of our obedience.

And because we fail to connect the foundation of our obedience to our obedience:

FCF: We often misunderstand obedience to God.

We obey God without understanding why we obey God.

We obey God without understanding God.

And when we live this way, when we do our everyday without knowing why we obey or who we are obeying, we struggle with obedience.

So now I will link what will be familiar to most of us and something that may not be so familiar, but I am suggesting today that it is essential we understand both to live our everyday.

Understanding our obedience to God requires we understand redemptive history.

Obedience to God.

We basically get that.

We struggle with it, but we get it.

Redemptive history?

Some of us have heard of it.

Some of us have not.

Even if we have heard of it, we may not be quite sure what it is, and we’re even less sure of its value and relevance to our everyday.

But what I’m suggesting is that obeying God must be built upon an understanding of redemptive history.

In other words, for the person who has a concern to live for the glory of God, he or she must understand how God has worked to bring salvation (redemption) to His people throughout history.

Redemptive history (how God saves His people throughout history) is as everyday to us as obeying God.

What do we need to know about redemptive history?

The covenants of God (15, 17)

What must we understand about the covenants of God?

They are unchangeable and permanent (15)

Paul is referring to last wills and testaments of people in this day.

We are accustomed to wills being changed in our culture, but under Roman law, Greek law and Jewish law, which made some of these kinds of agreements/contracts iron clad.

Unchangeable and unable to be cancelled.

Paul is putting this forth to make clear that the Mosaic Law does not annul or alter the terms of the covenant with Abraham.

And that brings us to the next point.

Covenants:

They do not contradict one another (17)

Paul explains himself in v. 17: this is what I mean.

the Mosaic law, which came 430 years after God established His covenant with Abraham, does not annul or cancel a covenant previously ratified by God.

This would make the promise null and void.

It’s important to know that both the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants offer blessing to God’s people.

I don’t want us to get the impression that somehow the Abrahamic covenant is appealing and the Mosaic covenant is burdensome.

We are familiar enough with the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant

But let’s make sure to note the promised blessings noted in the Mosaic Covenant:

Deuteronomy 7:12–13 (ESV)

“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers.

He will love you, bless you, and multiply you....

The issue here is not seeing that both covenants shows God’s blessing His people.

The issue at hand here the way God provides blessing to His people.

We are suggesting that the covenants of God do not contradict one another.