Latest / Scripture Central / #40 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Sep 25 - Oct 1)Galatians

Transcript

#40 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Sep 25 - Oct 1)Galatians · Scripture Central

0:00
Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to Come
0:02
Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler presented by Scripture
0:04
Central. We use a lot of visuals in our
0:07
videos, so if you want to see the visuals, we invite you to
0:09
find us on YouTube. Thanks for listening and enjoy.
0:13
I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler. This is scripture.
0:16
Central's Come, Follow Me insights today.
0:19
The Epistle to the Galatians. This epistle is a ride from from
0:26
the first chapter through the end of the book.
0:29
It takes us on this incredible fastpaced, rapid fire journey.
0:35
It's almost as if Paul is panicked to get this letter
0:39
written and delivered to these people.
0:41
In Galatia. If you wanted to give yourself
0:45
one possible label for this entire pistol, it could be
0:49
called Paul's Declaration of Independence from the Law of
0:56
Moses. You'll notice that he uses the
0:58
word free or freedom 11 times in this in this epistle.
1:04
And he the guns really are blazing in this one in that he
1:08
is rapid fire pushing back against this Judaizer movement
1:14
that is trying to get these new Gentile converts to then go back
1:21
in time and adopt the law of Moses.
1:25
All of the dietary, the clothing restrictions, the law of
1:30
circumcision, all of these these laws given to Moses to then be
1:35
fully Christian. That's kind of their message.
1:39
So it's as if Paul gets word that in in Galatia.
1:43
And keep in mind we don't know if this is just southern Galatia
1:48
where where he and Barnabas went on their first missionary
1:52
journey up to Antioch of Pisidia over to Iconium and then Derby
1:56
and Lystra that's southern part of of Gall.
2:00
Or if it's the northern part, there's a lot of there's a lot
2:05
of potential evidence to point to this southern Galatia, which
2:08
would make this a fairly early epistle, because that big debate
2:15
between the the Judaizers in Jerusalem and Paul and Barnabas
2:20
and his missionary companions and others who have been out
2:23
among the Greco Romans. And you get that first major
2:28
conference discussing this in Jerusalem back in Acts chapter
2:32
15. It's possible some scholars like
2:36
NT, right? They surmise that this letter
2:39
was one of possibly his very first letters, written even
2:43
before they left to go down to Jerusalem for that conference,
2:49
to have it out and make this decision.
2:51
What do we do? Because some people are bullying
2:54
our new converts, making them feel like they have to become
2:57
proselytes to Judaism before they can fully be considered
3:02
Christian. It's important to recognize it
3:05
anciently, particularly in the Greco Roman world.
3:08
Religion for most people was something that you were born
3:11
into now. Definitely people were
3:13
proselyted or converted. Into other religions that we
3:19
have. The case of Christianity, but
3:21
Judaism in particular was primarily a religion you were
3:25
born into. So the idea that you could have
3:28
people joining the group that weren't originally Jewish would
3:33
have struck a lot of people as odd.
3:35
And just for a moment, to offer perhaps a little bit of empathy
3:38
to the Judaizers. Some of them probably had good
3:42
intentions. They probably were raised in
3:45
this, their ancestors for gosh, how many hundreds of years had
3:49
all lived a certain way, and the belief was, well, to be along
3:53
with God, you have to live like this.
3:56
Now this bet gets to our day. We have the restored gospel of
4:01
Jesus Christ in its plainness and its fullness.
4:05
We have to ask ourselves, are there are there ever moments
4:09
where we insist that others live?
4:13
The way we want them to or that others put infringements upon us
4:17
saying we want you to live the way we want you to live.
4:22
And we have to be clear, like Paul, that first and foremost we
4:26
have to be aligned to God and the simplicity of the gospel and
4:29
not let imposed culture That doesn't save be the requirement
4:35
to prove that we are part of God's Kingdom.
4:39
And this is really what gets Paul so exercised.
4:42
He really he Can you imagine sitting there while he's writing
4:46
this? I I could imagine he would be.
4:49
He's hot under the collar. He was really hot under the
4:51
collar and so you're going to feel the energy of he.
4:55
Just want to make it clear. Let us make ourselves completely
4:59
aligned to God and not let culture or things from the past
5:04
that no longer are necessary. Training wheels keep us from the
5:08
freedom. That Jesus has bought for us.
5:11
That's really the core idea here, hence the Declaration of
5:14
Independence from that Law of Moses.
5:17
And he's going to approach this from a variety of angles.
5:19
So let's jump in and and learn what lessons we can for us today
5:25
by reviewing their story from 2000 years ago.
5:29
So he opens in verse one Paul and apostle not of men, neither
5:35
by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him
5:40
from the dead. And then you, you see, he says,
5:44
and all the brother in which are with me unto the churches,
5:48
that's plural of Galatia, this region of of Galatia that
5:52
stretches all the way up. And it's important to remember
5:54
Taylor's mentioned this before Galatia is named that because
5:58
it's named after the gulls who have transported have been
6:03
transplanted rather into this region.
6:06
They're neither Greco Roman Pagan nor are they Jewish.
6:11
They're they're this other group that's settled right there in
6:16
Turkey that many of them were very receptive to the gospel.
6:21
But now Paul is so frustrated with them because he thought he
6:25
had them firmly rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
6:28
And now watch how he he describes this six I marvel that
6:35
ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
6:40
of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another.
6:46
But there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
6:49
of Jesus Christ. He said you've got these people
6:52
coming in probably from Jerusalem, and he Paul's
6:56
frustrated. Why are you going backwards in
6:58
time? He says, verse eight, Though we
7:01
or an Angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than
7:04
that which we have preached unto you, let him be a cursed.
7:09
These are fighting words. This is not neutral.
7:12
Verse 8. If you were sitting there in the
7:14
congregation listening that day, you would know pretty pretty
7:18
early on. Oh my gosh, Paul has got a
7:20
message for us. And again it's don't let the
7:24
requirements for the Law of Moses which had its time and
7:26
place, which had valuable purpose.
7:29
God has now done an upgrade. And to use a really kind of
7:33
pedestrian example, have you ever had software in your life
7:37
and you've upgraded to a way better version, or ever upgraded
7:40
any product or service to a way better version?
7:43
Why would you go back and force other people to live with
7:47
inferior things that at the time were really awesome, But the
7:51
world's gotten better, so let us be upgraded in Christ.
7:55
That's what Paul's trying to get across.
7:57
Yeah. So the Declaration of
7:59
Independence isn't independent. It's rooted in Christ.
8:04
You're independent of the Law of Moses because you've embraced
8:08
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we'll talk more about that
8:11
in in coming chapter here. Look at verse 9 as we said
8:16
before. So say I now again, in case if
8:20
you missed it the first time in verse 8, if any man preach any
8:23
other gospel unto you, then that you have received, let him be a
8:29
cursed. So he gives it to him twice,
8:32
double barrel here. And then he says, For do I now
8:34
persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men?
8:39
For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of
8:42
Christ. He's saying very clearly.
8:44
I'm an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm on his errand.
8:47
I'm not here for my glory. I'm not here for your glory or
8:50
for anybody else's. This is for the glory of God,
8:52
and I'm on the mission of Christ.
8:54
But I certify you, brother, and that the gospel which was
8:57
preached of me is not after man, for I need to received it of
9:01
man. Neither was I taught it.
9:03
But by the revelation of Jesus Christ, he's saying, look, I had
9:07
to come and teach you. But guess what?
9:09
The missionary for me it wasn't flesh, it wasn't a person.
9:14
It was Christ on the road to Damascus.
9:17
He's the one who set me straight.
9:20
So I'm giving it to you. Pure, which is is a beautiful
9:24
way to look at the role of an apostle, is to get their errand
9:28
from the Savior Jesus Christ, and they are sent by him, not by
9:34
people, not by humans. As you read through chapter one,
9:39
you will see a bit of a missionary journal, almost like
9:42
a journey log from Paul about where he went after his initial
9:46
revelation from Jesus Christ. And some people theorized that
9:49
while Paul had gone off into Arabia and actually out in the
9:53
wilderness, or at least not in the major areas that Greco Roman
9:56
world, that this was time for Paul to relearn, or better yet,
10:00
to learn what was true. Remember, Paul was one of the
10:03
best educated Jewish Pharisees of all time.
10:07
He was one of the top students of Gamelio.
10:10
And for Paul this is a big deal. He had learned how to teach and
10:15
understand the law of Moses. This is a massive change for him
10:18
to say the Law of Moses was a stepping stone to what we have.
10:22
So I love the fact that we learned kind of subtly that Paul
10:26
took the time to get directly taught from God, Jesus Christ,
10:30
from angels. We don't actually know.
10:32
But I would like to think that he spent years getting
10:35
personally tutored, so he'd be prepared to teach this message
10:37
when the call came. Yeah, and we'll get that here
10:41
shortly. Look at verse 13 for you have
10:44
heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion.
10:47
How that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and
10:51
wasted it. I I was one of the chief enemies
10:53
against this movement and profited in the Jews religion
10:57
above many my equals in my own nation being more exceedingly
11:02
zealous of the traditions of my father's.
11:04
What he's saying is you think there are zealous Pharisees.
11:07
Well, guess what? I was the chief among them.
11:10
I I lived that religion I was all in.
11:16
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
11:19
womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me, that I
11:26
might preach him among the heathen, immediately I
11:29
conferred. Not with flesh and blood.
11:33
You know what this reminds me of?
11:34
It's that phrase that Elder David A Bednar has used where he
11:39
said something along the lines of the greatest truths are
11:44
generally caught. They're not taught the greatest
11:50
things. You're going to hear the
11:52
greatest things. You're going to feel the
11:54
greatest changes you're going to make are going to be inspired by
11:58
the Holy Ghost. They're going to be truths that
12:00
are caught. Sometimes it's in a little
12:03
moment at the strangest thing. You're you're in the middle of
12:06
doing the strangest things. You might be doing the dishes or
12:08
driving the car, walking your dog or falling asleep or folding
12:13
some laundry. And truths can be given to you
12:17
by the power of the Holy Ghost. And they're caught.
12:20
And no flesh and blood delivers that.
12:22
And he's, he's trying to make that very clear.
12:24
And he he says look, verse 17. I didn't go up to Jerusalem, to
12:29
those who were even apostles, but I went to Arabia this day.
12:33
We've been talking. And then I returned again onto
12:35
Damascus. And after three years, three
12:38
years, then I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter in a boat
12:42
with him 15 days. But others other of the apostle
12:46
sign on save James, the Lord's brother.
12:48
And so he's he's giving his background here to say you are
12:54
relying way too much on horizontal sources of gathering
13:00
information and gathering truth. He's saying turn heavenward,
13:06
rely more on God than you do on other people.
13:10
Now does that mean that God can't inspire you to use
13:13
horizontal sources? No, he can't.
13:16
It's just make sure that you don't have those be your source.
13:20
Have those be a resource and have that be your source.
13:25
The scriptures, the words of living profits, and personal
13:28
revelation. Those are the source of truth.
13:32
Everything else, including us, including every every good
13:36
organization and good motivational speaker, any any
13:41
other resource out there in the world is horizontal in
13:44
comparison to what you get from heaven.
13:46
And that's what he's pushing them for in chapter one.
13:50
I'm going to build on this. Some years ago I was in a
13:52
science school class where the teacher was quite beloved,
13:55
pretty capable. When the teacher got released
13:57
and one of the members of the ward community said of the
14:00
teacher, I really wish you would have spent more time talking,
14:04
That was my favorite part of class is you talking?
14:07
And this teacher said, well, if I'm doing the talking, then
14:10
there's actually a lot less learning happening.
14:12
That's why I would have you encourage all of you to come
14:15
prepared and work together on concepts and share with one
14:19
another. And it's this idea that if we
14:21
all just spend our time only listening to other people, we
14:25
miss the preparation of being aligned to God and having
14:28
something inspiring us. This is what Paul done has done.
14:32
It's such an interesting little thing.
14:34
He just freezes right over it. But three years, we've almost no
14:38
evidence of what he was doing. But I think there's strong
14:42
indirect evidence that in those three years he was getting
14:45
reeducated. He was getting upgraded from his
14:48
intense knowledge of the Law of Moses and realizing what Jesus
14:52
really had done and giving him upgrade for what the gospel is
14:55
all about. And isn't that a beautiful
14:57
principle for all of us to consider in our gospel learning
15:01
efforts is that sometimes you can learn you.
15:05
You can sit in a general conference and you can hear
15:09
something. Or you can sit in a Sacre
15:11
meeting, or in a Relief Society lesson or in a ministering
15:13
visit. And you can hear a truth that
15:16
the Holy Ghost helps you to to catch.
15:19
And you captured in your mind and your heart.
15:22
And all of a sudden it, it provides A framework or a
15:25
skeleton structure that takes all of these other things that
15:29
you've been learning for years. And some of them now have more
15:33
context. They have a place to actually
15:35
hang. And it's this beautiful
15:37
perspective. That's exactly what Paul's
15:39
doing. He didn't have to go back and
15:43
throw away all of his upbringing in the Judaic school of Gamalio.
15:49
He could bring all of that good that he had, and he just needed
15:53
to restructure and reframe some of it to fit into this new
15:58
framework that the Savior Jesus Christ had provided for him.
16:02
And that's a beautiful thing. You don't have to feel like you
16:05
have to tear other people's faith down.
16:08
President Hinckley's invitation to us was to tell people.
16:11
We invite you to bring all the good that you have.
16:14
See if we can add to it. See if we can.
16:16
I would add there. See if we can add some depth,
16:19
some perspective, some framework for you to more purposefully and
16:23
meaningfully hang those experiences and those doctrines
16:28
in a meaningful way to now move forward more deeply connected
16:31
than ever before with Jesus Christ in a covenant connection
16:34
with Him. Using the analogy again of any
16:37
time you might upgrade a product in your life with a newer
16:40
version. Those newer versions themselves
16:43
are not so radically different that they don't have some
16:46
connection to what went before. Let's say you go from one
16:49
computer to a new computer, a TV to a new TV, a car, a bicycle,
16:55
lots of different services and products out there.
16:58
And all of them, when they get upgraded, are rooted in what
17:01
came before. What came before at the time was
17:04
incredible and super valuable. But now that you have 2.0,
17:09
there's no reason to force yourself to miss out on
17:12
additional features and resources and and opportunities.
17:15
And that's kind of what we're talking about with the gospel
17:17
that there is no reason to, not now.
17:19
Paul speaks strongly, but mostly to make a point.
17:22
He's not trained. Trying to say the Law of Moses
17:25
in itself was the problem that people were required or being
17:29
teaching others that you're required to live this 1.0
17:32
lifestyle versus 2.0 and Jesus Christ like Paul's.
17:35
Like why would you do that? You have so much more in Jesus
17:38
Christ. You don't abandon this, but you
17:41
also don't excuse the term damn yourself to this one version.
17:46
You got to grow beyond it. And that's the freedom or the
17:50
independence in Christ that Paul is preaching here.
17:54
So let's put this a little further into perspective to
17:57
finalize chapter one, he says after this three years.
18:01
Verse 21 says afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and
18:04
Solicia. He's from Tarsus up in
18:07
southeastern Turkey, that's up in the region of Solicia and
18:12
just to the side of Syria. So he basically is going back to
18:16
his home area and was unknown by face under the churches of
18:21
Judea, which were in Christ. But they only heard that there
18:25
was this, this miraculous conversion that took place for
18:31
me. And then he tells you in chapter
18:32
2, verse one. Then 14 years after, I went up
18:36
again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also.
18:40
That's a long. That's a long time.
18:42
Thinking about from the time of Joseph Smith, with a church
18:45
being formed in 1830 until his death in 1844, imagine there
18:50
been some other apostle out there that God had called living
18:53
in some foreign country that Joseph Smith and others had
18:56
really almost had never interacted with.
18:58
That's a long time, 14 years, which by the way is a beautiful
19:02
principle for us to be patient. Salvation really is a long game
19:07
and these things sometimes take time.
19:09
Don't expect that because you feel an impression today, or
19:14
even if you have a miraculous vision like Paul did, that
19:17
instantly everything's going to work out.
19:20
It's 14 years for him trying to to retool and and get his mind
19:26
wrapped around all of his previous learning compared to
19:29
with his his now revelation that he's had with Jesus with the
19:33
savior and be patient with yourself it's it's going to take
19:39
a while in many cases. So down in Jerusalem, keep in
19:43
mind there there is this group of Judaizers who and we don't
19:47
know their full motivation. It could have been political.
19:50
It could have been hey, you're you're doing us damage because
19:54
Judaism is a a recognized religion in the Roman Empire
20:00
and. Rome may not be able to
20:03
distinguish between you followers of Christ and those of
20:06
us who are followers of the Torah, and perhaps they were
20:10
saying we need to keep things peaceful in line.
20:14
It could have been just a religious zealous approach or a
20:19
variety of other things. But they are demanding that
20:23
these followers of Christ become circumcised.
20:27
You notice in verse 70 says, when they saw that the gospel of
20:31
uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of
20:35
circumcision was unto Peter. In other words, my mission was
20:38
to go out to the Gentiles in the Greco Roman world, and Peters
20:42
was to stay among the Jews. It says, verse 9.
20:47
And when James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars,
20:51
perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me
20:54
and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go
20:56
under the heathen. And they under the circumcision.
21:00
They're like, OK, you go teach among the heathen.
21:03
But it doesn't stop these other groups from following in Paul's
21:07
footsteps to clean things up a bit and make it a little more
21:12
official and and get these new converts up to par with with the
21:18
Jewish Christian converts. So he then gives this
21:23
fascinating story and it only appears here and oh how I wish
21:27
we had Peter's side of the story.
21:29
All we get is Pulse, so granted, it's going to come from from
21:34
only one side. And and remember, Paul, when
21:37
he's telling the story, is already a bit exercised about
21:41
the Galatians being torn away into false gospels that these
21:46
Judaizers had had preached. So perhaps if Paul had been in a
21:49
calmer moment, he may have actually explained the story in
21:53
slightly different terms. Yeah, so here you are in
21:55
Jerusalem the the center of the the Judaizer church and up north
22:00
in Antioch of Syria seems to be the mission headquarters, the
22:06
center of the church for the gentile missions, the three
22:10
missions of Paul, they all either begin or and or end in
22:14
Antioch of Syria. So this is where you have a
22:18
whole bunch of of intersection with these Gentile Christians.
22:25
So this is where this story takes place.
22:27
Paul and Barnabas are here in Antioch.
22:30
Peter has come up to spend some time with him.
22:33
And remember Peter has his had his experience out there in
22:36
Joppa and then up in Caesaria with Cornelius.
22:40
So he's had his own interactions with with Gentiles who had not
22:45
first become proselytes or fully brought into to the laws of the
22:51
Torah, the the Law of Moses. So they're up there enjoying
22:56
this fellowship in Antioch. And for context further, in
23:02
ancient Judaism, the idea of table fellowship with people who
23:05
are non Jewish could get you into ritual trouble that if you
23:09
ate with somebody who is not richly pure, you would be richly
23:13
impure. And there's a whole process to
23:14
become richly pure again. So a lot of Jews.
23:17
Over centuries became acculturated to only eating with
23:21
Jews and seeing a bit of an aversion to eating with
23:25
uncleanness. As we saw, Peter dealt with
23:28
that. But apparently that long
23:30
culture, perhaps from Paul's perspective, had not been fully
23:34
overcome. Here we go, verse 11.
23:36
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the
23:41
face because he was to be blamed.
23:43
It's pretty bold for your one of your your junior apostles to be
23:49
calling the senior apostle into question in front of everybody.
23:52
And he tells us this verse 12 for before that certain came
23:57
from James. That translates means certain
24:01
people came from James, from Jerusalem.
24:04
These are Judaizers coming up to Antioch.
24:07
Before that Peter did eat with the Gentiles.
24:11
He had table fellowship and he he's not considering himself
24:15
impure, but when they were come he withdrew and separating,
24:22
separated himself fearing them which were of the circumcision.
24:25
The the Judaizers. He's afraid of what the
24:27
Judaizers are going to say and think and how they're going to
24:30
judge him. So he's like, I'm, I'm out of
24:32
here. I'm going to leave this table
24:34
fellowship with you. I don't want to be seen eating
24:37
with you. Well, here you get.
24:39
We we could actually say, remember, Jesus would go hang
24:42
out with the publicans and the sinners and he'd get in trouble
24:45
over it. Paul would have applauded Jesus.
24:48
Good job having table fellowship with the sinners.
24:51
Imagine, and this is really hard to imagine, imagine Jesus at
24:54
some point worrying about his reputation and saying, yeah,
24:57
yeah, I actually am not going to eat with the sinners this time,
25:00
Paul would say to Jesus. Wait, wait a second.
25:02
Where did Jesus go? You're the man who recognizes
25:05
the freedom that comes to the gospel.
25:07
This is kind of what's going on with Peter.
25:09
Peter's not yet Jesus now watch what happens because Peter the
25:14
chief apostle got up and left the table.
25:17
Fellowship. Watch what the result is.
25:21
And the other Jews dissembled. Likewise with him in so much
25:26
that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
25:32
The Greek word there is hypocrisy.
25:35
Even Barnabas, my mission companion, Paul, saying that the
25:39
guy who spent all of these, all of these journeys with me out
25:42
among these gentile Christians that we've we've baptized, even
25:47
Barnabas got up from the table and left because he's following
25:50
Peter's example. Then verse 14, he concludes.
25:53
But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the
25:56
truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou,
26:01
being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not, as
26:04
do the Jews, why compels thou the Gentiles, to live, as do the
26:09
Jews? Once again, we're declaring our
26:13
independence from the law of Moses here.
26:16
Why? Why are we going back?
26:17
Let's not do that. And then he gives this beautiful
26:22
argument here in verse 16, knowing that a man is not
26:26
justified by the works of the law.
26:30
Now let's make something very clear here.
26:32
When he keeps referring in Galatians to the law, he's not
26:37
referring to all law like law of the gospel or law of
26:42
consecration or law of chastity. Because the reality is, is the
26:47
Savior taught very clearly, if you love me, keep my
26:52
commandments. And he's given them these
26:55
upgrades to the Law of Moses. And he's saying if you really
27:00
love me, then you're going to keep these commandments.
27:02
So keep in mind as we go through this epistle to the Galatians,
27:06
he's speaking to a specific people in a specific location at
27:10
a specific time with a specific struggle which is backsliding
27:15
down the hill from 2.0 to 1.0 and starting to think, oh maybe
27:20
I do need to live all of these these 613 laws and provisions
27:27
within the Law of Moses. And he says you're not justified
27:32
or pronounced righteous or made right by the works of the law,
27:39
but by the faith of Jesus Christ.
27:42
Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be
27:45
justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law.
27:51
And again in Galatians, you could just add to your
27:54
scriptures every time you see the law just right of Moses, and
27:58
it'll make a lot more sense that we might be justified by the
28:02
faith of Christ, not by the works of the law of Moses.
28:05
For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
28:10
Now you could stop there and proof text this and say, see, it
28:13
doesn't matter what I do as long as I just have faith in Christ
28:16
and I can do whatever I want and he'll save me.
28:19
And we would say we love verse 16, but we also love verse 17
28:23
and 18. Read on, read all of the
28:26
epistle. Let's not proof text an isolated
28:30
portion of it. And the word faith here is not
28:33
just a simple I believe even when it says believed in Jesus
28:37
Christ, there's much more action and doubt that goes into these
28:41
words. You could look at faith, meaning
28:44
trustworthiness, loyalty, so. Because of the loyalty of Jesus
28:49
Christ to do what was right, even we have trusted in Jesus
28:55
Christ, so we have to trust that he has done something
28:59
trustworthy to save us. And you're not going to act in
29:03
faith if you don't first have this level of trust that Jesus
29:08
is trustworthy to be our Savior. But there is a mutuality that is
29:13
expected. In the relationship, Jesus
29:16
freely gave us the gift of salvation.
29:19
And in receiving that freely offered gift we are binding
29:22
ourselves to in an obligated relationship, to also freely
29:26
share love back to him and to those around us.
29:29
To not just sit around and say, I'm saying, lucky me, there you
29:32
go. So you have a problem of
29:34
pendulums going on here, right? You have one group that's come
29:37
to these, these Galatian converts saying if you really
29:42
want to be saved, you have to live the law.
29:44
It's not enough to get baptized and to repent of your sins and
29:49
to to connect with Christ in that way.
29:51
You also have to live these older laws.
29:55
So that's the pendulum on the one side.
29:57
And what Paul is saying is we're not justified by the works of
30:00
the Law of Moses. That's not how we get justified.
30:03
That's not how Christ saves us. And then to prevent people from
30:08
swinging the pendulum too far to the other side, this idea of
30:11
great he drink and be merry, believe in Christ, and tomorrow
30:14
I'll die and be saved. Look at what he says.
30:18
But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, not by the
30:23
law of Moses works, but by Christ, we ourselves are also
30:28
found sinners, Is therefore Christ the minister of sin?
30:33
God forbid. So he he prevents that pendulum
30:38
extreme. And then he says for if I build
30:42
again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a
30:45
transgressor. For I through the law and dead
30:48
to the law that I might live under God, I that's what faith
30:53
in Christ and repentance does is it's this recognition of there's
30:58
the standard, there's the law that Christ has given me, not
31:02
the law of Moses here. That's what the the Savior
31:05
expects of me and I'm falling short.
31:08
But I'm trying, I'm I'm striving, I'm doing everything I
31:13
can. And what's the solution?
31:16
Verse 20. I am crucified with Christ.
31:19
Nevertheless I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the
31:26
life which I now live in the flesh.
31:28
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
31:32
himself for me. Everything you've ever learned
31:35
in the law of Moses was to point you forward to what Christ would
31:39
do for us. So why would we backslide and go
31:43
go back in time and he finishes? I do not frustrate the grace of
31:47
God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead
31:52
in vain. If if I can be righteous by
31:54
keeping along when I break it, I just fix my problems and just
31:57
keep moving forward, then I don't need a savior because I,
32:02
working with the law, have become my savior.
32:05
That was the doctrine of Sharon in the book of Jacob Chapter 7.
32:11
That's exactly what he taught was you just keep the Law of
32:15
Moses and you'll be saved. There is no need for Christ.
32:19
Just keep the law and you can be your own Redeemer.
32:22
And Paul is obviously taking on that that doctrine here.
32:29
So it continues on in chapter 3. And again, he's not mincing
32:32
words. He uses words like foolish,
32:35
several times being bewitched, basically saying you Galatians
32:39
stay firm in the truth that you know.
32:42
Don't let yourself be led away by crafty logical sounding
32:46
arguments that might make sense superficially, but really miss
32:50
the essence of what Jesus has done to liberate us and give us
32:54
independence in him from these old laws.
32:58
That now no longer are necessary to lead us to Jesus Christ,
33:02
because we have the law of Jesus Christ with us.
33:05
So now he appeals to a different line of logic, a different line
33:09
of reasoning with them. In verse six he says even as
33:13
Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for
33:15
righteousness. Know you therefore that they
33:18
which are a faith the same, are the children of Abraham.
33:22
You become the seed of Abraham, you become a part of this
33:25
family. And then look at verse 8 and the
33:28
scripture for seeing that God would justify the heathen
33:31
through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying
33:36
in the shall all nations be blessed.
33:41
Now do you catch the timing issue here that Paul's bringing
33:43
up Abraham through your seed, All nations of the earth are
33:48
going to be blessed? Well, Abraham's like 500 years
33:53
before Moses. Abraham didn't have the law of
33:57
Moses. So you want a Declaration of
33:59
Independence for us in Galatian For these Galatian Saints, he's
34:04
saying, guess what? Abraham didn't have the law of
34:07
Moses either. He had the gospel given to him.
34:11
And Joseph Smith taught that all of our dispensation heads in the
34:15
Old Testament, Adam, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham all had the
34:21
law of the gospel. And if you read in the Book of
34:24
Mormon, those those early chapters where they've they've
34:30
come over to the Americas, They're very clearly seeing that
34:35
the law of Moses isn't going to save them.
34:36
And you look at the gospel taught in the dispensation of
34:40
Noah with the Jaredites, Jared and his brother, and that group
34:43
that comes over, wow, there's they.
34:47
They're living the law of sacrifice from Adam's time, but
34:50
it's not the law of Moses. They've got, they've got all
34:54
kinds of things about faith and repentance and these beautiful
34:57
connecting covenants with God. And so Paul's point is Abraham
35:05
was blessed, but he didn't have the Law of Moses.
35:09
So let's notice what happens in verse 11.
35:12
He's going to pick up a theme that he also develops
35:16
beautifully in the book of Romans.
35:18
These two letters in the Protestant tradition, Romans and
35:21
Galatians, they they usually go hand in hand.
35:24
Romans and Galatians. There they get quoted more than
35:27
any other book of Scripture in many of of the Protestant
35:32
traditions. Look at verse 11.
35:34
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it
35:39
is evident, for the just shall live by faith.
35:43
This phrase he quotes again in Romans chapter one, verse 17,
35:48
and what's interesting if you go back to.
35:51
Have a cook, the Old Testament prophet he's quoting from.
35:54
Have a Cook chapter 2, verse four.
35:56
It actually reads the just or the righteous.
35:59
She'll live by his faith. So it may be that Paul is
36:03
dealing with the translation of the Old Testament into Greek
36:07
that somehow is missing that word his.
36:10
And that causes a bit of confusion, because it is true
36:13
that we do live by our faith, our trustworthiness, our trust
36:18
in God. But when we look carefully at
36:21
the original context of what Paul is quoting from, it is we
36:26
live, we experience righteousness because we get
36:31
that from the most trustworthy one, the one who is most
36:35
faithful, his faithfulness, the faithfulness of God.
36:39
And this is back to Abraham when it says verse 6 Abraham believed
36:45
God has encountered to Abraham for righteousness meaning.
36:49
Abraham believed that God himself would be faithful to his
36:54
role in the salvation and that just brings everything together
36:58
that we can't save ourselves. We have to trust that God will
37:02
do that work, and if we believe that and trust in that, that God
37:06
is trustworthy, that counts towards righteousness.
37:09
Especially if you were living before the time of the works of
37:13
the Law of Moses, which. Really weren't meant to save
37:16
people, they were meant to point people to the real salvation
37:19
that we're talking about here. So this is important.
37:21
When you see this phrase the just shall live by faith, just
37:24
remember that the full accurate phrase is the just shall live by
37:29
his faith. And we're talking about the
37:31
faithfulness and the trustworthiness and the
37:34
righteousness of God. And and that becomes very clear
37:37
in verse 13, right when he says Christ hath redeemed us from the
37:41
curse of the law. How did he do it?
37:44
Did he destroy the law? No, he was made a curse for us
37:50
and then he quotes Deuteronomy 21 for it is written Cursed is
37:54
everyone that hangeth on a tree. So it's back to the Second
37:58
Corinthians great exchange idea of he who was most righteous was
38:03
made sin for us who know sin even though Christ didn't know
38:08
any sin. So that we who don't know
38:10
righteousness could be made pure and holy.
38:13
So he becomes cursed for us in order to save us.
38:19
And then you go down to verse 16.
38:21
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
38:24
He sayeth not, and to seeds as of many, but as of 1.
38:30
And to thy seed, which is Christ, there's one seed that's
38:35
going to come from Abraham, that is going to be the seed that
38:39
brings life. It's going to die, be buried,
38:42
and bring life to all of God's children.
38:47
And then he says verse 19. Wherefore then service the Law
38:51
once again, the Law referring to the Law of Moses.
38:54
If if this is all true, then why in the world do we have the law?
38:57
Because you had this timeline. We have Adam, Enoch, Noah, and
39:03
now you have Abraham. And down the road here you have
39:08
Moses. So we have Enoch who was
39:12
translated leaving the earth in a period of apostasy.
39:15
Adams and Noah's and Abraham's time periods ending in in little
39:21
dispensational apostasies. And he's saying so why did we
39:25
even get the law of Moses? Keep in mind they've been in
39:28
Egypt in apostasy, in slavery for 400 years and he answers his
39:34
question here in verse 19. It was added because of
39:38
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise
39:43
was made. Remember the seed that we talked
39:44
about up in verse 16? That's Christ.
39:48
So it's this placeholder until the real seed comes because of
39:54
transgression. It was ordained by angels in the
39:57
hands of a mediator or in the hand of a mediator.
40:01
Remember, at Mount Sinai, Moses told them, Wash yourselves,
40:06
clean the camp. Get ready.
40:07
Come to the mount. In a few days you're going to be
40:10
brought into the presence of God.
40:12
And they said, no, we don't want that.
40:16
Moses, you be a mediator. You go talk to God and come back
40:20
and tell us what he, what he wants.
40:22
So here you have this, the law of the gospel that Moses went up
40:27
into the mount to get. And the people say, Nope, we
40:30
don't want that. And so you get this.
40:33
They're not able to come out of 400 years of apostasy to come
40:38
back up to this level. So what do they get?
40:41
They get a stepper law step stool, so to speak.
40:47
That gets them closer. They're not living the laws of
40:50
Egypt in the law of Moses. The law of Moses isn't evil,
40:53
it's good. It's given by God to help them
40:57
because they weren't able to take this, this higher Rd.
41:02
So it was given because of their transgression.
41:05
And Paul is saying. I have preached to you what I
41:08
have received directly from Jesus Christ.
41:10
I've now got you back up here. Don't take a step back down.
41:14
It's absent necessary. And stop listening to people who
41:17
tell you that you're going to be in God's presence if you
41:20
actually step. Start walking back down the
41:23
mountain. We're trying to get you into
41:25
God's temple symbolically. So he says verse 21 is the law
41:30
then against the promises of God.
41:32
God forbid. For if there'd been a law given
41:35
which could have given life, verily righteousness should have
41:38
been by the law. But the Scripture has concluded
41:42
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
41:46
be given to them. That belief, everybody's
41:49
struggling under the there. It is impossible to live those
41:54
613 laws, and it's impossible with any of the laws.
41:58
We're all under sin. That's why we need the Savior.
42:02
And so he he brings us now into verse 24, Where for the law was
42:07
our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be
42:12
justified by faith. And whose faith?
42:16
Definitely We have to have faith.
42:17
We have to have faith. We go back to verse 11.
42:19
The just shall live by His faith.
42:22
We go back here to verse 24, that we might be justified or
42:26
made right or righteous. By his faith, that's exactly
42:30
right. When you are baptized, you are
42:32
made clean. When you partake in the
42:33
sacrament, you are made clean. When you go to the temple and
42:36
receive endowments, washing and annoying, you are pronounced
42:39
clean. All of this is because of the
42:42
blood of Jesus Christ. His faithfulness is what is what
42:46
makes us righteous. Is this what Moroni teaches God?
42:50
He has all these weaknesses or he has weakness?
42:52
And God says, I give unto people weakness that I can show.
42:56
Them strength in me, that's his faithfulness.
42:59
And isn't that amazing, this, this one word that our faith is
43:06
in Christ. I want to be more like him.
43:08
He he has perfect faith, so I want to be more like him.
43:13
My faith is in him. It's not independent of him.
43:19
So with that framework, look at verse 25.
43:21
But after that faith has come. We are no longer under the
43:25
schoolmaster. We're not under that law of
43:27
Moses. For ye are all the children of
43:29
God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you has have been
43:36
baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
43:42
Remember we've talked about in previous episodes where the word
43:45
and duo in the Greek gets translated into put on.
43:49
If you've been baptized into Christ, you have been in duo in
43:52
Christ. You've you've taken His garment
43:55
upon you. Now in our in our restoration
43:59
perspective with temple imagery here, this is phenomenal.
44:03
When you go to the temple of our God, he invites you in so He can
44:08
endow you. He can clothe you, help you put
44:11
on or sink into that sacred clothing, that sacred garment
44:16
you put on Christ. This, these pieces of fabric
44:21
that represent their physical, tactile reminders every day that
44:27
Jesus Christ is with us. And it's fascinating that he
44:34
offers you that kind of a protection.
44:38
And we'll talk more about that when we get to Ephesians if a
44:41
few weeks down the road. And then look at verse 28.
44:46
What does this all? How does it all culminate?
44:50
There is neither Jew nor Greek, There is neither bond nor free,
44:54
there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in
44:59
Christ Jesus. Are you noticing that The
45:05
significance of this doctrine is He uses the word one over and
45:10
over and over again throughout scriptures?
45:12
The Lord doesn't hear. Paul uses it.
45:16
He could have said you're all the same.
45:21
He didn't. Nor does nor does the Savior use
45:24
that word. He never says I and my father
45:27
are the are the same or you must be the same or you're not mine.
45:31
He never says that the word he always uses is 1.
45:36
You have to be unified, Zion one brought together.
45:41
Christ is this welding link in relationships, not just between
45:45
you and God, between us and each other.
45:49
It's this, this fullness of unity which means there's a lot
45:55
of variation within the body of Christ.
45:58
And he he talked about that in the Corinthian epistles.
46:01
And it's beautiful. You don't have to be the same.
46:05
But in our differences we have to find ways to become unified.
46:09
And isn't it beautiful how when the Savior speaks of the
46:12
Godhead, he never emphasizes the separateness of the Godhead?
46:18
It just kind of goes without saying when you see him standing
46:21
on the right hand of the Father, but he never emphasizes that.
46:24
He's always emphasizing the oneness that which brings them
46:28
together, not that which makes them separate and distinct.
46:33
And yet we live in a world that wants to constantly divide and
46:36
contend and set up borders and then fight, as opposed to
46:39
finding ways to renounce war and proclaim peace in our
46:44
relationships as well as in our in our international relations.
46:50
Imagine the Judaizers are this little group right here saying,
46:54
keep the 613 laws of Moses. Paul's saying let's just break
46:59
that wall down like that is too narrow.
47:02
It's keeping people from fully being with Christ and being
47:07
unified with the whole group. And I love how it concludes this
47:09
chapter, he says in verse 29. If ye be Christ's.
47:14
Then are ye Abraham seed and errors according to the promise?
47:17
He's completely bypassing a lot of Moses.
47:20
Remember we talked earlier that Abraham had lots of seed?
47:23
The most important seed was Jesus Christ.
47:26
OK, well, if you've all accepted Jesus Christ, you have been
47:29
baptized in his name. That makes you his seed.
47:32
OK, well, if you're the seed of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ
47:35
is the seed of Abraham, and Abraham was the friend of God
47:38
who had righteousness because he trusted in God.
47:41
We have that whole logical connection.
47:44
So Paul is trying to liberate people through the truth of all
47:49
these core promises that we begin way back in Genesis 12,
47:52
with Abraham down to Christ, and now to all of us.
47:57
So now he takes it from another angle.
47:59
Remember, this is a Declaration of Independence from the Law of
48:02
Moses. And he's he's using every he's.
48:04
It's almost like he's panicked. To convince them, please stop,
48:08
tap the brakes, don't go that direction.
48:11
So now he takes a different angle.
48:13
He says verse one of chapter 4. Now I say that the heir, as long
48:17
as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though
48:19
he be Lord of all. If you get a Prince born into a
48:22
Kingdom until he comes of age, he doesn't get to rule.
48:27
He is under the law of the the Kingdom, under the law of the
48:31
house, and he doesn't get to decide what to do and when to do
48:33
it and how to do it. But notice he says he's under
48:37
tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
48:41
Even so we when we were the children, were in bondage under
48:45
the elements of the world. We lived under the tutelage of
48:49
the Law of Moses for 1500 years. But when the fullness of the
48:53
time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made
48:57
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we
49:01
might receive the adoption of sons.
49:04
And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son
49:07
into your hearts, crying ABBA. Father, you're now of age,
49:13
you've you've graduated from the the primary school, and you can
49:20
move on. Now take this, this higher law
49:24
that is given to you. He goes on and says of verse 7,
49:27
Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son?
49:30
And if a son? An heir of God through Christ.
49:34
Now the word servant in English comes from the Greek word that
49:37
really could be translated as slave.
49:40
Let's compare this to the law of Moses versus the law of Jesus
49:44
Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ.
49:46
One creates a sense of slavery, 1, creates freedom and sonship
49:53
or daughtership, and we recognize here that.
49:55
Paul is speaking with a single gender but really referencing
49:59
everybody and and slavery and servitude is alive and well in
50:03
the 1st century Mediterranean world of these people.
50:07
Look of verse 9. But now after the you have known
50:10
God, or rather are known of God, how turn you again to the weak
50:13
and beggarly elements, where until you desire again to be in
50:17
bondage? Like the idols and fake worship
50:21
of the Greco Roman gods or whatever it might be.
50:23
So he's not only just addressing being bound down by the law of
50:26
Moses, but also being sucked into the Greco Roman Pagan
50:31
religions. So then he says, I am afraid of
50:34
you not meaning he's scared of them.
50:37
That the meaning here is I I'm, I'm afraid concerning your
50:41
welfare, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.
50:47
And then he he goes down through giving them more of this this
50:53
argument about Look at verse 20. I desire to be present with you
50:59
now and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you.
51:04
I before I was pretty soft. Now I want I want to come and I
51:09
want to preach it hard to you, lest you you go backsliding
51:13
here. And then he gives you this in
51:16
chapter 4. You get couplets, you get 2
51:20
mountains, you get two women, you get two sons.
51:25
And he's making all these comparisons.
51:27
So verse 22, Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond made and
51:33
the other by a free woman. You've got Hagar and Sarah.
51:37
But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh, that
51:41
he of the free woman was by promise.
51:44
And of course, he says in verse 24 he's using this allegorically
51:47
to teach this message. He goes on in verse 24, says,
51:51
for these are the two covenants, the one for the Mount Sinai,
51:54
which generous to bondage, which is Hagar.
51:57
For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, in answer to Jerusalem,
52:00
which now is and is in bondage with her children.
52:03
But Jerusalem which is above, is free, which is a mother of us
52:07
all. So Mount Sinai where the law of
52:09
Moses was given and Jerusalem was sits on this mountain, the
52:12
temple, the the presence of God and by extension the law of the
52:16
gospel given from the mound of Beatitudes, this upgrade to the
52:19
law. So now we get the the law of the
52:21
gospel in in the New Testament and he's saying now we brethren,
52:26
as Isaac was are the children of promise.
52:29
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
52:32
that was born after the Spirit. Even so, it is now.
52:35
That's what caused Abraham to cast Hagar and Ishmael out into
52:41
the wilderness. He's calling up this historical
52:45
story to say let's let's not go that direction.
52:50
Let's come to Jerusalem, to this, to this higher law which
52:54
brings us now to chapter 5. Stand fast therefore in the
52:58
Liberty. Keep in mind Declaration of
53:01
Independence is all about using your agency and having more
53:05
freedom and liberty. Stand there for in the liberty
53:08
where with Christ hath made us free.
53:11
The next time you feel constrained or bound down by the
53:14
commandments, perhaps you could turn to Galatians chapter 5 and
53:18
reread this and change our perspective in our heart to say,
53:22
wait a minute, these commandments are given not to
53:25
bind me, but to set me free, because I don't know how to act.
53:30
So the Lord in His grace has given me the commandments, and
53:33
now I show my love for him by keeping His commandments as he
53:36
has asked me to do, and as He's delivered them.
53:40
Behold, I I Paul's saying to you that if you be circumcised,
53:44
Christ shall profit you nothing. And then he goes down into verse
53:47
6. For in Jesus Christ neither
53:49
circumcision, circumcision availeth anything, nor
53:52
uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh by love.
53:56
He's basically saying, look, if you want to do it, go for it,
54:00
But it's not going to have any positive spiritual effect on
54:03
you. So now let's jump down to verse
54:05
13 for brother. And you have been called unto
54:07
liberty Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by
54:12
love serve one another for all the laws fulfilled in one word.
54:17
Even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
54:20
The the law he he lists just the second great commandment.
54:25
But we would say, love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbor as
54:28
thyself. And then in verse 16 says this I
54:31
say, then walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the
54:35
lust of the flesh. And then he gives all these ways
54:39
that our fallen nature create all these problems and no amount
54:43
of laws will stop humans from falling into these things.
54:48
But if you choose to be aligned to Jesus Christ, you are then
54:52
empowered by him to be able to overcome the natural state where
54:57
all these things that so easily fall into then no longer becomes
55:01
studly blocks and and look at the list gratefully.
55:05
This is a 2000 year old list and let's hope that these don't
55:09
apply to us today, right. Right.
55:13
Oh, if only that could be right, he says The works of the flesh
55:17
are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
55:22
idolatry, witchcraft. By the way, the Greek word for
55:26
witchcraft is pharmacaea. It's it's early drug use it
55:32
looks like, where where they would be able to hallucinate or
55:35
or have fake spiritual experiences, hatred, variance,
55:42
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,
55:46
murders, drunkenness, revelings and such like.
55:50
Wow. Paul's describing the 1st
55:55
century world of the Galatians. But that's the power of of
56:00
scripture is to have dualistic fulfillment of these prophecies.
56:03
To say, yeah, he could have been looking at the 21st century
56:08
world right there. So instead of ending chapter 5
56:12
on that note, notice those are the problems.
56:16
Those are the works of the flesh.
56:17
So what's the solution? But the fruit of the Spirit in
56:20
verse 22 is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
56:26
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
56:28
Against such there is no law. Have you ever been in a setting
56:32
where you've felt inadequate, spiritually speaking, where you
56:35
felt under qualified or outclassed, or felt like I'm
56:41
just not having spiritual experiences the way these people
56:44
are in fasten testimony meeting, or in this lesson or in these
56:47
social media posts. I must be broken spiritually.
56:52
I must not be celestial material.
56:56
Many people go to church and they don't feel uplifted.
57:00
They actually feel beat up because they hear other people
57:03
receiving revelation and having these amazing spiritual
57:06
experiences. And then they look at their own
57:08
life and their own family and think, yeah, this isn't me.
57:13
Could it be a problem of our expectations that sometimes
57:16
we're expecting the grand and glorious miraculous things
57:23
instead? What if we looked closely at
57:25
Galatians 522 through 23 and said, if I'm filling the spirit,
57:32
I don't have to see angels, I don't have to hear the heavenly
57:34
choir or see lights shining from heaven.
57:39
But if I can feel more love, if I can feel more joy, a little
57:44
more peace, a little more sense of long-suffering and gentleness
57:48
and goodness and faith and meekness and temperance, if I
57:51
can feel those, those are the fruits of the spirit that he
57:56
gives to us. And nowhere in that list did he
57:59
say the big, grand, miraculous. So instead of feeling like maybe
58:06
I'm not having spiritual experiences, we need to shift
58:08
our focus to what kind of spiritual experiences God at
58:12
giving us. Because if you're doing
58:15
everything you can, you're striving to keep the
58:17
commandments. You're moving forward in that
58:19
covenant connection with Christ. It's a guarantee.
58:21
God is giving you a portion of His spirit.
58:26
But we may be missing it. We might not be recognizing it
58:29
because we're looking beyond the mark.
58:31
We're looking for the grand and the glorious instead of the
58:34
fruits that he has promised to give us, which he lists here as
58:38
well as in any other place in all of scripture that I know of.
58:41
So now you get the conclusion between the works of the flesh
58:45
and the fruits of the spirit. Verse 24.
58:48
They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the
58:53
affections and lusts. We've gotten rid of all these
58:57
things over on this side because now we live in the Spirit.
59:03
Let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain
59:06
glory, provoking one another and envying one another.
59:11
What an amazing thing it would be if instead of going to church
59:14
and feeling beat up or downcast because you're comparing
59:18
yourself to other people, what if you went to church to instead
59:23
celebrate Christ's perfection and these gifts of the Holy
59:28
Ghost as you see them manifest in the lives of other people and
59:31
you're looking for those fruits in your own life as well.
59:35
So that we reduce the the contention or the dissension or
59:41
the pride looking up or the pride looking down comparisons.
59:45
But rather we focus on the unity in the body of Christ,
59:50
recognizing that these fruits of the spirit are going to be
59:52
manifested very differently across that congregation or
59:55
across that group or across that family and just expect it.
1:00:00
President Nelson has said expect miracles.
1:00:02
So we ask for them, we pray for them and we expect them.
1:00:05
Now watch as we as we shift another pendulum, the other
1:00:09
direction of of care and caution.
1:00:11
Look at verse one of chapter 6, brethren, if a man be overtaken
1:00:16
in a fault. Ye which are spiritual, restore
1:00:19
such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
1:00:22
lest thou also be tempted. It's this idea of when you go to
1:00:26
church, if you're not sitting there feeling like I'm not
1:00:28
having spiritual experiences, if you're saying, wow, I'm having
1:00:31
spiritual experiences. What he's saying is if somebody
1:00:35
else is being taken in a fault, either by the group or
1:00:39
individually, what is our covenant obligation as members
1:00:44
of the Church of Jesus Christ? It's to go and comfort them,
1:00:48
help restore them. Look at verse 2.
1:00:51
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of
1:00:55
Christ. You have sitting in your
1:00:57
congregation, people who are dealing with intense
1:01:01
difficulties, things like loss of jobs, loss of health, loss of
1:01:07
loved ones, loss of money, or all kinds loss of faith in some
1:01:14
cases. And I love this perspective of
1:01:16
helping to bear one another's burdens.
1:01:19
That's what happens in a society that is unified in one in
1:01:23
Christ. I just can't help but think
1:01:26
about when a Benedi converts one man, Alma the Elder, who then
1:01:32
goes out in the wilderness, brings people, and at the waters
1:01:35
of Mormon the covenant to be in a community of love.
1:01:40
And as we've talked about in the past, the word Mormon means love
1:01:44
endures forever. And where do they make this
1:01:46
covenant of love? At the waters of Mormon.
1:01:49
And you hear Paul saying the same thing.
1:01:51
We've been liberated by the love of Jesus Christ.
1:01:54
Let's stay in that liberty. And it turns out, if other
1:01:59
people are enslaved to pain and suffering, and you've
1:02:01
experienced the liberty of Jesus Christ, your obligation is to
1:02:05
share that liberty with others. So they can also be in that full
1:02:09
love. So this is so powerful.
1:02:11
Goes back to the two basic commandments.
1:02:13
Love God, love your neighbor. Everything else will take care
1:02:16
of itself. And let's conclude that that
1:02:19
portion with these two sides of the pendulum, that the two
1:02:24
boundary points of this Christlike community of Oneness.
1:02:29
And then he concludes by coming back to the middle, which is
1:02:33
you. What is your responsibility?
1:02:36
Not just to other people, but what is your responsible as a
1:02:39
disciple of Christ yourself? Look at what he says.
1:02:43
Verse 4. But let every man prove his own
1:02:45
work, And then shall he have rejoicing himself alone and not
1:02:48
in another. For every man shall bear his own
1:02:52
burden to the greatest degree possible.
1:02:55
Lift where you stand, President Uchdorf taught.
1:02:59
It's this idea of do whatever you can in your own domain to to
1:03:03
bear that burden so that other people don't have to.
1:03:07
But if there's a need where you're weak, great.
1:03:10
That's what the community's for. And you look around for others
1:03:13
who are feeling down and you help bear their burdens as well.
1:03:17
And then verse six, Let him that is taught in the Word
1:03:20
communicate unto him that teaches them all good things.
1:03:24
Be not deceived. God is not mocked for whatsoever
1:03:29
man. So with that shall he also reap.
1:03:31
Now we come full circle is he's winding down in his letter to
1:03:36
how he began Declaration of Independence from the Law of
1:03:40
Moses and these old traditions that were for 1500 years.
1:03:44
That was the instruction and he's calling them back to
1:03:49
Christ. God is not going to be mocked.
1:03:52
He has given you this higher law.
1:03:55
Don't backslide into the this these older, older commandments.
1:04:01
Yeah, don't imagine that God is going to bind you down to the
1:04:07
gospel 1.0. He has liberated you to do .0.
1:04:10
Stay there, and if you find yourself backsliding, the great
1:04:14
thing is we have repentance that welcomes us.
1:04:17
Back up to a higher level and look at his his powerful
1:04:23
injunction here in verse nine. Let us not be weary in well
1:04:28
doing, huh? That's interesting coming from
1:04:33
the pen of Paul of all people who he he has traveled thousands
1:04:40
and thousands of miles and been through every persecution you
1:04:45
can imagine, all for the sake of Jesus Christ, and now he with
1:04:52
some authenticity. At this point.
1:04:53
We don't know that at this stage of his of his Apostolic ministry
1:04:59
that he's already traveled all those thousands of miles.
1:05:03
We know he's been at least on one missionary journey of at
1:05:05
least 1500 miles, and most of that is on foot or by sea.
1:05:11
And that isn't easy. I think it's amazing that now
1:05:14
what you see, let us not be weary and welldoing.
1:05:17
Paul is going to take his own counsel into practice.
1:05:21
He's going to do that as well. For in due season we shall reap
1:05:26
if we faint not. And this is a guy, this is an
1:05:30
apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ who didn't ever give up.
1:05:33
He kept going and it's such a beautiful example.
1:05:38
Now he finishes off with a very fascinating autobiographical
1:05:45
note. Here.
1:05:46
Look at verse 11. Ye see how large a letter I have
1:05:51
written unto you with my known hand.
1:05:54
He's saying, Look, I'm not using a scribe with this letter, and
1:05:58
my handwriting is very large. That's why many people have
1:06:03
wondered, there's there's some some guesses going on that
1:06:07
perhaps the thorn in his side was he had terrible eyesight
1:06:12
that he was farsighted or terrible eyesight that he
1:06:15
couldn't see things up close. So he's saying, look I'm riding
1:06:20
with this large handwriting. This is me, it's it's like his
1:06:23
autograph. So now that he's he's signing
1:06:27
off, jump down to verse 14, he says.
1:06:29
But God forbid that I should glory saving the cross of our
1:06:34
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I
1:06:39
unto the world. He's saying the invitation from
1:06:42
the Savior is to take up your cross to bear the burden.
1:06:44
Well, I'm going to do it, and I'm not in it for earthly
1:06:48
reward. It doesn't matter to me what
1:06:51
Christ chooses to give to me. I'm not going to make an
1:06:55
offering on the altar of the Lord and stick around waiting
1:06:58
for a receipt like Elder Maxwell said.
1:07:00
I'm going to be just grateful that I can make this this
1:07:03
offering. And then he finishes in verse
1:07:05
1617, And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be
1:07:11
on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
1:07:15
From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my
1:07:19
body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
1:07:23
And then he finishes with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
1:07:26
be with your spirit. Amen.
1:07:30
Such a powerful witness. I love how he talks about the in
1:07:34
my body the marks of Lord Jesus Christ are born, that he has
1:07:38
suffered, he's struggled, he's been stoned.
1:07:40
Now, thankfully, most of us do not need to do that to
1:07:44
experience that, to prove that we are followers of Jesus
1:07:47
Christ. And yet ultimately, we take upon
1:07:50
ourselves the name of Jesus Christ.
1:07:53
And in the last day when he calls us up, what name will he
1:07:56
use? His own name?
1:07:58
And if we have known him, we will answer to that name and to
1:08:03
no other name. So as we conclude today, let us
1:08:07
all remember this Declaration of Independence from all things
1:08:13
that are old and embrace the new covenant that Christ offers us
1:08:19
every week when we go to Church, in particular the sacrament,
1:08:22
every time we open up the Scriptures and immerse in a
1:08:25
deep, serious study of them. Every time we go to God in
1:08:29
prayer, let us embrace those opportunities that will serve to
1:08:35
increase our faith in Christ, not independent of him.
1:08:41
Everything is in Christ. He lives and he loves, and we
1:08:47
leave that with you in the name of Jesus Christ.
1:08:50
Amen. Know that you're loved.
1:08:53
And spread light and goodness