Galatians 5:25-6:5 – The Conceit-Slaying, Burden-Bearing Gospel (Part 2)

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached July 10, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio will be available here.

Last week, we looked at verses 25-26.  Paul encouraged us to “walk by the Spirit,” something we examined for several weeks in verses 16-24. Walking by the Spirit means that we will not become “conceited”—we will not live in the pursuit of our own glory. Such conceit expresses itself in various ways, such as “provoking” those we feel superior to (so that we can prove our own glory) or “envying” those we feel inferior to (since their perceived superiority exposes our lack of glory). 

Galatians 6:1-5 flows out of 5:26-26. In these verses, Paul gives tangible application to what he wrote in 5:25-26. Instead of being conceited and destroying community, this is how Christians ought to live. Faith ought to work itself out in love that restores and helps the community of the saints. It ought to do this because we stand alone before God and our righteousness is not found by comparing ourselves to one another.

Galatians 5:25-6:5 – The Conceit-Slaying, Community-Serving Gospel (Part 1)

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached July 3, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio will be available here.

Tomorrow is Independence Day. Americans love their independence. And yet, we have also recognized that independence has necessary limits. For example, the Great Seal of the United States of America bears the Latin dictum: “e pluribis unum,” which means “out of many, one.” It is, after all, the United (not, the Independent) States of America. We recognize that independence in one realm does not mean rule out responsibilities to others elsewhere.

We live in a world where, too often, people use their “freedom” as a license to use, abuse or neglect other people. Is someone poor? “He’s probably irresponsible.” Am I selling a product for an unreasonable rate? “If the buyer doesn’t do his homework, it’s not my fault!” Am I being less than honest to get or keep a job? We live in a “dog-eat-dog” world. Nature is red in tooth and claw. We must “look out for number one” (who is, of course, me). It is a tough world, and only the strong survive.

I imagine that most of us—regardless of whether we participate in such a mindset (and we all do)—recognize that this is wrong. This is why people drink fair-trade coffee, fight for child-labor laws and boycott companies that use sweat-shops. Perhaps, you mourn the fact that the interests of the majority too often trample on the rights of the minority. And, perhaps, you lament that there is no clear way to fix it.

Christianity offers us answers and solutions. Our passage this morning tells us why people mistreat other people in the world—even in the church. And, it tells us how this is fixed. 

This final chapter of Galatians, especially this passage, shows us that the Gospel promotes a right balance of individual accountability and corporate responsibility. We each will stand before God alone. This fact, seen through faith, frees us to love our neighbor, even at cost to ourselves.

What Does It Mean to "Walk By the Spirit"?

That's the question I tried to answer in a recent five-part sermon series on Galatians 5:16-24. Follow the links below to listen/read:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Galatians 5:16-24 – The Flesh-Defeating, Fruit-Producing Gospel (Part 5)

Sermon audio from June 26. (No manuscript.)

Galatians 5:16-24 – The Flesh-Defeating, Fruit-Producing Gospel (Part 4)

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached June 18, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio will be available here.

Like Father, Like Son

Today is Father’s Day, which means many of you will be remembering, calling, visiting or being visited by, eating with and celebrating your father. It is interesting to notice the similarities between fathers and sons when a member’s father or son visits the church.

Of course, you can observe this anywhere: it is not uncommon for a son to look like his father, sharing some of his physical features, and to act like his father, sharing his mannerisms, quirks, preferences, tastes, behaviors, etc. We say, “Like father, like son.”

And this is perfectly understandable. Sons look and act like their fathers because: (1) they share the nature of their biological father, having some of his genetic material, and (2) they imitate their behaviors, unconsciously picking up mannerisms and so forth or consciously imitating “Dad” because that’s how sons learn to be men. For these reasons, the life of a son will often contain clear reflections of the father. (Of course, with a father and a mother—and others who raise us—there are two sets of genes thrown in and a lot of other influences!)

So, it is fitting that Father’s Day falls on a Sunday in which we are discussing how we live as Christians. The relationship between human fathers and sons is analogous to our relationship with God and how we live.

Galatians 5:16-24 – The Flesh-Defeating, Fruit-Producing Gospel (Part 3)

No manuscript this week. Audio available here.

Galatians 5:16-24 – The Flesh-Defeating, Fruit-Producing Gospel (Part 2)

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached June 5, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio will be available here.

This sermon is really the second of three sermons on this passage. Last Sunday (part 1), we gave the most attention to verses 16-18. And, as we examined this passage, we considered three main points:

First: There is a battle raging in the believer between the flesh and the Spirit. 

Second: However, we should be optimistic: since the war is won, the battles may be too. 

Third: The battle is won when we “walk by the Spirit.”

Last week, we began to overview what it means to “walk by the Spirit” (or, to be “led by the Spirit”).  I attempted to outline what it means to “walk by the Spirit” in four parts:

1) Identify whether a desire is of the flesh or of the Spirit.

2) Destroy those desires that are contrary to the Gospel.

3) Be satisfied with (savor) who you are and what you have in Christ.

4) Live out the desires of the Spirit by faith, in the power of the Spirit.

This morning, we’ll look at half of point one—identifying whether a desire is of the flesh. We’ll come back next week to finish point one (identifying whether a desire is of the Spirit) and, Lord willing, points 2-4.

Galatians 5:16-24 – The Flesh-Defeating, Fruit-Producing Gospel (Part 1)

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached May 29, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Audio available here.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a United States federal holiday commemorating men and women who died while in military service to the United States. (I encourage to you to, and hope you will, visit a cemetery and Memorial Day service to honor those who have died to provide and protect the freedoms we enjoy.)

Memorial Day is a reminder to a nation’s citizens that freedom is neither cheap nor easy—either to provide or to maintain. Neither the provision nor the protection of freedom are without war, battle, conflict and struggle. Just as blood had to be shed to set us free, we are all too aware that battles must be continuously fought against those who would destroy our freedom.

Memorial Day then stands as a parable and an illustration of the Christian life. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul has been reminding his readers of their freedom and how it came to them. It was through the God-man, Jesus the King, who lived a perfect life, died under God’s curse for our sins, and rose from the dead that we who trust in him have been set free from the tyranny of the law and its curse, from the burden of our sins, from the dominion of Satan and from the bonds of death. Our freedom came through the death of Christ and is ours by faith alone.

But, this does not mean that the Christian life is without conflict or that the protection of those freedoms is easy. There are enemies of the cross who, in the name of Christ but empowered by Satan, want believers to abandon their freedom and submit again to yokes of slavery. There is the pull of the world that wants us to forsake the freedom of sonship for the bondage of the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world. And, there is our old flesh, always seeking an opportunity to see its desires gratified.

The Christian is called to stand firm against all of these. In the previous verses, Paul has warned us against letting the flesh co-opt freedom. Rather, the freedom that comes through faith in Christ should issue in love that serves others. He encouraged this by pointing out the consequences of each course. Allowing the flesh to high-jack freedom results in the destruction of the church. Their use of their words to bite and devour other believers will result in them being consumed by one another. However, letting freedom through faith spill over into self-sacrificing love is the fulfillment of the law.

Galatians 5:13-15 - The Law-Fulfilling Gospel

Sermon audio is up (sorry, no manuscript): Galatians 5:13-15 - The Law-Fulfilling Gospel

Galatians 5:13-15 – The Slave-Making Gospel

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached May 8, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio available here. (Suggested resource: Galatians, Thomas Schreiner)

What do you think of when you hear the word freedom? We live in a nation that values freedom, though few of its citizens understands what freedom is. Too often freedom is thought of as the freedom to do whatever we want, to fulfill any desire we may have. And, if you read the newspaper or watch the news, you will find multiple examples of how wrong understandings of freedom become destructive to individuals and to a people as a whole.

The freedom of the Christian is at the heart of what it means to be saved. And yet, it is a tricky subject. Martin Luther, in his treatise “The Freedom of a Christian,” wrote, “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none, a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.”

We will see this morning that, as believers, in Christ, we have been set free. But we must note: We are set free to become something, not anything.

Tom Schreiner on Why the Cross is a Stumbling Block

"If righteousness comes by the law, then the goodness of human beings is celebrated and promoted. The cross, however, rejects any and all human attempts to be right with God. Righteousness is found only in what Christ Jesus has done for sinners. The message of the cross is a scandal or a stumbling block because it is an affront to human pride. Human beings take umbrage in being told that even their best works are stained with evil, that everything we do is insufficient to be right with God, and that the only basis for right-standing with God is the cross of Jesus Christ."

~ Tom Schreiner, Galatians

Ray Ortland: Justification v. Self-Justification

Ray Ortland's talk from The Gospel Coalition conference is now available on-line -- "Justification versus Self-Justification."

Free Chapter: Doug Moo on Justification in Galatians

Crossway has made available Doug Moo’s essay, “Justification in Galatians” (PDF) from
Understanding the Times: New Testament Studies in the 21st Century: Essays in Honor of D. A. Carson on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, ed. Köstenberger and Yarbrough.

(You may need to download the file first, and then open from your computer.)

(HT:JT)

Galatians 5:1-6 - The Live-Free-or-Die Gospel

Audio for my sermon on Galatians 5:1-6, "The Live-Free-or-Die Gospel," is now available here. (No manuscript. Sorry!)

Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery!

"Most often Galatians is viewed as the great document of justification by faith. What Christians all too often fail to realize is that in reality it is a document that sets out a Christ-centered lifestyle -- one that stands in opposition to both nomism and libertinism. Sadly, though applauding justification by faith, Christians frequently renounce their freedom in Christ by espousing either nomism or libertinism, and sometimes (like the Galatians) both."

~ Richard Longenecker, Galatians, 235.

Galatians 4:21-5:1 - The Law's Gospel

Audio from Sunday's sermon now available (sorry, no manuscript!): 

Galatians 4:21-5:1 - The Law's Gospel

Galatians 4:12-20 – The Friend-Making Gospel

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached March 27, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio will be available here. (Suggested resource: Galatians, Thomas Schreiner)

Anxious Labor
This past week, I spent a lot of time talking and praying and reading Scripture with a dying sister-in-Christ. I arrived in her room Saturday night a few minutes after she went to be with Jesus.

It is an odd feeling, as a pastor, when a church member dies. On the one hand, there is great sadness at losing someone that you loved. On the other hand, there is a sense of joy and even relief. Joy to know that this saint has entered the presence of the Lord, to be with him forever. And relief to know that they finished the course, that they kept the faith, trusting in Jesus until the end.

The labor of a pastor is not to grow a church numerically or to make people happy or to live up to everyone’s expectations. A pastor’s calling and labor is to bring people to Jesus and to help them stay there.

And so, a pastor does not rejoice only at baptisms, when a new Christian proclaims their repentance and faith to the world. A pastor also rejoices at death—not in the death, but to say, “Praise the Lord! They made it! The Lord was faithful to keep them until the end.”

That is something that the Apostle Paul was anxious about. In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul finished his list of hardships and suffering with this: “apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”

Last week’s passage ended with Paul’s expression of his anxiety, “I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.” Paul worked hard in his ministry to the Galatians, as with every church he planted, to bring the Gospel to them and see them come to faith in Jesus Christ. But, if they leave the Gospel of grace to go “under the law” for their standing before God, as the Galatians had begun to do, then his labor has been in vain; it has not accomplished what Paul hoped it would accomplish.
   
A Labor of Love
Paul was afraid for them because he loved them. He is genuinely afraid for the state of his friends. Their flirtation with a false gospel has brought a concerning change to their relationship and attitude toward Paul.     A shared faith in the true Gospel causes people to love each other and creates a deep bond. False gospels tear that apart.

Paul has been arguing for several chapters to defend and explain the true Gospel. His argument has been theological, scriptural, exegetical, and made from redemptive history. It has been a thick, sometimes hard to follow, and required much thought and careful attention.

But here, Paul’s argument is not complicated or hard to follow. It is an argument from friendship. Paul is pleading with them to look at what their relationship was like before and what has happened to it now—hoping that such an argument will call them to their senses.

As Martin Luther wrote in his 1519 commentary, “These words breathe Paul’s own tears.” And those tears cannot be dried, Paul’s anxiety cannot be calmed, until he knows that they are resting safe in the Gospel of Grace.

As we see Paul’s argument, I want to present you with five encouragements for faithful ministry.

P!nk, Aerosmith and the Slave-Freeing Gospel

Galatians 4:8-11 – The Slave-Freeing Gospel
© Eric M Schumacher
Preached March 20, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids

Audio will be available here. (Suggested resource: Galatians, Thomas Schreiner)

This past week, as I was taking a walk, I was scanning through radio channels on my iPod to get a sample of what questions the artists of our culture are asking and what answers they are giving.

I stopped upon a local pop radio station just as the song “Perfect” by the artist P!nk was beginning to play. Aside from being well sung and having a great tune, the lyrics were captivating. (If you are going to look up its lyrics or video, I would caution you to find the edited, “radio” version.) She sings:

Made a wrong turn / Once or twice
Dug my way out / Blood and fire
Bad decisions / That’s alright
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss “no way it’s all good”
It didn’t slow me down
Mistaken / Always second guessing
Underestimated
Look, I’m still around…

In the video, it becomes clear she’s singing to a woman who has had a rough up-bringing. Eventually, we see her depressed, anorexic, and cutting herself, a bloody scene in which she’s carved the word “perfect” into her arm.

P!nk is obviously onto something in our culture. (Songs don’t become #1 without resonating with their audience!) And she’s on to the fact that there is a problem—young people filled with angst and hatred, starving themselves to fit a false standard of beauty and cutting themselves with razor blades as an outlet to cope with their strong feelings of pain or anger or sorrow.

Obviously, there is something very wrong going here. But, what is the cause of this and what is the solution? In P!nk’s words, the problem in her life, offered as encouragement to her audience, is that she has been “mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood;” she’s been criticized, “mistaken,” second guessed, and “underestimated.”

The problem is not within you or me. The problem is that the outside world—whether friends or parents or teachers or lovers—simply does not understand us rightly, and that we have listened to them.

And so, for a solution, she begs her listeners:

Pretty, pretty please
Don’t you ever, ever feel
Like your less than
Less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like you’re nothing
You are perfect to me

And she continues:

You’re so mean when you talk about yourself
You are wrong
Change the voices in your head
Make them like you instead

The solution is that we need to change our perceptions of ourselves. We need to see that nothing is wrong with us. We’re perfect, nothing less. We simply need to believe that.

When the song was completed and I was thinking about its message, I hit scan on my iPod and stopped on what must have been an “oldies” station, because it was playing a song released when I was in high school. The song, “Livin’ on the Edge” by Aerosmith, proclaims:

There's somethin' wrong with the world today
I don't know what it is
Something's wrong with our eyes
We're seeing things in a different way
And God knows it ain't His
It sure ain't no surprise

There's somethin' wrong with the world today
The light bulb's gettin' dim
There's meltdown in the sky
If you can judge a wise man
By the color of his skin
Then mister you're a better man that I

They understand that there is something wrong with the world today, but what exactly what is wrong is unknown. We’re seeing things wrong. We’re not seeing things like God sees things. We’re sinking into increasing darkness, on the edge of meltdown. We’re treating people in wrong ways.

The cause of all this is unknown. But the severity of the situation is not. The chorus continues:

We're livin' on the edge / You can't help yourself from fallin'
Livin' on the edge / You can't help yourself at all

We’re “livin’ on the edge.” We are heading for destruction.    And, even worse, we’re enslaved and incapable of helping ourselves as we fall. Nothing can change us.

So, both artists see a problem. Who is right? Is it merely that we don’t know ourselves rightly and need to change our self-image? Or, are we enslaved to an unknown cause and condition, unable to help ourselves.

This morning, Paul will answer that question in Galatians 4:8-11. Here Paul is striving to persuade his Galatian readers to stand firm in the Gospel. And, he does so by laying out a doctrine of conversion.

As we move through this passage, I want to point out and apply four truths about our problem and the solution from these four verses.

The Adopting Gospel - Galatians 4:1-7

My sermon yesterday contained some practical thoughts on adoption. (If you can't listen to all the sermon, please consider listening to minutes 40-45:25.)

Here's the whole sermon: Galatians 4:1-7 - The Adopting Gospel

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Suggested resources:

 

Galatians

• Galatians, Thomas Schreiner 

Adoption

• Reclaiming Adoption: Missional Living through the Rediscovery of Abba Father
• Adopted for Life
• Though I Was Born an Orphan

Lady Gaga, Lennon, Lady Libertas and the Gospel

Galatians 3:28-29 – The Unifying Gospel

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached March 6, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio will be available here.

It is amazing the Gospel hopes that come out of New York City.

This past Monday, Lady Gaga (the NYC native pop singer-songwriter) released the video to her recent single “Born This Way.” The video begins with an extended narration, spoken over a somewhat bizarre birth scene.

It begins, “This is the Manifesto of Mother Monster.” (Mother Monster is Lady Gaga’s name for herself. Her fans are her “Little Monsters.”) The manifesto continues by telling of a birth, not finite but infinite, something “eternal.” And this “infinite” and “eternal” birth “began the beginning of the new race. A race within the race of humanity. A race which bears no prejudice, no judgment, but boundless freedom.”

Now, much more could be said about Lady Gaga and her song, “Born This Way.” But what is interesting is that what she (and her fans) are longing for and working for is a new way to be human, a new race. She realizes that humanity needs to be “born again.” And, this “regeneration” must come from something “eternal” and “infinite.”

Thirty years ago in 1971, New York City resident John Lennon released his album “Imagine,” the title track of which encourages the listener:

Imagine no possessions / I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger / A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people / Sharing all the world

Lennon is longing for and looking for a world where man lives, no longer in opposition and hatred, but as one big family, sharing all the world, living life in peace.

You may say he’s a dreamer, but he’s not the only one. In fact, that dream has been at the center of New York City for over a century. The Big Apple is, as a city, a small picture of what America is supposed to be—a melting pot of people from all walks of life, from all ethnicities, living together.

In her waters stands a great statue, the title of which is “Liberty Enlightens the World.” The robed, female figure represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. With glory as a halo around her head, she stands and proclaims good news to the world. In her right hand, she bears a torch offering herself as a light to the nations. In her left arm is the tablet of her law, inscribed with the date she declared her freedom. Inscribed in her base is her gospel-call:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

In other words, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

And to prove her promise, at her feet lies a broken chain, conquered, limp and useless, like the body of a serpent whose head has been crushed.

There is a reason that millions of immigrants from across the globe passed through her shadow at Ellis Island. They came seeking what she promised—a place where oppression was ended, where freedom was given. They came to a place where they could be transferred from the dominion of their old country into citizenship in a land of promise, where they could have a new life, a new start, a new birth.