Pastor’s Bible Reading Schedule: Psalm 106-107; Galatians 5
Devotional Thought:
The Judaizers were not much different from what we see in our Christian culture today and sad to say even in our good fundamental Baptist churches. They were sounding the alarm because they would loose control of these they had worked so hard to get under control. Their battle cry against Paul was, “”He replaces Law with license. Why, if we do away with our rules and abandon our high standards, the churches will fall apart.” Paul was not suggesting they do away with their high standards or rules, but he was addressing their wrong motivation for having both. They were teaching that these rules and high standards were making them more acceptable to God and Paul was reminding them that their best righteousness was nothing more than filthy rags. There is nothing that makes me acceptable to God except the perfect blood of His Son that was imputed to me and applied to my account at my salvation. Paul tells these Galatians, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (vs. 1) It is Christ that makes me acceptable to God and He set me free from the penalty and power of sin. The law declared me guilty because I had broken the law and I was incapable of keeping the law. “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.” (vs. 3) Good luck with that! If our goal is to become more acceptable to God by keeping the law, adding rules and high standards, we will become a very frustrated and hypercritical person. If being acceptable to God comes by way of my high standards and rules, than I will begin to look around and see if the others around me are as acceptable to God as I am. “Not of works lest any man should boast” is what Paul told the Ephesian church. Paul never preached license, but rather liberty. I am not on the hook to keep the law any longer in order to go to heaven. Christ kept the law and fulfilled the law in my place, and gave to me His perfect righteousness. I stand in the presence of God as a perfect, sinless person. Paul tells these Galatians that they have been called unto liberty not license. “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” (vs. 13) Our liberty in Christ does not give me license to feed my flesh. Picking apart some other Christians weaknesses feeds my flesh as I play the compare game. Paul reminds these Christians “love covereth a multitude of sins.” Therefore, if we want to keep the law, practice loving one another and stop biting and devouring each other. We must start yielding control over to the Holy Spirit that produces love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance; whereas our flesh only bring envy, strife, and division. (1 Corinthians 3) Our motivation for high standards and rules must be rooted in our personal love for Christ. It is recognition of the weakness of my flesh and the desire to mortify it. Therefore my standards are not to be pushed off on everyone else, but rather a yielding to the Holy Spirit’s control in my own personal life. We must stop playing the role of the Holy Spirit in other people’s lives, and work rather to love them and demonstrate appreciation for them. Paul closes this chapter with these tremendous verses, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Personal Requests:
• Lord, please help me to stand fast in the liberty that Christ gave to me at my salvation. Help me to be honest with my weaknesses and humble in my strengths. Help me to remember I am what I am before God because of Christ.
• Lord, thank you for my salvation. Thank you for robing me in your righteousness and bearing the penalty of my sin. Thank you for showing me love so I can have liberty to demonstrate it to others.
• Lord, please help me to yield to the control of the Holy Spirit every day of my life. Help me to mortify my flesh so that I may walk in the Spirit.