Real Religion - Galatians 5

Written by Ed Allen
Sunday, 28 September 2008 09:00

Galatians

Sermon Notes

• What does real connection with God look like?
• And if we are getting it right, what does real religion look like?

Galatians 5:13-26

¹³You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁴The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁵If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

In the ancient Near East, religion was about

• Doing stuff to make myself more spiritual.
• Doing stuff to make myself a better person.

But the Apostle Paul said:

• Being rightly connected to God means exercising faith in what God has done through Jesus Christ.
• Freedom from legal bondage ... freedom from having our relationship with God depend on what we can do.

The Two Extremes of Religion

1. Legal Bondage

• "Getting everything right"
• "Making yourself into a better person."

This can't be our religion if we want to be Christ followers.

2. Moral Licence

• "I can do whatever I want."
• "It doesn't matter, because God forgives everything anyway."

Both of these extremes lead to death.

The Middle Way

• This is the way of believing what God has done through Jesus Christ.
• This is the way of serving one another in love.
• This is the way of right relationships!
• Turns out, real religion is all about right relationships.

If we really want to find out where our priorities are, we'll look to where our treasure is. Where do we invest our time? Where do we invest our energy? Where do we invest our money?

This fall, sign up for a Life Group at Gateway as we explore together what it means for each of us! You don't have time NOT to do this.