So much of our confusion, our “depression” and our condemnation (which makes us feel worthless) comes from forgetting the basic things of the Word of God. The good news is that we are not alone in this forgetfulness. Obviously the Galatians and the Ephesians forgot these same things.
Look at Galatians with me:
Paul has just finished reminding the Galatians that he is not after their approval, but God’s alone. He is rebuking them for turning away from the good news so quickly regarding Christ. Look at these few verses in Galatians 1:6-7, “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.”
Then he begins his discourse in Galatians 2 that hits the specifics of the things they have forgotten and the new things that they are embracing. The cool thing is that he first brags on the leadership who didn’t demand that Titus follow the “law” – and then he fronts out the “so-called” Christians that brought in the new teaching. Trying to take away the freedom that Christ brought – or should I say bought. Read this with me:
Galatians 2:4-5, “Even that question came up only because of some so-called Christians there—false ones, really —who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations. 5 But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.”
He then goes on to say how he and Peter and Barnabas had a strong disagreement because of the way that they had been led astray by other teachers who emphasized the law over God’s grace. I will just type out the next few verses where Paul gets very specific about what made him so angry with all of this teaching.
Galatians 2:16-21, “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” 17 But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! 18 Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. 19 For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. ] It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”
Did you see that? If keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was NO NEED for Christ to DIE!!! Woah. Think on that. Really stop and ponder what Paul is saying there.
Now, look at Galatians 3:1-5, “Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4 Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it? 5 I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.”
Okay, so hop over with me to Ephesians if you want to see that this was not an uncommon struggle. I will not quote all of Ephesians to you, though the Word of God is really the only thing that will impart life to you… But, let me just quote this one thing.
Ephesians 2:8-10, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”.
You can’t take credit for this… Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done. We are HIS MASTERPIECE! Do you think that He messed up in calling you? If you can’t mess up His calling, and His work, then why do you think any of the rest of it depends on you? It would be as if we hung the Mona Lisa in our living room and then we tried to take some credit for how beautiful the work is (or how flawed, whatever your opinion of Ms. Mona). That is ridiculous. It was never our work. We simply display it for others to see. We are way too self-focused and the enemy knows this and uses it against us. This is how he gets to us. We take our eyes off of the author and perfector of our faith and we put them on ourselves, and our works. This is always a route to failure and depression. Because we are the Israelites. We are hopelessly lost without help from our Jesus. That is why He came! So, we need to remember that God did not call us to walk this thing out on our own, in our own power or strength, but in Him – and in Christ alone.
Finally, I am pondering 1 Corinthians 12 and our gifts. It says here that he created us so we can do the good things HE PLANNED for us long ago. And, that leads directly into the giftings that He has given us as His children. We are each to operate as the part of the body that He made us to be. We are not to get caught up in other people’s callings, because He has clearly made each one of us with a different calling, but the same Spirit. So, though, I will not explore that throroughly, it is something that I cannot help but mention. Because if we are called to be the hands and we are trying to be the feet, we are walking upside down! That doesn’t bring glory to our God, but attention to ourselves – not to mention that we will not be doing any of that in His power, but all of our own, so we will only look rather silly, not to mention feel completely incompetent to do what He is calling us to do.
Alright, I know that was random, but it does give a good image. :)
Look at Galatians with me:
Paul has just finished reminding the Galatians that he is not after their approval, but God’s alone. He is rebuking them for turning away from the good news so quickly regarding Christ. Look at these few verses in Galatians 1:6-7, “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.”
Then he begins his discourse in Galatians 2 that hits the specifics of the things they have forgotten and the new things that they are embracing. The cool thing is that he first brags on the leadership who didn’t demand that Titus follow the “law” – and then he fronts out the “so-called” Christians that brought in the new teaching. Trying to take away the freedom that Christ brought – or should I say bought. Read this with me:
Galatians 2:4-5, “Even that question came up only because of some so-called Christians there—false ones, really —who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations. 5 But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.”
He then goes on to say how he and Peter and Barnabas had a strong disagreement because of the way that they had been led astray by other teachers who emphasized the law over God’s grace. I will just type out the next few verses where Paul gets very specific about what made him so angry with all of this teaching.
Galatians 2:16-21, “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” 17 But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! 18 Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. 19 For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. ] It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”
Did you see that? If keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was NO NEED for Christ to DIE!!! Woah. Think on that. Really stop and ponder what Paul is saying there.
Now, look at Galatians 3:1-5, “Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4 Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it? 5 I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.”
Okay, so hop over with me to Ephesians if you want to see that this was not an uncommon struggle. I will not quote all of Ephesians to you, though the Word of God is really the only thing that will impart life to you… But, let me just quote this one thing.
Ephesians 2:8-10, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”.
You can’t take credit for this… Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done. We are HIS MASTERPIECE! Do you think that He messed up in calling you? If you can’t mess up His calling, and His work, then why do you think any of the rest of it depends on you? It would be as if we hung the Mona Lisa in our living room and then we tried to take some credit for how beautiful the work is (or how flawed, whatever your opinion of Ms. Mona). That is ridiculous. It was never our work. We simply display it for others to see. We are way too self-focused and the enemy knows this and uses it against us. This is how he gets to us. We take our eyes off of the author and perfector of our faith and we put them on ourselves, and our works. This is always a route to failure and depression. Because we are the Israelites. We are hopelessly lost without help from our Jesus. That is why He came! So, we need to remember that God did not call us to walk this thing out on our own, in our own power or strength, but in Him – and in Christ alone.
Finally, I am pondering 1 Corinthians 12 and our gifts. It says here that he created us so we can do the good things HE PLANNED for us long ago. And, that leads directly into the giftings that He has given us as His children. We are each to operate as the part of the body that He made us to be. We are not to get caught up in other people’s callings, because He has clearly made each one of us with a different calling, but the same Spirit. So, though, I will not explore that throroughly, it is something that I cannot help but mention. Because if we are called to be the hands and we are trying to be the feet, we are walking upside down! That doesn’t bring glory to our God, but attention to ourselves – not to mention that we will not be doing any of that in His power, but all of our own, so we will only look rather silly, not to mention feel completely incompetent to do what He is calling us to do.
Alright, I know that was random, but it does give a good image. :)
