The beauty of the Gospel: "the Grace that keeps us in check."
Galatians 5:13 “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead use your freedom to serve one another in love.”
This chapter in Galatians is great stuff; it is straight gospel. Paul holds in tension 1.) the fact that through Jesus we are freed from the law and that anyone that tries to keep the law for righteousness sake is in fact turning against God’s grace with 2.) we are not freed to live a life satisfying our sinful nature but through Christ have nailed those lusts/passions to the cross. It’s the idea that we are saved from living a life controlled by our sinful nature and now we are free to live a life controlled by the Holy Spirit. Paul suggests that to claim the grace of God in Jesus Christ but to continue living in the sinful nature is a lie. For Paul, the authentic claim of grace through Jesus Christ always results in a new life controlled by the Spirit; it is the empowerment to love neighbor and this can only happen through the saving work of Jesus Christ. The loving neighbor is the natural result of this grace, it isn’t the grace itself that saves us; that would be works righteousness, which is also a lie….but because of the saving grace of Jesus Christ we now live in a new Kingdom and the natural response is to now love others the way Jesus has loved us.
It is texts like Galatians 5 that remind me that the scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit. I am reminded of this because the scriptures hold in tension my temptation to skew or manipulate the gospel. In this verse I am reminded that it is not the good works that I do that saves me and if I am counting on my good works to save me than I am discounting the grace of God and falling into the way of the law. I am also reminded that this grace is not my ticket to keep living in my sinful nature which is also to discount the grace of God. I am reminded today that I am saved through grace and this grace invites me into a brand new world and empowers me to see the world through the eyes of Christ. I am reminded that this grace gives me the freedom to no longer be enslaved to my sinful nature. I am reminded that this grace empowers me to nail my sinful nature to the cross and to begin living a life serving others the way Christ served me. This service is not to earn God’s love or keep God’s grace; this service is the natural response; the empowering response of the gift I have received through the saving love of Jesus Christ.
Gracious God, thank you for this morning and reminding me of the tension between a works righteousness and cheap grace. Continue to show me how each of these strands of belief are complete heresy against your gospel. Hold my life in this tension and give me the grace to celebrate the forgiveness of sins I have received through your saving grace. Thank you for freeing me from my sinful nature and inviting me into a life where I get to love and serve the way you loved me. May my love flow out from my life as a natural response to the freedom you’ve given me; may my love not be contingent upon those who receive it in the same way yours was not contingent upon my response. Thank you for your saving grace that has freed me to live the way of your kingdom which is the best possible way to live. Amen!
Through Grace I am saved and freed to love as Jesus loved me!
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