But what of those who are faithful now, are believers now?  Is God still waiting to make up His mind about you?  No! In faith you already possess what God wants to give you:  Forgiveness, life, and salvation!  You have already been brought to the eternal life that will last forever, as today’s text says, “Since, then, you have [already] been raised with Christ …”

The fact is that our relationship with God is a “done deal.”  We are reconciled with God.  He does give us spiritual life that is not of this “present evil age,” this “dominion of darkness”
As a result, the arrival of Christ on the last day is not a moment of fear or wondering, but a moment of incredible joy, for, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

As Christians we do focus on this new life, yet when we think about it we want to do so much more than we do.  It is this “otherworldly” orientation that makes the Christian church such an oasis in this spiritually dark and barren and hostile world.  So that this may be true more and more, we fervently reflect upon “things above” so that we, those we love, and those whom we seek to know may be embraced by the grace of our Lord, and freed of their burdens.

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The self-appointed rules and observances offered a feeling of special holiness while the supposed insights and even visions encouraged a feeling of possessing the keys to a special knowledge not known to others.  But it was hollow and deceptive.  Any holiness we might feel falls far short of the holiness that Christ gives, and any spiritual powers are nothing compared to the Creator who has redeemed us and made us his own.

Yet today also many are attracted by the pop spirituality and grow indifferent to the real treasure that we have in Christ.  Because of a “consumer mentality” toward faith, many view religion like a popular song, something they go to for the feelings that it gives until something else comes along, and helpful for coping with the troubles of life.

But as Paul points out in his letter to the Colossians, we shouldn’t settle for so little, because God doesn’t just have some cool things to say to help us cope, “…He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves…” (Col 1:13).  God Himself speaks to us through His word and gives us His own comfort of forgiveness and salvation.  In speaking His law and gospel to others, we are already ruling with Him in His kingdom of light that lasts forever.  When we think about it, who would want to give that up for just a little pop spirituality?

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In this part of his letter to the Galatian churches Paul is doing at least two things.  First, he continues with the point we looked at last week that this gospel is something that is NOT of human origin, but of divine origin.  Because of that, as the preceding verses tell us, this gospel is proclaimed consistently by all of Christ’s apostles throughout the church, as all received it directly from Christ, without collaboration.  Nevertheless when they DID get together they were unanimous in their confession.

BUT also because this gospel is from Christ it is the standard that governs all practice in the church, and when the practice falls short of the gospel as Peter’s practice did, the divinely given gospel MUST be upheld even to the point of rebuking an apostle.  While the apostles did not err in their inspired preaching they were still sinners and might still err in their practice from time to time.

As with Peter, pastors tend to like people and be influenced by what people think of them.  In this case, Peter was afraid of what the Jews, the people with whom he had identified all his life, would think of them.  He therefore acted as though they were more pleasing to God because of their retention of Jewish practices.

That idea leads inevitably to salvation depending upon our obedience.  We must bind our pastors to preach and practice only according to the God-given gospel.

The second thing going on here is Paul’s restatement of the gospel before Peter, and in light of Peter’s hypocrisy.    This raises the question of how  THE SAVED-BY-GRACE CHRISTIAN DEALS WITH SIN.  This is what we will cover in this week's sermon.
 

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Though death is a harsh reminder of sin (1 Kings 17:18), Elijah’s raising of the widow’s son confirmed that the Word of the Lord is truth (1 Kings 17:24). It pointed forward to the death and resurrection of Christ. So also, when Jesus raised the widow’s son at Nain, He anticipated His own Resurrection. Just as “He came up and touched the bier” (Luke 7:14), so He takes our sin and death upon Himself in order to atone for our sin and destroy our death by His cross and Passion.

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Paul had brought them the good news of what Christ had done to save them from the eternal judgment that dooms sinners.  He pointed them to Christ atoning life, death and resurrection as the only hope for sinners rather than any obedience or sacrifice that we could offer.  Our hope of salvation doesn’t depend upon our having kept the law, but on Christ’s righteous life and his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. 

It all depends on Christ.  HE is the one who saved us from this evil; age of the world.
But now come some apparently well-meaning teachers with the message that salvation depended upon a proper obedience to the laws of Moses.  Undoubtedly they said many things that were true, but the thrust of their teaching was to make salvation conditional on something we would do.  In the final analysis, such faith is not faith in Christ but in self, and a return to the present evil age from which Jesus saved us.

As we go through these lessons we will learn how important it is to cling to the absolute truth of Scripture because even a “little” error can destroy faith and lead to damnation.  We will also learn that in every way our hope is in Christ and not in our obedience to the law.  In fact our obedience, imperfect though it may be, is a result of our being rescued from this present evil age and is a result of the same saving power that brings us to spiritual life and faith.

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