Sometimes being wrong looks better than being right...

Last week in worship we laid the foundation for JUSTIFICATION. The idea that it is the gracious act of God by which God declares a sinner righteous.

If you remember the emphasis is on the act of declaration, on the judge declaring something just or unjust, righteous or unrighteous and that this act is a point in time, not a process.

This week starting in Galatians 3:1-5 we see three important lessons illustrated:

1) Every error is the distortion of some truth
2) The cross is the central truth of Christianity
3) The highest truths are spiritually discerned

The Galatian believers had fallen into a trap; they were as Paul stated "hypnotized" with their adherence to this false gospel narrative which the Judaizers had brought up and convinced them of.

Paul was absolutely correct in calling them "foolish," they had allowed men to come in and change the gospel message from one of Christ alone to one of Christ plus all this other stuff. We must guard or hearts and our minds such that we too do not fall into the same deceptive trap of Jesus plus.

The church in Galatia fell into this trap because they wanted to be looked upon favorably by the men who had come up from Jerusalem. They wanted to in a sense for others to look at them and declare just how holy or just how righteous they appeared to be. But that feeling of self-justification and in seeking that peer-justification is what caused them such trouble in the first place. Our justification is found in Christ alone. Not in our peers, not in our Facebook feeds, not in ourselves, but in Christ alone.

This week we have the joy of baptizing a young man who has come to the understanding that his faith and his salvation is found in Jesus alone. Not Jesus plus good works, not Jesus plus good behavior, not Jesus plus following Jewish laws or traditions. His faith is grounded in Christ Alone.Where is your faith grounded?

See you Sunday!

You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified? I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh? Did you suffer so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing? So then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? 

Galatians 3:1-5