February 17, 2025: Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter to the Galatians 4:8-11
Blessing and Peace be with you on this Monday morning.
We had a really wonderful worship service yesterday, zippy hymn tempos, as well as a hymn of the day, "When the Poor Ones" which held before us on the day when our Gospel reading was Luke 6:17 ff, Luke's beatitudes, which on a light reading feel like Matthew 5, but in reality, are very different. Take some time today, and read both versions of Jesus' words to those gathered around Him, whether on Matthew's mountain side, or on Luke's plain, and you will find Luke's concern for those who are less fortunate in the culture of the day, sick, hungry, poor, and warnings to those who are rich, filled with constant adequate food, and good health. In our reading from Paul's letter today, we see how Paul feels about his own responsibility for the Gospel Truth, and his warnings about sliding backward to the "no gods" who they had been trying to satisfy with few if any results from those "no gods". Before I go further today, let us remember in our prayers, Jeff D who lost a friend unexpectedly who was a rock band member who Jeff knew. His friend died in his mid-60s. Also pray for Pastor Ron and Becky as they leave the bitter cold of Minnesota and begin their travel journey to Tucson. Continue your prayers for Lisa K whose sister Connie died in California this past week after a battle with pneumonia. Pray too for Tony's family on his death last Sunday morning. Please pray for our daughter Melissa who is battling bronchitis and flu, and our son Jeremiah who has been ill with the flu as well. Please keep Javier and Mackenzie, and their baby Oakley. They have been very busy with work and parenting over the past three weeks. Pray for them to be able to get back to church so that we can get baby Oakley Baptized. Please continue to pray for cancer victims – myself, Maddison's father, Jeff H, and Kandice K – that we are all able to maintain our quality of life as we deal with the ramifications of this disease.
As Paul writes his letter to the Galatian church, he sees that these newest Christians are struggling with the new freedom, which is theirs in Jesus Christ, the burdens of their sins are now carried to the cross by Jesus, and in His Resurrection, Jesus brings that wonderful hope and assurance of the new life which all believers will have in heaven. The difficulty is that these new Christians are caught in that freedom having to make decisions about how to live in this new relationship of Grace and Love, when in the past they have been caught in the demands of the pantheon of "no gods", and how much it was easier to just do what was written and required in order to attain the "promise of that no god" for fertility of crops and partners, for wealth, for power, for all the parts of their lives. In those relationships there was a kind of certainty that looked pretty good after the freedom and faith which were in their lives now through Jesus Christ, where they were faced with the freedom of choice in this new faith relationship. When we look back in the Bible, we see the Hebrews who have been brought into freedom from their slavery by the actions of God through Moses. Their food supply as they wander is uncertain. It was often abundant, if not boring, and then sometimes completely inadequate. At times, the Hebrews yearned for the certainty of the food that was provided by the slave masters. Like the "no god" worshipers in the Galatians church, the Hebrews found the certainty of requirements in Egypt for worshiping Egyptian gods attractive once again. They could see a false "no god" in the golden calf, created in an image they brought to the statue they had imagined out of their minds. All of this brought great concern to Paul that he had somehow failed to convey the truth of the Christ of God to these former "no god" worshipers. All the laws of the Jews, the certainty of following them, the certainty of circumcision's role in this relationship with God, But Paul must convince them that Christ has come to complete the law for all people, all of whom have sin, and fall short of being right with the One True God. If they tried to enter into this new relationship with God through the laws of the Jews, they were, in reality, making the Jewish Law their "no god". It is not so important that we rest on knowing God, because our knowledge of God is feeble, sometimes weak, and at other times somewhat stronger. What is most important is that through Christ, Christ's Spirit's gift of faith that we are known by God! Paul stands strongly on Christ, knowing that the new Christians must worship the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the rest of this most important relationship of Grace and Love will naturally follow. Wanting to keep the Jewish body of laws, to honor the festivals, would be a return to believing that a person needed all of this "in between action of God", action God took until the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ, who was the fulfillment of God's Grace for the World. To go back to the body of law and the demand of honoring Jewish holidays, was as much as saying that you choose to ignore the consummate gift of the Savior, Messiah, God's New Covenant for all of His children.
Thanks for being with me today. Tomorrow we will move on to Galatians 4:12-20.
With love in Christ, Pastor Kim
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