SERMON BY LINDA WEST:  26 June 2016
GALATIANS, CONTEXT AND ESSENCE
Reading: Galatians 5.1, 13-26

Aim: To give the context in which Paul wrote to the Galatians and to draw out the essence of his message.

Firstly, I would like to thank you all very sincerely for your support and prayers during my illnesses last year and my sabbatical.  And a big thank you from Roger and me to those who did extra duties to enable Roger and I to enjoy the sabbatical together.  It’s nice to be back.

Several weeks ago, Cassa asked us all to read through Paul’s letter to the Galatians in preparation for a series of sermons in line with the lectionary readings.  But, between family services, the special civic service for the Queen’s 90th birthday, and our Just 10 talks, we have not in fact looked at Galatians at 10 o’clock at all, although the 8 o’clockers and Wednesday congregations have been studying it.  

So I found myself faced with the double challenge of preaching my first sermon for nearly eight months and trying to discern what it was that the Lord wished us to take away from Galatians. 

You will be pleased to hear that I am not going to attempt to go through all six chapters in detail!  In fact, there is no need, as, whilst Paul gives a lot of detailed argument to make his case, the essence of his message to the Galatians is conveniently summed up in the passage that Myles read for us this morning.  

Galatia does not now exist, so where was it?  ‘The term Galatians originally designated a people of Celtic origin who migrated into central Asia Minor and settled in the region around Ancyra (modern Ankara); however, the Roman province of Galatia extended south toward the Mediterrranean’ (roughly northwest of Crete) ‘to include the cities of Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, where Paul and Barnabas … had founded churches’ (Acts 14-1.23). 

Some interpreters hold that the Letter was addressed to these ‘South Galatian’ churches during the period prior to the ‘apostolic council’ described in Acts 15.’ (NRSV study Bible).  This was the Council where the apostles had debated whether pagan converts to Christianity should have to be circumcised in line with Jewish law, and how much of the traditional Jewish law pagan converts to Christianity should be required to follow.  This would make Galatians one of Paul’s earliest letters written about 48-50 AD.  Others think it was written later – around the mid-50s AD.

Whenever it was written, Paul wrote it because the Galatians were being swayed by people who were preaching a different gospel to the one he had preached to them, whom he regarded as confusing them and wanting to pervert the gospel of Christ.  ‘You foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?’ Paul exclaims.  So how had they been bewitched?

It seems that Jewish Christians or teachers were trying to impose Jewish culture and traditions on top of the simple message of Christianity that ‘the Lord Jesus Christ  … gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of God our Father’ (Gal 1.3). They were trying to complicate this basic Christian message by requiring the pagan converts to obey the Jewish law, but Christ’s death and resurrection had freed Christians from the requirement to carry out all the detail of Jewish law and tradition.  

This freedom does not mean that we are free to do exactly what we like, irregardless of our faith.  It is not an excuse to indulge in all the ‘desires of the flesh’ which Paul lists in verses 19-21 of Chapter 5.  In fact Paul goes so far as to warn the Galatians, and us, that ‘those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God’.  In fact this list comprises all the evils which would have been regarded as out of order by the pagan religions of the time, and which most people in our own day would regard as unacceptable behaviour.  

But how are we to stop ourselves from falling into these evil ways?  Paul gives us the simple answer that we are to ‘live in the Spirit’.  As Christians we all have all been given the Holy Spirit to guide us through life.  Paul’s message is clear that what we need to do is to focus on our faith in Christ Jesus and rely on the Holy Spirit to help us make the right decisions in life.  We cannot do right by ourselves, but need Christ’s guidance through his Spirit.

Relying on the Holy Spirit does not mean that we can completely throw all the law out of the window.  We are still to obey the Ten Commandments.  As Paul says, echoing Christ’s own words in Matthew’s gospel, ‘the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’’ (Gal 5.14).  There is a saying of Rabbi Hillel which sums up Jewish law another way, but is a good interpretation of loving others ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour’ (NRSV study Bible).  

If we love our neighbours and live in the Spirit we will display the fruits of the Spirit which Paul lists in verses 22-23.  Most of these – love, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control - are outward manifestations of loving our neighbours, but  joy and inward peace are the special experiences we get from God as we live close to him.  We may not be conscious of them all the time, but when they come they are very special and help boost our faith.  

But let’s be realistic, very few of us are changed overnight and we all fail to meet the true standards of showing Christ’s love again and again.  So perhaps as a challenge for this week, we might consider whether there is anything in our life that falls into the category of the evils that Paul lists that we need the Spirit’s help to eradicate; and whether there is one of the fruits of the Spirit which perhaps we are lacking that we need His help to work on.  If this is the case we need to seek Christ’s help through his Spirit to eradicate the wrong and do the right.  And if we fail, we need not despair because Christ’s forgiveness is always there and he helps us to make a fresh start again and again.  

As I looked at the background to Galatians, I was struck by two other challenges that we might consider this week.  Paul had founded the churches in Galatia and they were therefore very special to him, they were like his children.  When he sees them going astray, like a loving parent he wants to encourage them to get back on the right track. Some of us may have experienced the joy of helping others discover or grow with Christ, and many of us will be godparents.  When these people God has used us to help know or grow with Christ start falling away or going off at a tangent, are we there to help them back to simple Christian faith and living and reliance on the Spirit?  Is there someone the Holy Spirit is guiding us to contact today to give some encouragement to?  And are we encouraging our godchildren to grow up with Christ and teaching them the values of loving God and others above ourselves?  

Equally, are we making sure that we live a Christian life of love and are not being led astray from the gospel by all the false teachings in the world around us?  We may not have people trying to make us obey all the strict Jewish laws, but are there other ‘extras’ that people try to impose to make us think we are not following Christ unless we do them?  Or are we in danger of following ‘Churchianity’ instead of Christianity?  Or of thinking that our way of doing Christianity is the only right one?  They are all traps we can fall into and the only way to be sure we keep out of them is to follow our simple faith and be led by the Holy Spirit.  

But how are we led by the Holy Spirit?  There may be times when we pray for guidance and we just know the answer.  But for the most part it is through the discipline of living a Christian life through Bible reading, prayer, fellowship and worship that we come to know what Christ wants and then the Spirit guides us.

So three challenges for the week:
To check that our own faith is firmly rooted in Christ, that we are following the guidance of the Holy Spirit;
To check that we are not allowing ourselves to be side-tracked by false teachings or other distractions and desires, but living our life loving our neighbours;
To encourage each other and consider whether we need to encourage a Christian friend or godchild.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord Jesus Christ

We thank you for Paul’s message to the Galatians.  We pray that you will help us not to be side-tracked from simply following you and relying on the Holy Spirit to guide us to live showing love to our neighbours and manifesting the fruits of the Spirit.  We pray for all those who you have given us the privilege of helping to know you better and pray that you will help us all fulfil our duties as godparents and members of the church by encouraging our young people.  

May the Holy Spirit give us guidance and strength.

Amen.

(11 minutes)

Bibliography
BIBLE: Meeks, Wayne A, ed (1993), The Harper Collins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version, London: Harper Collins Publishers.
Cole, R Alan (1989), Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – Galatians, Nottingham, Inter-Varsity Press