Freedom to Dream.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Good morning, you may have a seat. [0:01] Thanks so much for being here. [0:03] My name’s Steve. [0:04] I am one of the pastors here at the Village. [0:07] Happy Daytona 500 Day to all the men in the crowd. [0:11] I understand there’s another holiday that’s not quite

[0:13] as important going on today, but hopefully the wives will [0:18] help us husbands remember that sometime around 6 PM, [0:21] because before then we’ll be busy. [0:24] And then when Victory Lane comes on at 8, I’ll be busy again. [0:27] And then at 9, when Wind Tunnel with Dave DesPane comes on, [0:29] I’ll probably be busy then again.

[0:31] So sometime between 6 and 7, I’m going to wish my wife [0:34] a Happy Valentine’s Day. [0:35] I’m just kidding. [0:36] No, I’m far better than that. [0:38] Ask my wife. [0:40] I’m going to cut it off about 6, and then she can talk to me.

[0:44] But no, Happy Valentine’s Day to all of the wives, [0:48] and mothers, and daughters, and everybody here. [0:50] It’s so great to be back. [0:52] We had to take two weeks off really unexpectedly. [0:56] And unfortunately, it was pretty brutal every Sunday morning, [0:59] waking up and not being able to come here.

[1:02] The county makes those decisions for us. [1:04] I don’t necessarily make that decision. [1:06] But a couple of weeks ago, I mean, [1:07] it was like a blizzard out there, [1:08] and I don’t think anybody was going to leave their house. [1:10] It’s been some really weird weather here

[1:13] in the Richmond area. [1:14] If you grew up here like I did, this is like unknown. [1:17] And when I was like 13, it’s like a dream come true. [1:22] But when you’re 29, you see things a little differently. [1:24] And it’s like, this is just annoying. [1:28] And I was on Facebook, some of the high school students

[1:30] that I know, even the high schoolers are sick of the snow. [1:33] That’s when you know it’s been snowing too much, [1:36] when the people want to go to school. [1:38] It’s like, I am sick of being at home. [1:40] I just want to get back to school. [1:42] It’s just some odd things are going on in the weather

[1:44] right now. [1:45] But we’re back, and we’re going to be in the book of Galatians. [1:48] If you have a Bible, go ahead and go to Galatians chapter 4. [1:51] We’re going to continue on. [1:53] For those of you that haven’t been with us, [1:56] or for those of you that have not been with us

[1:58] in a couple of weeks because of the weather, [2:00] let me just give you a run through of where we are right now. [2:03] We’re going through the entire book of Galatians [2:05] under the theme of losing my religion. [2:09] Because if it’s one thing, our culture is it’s very religious. [2:14] Everyone that is alive has a religion.

[2:17] We may not see it that way, but all of us have a religion. [2:21] We have a practice that we go through life. [2:24] We have a world view by which we see everything else. [2:28] And we worship things. [2:30] All of us. [2:32] The question just is, what is your religion,

[2:34] and what is it that you are worshiping? [2:37] For some of us, it’s a practice, a set of standards of morality. [2:42] For others of us, it could be materialism. [2:45] For others of us, it could be something [2:47] other than the God of the Scriptures [2:50] and the God of Christianity.

[2:51] It could be another God that you worship. [2:53] But we’re all worshiping something all the time, [2:57] even down to where it can be so specific that we worship our families. [3:01] And our families are the greatest things in our lives. [3:04] And we will do anything for our family. [3:07] And family comes before the God of the universe.

[3:11] Well, then that is your religion. [3:15] The message that I’m going to bring to you today is difficult. [3:18] I’m not going to paint a pretty picture for you. [3:21] Paul is not very politically correct, I guess you could say, [3:28] or humanly correct and kind in what he has to say to the Galatian church. [3:34] It’s kind in the fact that if you live this,

[3:37] it will be the best life you could possibly live. [3:39] And it will save your life. [3:41] Unkind in the fact that most of us struggle with this. [3:45] Most of us really do. [3:46] And I point the finger right here. [3:49] As I’ve been going through this week, as I’ve been in this scripture,

[3:52] this has just been a slap in the face of the life that I live. [3:56] And what we’re going to be talking about today is the freedom to dream. [4:00] Throughout the book of Galatians, Paul has gone in. [4:03] And what you really have is you have religion versus the gospel.

[4:08] There are a certain set of people that would come into our lives [4:12] and tell us that we must follow a certain set of standards [4:16] and that those moral standards will save us. [4:20] And that if we can be moral enough and we can be good enough, [4:23] then our lives will be saved and we can earn enough credit with God [4:27] to be forgiven of all of the downfalls and all of the problems

[4:31] and all of the baggage and all of the sin that we have. [4:34] And on the other side of that is the gospel, [4:37] which says that you will never be good enough, [4:40] you can never be obedient enough because you are sinful. [4:43] And rather than condemning us all, God instead took those sins [4:48] and laid them onto His Son and punished His Son Jesus Christ on our account.

[4:55] Jesus substituted for us. [4:57] He took all of our sins and saved us completely [5:01] to where it is Jesus alone that salvation can be found. [5:05] And we cannot save ourselves, only God can save us. [5:10] And there would be some that say that these two guidelines, [5:14] these two different standards, they can be compatible.

[5:19] But what the message that Paul is bringing us throughout the entire book of Galatians is [5:23] that they are completely incompatible. [5:26] You cannot mix religion with the gospel and have anything pure. [5:30] When you mix religion with the gospel, you have something completely impure [5:35] because you have you in charge of the direction that your life will take rather than God.

[5:43] What I mean by that is Jesus plus anything is complete lie.

[5:49] If anything other than Jesus is needed for your redemption, then it is not the gospel. [5:56] The gospel is the message of Jesus and Jesus alone. [6:00] And that should be freeing to us. [6:03] I hope that is a freeing message to you this morning. [6:06] But for some of us, that’s a confusing message because some of us think that we are good enough, [6:11] that we think we are moral enough.

[6:13] And to say Jesus alone will bring us salvation kind of goes to our morality and says, [6:20] but if we say that, then people may think that sin is OK. [6:26] Well, actually, the gospel is the very thing that shows us that sin is not OK. [6:32] Sin is so against God that God had to die to redeem us from that sin. [6:40] See, when we try to mix religion with the gospel, [6:43] what we actually have is we have a set of standards throughout our life that say that God is not enough.

[6:51] He needs our help.

[6:54] But the problem is that when we are in charge of our religion, [6:57] we will steer it in the wrong direction, even ever so slightly to where it becomes all about us. [7:06] And not about God. [7:09] God is not worshiped through religion. [7:10] God is only worshiped through the gospel.

[7:15] The fact of the matter is, though, that in our lives we have this. [7:18] We have a direction that we are going in. [7:21] And my question for you today is, what direction is your life going in? [7:25] Because a couple of weeks ago, I guess it was like over a month ago at this point, [7:30] we started this little mini-series called Freedom. [7:32] And we had freedom to live, that the gospel comes in, and it gives us a brand new life.

[7:38] It transforms us completely. [7:40] And then we had freedom to belong, where Paul shows us that the gospel makes it so that we belong in the body of Christ. [7:48] God actually takes us and puts us into the body of Christ, which is the church, [7:52] and we belong with other people. [7:54] We weren’t meant to go through this life alone. [7:57] We were meant to go through this life with other people helping us along the way to live the gospel out.

[8:03] So if God gives us a new life, and he gives us a new community, [8:07] wouldn’t it be logical to think the next step would be that he gives us a new way to live life?

[8:16] Because if your life doesn’t then change, do you really have a new life? [8:22] Do you really have a new community? [8:26] If we go through life as usual, what has changed? [8:31] Where is the newness? [8:33] If you just continue down the same path?

[8:37] And that’s what Paul is dealing with here in the book of Galatians chapter 4. [8:41] I’m going to ask you to join me in verse 8 really quick.

[8:49] Formally, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9:00] But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, [9:06] how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world [9:13] whose slaves you want to be once more? [9:17] You observe days and months and seasons and years. [9:23] I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

[9:32] Paul is really laying it right at him. [9:36] Notice the language that he uses in this text. [9:38] He says, formerly you were slaves. [9:43] This is all past tense. [9:45] You are not slaves any longer.

[9:49] But now you know God, or rather you have become known by God. [9:55] In other words, God has come into your life, he has redeemed you from the life of slavery [10:01] that you did live under sin, and he has taken you, and now he knows you. [10:08] In the Biblical sense, that term, no, does not mean he just knows who you are. [10:14] What that means is he is intimate with you. [10:17] He has intimate knowledge of you, and he is in relationship with you.

[10:22] Much like back in the book of Genesis when Adam and Eve were created, [10:26] and the scripture says, and Adam knew Eve.

[10:31] This is a marriage type of knowledge. [10:35] This is an intimate relationship. [10:38] And Paul is telling them, you don’t simply know God. [10:42] You have done nothing to go towards him. [10:45] He says, rather you have been known by God. [10:51] God has done all of the redeeming here.

[10:56] But then notice where he goes with this.

[11:01] Notice that he says that they have turned back. [11:08] They have gone backwards. [11:09] In other words, they were redeemed. [11:12] They had this knowledge of God, they began this relationship with God. [11:16] And Paul is saying, these things are absolutely true of you. [11:20] And then he looks at them and says, how could it possibly be true

[11:23] that you would have this knowledge, that you would taste the gospel, [11:26] that you would know God personally, and then you would turn back [11:31] to your former lifestyle and forsake this new life that God would give you, [11:36] forsake this new community that God would give you, [11:39] and rather than have this relationship with God, [11:42] you would instead choose the things of this world,

[11:46] the path of religion that is set before you by those who would bring in lies. [11:53] Because we know that in the book of Galatians, after Paul leaves Galatia, [11:57] after he reaches this entire section of the world with the gospel, [12:02] plants churches for the gospel, he leaves Galatia, [12:06] and after he leaves, some other people come in, [12:09] and these people are called, of course, as we’ve gone over this,

[12:11] the Judaizers, or the circumcision party. [12:14] And these are people that came in and said, you know, [12:16] oh, Paul gave you the gospel, that’s fantastic. [12:19] Paul gave you half of the story. [12:22] The other half is that you also need to become a Jew, [12:25] you need to become circumcised, and you need to follow the Old Testament law,

[12:30] so Jesus plus the Old Testament law is what’s going to give you salvation.

[12:35] And Paul is asking them, how could you possibly know Jesus, [12:40] and think that that’s even close to the truth?

[12:46] He tells them, he says, you observe days and months and seasons and years, [12:52] I am afraid I have labored over you in vain. [12:57] When he says you observe days and months and seasons, [13:00] what he’s saying is he’s making reference to some Levitical laws [13:04] that Israel has practiced, but has taken from things where God [13:09] simply wanted them to celebrate their relationship with God,

[13:13] and celebrate the greatness of God, and they have basically said, [13:17] well, this day is more holy than this day, [13:20] so on this day you must be righteous, and more righteous than on other days. [13:25] And if you don’t choose righteousness on this day, well then,

[13:31] I feel sorry for you on the other days when you don’t need to observe righteousness. [13:35] It’s kind of like the, and I’m totally going to just tear down [13:37] a sacred cow here for some of you, it’s kind of like the thought [13:41] that there’s something special about Sunday, [13:44] and we can’t go to restaurants on Sundays, we can’t work on Sundays, [13:47] we can’t mow our grass on Sunday, I’m not even going to turn my oven on on Sunday,

[13:51] I shouldn’t make any cookies on Sunday, I wear a dress on Sunday, [13:55] or you wear a suit on Sunday, every other day of the week isn’t special, [13:58] but there’s something about that Sunday morning, [14:00] and if you put that suit on, or you put that dress on, [14:03] if you choose to not eat the whole day, well then, you’re holy. [14:08] I think Paul might be talking a little bit about that mentality.

[14:14] And don’t get mad at me, get mad at Paul, [14:19] or better yet, the Holy Spirit who wrote this.

[14:24] Paul is attacking a mentality here where they have been totally freed, [14:30] they have tasted freedom. [14:32] Paul comes in, and they respond joyfully, [14:36] they say, yes, salvation belongs to God through His Son Jesus Christ, [14:41] yes, we are free from our sin, yes, the gospel is true, [14:45] and then as soon as Paul leaves, they say,

[14:52] but what if we’re not totally free?

[14:56] And they return back to the old standard, [14:59] they return back to the old life.

[15:04] Religion is not freedom.

[15:09] That is Paul’s point.

[15:12] Religion will never give you the freedom that you desire. [15:16] They are turning back to man-made religion in order to control their own lives, [15:21] and be in charge of their own redemption. [15:24] Do you realize that if you look at your life and you say, [15:32] because I don’t do this, or because I do this, then God will accept me. [15:40] But if I do this and don’t do this, God will not accept me.

[15:50] This may have been the message that many of you have heard your whole lives. [15:55] Do you realize that if that is how you view salvation, [15:59] if you think that stepping foot in this church has gained you anything with God, [16:06] that is not the gospel.

[16:10] If the only reason you open your Bible and read it is so that God will accept you, [16:18] that is not the gospel. [16:21] If you pray and say, I prayed this morning, God accepts me. [16:27] That is not the gospel.

[16:32] Jesus plus anything is not the gospel.

[16:40] That is so hard for us to accept.

[16:45] Because then we start asking ourselves, what place does prayer have? [16:48] So I don’t need to pray? That’s good, I don’t like that anyway. [16:52] I don’t have to read my Bible? I don’t like doing that anyway.

[16:56] I like the message the village is bringing me today. [16:59] You are not going to like it in a minute, trust me. [17:01] That is why you have to pay attention to the whole message. [17:03] If you only got that, I’m sorry. Pay attention the rest of the way too. [17:08] Place to these things. If religion cannot free me, then where does my freedom come from? [17:14] What do you mean, Jesus plus anything is not the gospel?

[17:17] What is Paul accusing them of turning back to? [17:20] Well, it is pretty obvious that Paul is not accusing them of listening to the gospel [17:25] and then running out into sexual immorality. [17:27] Or running out into some type of immorality that we would describe as totally immoral. [17:34] That is not what Paul is accusing them of here.

[17:38] But see, those are our standards.

[17:42] If you claim Jesus and then you run out and you are caught in sin. [17:47] In anything that you would consider sin. [17:48] Because in the church today, we have got so many sins and we have invented so many new ones. [17:53] I mean, you could be going to Starbucks on Thursday to some people and it is like, [17:59] doesn’t he know Christians come here on Friday?

[18:03] What is wrong with him? He is a day early.

[18:10] You have probably been to those churches like I have. [18:13] It is like, man, I am so confused by these Christian aerobics that I have to work. [18:18] I don’t even know what faith is. [18:19] And then at the end of the day, you are so miserable by the religion that the church or someone [18:26] has brought into your life that you are like, I am out. [18:29] I don’t want any part of this.

[18:32] It is making me miserable. [18:35] You want to know why? [18:36] Because you have religion. [18:38] You don’t have Jesus in that. [18:40] You have religion.

[18:44] Religion imprisons you. [18:46] That is what Paul is talking about here. [18:48] Paul is saying, you have been freed from the imprisonment that the law was supposed to bring you. [18:53] If you were here with us weeks and weeks ago, remember the law was meant to show us our sin and be a prison. [19:02] It was to condemn us because if it weren’t for the law, we wouldn’t know what sin was. [19:08] So what Paul is saying is, you have been freed by Jesus.

[19:11] How then are you going to return and say that your freedom is through the law? [19:16] If by definition, the law is a prison, how can you say it is freedom if it is not? [19:23] It is like putting on a pair of handcuffs and saying, my hands are free.

[19:29] They are not. They are handcuffs.

[19:33] It is like getting married and then saying you are single. [19:35] No, you are not. You are married.

[19:42] The law was meant to condemn. [19:44] The law was meant to imprison. [19:47] But you see, if we stayed right there, we would all be like, that is good to know. [19:51] I really have never been tempted to become a Jew.

[19:55] So I am happy with that. [19:57] Christianity good? Judaism not so good? [20:00] So let’s not convert to Judaism. Let’s follow Christianity. [20:04] See, I am smart enough to realize that in this culture, our big temptation is not to run down to the Jewish synagogue and convert. [20:12] I don’t know if there is anyone in here that is like, you know, I was really considering that. [20:18] That whole Saturday walking and not driving thing, that was really tempting for me.

[20:23] Thanks for clearing that up, Steve. [20:25] See, I know that is not your struggle. [20:27] In Midlothian Virginia, our temptation is not to go convert to Judaism. [20:31] What our temptation is, is to pervert the gospel. [20:34] Because that is what is really at stake here. [20:37] Is the gospel.

[20:39] Paul is not condemning Judaism. [20:42] Paul is condemning anything other than Jesus. [20:48] Is a lie.

[20:50] So what are our struggles?

[20:54] Well, let me see if this sounds similar to you. [20:57] Alright.

[21:00] You come to know that salvation is through Jesus Christ. [21:05] You say, hell is a very unpleasant place, right? [21:09] It is. [21:11] I mean, I have never heard anybody use hell in positive light. [21:15] I have never had anyone look at me and say, Steve, go to hell. [21:18] And I am like, thank you.

[21:20] Thank you so much. That means we are friends. [21:23] No, I have never heard anybody say that. [21:26] You know, every knowledge, every culture, when we talk about hell, it is a bad thing.

[21:34] And we don’t want to go there. [21:36] Well, come to Jesus. [21:38] Know hell. Heaven. [21:40] Okay. I like heaven. [21:43] Because, you know, go to heaven, that has got a good ring to it. [21:47] So you come to Jesus.

[21:50] Alright.

[21:52] Know hell.

[21:55] Okay. [21:57] That is good. [21:59] Fantastic. [22:01] Then you just go about your life.

[22:05] Go about life as usual. [22:07] If anybody asks you, how do you know you are going to go to heaven, buddy? [22:10] Jesus.

[22:12] Good answer. [22:14] You are in. [22:15] Alright. [22:16] No more questions. [22:18] Just go about life as usual. [22:20] Go about life as usual.

[22:23] Whenever it comes up, you give the golden answer, which is Jesus.

[22:31] But your life with Jesus is no different than your life without Jesus.

[22:44] But then at some point, somebody is going to look at you and say, well, how do I know you know Jesus?

[22:53] Glad you asked. [22:55] I teach Sunday school. [22:57] Oh, that is a good question. [22:58] Pretty good.

[23:01] What do you teach at Sunday school? [23:03] Children. [23:04] That is really, pow, he teaches kids. [23:08] Man, that is the thriving life that Jesus promised. [23:12] You know, when Jesus said, I came to give you life and give it more abundantly, he was talking about the eight-year-old Sunday school class you teach. [23:19] Because there is nothing more abundant than a room full of screaming kids.

[23:23] It is fantastic. [23:24] That is what I do on my vacations. [23:26] I go and I just sit in rooms full of kids. [23:29] No. [23:30] Some of you aren’t laughing because you don’t know me. [23:32] That is hell.

[23:36] I would run through drywall to get out of that room. [23:40] It is not pleasant to me at all. [23:43] But then some people would be like, well, that is good. [23:46] So to know Jesus is to teach Sunday school. [23:48] Well, no, I do more than that. [23:51] I go to church.

[23:53] I sit in the service. [23:55] Oh, wow. [23:56] So to know Jesus is to teach Sunday school and go to the service. [23:59] Well, I do more than that. [24:01] I give. [24:02] I give money to the church.

[24:04] So to know Jesus is to teach Sunday school, go to a service, and give to the church. [24:10] Is there anything else?

[24:13] That is what I do.

[24:17] Okay. [24:19] Therein lies discipleship. [24:21] In the modern church.

[24:26] That is not the gospel.

[24:29] Why is that not the gospel? [24:31] Because life in Jesus is not about religious practice. [24:35] See what I just told you? [24:36] That is religious practice.

[24:39] That is religious practice. [24:41] You know what that is? [24:42] That is you giving just enough of yourself over to the gospel. [24:47] So that you can have some sense of security. [24:51] So that if anybody asks you where Jesus is in your life, you will have something to tell them. [24:57] So you have just exchanged your life in sin for a life of measuring up to a certain standard.

[25:05] That is religion, folks. [25:08] That is not the freeing message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. [25:13] Jesus did not die on the cross so that you can teach Sunday school and be an usher. [25:20] Okay, now don’t get too offended. [25:22] Because I have nothing against Sunday school. [25:23] I know some people, like my mom, she is not in here, but if my mom was in here, she would be like,

[25:27] I just hate Sunday school. [25:29] Now when I was in it, that was probably true. [25:33] But I have nothing against it. [25:34] I don’t have anything against eight year olds. [25:36] What I have against is you trying to measure up to some standard. [25:40] So that you can be comfortable about your salvation.

[25:44] Because what you are doing here is saying Jesus plus Sunday school is my redemption. [25:49] Jesus plus my Bible study is my redemption.

[25:56] What you are doing is you are setting up a religious practice. [25:58] And Paul’s question to you this morning is, [26:01] how can you possibly exchange the life changing message of Jesus Christ [26:07] for some religious standard that you set up and that you are in charge of?

[26:18] The question is, where in this book do you find your standard for what it means to be a follower of Jesus?

[26:31] And that is where our troubles start. [26:34] That is where the pain of life really hits home.

[26:40] If salvation leads to lifeless religious practice, then it is worthless. [26:46] Notice what Paul said in verse 11. [26:48] Paul looks at them in verse 11 and he says, [26:51] I am afraid that I may have labored over you in vain. [26:58] You know what that means? [26:59] Paul looks at this whole church and he says,

[27:02] I started this church. [27:03] It is my blood, sweat and tears. [27:08] I labored with you. [27:09] I came and brought this message. [27:12] And I think I wasted my time.

[27:16] How could Paul possibly say that? [27:18] Paul is preaching the gospel and he is saying he wasted his time. [27:21] What Paul is saying is, if he gave them the life changing message of the gospel, [27:25] and they took it and perverted it into something else, [27:28] Paul is saying, I wish I had never been there in the first place. [27:30] Because if you pervert the gospel, you are worse off than you were before you even had the gospel.

[27:39] The book of Hebrews tells us that if you taste of the gospel, [27:41] the beautiful gift of the gospel, and then you fall away from it, [27:45] then it is worse than if you had ever heard it before.

[27:55] You cannot be redeemed by the gospel. [28:00] You cannot be freed by the gospel and then not live for the gospel. [28:07] Do you understand the life that Paul is laying out here? [28:10] Paul is not laying out a cheap grace by which you will be saved from going to hell, [28:19] but then it does not impact your life whatsoever. [28:23] That is not in the gospel.

[28:24] Like what I said, in the book of John, Jesus clearly says, [28:27] I have come to give you life and I have come to give it more abundantly. [28:31] Constantly, throughout the New Testament, there are these passages where people say, [28:36] the gospel comes so that you can do this. [28:38] God has saved you so that you can live this life. [28:41] At the end of Romans 5, Paul is actually faced with the viewpoint

[28:46] that we need to sin a lot in this life so that we can make grace look even better. [28:53] Paul says, should we continue in sin so that grace can grow even bigger? [28:57] In Romans 6.1, he says, God forbid that even be a reality. [29:02] Don’t you know that those of you who were saved in Christ Jesus have died to sin? [29:07] Like in His crucifixion, those of you that have died in your sin have been buried with Him in a burial like His. [29:14] And then those of you that have died to your sins have been risen with Him in a resurrected life.

[29:22] Remember Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ, yet I live. [29:28] But not I, but Christ who lives in me. [29:31] In the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me [29:35] and gave Himself for me. [29:38] The gospel rebuilds life.

[29:45] The gospel is something that comes into your life and destructs the life that you were living. [29:54] It then begins to rebuild life the way that God meant it to be. [29:59] Notice in verse 12, brothers, I entreat you, or I ask of you greatly. [30:09] Become as I am, for I also have become as you are. [30:13] What Paul is saying is, I am free by the gospel, just like you are free by the gospel. [30:21] In other words, this is not something that you need to continue to strive for.

[30:25] Just believe it. Just trust in it. [30:30] Because I am free and you don’t realize that you are too. [30:34] That’s what Paul means when he says, just as I am, you are, just as you are, I am. [30:41] Paul is saying, I am equal to you. [30:44] The greatest lie of religion that’s going on right now, [30:47] one of the greatest that I think is going on in the church,

[30:49] is that there’s something more special and God has more significance [30:53] for those of us that stand up here and preach, [30:57] than for those of you who sit out there in the seats.

[31:01] There is not some holy totem pole out there, [31:04] where pastors and preachers are on the top, [31:07] and the rest of the people are down below.

[31:12] If there was a totem pole, I promise you, Paul would be on top.

[31:17] And Paul looks at them and says, just as I am, you are, just as you are, I am. [31:22] Why? Jesus is the standard. [31:28] Jesus. Not me. [31:30] There is no greater calling on my life than there is on your life.

[31:36] I am no closer to God than you can be.

[31:43] You don’t need me to get to God. [31:46] You need Jesus.

[31:49] But what the gospel does is the gospel comes in and it destructs your life, [31:54] and it tears it down to the basis of the foundation of it. [31:57] And then he goes on and says, but now that you have come to know God, [32:00] excuse me, I’m in the wrong verse, verse 13, [32:03] you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first. [32:07] And though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me,

[32:11] but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. [32:14] What then has become of the blessing you felt? [32:17] For I testified to you that if possible you would have gouged out your eyes for me, [32:22] and given them to me. [32:24] Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? [32:27] Paul tells them, I never even meant to stop in Galatia.

[32:30] It was by providence of God. I got sick, I had to stop. [32:35] So I stopped my travels and I went to Galatia. [32:38] And I didn’t just sit there and convalesce and get better. [32:41] While I was in Galatia, while I couldn’t travel, [32:43] I told you all about the gospel and I planted a church.

[32:48] This is the life that Paul is showing people. [32:51] He doesn’t just tell them this to reminisce and say, remember when? [32:56] No, Paul is telling them, look at what my life is built on. [33:00] This is the thing that your life must be built on. [33:03] I was coming through and I had to stop. [33:06] But when I stopped in my life, I did not stop furthering the gospel.

[33:13] When you come to Christ, and He begins to rebuild your life [33:18] through the life changing message of His death, burial and resurrection, [33:23] which takes your sins away. [33:26] He gives you His life and He begins to rebuild it. [33:30] Not set on practices of religion.

[33:36] Because you might be thinking right now, [33:38] but Steve, you are just telling me a standard of life just like religion would tell me a standard of life. [33:43] Here is the difference.

[33:47] Paul doesn’t further the gospel because he has to, to be saved. [33:53] Paul furthers the gospel because it is the thing that brings him the most absolute joy. [33:59] And it is the thing that gives him a life worth living. [34:04] Paul’s dreams, Paul’s goals, Paul’s passions, Paul’s desires for this life were all defined by the gospel. [34:16] Why? If it didn’t earn him any credibility with God, what was the point? [34:23] That is not freedom.

[34:27] Yes it is. [34:28] Freedom is not the ability to live life however you feel like it. [34:37] That is not freedom.

[34:39] Because in that type of freedom you can end up in real bondage and you will.

[34:44] That is condemning. [34:47] Freedom is the ability to live life the way you were designed to live life.

[34:56] That is what Paul is experiencing throughout the New Testament. [35:01] He is experiencing the ability to live life to the fullest. [35:07] The abundant life that God promises through his son Jesus Christ is not about earthly comfort. [35:15] See most of our religion is just enough Jesus to get me to heaven and the rest are prayers for my comfort. [35:22] See like I said at the very beginning we are all worshipping something. [35:28] The question is what are we worshipping?

[35:29] Because we all have some type of religion. [35:32] And I would say that in this community, the one we live in right now, the greatest thing that we worship is comfort. [35:40] And security. [35:42] And money.

[35:44] If I were to ask you what is the dream for your life? [35:47] I think most of us in this community if you just kind of branched out within a five mile radius is that I want to have a good job, a good wife, a good career, a nice house, nice cars, and relaxing weekends.

[36:05] And you may be thinking that sounds pretty good. [36:07] Yeah it does. [36:08] Sounds great. [36:10] That is the American dream right?

[36:14] The American dream is not freedom.

[36:19] And I think that has been proven time and time again. [36:22] Because when you have the American dream and you lose your job, that dream becomes a nightmare really quick doesn’t it? [36:30] See it is just another religion. [36:32] It is just another way for us to come to Jesus and get heaven and then say but I wanted to find life. [36:38] Freedom is not comfort. [36:43] How do I know that?

[36:44] Because look at the way Paul is living his freedom. [36:47] He risks his life and he goes out on the road and he gets debilitating illnesses.

[36:54] In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul begins to talk about the things he goes through. [36:58] He is beaten constantly. [37:00] He never has any security. [37:01] He is homeless basically. [37:02] He has to sleep outside on the road. [37:04] He gets shipwrecked a couple of times.

[37:05] He gets stoned once. [37:07] He gets dragged out of the city and then he wakes up comes to. [37:10] And then he walks back into the city and continues to preach the gospel. [37:13] Paul did not experience a great deal of comfort in this life. [37:16] But what he did experience was he says these momentary afflictions do not compare in any way to the future glory that I have in God through Jesus Christ.

[37:29] If you show me what your dreams and goals are, I will show you your view of God. [37:35] Most of us want our religion to be brought up with a cosmic genie to give us a comfortable life and that we will never have to suffer. [37:44] We will never have to sacrifice. [37:46] That is not the gospel. [37:48] My question to you, and this is my final question. [37:51] Are your dreams and goals about the gospel?

[37:56] What message is your life preaching today?

[38:00] If you claim to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, how hard do I have to look at your life to find it?

[38:13] When somebody comes to you and says, what are your passions? [38:16] What are your desires? [38:18] What do you want your life to look like? [38:21] Where is the gospel in that?

[38:24] If somebody looks at your life and looks at the trajectory that your life is going in, is it going in a direction of religious practice where you just go through life? [38:35] Doing the motions of church? [38:37] Going because you are supposed to? [38:39] Giving because you are supposed to? [38:41] Serving because you are supposed to?

[38:46] Or are you living a life where it is obvious that everything is spiritual? [38:50] The gospel does not just rebuild part of our life. [38:54] The gospel rebuilds all of our lives. [38:56] It rebuilds all of our relationships. [38:59] It rebuilds our marriages. [39:01] It rebuilds our relationships with our children.

[39:03] It rebuilds everything, starting with us. [39:07] Is everything going to be peachy keen? [39:09] No! [39:10] There are going to be struggles, trials, suffering. [39:13] But in that, you have the hope of God in your life through Jesus Christ. [39:18] You say this momentary affliction is nothing compared to the future glory that I have in God.

[39:26] Our dreams must be gospel dreams. [39:29] We are freed to dream about the gospel. [39:32] All of us. [39:33] Not just me. [39:35] Because you are like, well Steve, you dream, you plant a church, you are a pastor. [39:37] That is your calling.

[39:38] That is all of our calling.

[39:43] We are all called to live our lives for the gospel. [39:47] All the time. [39:49] Not because it earns us any clout with God. [39:52] But because God has come into our lives and he has revolutionized our lives. [39:56] He has transformed our lives. [39:57] He has taken us from a path of mindless obedience, mindless sin, mindless religion.

[40:04] And he has freed us to live an amazing life transformed by the gospel. [40:08] Where our standards are not this world’s standards, but not because this world is so icky and we want to go and have nothing to do with them. [40:15] So we separate ourselves completely from this world. [40:18] No! [40:19] Because the gospel comes in and transforms us and then you know what we do? [40:22] We run headlong back into this world.

[40:26] Into the nasty places, into the dirty places. [40:29] And you don’t have to look very far. [40:30] Just go into your own house and you will find that.

[40:34] Go into any house, you are going to find sin. [40:37] And you take it and you go and you face that headlong with Jesus ruling and reigning in your life. [40:46] Will you fail? [40:47] Yes, but your failure will be a gospel failure. [40:50] And your repentance will look like the gospel. [40:54] Because when you fail you will say, oh I am so glad my hope is not in me.

[40:59] Because I fail. [41:00] And I am so glad that Jesus died for this failure so that I don’t have to be condemned. [41:05] God help me to obey because that is the life that you have given me. [41:12] The gospel is not a second chance.

[41:16] The gospel is a brand new life. [41:19] I could give you a second chance and you will screw that up just like I would.

[41:24] The gospel is about transformation. [41:27] The gospel is about your goals and your passions.

[41:32] Being changed into God’s goals and God’s passions.

[41:39] Has anything in your life changed where the gospel is concerned over the past few years?

[41:48] You might have a little more head knowledge.

[41:53] But I am asking about the way you actually live.

[41:59] Because the gospel has freed you to dream about what could change in your life. [42:07] And I don’t want to ask you that question so you will feel bad about yourself.

[42:12] No. [42:13] You are free from that guilt.

[42:16] I ask you that question because I don’t think that some of us realize that in the gospel we are free to dream. [42:25] We can dream about what God could do with us at the age of 12 or all the way up to the age of 80.

[42:36] God doesn’t want us to stop dreaming until we leave this earth.

[42:41] God is not done with any of us until he takes us home.

[42:47] Dream big for the gospel. [42:50] Don’t dream big for your bank account.

[42:55] If no other evidence is needed than the current recession, you can’t trust your bank account.

[43:03] God knows you are going to die and it is not going to go anywhere. [43:06] It is not going with you.

[43:10] Trust in Jesus. [43:13] The life that he has given you. [43:15] And dream big.

[43:20] I ask you this.

[43:23] Are you building your kingdom? [43:26] Or God’s kingdom?

[43:30] Because Jesus wants you to build God’s.

[43:35] Right now I want to close and reflect on the gospel a little more with you guys.

[43:46] We have a couple of stations out here. [43:49] And this is how we respond.

[43:52] Is that we think about the gospel. [43:55] See this is the church gathered.

[43:59] We are gathered together. [44:00] When you leave here, it is going to be the church scattered. [44:04] And that is where the gospel really begins. [44:07] That is where the mission of Jesus really takes form. [44:10] So what we are going to do right now is spend some time reflecting on the cross through the Lord’s Supper. [44:16] It is also known as communion.

[44:19] Just to take a minute to tell you because it has been weeks. [44:23] This is a special time for those of us that know Jesus. [44:28] Those of us that have trusted him as our saviors. [44:31] And I have missed this these past few weeks. [44:33] Missed it greatly.

[44:39] It is juice and bread.

[44:44] But when Jesus was about to die on the cross, he gave this to his disciples. [44:49] And he said, until I return.

[44:55] I want you as a community. [44:59] As my people.

[45:02] To drink this and eat this in remembrance of me. [45:06] Because then Paul describes it. [45:07] He says this is how we proclaim the Lord’s death. [45:10] Until he returns. [45:11] And you may say that makes no sense. [45:13] I don’t understand how does eating and drinking do that.

[45:15] Let me explain to you. [45:17] The bread represents the body of Christ. [45:21] Which Jesus says was broken for you. [45:24] And it was on the cross. [45:26] Broken. [45:27] It was beaten.

[45:28] It was tattered. [45:30] He suffered.

[45:33] And then he said this suffering is for you. [45:36] Because it is going to comfort you through the suffering that you are going to have in this life. [45:39] And there will be suffering.

[45:42] And he says this is for you. [45:44] To reflect on it until I come. [45:46] Because this is what I did for you. [45:48] And we have the cup. [45:50] It represents the blood of Christ.

[45:54] Shed for us. [45:57] Blood is something that is disgusting.

[46:02] But God designed us and created us in such a way that when blood is shed. [46:07] It represents life leaving the body.

[46:10] Jesus as he bled life left his body.

[46:16] And the reason life was leaving his body is because our sins were laid on him. [46:28] Big sins. [46:29] All of them.

[46:33] And as he bled he took our sin. [46:36] And he suffered under our sin. [46:38] He took the wrath of God for us.

[46:46] But that is not where it stopped. [46:49] Because when we take that in. [46:52] What it represents.

[46:56] Is us taking his life. [47:00] Into our own.

[47:03] He says do this in remembrance of me.

[47:11] And if you are a follower of Jesus I invite you to come. [47:16] And partake of this. [47:18] If you are not.

[47:21] Please don’t. [47:23] Because it doesn’t mean anything to you. [47:26] Here is the key. [47:28] If you are not. [47:28] I am not condemning you. [47:30] What I am doing is I am inviting you and saying come and know Jesus.

[47:35] Because he died for you. [47:36] Whether you accept it or reject it. [47:38] He died for you. [47:41] His blood covers your sins. [47:43] He wants to give you his life.

[47:47] And I am going to be standing back there. [47:49] And if you want to talk about that. [47:50] And you want to accept Jesus. [47:52] I want to talk to you. [47:54] Not to embarrass you. [47:56] But so that we can come up together.

[47:58] And we can partake of the Lord’s Supper. [48:01] But like I said you don’t need me. [48:04] If you want to know Jesus.

[48:07] Just trust that he has taken your sins. [48:10] And he wants to give you a new life. [48:13] And you can come to his table. [48:15] And like we talked about in Galatians chapter 2. [48:18] You can share table fellowship with God. [48:21] Freely.

[48:23] You are free to live guys. [48:26] You are free to belong. [48:28] And you are free to dream. [48:31] Because God has given you his life. [48:34] And you are free to dream. [48:35]

[48:35] [48:35] [48:35] What other life could possibly be worth living? [48:41] I am going to pray. [48:43] And take a few moments and reflect. [48:47] And then whenever you are ready.

[48:48] Come forward.

[48:51] And take the bread and the cup. [48:53] Father we come before you right now.

[48:58] And we just want to thank you. [48:59] And we want to praise you. [49:02] God you have given us your son Jesus. [49:04] And we want to thank you. [49:04] [49:05] Oh what a great salvation we have.

[49:08] What a great life you have given us to live.

[49:13] God we praise you right now. [49:14] And we proclaim your death right now. [49:18] And God as we leave this building. [49:20] Help us to live like your resurrection.

[49:25] In the name of Jesus. [49:27] Amen.