Unyielding Faith: A Series in Galatians

Of all the challenges Christians face in the world today, there is perhaps none more tragic and potentially devastating than the temptation to move on from the gospel of Jesus.

It’s so easy. We know we start with Christ—salvation is by grace through faith. But it doesn’t take long for things to get complicated. Our faith begins to feel stale or rote, and we go looking for some spiritual breakthrough. We feel pressure to perform for God, as though his approval is based on our spiritual growth or maturity. We’re drawn by the ideas of those who claim to have a better way. We become wary of criticism or opposition from those around us, which means distancing ourselves from or even abandoning elements of our faith.

And so, we reason, while we’re grateful that the gospel got us on the road, we think we can take it from here. We view the gospel like training wheels, and we’re ready to ride the bike now, excited about the new horizons ahead. Without even realizing it, we slowly begin to yield our faith in the gospel of God’s grace.

This was the same temptation that the churches in ancient Galatia found before them in the middle of the first century. Having begun with the gospel, they thought they were ready to move on. And there were some influential voices encouraging them to do just that—move on from the gospel of grace and take up the Law of Moses. Add to your faith in Jesus circumcision and works of the law—then you’ll both please God and keep the Jews who persecuted the early church off your back.

What they didn’t realize was that moving on was actually moving backward—right back into the slavery of the law and the insufficiency of the flesh, as though Jesus had never arrived. What looked like moving forward was really yielding to a false gospel that not only disrupted the Christian community, but threatened to sever the Galatians from Christ.

And so at the heart of Paul’s letter is his passionate plea for an unyielding faith: never move on from the gospel of Jesus. The Christian faith is one of grace from beginning to end. And only the gospel of Jesus holds forth the grace necessary not only to get us started with God, but to sustain us, grow us, guide us, and bring us all the way home.

I invite you to join us this fall at Stonebridge Church (meeting at Calvary Baptist, Sundays @ 6pm) as we explore the book of Galatians and God’s call to an unyielding faith.

• Sept 13: “Pressure to Yield” (Gal. 1:1-10)
• Sept 20: “A Message from Heaven” (Gal. 1:11-24)
• Sept 27: “Who Is the Gospel for?” (Gal. 2:1-10)
• Oct 4: “In Step with Gospel” (Gal. 2:11-16)
• Oct 11: “Not Guilty” (Gal. 2:15-21)
• Oct 18: “Detours in Faith” (Gal. 3:1-6)
• Oct 25: “Delivered from Debt” (Gal. 3:7-14)
• Nov 1: “An Unbreakable Promise” (Gal. 3:15-22)
• Nov 8: “Heirs of God” (Gal. 3:23–4:7)
• Nov 13: Guest: Christopher Yuan
• Nov 22 : “Your Path or God’s Path?” (Gal. 4:8-20)
• Nov 29 : “A Tale of Two Cities” (Gal. 4:21-31)        

Advent Break

• Jan 3:  “True Freedom” (Gal. 5:1-12)
• Jan 10: “The Law of Love” (Gal. 5:13-15)
• Jan 17: “Walk By the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16-26) 
• Jan 24: “Open Your Eyes” (Gal. 6:1-10)
• Jan 31: “Only One Boast” (Gal. 6:11-18)