Galatians

I haven't been able to do my Galatians study lately.  With Christmas Train our schedule has been all out of whack.

I sat down to listen to the 16th broadcast in the series and I noticed that it was an overlap from an earlier broadcast.  You know when you listen to radio shows they sometimes overlap or sometimes leave a gap?  Well, this one went back almost a full chapter, but I could tell it was a much more recent recording so I thought I would go ahead and listen and see if there was any difference.

Well, my re-listening was well worth it!

Reading in chapter 4, we got to verse 19 - "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you."

What does this mean?

Paul had ministered the gospel to the Galatian people and now he was away from them and writing them a letter.  He fondly refers to them as his children, he labored for their birth, much like a woman, but for their spiritual rebirth.  He is writing to Christians.  They are already saved, but he is expounding on the differences between the old covenant, the law, and the new covenant of grace.

What does it mean "until Christ is formed in you."?

Well, simply this is our purpose here, for Christ to live IN and THROUGH us!

Salvation is not the end, but the beginning.  Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

I'm saved and so now Christ lives in me, but does that mean I will never again make a mistake?  Am I perfect now?

Certainly not!  My spirit has been reborn, but not my flesh.  There is a transformation that happens while on this earth and it will not be complete until Jesus comes back.

Philippians 1:6  "...He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;"  At the moment you are saved, the Holy Spirit starts a work in your life that does not stop until the day of Jesus Christ, that is the day that Christ returns.

How does this transformation work?

Romans 12:2  "...be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

You renew your mind simply by putting something different into it.  If you want to learn a new skill, you study, if you want to break a habit, you first make up your mind.  You renew your mind to the things of God simply by putting God's Word into your mind.  Reading, listening, studying, etc.  The difference though is that God's Word is alive and it has the power to bring lasting change.

Ephesians 5:26  "that He (Christ) might sanctify and cleanse her (His Bride, the church) with the washing of the water by the word"  The Word of God cleanses us, refreshes us, and sanctifies us.

Jesus was praying for His disciples right before He was to go to the cross.  He prayed in John 17:17 that God would, "sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth."

What does sanctify mean?

I looked it up the other day.  My dictionary said that to sanctify is to make pure and holy.

Is this salvation?  No, we are not saved simply by reading the word.  Being saved is called justification.  Sanctification is this lifelong transformation that the Holy Spirit is working in you.

I heard this recently and thought it was very interesting.  Salvation is really a 3-step process.  Or rather there are three tenses of salvation.

We HAVE been saved, we ARE being saved, and we WILL be saved.

Let me explain.

We are FIRST justified, we ARE being sanctified, and we WILL be glorified.

Justification removes the penalty of sin.  What is the penalty of sin?  The wages of sin is death, but we have received a gift from God of eternal life.  (Rom. 6:23 & Eph. 2:8-9)

Sanctification removes the power of sin in our life, the bondage of sin.  The Holy Spirit is our Helper and He will lead us and guide us into all truth so that we can be free from sin's hold.  (Rom. 6:18 & John 16:13)

Glorification removes us from the presence of sin.  When Jesus returns, our physical bodies will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, they will become immortal and incorruptible and we will be taken out of the presence of sin altogether.  (Rom. 8:23 & I Cor. 15:50-58)

So let's go back now to the first verse, Galatians 4:19, speaking of Christ being formed in us.  This is an on-going process, the more we are sanctified, the more we grow and mature, the more we reflect Christ to the world.

The sad news is that many just stop at justification.  Oh, they're headed to heaven all right, but they don't grow and mature and renew their minds and seek first the kingdom of God, so they don't experience transformation.  They don't experience the abundant life that Jesus came to give.  (John 10:10)  I mentioned this before, how silly it sounds to kids, that some people stay babies their whole lives.  Now I do not believe that those people lose their salvation (and that is a topic for another day), but they do not get the crown (I Cor. 9:25 & II Tim. 4:8) that Paul speaks of or the rewards in heaven (I Cor. 3:8).

Do you feel you are living the abundant life that Christ promised?  What is included in that abundant life?  Well, the fruit of the Spirit is love (this is loving more than just those that love you back), joy (not circumstantial happiness that comes and goes, but true joy all the time), peace (are you really at peace?), patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (or also translated meekness, which is teachable--are you teachable or do you feel you have it all figured out?), and self-control.

If you are not experiencing those fruits, perhaps you need to wash in the water of the Word.  I can hear some of you say, "I go to church, a really good one, that teaches the Word and in a way that I can understand it, it's awesome!"

I will leave you with this thought--how well will a baby grow if it's only fed once a week?  Will that baby be healthy and strong?  Or puny and weak?