Well, happy new year.
I hope you had a restful Christmas and you're having a good new year.
We enjoyed last Sunday off.
We weren't here and Davis taught, and I heard good things about that.
And I I am so grateful that we have other guys in the church who are willing to get up, and Brad's done it, and different past elders and Davis at last week who are willing to get up here and preach or teach or communicate for 20 minutes, which is incredibly anxiety-ridden for weeks to come for these guys and for them to be willing to do it.
Some believe them.
I heard great things about that.
And what I'm happy about doing that is it it is possible for us just to take some money and pay a preacher somewhere else to come in and preach for us.
And we purposefully, at this point in our history, we purposefully don't do that because I we want you to know Davis.
And we want you to know another elder, we want you to know another leader.
And maybe it maybe it's not you know a preacher coming in, but you get to know some other leaders in our church, and maybe you connect with Davis you're gonna see in the next week or the next month, and you have a question, or you you want to have lunch with them, or something like that, and now you have a connection.
And so we we do that on purpose, and I'm grateful for that.
So, right before Christmas, I watched Coldplay's new documentary.
So Coldplay's my band, it might not be your band, maybe your band is Fleetwood Mac, maybe your band is something more current, maybe your band is the Beatles.
I don't I'm not sure.
Coldplay's my band.
Uh and Coldplay had this great documentary that just came out, and so I watched it and I learned a few things.
So in January of 1998, it was their first rehearsal.
I mean, they were in a bedroom, small apartment in Camden, England, 1998.
Four young guys, 15 months after that first rehearsal, they had signed a record deal.
Now, at that time, there's no YouTube, I mean, this is the only way to get your music out, was a record deal.
So this is this huge step.
And then they write this song, Troubled, they write this other song, which you're probably familiar with, Yellow, they write this song that's still being played.
You walk in Target, you can hear it sometimes.
You've heard it even if you don't know the name of it.
And then four years after that, four years after that, they go from that bedroom in Camden to writing an album that sells around the world to playing huge stages.
Then they write this other song, Clocks, which all of us know, whether you know the name of it or not, you've heard it.
And like the previous album, it sounds the same as it did before, and yet it's matured in some way.
This is what great bands do.
And then they write X and Y, and then they write Viva La Vita, and they write another one, another one, and another one.
I'm a little boring you about cold play history if you don't love cold play.
But you have a band, okay?
You have a band you love.
And what you know about great bands, and this is true about great families, great organizations, great basketball teams or football teams, and even churches, is that in one way that they're the same as they've always been.
Right?
You hear a new cold play song, you're like, oh, yeah, I hear Chris's voice.
Okay, yeah, I hear, okay.
Like it it feels this, it feels in some way the same as it did in 1998, and yet in another way, it has matured in all sorts of ways.
Right?
They're making new music and it's fresh and it's new, and yet at the same time, uh, it feels the same.
It's never changed.
And I mentioned this because, like Brad mentioned, uh, Redeemer, our church, we're moving into a season where we're gonna be talking about new sanctuary space on the other side of our building, and this room eventually becomes more children's space.
And so some things will change, and with that, maybe it might feel just a little bit different.
It's not gonna feel totally different.
We're still the same church, we're not gonna go and change everything up.
Maybe some new ministries develop, maybe you jump on those ministry teams, and in that there's some maturing, right?
Just like your family might mature, or a great band matures.
But at the same time, we're who we've always been.
And the reason why is because, like we've said over and over and over again for the past six years, our our vision is not a building.
Our vision is not a size.
Our vision is a message.
And that's why we say every week that we're more broken than we originally thought, more sinful than we originally thought, but but in the grace of God, we're more loved by Jesus than we could ever dare to dream.
And that's our vision.
That's our vision.
So, size-wise, maybe we grow, maybe we grow slow, maybe we grow, maybe a little faster, maybe we plateau.
We've plateaued before.
Maybe we shrink.
That could happen.
It's okay.
Because our vision is the message.
And that's what we're gonna keep saying over and over and over again, that we want to be a people, resting and growing in the grace of God.
And we want to talk about Jesus' work for us much more than us turning our total focus on our work for Him.
And I was becoming kind of concerned with this.
This is why I bring this up.
And so I brought this to my mentor, Scotty, and said, Scotty, I said, you know, we're starting this building thing, and I hate capital campaigns, and we're not gonna do a thermometer in the back of the room, we're not gonna get into that.
But I have this concern because sometimes I've been in places where it feels very self-congratulatory.
Like you become, you you glorify the building and you forget like the thing you should be saying, or you glorify the money and you forget the thing you should be saying.
And I'm like, I'm just worried because I have to start talking about buildings and I have to start talking about money.
I I just have this concern, and I'm just kind of letting this out a little bit with him.
And he said, That's he said, it's fine.
He's and he said this, and I wanted to say that he said it because I wasn't this wise, is he said, it's fine, just remind your people.
What this is about is not the hype of a new room, it's about the hope people breathe when they come in.
See, I couldn't have come up with that.
That's too good, right?
I mean, you're like, Russ didn't come up with that.
That's too good.
Right?
It's not about a new sanctuary that that's maybe a step up and niceness than this one.
That's not what it's about.
It's about when you walk into it, your family, your friends, your neighbor, the next person, when they walk in, is it are they impressed with the hype, or are they breathing in the hope of the message we talk about?
And that's that's why it's a maturing in a way, but it's the same thing as we've always been.
It's the same thing as when we're in the dentist's office, the same thing as when we were in the preschool, and we're Brian's living room.
It's the same thing.
So for the next one nine weeks, we're gonna talk about the book of Galatians.
So we've been going through the lectionary, different passages, but we're gonna take a break from the lectionary.
And for the next nine weeks leading up to Lent, Lent's the season going into Easter, the next nine weeks we're gonna go through the book of Galatians.
And I chose this book very purposefully because this is a book where Paul goes to a group of people who have forgotten about the message, and is Paul's a little pumped up about this, he's upset, and he lets loose, and I we're not I'm not letting loose on you, but this is just a reminder of us of what is important, admits while we talk about some other things.
What is really, really important.
And this is what we get with Paul.
He's writing this letter, and I love that Brad read the whole chapter, right?
Because this was a letter.
These people would have experienced this, not like we do in writing, where you read four verses and you shut it and you come back later.
These people would have received a letter.
They would have received a letter from Paul from somewhere else.
Somebody would have gotten this letter, stood up in front of a group of people, and would have read the entire thing out loud.
No chapters, no verses, it was a letter.
They would have heard the whole thing.
And I kind of liked hearing just all of chapter one all at once, because you sort of could feel, wow, Paul's really adamant.
Paul's really into this, because this is this is like little dynamite, this book.
It's like a little package that can wonderfully affect our lives.
And so my hope is that you journey with me and us in the next nine weeks, but even more so that because I'm not gonna be able to dig in like an inductive Bible study level on every single thing.
Even more so, you go and do that on your own in between weeks.
Now, imagine that you loved and raised some kids in a healthy family.
I said, imagine.
Imagine the family's healthy, and maybe you have to imagine you're married, or maybe you have to imagine you have kids, but you're gonna work with me here.
And you raised your kid in a secure, healthy family, and you were present for him and loving, and you taught your kids with words and taught your kids with your actions about communication and conflict and compassion.
You taught your kid about Jesus and your kid's worth and God.
You did all of this and you did it really well, and he moves away, and then you find him.
He kind of pulled away from you and he hadn't reached out, and eventually you find him, and he's emotionally crippled.
He's selfish, he uses his life to manipulate people, he uses people, he uses achievements in very self-absorbed ways.
He ignores his family.
He had a girlfriend, he lost a girlfriend because he played Fortnite too much.
I mean, this is the caliber son you now have.
And this would upset you, right?
You turned your back for just a little bit.
And you could then you see him again.
You're like, what happened?
What happened to you?
And maybe you sit down and maybe you write him a letter.
And your letter would have a lot of compassion in it, but it would have a lot of urgency in it.
And this is Paul.
This is Paul in this letter.
A lot of compassion, but a lot of urgency because he loved these people.
He helped form their faith.
He turns his attention elsewhere for just a little bit.
And he comes back, and this group of people have turned their attention to something else, to a merit-based system of spirituality and approach to God.
And Paul's heartbroken.
So we jump in in Galatians 1.
I'll read verses 3 through 7.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever amen.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him, who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.
Not that there is another one, but there are some of some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
So I'll make four points this morning.
Number one, religion won't work.
We need the grace of God known in Jesus.
Religion won't work.
We need the grace of God known in Jesus.
I could just say this point every week.
I sort of do.
You've picked up on that.
A merit-based religion, right?
That is, I will obey, then I'm accepted.
That sort of merit-based religiosity, it won't work.
It never will.
You'll never get the right amount of good behavior together for you to feel secure or for you to be able to earn that.
It doesn't work, it doesn't exist.
And Paul's saying, don't do that.
Don't turn away from the gospel, which is you are accepted in Jesus, so obey.
Right?
Religion emphasizes on you, on what you do.
And so you're always moving into more pride or more despair.
Either way, you're exhausted.
You usually become more judgmental, more self-righteous.
And Paul says, Don't turn.
Don't turn away from the gospel.
Over Christmas break, we we went to the Christmas tree lighting in uh Lawrenceville.
I guess it was all the way back toward Thanksgiving time, and they were lighting the tree in Lawrenceville over in Gwinnett County.
That's where we grew up, and our parents live out there, and we were with Christy's family.
And so Christy and I and her family, we go down to the historic courthouse, it's a cool quaint small town courthouse.
We get there a little bit early, and so we have some time to spare.
And so I take our three girls and we go over to kind of a lawn area.
We start to play freeze tag.
Remember freeze tag?
Remember the rules, basic rules, right?
I decide I'm it.
That's the easiest way to kind of settle that with the sisters, no whining possible.
If dad starts as it, so I start as it.
Tag one, right?
You get tagged, you're frozen.
We play feet out, arms out, and so we play.
Can't move other than that, you're dead, you're frozen.
Somebody has to come and get you.
Somebody has to come and rescue you.
So I tag the biggest sister first, and I tag her, so sister number one is frozen.
The other two sisters are out there.
I purposefully gauge my speed to make sure I get sister number two, just as sister number three frees sister number one.
They think this is really fun.
And we just keep this going over and over again.
And you've been frozen in these games, right?
I've been whether it be uh freeze tag, maybe maybe kick the can, you have to go to jail.
Right?
Maybe you've been in jail, right?
You know that feeling, some of you.
It's possible.
We won't raise hands on that.
I know, I know, I know, it's true.
And you're stuck, right?
You're frozen, you're in jail, you're in kick the can't jail, whatever.
You're stuck.
You know that feeling.
It doesn't matter how good you are, you need someone to come and free you.
You are by definition, by definition, in need of outside help.
Right?
This is this is why the grace of Christ rescues us and why religion doesn't work.
Because we, by definition, are stuck.
We're frozen.
We cannot earn our acceptance with God.
We need his reach toward us to unfreeze us.
We get that verse 4.
He gave himself for our sins, which means you don't have to pay for your sin.
You don't have to pay for your shame.
You're rescued, you're delivered from that.
You don't you don't have to score every motive and action and try to do more good than bad and get scales right.
Your sin has been taken from you, put on the cross, his righteousness has been given to you.
So you're righteous while you're righteous, and you're also righteous while you're unrighteous.
Isn't that amazing?
That's the grace of Christ.
So, yes, grace unto peace.
Now you can see why it's grace unto peace.
And then it says, deliver us from the present evil age.
So this idea of deliverance is not deliverance from presence, it's deliverance from power.
Here's what I mean: you're still here, right?
You haven't been delivered from the present evil age in terms of presence because you still exist in it.
You still exist, I still exist in the present evil age of oppression.
Because the world is telling you one thing you're not enough, and you should do something about it.
Or you should try to escape the feeling of it.
And the gospel is that you've been delivered from that enslaving power over you.
And the grace of Christ is the power over you now.
It's your definition, it's the soundtrack you get to walk with in life.
Point number two you are the passive agent, and God is the active agent.
I'll explain it with a quote.
Theologian Gerhade Fordy wrote it like this.
For the point is that the unconditional declaration of justification, there's some big words in the quote, just hang with me, okay?
I'll just reread the first six words.
That was already hard.
For the point is that the unconditional declaration of justification, the imputation, the flat out declaration that which offends and shocks us so, that which shatters all our ambitions for something to do, that declaration is our death and our life, the new beginning.
It is the act which recreates, redeems God's creation.
Death, you see, is put in the position of not being able to do anything according to the ways of the world, the law, religion, the upward climb with all its plans and schemes.
They suddenly stop, come to an end.
I, through the law, died to the law that I might live to God.
Both our vices and our virtues come to a full stop.
The justification declaration is precisely that, a full stop.
You have died, says Paul.
It is all over.
I mean, this is this is a fancier theological way to say that you are frozen and dead in need of deliverance.
And that comes from outside of you, not from you.
The Galatians reverted and they move themselves from a passive position back into an active position.
They miscategorize themselves.
They forgot that God is the active agent and they are just the passive person.
At our best, at our best, we're just all learning how to die.
And at our best, we're we're learning that we're already dead and simply made alive by the grace of Christ.
That's how we discover life.
If we jump into verse 14, this is Paul talking about himself.
Love these few verses.
It's his own little story.
And I was advancing in Judaism.
This is his religion, his merit-based system.
I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age, right?
There's all that comparison life.
So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, see, he's the passive agent, he was the passive, and who called me by his grace, God was active, was pleased to reveal his son to me.
And isn't that amazing?
Just to think someone is pleased with you.
I was listening to a podcast this past week, and it was with the author of the book Wild, which turned into the movie Wild.
Her name is Cheryl Strait.
And maybe you read it, maybe you saw the movie.
And she talked about how in her 20s she was a mess.
She had been married, and then she she had an affair on her husband, and she was so enamored with other men's interests in her.
She just needed that for validation.
She just was constantly wondering, other people, who's pleased with me?
Is he pleased with me?
And the sexual interest of another man was all that she wanted.
And this just was magnified with her mother's death, and then her dad's not around.
And it's just her life became the toil and the mess of constantly going to other people saying, Are you pleased with me?
Are you pleased with me?
And it's easy to spend our lives like that, isn't it?
Just going around asking different people, are you pleased with me?
Right?
You go to your boss, you go to people at work, are you pleased with me?
Right?
This is just kind of your the subconscious hum of your life.
Your distant father, your disapproving mom, your older sister, older brother, a group of friends, are you pleased with me?
Will you be pleased with me?
Will you take pleasure in me?
And the question is natural.
The question's there.
We can sense it in Paul here.
But it's just the question was never meant for people.
It was meant only for God.
Point number three: you are welcomed into God's family in God's pleasure.
You are welcomed into God's family.
By grace you have been called.
He reveals his son to you.
You have been welcomed into God's family.
And then the end of that verse, and it was God's pleasure to do this.
God doesn't welcome you because you prayed some prayer and you walked an aisle and he goes, Well, you know, Betty prayed the prayer.
I guess I gotta love Betty now.
You know, you know, Craig came to church.
I never really liked him, but now I guess I'm stuck with Craig.
Right?
That's not what's going on here.
God welcomes you because he takes pleasure in you.
It pleases him.
It pleases him to love you.
It pleases him to like you.
Man, we start with a God like that that is loving like that through the grace of Christ.
And how does that transform what how you think about yourself?
And then how does that begin to set security in your heart?
How does that change and transform your life and your behaviors?
Now we can get into a conversation about the growth in the grace of God or transformation, sanctification.
How we begin to see other people, love other people, become giving people, sacrificial people, parents who don't yell at our kids, parents who don't we don't yell at each other, or you love a friend sacrificially.
Verse 10.
And this is jumping back.
I skipped over, I'm coming back.
For am I now seeking the approval of man?
Or of God?
Or am I trying to please man?
If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
And this is last point.
This is connected to point number three.
The chase of people pleasing, it can be over because you are already pleasing to God.
The chase of people pleasing can be over because you are already pleasing to God.
We all want someone to be pleased with us.
Maybe you don't act like it, or maybe I don't act like it, but we're all kind of underneath, going like, you know, maybe I wonder if they like me.
I mean, we're doing that.
And God is saying to us, and Jesus, like, I'm pleased with you.
Like, I'm really pleased with you.
I'm forever pleased with you in the grace of Christ.
And Paul is fearless and free.
And he wants these people to know this as he seeks only God's approval, which he knows he already has.
Isn't that amazing?
It's not that we're seeking God's approval to please God because he's not pleased with us.
We're seeking God's approval and want to please God and honor God with our lives because he is already pleased with us and already loves us in the grace of Christ.
So, my brothers and sisters, in Jesus, God's favor and approval of you are already yours.
Let's pray together.
God, we thank you for the goodness, sufficiency, and fullness of the gift of Christ.
That it is by the grace of Christ and the grace of Christ only, that we have justification, freedom from what else should I do to please you, God?
Freedom from are do you do you are you pleased with me?
Are you pleased with me?
And for freedom of God.
Help us move to a freedom where we are resting in Jesus.
You are pleased with me.
In Jesus, that you take pleasure in me.
In Jesus, I am righteous.
That you love us in an unconditional way, that there is a declaration of justification in Jesus.
And would we trust you in a greater way?
In the powerful name of Christ.