hey everyone,
okay, so I was going through Galatians and I felt like God was speaking to me through the text on the idea that it is only Him that can save... now I kept thinking we've all heard this beofre (and if you think this is just too tired, let me know), but I felt like he was confronting our culture (merit, rewards, purchasing, etc)
So, I felt like reiterating it in this light was where God wanted me to take it. Let me know what you think
Galatians
I. The text Gal 2.17-21
II. Judaizers
a. Judaizers – Faith in God is not enough, must do things
III. What good is the law?
a. Law reveals sin, but does not clear it from us.
b. Law is good, but it can’t save
IV. Paul’s response to that
a. if somehow the law and the rules could save, Christ died for nothing
b. Rather God’s power is enough
c. Do you believe that?
V. “Laws of our world”
a. Judaizers proposal and its implications makes sense in our world
i. Do culture, merit culture, rewards culture
ii. I’m a good person
iii. And now people say, “I’m a good person”. But that lacks certainty. Any sin is enough (one blemish). I’d like to know where the stick is
b. Value of faith in God vs value in the praise and honor in this world
VI. Our response
a. Value of faith in God vs value in the praise and honor in this world
b. What we do is not enough
i. By acknowledging God and accepting Christ, you are readily saying, what I have been doing is not enough
c. How do you think about yourself and living your life (merit/law or grace)
d. But now with Christ, what you have and what you do is enough.
i. God’s power is enough
e. Live like Christ, his power, Called to be like Christ, that is what we do, Christ is the principle, not the law, conduct of life can be determined by Christ, whose life we live. (Gal 4?)
i. Confusion of Pistin theou (Faith of Christ or Faith in Christ… or both??)
f. All action must be in line with the gospel
Gal 2.17-21
17 “If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”a
Focus: If salvation could be earned or gained by things, Christ died for nothing
Fuction: To affirm to the youth that there is nothing that we can do apart from God to gain life, but it is instead God who saves
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hey brett.
ReplyDeletei like the passage and what you're aiming at. i don't think what you're doing is overkill or anything like that. we have talked about it before, but i still don't think its really sunken in all the way yet. plus it really is one of the central points of galatians.
a few things that came to mind:
(1) perhaps one of the things you can hit on is pride. i think thats one of the underlying problems. we think that we have the power to do such and such, but really God's power is more than enough.
(2) for some reason IV(c) really sticks out to me. i think that'd be a good question to almost have throughout your message. i think our kids have the head knowledge, but the important thing is, "do you really believe that?"
(3) lastly, be sure to draw out what it is to live like Christ and what our actions in line with the Gospel means. i know for myself, sometimes i just say it, but don't really explain it out.
thanks Eugene, I'll definitely flesh out Living the gospel. And definitely I'll hit on pride too, that's a good point
ReplyDeleteHey Brett... I really like this topic. I don't think it's ever a tired topic - no matter how many times we hear it, we still manage to mess it up.
ReplyDeleteI like the outline. As always... keep an eye on length. Shoot for 25 minutes! haha...
My one comment on content is this: be careful not to make this too one-sided. It seems the focus is warn the kids about the flaws and dangers of legalism. And obviously the underpinnings of that is that total awesomeness of grace, but make sure you hit that. It's not simply that what we do isn't good enough, it's that what we do never had to be good enough. It looks like you hit on that IV-d, but I think you might want to do more than just touch on it.
Also... a couple points on delivery I've been meaning to mention. 1. Be careful with vocab. I think sometimes we forget that these aren't essays. Somtimes it's better to use simple diction and syntax. Sometimes "but" is better than "however" or "rather," ya know? 2. Pick your moments for "preaching." Save high intensity, impassioned preaching for the points you really want to hit hard.
hmmm.... interesting I didn't feel like I wanted to make it about legalism (probably was planning to hit a bit, but not the focus), but yeah I wonder if it turned out that way in the rough draft. But yeah, I'll definitely focus on your suggestion there as I think it clarifies it (theology in community is awesome!)
ReplyDeleteFor delivery, I'll focus on that... I think that's how I talk sometimes lol
What I'm gonna try to do a bit more here is get off the manuscript... hopefully that increases the "just talking to you" parts to save the preaching parts
I'm glad that helped to clarify... and yeah, I love doing this as a team. I feel like we're all really growing as speakers!
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of going off manuscript a bit. That is something I've found to be really effective with the kids. They're less interested in a polished message, and more interested in hearing us share our hearts! Btw... just talk how you talk. haha. I hadn't thought of it that way.