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Northview Church in Kodak, TN exists to point people to the love of Jesus Christ and help people fall in love with Jesus and love others.
So a couple years ago, probably about three years ago, my family, we went on a vacation to Disney World. Now, are not, newbies to this. I wouldn't call us pros but we are definitely not amateurs. We've done Disney with our family three times with the kids and a couple of times on our own before that. So we know what we're getting into when we go and as we went down there this time, we had a list of things we wanted to do.
Pastor Greg:These certain rides that we wanted to do, certain character meet and greets that we wanted to to be able to do, relax and take some time to just take a breath. I know Disney, right? You can't really do that. Things that we wanted to see and we executed the plan pretty flawlessly. We got to do almost everything that we wanted to do except for that fancy Star Wars ride that I still hadn't got to ride yet because it was broke when I was there but that's okay.
Pastor Greg:Maybe one day. We we had a good trip and we came home exhausted and broke from vacation. And we looked at each other and I remember thinking, is that really what vacation is supposed to be? Now, we still love Disney World and we still think about going sometimes but this spring, as I was planning our trip for this year, Christy lets me do all the planning in the house because she hates to do it as far as vacations go. So, was planning our trip for this year and looked at all these different things and I went to her one day and I said, how about Disney World?
Pastor Greg:And she just had the look in her face like, you have got to be kidding me. We wanted a vacation where we could go and relax and just enjoy our family and you're throwing Disney World out there. We did not do Disney World this year. We took a a nice family vacation where we got to come home, rested and rejuvenated, but we'll probably go back to Disney World someday. We still like Disney.
Pastor Greg:We still wanna do those trips to Disney or or maybe Universal, who knows? But when we go, we know what the costs are gonna be. We've got the receipts to prove it and the exhausted trip to prove it. We know what the costs are gonna be, yet we still wanna go back even though we know we're gonna come back exhausted. You know, sometimes, I think our faith is a lot like that.
Pastor Greg:We we try different things. Things that we think are gonna draw us closer to the Lord. Things that we think are gonna help us in our walk with the Lord. We build certain systems or plans and we come up with all these things to help us. All kinds of different things or we turn back to the way we were before.
Pastor Greg:We we get tired. I mean, honestly, being a Christian sometimes, we can make it a job and it can be exhausting and sometimes we just get tired and we turn back to doing the things we used to do. Those same old temptations and sins that we used to to give into and we look for purpose or satisfaction in all those kinds of things. We're trying to find something. Whether it's building a system or turning back to your old worldly ways, whatever it may be, we're looking for something.
Pastor Greg:And every time, we end up getting the exact opposite of what we were looking for. And I was I was thinking about that idea this week as I looked at our next section of Galatians. I just kept coming back to this thought. Don't go back. Christ is not done.
Pastor Greg:I know that it gets exhausting and I know that sometimes we don't know where to turn and we just try to do these things. Don't go back. Christ is still doing something in you. He is not done. We're gonna be in Galatians again.
Pastor Greg:If you you haven't been with us, we're walking through the book of Galatians over eight weeks and this is week number six in our study. So this week, we're gonna be finishing out chapter four. If you got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to Galatians chapter four. Let me kind of set the scene for where we're at for those of you who who maybe haven't been here with us before and just kind of want to know what's going on. Paul writes this letter to the Galatians and he writes this letter because he's kind of angry with them.
Pastor Greg:He has planted churches in Galatia and now they are going back and listening to some false teachings and starting to fall into their old ways and he writes this letter to them and as he's writing to this church, it's probably not just one congregation. It's probably not a group that's meeting in a building like this. More than likely, it's house churches. So he's writing to to various house churches in the area of Galatia because he's mad. He he's disappointed.
Pastor Greg:He's trying to figure out why they have turned from what they were doing. As he writes to these these believers, he's writing to this group who who they gave their hearts to Christ and now they're being swayed by these false teachings and and now they're starting to go back to that old way. Not their old way, they're falling for the way of the Judaizers. Follow these laws. Keep these days.
Pastor Greg:Keep these festivals. Can't follow Jesus if you're not circumcised. All those things that are being taught. And they feel like probably, this is the first time religion feels serious. We're we're doing all the things and we're going forward.
Pastor Greg:We're getting better at following Jesus. And Paul's response to them is you are not moving forward. You're walking backward. So let's look at the the scripture today. In verse eight of chapter four, Paul writes this to the Galatians.
Pastor Greg:Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so called gods that do not even exist. Paul reminds them here where they came from. They weren't free before. They were slaves to so called gods. And he says, they weren't even real gods.
Pastor Greg:They're not gods that existed yet you were slaves to them. You were going to the temple. You were making offerings to them trying to earn something or buy some sort of recognition or approval from these false gods. They were never there to begin with. You were going out of fear.
Pastor Greg:You were going out of superstition. You were not going because you were following the true God. That's where you came from. And he reminds them of that. You were slaves to so called gods that do not even exist.
Pastor Greg:And in verse nine, he says this, so now that you know God, or should I say now that God knows you, why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? Paul doesn't say they're trying something new. He says, why are you trying to go back to the old way? Why are you trying to go back to what you were? Back to what?
Pastor Greg:Well, they were pagans. Back to their temples of false gods, back under that fear and superstition that they used to follow. And let's be clear, what they're falling for at this point, it isn't those false gods. It is Judaizers. It's the Jewish traditions that they're now falling for and and Paul Paul refuses to distinguish that from the old pagan ways.
Pastor Greg:They're both false, he's saying. What you're doing, what you're falling for, you're going back to the same fear, that same way of having to to keep account, that same appeasement of of god. It's just new vocabulary. It's the same thing. So, that brings up a question and I think we need to ask our self.
Pastor Greg:If you're a follower of Jesus, what am I tempted to turn back to? What what are the things in your life from your past that you're tempted to turn back to? Paul says those things are weak. He says those things are useless. He says it's like basically, it's like you are a graduate student and you wanna go back to kindergarten, to go back to those old ways.
Pastor Greg:What is it for you? Sometimes it's legalism. I can only know God better than you know, I can only earn his approval and make God happy with me if I read my Bible enough. Or how many days have you been to church in the last couple of months? God's not gonna be happy with me if I break this rule or that rule.
Pastor Greg:Sometimes it's not legalism. Sometimes it's past temptations. We get into those old sins because we're just tired so we go back to that old way just seeking a feeling or a feeling of freedom or some sort of satisfaction or purpose. What is it for you? Is it some sort of rules that you've got there in order to earn God's favor?
Pastor Greg:Or is it some sin that you keep going back to over and over again because you feel like it gives you purpose? It's the difference in rules and ruins. The rules of legalism and the ruins of sin and Paul is telling us that both they are flesh managing. And it's only what the spirit produces in you that gets you anything that you want. Look what he says.
Pastor Greg:He says or what he starts to say. He says, now that you know god, then he stops himself. He says, oh or actually now that god knows you. You didn't find god by anything you did. You didn't find god by being diligent.
Pastor Greg:You didn't find god by keeping the rules or turning away and stopping some past sin. You found god because he found you first. You found god because he knows you and because he knows you, you are able to know him and through that, he changes who you are. He knew you and that's really the whole point of the Christian life if you get down to it. The whole point is to be known by him and to know him.
Pastor Greg:We want to be known by god. I want to be known by my god and I want to know him better every single day. That is the whole goal and through that, we live out these Christian principles like loving him, loving other people, making disciples. It's all because we know him and we are known by him and the key is he knew you first. So what are you tempted to go back to?
Pastor Greg:You know, we talk about Christian disciplines. We talk about obedience. Christian discipline is important. You need to be in your Bible. You need to be spending time with the Lord in prayer.
Pastor Greg:You need to be a part of a group of believers. You need to be regularly surrounding yourself with other people who you're pouring into and they're pouring into you. Obedience? Obedience is necessary. It's vital to following Jesus.
Pastor Greg:But when it gets down to at the test, it's not whether you're obedient, it's not whether you're disciplined. The test is what happens inside of you when you're not. When you fall short of whatever standard that's out there, when you didn't hit the goal of being in church or reading your Bible or whatever goal that you've got, whatever rule that you put on yourself, what happens inside you when you're not? Does it drive you back to Christ? So then those are good disciplines.
Pastor Greg:That's good obedience. But if it drives you deeper into, I've gotta fix this myself. I've got to do this and do that in order to get back to where I've gotta be. I I can't can't confess to God until I get that right in my life. If that's what it drives you to, that is the opposite of what Paul is preaching to us.
Pastor Greg:That's shackles. That's slavery. That's flesh driven. That's you trying to earn something. Don't go back.
Pastor Greg:Christ is not done. Verse 12, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do, in freedom from these things. For I become like you Gentiles, free from those laws you did not free from those laws you did not mistreat me when I first preached to you. Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the good news. But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away.
Pastor Greg:No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself. Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt in? I'm sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible. Have I now become your enemy? Because I'm telling you the truth.
Pastor Greg:Paul arrived in Galatia. He was in pretty bad shape. He was sick. I read several commentaries, listened to several pastors talk about it, nobody really knows what was going on with him. Scripture doesn't tell us.
Pastor Greg:There's a lot of assumptions that are made. It sounds like that it was a physical ailment probably to do with his eyes. That's what a lot of commentaries lead to because they talk he talked about you would have given me your eyes if you could, but we don't really know. Doesn't really matter. What matters is we know that he was sick and they received him in grace.
Pastor Greg:We know that he was sick and they didn't they didn't reject him. They received him in grace. And then not only did they receive him in grace, he came in grace. He came out of love. He came to preach to them the truth of the gospel.
Pastor Greg:And now, now that he's called them to repentance, now that he's pointed out how they are turning away from from the faith that he preached to them, from the faith that they once loved, he feels apparently like they're looking at him as their enemy. How did it go from preaching truth to Paul is now my enemy? Because sometimes the truth hurts. Let me ask you a question. Do you resent the people who call you to repentance?
Pastor Greg:Does it make you angry when somebody calls you to repentance? Not not pointing the finger and calling you out like, you know you shouldn't have done that. No. And love coming to you in that relationship that you have with him, hopefully a good relationship, and just saying, hey, I don't think this is healthy for you. You need to stop.
Pastor Greg:God doesn't want you indulging in whatever that may be. Do do you resent that? Do you even have somebody who has that right in your life? Somebody who you've given the right to call you out and for you to do the same for them? Or does it just make you mad?
Pastor Greg:If it makes you mad, that's performance based religion. Performance based religion, it always it always turns on the people who showed you grace. We first planted this church seven years ago. I got a phone call from a local pastor. Most of y'all know him, Sam Grindstaff, pastor over at Beach Springs Baptist.
Pastor Greg:He just called me up one day and I I had met Sam. I wouldn't call his friends at that point. We were acquaintances, had seen him around at some meetings and things, but weren't necessarily friends. And he just says, hey, I know you're planting the church and just want to invite you out to lunch. So I go and just to get to know Sam.
Pastor Greg:And we sit down together and Sam just starts opening up he is kind of out of the blue. He says, I just want you to know I was pretty frustrated with you. What are you talking about? I don't know you. What do you mean you were frustrated with me?
Pastor Greg:I was frustrated, he said, that you were planting a church in this community. He said it kinda made me mad. And he said, the Lord really convicted me of that and changed my heart. So I know we're not in competition. We're on the same mission, he said.
Pastor Greg:We do it different ways but we're on the same mission to see people fall in love with Jesus. And then I found out before we even did anything, before we'd ever had our our services over at Smokey Stadium and started this thing, he was praying for our success. He had switched from being frustrated and angry to praying for our success before there was any proof that this church was gonna make it through the first six months. You know what? Sam and I built a relationship over that.
Pastor Greg:We still do that. Several times a year we get together, we would like to do it more, but every every couple of months we'll go, we'll grab lunch and we'll just talk. We'll bounce ideas off each other. We'll tell each other the hard stuff, whatever we're struggling with. And here's the freedom we got.
Pastor Greg:He can call me to repent when he sees me out of check, and I can do the same for him. And neither one of us are gonna resent it. Oh, it might sting, but we got the freedom to do that. And I'm blessed that that he's not the only one. I've got people in this church who have that freedom, who I, have built that relationship with.
Pastor Greg:I've got people in my personal life who have that freedom and they got the opportunity. You see me if they see me stepping out of whatever. Stepping out of line with the gospel, stepping out of line with scripture, preaching something that's not appropriate, they have the opportunity to call me out. And I'm not going to resent it. I appreciate that.
Pastor Greg:Do you have someone in your life who can do that? Paul is calling the Galatians to repentance, and they are beginning to look at him like he is now the enemy. He's coming to them in grace. They don't like it. He says, am I now your enemy?
Pastor Greg:Verse 19, he says, oh my dear children, I feel as if I'm going through labor pains for you again. They will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. You do you hear the burden Paul has in that? I'm in labor pains for you. I just want to see you be what God's called you to be.
Pastor Greg:Look at what he says. What is being formed in them? He he doesn't call them to a better behavior. He doesn't call them to fix their doctrine. He says until Christ is fully developed in you.
Pastor Greg:That that's my prayer for you, church, that you would see Christ fully developed in you. And it's not something you accomplish. It's not something you can do by keeping a set of rules or doing a certain set of things. It is happening in you right now. But here here is the truth.
Pastor Greg:You're being formed by something. All of us are formed by something. What are you being formed by? What is forming you right now? When we submit to Christ, we're formed by the spirit.
Pastor Greg:When we submit to doctrinal teaching, we are formed through the word of God. When we submit to other brothers and sisters in Christ, we are formed through those relationships, through that encouragement to be more and more like Jesus. But when we don't, you're formed by the things of this world. What are you being formed by? You're formed by what you're putting into your head, through your eyes, through your ears, through the relationships that you have.
Pastor Greg:What are you being formed by? Are you being formed by things that are of the spirit or are you being formed by things that are of the world? What are you being formed by? Is it drawing you closer to Christ or is it pushing you further from Christ? What are you being formed by?
Pastor Greg:Is it Christ or is it the world or maybe it's some religious system that you built, some set of rules that you think you have to keep in order to have a relationship with Christ and earn his approval. What are you being formed by? What are you trying to maintain? What is forming you? Galatians four twenty one, Paul says this, he says tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says?
Pastor Greg:He calls them out right there, you want to live under this way, do you even know what the law is? He says. Now, what's that mean for us? Clearly, we don't want to live under the law. None of us want to go back to those old Jewish ways, but are you creating your own set of rules and laws?
Pastor Greg:Are you going back to the ways of the world that you were? He says, do you even know what the law is? Do you know what the law says? Verse 22, the scriptures say that Abraham had two sons. One from his slave wife, one from his freeborn wife.
Pastor Greg:The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God's promise. The son of the freeborn wife was born as God's own fulfillment of His promise. These two women serve as an illustration of God's two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. And now, Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia because she and her children live in slavery to the law.
Pastor Greg:The other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman and she is our mother. As Isaiah said, rejoice, oh childless woman, you who have never given birth. Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor for the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband. And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise just like Isaac.
Pastor Greg:But you're now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the spirit. But what do the scriptures say about that? Get rid of the slave and her son for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman's son. So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, we are children of the free woman. There's a lot in that section of scripture.
Pastor Greg:But let's just kinda kinda boil it down a little bit. Sarah. Sarah did the math. She saw. They're supposed to be a child.
Pastor Greg:It ain't coming. So she took matters into her own hands. She said, well, I have this servant here. She can have the child through Abraham. This is reasonable in her day.
Pastor Greg:It was actually a competent way to make this decision and it was actually the obvious play. So she did it. She took things into her own hands and she went to Abraham and said, take Hagar. Have a child with her that will fulfill the promise. And Ishmael is born.
Pastor Greg:Ishmael, healthy baby, Abraham loved Ishmael. It's his son. Then another son comes, and this son comes when Abraham and Sarah, they're beyond being able to have children, not just beyond it but they can't do anything. They can't contribute whatever to this, and that son is the line of the promise. You see, the second child comes from the line of the promise and the flesh, the flesh could have nothing to do with it.
Pastor Greg:They could not do it on their own. They could not take it into their own hands. Now, as Paul writes this, Jewish readers at the time, they would have looked at this and they they would have expected Hagar. Hagar is the outsider. She's the one that that lines up with with the sinful things Paul's talking about.
Pastor Greg:Sarah, she's with us. Sarah's with Israel. But Paul, he flips it. He says the men who are arguing the hardest about keeping the law, who are saying you've got to put all these things in to make you acceptable to God, they're in Ishmael's line. Why does he say that?
Pastor Greg:Because the descendants of the promise were never meant to be established by the flesh. It was only by God's promise. Ishmael, Ishmael came by the flesh. Isaac came through the promise. And here is what we need to understand.
Pastor Greg:The flesh produces something. Always. Whatever systems we have in place, it produces something. It just can't produce what god promised. So, we build systems ways that help us keep our faith.
Pastor Greg:Some of you right now, you you struggle with with certain sins and you got an accountability app on your phone to keep you from looking at things you don't need to look at. Some of you, you struggle with money so you live by a budget. Some of you, you've got this plan you built up so that you wouldn't fall off the rails just like you did last time when you blew your life up. So, you've got these guardrails in place or maybe it's that that rule that you've set there and you've never once broken the rule. And here's the problem, every system that you built, it worked for a while.
Pastor Greg:It kept you away from those things, and that's the problem because that wasn't God's design for you. His design, if we flip over to chapter five verse one, so Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. Freedom was the design. Christ set us free so that we could be free.
Pastor Greg:Freedom was the goal the whole time, to be set free from this law that is just a shackle. But most of us, it's not about the laws. It's really about what boundary I can push. How far is too far? What can I get away with?
Pastor Greg:How far can I go and still be a Christian? For us, it's not about circumcision, it's about temptations. And the temptation shackle us just like the law does. Christ has set you free. Paul doesn't say make yourself better.
Pastor Greg:Paul doesn't say work harder. Paul doesn't say build a better system. He says, stay free. How do you stay free? Stay in Christ.
Pastor Greg:The chains off. The only thing is for you to refuse to pick that back up again whether it's a legalistic system or a temptation, don't pick up the ways of this world again. Stay in Christ. Stay free. The right response isn't to develop some sort of new practice.
Pastor Greg:It's to cut out the false ones that you think are gonna give you freedom, that you think are gonna give you purpose, and that destroy you in the end. God wired me as a entrepreneur, so to speak. Sometimes a good one, sometimes a terrible one. I've been on both ends. I've done things that were successful in my past.
Pastor Greg:I've done things that were a total disaster in my past. We will not discuss either of this. The root of it, though, as I think back on it. Was really kind of two things I wanted to prove I could do it. And I wanted to get a little money, you know what I'm saying?
Pastor Greg:Build a little wealth, build a little comfortableness, a little freedom in there financially. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. Maybe god's designed you in those ways. The the problem isn't that desire. The problem is when it would get its hooks into me, was all consuming.
Pastor Greg:Everything was driving towards how is this one going to be successful or how can I fix it because it's not successful? All consuming. Ran in my head all day long. Conversations with my wife would revolve around those kind of things. It touched everything and Christ freed me from it.
Pastor Greg:It. I don't have to prove myself. He he didn't kill the wiring. I'm still designed that way. That's why I planted a church.
Pastor Greg:God called me. He gave me this gifting to start things, and he used it to plant a church. He took it and he pointed it back to what he wanted me to do. He gave me a purpose in it and he used me for it. But I'll be honest, I still feel the pull sometimes.
Pastor Greg:I've got all kinds of things rattling around up here that I'd like to try sometime in the future. Not I mean, this is what I love. God has given me a heart for this church. But there's some things I'd like to try on the side, maybe. See how it goes.
Pastor Greg:It's not to prove myself anymore. It's because I still I just enjoy that. Christ has given me everything I need. He set me free from trying to do it myself. He's given me a church I love to pastor, and I'm not telling you I got this all figured out.
Pastor Greg:I don't. I still struggle with the pull sometimes. Still standing. God's still using me. God's still, pouring into me and changing me, forming Christ fully in me.
Pastor Greg:Don't go back. Christ isn't done. Don't go back to those old ways. They're not worth it. Don't go back to those old temptations.
Pastor Greg:They're not worth it. Don't go back to trying to earn something from the Lord. He already earned it. Lay down the chains. Stop picking them up.
Pastor Greg:You're not shackled to him anymore. I know that some of you, some of you've never been set free. For some reason, you just won't let go. You've never experienced freedom in Christ. You've never surrendered your life to Christ.
Pastor Greg:Touch you this morning. Would you listen to the draw of the Holy Spirit? Scripture's clear. Do you believe in your heart that Christ Jesus is Lord? Confess with your mouth that he is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.
Pastor Greg:It says you will be saved. And it's not just some mental belief, it is I believe this with everything I am and I surrender to him as Lord. You will be saved. You can do it right now. I want to be up here while we sing here in just a moment.
Pastor Greg:Please come talk to me or grab me after after we're done. What do you have to do in the meantime? Nothing. Believe and surrender. That's it.
Pastor Greg:He's done it all. Jesus plus nothing is everything. I'm gonna ask the band to come back up, and we're gonna close with a time of prayer. And if you this morning, if the Lord is drawing you into a relationship with himself, then come find me. Don't wait.
Pastor Greg:Come grab me as soon as soon as we start singing. Come grab me. Many of you in this room, you are followers of Jesus and you keep picking up the chains. Maybe it's legalism and maybe it's temptation. Whatever it is, stop looking for your hope and your purpose and something else.
Pastor Greg:It is only in Jesus. If you look anywhere else, you will find it temporarily, and then you will find destruction. Stop picking up the chains. If you bow your heads, I want you to pray, and here's how I want you to pray. First, Lord, what am I tempted to turn back to?
Pastor Greg:Would you reveal it to me, God? What what is drawing me back to pick up those chains? Is there a scorecard I'm trying to keep so that I'm alright with you? Is there an old sin that I just want to pick back up? What is it, Lord?
Pastor Greg:As the Lord reveals that to you, repent of it. Then ask the Lord, Who do I have in my life that I trust to call me into repentance? Do you have that person or that group of people? If you don't, ask the Lord to give it to you. Who can call you to repent?
Pastor Greg:Ask the Lord to help you let go of your pride and give somebody permission. And then ask the Lord this, what is forming me right now? Am I letting the Holy Spirit form me? Am I letting the word of God form me? Or am I letting the world form me?
Pastor Greg:Be honest with yourself. What is forming you right now? Father in heaven, we love you and we thank you for your grace. Lord, we all fall into to these cycles where we go back to keeping score, being legalistic, or giving back into temptation. Lord, I pray that you will reveal to every single one of us right now, whatever it is we're trying to pick back up.
Pastor Greg:Lord, I pray that you would put someone in all of our lives who we can trust who is godly, who is doing it not out of any sort of resentment or any sort of pointing fingers, but God who we can trust to call us to repentance. I pray, Lord, that you would show us if we're being formed by things of this world, God, convict us of it. Help us to repent of those things, to drop those things, and to seek to be formed by the Spirit in us through your word, through your people. Lord, I pray for everyone in this room, those who know Christ as their savior, Lord. I pray that Christ would be fully formed in us, that we would continue seeking your face and knowing that is the only path to freedom.
Pastor Greg:But you set us free from the shackles of legalism and the shackles of sin. God, I pray for those who maybe have never met you. They don't know you as their savior. Lord, right now would you give them the courage to just ask the question, what must I do to be saved? To talk to somebody they trust.
Pastor Greg:Give them the courage to say yes to Jesus today. Whoever you lead this morning, give us the courage to respond. In Jesus' name, amen.