Bible Passage: Galatians 5:1-6
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: October 30, 2022

Bulletin October 30, 2022

Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to video record this service. Our apologies. The printed sermon is below.

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Our text this morning is from the book of Galatians.  I don’t know how much you know about Galatians, but Martin Luther LOVED the book of Galatians!  Martin Luther was that German monk who nailed the 95 Theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany.  That event is considered the start of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.  That Martin Luther LOVED Galatians.  In fact, Luther once said this about Galatians:  “The Epistle to the Galatians is my dear epistle.  I have wed myself to it.  It is my Katie.”  Katie was Luther’s wife!  He actually compared Galatians to his wife!

Perhaps we will better appreciate Luther’s love for this letter if we step back and remember where Luther was coming from.  Martin Luther had grown up being afraid of God.  Jesus was scary to Luther.  Luther thought he needed to make God like him.  So he tried very hard.  He tried to keep God’s laws and he tried to obey all the rules of the church.  He even went “above and beyond” and took the special vows of a monk.  He did all this because he was a slave – a slave to fear, a slave to sin, a slave to works, a slave to a tortured conscience.

That is why Galatians became so dear to him.  In Galatians Jesus is not presented as scary, but as Savior!  In Galatians, Jesus does not make us slaves, he makes us free!  And if you ever lived in slavery the way Luther did, you’d “marry” the book of Galatians, too.

The good news of Galatians isn’t just the stuff of a history lesson.  It is the living, active, powerful news that still forms and re-forms the free people of God.  It is still the good news we all need to hear.  The news that in Christ we are Slaves No More…and Never Again!

To fully appreciate the message of our text, we need to review just a little more history – the history of the Galatians.  The apostle Paul had done mission work in the region of Galatia on his 1st missionary journey.  Maybe you recall hearing the names of some of the Galatian cities where Paul proclaimed Jesus:  Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe.

All these churches got off to a good start.  But then something happened.  After Paul moved on, some “influencers” known as Judaizers came to these new congregations.  They told the Galatians, “Trust in Jesus is good, as Paul said.  But he left out an important part!  You need to trust Jesus and you guys need to be circumcised.  You see, circumcision is the ancient mark of the covenant.  Can’t get into heaven without it.  Make an appointment with your local mo-hel [person who performs circumcisions] today!”  The Judaizers were trying to enslave the Galatians to laws and works they said were necessary for their salvation.  Nothing would make Paul’s blood boil faster or hotter than such a thing!

This is why Paul writes the words of our text:  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (v. 1)  Christ has set us free.  Those words speak of the blessed result of Jesus’ death on the cross.  Because Jesus died, because Jesus died for your sins, you are free.  You are free from the guilt of your sin.  And because you are free from the guilt of your sin, you are free from the punishment it deserves.  You don’t have to live in a monastery and beat yourself half to death and abuse your body to punish yourself for your sins!  Jesus was punished for your sins.  Because you are free from sin’s condemnation, you are free from eternal death and hell and Satan’s accusations.  Everywhere you turn, in Christ you are free!  And because Jesus did it all, you are free from trying to scratch and claw your way to heaven’s gate by your own works.  Christ has set us free.  We are slaves no more!

But let’s not miss the first part of that sentence.  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Christ set you free so that you can be…FREE!  Jesus isn’t just walking you across the prison yard from one cell block to another.  He set you free so that you will remain FREE!

The devil hates the freedom you have in Christ.  He wants you to be a slave.  To be a slave to sin, and guilt, and fear, and his own hellish influences.  Understanding the constant threats to our freedom, Paul exhorts:  Stand firm, then, and do not allow anyone to put the yoke of slavery on you again. (v. 1) For the Galatians the threat came from the Judaizers who said salvation was Jesus AND circumcision.

Friends, there is never an “and” where your salvation is concerned.  It is never, “Jesus died for me…AND I was in church every Sunday!”  It is never, “Jesus died for me, AND I was a member of that church since it started!”  It is never, “Jesus died for me, AND I tried to be a good person.”  There is never an “and”!  There is only, “Jesus died for me.”

I once heard a preacher on the radio quote John 3:16 this way: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him and does the will of God will never perish but have eternal life.”  I wanted to jump into the radio!  With his little addition of “and does the will of God” he overthrew all the comfort of that verse!  We can add nothing to what Jesus has done.  In fact, if we try to add anything, we lose EVERYTHING.

Paul tells the Galatians that if they wince and undergo circumcision, then they are obligated to keep all the Old Testament laws.  Eating kosher, observing Yom Kippur and Passover and Tabernacles.  All of it!  If obedience to one law is necessary for salvation, then obedience to ALL is necessary.  And if circumcision and eating kosher will get you to heaven, then what do you need Jesus for?  Paul says:  You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law are completely separated from Christ.  You have fallen from grace. Indeed, through the Spirit, we by faith are eagerly waiting for the sure hope of righteousness. (v. 4-5)

Paul uses those two blessed words we Lutherans love:  grace and faith.  We do not want to take even an eyedropper of our works and mix it in with grace and faith, for if we do we lose grace and faith and have only works.  And freedom is gone.  It’s back to work…and slavery.  To that we say, in Christ we say, “Never again!”

In Christ we are slaves no more and never again!  This is the truth that set Luther free.  This is the truth that fueled the Reformation.  This is the truth Luther loved and “married.”  And when the history is written about our generation, may it be said that we were people who were married to this truth as well.  God grant it, for Jesus’ sake!

Amen.