Pastor Ben continued the current series by preaching from Galatians 3:14-29 and the promise that we have. There is a lot here and let’s wrestle with the idea of law and the promise that God gave us. My first observation is that the isn’t useless. Not only does the law show us the need for a Savior, but it also sets up some guard rails. Just as good parents create good rules or laws for their children, God does the same for us. These rules are not suppose to be downers, but it gives us freedom and joy. These rules lets us know what the expectations are and how we shall live. In essence it takes the guessing game out of life and are relationship with God and others. How much better do are relationships or jobs go when we know what those expectations are and when we are held accountable to those expectation and we know what to do. 

  Now there can be to many rules, and this often leads to legalism. It means that our salvation and relationships are based on what we do or don’t do.  We can either crumble under too many rules or we can be reminded of the two core rules of loving others as ourselves and to love God with everything we have and letting our life be dictated by that. So my question is preventing us from loving God and others with all we have?

  The question that Pastor Ben asked and bears repeating “does the law cancel out the Promise of God?” The answer to the question is an emphatic no because not only did God make a promise with us, but He also made a covenant with us. If we go back and read Genesis 15, this where God makes His covenant with Abraham and that his descendants will be in the number of the stars in the sky. What seals the covenant is that God used a torch to do between the animals that were sacrificed to seal the deal. The covenant means that God will hold up His end of the deal and that we will be His people and He our God. So, what does it mean to covenant with God?

  The covenant that God made with Abraham is incomplete because the law points out that we are sinners and has no way to rectify it. This means that Jesus is the completion of the covenant. His sacrifice is what allows our sin to be forgiven and for us to be in full relationship with God. This only happens if we take this free gift and apply it to our lives. This is where true freedom comes in, because we didn’t have to earn our salvation or Gods love because God gives it freely. True freedom is a response not out of force or obligation, but because we want to and it is us loving God freely and obeying God willingly because what He has done in and through us. This reminds me of the famous line from the movie Braveheart with Mel Gibson. The quote goes, “they may be able to take our lives, but they will never take our freedom.” So here is a question to ponder, what is the difference between doing something out of obligation and doing something out of freedom and our own free will?  My challenge for us this week is loving others as God has loves us and loving God with everything we have to the point it changes what we do and who we are. 

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead