Reflexion, A Spiritual Community

Years ago, I was engaged in a conversation with two friends

In making a point, one of them quoted a famous evangelist,
“People change–but not that much”
- okay–so I reacted immediately, but kept my mouth shut
• this same person stood in front of large crowds,
◦ promising them that Jesus would transform their lives
◦ that in Christ, they would become a new creation
• that is the essence of the evangelical mess...

Since it has been a couple of weeks, let me remind you . . .

The book of Hosea is a love story – but not like a romance novel
- it was never meant to entertain
• God’s message came to Israel in a graphic illustration,
◦ played out in the life of his prophet
• first, God told Hosea to marry a prostitute
◦ the point was to give Israel a living re-enactment of
◦ their history with God – deserting him for another...

 If what I read doesn’t match your Bible, there are two reasons

First, I’m reading from Robert Alter’s translation of the Old Testament
– so obviously that is different from other standard translations
• but another reason is that Alter worked from the Hebrew Bible,
◦ and in that version, chapter 1 has only nine verses
◦ in our English Bibles there are eleven verses in chapter 1
• so those two verses missing in c...

Before we began Galatians, I asked for recommendations as to where in scripture to go next

A trusted friend suggested we venture through the minor prophets
- “minor” because they are relatively short compared to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel
• I hesitated for awhile, then procrastinated, finally hoping to dodge The Dozen prophets at the end of the Hebrew Scriptures
• even though the longest of them is only fourteen chapt...

The Galatians were coming to the end of Paul’s letter,

And suddenly the handwriting was different
– instead of the well-formed characters of a professional scribe,
• the printed letters were large and scribbled
◦ this shift was certain to grab their attention
◦ like changing the “font” of a sentence in a document to all upper case or bold print
• but why did Paul insist on writing this last bit with his “own hand...

Years ago, and in another life, I had a feisty personal assistant

Although she is genuinely compassionate, she had a favorite line: “Get over yourself”
- I think that held her together through a hard and complicated season of her life
• she said it to herself, to he friends, to people who called the church office for help,
◦ and more than once she said it to me–her boss
• but she never said it when I didn’t need to h...

Paul has chased a serious concern through his entire letter

So it is not surprising that near the end, he would present an the ultimate challenge of the Christian life
- in verse 16 Paul begins last segment of his central message
• what follows in chapter 6 is his concluding remarks and directions
- what we have in verses 16-25 is this chunk of scripture that tracks one theme
• Paul makes this clear by marking where ...

 I assume most of us are familiar with The Message Bible

One of the more popular versions, and easiest to understand
– Eugene Peterson did not set out to write a new translation
• beginning in early 1980’s the U.S. economy went into a slump and mortgage interest rates were rapidly climbing
◦ people in his church were feeling the pinch, and reacting in the same way as people in town
Peterson, “Paranoia infected the sm...

If you ever decide to read the Bible all the way through,

At some point, you will find yourself struggling to understand it
– even if you’ve been a believer for a long time and read it before (or read a kiddie version)
• a passage will confuse you, trouble, or just seem wrong
◦ I’m fortunate to have many helpful resources
• however, when even those study aids leave me with questions
◦ then I resort to creative th...

For the last month or two, I’ve noticed a trend
– people are using a “Jesus image” in a variety of video posts
• like a famous celebrity, he’s immediately recognizable
◦ there’s the trademark long hair and beard, the robe, and sandals
◦ his image is used to promote an ideal, or to criticize, ridicule, or make fun of something
• three observations immediately come to mind:
◦ first, the image is used for propa...

In the first half of this chapter, Paul scolded the Galatians

You know how sometimes, as a parent,
- when you're very worried about your child–maybe they did not arrive home on time
• when they finally show up, your worry turns to anger
◦ if ever our lectures were rougher than they needed to be,
◦ it was because we had agonized over their safety
• I think that's a little piece of what is happening here<...

Do I need to mention that Paul does not try to hide his frustration with the Galatians?

To our ears, his language--"foolish" and "Who has bewitched you?" sounds offensive
- later on he will say, if they’ve truly taken this wrong path,
“You are severed from Christ . . . you have fallen away from grace” (Gal. 5:4)
• he doesn’t mince words, because he’s terrified for their sake
◦ he wants to make the...

Paul has shared with the Galatians a brief autobiography

He completed it with a story about his run-in with Peter
- when Peter first came to the Gentile church in Antioch,
• he allowed the wall between Jews and Gentiles to collapse
◦ but when rigid and dogmatic believers arrived from Judea,
◦ he broke away from close contact with Gentile believers
• how sad, when a person withdraws from generous gestures,
◦ o...

If you remember from last week, Paul is telling his story

Now, at the end of his autobiography he mentions Peter (Cephas)
– this is the only record of them ever having a personal encounter
• as Paul approaches the primary purpose of his letter
• he uses this story to illustrate his central point
– the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem recognized
the difference between his ministry and Peter’s
“they saw that ...

Last week we ventured into Paul’s letter to the Galatians

Right away we learned that he was not pleased with these Christians
- he accused them of deserting Jesus for “another gospel”
• but he hasn’t defined that other gospel specifically
• that's what he does in the next section of the letter that we will cover today
- beginning in verse 11, Paul writes a brief autobiography
• he does this because his perso...

I’m going to make this simple, and show you what I see in the introduction to this letter

First, there’s something different about the way it begins
- in Paul's usual typical greetings he identifies himself, his title, and whoever else is with him
• then, he greets and blesses his readers with, “grace and peace”
• but in this letter, before he mentions his companions, he takes a detour
◦ he turns this simple gre...

For a few weeks we’ve been bouncing around in Scriptures

Next week we’ll settle into something more consistent,
- and I’ve chosen to hike through Paul’s letter to the Galatians
• but not today–
• my talk this morning will be another random meditation
- what I will say about this letter,
• Paul was not at all pleased with the churches in the region of Galatia
◦ he had introduced them to a life in God through J...

Pastor Allen was a preacher in Small Town, U.S.A. Relaxing at home one evening he settled into his recliner, pushed his reading glasses up to the bridge of his nose, and reached over to his side-table for something to take his mind off of work. He could have picked up one of the magazines lying there, or a novel with a bookmark where he left off, or if all else failed the TV remote.

He accidently grabbed his Bible.
No...