Ep 67 Decoding Galatians 5:1-12: The Complexities of Freedom in Christ

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello and welcome to Real Bible Stories.
Join us as we deep dive intothe historic, religious,
cultural, political andemotional context surrounding
the real lives of real people inthe Bible and the stories we've
all grown to life.
Hello and welcome to Real BibleStories.

(00:27):
And if this is not your firsttime, then welcome back to Real
Bible Stories, so if you've beena long-time listener.
We traditionally have at leastthree people in the room when we
go through and do an episode ofReal Bible Stories, but my wife
, Selena, is on a trip to Spainwith her family and she is just

(00:48):
having the time of her life,living the high life.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
She's been sending us the pictures, yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Oh, the other voice you hear before we get too far
into it, is Pastor Ryan Brown.
Hello, I'm the chief instructoron this podcast.
I had to change up the openingbecause I used to have my flow
of going from like me, to mywife, to Ryan.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
What do we do?

Speaker 1 (01:07):
It's like well, that's all jacked up.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Now.
We're going to have to let thespirit lead the intro Exactly,
and here we are, here we are.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
So she's over there enjoying Spain.
We miss you, Selena.
Yeah, we miss you.
The desert miss you.
Come back to the sand, leavethe beautiful beaches that they
have out there.
Apparently, it's super humidand hot.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Like she said.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
She said it feels hotter than it does in Tonette
Poms which I found it sane.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
I knew it was hot, I didn't know it was humid, but
yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
So the temperature is about the same.
It's like mid 90s, but becauseit's like 80% humidity, she said
it feels worse.
That's true, yeah, but um, hey,it is what it is.
So we are still going throughthe book of Galatians.
If you've been tracking with us, then we are about five or six
weeks in at this point.
So we're about a month and ahalf through this series and, lo

(01:55):
and behold, we may be onchapter five out of six chapters
, but we still got a couple moreepisodes in the tank as we deep
dive into this book here.
So I'm don't don't, don't thinkwe're almost done here with you
, and for those that are justtuning in, I really recommend
you go to the beginning of thisseries of Galatians and start

(02:17):
with Decoding Galatians, thefirst episode in that series.
If not, you can stay and hangout with us, but just understand
that.
Um, if you don't get what'sgoing on, I warned you upfront.
You know it's up to you.
You do you boo boo.
But uh, for Ryan, where are wegoing to start off?
You want to start with thereading or some opening comments
?

Speaker 3 (02:34):
I'll do some opening.
Well, first I just have to sayI've been meaning to tell you
this for weeks.
I love the way you sayGalatians, Galatians.
Yeah, I just love it, it's justlike so proper, it's just
proper, it's just.
I have a little accent with it,but you're just very Galatian,
okay.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Um thank you.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, so uh, what we're going to be into tonight
is um really guess what youwould call the conclusion of the
first set of Paul's guess,argument and purpose of the
letter Um?
If you remember, last week hewent to kind of this whole
theological treatise of um boththe law, slavery and then

(03:14):
ultimately using um, the storyof um Hagar and Sarah um to lead
the Galatian church into whathe wants them to ultimately do,
which is kick this teacher who'scoming behind them, undermining
his gospel and kick them out,right.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Um, so tonight is actually very controversial.
Um when, when you think, whenyou think about it, it's like
that's not often where no, andespecially within as Galatians
has been all about unity rightUnity with everything.
And he says but you need tocompromise right, but then at
the point where you can'tcompromise, you must not
compromise Right.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
And unity at what costs?
And he said it's better to bedivided in freedom than united
in slavery, right?
And so this is kind of thecapstone to the first piece.
So, if I could summarize itthis way go, you know, galatians
, chapter one, through five.
Verse 12, which is what we'reum, where we're going to end
tonight is, um, that whole set.

(04:11):
Is really Paul getting everybody?
This is the proper way to thinkabout the gospel, the proper
way to think about the kingdom,the proper way to think about
Abraham's family who receivesthe inheritance, right?
So those first really fivechapters are always through.
Verse 12 of chapter five isPaul getting them the proper way

(04:31):
to think right, everythingafter that kind of starts.
This new set where he says okay, now that you're thinking
properly, this is how you needto live, so you got to be able
to.
I would say the first piece ofthis is you need to know you
need to be thinking properlybefore you can start living
properly.
Yeah, because if you're notthinking right it's going to
manifest and not living right.

(04:52):
And I think I would actuallysay there's a lot of people I
love that.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
That's a great one liner.
We'll get that on a t-shirt foryou.
There you go, yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Cause I would say in the West I mean, there's so many
good people, you know, goodbelievers, good, um, faithful
people who you know love Jesusand want to serve him with all
their heart, right, but thenthen you're kind of watching the
way they behave or some of thethings they do or the things
that they're not doing right,and you're like like.
I see the zeal in you, but thenwhy is that zeal not translating

(05:22):
over into you know things thatyou were reading, right?
And on Sunday, Pastor David'sbeen going through the book of
James, right, and he's saying,hey, god wants you to be
religious, he just wants you tobe religious about the right
thing.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
And be religious for the right thing.
Yeah, his overall point wasthat, um, we're all religious
about something.
To be religious just meansyou're passionate about
something.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Right.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
And so to say that God doesn't want religion, god
wants relationship, is notactually the point.
God wants religion.
He wants you to be religiousand zealous and passionate about
him.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Right.
And he says you know thequoting pastor, david, you know.
He says you know, you've hearda lot of people say I don't you
know, I'm not in a religion, I'min a relationship.
And he says you've heard yourfriends say that.
You've seen that on bumperstickers and T shirts and on
Facebook, right next to theJesus fish.
You would not read that fromyour Bible, right?
Cause in the Bible it actuallysays no, he wants you to be
religious with that passion saidfastly proper religion right.

(06:15):
And he says with that properreligion.
This is in James, chapter one.
Um the latter end of chapterone, I want to say it's like
versus 17 through something.
Just go read later into yourBible.
But it.
But essentially, what he saysis good religion, one's religion
that leads to righteousness,leads into helping the widows

(06:36):
and the orphans in their time ofneed, um, living a life that is
, um, not stained, right.
It is a admirable moral life,right?
So James is kind of hitting atthe same thing, right?
The idea being, though, is thatwhy do so many people that you
see, have that zeal and passionfor Christ, the religion for for
Jesus, but it doesn't manifestto these other elements?

(06:59):
And I would say a lot of it hasto do is probably because it's
not that they're not trying tobe faithful and doing the right
thing, it's that they haven'tbeen thinking right.
They don't have proper thinkingabout the kingdom, the gospel
and what this really means.
So what Paul first does, itsays let me first tell you the
proper way to think, and becausenow you're thinking properly

(07:21):
about this, now let's talk aboutthe proper way to live, right?
So, first thinking properlyabout the law, thinking about
the proper way to think aboutcircumcision and all those
elements, right, yeah, but nowreally thinking about freedom,
and how do I go properly live inthat freedom, right?

Speaker 1 (07:37):
I do want to note that, like if what Ryan's going
through right now seems like, ohmy gosh, he's a lot of big
points he's bringing up, it'slike, well, we deep dived into
it in the series.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
So right, there's another point Go back, go back.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Make sure you listen up and read, you know, don't
oversimplify.
Get that good in depthknowledge.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
The next thing I would say before we read the
passage.
For tonight I wouldn't callthis section a poem, but this is
really a piece of the letterwhere you really see Paul's
personality.
He gets like very artistic andcreative in his writing.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
It's really cool.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
So this whole, like these 12 verses, is like one
massive pun.
Well, there's multiple puns init.
It concludes with, like thistriple pun, which is really
interesting.
But Paul's mind he is playingoff of a lot of things that are
very interesting.
So it's not a poem but it's.
But he took some very he took avery artistic approach to

(08:35):
concluding this section of hisletter um Engolations, and we'll
dive into that and do time here.
But, um, you know, you know how, like when you there's certain
authors right, you read them,you're like, oh, I don't know
who that is.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
You could just read any extra how the quotes are
written out, right you just?

Speaker 3 (08:52):
certain personalities and styles come out.
Paul has this personality ofpuns.
The entire book of Philemon isone massive pun, um.
When he talks about you know,uh, onissimus is um is my heart.
And then he says you know, um,I send my heart to you.
If um return my heart to me,right?

(09:13):
So he's doing like these doublemeanings, where he's saying like
he's making a theological pointwhile also making a very
practical, like hey, returnonissimus to me.
Yeah Right, Um he.
So.
He does that a lot in the bookof Philemon.
He does it here in this sectiontoo, which is going to be kind
of cool.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
All right, I love it.
So, if you're following along,uh, we are reading from chapter
five versus one through 12, andI'm reading the NIV version for
this.
So it is for freedom thatcrisis set us free.
Stand firm, then, and do notlet yourselves be bear, be
burdened again by a yoke ofslavery.

(09:48):
Mark my words.
I, paul, tell you that if youlet yourselves be circumcised,
christ will be of no value toyou at all.
Again, I declare to every manwho lets himself be circumcised
that he is obligated to obey thewhole law.
You who are trying to bejustified by the law have been

(10:08):
alienated from Christ.
You have fallen away from grace.
For, though the spirit weeagerly await by faith and
righteousness, for which we hopefor in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision nor uncircumcisionhas any value.
The only thing that counts isfaith expressing itself through
love.
You are running a good race.

(10:29):
Who cut you?
Who cut in on you to keep youfrom obeying the truth?
That kind of persuasion doesnot come from one who calls you
A little yeast works through thewhole batch of dough.
I'm confident in the Lord thatyou will take no other view.
The one who is throwing youinto confusion, whoever that may

(10:49):
be, will have to pay thepenalty.
Brothers and sisters, if I amstill preaching circumcision,
why am I still being persecuted?
In that case, the offense ofthe cross has been abolished.
As for those agitators, I wishthey would go the whole way and
emasculate themselves.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
That's a fun one.
So again, proper way to thinkabout the law, slavery, and that
you are free in Christ right,we start talking about living in
Christ right and again, we'vetalked about this throughout and
we're not going to hit it.

(11:29):
We're going to hit it next week, but the dangers of freedom
right.
And Paul was very well aware of.
Well, if you're givingeverybody this freedom, then are
they just going to go losetheir minds and just be lost
into sin?
And he provides a rebuttal andan answer to that right.
But what he first wants toestablish, when he's concluding

(11:49):
here, is that all the thingsthat used to tie you down, the
things that you used to have towork for for that righteousness
to be quote unquote saved youknow, in a sense like to be
considered righteous, beingslave to the law being under the
law all of those things.
Being faithful.
That's all gone away.
It's been satisfied andfulfilled in Christ.
So you no longer have to befaithful to 613 commands, you

(12:13):
just have to be faithful toChrist right.
So you are freed.
You are freed from that, but itgoes a little bit more than
just that.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
You're not free to do whatever you want.
You're free to pursue Right.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
And we'll talk about that next week.
But my point is and I guess oneway you could use in terms of
like a synonym for this is whatwe would use as saved right, so
to say you've been freed, as away of saying you've been saved
right, so to be saved.
You know, that's not just apast tense thing.
We weren't just saved from hell, right, we're saved.

(12:46):
Currently, what Christ does ishe comes in and he saves us from
the idols, the power of theidols, the power of those powers
that keep control over us,right, and then in the future,
we also get saved from judgmentday, right.
So it's a past, present, futuresalvation.
It's not just a previous thing,right.
The same thing goes with freedom.

(13:06):
It's not that he just freed usthen.
We are free today and we willbe free tomorrow right.
So, as he gets going on thisright, so it was just, I guess,
starting verse one.
It says that it is for freedomthat Christ has set us free.
In other words, christ has setus free and we get it five words
, I know.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Christ has set us free.
I was like wait what you?
Already I didn't even pick theBible back up yet I'm putting it
back down.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
All right, what Christ has set us free, right.
But to what purpose?
He says he has set you free forthat freedom, right.
So there's almost this sense ofan argument that's being made
against Him, that he has freedus from, essentially,
consequence but not freed usfrom obligation.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
Interesting.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
And he's like no, it is for freedom that he sets you
free.
You were freed to be free.
You weren't freed to go intodifferent chains right.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
He doesn't rescue from this prison, just for you
to go into the other prisonright.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
You were freed for freedom.
You were freed from prison,being those idols and other
lesser gods that we put over us,and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Well, I mean, there's many things right that those
chains are and we're actuallygoing to talk about it a little
bit more here in a second Goodto go, but I want you to notice
it says it is for freedom thatChrist has set us free.
Right, this isn't somethingthat he's going to do.
It's not that he will set youfree, but he has already set you

(14:35):
free.
Yeah, right, this is a reality.
Okay, it is up to us whether wechoose to walk and be stand
fast in that freedom or to havethat freedom ahead of us, but
continuing to live in the chainsthat we were freed from.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
I think that a worthwhile question and I think
we're going to get to it is justwhat does it mean to be free?
Because I think of freedom inthe context of like America.
Freedom first, so all thoselike big things we talk about
with America.
But it's like America is anation of laws, under a
constitution, with arepresentative democracy and all

(15:14):
these things.
It's very clearly has astructure and has rules, but you
are free to act within theconfines of the law in a way.
But I know it's not like thatwith our faith, but it's like.
But that means that thedefinition of freedom here must
be slightly different.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
Well, let me ask you, let's just talk about it.
So what would you?
How would you define freedom?

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Freedom in general or freedom within the biblical
context?

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Just, in general, like in terms of the meaning of
the word and as it's appliedhere and how Paul is using it,
like where does your mind go?

Speaker 1 (15:50):
I interpret I guess, fundamental interpret freedom as
optional.
It's the ability to choose inthe first place, whether that so
, it's like you're free in oursociety to pursue a certain job,
you're free to pursue money,pursue your lusts, pursue for
your faith, you can pursue.

(16:10):
You can pursue being a criminaland do that as long as you want
.
You're free to pursue it, butyou're not free of the
consequences of those actions,whereas in some other society
you may not even have thefreedom to be able to choose to
do so.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
So, would you say, freedom would also not, would
include, then, being able to domake a choice, and whatever that
choice is, to be also free ofthe consequence.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Not free of the consequence.
I always tell my students sorry, I've told people this actually
for a long time.
I was like you can do anythingonce, anybody.
You can do anything once.
You, you, you can.
You can go to your boss, screamin their face directly and be
like I hate you, I hate thisplace, all this stuff.
I was like you can do that once, because then you're going to
be fired, you know.

(16:57):
So it's like you can, you cando anything once, but you have
to deal with the consequence ofthat actions, whether good or
bad.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
But?
But wouldn't freedom, though,be that I can do what I want,
but I don't have consequences todo what I want?

Speaker 1 (17:12):
I feel like that's what many people would people do
think that, yeah, I do too.
That's why I'm surprised thatthat there's consequences in
right.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Correct because I'm free to do this and I'm free of
the consequence.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
And I've never me personally, I guess I've never
considered freedom being free ofconsequence, because I
understand that we live, we liveinterrelationally, we like ISO
whatever you always gonna havean effect on the other people
around me.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
You decide you wanna go buy a bazooka and you're like
, okay, I am free to buy thatbazooka, but as soon as I buy
that bazooka, the FBI or ATF israiding my home.
Am I free to buy bazookas inthis country?
No Once.
No what I would say is thatfreedom to me is that you know I
can go in this particularabsurd case.

(18:04):
Right Is that if I had thefreedom to own a bazooka, I have
the freedom to go purchase itand I have the freedom to own it
without consequence.
No one's gonna be kicking in mydoor and sending me to prison.
Right, that is freedom to me.
Interesting Because if not, Imean I mean by that definition I
mean Soviet Union's free,china's free.

(18:24):
You know what I mean.
To me, it is like I have thefreedom in this country to say
what I want politically and notbe thrown in prison for it.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
Right freedom of speech and in some countries you
just don't have the freedom todo it Right you could post on
social media, but you're gonnaget thrown in prison.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
You don't have freedom of speech, right?
And I'm trying to frame thatright Because I think one of the
places-.
And.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
I'm glad we brought this up because, like right here
, my understanding, mydefinition of freedom is a
little bit different from yours.
But my ultimate question iswhat is Paul saying when he says
free in Christ?
Like?
What is he saying?

Speaker 3 (19:01):
So I would say it's probably more aligned to the
idea that you're not just freeto do it, but you're free of
consequence.
Right Now it gets a littlehairy, though, because does that
mean then, if I want to, youknow, go sleep around all I want
, I'm free to do that becauseChrist died for me?

(19:21):
Absolutely not, right?
Paul says absolutely not.
So what does that mean?
That I'm free in Christ?
If I'm free in Christ but I'mnot free to sin, then what am I
freed from, right?
Yeah, and I think the freedomin this context is not doing
whatever you want, right?
You know we're trying to gosatisfy every desire or

(19:43):
inclination you ever have right.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
You're free from trying to satisfy your own
desires, I guess, which is anunquenchable unending thing.
If you haven't figured that outabout yourself yet, your
desires are forever and unending, I think there's two things
with this.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
First, I think to Paul, paul's gonna build a point
out here, and a little moreparticularly starting next week,
when we start talking aboutwalking with the spirit.
But when you are pursuing Godand you have a heart for God,
when you have a heart for God,your heart also softens to the
things that God's heart soughtfor right.
So if God loves the poor andI'm loving, I'm pursuing God, I

(20:19):
then start to love the poor.
Right, it becomes an actualthing within me.
If I am pursuing and loving God, I am hating sin and I don't
have, in the sense, ininclination, a desire to be in
sin.
Not that you don't haveinclinations of desires like, oh
, I wanna go sin, but you don't-.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
You don't want to be in sin you don't have the desire
to.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
You don't have the desire to have the desire to sin
right Now, you still get thedesire sometimes that you hate
yourself for it.
You're like man, why am I sucha rotten person?
I don't wanna be that personright when before?
You're like oh, I wascompletely fine being that dude,
right.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
So to go to have your mind, and I'd honestly say,
more your heart, veer towards oh, I'm free in Christ, so I get
to go playing all this sin.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Well then, you've completely missed you missed the
point.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
The point your heart's not anchored on chasing
after Christ wholeheartedly.
Because freedom comes inmultiple ways.
One of the things is that sindoes have a deep grasp on us.
Right, you could see it asyoung as a toddler.
A toddler, you see immediatelythe sin that they possess.

(21:30):
Right, like, even in a toddler,like they carry these things and
you know, like I was justsaying, like there's times where
I don't wanna be that kind ofguy, but then I'm like man, I
can't believe.
I just thought that or I justsaid that or oh, absolutely,
absolutely.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
I just lost my temper .

Speaker 3 (21:44):
that way I don't wanna be that guy, but I lost my
temper Like how am I in thatsin right?

Speaker 1 (21:48):
So One of the things that and if you're in therapy,
you may have had this type ofconversation with your therapist
.
But I remember talking to mytherapist about some of the
inner thoughts and conversationsthat I have with myself, and
the therapist brought all thesestatistics basically trying to
make me feel like, hey,everything you're feeling is

(22:10):
normal.
And I told him I was like, okay, I understand that what I'm
feeling may be normal, but thatdoesn't mean that it's right,
like I don't want to think aboutwomen that way.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
I don't want to think about my wife that way I don't
wanna Once something justbecause something's normal
doesn't mean it's okay right,exactly, exactly.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
That's what I'm saying, that's scary.

Speaker 3 (22:31):
This is normal, You're right.
This is normal for everybodybeing in sin.
But that's abnormal, right?

Speaker 1 (22:36):
It is abnormal the fact that we're in this state
and that we're considering thissheer volume of brokenness.
Normal doesn't mean that it'sgood.
So just and that's kind of thedisagreement I have with the
therapist is like just becauseit's normal, just because it's
common, just because yourfriends, your family or whatever

(22:57):
may also be suffering with thesame thing, does not mean that
it is good and that the fruitsof that will be good.
So you have to.
That's why you have the spirit,that's why your heart, eyes,
mind are open and in thatpursuit you're gonna see.
You're gonna see that it's notgood.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
All right so let me finish this verse because it
says it is for freedom thatChrist has set us free.
Stand firm, then, and do notlet yourselves be burdened again
by a yoke of slavery right.
So here's a question for you,amran If you are unable to say
no to yourself, are you free?

Speaker 1 (23:31):
I am unable to say no to myself, or at least I have
to run for myself.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
No, no, no what I'm saying, though but you've been
able to get into battles towhere you have said no to
yourself.
You said the way I'm speakingto my wife or the way or I'm
looking at porn or I'm cursingat work or all these things,
that you're like man, I know,I'm saying it, I don't want to
be saying it and you activelywork and combat against it and
you're able to push against yourflesh right.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
You're able to be in combat against yourself you can
change yourself right, so youcan say no to yourself.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
If you're every inclination and desires for sin
and you can't say no to yourself, are you free from anything?

Speaker 1 (24:11):
You're changing your- .
I would say no, and I'll takethat a step further.
If you don't even know thatthere was another option, that's
the worst thing.
Well, that's the thing is thatso I will tell you, like me
personally, like I was so and Igrew up in the church, but I was
so blinded by lust and porn andstuff like that that I couldn't
even comprehend it not beinggood, even though I was brought

(24:34):
up being taught it wasn't good.
There was some shift thathappened at some point when I
was a teenager that blinded mefrom the fact that it was even
sin.
I didn't even notice that itwas bad in a way, and it's like
now and then I had to, like,relearn my faith, I had to
relearn my morals, all thatlater.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
I would say mine was in probably total rebellion, in
the sense that the first time Isaw and you just brought up porn
right I knew I shouldn't havebeen watching it.
And I knew the moment I startedwatching it why I shouldn't be
watching it.
Like I knew, like it wasn'tjust that I'm like, oh, I
shouldn't be doing this, butwhen I saw it I was like I know

(25:14):
why I'm not supposed to bewatching this.
I get it.
I get why they say don't dothis.
And yet I was like but this iskind of awesome.
Like I'm 14 years old, you knowwhat I mean.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Like so and you don't think it's as big of a deal at
the time and then, years later,you're like man.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
I'm enslaved to this.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
I can't break this right.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
And I think the point is that freedom in Christ does
not mean doing whatever you want.
It's actually giving you thefreedom to say no to yourself.
And it is breaking the chainsthat you bind to yourself that
you're saying I'm putting myselfto death.
I'm free of myself, I'm able totell myself no, because of not

(25:56):
just who I am in Christ and whatChrist has done for me, but my
heart, my passion, has beenredirected from me towards him,
so I'm freed.
To be free in Christ means tobe freed from self.
And if you can't say no toyourself, then you're not really
free at all.
Right, those are just differentchains.
What we mean by freedom.
We're like other peopleenslaving me, right, Like I'm

(26:18):
not gonna be a slave to Emranand I'm not gonna be a slave to
this end of the politicalspectrum, with this political
party telling me how I have tothink and what to do and what
pronouns to use and blah, blah,blah.
You right, we go down thoseroutes.
Right To us, that slavery.
But I think really the piecefor us is the enslavement of
ourselves, right?

(26:39):
Is we can't tell ourselves no.
Here's a good exercise, if you,because this was one of the
things I actually.
I remember when I taught thisBible study I encouraged people
to do.
I challenged them for a week tochoose something and learn to
tell yourself no.
Just learn to tell yourself noon something little, oh my gosh.

(27:02):
Remember.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
Something that doesn't matter.
You remember, a few weeks ago,Selina's like?

Speaker 2 (27:06):
Oh, coffee.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
Selina's like, my psychologist told me that I
probably have a lot of anxietybecause I'm drinking a lot of
coffee and if I stop drinkingcoffee that'll bring my blood
pressure down and all this stuffand I'll be fine.
And I love my wife, absolutelylove her, but she has been
drinking coffee since she waslike 14.
And she was like I'm gonna stopdrinking coffee.

(27:28):
And then the next day she drankcoffee and then kept trying to
start to stop drinking coffee.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Today's the day.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah exactly.
She's in Spain like drinkingwonderful, wonderful good.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
So that's like yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
And I was on the phone like aren't we supposed to
stop drinking coffee?
She's like I gave up.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah, well, we talked about, like we said, we can't
even obey the laws we giveourselves.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
Right, because we're so enslaved to ourselves and so
enslaved to the flesh.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
So you can talk yourself out of anything.

Speaker 3 (27:58):
But that's the point.
Right Like.
So my challenge would be foranybody like and you'll notice
how miserably you fail at thisRight.
So when I did this this weekwhen I taught it, we'd go to I
go to Starbucks like a lotduring the work week.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
Nice Because you need motivation Like the on-base one
.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
Yeah, because I just you know, you need motivation
and I was there and I waslooking at one of those cheese
danishes.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Oh no.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
And I was like you know, I don't need it.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
I don't need it, I don't want it, I definitely
don't need it.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
I remember what I taught at the Bible study.
That's fun for those that areinitiated.
Choose something.
Just learn to tell yourself no,right, I was like all right,
ryan, you're gonna tell yourself, no, this is the same week you
taught that.
Yes, I do my own exercise thatI challenge them with Right I'm
like no.
I'm gonna tell myself, no, Idon't need the cheese.
Danish Right Choose somethingthat is inconsequential.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Generally Right Like it wasn't a sin, like the double
chocolate brownie If you gotthe cheese danish right, but
just learn to tell yourself no.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Learn how, and you'll learn how.
Did you buy the cheese danish?
I sure did.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
That's my point.
You will learn how hard it isto tell yourself no.
If you learn how enslaved youare to yourself.
And my point was this is thatif you learn to tell yourself no
in the little things and thethings that don't matter, you'll
be much better prepared andequipped to tell yourself no on
the big things that do.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
I wanna also throw that throughout there.
That like, if you, when youbecome aware of how difficult it
is for you to tell yourself noand how you can talk yourself
out of almost anything, I wouldsay two things become pretty
apparent to you.
One, the importance ofrelationships, because it's if
you have someone helping to holdyou accountable, that external

(29:48):
validation that's there.
Someone's gonna check up on youand check in with you.
It helps a lot.
And then also, when you becomeaware of how fruitless it is to
try and, on your own, try andstop yourself from doing
anything or start doingsomething, you really start
realizing that you need to relyon the spirit.
I physically sometimes get outof this house without my wife.

(30:11):
Here I go to the church becauseit's like if I'm here by myself
I'm gonna be a problem.
You know, I physically justremove myself from being alone
by myself.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
It is a curious thing when you take it serious,
because I think a lot of peopleare in denial about how enslaved
to themselves they are.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
And we like to You're the number one priority in your
life.
Yeah, we like to puff ourselvesup to thinking we're better
than we are.
It's like okay, you thinkyou're in so much control?
Go tell yourself no.
Choose something little.
Hey, why don't you just stayoff Amazon for a week?
Tell yourself no.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
I've tried to uninstall the YouTube app on my
devices so many times over thelast couple of years and it took
years for me to get every othersocial media out.
But YouTube is that.
It's like man, but how am Igonna be entertained?
And it only lasts a couple ofdays and it's like all right,
and I install it without evenrealizing.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
But we are spoiled-.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Stupid little things like that.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
We are spoiled children to ourselves, yeah, and
so I challenge learn how totell yourself no in the little
things so you're better preparedto tell yourself no in the big
things.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
That actually do matter, that are consequential,
right?

Speaker 3 (31:22):
So let's keep going.
Verse two, verse two Mark mywords.
I, Paul, tell you that if youlet yourselves be circumcised,
christ will be of no value toyou at all, right?
So this is when we start seeingthe puns.
Okay, so we obviously see theterm circumcised there, right?
We know what circumcision is Ithink generally most people but

(31:44):
the Greek term here is per tee,oh gosh.
Per re-teemo, which meansgenerally circumcision, but it
more precisely means to be cutoff or cut around.
So that's what that wordactually means.
It means to cut off or cutaround.
Okay, and the reason I'mbringing that up is because
you're gonna see all the punshere in this text.
Just notice how many times, aswe go through this, how many

(32:06):
times Paul refers to cutting offor cutting around things.
Right?
So he's starting to use thisplay of words of circumcision.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
So, after his opening premise being talking about
circumcision and his fundamentalpoint being about the
fruitlessness of circumcision orof the law, at this point now
he's actually using the argumentas a joke to further his point.
As a joke, exactly as a joke.
What a genius.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
First used here right .
What a genius.
But the big piece out of thisverse here, right.
He says mark my words if youlet yourselves be circumcised,
now just substitute your thinghere, right?
We've talked about thenon-essential things, right?
Those non-essential hills wedie on.
Just place your thing thereright and replace it.

(32:55):
And notice what he says.
If that is there and elevatedthere, christ will be of no
value to you at all.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
And if you're elevating this non-essential
thing above Christ.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
Right, and he's not saying if you are circumcised
he's no value, right?
And?
He's saying that ifcircumcision is the entry point
for you into God's family, thenJesus is of no use.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
It's like if you're adding some additional rule
besides just the fact that Jesussaved you Whatever.
If you're saying that there'sany other condition and that
relies on you doing something,then you're missing the point.
You're missing the point.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
So in this context it's a course circumcision.
But let's say, say it's Sabbath, right, if you come up under
Sabbath like you have to do thatand he's a no doubt what is
yeah, in one sense.
What, what does Christ freed usfrom?
He's freed you fromcircumcision right in this
context.
He's also freed you from theShabbat and the holidays and the

(33:57):
food laws and you know, thefreedom to like, enjoy food with
people and not being sostressed and concerned.
But, what's touched, what oh?

Speaker 2 (34:07):
why is there a guest?
Why is there milk and?

Speaker 3 (34:08):
cheese here with meat I can't eat at this table.
I'm sorry I can't have dinnerwith you guys.
I would love to but I'm out thecut.
Fellowship here because this ison kosher Right.
He says no, you could go to thetable now and enjoy people
without that right.
Like you're freed from that.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Does that?
Does that make sense he?

Speaker 3 (34:25):
says if you think that is still Essential, right
then.
Christ has profited you nothing.
He's no value to you, gainnothing right.
Yes, you missed the point,right, if you think all these
things are essential.
If I can maybe put it this way,what is what this functionally
represents?
Is anything, or you knowsomething that represent, that

(34:47):
is represented, that Removesyour trust from Christ, and you
put it into that thing, right?
So so you're essentiallyputting your Faithfulness in
yourself or in this thingoutside of Christ right that
then once you do that that'swhat he's talking about crisis
of no use to you.
Then, right, if you have to relyon this other thing and we do

(35:09):
this with a lot of the crutchesin our life right, if you look
at bad, sinful habits or not, ornot even necessarily the moral
sins, but dependencies thatshouldn't exist, right, like you
brought up, you know coffee.
Yeah, that's a big thing for alot, that's a probably a big
thing for me.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, I mean, is a huge thing for you talked about
your you and your wife trying togive up coffee, for Was it 24?

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah, one day, fast yeah and with pounding headaches
right, I could just broke offNow.
I don't think that you have tohave coffee to enter the family
of God, right?
However, there are times whereI'm like I need coffee to
sustain me through this day, orGod would say, no, I sustain you
through the day.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
Oh, you know I'm saying so anything that you
place.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
You know past habits, traumas, dependencies, crutches
reframe that whole.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
Oh my god, I like that right, go back just rewind
30 seconds.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
You missed it.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
I guarantee you missed it.
Just rewind 30 seconds andlisten to it again.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
If you look at it this way, jesus died between two
thieves right None of them.
Neither of them could doanything.
They couldn't get baptized,they couldn't take Open or close
communion.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
They didn't have a chance to have an opinion and do
a single good work.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
Yeah, I already on the cross Is it okay to read
from a the Greek Torah, or is itonly Hebrew Torah Right?
Like different translations ofscripture, all they had Was the
ability to publicly professtheir faith in Christ and one of
them, that is the only thingthey could do.
One of them did, the other onedidn't right, two thieves Dying
behind beside Jesus, right, bothof them the same right, same

(36:45):
situation, same circumstances,same opportunity.
But one, it profited himparadise, the other one had
profited him nothing.
Yeah, right.
So the little things that welike to place there, right, like
if you're putting anythingthere, that's, that's stopping,
then that's taking your trustoutside of Christ.

(37:06):
Well, let me give anotherexample.
Right, many people use alcoholas a coping mechanism for past
trauma.
So essentially, you're sayingJesus has saved me from hell,
but he hasn't saved me from mytrauma.
Yeah so I still need thisalcohol.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Yeah.
I still need these drugs or Istill need, right, all these
guys amount of people thatmedicate to Not think through
and actually solve problems andthey're just like, well, it
hurts.
So I'm just going to take thismedication to Reprogram how my
brain works.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
I don't feel it.
This is what I need.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
I need it so that I can't, so I don't feel and it's
like well, maybe you need tofeel so you can actually grow
and move forward right, and it'sif you are so dependent on
alcohol.
Or any drugs or any substance,right if you're just using it as
an example.
Vice here right.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
Just use alcohol, for example.
If you are dependent on alcoholto get you through the weekend
and you're a professingChristian, christ has profited
you nothing.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
Yeah right.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
So let's keep reading , because he kind of I another?

Speaker 1 (38:09):
ah, I don't want to.
I don't want to take up toomuch more.
Okay, well, it's like to versethree.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
Again, I declare to every man who lets himself be
circumcised, right to be cut off, yes, that he is obligated to
obey the entire law.
Right, we've, we've hit this,you know, over and over right.
There's no such thing asobeying some of the law.
You've already talked aboutthis earlier in Galatians, I'm
not gonna write it too much here.
But if you think circumcisionis required, then all six

(38:37):
hundred thirteen commands arerequired.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
Right, the entire law is required.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
Could put it this way no amount of obedience can ever
make up for one act ofdisobedience.
Yeah, all sins are like 30racks in the escort Right so, if
I could give a an example, meand my wife were in Sedona last
week for our 15 year anniversary.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
Drive back in California.
That's Arizona, arizona, okay,that's why I don't know.
Beautiful place.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
Okay, my wife's a little maniac, I mean she.
I know we did a lot of hiking,quite Like I was the infantry
Marine and she's like what'sdoing that?
I'm like another seven miles, Igo my gosh.
I mean please, but they weregood hikes.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
My knees, they can't take it.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
They were a disability will never cover.
This had a great time, me mean.
Her both did not want to comeback, right, but so, anyways,
we're driving back, yeah and youknow there's like one road that
you're on for about 200 milesright and you know, you know you
kind of get like those littlecommunities on the road, like
you're the same cars Driving forthe same two hours on the same
stretch like the same similardestination.

(39:35):
Yeah, so you're like a littlecommunity, right.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
And it's like I know it is night with a meteor shower
.
Yeah, I think out to not Joshuatree.
I diverted from Joshua.
I can say how you made that.
I, we saw it.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
For everybody has context.
We had this big meteor showerin the high desert here last
night and I don't know whereeverybody came from, but it had
to be and this isn't really itwas probably about 50,000 people
.
Yeah all came up trying to getinto the park, and it was chaos
anyways.
Yeah, my point, though, is thatso we're in our little driving
community, right?
So I have this it's like thisKia behind me, so whenever I

(40:08):
would like switch lanes to passsomebody, you know, in the fast
lane, they would switch laneswith me.
Oh right, you just kind of dothis thing right.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
We were going practice.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
I mean generally the speed limit right, I within
reason, to where you're notgonna get pulled over right,
yeah.
And I'm talking for hours.
Right, we finally get on the 10, start going down the 10 and
they finally go.
I'm on the 10.
I don't know where they weregoing, but they got motivation.
They veer around me and boom,you know, they take off this Kia
.
Yeah this Kia All right you know, the 10s are kind of a fast

(40:38):
highway too.
Yeah, I was already goingprobably 75, so they're going
probably 85, right, and then,like I'm not joking, within
about five minutes Pew lights,they get pulled over.
Oh no, right now.
Did it matter now for the lasttwo hours that they were riding,
you know, with me on that roadthat we were doing the speed
limit.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Does it matter?
Do you think when?

Speaker 3 (40:57):
they got pulled over.
The driver of that car was likehey, officer, I know I broke
the law here.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
I know I was disobedient here.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
Here's the thing I'm a really good dad.
I'm a good husband.
For the last three hours ofthis drive, I've been obeying
the speed limit.
I just disobeyed at this onetime.
Does that matter?
I never hit my wife, not evenonce.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yeah does that matter ?

Speaker 3 (41:17):
to the highway patrol officer.
Not at all right Cuz not.
No amount of obedience can toother laws remove one act of
disobedience right.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Absolutely great, that's so anyone.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
If you're gonna get circumcised, you could be
obedient to that one command,but you got to be obedient to
all other 612 commands.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
If not, it doesn't matter your anecdotes are like
top tier today.
Good, good job.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
It must be the coffee .
All right, verse 4.
So you who are, who are tryingto be justified by the law, have
been alienated.
So term there for alienated isKatar Geho, which in the Greek
word means to be severed or cutaway from okay so here's another
pun right.
Essentially you are trying tobe justified by the law have
been severed from or cut awayfrom Christ Right cut away from

(42:08):
circumcised from Christ is asense.
You see the pun yeah, so you'retrying to be justified by the
law.
Have been alienated, you know,cut away from Circumcised from
Christ, you have fallen awayfrom grace.
Now here's a interesting thingwhen you use that, we hear this
phrase a lot oh, that personfell from grace.
You usually hear it in terms oflike politicians or, you know,

(42:33):
like celebrities right.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
Celebrities, more celebrities, yeah, but we assume
politicians have Right.
Yeah, yeah, we were apolitician.
Well, here's my point, thoughwhen we use that term.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
What does that usually in the context?

Speaker 1 (42:44):
mean implies that you were once within grace, I guess
but, but.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
But.
When we use that term, termlike oh you know, britney Spears
fell from grace, that assumesthat she did something insane,
right?
Yeah over the top Controlbonkers, right yeah.
Oh, she fell from grace.
That's the complete oppositeand improper use of that term
Interesting, especially asapplied to Paul.
To be in grace means itactually assumes sin to say to,

(43:13):
to, to fall from grace.
Let me just back up.
To be in grace means that youat some point, generally,
continuously, are in sin.
You've sinned, but you fall intograce right, it assumes Mess
ups.
It assumes mistakes right, itassumes that and you fall into
grace if you belong to Christ.

(43:33):
To be falling from grace then,as Paul puts it here, actually
means anytime that, anytime thatyou put your trust into
something else, that's youfalling from grace.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Hmm, trusting anything or anyone other than
Christ soon, as soon as youEssentially put your faith in
something that's not Christ.
Now You've fallen.
You fall from grace, but at thesame time, I thought it was not
our responsibility to Maintainour I mean I guess it's not
implying we're not this timesaying we're not losing our, if

(44:11):
we're saved or not.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
What's first taken in the sin context?
If your trust just like we werejust talking about if you were
trusting money or alcohol orpornography or drugs or drugs,
or your own intellect or yourown power or your therapist or
your therapist.
Right If you're trustingSomething to get you through a
situation.
Right If you, if you arerelying on your own capacity,

(44:35):
Any situation or get you throughit not right to get you through
a situation that is not.
Christ, you have fallen fromgrace.
Okay, a flip of that, though,and this is gonna shock some
people.
You may have some people whoare, you know, boy Scouts.
Right that they are.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
Seemingly seemingly morally perfect, right, these
are people who, yeah, they'venever seen me Boy Scout and like
the military term when peoplesay like you're being a boy
scout, being a boy scout, you'rebeing pure, you're being you
know, You're a rule, fall.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
These are the people.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
I would say that these are the people like in
church.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
I'm an Eagle Scout so I can.
I can make.
You can't say that I.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Haven't earned those wings.
But no, people like in church,who you're like man, never been
divorced.
They seem clean as a whistle,right that they're not cursing,
they're not addicted to porn,they're not doing, they don't
even take a sip of alcohol.
Right, like all those people,right that you kind of, oh,

(45:34):
those people.
But if those people are Arerelying on their habit or their
system, right, like, yeah, whatit would is keeping me going is
the discipline I have with myfamily Because I don't drink
alcohol.
Right, I'm good You've alsofallen from grace, because now
you're thinking that issomething you're doing that is

(45:56):
keeping you going, not the graceof of Christ.
Yeah, right, so it goes bothways.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
It's anything, it's as soon as that reliance on the
spirit transitions to pride,then you're, you're done right
there your trust your relianceon?
Yeah, I must got this, and assoon as that gets in your head
is exactly when you're about totrip, fall and flat in your face
.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
I let me put it this way there are, on a given work
day, probably about 80 differentsituations where I'm not in
grace, mm-hmm, where I'm like ah, I don't need to pray about
this, I can make this decisionon my own.
Hmm, I got this.
I'm smart enough to handle this.
I'm.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
I don't.
That was my entire relationshipwith God, up until, like, we
started this podcast likestraight up until or really till
till God crashed into mymarriage and was like you don't
know how to be married, son, I'mabout to fix you and.
But it was like I would onlypray to thank God for things.
I would never pray to ask Godfor things or give things to God

(46:54):
.
I would never rely on God foranything like straight up.
If I felt like I could handleit, then I would default to that
course.
I was like well, I only needGod for the things I can't
handle.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Mm-hmm, you know, when there's been some like
tough work conversations, right,that you have to have just with
work related right, yeah, andI'm like I know this is gonna be
a tough thing, right, and but Inever go to God in prayer
before that I got it.
I mean it's gonna be tough, butI got it right.
Okay, you're operating outsideof grace in that exactly and
interesting.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
That's such a interesting way to think about
it.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
Yeah, and then that's so.
Falling from grace doesn't,isn't you sinning?
It's actually sin that fallsyou, causes you to fall into
grace.
Right, sin causes you to fallinto grace if you're relying on
Christ.
If you're relying on Christ,but if anything that begins to
take that dependencies or thosereliance is away from him, you
fall in from grace.

(47:49):
You've fallen outside of graceand that's what's happened.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
It's a fundamentally different way to think about
your relationship with God.
You know it's like you becauseyou will sin in this broken
reality.
You will sin.
But If you sin but you'recompletely relying on God, then
you're in that grace and youalso are in pursuit of trying to
be Better, because you'repointed towards him and you're

(48:13):
pursuing him.
You have the forgiveness, youhave the grace and all this
stuff.
But even if you're a goodperson and you're doing what
most would consider all theright things, if you're doing
that based off your own power oryour own Believing in yourself
and not relying on God, now youare out of grace.
Yes you are out of grace.
And now, if you're non relianceon him, would that be sin in a

(48:35):
way as well?

Speaker 3 (48:36):
come yeah, I mean complete Submission, reliance,
trust and faith and thesufficiency of Christ.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
And then there's things where we do Right, but
this is me tying back to likebecause you talked about the
definition of a definition ofsin is just being Outside of
what God's intent is, and God'sintent is for us to be
completely relying on him.
So if we're relying onourselves and we're outside of
his intent, then we are in sin,right man?

Speaker 3 (49:01):
Right so mark so by putting your faith completely in
Christ, even when you fail, andin your success right.
Then you're in grace, right.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
There's so much peace .

Speaker 3 (49:16):
Yeah, there is right if you just let it go.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Just so much.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Let it go like that's that's the problem is that so
many of us in our pride that'scausing so much of the anxiety
and stress in our life is reallyin the things that we're
holding, trying to hold controlover.
Right, we have this whiteknuckle fist holding on to this
thing like nope, this is mine.
I can do this one alone, andthat's where your stress is.
Yeah, because that hasn't beenhanded over to him.

(49:41):
Right, and just hand it over tohim.
You're in grace there.
He's got it right and he hasall the capacity to handle the
situation far better than youcan.
Even if it's within yourcapacity, he still has far
better wisdom on how to do itbetter.
Right, just hand it over, let itgo.
Rest in the grace of Christ.
Right, and we talked this interms of sin.

(50:02):
Right, there's also thetheological sense, right?
You know anything that, like wetalk Sabbath or hey, you church
attendance or Bible version ortranslation version that you use
, right, all those things right.
Let's keep reading here,because verse 5 for through the
spirit we eagerly await by faith, the righteousness for which we

(50:25):
hope for in Christ Jesus,neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision, right, neitherbeing cut off or Essentially
remaining on there has any value.
It doesn't matter, right,there's no value to this.
Well, let me ask you, when yousee some of the people bicker
about things Particularlytheologically right, not on the

(50:46):
big things, but like littlethings, like it's just stuck in
my brain right now, but becausewe've had people leave our
church, because we don't preachand teach from a King James
Version Bible right, yeah sojust that, that's one of the
things that's always just made aimprint on me, like, okay,
let's argue that.
Does that have any value at allto anybody?

(51:06):
Right, so somebody who do youmean by, doesn't have any value
somebody who loves King JamesVersion me coming in and telling
them what is it?
Historically the mostinaccurate version of us, but
but this doesn't help themeither.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
Does that help them?
Does it help?

Speaker 3 (51:19):
me and then by them saying, well, you're wrong, cuz
it should only be this.
Does that help me?
Does that help you right?
It has no value for the kingdomand loving people right has
absolutely zero value at all.

Speaker 1 (51:32):
So they want you to start with love and then work up
from there right.
You know it's starting with abeing antagonistic.
I guess?

Speaker 3 (51:39):
well, that's what he says, right?
So for in Christ Jesus, neithercircumcision or uncircumcision
has any value.
Notice this the only thing thatcounts, the only thing that
matters, this is verse what?
Verse 5 the only thing thatcounts, the right, the only
thing that matters is faithexpressing itself through Love.

(52:00):
Okay, now notice what he saidfaith Expressing itself through
love and so I mean not justfaith expressing itself through
words, not just faith expressingitself in social media posts?
yeah, not just faith expressingitself, and you know, your, your
personal Journal, right, but itexpressing itself in love.

(52:26):
Yeah, right, and you, thosehave to be together Proper faith
and love, not love by itself,because there's a lot of people
in the world like, hey, do Ireally need God to love people?
I mean, you know, I know theseatheists who love people very
well, right, you know what?
Like, I don't need Jesus for meto go love people.
Right, it's like, well, you canlove people, but it's gonna be

(52:49):
improper love because it'scoming probably from an improper
version of faith.
Yeah, because you have faith insomething.
Right, but what is your faithin?
so he says also very good pricethat expresses itself in love,
so through a Christ-likeperspective, with a Christ-like
love right.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
I'll say two quick things.
One is that a Love withoutfaith, to rely on kind of the
conditions of what defines thatlove, can end up being a kind of
selfish love, because there's alot of people that give
generously, very generously, butthey're doing it out of
Advancing their own self imageand their own self,
righteousness and all thesethings which so make sure that

(53:26):
what you're calling Love, or orthat that loving acts coming
from the proper perspective, orsome misguided love, right, it's
a, or maybe maybe better, we're.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
It's a ill-defined love, yeah cuz out.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
My second point was gonna be like making sure that
you are they.
You also are Operating underthat expression of love that's
defined in the Bible, becauselove is fundamentally an act and
the Bible, defined by the fineright.

Speaker 3 (53:49):
So I love faith defines the love right and
Because it defines love, it alsois expressed through that.
Faith is expressed through loveright.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
It's a it kind of the saying that that your faith is
expressed through your action,because love is, it is Action.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
So, and you see this, kind of a modern culture, right
that there seems to be thisthing now where, if I disagree
with you, if I disagree withyour lifestyle, your position,
on something that I don't love,you, yeah, so disagreeing with
your identity, disagreeing withyour position.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
Which is very a teenager of us for some reason,
like that's why we're soimmature as a country.
Yeah, we've gotten veryimmature as a very that's very
14 right and the idea is likelook why I don't understand.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Why is it?
I'm loving to disagree withsomebody, right, and and it's
what defines that, and that'sbecause their definition of love
is ill-defined, because rightof what is so.
But I just want to kind of Makethis point though you could be
right in faith but wrong in love.
Right, you can have the rightfaith and the right person or
the right things, but you'recompletely wrong in your love if

(54:54):
it's not being expressed inlove Right or improperly
expressed in love.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
So you can be right in faith.
I'm not understanding what loveis, not understanding what your
faith is.
It can come from misalignmentof the two and you're kind of
Superceding something personallyover the, that faith or that
definition of love.
So there's a lot of complexitythere and then ultimately, I
guess in like three weeks, we'regonna finally start talking
about frees to the spirit andthen we can start defining these

(55:18):
things.
We can, but I've been waiting.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
I think a big point here, though, if what I think
people need to hear though.
Yeah believers right, yeah,disciples of Christ need to hear
is that faith alone is notenough.
Mm-hmm, and love alone is notenough.
What he says is faith, workingthrough love, is what matters.
Right, because you could beright in faith, wrong in love,
and you could be right in lovebut wrong in your faith and can

(55:42):
you have the appropriate alignedfaith and not be showing love?
I think you see it all the timein the church.
I think you have plenty ofpeople who have properly put
their faith in Christ, but whatthey haven't done is translated
that into work.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
Oh, okay, into action .
Yeah, they're bench warmers,they're.
I say that love us.
I said that they're.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
Yeah, there is a Notice.
It kind of be a couple milliondollar term words here, but
there's what you callorthopraxis.
Oh no, what orthodoxy?
Okay, orthodoxy is properthinking.
Again, what you would say ischapters one through four of
Galatians is Paul's orthodoxyproper way to think?
Then orthopraxis, practicalDestation of that orthodoxy

(56:25):
right.
You got to have a proper orthoorthopraxis to have, or a proper
orthodoxy To have a properorthopraxis right.
You can't have one without theother right.
And that's essentially sayingfaith working through love.
You know, there's this story ofthe Apostle John and he's old
man, old age, he's in Ephesusand he, the story goes, that he

(56:50):
had to be carried by hisdisciples to Worship On a Lord's
Day right, which is Sundayright.
So he's being carried by, youknow, john's disciples.
You know this is the ApostleJohn, writer of the gospel, the
writer, you know, revelation.
So he's being carried by hisdisciples to worship and what he

(57:13):
was reportedly always told wasthat, if you do nothing else,
trust in Jesus and love, becausethat is enough.
Trust in Jesus, love people,that is enough.
I absolutely love that.
If you do that, if you do thosetwo things, trust in Jesus and
all you do and love people thatis enough right, and that was,

(57:36):
that was like his motto at theend of the day.
Right, and what is it?

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Do you remember where ?
What verse it is where likelove is defined, of like what
love is, because I would arguethat people listening don't have
a Consistent definition of love.
But what's?
I don't remember the exactverse of where love is
biblically defined.

Speaker 3 (57:58):
It's like love is patient.
That was fine.
Yeah, first Corinthians 16.
Wait, it's first Corinthians 16.
It's like verses, is it 16?
Gosh, you're calling me out,sorry.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
What first?
Corinthians 13?
, 13 or 16.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
Oh, it might be.
Oh yeah, here here yeah 16 thisone goes 16 9 through 13.
Is that right?

Speaker 1 (58:22):
Let me check.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
He's checking.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
I'm checking 16, 9 through 13.
Yep I.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
May have completely missed the mark on that one.
Well, well, kind of say this,though about that there are many
, it is not that I think it'sfirst Corinthians 13.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Maybe my point is the excellence of love.
First Corinthians 13.
For reading that 13.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
Okay, read that but Love is expressed through the
character of who God is Love.
God does not love perfectly inthe sense that love is something
that's outside of God, and hejust Loves perfectly.
The Bible says that God is love, right.
So what is love?
By definition, it's God, right.

(59:04):
So the more you learn about thecharacter of who God is now
he's expressed himself and hischaracter that's where you
manifest your understanding anddefinition of what love is right
and.
Which is ultimately fulfilledand complete faithfulness with
Christ.
Right, so verse 7 you wererunning a good race, right, he,

(59:27):
paul, was with the, this church,in the very beginning when they
was founded.
Right, he brought the gospel tohim, so he was with them in the
beginning.
He says you guys started offgreat.
You started off phenomenal.
You were running a good race.
You guys were in grace thatwhole time.
You were running a good race.
Who cut in on you?
Notice the other pun?
Oh no, cut in on you,circumcised you who circumcised

(59:50):
you to keep you from obeying thetruth.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
Imagine telling that to somebody who, who circumcised
you to keep you from tellingthe truth, like I just imagine
like actually telling that tosomebody in real life.
It's like like what, but you?

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
know what, though I think this is a.
I think there are manyChristians who could relate to
this, though is that when youfirst started off, when you were
First brought into the faith,when you were, you were saved.
Right like man.
You were on fire.
So it's for the right.
This.
This was before you knewanything about Christian
quote-unquote culture.
This is before you knew andcared about the fact that
Chick-fil-A is Christian owned.

(01:00:22):
This is before that you knew awhole lot of Bible and had
doctrine and had Biblicalliteracy built up and had
opinions on things.
Right, this was only when youcame in and you're like I Know
nothing else except that God isgood, that Christ died for me.
That's where I put my name onyour savior.
God saved right there and youwere so close to grace, you were

(01:00:43):
so close to Jesus, you were onfire, right, and then that fire
started to dwindle a bit.
Right, what happened?
Earlier on in Galatians?
Paul actually asked thequestion who has bewitched you?
Right, who bewitched you?
What happened?
Right, like, who cut in on youto keep you from obeying the
truth here?
You know, like, in that time,like, and I think, and I've gone

(01:01:07):
in cycles right, there's beentimes when you know, I don't say
faith gotten dry, but there'scertainly times, right, man, I
remember when I was really closeto Jesus, like every day waking
up with that joy, that peace.
Right, there's been times of,like, I'm not at as much peace.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
You know, you know something that I've realized, at
least with myself.
I'm sure some of you got thewhen everything's okay, it's the
zeal starts to Dwindle a littlebit.
It's kind of harder to maintainand when I feel most on fire
for Christ is like right when hebrings me out of some insane
situation which which, becauseI'm like man, that's when you're

(01:01:45):
in grace.
That's what I'm in grace, that'swhen I'm completely relying on
him.
But, man, that means I have togo through more awful stuff.
We don't have to.
That's the only time it'seffective, right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
But, yeah, it's when you're closest to grace, is when
you feel closest to Christ.
Or, if I could reverse it, whenyou're closest to Christ,
you're, you are closest to great, closest to grace, right, and.
But you know, something happensto us when we start thinking
different and we start walkingdifferent and we start trusting
in ourselves For some reason,because we think, oh, I'm a
mature believer, now I don'tneed to go to God and prayer for
that.

(01:02:13):
That was something I used to dowhen I was an immature
Christian.
Now I got it right.
Yeah, oh, so you're morerelying on yourself, you're?
So you're falling from grace,right?

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Yeah, first, eight, though I felt like I did
something wrong when I ate thatslice of pizza without praying
first.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
I did do a quick prayer like oh, well, you should
ask for forgiveness becausethat was Hawaiian pizza, verse 8
.
That kind of persuasion doesnot come from the one who calls
you.
He's talking to Paul himself.
Paul's the one who called themright easy, one who brought the
gospel to them.
That kind of persuasion doesnot come from the one who calls
you.
I eat me, but a little yeastworks through the whole batch of

(01:02:50):
dough, right, so why is he sopassionate about removing this
person?
Why did he tell them you needto kick this person out of your
church?
because Little bit of yeastworks through the entire batch
of dough and you see that rightyou see that in churches.
So if you remember, if you goback to you know the first three
chapters, right, some of theemphasis is that the Paul's

(01:03:10):
frustration.
The church was united in ourmessage of the gospel.
We were united in our mission,right, we were united in our
love for people and love for thepoor and we were united in our
freedom, even to the Gentiles Iyou know he talks about.
I went to Jerusalem.
I made sure that I wasn'trunning my race in vain.
They affirmed my message, mymission to the Gentiles, just as

(01:03:32):
Peter was on mess mission tothe Jews, as I was to the
Gentiles.
We were united in all thosethings.
But then, all the sun, somethingchanged, right.
And this one little thing,right.
And you know we talk about thenon-essential things all the
time, but this is a good time topause and say Non-essentials
just because they're notessential doesn't mean they're

(01:03:52):
not important, because where youhold to Non-essentials but they
are important enough to where,if they start to work their way
through things, it is enough tothrow the church off its unity
in its message.
Notice this one thing ofcircumcision.
This one thing Right, this onelittle thing not the
destabilized entire completelychange the gospel nations church

(01:04:14):
Right.
It changed the message of thegospel because if well, if I had
to get circumcised then.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Now I have to rely on then.
So what does that mean?

Speaker 3 (01:04:20):
Christ hasn't fulfilled Torah then, that means
I need to be completely underTorah.
So now, this is a.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
Then things like well , if it's circumcision wise and
it also the high-high.
All right if it's not the highholidays wise and it not also
bubble one, it's exactly slope.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
So now that there's disunity in the gospel message,
there's disunity in the missionnow of who you go to, when you
go and how you go to them.
There's disunity now in love,because now we're asking people
like this is out of Obligation,this is out of a compromise to
be people pleasing to Rome andthe Jewish Authority.
This is in out of love for theGentiles or the church there,

(01:04:57):
and it's certainly not united infreedom anymore, because now
you're trying to chain them backto those things, right?
So, while it may be anon-essential, it's very
important because it's enough tothrow them off their unity,
right?
This one person is enough.
So to Paul he says you maythink like, well, hey, it's just
one person, but he said thatone person is enough to throw

(01:05:19):
you all of you, into totalconfusion.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
So are we saying?
Are you saying now that peopleare justified in their anger and
their frustration over all thelittle things that they Want to
excommunicate people from theirchurch for?

Speaker 3 (01:05:30):
No, but a motion is just a motion.
A motion is just a motion.
A motion derives from passion.
Passion derives from missionand Jesus was angry you know
when Jesus flips tables andstarts whipping people in the
temple?
Yeah right, that the last weekof his life.
You realize how many peoplewere probably in the temple.

Speaker 1 (01:05:54):
At that time, I mean, it was hundreds of thousands.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
We're not talking onesies and twosies that he's
thrown, flipping a couple tablesover and whipping like a person
or two.
We're talking about causingsuch a chaotic scene in the
temple that hundreds of thousandpeople were drawn out Like he
was going ballistic in there.
Right, yeah, he was angry, andhe was righteously angry, like
anger in itself is just anemotion.
There's good anger and there'sbad anger.

(01:06:19):
Yeah, right, because emotioncomes from passion.
What matters is well, what'sthe passion from misplaced anger
?
Right, so bad anger is beingderived from a passion that
isn't off mission.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
Mm-hmm right.

Speaker 3 (01:06:33):
So, generally, if it's like my mission is for
myself today and you made meangry because you offended me in
my image, you offended me oryou are hindering me from
accomplishing my daily goal forme, yeah, right, that's my
mission for this day and I'm nowangry with you.
Right, that's misplaced angerand that's not justified.
Yeah, right, it's also notjustified to Because because

(01:06:54):
even to say well, that Bibletranslation I'm, I'm justified
in my anger because it's right,blah, blah, blah.
Well, that show that yourmission is more now for proving
yourself right and somethingthat's not essential, than it is
for peace.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
And unity in the love , in the church.

Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
Yeah, right, so no, I would not say you are justified
.
I'm saying that there arecertain situations where anger
is justified, but that is notone of them.
Um, nice, so One person rightcan disrupt the entire unity and
of the church message andmission of love and freedom.
So, verse 10 I am confident inthe Lord that you will take no
other view.

(01:07:28):
The one who is throwing youinto confusion, whoever that may
be, will have to pay thepenalty.
He's essentially saying that,that one day that they will have
to stand in judgment.
Okay, so one just quickreminder with this, because he's
trying to get them to kick thisperson out right Again.
This book is not aboutsalvation.

(01:07:48):
This book is about what is thechurch?
This book, this whole letter,it's about what does it mean to
be part of Abraham's family?
Yeah so when he says cut themout, kick them out, right, he's
not making it casting a judgmenton their salvation.
He's making a judgment on theproper way to disciple and
shepherd a young church intogood health, right, yeah, and
he's saying, in order to do that, that person needs to leave you

(01:08:09):
because they are not good foryou.
And what he's saying?

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
is not.
They stand in judgment.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
Now he says that one day they will stand in judgment.
So judgment hasn't happened yet.
So Paul's not making a judgmenton this person's salvation.
He is making a judgment, though, on the proper Way to shepherd
a young church, and in thatjudgment he's saying you need to
, you need to kick them out, thethey are not good for your
health, so Whoever that may bewill have to pay the penalty.

(01:08:35):
Verse 11 brothers and sisters,if I am still preaching a
circumcision, why am I stillbeing persecuted?
In that case, the offense ofthe cross has been completely
abolished, right?
So put your thing there.
If circumcision or Sabbath, oryour theological camp or your
thing is so necessary andimportant, then why is the cross

(01:08:55):
still so offensive when otherpeople preach it?
Why does God still use thebelievers of an alternative view
, right?
Why do believers who hold todifferent views?
Why are they still thensuffering for Christ?
The point is this is that okay?
If King James version Bible isso important to you and I'm
preaching from an NIV Right orreading from an NIV for a

(01:09:15):
podcast If that is so importantto the point that you think that
we are Delegitimatized asdisciples and true followers and
believers of Christ, then whyis it we still suffer for him?
Why is it that we still arebeing successful in reaching
souls and changing lives?
Yeah, for the gospel, right, if, if and I'm sure there's many

(01:09:39):
things that we've said on thispodcast that other people, like
you know, I don't necessarilydisagree or agree with that,
which is okay.
We've always said that right.
Yeah this has.
There's things that they wouldsay that probably got it.
I disagree with that view.
That's okay, right, but ifyou're thinking it's so
important to where you'd be,like, no, they're wrong on that.
So I'm not gonna write off thepodcast writing it off
completely or I'm cuttingfellowship with this person

(01:10:00):
because they believe that.
Why I could just tell you thisis that I know just from getting
feedback this podcast hashelped a lot of people.
So if it is so true and it's soimportant, right, of course you
could look well, god uses, youknow, bad things for good.
He sure does right.
But what Paul's more talkingabout?
sure is the fact is that they'resaying you have to get

(01:10:22):
circumcised and do this thing Tobe brought into the family.
I'm saying you don't.
And if I am so wrong and I'm nothreat to Satan, then why am I
still being persecuted?
Yeah, why is Satan coming afterme?
Because Satan doesn't want meand what I'm saying to be
effective.
Mm-hmm right, like that's kindof his point and that's the
question we.
It's kind of like that questionof Did did you receive the

(01:10:45):
spirit before or after you startout holding these views?

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
Right, yeah it's the same thing in the book if you're
believing this.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
Were you suffering before or after?
Yeah, are you still suffering?
Once?
You, right, because, remember,if they get circumcised and
almost alleviate some of thepressure and some of the
potential suffering in thefuture, yeah, right.
And he's saying why is that?
If that is so right and so on,online you know, with with what
the spirit wants, then why am Isuffering for the gospel, for

(01:11:12):
something that is supposed to beEssentially a people pleaser
and you're really the one beingthe people please are?
By going to get circumcised,we're just gonna create less
suffering, right?
So if it's so wrong, the, whyam I suffering so much?
Yeah, right.

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
I will say that this particular line that that Ryan's
going down, you have toactually go back like episode
one and two of this series tofully understand his argument,
like Paul's argument, and whythe circumstances is a big piece
here, right?

Speaker 3 (01:11:38):
All right, verse 12.
As for those agitators, I wishthey would go the whole way and
emasculate themselves.
So this is a very interestingyou know, here's that pun again
right to emasculate, to cut offright.

Speaker 1 (01:11:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11:51):
And he kind of saves.
It's like a triple pun here atthe end.
So let me just kind of explainthis.
So In earlier weeks we had toexplain that the term gal right
and this is the region ofGalatia right that the term gal
itself was kind of a euphemismfor.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
For a male appendage.
It's a euphemism for a maleappendage.

Speaker 1 (01:12:13):
Because you had to make that full line there.

Speaker 3 (01:12:15):
Yeah, yeah, so there's a.
It's literally the land ofroosters as a euphemism, right
so?
And this is in your Bible,right?
The book of Galatians is thebook of roosters, right so?
The book of male humor of theHoly Spirit, but he kind of
saves that last pun here for theend, because in that region, I
mean you said it was like atriple pun there.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
Well, there is so.

Speaker 3 (01:12:37):
So the reason though it was called the, the land of
Galatia, the land of roosters ora male appendage right, which,
ironically, is all surroundingcircumcision.
The reason why it was becausein that region you had a cult
that worshiped the goddessCybele, and this they're.
This cult, essentially, waskind of about 150 miles north.

(01:13:01):
Of the region of where thischurch is Was like their center
of worship.
They're like primary temple,which was like a meteorite.
It was like this black meteoriterock that they would they would
worship, build the temple likearound it there, just yeah and
it was like right by the riverthere and that's why I love how
people are like that.
But the priests that were apart of this cult, um, they were

(01:13:22):
essentially E feminine men whowould cross dress where, like
women's jewelry and clothing,would grow their hair very long.
They would and ultimately wouldcastrate themselves like self
castration.
The self castrate themselves,and that was this cult right.
So In that region there, right,you got this, this cult that

(01:13:45):
that was very prominent, wherethe priests were known for
castrating themselves.
So in one sense, paul isessentially saying that, where
we are now right if for them toAsk you to get circumcised,
which was a sign of the covenantGod made with Abraham, to the
promise that he would deliverhim a seed that would Bless all

(01:14:07):
the nations.
Right, who was fulfilled inChrist.
Right, so you don't need to getcircumcised anymore Because
what it was assigned for hasbeen fulfilled.
So for people to come in nowand say you still need to get
circumcised, Right it's justweird, right?

Speaker 2 (01:14:21):
It's super unusual.

Speaker 1 (01:14:22):
That's that's like.
Is this such a strange, strangething?
so and and, like you fastforward to today.
And it's like, um you, couldthey still offer circumcision?
You know, right, when you'reborn in the hospital today, like
the doctor will ask you know,and and and you can make that
decision at that time.
And if you're and it's just, Iguess, like an objectively true

(01:14:43):
statement if you're circumcisingyour kid Now and you're doing
it as like a condition of yourfaith as a Protestant Christian
or as a as a modern-dayChristian, it's like well, why,
why are you doing that?
Do you really understand whatyou're doing?
And if it's like you're notunder the law anymore, you
didn't.
You don't have to have your kidto be fair.

Speaker 3 (01:15:02):
I had my boys circumcised.
I was in the room for one ofthem and it was one of the worst
things I think I everexperienced right, do this to
him.

Speaker 1 (01:15:12):
And what have I done to my?

Speaker 3 (01:15:13):
son.
It's coming from a heart offaith, but I wish I really would
have understood Galatians morebefore we did that you know, but
the the first pun though.

Speaker 1 (01:15:22):
I love that your son's gonna eventually hear this
and they're gonna like thanksthat.

Speaker 3 (01:15:27):
But the first one here is essentially he's saying
is that for them to now ask youto go cut yourself Right as to
to be faithful to somethingthat's already been fulfilled is
just weird and Essentiallythose teachers to do that
are as misguided as these galleypriests who are in the region
that are castrating themselvesin the temple for their cult had

(01:15:49):
a devotion to this meteorite oftheir and their vice, right,
right so he's essentially sayingthat, um, they're just as lost
as these pagan priests, thatthey might as well just go All
the way and emasculatethemselves like the, the galley
priests, because that'sessentially what they're asking
you to do right the second punis very that's kind of in this
is that the um.

(01:16:13):
He's pretty much saying you know, I wish they would just cut
themselves off completely fromyou, go all the way just to
masculate themselves all the way, cut all of themselves all the
way off.
He's essentially saying I wishcut themselves away from the
church right.

Speaker 1 (01:16:24):
I wish, do it to themselves.

Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
Right.
I just wish that they wouldremove themselves from you all,
but the reality is is thatthey're not.
They're staying there.
So you guys need to have thisconfrontation to say we're going
to choose to live free, not inthe slavery or circumcision
right, cast them out right andjust just let them go right.
So the third pun with this is,um, there was already a standing

(01:16:45):
kind of pun with the galley inRome at that time.
So the romans, you know, theywere very, I guess, open-minded
to a lot of things, um, in thesense that you know, unlike, so
like, unlike today, where wehave, you know, political
organizations, or you know, umcultural organizations, right,

(01:17:07):
like, or movements right whenyou think like you know, you got
planned parenthood or you gotblack lives matter, or you have
um, you know lgbtq and you gotall those Right.
When we look at them as likethere are these like cultural
movements that are happening,the same things kind of existed
then.
It was just that there was agod or a goddess kind of over
the top of it, right where we wejust replaced god or goddess

(01:17:28):
with the organization, yeah, theorganization itself, exactly so
um, so Rome, you know, theylooked at the galley priests and
thought that they were weirdand that they they weren't
really.
I guess what you would call theStandard or metric of manhood,
right, men who self castrate,who dress up kind of, you know,
cross dress and, um, you know,that's not really what a roman

(01:17:50):
soldier would look at and saythe typical traditional
definition of being a masculineperson.
So already at that time it wasthe to be called a galley was
kind of like a slur.
Um, two other people likethat's what they would call
their enemies and, um, when theywere At war with the Gauls,
they would call them galley,right, you know, we're just
fighting galley, right?

(01:18:11):
So there's already a standingpun among Rome, right?
Yeah, rome looked at them likehey, they're weird, but they're.
Yeah, they're weird, but they'reserving you know, their goddess
right so they were accepted, umso, because that they were
already kind of a pun withinRome.
Paul is also kind of using thisreference to really as like an

(01:18:33):
like a insulting slur to theseother teachers who are coming in
behind them and saying that youknow, you, you guys got to get
circumcised, just like thegalley.
You're saying, right, you likeyeah.
I, they're galley.
Just let them go, be galley.
I wish they would just go allthe way, just and just go people
on galley, go and cut yourselfoff completely from us.
What us um with freeing christ,right?

(01:18:54):
So all that to say um, becausethat kind of wraps that up right
Um, all that is to say, ifthere is one thing to take away
from the teaching tonight, isthat um One, how close are you
falling away or into grace?
Yeah, as Paul's definitionright.
Are you letting these certaincircumstances or situations Um?

(01:19:18):
Are you relying on your owncapacities and then you're
falling from grace in that?
Or are you completely handingover that trust, um and faith
and being fully relying on thesufficiency of christ and those
right?
And you know we talk about likeyou know, christ didn't just
save us from hell.
He's there to say save us fromour situations today.
He saves us then.
He's saving us now and he'sgonna save us tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:19:39):
So when we start talking about christ as our
living savior, he's not justsaving us from past things, but
two things of today.

Speaker 3 (01:19:43):
Right, yeah, um you, you're in his grace right, just
hand it over.
And we hold such tight controlover certain things because we
think that we can maintaincontrol and and and we try to um
I don't know Um.

Speaker 2 (01:20:02):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:20:02):
We have a hard time handing things over to.
We do those normal people, butparticularly god, who is far
more, I would say, handling thatfor us.

Speaker 1 (01:20:14):
I would say it's a trust thing or a maybe an over
reliance for me personally, Iguess I I think I over Estimated
my own abilities and Imisunderstood my place.
Um, and that's why I would holdon to things.
I was like I I've god's givenme a certain amount of talent
and capability so that I canhandle a certain amount of

(01:20:35):
things myself.
That's, that's obviously why Ihave the talent and capability
that I have.
When that's misplaced, thetalent capability was given to
me to be used for christ and metrying to do things myself.
I'm actually using it for me.

Speaker 3 (01:20:47):
It's.
What's funny is that evensometimes in ministry, some of
the pride that can build upright among ministry leaders and
um people serving, it's likeyou are using a gift god gave
you To do ministry to a gospel.
That's not yours, right?
I didn't.
And diane's save anybody, right?
This isn't my gospel, I didn'tdo that.

(01:21:08):
So I'm using my talent Tospread the gospel of jesus.
That's not my gospel, I mean I.
It's my gospel in the sensethat I belong to it.
Right, I've been rescued by it.
But that's that.
That gospel belongs to christand for some reason we like to
get very Priteful sometimes oflike oh man, look how good and
how smart and how effective I amin my talent.

(01:21:30):
That.
God gave me to go for hisgospel.
Not even mine, it's like.
Why am I even?

Speaker 1 (01:21:36):
at all and there's so much danger there like it was.
It was in the church that Ifell into some of the greatest
sin, and it was because I was.
I was so proud of myself that Icouldn't see my own broken and
that, and ministry is alsofalling from grace, right.

Speaker 3 (01:21:49):
So the question is when you are now?
And I think we kind ofsegmented, segmented out within
our lives, right.
So it's not just like there'scertain things that we have
surrendered over, we're in grace, right, but there's these other
things that we're holdingcontrol, and he's like well,
you're out of grace in thatsituation because you're relying
on your own capacity and christis absolutely of no value to

(01:22:10):
you In that situation, becauseyou're holding and trying to
maintain control of it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:15):
I think?

Speaker 3 (01:22:15):
I think that's like one of the big points, right?
Is that?
Why is it that God came throughand it seems so evident and so
powerful back here, in thissituation or this time of my
life, but not now?

Speaker 1 (01:22:26):
well, not because you're holding on to something,
because you're, you're, you'renot even in.

Speaker 3 (01:22:30):
Yeah, you're doing grace, then you're not in grace
now.
So if you're not in grace inyour situation, meaning you're
trying to maintain control anddependency on your own capacity
and you're not handing that over, then Christ crisis of no value
to you.
I think you at all in thatsituation.

Speaker 1 (01:22:43):
I think you said in one of the earlier episodes as
well, it's like, of course youhave anxiety, of course, right,
you have fear and you shouldit's like, and you should,
because you are, you knowYourself and you know that you
can't rely on you.

Speaker 3 (01:22:56):
Situation is bigger than me.
I'd be stressed if it is up tomy capacity.
Like life is too much for me,I'm gonna.

Speaker 1 (01:23:03):
I will be stressed every day of my life, yeah, so I
guess ultimately, um, like Ryansaid before, is is you get back
under grace.
Give it to God.
Whatever is that trauma you'reholding on to, whatever is that,
uh, anxiety, fear, money, um,stress, whatever that vices that
just seems like it has got agrip on you.
Give it, give it to God,because then, even if you're Um,

(01:23:27):
even if you sin, you're undergrace and you know you're under
grace and you know you'repursuing Christ and you know
that he loves you, even asyou're struggling through and
you're working your way towardsbeing a better version of
yourself.
Um, and you're not gonna beperfect, not on this side of
eternity, and that's okay, um,and then when, when Christ comes
back, he comes, he comes backbefore you're on the other side
of eternity.

(01:23:47):
Then, boom, there you go,judgment day and um, and it's a
good day for you as well, it's agood day for all those that are
members of the kingdom.
But, um, I did, I did find thatverse that, uh, we were talking
about earlier.
So if you go back to verse 10,um, or, sorry, verse 6, where at
the second half it says theonly thing that counts is Faith

(01:24:10):
expressing itself through love,and I highlighted that like well
, people have different kind ofdefinitions of love.
What does the bible say aboutlove?
Well, paul wrote what love isin first Corinthians 13?
.
So I'm gonna leave you withthis as you go into this week.
Think about if your faith ismanifesting itself in love in
this way, starting with verse 4of chapter 13 of first

(01:24:31):
Corinthians.
Love is patient, love is kind.
Love does not envy or boast, itis not arrogant or rude, it is
not insist on its own way, it isnot irritable or resentful.
It does not rejoice atwrongdoing but rejoices with the
truth.
Love bears all things, believesall things, hopes all things,

(01:24:52):
endures all things.
Love never ends.
As for prophecies, they willpass away.
As for tongues, they will cease.
As for knowledge, it will passaway, for we know in part and we
prophesy in part, but when theperfect comes, the partial will
pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke asa child.
I thought like a child, Ireasoned like a child.

(01:25:13):
When I became a man, I gave upchildish ways.
So think about that definitionof love as you're going into and
evaluating If your faith ismanifesting itself appropriately
.
And so, with that, I hope youenjoyed this week's episode of
real bible stories.
We look forward to engagingwith you in the comments and and
on facebook, and if you haven'talready liked our facebook page

(01:25:35):
, please go ahead and do that.
Share this podcast with afriend, share with your family.
I don't know, can I call this arevival?
Because I love.
I love everything about this,because the amount of it's
awesome hearing your feedbackand knowing that this, this
podcast, is touching lives outthere all over the world.
We really, really appreciatethe feedback we've gotten and we

(01:25:55):
want to answer your questions.
We want to engage with you.
Just reach on out and with that, we love you and we'll see you
next week.
Go love somebody, amen.

Speaker 2 (01:26:05):
Thank you for tuning in to real bible stories.
If you enjoyed this podcast, besure to leave a review, share
and subscribe to be notifiedeach week when we upload new
episodes.
Real bible stories is producedin partnership with palm church
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If you would like moreinformation or want to check out
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(01:26:28):
church website atpalmsbaptistchurchcom, or check
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Ep 67 Decoding Galatians 5:1-12: The Complexities of Freedom in Christ

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