Wednesday Scripture: Galatians 3
Radical Gospel
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So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
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In Paul's day know one knew what it was to be a Christian.
No one had ever seen one before.
So Paul tried to keep it simple.
Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Period.
That's it.
It was a revolutionary idea, but Paul didn't want to start a revolution.
He wanted the Gospel to change the world one soul at a time.
But when he wrote Galatians, he was royally ticked off.
Some other teachers had come along and told his baby Christians that Jesus wasn't enough for salvation.
A mother bear protecting her cubs had nothing on Paul at that point.
The gloves were OFF.
Anger is a valid emotion--and like all emotions, it is morally neutral.
Sometimes we say hurtful things when we are angry--things we don't really mean.
But sometimes anger reveals the truth.
In his anger, Paul lays out the radical truth:
The Gospel erases all our boundaries, pulls down social ladders, and destroys all our walls.
There is no longer "US" vs "THEM."
The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
In Christ Jesus, we is ALLLLLL us!
There is a lot of anger in our land today.
That anger is morally neutral.
If it causes us to reveal just how revolutionary Christ's mad, crazy love can be, then it's a good thing.
In Christ Jesus there is no black or white.
No American or foreigner.
No Demican or Republicrat.
The Gospel makes us radically equal.
Forgiven, beloved, and free.