Jesus +

Introduction

Jigsaw puzzles - anybody good at them? The big 1000 piece things. What’s the point of a jigsaw puzzle?

It’s cool to put together small parts of the puzzle and see how the pieces come together to create a small picture, then a bit bigger picture, then a bit bigger and then...

Is is easier or harder to do the jigsaw puzzle if you can’t see what the finished puzzle will look like? That’s the big picture.

The Galatians were trying really hard to put a puzzle together. Have you ever read Galatians before? We’re studying it for the next few weeks. It’s a fascinating book that covers the basics of Christianity, which is what Paul specialized in.

The Galatians needed Paul to help them put the puzzle together and see the big picture.

Tension

How did the early church operate? It was a small group of people, no Bibles, no church model, no camps, maybe no pastor/teachers to explain every issue of Christianity to them.

They knew this: Jesus had been alive, he died on a cross and then he rose from the dead. Paul’s “job” was to travel all over the world to these small groups of people and help them get the big picture and then help them figure out what that meant to them personally.

  • How did he do that? (Visits and Letters)

Here we are 2000 years later and we really like to think we’ve got it all figured out...look at all we have now...most of you have several Bibles, teachers, a thriving church to teach you and disciple you. TBH we think we’ve got it all figured out. Most of us in this room have a theology degree compared to the average early church member.

As good as we think we are...Paul’s going to mess with us while he messes with the Galatians. He’s going to put the puzzle together for us and it may not look exactly how you thought it was supposed to look. He’s going to cast the vision and then help us make it a reality in our lives....all the advantages we have over the early church members don’t mean squat if we’re focusing on the wrong big picture.

Truth

  • What was the main problem for the early church members in Galatia after Paul’s visit? (Here’s a hint, have a look at Gal 1:6-7)
  • Anybody know what this other non-Gospel might have been? (Judaism)
  • How did this sneak in? There were lots of questions about the faith early on and no one had the New Testament for the answers...sometimes when we’re faced with things that we’re not quite sure about, we drop back to things that we’re comfortable with...many of the new Jesus followers were converts from Judaism.
  • Somebody tell us a little about the Jewish faith please.
  • Why do you think Paul got so fired up about this issue? (He was a Pharisee...they added a LOT of extra laws to the faith.)

No one could agree about how the Law related to this new faith, besides, they weren’t all Jewish converts. It had gotten back to the Galatians that they had to accept Jesus AND follow the law.

The law itself isn’t bad...don’t murder, don’t steal, etc. But following the law just made you realize how bad you were because you couldn’t do it...it was just foreshadowing for a larger story, a bigger picture.

This fired Paul up. Jesus’ message was that of acceptance, unconditional acceptance, made possible by his death on the cross. Period, end of story.

  • Someone please read Galatians 2:16.
  • We knkow very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it - and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good. (MSG)

Does it get any clearer? Paul says we tried, and we failed and now there is a better way. Leave the failure behind!

  • Wh do you think it is so easy for us to think rule-keeping is a way for us to get approved by God?

  • Why is it so hard to simply believe that Jesus as Messiah is enough?

  • Someone read Gal 3:2-5 for me please.

  • What is Paul saying? Do we need anything other than the Gospel? Are you sure?

Application

We may not call it the law, but I think a lot of us would admit to times when it’s just easier for us to count on Jesus AND something else...sometimes such a simple thing doesn’t seem so simple.

  • Do you have a hard time with this today?
  • Do you have a hard time believing that nothing you do or don’t do, say or don’t say, think or don’t think could keep you from the work Jesus did on the cross?

When we add to the gospel, it’s our way of saying: “Thanks for being willing to die and everything Jesus...but I just don’t think it’s enough to get me to You. I think I have I have to believe in you AND

  • have a quiet time seven days a week
  • go on a mission trip twice a year
  • give all my babysitting money to the Cross fund
  • never curse
  • never think lustful thoughts
  • What else? What are some other rules people following Christ live by? Explain France.

We may never say it just like that, but do you see what I mean? Can you imagine what that must sound like to Jesus? - Have you ever thought about adding stuff to the gospel and how that LESSENS the value of what Jesus did on the cross?

Jesus doesn’t care about all of that stuff...we shouldn’t either!

Those of us who are believers in Christ cannot get hung up on this stuff. We have to get this right. We need to hold on very tightly to the big picture, and very loosely to the methods that get us there.

What is the big picture? This IS the big picture: WE NEED TO REMEMBER WHAT JESUS DID FOR US, AND KNOW THAT IT IS ENOUGH.

Landing

For a lot of us here today, we need to learn how to simply believe. How to rest in what God has already done on our behalf.

We need to throw out all the rules that we think will get us there and go instead for the big picture vision - A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.

Jesus fulfilled the Law for exactly this purpose, to make it easy, simple, and accessible to everyone. The hard work has already been done, all we need to do is believe!

If you need to talk about it...

This is good news! Jesus has come, freed us

Jesus is the big picture, if he alone is what we are aiming for we’ll find freedom everytime.

Challenge

  • What does it look like to live in such a way so that what Jesus di on the cross is enough?
  • What does it look like to trust his sacrifice and not try to do anything to earn our forgiveness or to get in good with God?
  • Is that what your life looks like?
  • Read Galatians this week, the whole book, it’s not long.