Title: Love/Galatians 5:1-6
Content Love (Galatians 5:1-6) - Lecture 12
Even though believers speak of God's grace and love, they seem to be ignorant of what grace and love are. Of course, we know that it is grace and love that sent Jesus Christ to this earth to forgive our sins and save us. But most of the time it just ends up being just the knowledge in your head, even though it should be something that comes out of your life. What we can know is that we are not trying to confirm our believer with God's grace and love, but we are trying to confirm it with the act of faith. The reason that Christ has come is because we cannot be saved by our works. If a believer knows this, he should not try to confirm his faith by his works.
However, believers say that salvation is God's grace and love, and that our actions are not the conditions for salvation, but they are trying to confirm that they are believers who have received God's grace and love through their actions of faith. After all, they have anxiety about grace and love. It is thinking that God loves someone and gives grace to someone because that person has done the right deeds. So, what man has put forward is to set the standard of faith that deserves God's love and grace. Even though there is no standard that God requires of us, humans make their own standards and judge them as lacking in faith when they do not meet those standards. This is what it looks like to live by the law I talked about last time.
The life of faith is not to be enjoyed with joy, but to be bound by the law. Of course, there will be joy and joy in the life of faith bound by the law. However, if you look into that joy and joy, you should know that satisfaction is not the joy of knowing God's grace and love, but the joy of fulfilling yourself by keeping the law of faith.
Korean church members are too well trained in the law of faith rather than training in freedom. So if you don't do something, you'll feel insecure. This is why we should be careful about meditating on the Bible. I'm not saying you shouldn't meditate on the Bible. Bible meditation can be a good way for us to discover God. However, if we use the method of meditation to achieve a certain standard of faith, we must abandon it. A believer who tries to achieve a certain standard, no matter how much he says he knows the grace and love of God, does not know. When the church decides everything according to the law and proceeds in this way, it is bound to become a uniform church that does not tolerate diversity. God's love does not govern the church, but the law governs the church. That's why I told you last time not to lead a religious life according to the law by someone's coercion. The life of faith is not something someone makes you do. It should be something you want to do for yourself. That is to live freely.
Verse 1 also says, “For Christ set us free, so stand firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” That Christ set us free means that no law is effective in Christ (v. 6).
Ladies and gentlemen, no law or standard of faith is effective in Christ. It is said that circumcision, which the Jews so took as a mark of God's chosen people, has no effect in Christ. The ineffectiveness of circumcision is that no law can lead us to the Lord. Then, if the church called the body of Christ sets a certain standard and asks its believers to keep it, you should know that it is a huge mistake. As a believer, you will take it for granted that you must do this. In other words, to say that you must pray because you are a believer, worship because you are a believer, and donate because you are a believer means that you use prayer, worship, and offering as the standard of a believer. In other words, prayer, worship, and offering will appear as laws, not grace and love. Because of that, because of not praying, for missing out on worship, for not giving, you will be rebuking the other person. Of course, not doing this does not mean that it is justified. I just want to ask whether you do it by law or by grace and love.
A person who wants to keep the law does not have to obey one or several laws. Verse 3 says that those who are circumcised are obligated to do the whole law. In other words, if you want to keep the law, you have to obey other laws, all the laws. Because there is no such person, verse 4 says, “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been cut off from Christ and have fallen from grace.” In other words, those who want to become believers by keeping the law or by keeping certain laws of faith are already separated from the grace and love of Christ.
The church must show the image of heaven. Heaven has no laws. There is only love. Therefore, the church can show the appearance of heaven when there is love. Church love is not kindness. Treating people kindly does not mean that there is love. The love of the church is the love of God. God's love was forgiveness, not law. So, for the church to show God's love, it means that it is not moved by law. That is why the church is also called the family. Because the family also doesn't require the law.
All problems are one of you. You must first become one who is not bound by the law and is held captive by love. Some believers try to judge the love of the church by what others do to them. But you have to think about whether I approached others with love. That's a believer. People in the world try to give to the other person only when they have something to receive, and even if they give unconditionally, they choose to give to the person they like. But the Lord gave Himself without condition and for those who crucified Him. It is believers who have to live this way. If each one of you understands this Lord's love and shows it in the church, that church will become heaven.
The reason the believer keeps moving forward with the law is probably because he thinks that God does not turn away from my zeal. This is because we have to show zeal to receive the blessings we need from God and prove that zeal by diligently following the standards of believers. Such a life of faith is just tiring. It's a burden, it's forced, there's no joy. Even if what you need is given, something else is waiting for you. In the end, it only leads to fatigue and dissatisfaction.
What is the greatest need in the church today? It is not zeal to keep the law and practice the standards of faith, but only faith that works through love. Without this, no matter how well-founded religious zeal might be, gatherings would be nothing but instruments of reproof. Do not judge others by the law or any standard. I hope you see it as forgiving and forgiving love. This is what freedom looks like. Don't expect others to be your helper, but I want you to step forward as a helper. And pray to the Lord for such a life. Do not expect others to be lover, but pray to the Lord that you yourself first become lovers. Only such a church is a church that shows the kingdom of heaven, and it is a church that is like a family.