Sermon Title: Don’t Stop Before You Get There
Speaker: Pete Briscoe
Text: Galatians 6:11ff
What?
- How does this passage of Scripture (Galatians 6) address both dying to the world and embracing the new creation?
- What is the connection the speaker made between the people of Israel in Numbers 14 and and the tension of law and grace that some Christians experience?
So What?
- What kind of behaviour might one expect to see from someone who had rejected law (marching) but not completely gone on to grace (dancing)?
- What are the implications of Jeremiah 31:13 for new covenant living?
Now What?
The Christian life is…Not about performing to bring about transformation (Marching) – It’s not about transformation that doesn’t affect anything! (White space) – It is about transformation that transforms everything! (Dancing)
So, what would (1) marching, (2) white space, and (3) dancing look like for the following areas of your life?
- Serving
- Giving
- Drinking
- Quiet Time
- Family
- Others?
__________
Quotes used in this sermon:
“The good news is that Christ frees us from the need to obnoxiously focus on our goodness, our commitment, and our correctness. Religion has made us obsessive almost beyond endurance. Jesus invited us to a dance… and we’ve turned it into a march of soldiers, always checking to see if we’re doing it right and are in step and in line with the other soldiers.” – Steve Brown, in A Scandalous Freedom
“One of the most serious problems facing the orthodox Christian church today is the problem of legalism. One of the most serious problems facing the church in Paul’s day was the problem of legalism. In every day it is the same. Legalism wrenches the joy of the Lord from the Christian believer, and with the joy of the Lord goes his power for vital worship and vibrant service. Nothing is left but cramped, sober, dull, and listless profession. The truth is betrayed, and the glorious name of the Lord becomes a synonym for a gloomy kill-joy. The Christian under law is a miserable parody of the real thing.” - S. Lewis Johnson, from an article called “The Paralysis of Legalism”
“God forbid that I should ever take any pride in anything, except in the lynching of our Lord Jesus Christ!” – from Cotton Patch Gospel,
When false foundations all are gone,
Each lying refuge blown to air,
The Cross remains our boast alone:
The righteousness of God is there!
- from an Old Glassite hymn
