Heirs of the Promise

No longer living under a guardian

Have you ever heard someone say, “The best Christians I know are Atheists”? Or maybe you’ve heard someone pick some obscure verse like Leviticus 20:9: “For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him”, and then try use it to show that Christianity is just hypocrisy? They claim that we don’t take it seriously so we’re no different from unbelievers.

The reason that they think this is because they are approaching Christ the same way that the pharisees did in Jesus’ time. They think that the way to be reconciled to God is by being good people. Sure, you have to be good, but they’re completely wrong about how good it is necessary to be. The truth is that “good enough” is nowhere near close. The only thing that will do is to follow God’s law to absolute perfection.

For non-Christians, the law accuses. It is like the most demanding coach ever: always pushing for better results, always expecting more than we can deliver, never being satisfied no matter how hard we try. But Jesus came and did everything required of us, and He did it perfectly. And through baptism and faith he did it for us as well. So now that coach who was a demanding taskmaster has become a wise mentor to guide us.

So, while it might appear that we’re no better than anyone else, in truth we are. Not because of anything we did ourselves, “that no man may boast,” but because of what Christ has done for us.

Thanks be to God for this miraculous gift of Christ’s righteousness, given freely to each of us!

Here is the full sermon text from Galatians 3:

²³Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Galatians 3:23-29

Click here to open the bulletin in a new tab or scroll down to read it.

Announcements

Bible Study: Our midweek Bible study will resume from hiatus on January 11th.

Installation of Officers: Our new officers for 2023 will be installed on January 8th.

Donations: Even during the pandemic and with a decline in attendance, the expenses continue. If you wish to make a donation please mail them to the St. James post office box as that is a secure location. You may also donate online.