Galatians 3:2-3
Let me ask you this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Do you remember crossing the finish line? Do you remember where you were when you did the good work that put you over the top in God’s eyes and then you received the gift of the Holy Spirit and became a Christian? Of course, you don’t. The Galatians didn’t, either, and that’s why Paul was calling them out as FOOLISH. They didn’t work their way into the Kingdom of God by obeying the Law of Moses…nor were they going to become more Christlike by obeying the Law. Both are the work of the Holy Spirit, and there are millions of people across the world that need to hear that.
John Stott wrote that “The law requires works of human achievement; the gospel requires faith in Christ’s achievement. The law makes demands and bids us obey; the gospel brings promises and bids us believe. So, the law and the gospel are contrary to one another. They are not two aspects of the same thing, or interpretations of the same Christianity. At least in the sphere of justification, as Luther says, ‘the establishing of the law is the abolishing of the Gospel’.” This is such a critical point to understand for Believers that there really is no way to overstate it…for our salvation, but also for our sanctification.
Are you becoming more Christlike? How is that happening? What formula are you using? Perhaps it’s Church Attendance + Quiet Time + Tithing + Bible Study + Service Projects + Not Swearing + Not Drinking + No R-rated Movie + + + + + = Good Christian! Those things are all good in and of themselves, but why are you doing them? Because you have to? Because you have been told to? Because they will please God and He will bless you for it? I often tell my students that, “You know you are growing in Christian maturity when you do things that are pleasing to the LORD…not because you are supposed to…but because you really want to.” God actually does change us (and our desires) through the power of the Holy Spirit! Yes, we are called to obedience, but we are not transformed by it. Like our salvation, our sanctification is also a work of grace.
Even the best and most acceptable works do not increase our standing before God or elevate us to a higher spiritual status. How would it be possible to be more than a child of God and fellow heir with Jesus Christ, who is the Heir of all things (Romans 8:17)? There is a place for good works, but they must be John 15:5 works! In other words, the validity of good works in God’s sight depends on whose power they are done in and for whose glory. When they are done in the power of His Spirit and for His glory, they are beautiful and acceptable to Him. When they are done in the power of the flesh and for the sake of personal recognition or merit, they are rejected by Him.
Spurgeon wrote powerfully on the subject:
“The kind of religion that makes itself to order by the almanac and turns out its emotions like bricks from a machine—weeping on Good Friday and rejoicing two days afterwards, measuring its motions by the moon—is too artificial to be worthy of your imitation. The liberty of the spiritual life is a grand thing. And where that liberty is maintained constantly and the energy is kept up, you will need much faith, for the fading of faith will be the withering of devotion. Faith enriches the soil of the heart. Faith fills our treasuries with the choicest gold and loads our tables with the daintiest food for our souls. Faith in Jesus, the Savior, faith in the heavenly Father, faith in the Holy Spirit—this we must have, or we perish like foam upon the waters.”
Check your heart, rather than your list…and live by faith!
