From Bumper Cars to Carnival Swings

Paul Taylor preaches a seven week series from September 7 through October 26 on the book of Galatians.

Being born again as a follower of Christ means becoming part of the new family that He has created. But learning to love people in a family can be really difficult. One thing that complicates matters is how different each person is. It's hard to love someone who is really different from you. That's what the young churches of Galatia were experiencing shortly after becoming Christians. In particular, it was challenging for the Jewish believers to get along with the Gentile believers. To make this easier, some people suggested that Gentiles had to be circumcised. That way, they would be just like the Jews and everybody could get along much better. But Paul wrote a letter to these churches trying to convince them not to fall for this. He was clear: the gospel message is about the formation of a new family whose members are different from each other in remarkable ways, and yet are still able to love each other deeply because of their relationship with God through Christ. We have a lot to learn today from Galatians about how to love each other as a family, even when people seem so different and hard to love.

This Week

Sitting on the Couch with Your Brother

Galatians 6:1-18

As Paul closes his letter, he attends to several very specific areas of loving each other that he wants to be clear about. One of the major themes is understanding the line between personal responsibility and the support of the community. When should a person receive help from the community? When should a person be responsible for their own needs? The issue of finances lies behind a lot of this section as he encourages people to view their finances as resources that can be invested in a way that benefits the new community of God. He wraps up the letter by reiterating his understanding of how following Christ frees us members in the new community from focusing on their distinctions.