Lesson 7 | Pursue Means & Manner
What’s at Stake: Grace
Gain:
Life in Christ
Each of us who are alive in this physical world "lives"—we exist; we walk around and eat and sleep and think and talk.
But as Christians, we want to live in a very specific way. We want to please the one “who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age” (Gal 1:4). We don’t want to listen to those who “distort the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:7). We don't want to act hypocritically, like Peter and Barnabas (Gal 2:11-13). We do want to live “in step with the truth of the gospel” (Gal 2:14).
And the way in which we can do this is found in one important little phrase in verse 20 of chapter 2.
Did you see it? We are to live “by faith.” Don’t miss those two little words! Paul does not say that life in Christ is found by any path of your choosing. No, complete identification with Christ and him living in us is found by means of resting in Christ’s sacrificial, gospel love.
Loss:
Nullifying Grace
In fact, if we miss that little phrase, “by faith,” we will nullify the grace of God, as Paul says in the next verse:
Faith is the means of beginning the Christian life and it is also the means of continuing the Christian life (cf. Col 2:6-7). Even though we may be born again, we can still nullify the grace of God in practice by not living by means of faith in Christ.
So if we don’t live out our Christian walk “by faith,” then we are acting as if our success, our holiness, is dependent entirely on our own efforts, which means God’s grace is irrelevant. But, of course, there is a better way: joyfully looking to God to empower us to please him!
There’s a wonderful poem, attributed to John Bunyan, which sings of this truth:
’Run and walk’ the law commands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands.
Better news the gospel brings;
It bids me ’Fly!’ and gives me wings.
John Bunyan
Here’s the bottom line: We cannot own any of the truths in Galatians or live out any of its commands without embracing the means provided in the gospel.