Fickle Followers of the Faith

In one paragraph

Palm Sunday at First B fell on a baptism Sunday, and Pastor Nathan wove those two things together with the opening passage from Galatians. The sermon took the fickle crowd of Palm Sunday as a mirror held up to every congregation, including this one, and asked whether we are any different from the people who shouted hosanna on Sunday and crucify him on Friday. Pastor Nathan opened Galatians 1:1-10...

Read together

1. John 12:12-13 Palm Sunday crowd taking palm branches and crying Hosanna, quoted at the opening
2. Galatians 1:1-5 Paul identifies himself as an apostle sent through Jesus Christ, opening of the letter
3. Galatians 1:6-7 Paul marvels that the Galatians are turning away from grace to a different gospel
4. Galatians 1:8-9 Even if an angel preaches another gospel, let him be accursed
5. Galatians 1:10 Paul asks whether he is trying to please men or God, saying he would not be a bondservant of Christ if he pleased men
6. Luke 4:14-30 Jesus returns to Galilee, reads Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue, declares scripture fulfilled, and the crowd turns on him
7. John 19:1-16 Pilate scourges Jesus, crowd cries crucify him, chief priests say we have no king but Caesar
8. Matthew 5:16 Elizabeth quotes it at her baptism: let your light shine before men so they can glorify your Father in heaven
9. Philippians 3:10 Virginia quotes it at her baptism: I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection
10. Psalm 33:4 Third sister quotes it at her baptism: what the Lord says is right and true and he is faithful in everything he does
11. Acts 8 Referenced in the context of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch asking why he should not be baptized

Talk about it

1. Pastor Nathan described the Galatian believers as 'fickle', turning away from grace and back toward law and works. Where have you seen that same pull in your own life, moving away from what God has freely given and trying to earn it back through effort or routine?
2. Paul says in Galatians 1 that the gospel is Jesus' work, period, and that adding anything to it makes it no longer good news. What are some things, religious or otherwise, that people around us tend to add to the gospel, and why do you think that addition is so appealing?
3. Pastor Nathan pointed to the crowd on Palm Sunday shouting 'Hosanna' and days later shouting 'Crucify him' as a picture of human fickleness. Machiavelli's line came up too: that people are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain. Do you think that description is fair, and what does the gospel say to people who recognise that in themselves?
4. Jesus read from Isaiah in his hometown synagogue and the crowd went from marveling at his words to trying to throw him off a cliff when he said something that made them uncomfortable. When has a hard truth from Scripture made you want to look away or find a different voice to listen to?
5. Pastor Nathan closed with a prayer confessing that we are a fickle people who sometimes want to hear what we want to hear rather than what is true. What does it actually look like, in a practical, daily sense, to stay anchored to Christ rather than drifting toward whatever is more comfortable or convenient?