It Is for Freedom That Christ Has Set Us Free

In one paragraph

Pastor Mark opened Galatians 5:1-15 by framing the whole letter as a passionate, urgent sketch of the same argument Paul makes more formally in Romans: that Christ sets people free, and that freedom runs along a narrow path between two ditches, legalism on one side and license on the other. The sermon moved through Paul's commands, cautions, clarifications, and warnings in order, pressing the same...

Read together

1. Psalm 77 Opening verse: 'O God, your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as you?'
2. Psalm 16:11 Quoted after a song: 'you make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.'
3. Galatians 5:1 Covered as benediction the prior week, included again as opening command: stand firm and do not submit to a yoke of slavery
4. Galatians 5:2-15 Main text of the sermon
5. Galatians 5:16-24 Referenced as next week's passage on works of the flesh and fruit of the spirit
6. Galatians 5:25-26 Added to the sermon as closing verses: keep in step with the spirit, do not become conceited

Talk about it

1. Pastor Mark described Galatians as a passionate sketch for Romans, saying Paul keeps making the same point from many different angles. What point do you think Paul most wants the Galatians to hear, and why do you think it was so hard for them to accept it?
2. Paul warns that accepting circumcision as a requirement means taking on the obligation of the whole law, and that doing so cuts a person off from grace. How do you see the same temptation showing up today, where people add requirements to what Christ has already done?
3. Pastor Mark described the freedom Christ gives as a highway with a ditch on each side, legalism on one side and license on the other. Which ditch do you think is the greater pull in your own life right now, and what does keeping in step with the Spirit look like for you practically?
4. Paul says 'the whole law is fulfilled in one word: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.' How does that land for you when you compare it to the way you actually relate to the people around you this week?
5. The closing warning is that if we bite and devour one another, we risk being consumed by one another. Where have you seen that play out in a community or a church, and what do you think keeps people from drifting into that pattern?