Know Your Wealth; Share Your Wealth

Text: Galatians 5:1-15

Main Idea: Know Your Wealth; Share Your Wealth

The centerpiece of Paul’s concern in this portion of his letter to the Galatians is circumcision, the removal of the foreskin of a male, which was a sign of the covenant God made with Abraham and later stipulated in the Law of Moses.  By His death, burial and resurrection, Christ introduced the New Covenant, the centerpiece of which is faith in Him.

Paul’s concern was not about the physical act of circumcision per se, but how it had been represented by those who were persuading the Galatians to do it. They were leading the Galatians away from pure and exclusive faith in Christ, to the belief that circumcision was also necessary for them to be saved.

The moment anything besides faith is added as a requirement for salvation it makes the gospel a different gospel and needs to be rejected.

Anything added to faith in Christ as what is required to be saved and to enter the kingdom of God is what Paul calls in the text, “leaven.”  And his meaning is anything extra, even the smallest addition corrupts the whole gospel and is in fact NOT the gospel.

He says in verse 7, “you were running a good race.”

• You were running free and unfettered and they confused you. They are swindling you out of your appreciation of your wealth.

Then he redirects them and gets them back on course with this statement.  13You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love

So, I want to focus on the two things he tells them to get them back on track.  1) You are free and 2) Serve one another in love.

I.  We are free.

Free from the requirements of the Law – Romans 8:1-4

Free from worry about our eternal destiny – Romans 5:10

Free from fear of alienation with God – Hebrews 13:5

But we have not just been freed from things.  We’ve been freed to something marvelous.

Free to experience life in Christ.

Freed to get to know Him personally and intimately.

Free to experience shared life with one another in Him. 

Free to love with the supernatural love of Christ.

II.   Serve one another.

Always put your brothers and sisters at the top of the list of those to whom we owe the debt of love.

• Galatians 6:10 – Do good…. But especially.
• 1 Peter 4:8 Above all, fervently love one another.
• John 13:34 A new commandment that you love one another.

We are to be the primary focus but not the exclusive one.

Know your wealth and share your wealth.  When we share our wealth, we become richer for it.  For it is always more blessed to give than to receive.