Human Effort

Introduction

A. We like our independence. As a culture we value freedom and take great delight in being able to accomplish something. We value working with our hands and minds and find great satisfaction in being able to point to what we completed. This value is passed on very early in life. Listen to the child who is just beginning to express independence “I do it” the child says with great determination. Many of us grew up hearing things like: Don’t ask someone to do for you what you can do for yourself. Stand on your own two feet. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Such values serve us well in our culture. But such values tend to get carried over to our faith journey as well. We want our independence. We want to show what we can do and that we can finish our spiritual task on our own.

B. Paul writes to a set of readers who have been listening to false teachers. Their gospel message appeals to their sense of human effort. These false teachers have preached a message that human effort is necessary to please God. They have preached that one must keep certain rules in order to be pleasing to God. They have preached that it is possible for one to make and build their relationship with God based on how well one does. And Paul’s readers have believed this false teaching. Paul writes for two purposes. First, he defends himself as a true apostle from God. This defense gives greater emphasis to his second purpose — to remind his readers that relationship with God is based on accepting Jesus’ death as full and complete for dealing with sin. Paul argues that God’s acceptance of us is based not on what we do but our trust in Jesus’ death. In our text this morning, Paul will further illustrate the importance of accepting Jesus’s death rather than trying to prove your worth to God.

The Spirit

A. Paul pulls no punches. NIV translates “foolish;” other translators use the word “stupid.” The word that Paul uses means an deficiency in understanding or an insufficient use of mental powers. Coupled with the word “bewitched” Paul points to his readers being in some kind of hypnotic state. They aren’t thinking; they have come under the bewitching teaching of these false teachers. They are allowing their minds to wander because they are so captivated by this false teaching. Paul says if they had kept their eyes on Jesus this wouldn’t have happened. Isn’t that the case? We are captivated by false things because we take our eyes off of Jesus. Paul said we talked about Jesus. We showed you Jesus. We revealed only the beauty of his crucifixion and you got distracted.

B. So in verses 2-5, Paul asks a series of questions which are designed to bring them to rational conclusions. Verses 2 & 5 go together. The question is simply this: The Spirit’s presence. Did you receive the Spirit through your effort to be good or did you receive the Spirit through faith? For Paul it is the presence of the Spirit which demonstrates that one belongs to Christ. The same thing happened in Acts 19 when Paul met those who believed Jesus and taught about Jesus but had not yet received the Spirit. Paul wants his readers to think, how does one receive the Spirit? His very question focuses on the reality that the Holy Spirit is a gift from God. He cannot be a gift if one demonstrates that he is worthy. In that case the Spirit is wages for effort.

C. And then in verses 3-4, if you began with faith why would you now turn to effort to finish? If you begin your walk with God through faith why would you want to continue the walk by your own effort? Look at Abraham. He heard the words of God. He trusted what God said about his descendants. God’s response was to pronounce Abraham righteous. And all who trust God like Abraham become part of the lineage of Abraham. Why is this important? Because God had spoken that all the nations would be blessed through Abraham. This would include the Galatians.

D. Why would anyone want to prove their worth to God through how well they keep the rules? Verses 10-12, Paul gives three reasons why this attempt to make God notice is defeating.

1.  Quoting Deuteronomy 27:26, Paul says that trying to prove your worth by keeping the rules places you under a curse. And trying to prove yourself by the law is a curse. It is the curse of perfection. It is the shame which comes because one isn't good enough. No one can keep the law perfectly.

2.  Quoting Habakkuk 2:4 Paul says that living to prove your worth to God doesn't bring life. No one can have a right relationship with God by trying to prove their worth. This is no real life. The kind of life that is confident and assured. The relationship with God based on faith brings real life. Life which is confident and assured comes from faith.

3.  Quoting Leviticus 18:5, Paul writes that proving your worth to God is not based on faith it is based on human effort which eliminates the need for Jesus (2:21).

The Answer

A. Thus, Christ is the answer. He became the curse for us so that we no longer have to live with the shame that comes from performing well. Trying to perform well results in the realization that you can never quite get the standard. Just about the time you think you are getting close then your pride gets in the way or you fail miserably at something and you are so shamed that you then redouble your efforts only to fail again. It is a vicious cursed cycle for living. Jesus became the curse for us. Trusting him means that we no longer have to prove anything.

B. Trusting Christ also means that we receive the Holy Spirit. Paul wants his readers to understand the importance of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the one who is saved. The Spirit’s presence is the sign of belonging to Christ. He is a gift from God. Paul will write in chapter 5 that it is the Spirit who produces the characteristics of belonging to Christ and that we walk by the Spirit. Paul will write in Romans 8:9 that if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ then the person does not belong to God. So the question is how does one receive the Spirit?

C. The Spirit is a gift from God. One receives the Spirit Paul writes through believing what you have heard. What has been heard? The gospel. That Jesus was given for you. That he became the curse for you so that you could have real life. When you trust that Jesus is the answer for your sin problem; when you trust that it is through his death that you can have your sins forgiven then like those who accepted and trusted in Jesus so long ago, one is baptized. In Acts 2:38, Peter speaking to those who were being asked to believe that Jesus was God’s Son and the one who died for their sins, Peter said “Repent (have a change of heart, mind, and action) and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ in order to receive the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

1.  It is at our baptism that we receive both forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit. These are God's gifts to us; God's promises to us even as we promise to trust Jesus and to live for God all the days of our lives.

2.  Invitation.

Follow Jesus

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