Slavery and Freedom

Galatians 4:21-31; Genesis 16

To celebrate ICB's 20th anniversary this year, Alastair Morrice, ICB's founding pastor, shared with us by video.

Jesus introduces you into the same relationship that he himself has with the Father, and access into such a relationship is a gift of God's free, unmerited grace. However, in the churches in the region of Galatia, new teachers were saying, "Oh, that's nice, but now there's something else." They added requirements to receiving acceptance before God.

Pastor Morrice walks us through the consequences of such teaching as well as Paul's arguments against it.

He concludes with the following practical applications:

1. We cannot be confused about the simplicity of the gospel of Christ. It something we receive as a gift.
2. We must beware of any teaching that does not have Christ as the throbbing heart at its center. It's so easy to substitute Christ for other things.
3. We must beware of any teaching that takes us away from the impulse to share this good news.
4. We must beware of any kind of teaching that focuses on human standards.

Questions for personal reflection and/or group discussion:

1. Pastor Morrice said that believers have entered into the very same relationship with the Father that Jesus had. If you are brutally honest with yourself, have you received entrance into that relationship as a free gift, or are you trying to earn your entrance, as if that relationship fundamentally depended upon you and your performance?
2. Do our presentations of the good news cause people to look inward to determine if they have done all the right things necessary to come to God, or do they cause people to look completely away from themselves and to Christ as their only hope for salvation?
3. Why is it that false teaching can cause people to lose their zeal to share the good news? What is the connection? What is the remedy?