This week Geoff Cottrell continues in our Advent series on ‘Jesus Christ: Prophet, Priest and King’ by looking more closely at ‘Jesus Christ: the Prophet’. He writes, “God speaks, and God’s words were spoken through the prophets throughout history. At the time of John the Baptist the prophets had been silent for over 400 years and yet there were some expectantly watching and waiting. In Acts 3:18 Peter said that all the prophets ‘spoke of these days’ and he preaches Jesus Christ the great prophet like unto Moses who holds this office for the restoration of all things. As we […]

      As Christmas draws near this year, we begin an Advent series titled, ‘Jesus Christ: Prophet, Priest and King’. ‘Christ’ is not Jesus’ surname, it is a title or office which means ‘Messiah’ or ‘Anointed One’. When the shepherds heard the angel announce,’to you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour who is Christ the Lord!’ they knew something about this ‘Christ’. They had heard of this one to come. They had been waiting for him. There was great expectations about this promised one to come – this Messiah… this Christ. And now the […]

As we conclude our series through Paul’s letter to the Galatians, ‘True Gospel:True Freedom’, Paul makes it crystal clear that there is only one thing that counts – a new creation. No deed of the flesh, or work of the law can ever contribute to our salvation. God’s welcoming acceptance of us into his family, as his holy and beloved children, is only ever on the basis of our being crucified with Christ. Through the cross, Paul says, “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” To place our trust and hope in our own flesh […]

In Galatians 5:25-6:10 Paul gives us a snapshot of how walking by the Spirit is worked out in the cut and thrust of everyday life and relationships. It is worked out in how we respond to someone who is caught in sin, bearing the burden of seeking to restore them whilst at the same time recognizing that we ourselves are nothing, apart from the grace of God. Life in the Spirit is not a matter of looking down on others in order to pump ourselves up. Comparing ourselves with others is a clever way of opting out of personal responsibility.  […]

We have seen that Christian freedom is to be jealously guarded – not only from every form of self-justification based on law observance (whether Jewish law or a law of our own making) but also protected from the idea that we can now live how we like as though sin no longer mattered. How then does a sincere believer deal with the ongoing battle with wrong desires that often arise in his heart and mind? It is clear that coming to know the freedom of Christ does not automatically deliver us from our sense of powerlessness in the face of […]

Details to come…

Paul declares in Galatians 5 that it is “for freedom Christ has set us free.” I wonder if any of us really know the true extent of this freedom? We need to hear this gospel truth today, as much as the Galatians did in their day. Paul goes on to exhort us not to lose our freedom, but to protect it, by standing firm in the grace of God and not submitting to the demands of the law in regards to our righteousness. He also instructs us not to abuse our freedom, by willfully and presumptuously succumbing to the desires […]

We Christians can easily turn from faith in Christ to faith in something we can see to make us feel we are OK—like the early Christians who were tempted to trust in Jerusalem. Paul says this takes us straight back into the slavery we escaped when we first trusted in Christ. He proves his point by taking us back to our family history (the Old Testament). The way Abraham’s two sons were born describes how we can try to bring about what God has promised, or how we can wait on him to do what he has promised. Then, the […]

John Calvert continues our ‘True Gospel : True Freedom’ series through Galatains this week, looking at Galatians 4:8-20. He writes, “Paul’s initial message of Christ and His salvation to the Galatians was without any Jewish ceremonial or legal requirements. The Galatians were pagan Gentiles and slavishly worshipped false gods. In knowing the one true God through Jesus Christ His only Son they had come into the delight of love and grace. But now, as in 1:6 & 7, they are captivated by the false words of legalism and returning to the worthless demands of religious imprisonment. Paul pleads with them, […]

Paul now comes to a great climax in his letter to the Galatians. God has acted in the fullness of time by sending His Son to bring us out from the slavery of living under the whole Mosaic system of law and bring us into the liberating sonship of Christ. Christian freedom is solidly grounded on the fact that all humanity has been shut up under the judgment of God’s law – ‘locked up until faith should be revealed’ but now ‘since faith has come’ all who believe – both Jew and Gentile are liberated from the guilt and impotence […]