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the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Sometimes the son feels like a slave. “Why are you always telling me what to do!?” Well, it’s not because I own you, it’s because I love you. One day, all this will be yours and I need to ensure you grow up correctly. Do not act like a petulant child when the Lord corrects you. Don’t act like you’re “someone” when a brother or sister in Christ attempts to lovingly correct you, they may be speaking God’s word into your life. We are not under the “elementary principles of this world” (that is to say, the Mosaic Law, the basic governing precepts) because we have the Spirit of God in us. We DO follow God, but not because we are obligated under the law like a slave, we are obligated by who we are, the heir. We are not free to simply act however we see fit, we are being moulded and shaped to receive the inheritance of the entire world. Follow the Lord, not because you have to, but because He lets you!

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

We do not want to live by the letter of the law. Though that is truly “Justice” none of us can even hope to come close to living-up to that standard. This is the fundamental misunderstanding of the Pharisees who opposed Jesus. They, better than most, should have understood the weight of the law… it is impossible for us. We are saved by faith in Jesus’ fulfillment of the law. You are seen as blameless as Christ if you have made Him your savior. We are not defined by our past, we are not defined by our shortcomings, we are not even defined by who we are… we are defined by Jesus and His work on the cross. You are given a promise!

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

So much of Paul’s ministry is calling out those in the church to live out the gospel. Please don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can hide in your own bubble by rarely attending church services and you can then choose to live however you please. Equally dangerous is thinking how fellow church members live their lives is none of your business, may it never be! We are obliged to confront sin within our church. This is not a blog post, it is a direct confrontation for the gospel. This is not ego driven, it is for the good news of Jesus Christ to not be held back. How much Paul loved Peter to confront him! Peter was THE Apostle (with a capital “A”), and Paul was the one who needed to prove himself, yet the gospel was worth more than Paul’s reputation, and Peter WAS the pillar of the church and received Paul’s rebuke with humility and grace. What an example of how we do not seek or expect even the greatest church leaders to be perfect. We must always be learning, growing, and leading.

It has become a tradition for me to post about “uncle Mel” on D-Day. So here it is. Thank you to all the men and women who sacrifice so much for our freedoms.

On this day, 72 years ago, Ernest Melvin Morrison (“Mel” to his family, “Ernie” to his mom) jumped out of a plane and parachuted into France, it was D-Day.

I am proud to know my family was a part of this momentous fight.

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I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Did you not listen to what I said? Anyone who has children have said or thought this, often. Paul made it clear that the power of the gospel did not come from the authority of the messenger, though his authority was well established, the strength of the good news of Jesus is in the message itself. Paul said that we are saved by faith and not by works, and anyone who tells you different, even if Paul himself changed his mind, do not buy it for a second. Test every blog, test every book, test every sermon… not against the reliability of the one giving it, but by the content itself. If it jives with the Bible, then it is good (even if the messenger is bad), if it doesn’t match Scripture, then reject it, even if it’s from Billy Graham himself. 😉