Stand fast therefore in the Liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. (13) For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (14) for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (15) But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

The letter to the Galatians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today we are told the believer possesses in Christ true liberty – not to walk in sin but to walk and serve in holiness. It is the liberty of our new nature in faith in Christ which gives the Christian power over sin in grace. False teachers followed Paul everywhere to corrupt the gospel. They preached to the Galatians that they had to still keep the law PLUS Jesus. But Christ has made the faithful free from the law – not civil liberty, not liberty to do as we please but because of our redeemer the Christian has freedom from the wrath of God. This is real liberty – that God will forever be merciful to the faithful for Christs’s sake. Because of Christ no law or sin or death may now accuse us and condemn us. Jesus Christ purchased this freedom with His own blood. Our liberty is founded on Christ and is sure as long as we are faithful. So stand fast indeed! Reason prefers the righteousness of the law to the righteousness of faith but the law CANNOT make man righteous before God. This is a matter of everlasting liberty or everlasting slavery.

We have gained liberty through Christ to not turn this liberty into licentiousness; to cater to desires of covetousness, pleasure, pride, envy or carnal living. The faithful have been justified but the flesh is still weak. Paul adds the caveat of mutual love and service. It is not easy to teach faith without works but still to advocate works – if we teach only works we shall lose faith. Our new standing in faith in Christ shall cause good works.

Christ has set the faithful free from the law; free from the dominion of sin; free from good works to gain approval from God; free from condemnation and free from eternal judgment. We are spiritually free in Christ. But Christians are not to use their freedom to indulge their/our sinful nature. Religious freedom is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin. The flesh is the sinful nature that every person, saved or unsaved, possesses. We are not free to sin but by the grace of God, are free not to sin.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (2) through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (3) And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; (4) and perseverance, character; and character, Hope. (5) Now Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The letter to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today Paul has just proved the doctrine of free justification through faith in Christ Jesus and writes regarding the healing of many as righteous on account of one man. The consequence of reconciliation is peace with God; the faithful no longer have an unappeased conscience or dread of divine vengeance. It is the removal of the wrath of God by the death of His Son. This peace is not just forgiveness but justification and reconciliation founded on the atonement of Christ. He who relies on his/her own works has no justification. We find peace through faith in Jesus only – not through ourselves in any way – neither by our own merits nor our own efforts. NO FAITH is righteousness sought by works.

Paul moves on to tribulation – that the faithful should rejoice in future glory but in present tribulations also. Suffering is made the means of our own sanctification and preparation for our usefulness here – afflictions work patience, endurance, character and hope. Our relationship to God has changed us – the relationship of all things to us has changed. We do not glory in affliction but God is using trials to shape our character and our response is not automatic but requires deliberate focus. And Paul here is not denying the pain of suffering but maintains that perseverance produces proven character. We will pass the test with the help of free grace and the indwelling Spirit.

c.s.Lewis writes that “We can ignore pleasure. But pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world…..no doubt pain as God’s megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion, but it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil, it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of the rebel soul.”

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and said, “Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you; do this in rememberance of Me.” (25) In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My Blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in rememberance of Me.” (26) For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today Paul addresses disorders connected to the Lord’s Supper. In the early church it was the custom to connect that, in a strict sense, with an ordinary meal; it was connected to a commemoration of our Redeemer’s death but appears to have been a regular meal. Both Jewish and Greek festivals had been accustomed to unite their sacrifices with feasts of more or less public character. Persons brought their own provisions to be common stock but the rich brought plentiful food and drink and the poor brought little or nothing. The Christian feast was meant to be a communion and all guests were to be on terms of equality – but not so in Corinth. Their conduct was inconsistent with the nature of the service and Paul recounts the original institution of the Lord’s Supper – not an ordinary meal but a commemoration of the death of Christ. Paul says very clearly that he received the account of the original institution from the Lord Himself – and had delivered it to the Corinthians.

The same night Christ was betrayed the ordinance was instituted which gives peculiar solemnity to the Lord’s Supper. Having blessed and broken the bread and given it to His disciples was an act of consecration. The bread and wine offered by Christ were the symbols of His body and blood. The bread in Christ’s hand was impossible to be His literal body – as was the wine offered impossible to be the blood still flowing in His veins. What we receive is not our Lord’s body but His life giving power – in consecrated bread and wine is this presence of power.

The Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of Christ’s death as a sacrifice. Blood was shed for the specific object of remission of sin – in this sacrament He offers us , with the symbols of His broken body and shed blood, the benefits of His death. “This do in remembrance of Me” – that He may be remembered as He who died for your sins. This is the specific definite object of the Lord’s Supper. In this involvement we profess faith in Him, a sacrifice for our sins. We are brought into a real communion with Christ and all the believers of this ordinance. It is a memorial – the sacrament makes Christ very real to us and gives us a definite sense of His presence – the real presence of the Spirit, not actual body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: (2) You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. (3) Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. (4) There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. (5) There are differences of ministries but the same Lord. (6) And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. (7) But the manifestations of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all;………(12) For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. (13) For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. In chapter 12 Paul wants his readers to understand the origin and intent of the extraordinary manifestations of divine power and to be able to discern between true and false claimants to possession of the gifts of the Spirit. Each and every member of Christ’s church has a special gift appropriate for that individual – and the results of spiritual gifts are openly displayed for all to see. These gifts are to be expressed and exercised for the benefit of others in the church and to touch the lives of others around them. The spiritual gifts are not for the benefit of the individual alone – gifts are not given for show that man may attract attention to himself but for the blessing of others. All gifts are given that Christ may be exalted.

Paul is contrasting the former status of his readers with their present condition – they were Gentiles and are now Christians. They had worshipped dumb idols who could never have given spiritual gifts but now worship the living and true God whose Spirit is the source of all gifts. Paul then cuts off any who denied Jesus is Lord from all pretense to possess spiritual gifts. The general diffusion of gifts extended to all classes – male and female, young and old, regardless of race, ethnicity. Some were/are dissatisfied with their gifts; some were/are deluded imposters; some envious of others with more ostentatious powers – Paul is writing to correct these evils.

The Soirit dwells in all believers as the body of Christ manifests in one way in one person and another way in another person. Paul uses the separate parts of the body making a whole to illustrate this point. When the gifts of God – natural or supernatural – are perverted as a means of self exaltation it is a sin against their giver as well as against those for whose benefit they were intended; the spiritual gifts were/are not for benefit of the individual alone. The promises and prophecies of the Old Testament were literally fulfilled by the Spirit of God in believers – from the prophet Joel, one of my favorite passages in the Bible: “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, And also on My menservants and on my maid servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”