Good afternoon Church, 

I hope you are doing well this week as we remember those who gave their lives to preserve our freedom.

Last week in our sermon on Galatians, we talked about the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son (found in Luke 15). He refused to join the celebration with his younger brother because he felt he deserved the party and that his father was being too generous to his prodigal younger brother. He was trapped in the lie of legalism, talking like a slave. Like the older brother, we can easily believe the lies of legalism and become angry, entitled, and jealous, focused on ourselves and always trying to get what we think we deserve. Today, I want to talk about two lies that the older brother in the story believed and that our passage in Galatians exposes.

First lie: God has been stingy with us  
Like the older brother, we easily focus on what we feel we deserve and the things that God has not given us. We must fight this lie by reminding ourselves again and again what God has given us. I hope you were filled with joy on Sunday as you were reminded by Paul in Galatians of all that we have received in Christ. 

• In Christ, we are God’s sons and daughters (Gal 3:26). 
• In Christ, all the barriers have been broken down and
  we are all one (Gal 3:28).
• We belong to Christ and all the promises are now ours
  (Gal 3:29).

I hope the words of the father in the parable from Luke 15 are ringing in your ears this week. Like him, God the Father says to us, “Son/Daughter, in Christ, all mine is yours”. These truths should overwhelm our hearts and fill us with joy. He is not a stingy Father. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32). When our hearts are gripped with these truths, they are transformed from being bitter and angry to thankful, full of joy and generosity.  

Second Lie: We have earned God’s generosity
We easily focus on what we feel like we have earned. We need to be reminded of the truth that we have become children of God and received all that we possess through no merit of our own. Instead all that has been given to us has been given freely as a gift. We like the Galatians merely heard and believed God. All you have been given is a gift you have received by faith. To those who believed, God has given the right to become the children of God (John 1:12). When this truth grips our hearts, it banishes our sense of entitlement and fills us afresh with gratitude for what we have been given. What great mercy has been shown to us as his people.

Assessing our Hearts
We must be constantly on our guard against these lies – that God is stingy and that we somehow have earned what God has freely given us. These lies tend to creep in over time. We may not even realize we believe them. This is why I think it is important to look at the fruit in our life. Are we tending to be angry? Do we grumble because we don’t feel we are getting what we deserve? Are we jealous when others receive good things? These can all be signs that we are in some measure believing these two lies.

Conclusion
Let’s refresh our hearts in the truth and be reminded of all the riches our Father has lavished on us, and that they have been given to us freely as a gift through faith. Hearts that have been gripped with these truths will be filled with joy, thankfulness, and generosity. 

May God reveal to our hearts the riches that we have received in Christ this week.

In Christ,

Taylor Ewert