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Mar 25, 2018

Regime change begins at home

Regime change begins at home

Passage: Galatians 5:26-6:5

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Free, a study in the book of Galatians

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey on the day the church celebrates as Palm Sunday, it was something akin to, as it’s called, political theater: a visual demonstration of power. He entered to fanfare because so many who celebrated his arrival thought him the one to usher in a long awaited regime change. But while regime change was indeed His agenda, it had sights set far higher than who ruled over the countryside--at least for now. Jesus sought to displace authority with new authority--as far as the cosmic reaches and as hidden as our inner being. Near the end of his letter to the churches of Galatia, Paul explains the regime change that occurs in the human heart--the one that began with the change Jesus sought to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Order of Worship

Call To Worship: Jn 12:12-19 (NIV)
Old Testament Reading: Zechariah 9:9, 10b (ESV)
Sermon Title: "Regime Change Begins at Home"
Central Text: Galatians 5:26-6:5
Benediction: Revelation 7:9-12 (ESV)

03.25.18 Lyrics

03.25.18 Sermon Slides

Readings & Scripture

Pre-Service Text: Galatians 5:1
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Call To Worship: Jn 12:12-19 (NIV)
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

Old Testament Reading : Zechariah 9:9, 10b (ESV)
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10b . . . and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Central Text: Galatians 5:26-6:5
Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.

Benediction: Revelation 7:9-12 (ESV)
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Post-Service Text: John 6:40
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Discussion Questions & Application

  1. Why is the gospel out to transform not merely our behaviors but mainly our motivations?
  2. We can see why only doing what you want is an expression of conceit. But why might always doing what others want, no matter its propriety, also be an expression of conceit--of “swollen self concern”?
  3. How do you know when you’re provoking (and not just disagreeing)? Or when you’re envying (and not just comparing yourself)?

Quotes:

  • I know that there is a delicate balance to be held here.  Salvation is utterly free. We cannot earn it or be worthy of it. But this is why it is important that we talk not about ‘salvation’ but about the ‘Saviour’. Salvation is God’s free gift; but no one can come within reach of Jesus without knowing that one cannot be with Jesus except by giving up everything. Those who belong to Jesus, and are able to commend him as Saviour, will be those who are manifestly following him on the way of the Cross. - Lesslie Newbigin
  • For the suppression of pride we need the strength of prayer. What man even if he is a Christian is not delighted with his own praise? Only the Holy Spirit can preserve us from the misfortune of pride - Martin Luther

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