In Sunday School, we've been studying Galatians. Yesterday, we had a substitute teacher, Tommy Birch. He said some things that I wanted to share. (He's an excellent teacher!)
He was telling how Paul went into the desert for three years after his conversion to be discipled by Jesus. That's how he could say he was an apostle. An apostle had to be chosen by Jesus and discipled by Jesus. Paul was. Tommy made the point that, of course, Paul had rabbinical training--but that wasn't enough! Even after his rabbinical training, he was killing Christians.
He said the law was given to us to expose our sin, but doesn't change us. I will never ever forget the illustration he gave. It brought new understanding to me. He compared the law to an MRI. The doctor orders an MRI to show him the source of the disease in our bodies. The MRI doesn't heal us---it just exposes the disease. That's what the law does--exposes our sin.
Paul was changed that day on the Damascus road. He was saved by grace through faith. And then Jesus took Paul away to teach him. The law had only exposed his problem. It didn't change him. He needed to be changed by his encounter with the Word...Jesus. And not only was he three years in the desert with Jesus, it was 14 years before he began his ministry. Still learning, I'm sure.
Paul was transformed by allowing the Word to renew his mind. And it took years. I think we can take heart through that! But it's not the knowledge of the law that changes us---it's our encounter with Jesus, the Word. I'm glad I was in Sunday School yesterday!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
This is great...and something I've known, but I've really been walking in recently.
Why don't our churches understand this? Not exactly in these words, but this is why Craig and I are feeling frustrated right now--we KNOW our sin because of the law, but we cannot seem to encounter grace (or the spirit or Jesus) to change us as a church!!
I think the thing that stands out to me most is that the Word renews our mind. We've walked in sin so much that our sin begins to shape our mind, but when we immerse (or baptize) our minds into the word it begins to renew the way we think! I've never thought about how much we rely on the word to keep us strong! It takes a lot of being in God's word to shape us!
reneweded mind, transformed mind, sound mind.....this is where I am with Jesus....everywhere I go this is what he is bring out to me. (Beth Moore is on Life Today TV show all this week teaching on this very subject.)
Post a Comment