The Sufficiency of the Gospel (Galatians 2:15-21)
SERMON NOTES
Sermon Series: What Makes Us Family
Sermon Title: The Sufficiency of the Gospel
Sermon Text: Galatians 2:15-21
A Theological Reflection on the Sufficiency of the Gospel (v15-16)
The gospel is sufficient (v16a)
The gospel is sufficient personally, for you (v16b)
The gospel is sufficient universally, for anyone (v16c)
3 Theological Implications on the Sufficiency of the Gospel (v17-21)
The gospel is not a license to sin, but convicts us of sin (v17)
The gospel tears down the walls we build that divide us (v18)
The gospel leads us to die to self and live in Christ (v19-21)
Reflection Questions
What walls are you building that keep you from living by faith, faithfully following the way of Jesus?
What walls are you building that divide what Christ has united?
SERMON FOOTNOTES
Want to learn more about Sunday’s sermon? Order a book I recommended? Check out a quote I cited? Then read the Sermon Footnotes.
BOOK: Last spring I read Eugene Peterson’s biography A Burning in My Bones by Winn Collier and was captivated by humility, the emotional maturity, and the faithfulness of this pastor who finished the race well. He was in tune with his own sin and how he struggled. As a fun side note, he wrote his own modernized paraphrased translation of Galatians to help those in a Bible study he led at his church better understand the heart behind what Paul was writing. It was so well received that he then wrote a paraphrased translation of the rest of the New Testament, later followed by the Old Testament.
A Burning in My Bones
“Weeks later, [Eugene] called [Ian'] Wilson and explained his vague sense of the kind of pastor he wanted to be: slow, personal, attuned to God and to the lives of those in his parish. Eugene wondered if it was possible to transform a competitive pastor to a contemplative pastor - ‘a pastor who was able to be with people without having an agenda for them, a pastor who was able to accept people just as they were and guide them gently and patiently into a mature life in Christ but not get in the way.’”
- Winn Collier (citing Eugene from his personal journal)