Dance With The One Who Brung Ya

Paul's letter to the churches of Galatia is one of the harshest letters he wrote. He's writing to people he brought to Christ and he trained -- he knows are genuine believers -- and he begins with "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you ..." (Gal 1:6) followed by a curse ("anathema") on any gospel but the one he preached (Gal 1:6-9). He submits his papers -- his proofs that he is an actual, God-ordained Apostle (Gal 1:1; Gal 1:11-2:21). And then he says, "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?" (Gal 3:1). That "foolish" is an interesting term. It means, literally, "not exercising your brain." "What's wrong with you?" he says. "You're not thinking. You're acting like someone cast a spell on you." So he takes them down the logical path. "Let's think this through."

First, then, he asks, "How did you get here? How did you receive the Spirit?" (Gal 3:2). "Was it by something you did, or was it by hearing with faith?" Then, "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal 3:3). "Think about it!" he says. "Do you actually think, having started with faith, you get to finish it with your flesh?" You see, we come to Christ not on our own. It's the function of the Spirit. The Spirit convicts of sin (John 16:8). We are born again by the Spirit (John 3:5-6). We enter the Body of Christ in the Spirit (1 Cor 12:13). We are filled by the Spirit (Eph 5:18). We are sealed by the Spirit (Eph 4:30). It is that Spirit in you that enables you to will and to do His good pleasure (Php 2:13).

The Spirit is not merely our starting point. That is, He is our starting point, without whom we never even enter into a relationship with God, but it isn't like He boosts us into the kingdom and now we're on our own. Lots of us seem to think that, on the basis of our faith, He opens the door for us into the kingdom and now we're more or less on our own to complete this sanctification process. Paul told the Galatian Christians, "Dance with the One who brung ya. You came in here with the Spirit. It is nonsensical to think you're going to do this yourself." Don't be a foolish Galatian. Paul calls that "mindless."