Want to Ensure Your Place in the Kingdom of Heaven?

(Galatians 4:16-17)

Are you being shut out of the kingdom of heaven without really knowing it? How would you know if you are or are not?

Paul answers that question in part in the first of these two verses today. Paul was preaching the truth. Those who stood against him who were influencing the Galatians church were not, but rather were influencing through flattery in order to gain power over the people for no good purpose.

This is not the only instance in the Bible where such things happened, so let’s look at some of the things that were an issue in those days, and what they may mean for us today, because I assures you, there are probably more sources of lies and untruths in the modern church than in the early one. Your challenge as well as mine, is to sift the teachings you hear to identify truth from error so that you are not shut out of the kingdom of heaven.

Flattery

The first issue we see in these scriptures is the use of flattery by those who were leading the church down the wrong path.

16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. (Galatians 4:15-16)

Flattery is dangerous, especially when it infiltrates the church.

These people were flattering the Galatians for the purpose of taking control. They were after power and were not truly seeking the good of the people or the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The problem for the church was that if they were to follow these men, they would be shut out of the kingdom. Throughout the letter to the Galatians Paul is frustrated because the church was falling for the false teachings of these teachers. He was concerned that they were accepting a “different gospel” as he stated in the first chapter of this letter.

This “different gospel” was a mish-mash of the Old Covenant of law that had been mingled with the New Covenant of grace and truth.

These false teachers were preaching that the people needed to be circumcised and to follow the laws of Moses, just as the Jews had for centuries. Being Jews, they believed that they were the chosen people of God and so the forms of their worship were the only ones that were correct. They failed to understand that in Jesus Christ a new way had been established that is separate from the law and is now based on faith, not works of law.

Paul’s concern was that by flattery, these false teachers were swaying the people to follow their polluted gospel and would ultimately be shut out of the kingdom and the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at how vehement Paul was regarding this matter and the level of exclusion that faced those who followed this mish-mash of law and Christianity.

2 Now I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is bound to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:2-4)

Look at his words here. If you want to follow the law and stay under the laws of Moses, then “Christ will be of no advantage to you.”

Again he shows the severity of this issue saying that if you are seeking to be justified by following the law, “You are severed from Christ, you have fallen away from grace.”

This is a very serious situation; to be severed from Jesus Christ just because you followed the law!

What Paul is showing here is that you CANNOT live under BOTH the Old Covenant and the New Covenant at the same time. You can only live under one or the other…not both.

The Modern Church

Now, if the issue of attempting to serve Christ under both the Old and the New Covenant’s was such a problem in the days of Paul to the point where he had to counsel the Galatians church in such a strong and provoking manner, what is this situation like today? Surely the church learned it’s lesson and has overcome these issues, after all, we have the instruction of Paul laid out in black and white in his letter here.

I am sad to say that these issues still exist in the modern church.

There are many Christians today who still maintain that they MUST keep the works of the law, just as the Galatians were being instructed in Paul’s day. There are many teachers in the church today who maintain these same teachings today, although many of them do so for different reasons than those who were influencing the Galatians church.

Some modern Christian preachers simply know no better. They are preaching the line required by the hierarchy of the church they belong to and it is what they have been trained in.

Just as an aside, is what is accepted as common knowledge the truth? Is something true just because many people, even millions of people, accept it as being true?

No, it is not. Just consider the advances of science over the years. Many years ago people thought the earth was flat and anyone who said otherwise was either a crackpot, fanatic or heretic. Anyone who thought the earth was not the centre of the solar system was likewise castigated. People believed that if the body travelled at speeds greater than about 30 mph they would die, especially women who would have all their reproductive organs fall out of their bodies if they were to go too fast. Similarly, blood-letting was accepted practise in medicine to somehow get rid of medical problems as if infections or illnesses could be drained from the body.

Are you laughing now at how ridiculous these things are? And yet these were the accepted wisdom of their times and anyone who thought otherwise was considered with great scepticism and rejected as a fool.

So given the acceptance of false knowledge in the realms of science and medicine, is it too difficult to accept that false ideas are still held onto with grim determination in the church?

While it is true that some preachers are only toeing the line of their church, others use false teaching to bring their congregations under their control. Like the false teachers in the Galatians church, they are seeking power and control. Some today seek wealth and preach that prosperity is the measure of faith and the favour of God. Some teach that you can “take” the things of God for yourself, rather than receive His gifts as gifts. Some teach that you can seek help from other heroes of the Bible as if they were gods and were on an equal (or greater) footing than Jesus Christ Himself.

And there are many more unbelievable teachings circulating in the modern church, many of which have no basis in the scriptures but have been promoted for false purposes.

Finding the Way

Knowing that there is so much false teaching in the church today, what is an individual to do to find the truth? We don’t have the likes of a Paul, or a Peter, or a John or James today, who walked and talked with Christ to show us the difference between right and wrong.

No we don’t…we have something better. We have the one who helped THEM understand and find the truth here with us today to teach and guide us, if we will allow Him to do it.

Just before Jesus ascended back to the Father, He told the disciples these words:

”…Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Jesus Christ promised us that He would be with His people until the close of the age. The age is still open, so He is here now to help all who need His help.

How do we get His help today? ASK FOR IT! Pray to God and ask for His assistance to lead you to the truth and He will put the right teachers in your path to show you the truth.

Study the bible, especially the New Testament, which contains the truth of grace and faith and the words of Jesus Christ Himself, and as you study, pray for guidance and He will give it. This is not a “maybe,” it is a definite promise from the Lord Himself that if you seek His way and His truth, you will receive it.

As part of the gospel of grace and truth, we are offered the gift of the Holy Spirit, and it is important we receive this gift of God.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit is the counsellor, comforter, teacher and guide whose primary role is to transform all of the people of God into the image of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit we are told is always beholding the face of God and all of the power of God is available to the Holy Spirit to effect the work of transformation in us.

But if you want the Holy Spirit, you need to ask to receive the Holy Spirit. You need to go to God in prayer and ask Him directly to give you this gift as we are told by Jesus Himself in Luke

13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)

The Holy Spirit doesn’t just come upon every person when they believe, as some religious teachers preach. You have to ask God for this gift. There are other processes involved too, such as the laying on of hands with prayer, by the elders of the church to receive the holy spirit.

And why wouldn’t everyone want the Holy Spirit? It is a gift of God given to ALL who ASK Him for the Holy Spirit. And as the verse above says, it is a GOOD gift. The Holy Spirit is a good gift for all the reasons mentioned above and we need to take advantage of all the available gifts of God, especially the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So seek the gift of the Holy Spirit. Study, learn, pray and ask the Lord to teach you ALL that He wants you to know. Ask Him to show you the way…the straight and narrow path that leads to life and to help you avoid the pitfalls of the broad way that many will follow that leads to destruction. The Lord and God the Father want so much better for you.

So in closing, consider the fact that there are false teachings in the church that many people believe, and ask yourself whether there are some things you need to learn that may perhaps not accord with the truth of the New Covenant. Then seek to find the truth because you don’t want to be shut out of the kingdom of Heaven.

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