Galatians - To The Churches In Galatia
Week 1 - The Gospel

Galatians is a book about God’s grace as seen specifically in the Gospel. This book was the central theological work that brought about what we now call “The Reformation.” Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians says, “…tyrants and enemies of ours may accuse and frighten us, but they dare not condemn us, for Christ, whom God the Father has raised from the dead is our righteousness and our victory.” Many people, when they start Galatians, skip the intro and jump to verse 6, but we must start at the beginning.

• What is the Gospel?
• How does knowing the Gospel affect your life in practical ways?

The point of the book of Galatians is that many of us who think we know the Gospel, don’t. We think we know how to apply the Gospel, and yet we struggle with practical unbelief. Paul speaks of the most important thing he can think of: God’s initiative in saving us. Throughout Galatians Paul will speak of the Gospel as FIRST importance and the heart of the Christian message. The apostles traversed the earth (and ultimately lost their lives) for preaching this one thing: what Jesus did in history to save us. And here, in this letter to the Galatians, there’s one overarching focus in all of Paul’s clauses and verbs—Jesus doing everything!

• In what ways have you overestimated your own goodness?
• What does the Gospel imply about your own goodness?
• In what ways have you underestimated the goodness of God?
• In what ways can we remind each other that God is so much greater than what we naturally attribute to Him?

He Delivers Us
Christianity does not overestimate humanities or our own goodness, and Scripture teaches that we are totally lost without God’s rescue. As we stop elevating ourselves, our view of God becomes much greater. Because of His grace and mercy, God doesn’t merely send a teacher or a counselor who tells us to figure out how to live on our own. Jesus comes and jumps into the mess we created, and dies to save us.

• Share your own story of coming to see God’s goodness and mercy as
being so much greater than your own.
• What is your story of being rescued by God?
• How do you explain what the Gospel is to someone who doesn’t know the Gospel

Why He Delivers us.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins. The word “for” means “on behalf.” This is important because it means that Jesus’ death wasn’t a general death because there was this thing called “sin” in the world; it means He specifically died in our place. He saves us not because we try so hard to keep an instruction manual, but He did it according to the will of our God and Father. That means it is grace. Tim Keller once said, “The only way we become a “Christian” is not by pointing to our qualifications but by admitting we have no qualifications, which is the only qualification.”

• Why does God deliver us?
• Why did He do this through Jesus laying down His life for us?
• How can you better place Jesus’ righteousness and rescue of us at the center of your story?
• List some things that happen when the Gospel is the center of our story.

Why Did Jesus Do It?
We needed to be rescued…not just from the penalty of our sin, but also delivered “from the present evil age.” The word for deliver means to pluck out, which means He chose us to be His because He wanted to lift us out of the muck that the world is stuck in. When Paul writes the words “present evil age,” it means it is for today, our present; this is why we call the Gospel a present reality.

• How was Paul changed because of this radical shift in his life?
• What changes have you seen in your life since you trusted the good news of the Gospel?
• What are some ways we should expect our lives to change as individuals and as a church, as we focus on Jesus’ work?

Pray for an awakening in your life, in Element’s life, and in the lives of Santa Maria valley.