Dear Galatians

Week three - You Should Wear That
Galatians 3 and 5:22-23
Bottom line: You have been clothed with Christ, and you should wear that with confidence.

Today’s message title - “You Should Wear That”
How do we decide what we’re going to wear, and how do we help others decide what to wear?

*Whether it’s our clothes or our shoes or our hairstyles and accessories - what we decide to wear is an expression of our identity.

Which brings us to the heart of Paul’s letter to the Galatians…

Galatians so far: Y’all are so confused. You’re trying to sort out a Jesus+ arrangement with regard to religious identification, when Jesus is all you need. You’re hearing the good news about grace, but letting your weariness cause you to quit and stop running the race because you’re still trying to earn your own way. (see messages from April 7 and April 14)

Galatians 3 - the Bible’s cliff’s notes - Paul breaks this down as simply as possible:

Abraham got a promise from God - I’m going to be your God, and you’re going to be my people. I will bless you, and through you, all of the nations of the earth will be blessed. (covenant)
**the sign of the covenant = circumcision
The Law (430 years later) - God’s people were strangers in a strange land and He gives them a rulebook for their life together; a “custodian” as Paul puts it (Galatians 3.23)
**the sign you were an Israelite = adherence to the Law
Jesus - He is the promised “seed” of Abraham and the fulfillment of the Law, and because He makes a way for all of us, we get to be children of God and heirs of the promise

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. —Galatians 3:26-29

“Clothed with Christ” - critically important, what does this mean???

We are in an age of

Reveal Answer

. We don’t know what to wear!
We’re trying to figure out and decide things that have already been figured out and decided.
We’re making secondary identities our primary identity, i.e. our filters are out of whack.

Stop the confusion: You are all one in Christ Jesus - forget Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. You belong to Christ.

You are a child of God. You are a loved, sought after, adopted, ransomed, heir of the living God.

We need to remind each other to wear that.

Parents - it is your job to tell your kids who they are and whose they are.
Husbands and wives - it’s your job to see each other as who you are becoming, and remind each other of who you are.
Friends - stop using your conversations to gossip about other people, and instead remind each other who you are. Encourage each other as sons and daughters, husbands and wives, moms and dads, co-workers, and friends.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, the hope of glory. —Colossians 1:27

I want to look like the hope of glory.
…and the good news is that it’s a style that supercedes gender (male or female), race (Jewish or Gentile), class (slave or free)

And when you clothe yourself as such, people can tell.
In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul describes exactly what this looks like: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control

Peace looks good on you. You should wear that.
Faithfulness looks good on you. You should wear that.
Kindness looks good on you. You should wear that.
Self-Control looks good on you. You should wear that.