Angelic Conflict part 334: Future work of Christ [Bema seat] – Gal 5:1-9; Mat 6:19-24; Joh 15:1-17.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 334: Future work of Christ [Bema seat] - GAL 5:1-9; MAT 6:19-24; JOH 15:1-17.

 

a. The Bema seat of the church, 2CO 5:10. Identifying good and bad things.  

 

We have been talking about motivation or intent for the performing of divine good in time, for which we will receive reward in heaven at the Bema seat of Christ. This is in the soul or thinking and any false intent or motivation makes any deed or thing bad. God the HS will not empower us or lead us on an endeavor in which we have wrong motivation.

 

GAL 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

 

GAL 5:2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

 

GAL 5:3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.

 

GAL 5:4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

 

"You have become without effective relation to Christ ... you have lost your hold on grace.

 

GAL 5:5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.

 

Our faith in doctrine enables us to exercise faith in the fact that doctrine will transform our minds to submission to the will of God and then to produce divine good.

 

This is not at all the righteousness that every believer receives at salvation. Gal 5 is all about the Christian experience which is to be wrought through the ministry of GHS and the word of God.

 

The word wait [apodechomai] speaks of an attitude of intense yearning and an eager waiting for practical righteousness just as we yearn for our returning Lord.

 

GAL 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

 

The English translation in the NASB is somewhat weak.

 

"means anything" - ti[ti - any] ivscu,w[ischuo - power or ability] = "neither circumcision is of any power nor uncircumcision"

 

The baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation transformed every believer into a brand new creature and not some ritual made with hands. Nor in the believer's life is any ritual going to be a source of power. Power is found in faith in doctrine, the indwelling Spirit filling the believer, and the subsequent agape love, the greatest power in the universe.

 

Paul then breaks off his argument in order to make an appeal to the Galatian readers, as he did in GAL 4:12. He uses words that depict a running analogy.

 

GAL 5:7 You were running well; who hindered you [another runner cutting in to slow his progress] from obeying the truth?

 

The Judiazers did the cutting in and had deprived the Galatians of the ministry of the Holy Spirit by throwing the Galatians back upon self effort in an attempt to obey a set of legal restrictions, with the result that their lives had lost the fragrance of the Lord Jesus and the enabling power for service which the Spirit formerly gave them. The question Paul asks is rhetorical, for the great apostle knew well enough who had slowed up the Christian growth of the Galatians.

 

GAL 5:8 This persuasion [inducement to believe by argument] did not come from Him who calls you.

 

The motivation and intent of the legalists were certainly not from God so why would GHS lead them on this path? It was leaven - evil in the form of false doctrine.

 

GAL 5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.

 

Leavening agents produce gases, generally CO₂, which with some heat permeates the entire lump. One cake only needs a small teaspoon of NaHCO₃ or Na₂CO₃ in order to permeate the whole lump and thus pump it up with hot air [or yeast in bread]. Hence leaven is a fitting symbol for evil and false doctrines of legalism. Divine good will only be performed in humility in which all glory is given to God, not just saying it, but in the heart of the believer, thus the true force behind divine good is invisible to others though it can be evaluated by  the educated believer and, of course, by God.

 

Now read the whole thing together:

GAL 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

 

GAL 5:2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

 

GAL 5:3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.

 

GAL 5:4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

 

GAL 5:5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.

 

GAL 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

 

GAL 5:7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?

 

GAL 5:8 This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.

 

GAL 5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.

 

Naturally, being so deprived of the knowledge of positional truth they are correspondingly ignorant of the true basis and motive for life truth [Chafer's term] or the truth given in the NT for practical Christian living [practical sanctification].

 

The one distinction between positional truth and practical truth constitutes one of the most vital contrasts between legalism and grace.

 

Even a believer who understands positional truth can find himself working in some form of Christian service in order to impress or score points with God. No believer could ever improve on his position or standing with God for he is perfectly holy and righteous and so this is false motivation and it must be known as dead works which will be burned up at the Bema Seat of Christ.

 

The scripture states that some of the Jews sought righteousness through the Mosaic Law rather than the bestowed righteousness of God that is received when one believes in Christ as Saviour.

 

Attempting to find righteousness, receive righteousness, or produce righteousness through our own ability is a fruitless endeavour and so can in no way lead to a fruitful life in the way that God appoints through the power of the indwelling Spirit.

 

MAT 6:19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

 

MAT 6:20 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

 

Human good or dead works are temporary and relative. Divine good has eternal value.

 

MAT 6:21 for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. [that is priority and therefore motivation. We ultimately think and do what we love.]

 

MAT 6:22 "The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.

 

MAT 6:23 "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

 

MAT 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

 

Because of the superhuman requirements which rest upon the believer, the Spirit's filling unto supernatural power is demanded.