Sermon Recap

This Sunday, Pastor Suzy Silk continued our Fall sermon series, Formed, with a teaching on the doctrine of justification and being made righteous before God. Pastor Suzy began the teaching with two questions that all religions ask: Is there a god? And if so, how can we be in a right relationship with that god? 

Unlike every other faith, which set out rules and requirements in order to come before a deity, the God of the Bible made a way for us, imperfect and broken as we are, to be in right relationship with Him. Pastor Suzy navigated through the Biblical story to highlight the long arch of justification that began in Genesis. She highlighted that the original purpose for humanity was to image God by reflecting His characteristics, and to be in relationship with Him. However, humanity’s rebellion in the Garden of Eden introduced sin and brokenness to the world, and made it so all people are born in a state of condemnation, but God’s plan persisted. He chose Abraham, a man declared righteous for his faith, for Himself to entrust with the promise that one day all things would be made right, and the nations would be blessed through his family. Generations later, God instituted an extensive law through Moses to partially restore relationship with His covenant people, but Pastor Suzy explained that because we have all gone astray by pursuing our own passions, we are all seen as lawbreakers in the divine court of law.

In His lovingkindness, God has not left us under the weight of the law, but created a way for His people to be reconciled back to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. By Jesus living a perfect life, He fulfilled the law’s requirements, and by sacrificing Himself on the cross, He willingly took the curse of sin upon Himself, and paid the debt that we deserve. It is through this sacrifice that those who believe in Jesus become justified and are declared righteous in God’s sight. 

The reality is that there is nothing we can do to justify ourselves or make ourselves holy. We are unable to perfectly follow the law, and therefore unable to earn our own righteousness. Only by faith in Jesus Christ can we receive the righteousness He won for us, and freely come before the Father. Through faith in Jesus, all possibilities of condemnation have been excluded, and this truth should lead us to live lives marked by worship, thankfulness, and covenant loyalty to Him.

If you missed this talk, you can watch it here today.

Discussion Questions

Connect

1. When is the last time you were truly surprised?

Character

Read Galatians 3:6-14 out loud, then ask the following questions:

1. What words, images, or phrases stand out to you in this passage?

2. What does "Christ becoming a curse" say about who God is and His heart?

Consider

1. Share a time that you didn’t receive the consequences of something you deserved. Where did the consequences land instead? How did that impact you?

2. What was the purpose of the sacrificial system laid out in the Law of Moses? What did it compensate for, and how did it still fall short?

3. Jesus declared that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. How does this encourage or challenge your faith?

4. Pastor Suzy talked about how common it is for us to slip into patterns of legalism, works based faith, or feelings of distance with God because of habitual sin patterns. Take a few minutes and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any of these patterns in your life right now, and then share with one another. How long have you been experiencing this pattern? Are there any lies you are believing that feed that pattern?

Cover

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Spend time meditating on this, and pray for one another in pairs. Ask that your partner will see themselves the way God sees them — credited with Jesus' righteousness, and fully acquitted and justified before Him.