Breaking Ground
What was the biggest life change you experienced in 2025?
The Dig
This Sunday, we began our new series on the New Testament Book of Galatians, which is the Apostle Paul’s letter to the churches in the Roman province of Galatia.
Begin your conversation by reflecting on the nature of change.
How does change make you feel in the moment? Why do you think that is?
How do you tend to respond to major changes in your life & world? Does this response help you accept & navigate change in a healthy & productive way?
Next, read Galatians 1:1-10.Here, Paul begins what will become his most heated & intense letter with a searing rebuke of these young churches. Specifically, he confronts the Galatians over embracing a different Gospel than they’d originally been given.
For context, Paul had planted these churches during a missionary journey; but, afterwards, a legalistic group of Jewish Christians arrived & convinced them that they needed to embrace Torah observance (i.e., strictly following the Hebrew Law) & circumcision (which marked someone’s inclusion within Israel) in order to truly become members of God’s People & earn their right to follow Jesus. In doing so, they’d replaced grace for legalism in terms of where they expected to find healing & salvation; which, for Paul, was antithetical to the good news (or Gospel) of Jesus. For one, this tied our hope for renewal to our own will power & ability to fix ourselves, as opposed to trust or faith in a power greater than ourselves; & two, it rejected the notion that Christ had changed the status quo of this world & how we live within it.
Why is a vision of spirituality based on fixing ourselves via our own will power & effort not actually good news? How is it incapable of producing real transformation?
Why is Paul upset that the Galatians have been told that they must adopt Torah observance & other Jewish cultural identity markers in order to follow Jesus? How does this tribalistic vision of religion antithetical to Jesus’ story & purposes for the Church?
Based on these two issues, how does this vision of spirituality & religion fail to acknowledge that Jesus has changed the world? How does it represent a status-quo, self-reliance based vision of religion that’s always defined human history?
Close by reflecting on where you need Paul’s challenge in Galatians.
Where do you most often turn to self-reliance rather than grace when it comes to your healing & transformation? How is that keeping you from truly changing?
Where are you holding onto a vision of spirituality & religion that conflates your own cultural, social, political, or economic tribal markers with following Jesus? How is this holding you back from embracing Christ’s Gospel of transforming Grace in a fuller way?
Getting Out of the Hole
Take time each week to reflect upon the Sunday sermon.
- Read Galatians 1:1-10. Highlight & make of any language, images, or ideas that stand out to you from the passage.
- What point is Paul trying to make about the Gospel? How have the Galatians misunderstood it? What does this reveal about his understanding of Jesus’ story & the impact it should have on those who embrace it?
- Where are you relying on human effort instead of God’s power & grace for transformation? How is this self-reliance keeping you from the holistic renewal that Christ offers?
Additional Resources*
Centered Set Church by Mark D. Baker
Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer
Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent & Christmas
TheBibleProject.com
Coming Up This Week:*
January 18th: Join us as we continue working through the New Testament Book of Galatians!
* Please see mye3.org for details.