From the Court Room to the Family Room
Robert Dawson
Galatians 4:1-11
Old seaman like to tell the story of a young sailor who was learning to become a navigator. While aboard a ship in the middle of the ocean, the captain handed the young man the charts and navigating instruments and said, ''tell us where we are.'' So, the young man took the instruments and the charts and made the complicated mind-numbing calculations to determine their current location.
After several minutes, he wrote down the coordinates, longitude and latitude, and handed it to the captain. The old sea-captain took the coordinates, checked the charts and did his own calculations. After a moment he looked at the young sailor and asked, ''Are you certain these are the right coordinates?'' The young sailor said, ''Yes sir. I am absolutely sure.'' ''So,'' the captain replied, ''You know exactly where we are and have not made a mistake?'' With an air of certainty, the young sailor said, ''Absolutely not. Those coordinates are correct.''
The captain looked at him with a wry smile and said, ''Well, you'd better put on a jacket because according to your calculations, we are at the top of Mt. Everest.''
Obviously, something had gone wrong with the young man's calculations and he was not were he thought he was, which I suppose for him was a good thing. The Christians to whom Paul is writing had made some serious miscalculations of their own, which was not a good thing. Their calculations concerning salvation, how it comes and is lived out, had placed them outside the longitude and latitude of grace and faith which is where the Gospel resides. They had been influenced by false teachers.
- These false teachers plagued Paul throughout his ministry because they taught that salvation, becoming a part of God's family, was based on a mixture of grace, faith and human effort.
- Their message diminished grace and highlighted human effort. It distorted and denied the sufficiency of Christ and f ...
Robert Dawson
Galatians 4:1-11
Old seaman like to tell the story of a young sailor who was learning to become a navigator. While aboard a ship in the middle of the ocean, the captain handed the young man the charts and navigating instruments and said, ''tell us where we are.'' So, the young man took the instruments and the charts and made the complicated mind-numbing calculations to determine their current location.
After several minutes, he wrote down the coordinates, longitude and latitude, and handed it to the captain. The old sea-captain took the coordinates, checked the charts and did his own calculations. After a moment he looked at the young sailor and asked, ''Are you certain these are the right coordinates?'' The young sailor said, ''Yes sir. I am absolutely sure.'' ''So,'' the captain replied, ''You know exactly where we are and have not made a mistake?'' With an air of certainty, the young sailor said, ''Absolutely not. Those coordinates are correct.''
The captain looked at him with a wry smile and said, ''Well, you'd better put on a jacket because according to your calculations, we are at the top of Mt. Everest.''
Obviously, something had gone wrong with the young man's calculations and he was not were he thought he was, which I suppose for him was a good thing. The Christians to whom Paul is writing had made some serious miscalculations of their own, which was not a good thing. Their calculations concerning salvation, how it comes and is lived out, had placed them outside the longitude and latitude of grace and faith which is where the Gospel resides. They had been influenced by false teachers.
- These false teachers plagued Paul throughout his ministry because they taught that salvation, becoming a part of God's family, was based on a mixture of grace, faith and human effort.
- Their message diminished grace and highlighted human effort. It distorted and denied the sufficiency of Christ and f ...
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