Atlanta Westside Presbyterian Church

Faith in Jesus rewrites our family tree, making spiritual freedom not only our inheritance but our birthright. Apparently the Judaizing Christians in Galatia were claiming to be the “real deal” because they descended from Abraham and Sarah. Actually, says Paul, those who try to earn God’s favor by keeping the law are not children of the free woman (Sarah), but of the slave woman (Hagar). As a resu...

In this selected passage, we get a glimpse into the heart of a shepherd. Paul is perplexed about the Galatians because he wants them to believe and walk in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He pleads with them to follow his example by reminding them of their mutual love and to know his jealousy for them. Even though his tone is firm, a shepherd’s tone reflects the Father’s jealous heart for us.

If you want freedom and rest, you will live in slavery; but if wanting God is the center of your life, you will find freedom and rest and more than you can imagine.

Trying to keep the law is like being a slave, but living by faith in Jesus is like inheriting a fortune. Jesus bought this inheritance for us by crawling under the yoke of the law and climbing onto the cross to redeem us. Forgiveness is just the beginning of the inheritance, which includes the Holy Spirit’s assurance that we belong to him, the privilege of participation in the “family business,”an...

We all want the freedom to be uniquely ourselves and yet fully accepted and valued by others. Paul captures this vision in verses 26-29, arguing that it is only possible through faith in Jesus – not by performing works of the law. He first defends this claim by showing how God’s promise to Abraham precedes, and therefore supersedes, the law that came 430 years later. Next he shows why God gave the...

Paul resumes his defense of the true Gospel with a simple contrast: To live by works of the law is to be cursed, whereas to live by faith in Christ is to be blessed. Easy choice, right? Yet every human heart still naturally gravitates toward living by law. To convince (or re-convince) us, Paul first reaches back to four Old Testament scriptures that expose the futility of living by law. Then he th...

If Peter and the Galatian Christians could be foolishly "bewitched" by a false, legalistic gospel, then we can, too. In fact, most Christians default to living as if we are saved by grace and then sanctified by works. Paul dismantles this disastrous error, reminding us that the same grace that saves us also sanctifies us. It's why the Holy Spirit enters us at conversion and continues working in us...

Paul rebuked Peter for a seemingly minor inconsistency: refusing to eat meals with Gentile Christians. However, the heart of the Gospel was at stake. As Paul goes on to explain, no law, whether the Jewish Torah or any man-made standard of behavior, can "justify" sinful people – only faith in Jesus Christ can. Faith unites us to Jesus so thoroughly that we are both crucified and raised with him: Cr...

Paul was not defending his apostleship for his own name's sake, but for the truth of the Gospel that he was called to preach to the Gentiles. It mattered because Paul was aware of the Gospel's benefits: its nature, freedom, and unity. The nature of the Gospel was to reach the nations. The freedom of the Gospel was in Christ purchasing our freedom from the curse of the law. The unity of the Gospel...

Christianity is not just a rescue religion, but a revealed religion that depends on the authority of Scripture. Here Paul insists on what no one else can claim today: that the Gospel he preached was revealed to him directly by Jesus. To defend this bold claim, he simply tells his own story, which shows that he’s not telling us what we want to hear, nor what he wanted to hear, nor what anyone else...

Nothing is more serious than getting the Gospel wrong, and we are all in danger of it. Before revealing how the Galatians were distorting it, Paul subtly outlines the true Gospel: the good news that because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s old plan has now inaugurated a new era of history, making a new family of people with a new record and a new relationship and a new future that is...

The trippy visions of Daniel 7 are meant to comfort and encourage believers that God is actively ruling the world, no matter which terrifying or wicked forces may be at work in it. The vision also introduces the enigmatic figure of the Son of Man who receives dominion from God (the Ancient of Days), and then shares that dominion with the “saints” who trust him. Centuries later, Jesus claimed this...

Daniel’s rescue from the lion’s den is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible – and also one of the most misunderstood. To read it correctly we must expose two common lies about lions: That God always rescues us from them, and that the reason he rescues us is our own goodness. Daniel actually shows that God often does rescue us in this life, but he always rescues us in the life to come –...

The sad story of Belshazzar both comforts those who have been wronged by the sins of others, and also warns us not to follow in the folly of his footsteps. Though he wanted many good things, he pursued them apart from God, effectively opposing God. The Gospel of grace redirects our own "wantings" through God himself, transforming the malediction on the wall into a banner of benediction over us.

Nebuchadnezzar illustrates both the toxic power of pride and the persistent love of God to rescue the prideful and exalt them to new glory. True humility that God alone rules the world, and whatever corner of it we may be ruling now is always a gift.

We don't talk about the ascension very much. But it turns out, the ascension is essential for Jesus' story and for your thriving. It's essential because Jesus has old promises to keep and new work to do.

Often we can become casual in our Christian walks, however 1 John reminds us that being called a child of God means something. In this call, just like children, we should be confident in the assurance of our Father’s relationship and work to imitate Him in all that He does.

Trusting God will always put you outside of some important group of people in the world, and all you have to do to get back in is deny his supremacy. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were able to resist that temptation, even if God didn’t deliver them, because they had ample reasons to believe he was THE God of the universe; his presence with them in the furnace just gave them one more. Christians t...

God reveals mysteries to people who trust him, primarily through opening up his Word, the Bible. When we study it in community and dependence on the Holy Spirit, he uses it to disclose not only the "thoughts and intentions of our hearts," but the scope and sweep of human history. Most important, God reveals the mystery of the Gospel of grace that pivots around the person and work of Jesus Christ....

Daniel and his friends excelled in exile because they trusted in the God of losers: a God so committed to their flourishing in relationship with him that he was willing to oppose their nation when it strayed from him. In this way they foreshadowed Jesus, who endured suffering and death to give us new life. When God’s discipline placed them in a climate hostile to their faith, they chose the simple...

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Isaiah is brought into the holy presence of Jesus, the Lord of Hosts, sitting on the throne. He is awestruck by the holiness and glory he witnesses, and he recognizes his sin. Out of his sincere repentance, the Lord forgives Isaiah and makes him holy. With a heart renewed, Isaiah is eager to share the message of the Lord.

The rich fool’s problem wasn’t that he was rich, or that he saved for the future, or that he died like everyone else. His problem was that his life revolved around himself, not God. As a result, he wrongly thought that he earned his riches, rather than receiving them as a gift of God’s grace. This led him to ignore other people, failing both to learn from their wisdom and to share God’s blessings...

Christians are meant not only to profess faith in Christ, but to practice it. This encouragement includes a sober warning: that no one might delude us with plausible arguments (v. 6) or take us captive by philosophy and empty deceit (v. 8). Paul doesn’t say exactly how we are in danger, but he offers one clear remedy: to center every truth around the person and work of Christ. And if we pay attent...

We often find ourselves attempting to control time and the seasons that come and go in our lives. The Preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us that life is full of varied seasons and none of us can predict or control the seasons that come and go. We do not happen to time, time happens to us. God alone stands beyond time and only what he does in the world and in and through us will endure. The call of E...