Galatians, part 2 Today, were going to continue our study of Pauls letter to the Galatians. The purpose of this letter was to ensure that people wouldnt be tricked into believing anything other than the true gospel of the kingdom that Jesus and all of his faithful followers preach as the way to become right with God. Its no secret that there are a lot of religions in the world that claim to be a true way to become right with God. But, are they? They cant all be teaching the truth, can they? And, if thats true, it kind of makes you wonder why there are so many, doesnt it? I think that Jesus gave us a good reason for why in Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. These statements were made as part of his famous Sermon on the Mount teaching. Describing himself as the narrow gate, he said Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus made it very clear that he was the only one on whom people could put their faith when coming to God to be reconciled to him. But, our pride makes us want to somehow share in the credit for this glorious life change. We want to do something, anything, to prove that were not just helpless sinners who have nothing to offer God but the faith we return to him when we surrender our lives to him and trust Jesus for our salvation. All of those other ways that people say lead to God, the ways that leave us in control of our lives and following our own wills regarding how to live a life thats pleasing to God, those ways go through the broad gate and lead to death. Because Paul knew this, he made very sure that the Galatians understood this too before he left them to continue his ministry elsewhere. Sadly, Paul hadnt been away from these people for very long before he received a report about what was starting to happen in their churches because of the false teachers who had quickly come in after him, trying to destroy their faith. In Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, Paul let them hear his disappointment at how easily they have been persuaded from the path to life. He said I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. When we stop believing that our faith in Jesus sacrificial death is all that God requires from us to be saved and start adding other conditions that need to be fulfilled as well as part of the requirements of salvation, we have essentially turned away from the true Gospel to believe something that is actually no gospel at all. It is by Gods grace alone that we are saved, and not by anything that we do before or after we are saved! On the cross, when Jesus said It is finished., he meant that everything that needed to be done to ensure the free forgiveness of our sins had been done. There is nothing that we can add to the perfection of his holy sacrifice that will make us any more right with God: all of the things we do after we are saved are done out of gratitude, love and obedience, not to make us more holy or righteous in Gods eyes. We are working for rewards and for an increased position of responsibility in the coming kingdom; all the benefits of salvation come to us because our faith in Christ alone and not because of a single thing we ever do. Jesus told a parable recorded in Lukes Gospel that is a good example of this. Its in chapter 19 if you want to read it. It was about a man who gave some money - minas - to 10 of his servants with instructions to put it to work while he was gone getting himself appointed king. When he returned as king, he had each of his servants report howd theyd done. He gave the one who earned 10 minas from his 1 mina 10 cities to rule and the one who earned 5 minas 5 cities to rule. This parable hints at the truth weve been told elsewhere in the Bible: Christ is returning to establish his kingdom here on Earth for 1000 years before the new heavens and the new earth are created and we are going to have a part in helping him rule it! But only if we are faithful in doing his will after were saved! It is so important for us to get this, to truly understand it, because our salvation depends on what we believe. And saying we believe is not enough: our faithfulness in doing Gods will truly proves that weve turned our lives over to him. Do you know why those false teachers were so motivated to destroy the Galatians faith in the Gospel of the kingdom? Do you remember whose kingdom was being destroyed by it? Right, Satans: this was a spiritual attack on their faith by people who were controlled by evil spirits! We must learn to see beyond the natural and recognize the evil spiritual persons who are often behind the things that we see people doing. Pauls anger at these enemies is so intense that he actually curses them twice in verses 8 and 9. We read But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Paul wasnt saying that true believers or Gods angels would try to fool them by preaching a false gospel: he was exaggerating to show how strongly he felt that they should hold to what they knew to be the truth. The Gospel that they had previously heard preached by Paul had brought them to faith in Christ, and, most likely, with speaking in tongues following as a result of their faith. Since they had been confirmed in the true faith by what theyd already believed, there was no reason for their faith to waver! In verse 10, Paul says something that seems a bit odd and kind of like hes trying to start an argument until you understand why he says it. We read Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Paul said this because the false teachers had also forced him into defending his motives for the things he did in his ministry: they were trying to portray him as a people-pleaser who would follow the Law of Moses or not follow it when it suited his purposes to get more disciples. Possibly, they were saying that because he had Timothy circumcised before taking him with him on his missionary journeys in order to avoid a controversy with the Jews in that area: after all, Timothy was Jewish on his mothers side and they knew his father was a Greek. But we need to understand that Paul had said, at one point of his ministry, that he was willing to be all things to all men, without sinning, so that thereby he might win some of them to Christ. His actions in this case were just an example of his commitment to God. In further defense of his apostleship, Paul went on to explain how he came to be a minister of the gospel in the next several verses. In verse 11 and 12, we read I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. Have you ever stopped to consider the supernatural characteristics of our relationship to God? People who are in rebellion against God dont want him to exist and try to explain everything that happens in terms that exclude God and the supernatural. Those false teachers didnt have faith in God and could only think of natural ways for Paul to have come to know everything he taught as the gospel of the kingdom. But Jesus was the one who called Paul to be an apostle, after his death, resurrection and ascension back to Heaven, and he was the one who revealed every truth about it to Paul. Just like he had for the other apostles! Why should that be a surprise or hard for anyone with faith in God to believe? Every truth about God is actually beyond our full comprehension! Have you ever considered that? Think about it... Let me give you just a few truths as examples of what I mean. God created everything from nothing just by speaking it into existence. God is eternal: that means he has always existed. God exists outside of time and yet enters into it whenever he wants to accomplish his purposes. God is 3 spiritual beings and yet one God. Do you entirely understand any one of these truths about God? I dont! I know they are all true and I believe every one of them but my mind cannot fully comprehend a single one of them. Our God is an awesome, mighty God, not some made up figment of our imagination! Paul wanted them to know that he had originally tried coming to God in the natural by doing what he thought was the good that God wanted him to do. This included following all the rules that the religious leaders had made up, even though they had nothing to do with what God wanted, and trying to kill those who he thought were teaching lies about his God. At least, that was what he had been doing until he met Jesus. In verses 13 to 16, he wrote For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. Paul had been zealous for the traditions of men over the will of God until he met God! When Gods grace was extended to him that day on the road to Damascus, he met the supernatural face to face - he met Jesus and his life was totally changed! He went from being a persecutor of Christians to being a preacher of Christ to Gentiles. And, in order to complete his education, he didnt go to the other apostles, he went where the Holy Spirit lead him: he went to Arabia. In verse 17, Paul said I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. And from there, he went out to minister the gospel Jesus had taught him. In verses 18 to 20, Paul wrote Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. He didnt even meet any of the other apostles until he had been an apostle for over 3 years! And when he did meet one of them, he initially only met Peter and James, the Lords brother! Paul wanted them to believe him about this so urgently that he even made an oath before God that he was telling them the truth! Paul finished the story of his call to be an apostle in verses 21 to 24 by telling them Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me. Christs gospel had worked a miraculous change in a man who had formerly been working hard to make himself acceptable to God by doing stuff that he thought would please him, by keeping all the rules that he thought he had to keep to be perfect in Gods eyes. The gospel had shown a misguided murderer that even he could be saved by just putting his faith in Jesus and, by Gods grace, he became one of the greatest of Christs apostles! The gospel is Gods idea and he deserves all our praise for the benefits that it brings us and the souls that it saves!
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 01:34:52 +0000