INTRODUCTION
- Recently Southern Living magazine ran a story entitled Ten Things A Southerner Should Do Before They Die
- Nor surprisingly- one of those things is attending a NASCAR race
- Believe it or not
- Even thought I'm a native of Charlotte- the hub of the NASCAR universe
- I have NEVER attended a stock car race
- Actually, I'd like to- under certain conditions. For instance:
- To avoid the traffic I would INSIST on being
- Helicoptered in about 15 minutes before they drop the green flag
- And flown out about 10 minutes after the race ends
- Because it’s so hot- I'd have to watch from one of those air-conditioned luxury suites at Lowes Motor Speedway
- A sensitivity to noise means I'd need a pair of $600 Bose noise-reduction headphones
- And finally- to avoid the exhaust fumes I'd need to be in an hermetically enclosed environment at all times
- If somebody could arrange all those things for me-
- I’d be at the track the next time Junior & Jimmie & Jeff roared into town
- It would one more Southern thing I would have done before I die... or maybe not
TRANSITIONAL REMARKS
- You know- if there was a list of Ten Things A Christian Should Do Before They Die
- Grappling with the book of Galatians would be right near the top
- See- Galatians is perhaps the most important book of Christian theology ever written
- In just six chapters Paul establishes-
- The foundation and essential message of the Gospel
- And what it means for a Christian to have liberty in Christ
- That’s why I want us to spend this summer looking at Galatians
- We’re going to take it apart chapter-by-chapter
- And discover the liberating message of freedom it contains
- This morning we're going to start by looking at Galatians chapter one
INTRODUCTION TO MAIN TEXT OF THE SERMON
- The Christians in Galatia were confused
- Under Paul’s preaching they had trusted Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord
- They'd been told they were saved by God’s grace
- And that NOTHING could separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus
- But then some men from the church in Jerusalem arrived on the scene claiming to represent Jesus’ disciples
- They told the Galatians that simple faith in Jesus wasn't enough
- That in order to be saved- REALLY saved- you had to believe that:
- Jesus was the Christ- the JEWISH Messiah
- AND obey all of the Jewish Law- including undergoing the rite of circumcision
- It’s hard to exaggerate the confusion these men created in the Galatian church
- Paul- a man who never claimed to be one of Jesus’ original disciples- were telling them one thing
- And these men- who claimed to be speaking on behalf of the DISCIPLES- were telling them something else
- The question was:
- Who should they believe? Who was telling them the TRUTH about Jesus?
- Their salvation- and their freedom in Christ- was at stake
- Let’s look at what Paul tells them:
VERSE 1
- Paul, an apostle--sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father
- Here- Paul is establishing his credibility and authority as a spokesman for Christ
- He calls himself an apostle
- Which meant he had a God-given mandate to proclaim the Good News about Jesus the Christ
- There was only one problem with Paul’s claim: Technically he didn't qualify as an apostle
- In order to be an apostle you had to have been:
- With Jesus from the very beginning of his earthly ministry
- An eyewitness to His crucifixion and resurrection
- AND been appointed to the apostleship by Christ Himself
- Turn with me to Acts 1:15-22
- Paul never tried to claimed...
- To have been with Jesus from the beginning- or to have been an eyewitness to His death and Resurrection
- BUT- He boldly asserted that he had been appointed by God to be an apostle to the Gentiles
- It had happened on the Road to Damascus. Turn with me to Acts 9:3-16
- As far as Paul was concerned God’s Call was the only credential he needed
- He'd had an encounter with the Resurrected Jesus- AND received a commission from the Heavenly Father
- ...Just like the disciples in Jerusalem!
VERSES 3-5
- It’s really kind of ironic
- Paul was a sophisticated, highly-trained Pharisee who could debate all the nuances of the Jewish law
- And yet his proclamation of the Gospel was incredibly simple: Jesus gave up His life on the Cross to save you from your sin
- Wherever Paul went this is what he preached
- It never varied
- He never added anything to it
- And he never took anything away from it
- Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross has the power to save you from the wages of sin which is death
- Over the years I've had people tell me: There’s got to be more to being saved than to simply believe in Jesus
- In their mind they think it’s too simplistic
- That there’s got to be some important religious principles or conditions I'm leaving out
- Whether they realize it or not- when they say things like that
- They're speaking as legalists-
- And proclaiming their belief in legalism
- The basic idea of legalism is very simple:
- If you do all the right things- and follow all the religious rules and regulations
- You can earn your salvation
- Visual Illustration: Legalism
- Set-up
- Put the rubber mat on the stage
- Ask Rachel to come up and stand on the mat
- The mat represents all the rules and regulations of legalism
- As long as Rachel stays on the mat
- Legalism says she’s gonna be justified before God
- Paul’s life experience had taught him the fatal flaw in that way of thinking. He had learned that-
- No matter how much you try to live on the mat
- At some point- your sin nature takes over and you wind up on the outside looking in
- With his experience on the Road to Damascus Paul:
- Realized that even though he'd obeyed all the rules and regulations
- He'd become a violent, arrogant, self-righteous sinner
- Who was lost and bound for an eternity spent in hell
- Suddenly "saw the light"
- His efforts to get right with God were futile
- His ONLY hope was to believe in what God had done for him in Jesus Christ
- Read what he says in Romans 5:6-10 1
- THIS was the Gospel Paul-
- Believed
- Preached
- Lived- and died- by
VERSES 6-9
- Paul was a pull-no-punches kind of guy who wasn't afraid to let you know what he felt.
- Let’s put it this way:
- If I'd paraphrase the white-hot intensity of Paul’s rage into modern English
- you'd fire me for using R-rated language in the pulpit
- Notice what he says: I am astonished
- The Greek word means to be shocked speechless
- In other words: Paul simply can not BELIEVE what is happening among the Galatian Christians
- Some people think that Paul’s expressing the pain of being rejected by the Galatians- Why are you rejecting me?
- How can I put this? WRONG!
- Paul is horrified because the Galatians are rejecting GOD! the One who called you by the grace of Christ
- Now here’s where you have to go back to the message being taught by the men from Jerusalem
- They were saying you had to be obedient to the Jewish law if you REALLY wanted to be saved
- Paul’s point is simple:
- GOD is the One who sent Jesus to die on the Cross for your sin
- When you stop relying solely on His gift of grace-
- you're rejecting God
- Not a human being
- Illustration: Rejecting Jim Rollins
- Let’s say I want to be Jim’s friend) I think:
- A friendship needs to be based on something...we need something in common.
- Let’s see: Jim is a proud veteran of the U.S. Navy.
- I know what I'll do: I'll join the Navy!
- So I go down to the Recruitment Office and sign up
- But then Jim comes up to me and says:
- Steve- I love you in Christ Jesus and want you to know that I consider you to be my friend
- But I tell him: Wait a minute! You can't just decide to be my friend! We've got to have something in common! I tell you what- when I get out of the Navy in four years- THEN we can be friends
- Now what would be the result of my comments?
- Jim and I wouldn't be friends
- By rejecting his offer of friendship- I would've been rejecting Jim!
- This is the point Paul is trying to make to the Galatians
- By trying to add something to what God had already done
- They were rejecting the salvation Christ had secured for them at the Cross!
- This is such an important truth- that Paul gets a little testy
- He says if ANYONE preaches a message other than Christ and Him crucified
- Let him or her be eternally condemned
- That literally means eternally damned by God to hell
- I don't think Paul is interested in taking any prisoners here!
VERSES 10-12
- Evidently Paul’s opponents had accused him of making the Gospel up as he went along
- They claimed he'd taken the authoritative message of Jesus’ disciple- watered it down
- And made it into something that wouldn't be challenging or offensive to anyone
- Paul’s answer is: Who do they think they're kidding?
- The message I'm proclaiming is so profound- so powerful- so radically different from anything that’s come before
- It can ONLY be from Jesus the Christ!
- Notice what Paul says:
- I didn't make it up
- I didn't learn it from another human being
- I received it DIRECTLY from Jesus
VERSES 13-16
- Nobody who knew him could have imagined Paul becoming the defender of absolute freedom in Christ
- Paul had been an incredibly zealous defender of Jewish tradition
- He was on his way to becoming a greatly respected rabbi when God literally stopped him in his tracks
- Again- you have to go back to his experience on the Road to Damascus
- Calling it a conversion experience- doesn't do justice to what Paul experienced
- For him- it was the moment when the world turned upside down
- As a Jew- Paul believed that God’s covenant promises were activated by strict observance of the Law
- He believed God had entered into a relationship with his biological ancestors
- God had told them:
- I have chosen you to be My people- but if you want to be a part of this covenant community
- You MUST obey ALL of these laws- both the letter and the spirit!"
- Paul had undertaken that challenge
- He had immersed himself in the study and application of the Law
- In Acts 22:3 he defends himself before the Jews by saying:
- "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today."
- The point Paul is making in verses 13-17 is that no human being could have convinced him to turn his back on everything-
- He'd been taught
- He believed in
- That caused his life to make sense
- It was his DIRECT encounter with the Living Lord that caused Paul to:
- Reject his old way of life
- And embrace a new faith in Jesus the Christ!
VERSES 17-20
- Of course- once Paul got over the shock of learning the truth about Jesus he had to process what it all meant
- Remember- Paul was an intellectual
- And you know- intellectuals have to analyze EVERYTHING that happens
- After his conversion experience Paul-
- didn't rush back to Jerusalem to consult with the 12 disciples
- Instead he spent the next three years in the Arabian desert praying and meditating on the meaning of the Gospel he had discovered
- This was part of God’s plan for reaching the Gentile world with the Good News of Jesus Christ
- God had to remove Paul from all the surroundings of his Jewish heritage so he could understand a fundamental truth
- Jesus was.../ He was...
- More than the Messiah the Jews had been promised
- The Savior of the world- offering salvation to anyone and EVERYONE who comes to Him by faith!
- Eventually Paul went back to Jerusalem and spent 15 days with Peter
- I think it’s a safe bet they didn't spend two weeks talking about the weather
- Paul wanted to absorb everything Peter could teach him about Jesus’ life and ministry
- And Peter learned a few things from Paul
- He'd been an uneducated fisherman before he became one of Jesus’ disciples
- Paul’s theological training allowed him to connect the dots between
- The promises of God in the Old Testament
- And their fulfillment in the person of Christ
- BUT here’s the thing: Two weeks with Peter didn't add anything to the revelation Paul had received from Christ!
- What the Jewish Law couldn't do- bring a sinful human being into a right relationship with God
- God HAD done by the death of Jesus
- In other words: Salvation never was- and never will be- a HUMAN accomplishment
- Salvation by grace was- and always will be- GOD’S greatest accomplishment
CONCLUSION
- We've been talking a lot about the Gospel this morning
- The Greek word for gospel- evangelion- means "good news"
- With that in mind I want you to concentrate on what Paul says in verses 6-7
- I saw a sign on a church marquee a couple of weeks ago
- I assume it was referring to the Memorial Day holiday
- It said: Freedom isn't free
- The Good News of the Gospel is that freedom IS free!
- It doesn't cost you a red cent
- But it cost Jesus everything. He had to:
- Sacrifice His life on the Cross
- So that you could be free
- Paul’s question to the Galatian Christians- his question to you and me is:
- Why would you want to give up something that comes to you as a free gift of God’s grace?
- Let us pray
No comments:
Post a Comment