Galatians, Galatians, Galatians!
In America today, the more that I read what people supposedly say about God and the gospel, the more I say, “Something about what people some people say just does not seem right.” People are so concerned about social issues that they make the gospel about a social cause or a political situation. But the good news is Jesus himself. That God in his infinite kindness and mercy did not let people wallow in the mire of their lives. Good news means that apparently I was living some “Bad news.” Wait, why didn’t someone tell me? No one had to tell me because when Good News came to me, I distinctly knew the difference. It was a if I had been eating rotten fruit and tasted the freshest piece of fruit ever. No one needed to tell me the difference, I knew it. As a matter of fact, I talked to the Holy Spirit immediately and had a conversation which continued all the way until the next morning. Yes, God.Is.Real.
In our modern world, this gospel has been distorted. It is not about “receiving God’s immense grace” but about taking Jesus into my self and fixing the world. In an easy way to explain what I am talking about is that, some people are convincing others that eating rotten fruit is fine. But if we know God or rather are “known by God” as Paul puts it in Galatians, we will desire to do the will of him who knows us and calls us. Jesus said in the book of John that if we know him than we will desire to do his will. We will desire to glorify the one to whom gave his life for us. We will allow God’s precious Holy Spirit to magnify Christ in our midst, in our lives, and in our world. And by the way, our world is where we live, not somewhere out there. If Jesus did not seek glory or seek to “change the world”, why do we? In reality, thinking we are “changing” anything is a myth. Lives are “changed” when they encounter Jesus and this happens usually in the same ways it happened in the stories of the gospels, where Jesus encountered someone and touched and healed them. They received God’s grace and in turn, received the Lord himself.
Jesus is shown to hang out a lot in Bethany, which is about two miles from Jerusalem. He was welcome there, so he went there a lot. Wow! Not too difficult to comprehend. Jesus resides where he is welcome. Jesus performs miracles where he is welcome and were he is received. That is the story of Galatians. Paul says that Jesus was welcome or “publicly manifest as crucified” to the Galatians and miracles were performed because the Galatians received the Holy Spirit, the very presence of Jesus into their assembly.
That is the story of Galatians. In this book, Paul paints a sweeping picture of God’s immense grace and redemption in Christ Jesus. Paul paints a short biographical picture of himself, as one who adamantly opposed the church and actively tried to destroy it. Although he does not get into details how he accomplished the task of destroying the church, he does use the word, “violently” and violence as understood in the Greco-Roman world did not mean, “spiritual, verbal, or emotional” violence. It meant physical violence.
But then Paul goes right back to saying in verses 15-16,
“But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood…”
So here is the crux of what I am writing about.
Why did God wait so long to reveal Jesus to Paul? If God had revealed Jesus to Paul earlier, then Paul would not have persecuted the church. Paul would not have consented to throwing Christians in jails, prisons, or even killing them. Paul would have served Christ, right? Well, maybe not and here is why.
If God had revealed Jesus to Paul prior to Paul zealously applying the law to this situation, then Paul may have never know the immense grace of God. And we can neither show nor make known anything which we ourselves do not know and experience. Paul recognized that the law in which he was applying was magnifying his own sin and not justifying him before God. Paul could never have known that it was ONLY a sheer act of God’s grace in Christ Jesus which justified a human being. And the fact of the matter is that Paul could not consult with flesh and blood (people) because Paul knew that this was a revelation of Jesus Christ. And here is the most amazing aspect of it all. Paul did not consult with anyone because the Spirit implanted the law of Christ Jesus upon his heart and Paul could attest to these same churches that they are saved by grace and trained by the same grace. Paul truly knew that we as Christians grow in our faith by and through faith. Faith is its own trainer. It grows.
Paul is fairly angry about the Galatians abandoning this grace in favor of good news which tells people that they have to perform some action or work or service prior to knowing Christ. Of course Paul would reject this. While Paul was traveling to Damascus with order to beat the crap out of Christians, Jesus knocked him off his horse, showed himself visibly to him, and spoke audibly to him.
Please tell me what Paul did to “make” this happen. Jesus showed himself to Paul out of grace. Jesus then spoke to another believer to go lay their hands on Paul to receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus even told this believer where Paul was located. And for God’s sake, Paul could not even see.
PAUL DID NOTHING TO EARN OR DESERVE GOD’S GRACE!!
While we were sinners, while we were racist, sexist, misogynistic, bigots, Jesus died for us. Jesus gave his life for us completely despite anything we had done.
What is Galatians? It is a book which says, “Hey! Someone is tricking you! Someone is teaching you that you can do something other than receive God’s grace. Paul says, “You can neither rescue yourself, nor can you make yourself holy.” It is a sheer act of God’s Holy Spirit, the law of the cross of Jesus Christ written upon your heart that changes your life.”
At the end of Galatians, Paul says, “The only thing I boast in is the cross of Jesus Christ.” The most shameful act that Rome inflict upon someone else, Paul says is what we boast in. Without the cross of Jesus, then sin does not become the enemy that it truly is. It was sin that crucified Jesus and without Jesus taking this sin, we would never know God!
Boast in the cross! Because Jesus has defeated our enemy and by defeating the great enemy of death, we can live as free people.
church politics 