Only One Gospel
Galatians 1:1-10
Have you written or received an email that skipped all
the chit chat and went straight to the point.
No, “So how have you been? What
have you been up to?” Instead, it’s
Hello, and then, “I can’t believe you did that, are you crazy?!” “Who do you
think you are? You’ve got some nerve to
accuse me of . . .” or “Send money now.”
We’re starting our study of Galatians and we’ll notice
that Paul wastes no time. He immediate
gets right down to business.
We’re going to take a closer
look at how this section is put together.
I want to break it down for you.
2 main sections: 1-5, 6-10.
Salutation (vv. 1-5)
Letters
had salutations. Paul starts immediately
with his concerns: 2 themes for the letter
Paul’s
Unique and Full Authority (vv. 1-2)
Directly
from Christ and God
The
risen Christ appeared to Paul on the
All
the brothers with him stand behind this letter.
He’s not a rogue apostle.
Last
week I had mentioned that some were questioning Paul’s apostleship. Immediately Paul claims apostolic authority. He’s citing his credentials. Paul is saying we need to listen to him, to take
this seriously. Paul is about to make some
bold statements, and we need to listen carefully.
“To
all the churches in
Churches
of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium,
Lystra, and Derbe, which
Paul started on his first missionary journey in southern
A
circular letter, meant to be passed around to cities/churches.
He
had planted these churches, had a personal history with many of these people.
Summary
of the Gospel (vv. 3-5)
Grace
comes to us
We’ve
been blessed, set free.
The
Gospel is a story of our salvation, “grace to us.”
Christ
has died for our sins and delivered us from the present evil age
Christ’s
cross is the foundation, the key.
Because
of Christ, we belong to another King and another kingdom
For
he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom
of the Son he loves (
Glory
goes to God.
The
end, goal of the Gospel is God’s glory.
The gospel is about bringing God His glory. (Piper, God
is the Gospel)
This sentence [Gospel] begins with grace to us, ends
with glory to God, and its all because of Jesus.
An axiom for life/living in the gospel story.
We live by grace, receiving His blessings and
deliverance and freedom. We always
receive. The gospel is grace to us.
It results in God’s glory. It doesn’t end with, “How wonderful for me,”
but with “How great is our God!” The
gospel takes us to God and moves us to worship.
God always gets the glory.
And Jesus is at the center of it all. He is what makes everything possible. It’s all because of Jesus. His death and resurrection are the foundation
of not just the forgiveness of our sins, but all the benefits we receive.
I’d like to recommend this as a simple way to think in
a more gospel story way, an axiom for life.
I was sick earlier this week, but I got some
rest and was feeling better
grace to me (healing), glory to God (His mercy),
because of Jesus (redeeming the curse)
marriage troubles, conflicts, anger
grace to us (need grace), glory to God (even in this
situation, it is not just about us, it’s about God, His worth and mercy), because
of Jesus (He makes it possible, gives hope)
go out to lunch
grace to me (as you say your prayers, God’s
provision), glory to God (to praise & thank Him, to use that strength for
His purposes), because of Jesus (the cross destroys death and gives life; this
is part of that outworking of that; Jesus holds and sustains all things)
This can be a simple prayer, frame, lens that helps us
see our stories as part of a greater gospel story.
“There is only one Gospel” (vv. 6-10)
Usually
there is a section on thanksgiving.
Paul,
an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2
To the holy and faithful brothers
in Christ at Colosse:
Grace
and peace to you from God our Father.
3
We always thank God, the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you
(Col 1:1-3)
But Paul skips all that and gets right down to
business. Paul wastes no time both in
his salutation and the beginning of the body of the letter. No nonsense; he immediately confronts the Galatian churches.
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the
one who called you . . .”
There is an urgency, a weightiness. As mentioned before, we need to take this
seriously.
Paul’s
main concern is to say, There is no other gospel. There is only one gospel.
I
can’t believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who
called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is
completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among
you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from
heaven!—were to preaching something other than what we preached originally, let
him be cursed. I said it once; I’ll say
it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches
something other than what you had received originally, let him be cursed.
Do
you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn’t bother
being Christ’s slave. (The Message)
1. Paul rejects
pluralism.
But
even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we
preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! (v. 8)
Think about this.
Paul is condemning anyone with any other message. He’s saying, it doesn’t matter who you are,
even if you’re an angel. There’s only
one gospel.
For those who might feel that there are many ways to
God, there are many roads to heaven, Paul emphatically disagrees. He is being very narrow, passionately and
without apology. Paul is obviously not
trying to be politically correct. He is
passionate about guarding what he sees as the one and only way.
Pluralists would say it’s too narrow and exclusive and
arrogant to say only one religion is right.
But I’d like to suggest that pluralists are also exclusive. The pluralist says, there are many ways to
God, we should accept all religions, all religions are valid. That is, all religions except the ones that
say there is only one way to God. The
pluralist rejects/excludes exclusivist religions. They are in the same position as the
exclusivist—they only agree with those who agree with them, and they exclude
those who disagree with them. Pluralists
are not as inclusive as they think. Or
in other words, there is no such this are a true pluralist. Everyone excludes someone.
Also, for Paul, he believes he has the only gospel,
and he claims divine revelation and apostolic authority. The pluralists who suggest there are many
ways to God, on what basis do they say this?
On what authority do they make this claim? How do they “know” this to be true? If there is any authority, it is simply
themselves.
For those of us who believe the Bible is true, let’s
be explicit. Although our culture may
promote religious tolerance, and we certainly want to respect the people of
other faiths, we must not get cloudy here: there is only one gospel. Those who believe the Bible is true cannot be
religious pluralists.
2.
Paul
cautions us for accuracy and faithfulness
For those of us who feel okay, that we’re safe because
we go to church and call ourselves Christian, I’d like to point out Paul’s
warning here is to those in the church. This warning is not so much against Muslims,
Hindu’s and atheists. Paul is warning
people who call themselves Christian.
The subtext of Paul’s warning is this: It’s not that
hard to get the gospel wrong, and in fact, the Galatians had gotten it wrong.
In this passage Paul is not defining the gospel; we’ll
get to that as we go through Galatians.
He is emphasizing the criticalness of accuracy—we have to get it
right. Paul is urging us to be careful! When it comes to the gospel, there is no room
for error.
3. Rejection of this Gospel leaves a person under God’s curse
Paul emphasizes the criticalness of getting the gospel
right with a curse.
Anathema: delivering up to the judicial wrath of God. It is the worse thing you could wish on
someone. “I wish hell condemnation on them!”
Paul emphasizes the severity of the consequences to
shake us, to make us cautious. If we get
this wrong, if we believe or preach another gospel, we are left under God’s
wrath. The stakes are high!
If you’re not a believer, I hope you’ll stay with us
to understand this central message that defines what it means to be a Christian
at all.
If you’re are a believer, Paul’s warning should
behoove us to ask ourselves: Do you understand the gospel? Do we have it right? Again, Paul was asking this to people in the
church. Are we preaching the right
gospel? Are we absolutely clear, or might
we get confused and blur the lines? Are we willing to stake our eternity that we
got this right?
In
the coming weeks we want to carefully examine this gospel message. Do we believe this gospel, and do we live in
line with the truth of the gospel? We
want to make sure we’ve got it right, both in our heads and in our lives.
4. The servant of the Gospel seeks to please God alone, not man
This
is not the language of a man pleaser.
Paul
was presumably being charged with vacillation.
To the Jew he became a Jew, to those without the law, he became like one
not having the law. To some it seemed
that Paul was just trying to please people.
But
we know that Paul’s greatest purpose was to bring people to Christ. “I have become all
things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” Paul was not
changing his message, only his method.
He was an ambassador of the Gospel, he was always trying to please God.
Either we are people-pleasers or God-pleasers.
For
those of us who do have a people-pleasing tendency, let’s listen
carefully. Either our main concern is to
make people happy or to make Christ happy.
When we do ministry, and specifically, when we present the gospel (or when we don’t present the gospel),
is it to avoid rejection, is it to be liked, or is it to please God? What is at the forefront of our minds?
I myself feel a responsibility here: my words are not
to make you feel good or be entertaining.
I want people to like me, to think highly of me.
But I must faithfully communicate God’s truth. I must never forget my primary aim is to
please God, not you. It should care 100x
more about what He thinks that what you think.
The Christian has a single-minded focus. We are soldiers trying to please our
commanding officer (2 Tim 2:4). Trouble
comes when we try to serve two masters.
The Gospel in facts frees us from
people-pleasing. We find a different
source for our significance than the approval of others.
The Gospel is more important that trying to please
people.
Paul sees something far more important than popularity
or social status.
This is about the great purpose of the Almighty God
and His plan to save all who believe from eternal destruction.
This whole passage is stressing the importance of the
gospel.
Unlike Paul, we’re not being persecuted for the gospel
here in the US today, but that shouldn’t lessen its importance for us. We must not be lulled into a cheap or
convenient gospel mentality. Perhaps we
need to remember how priceless and valuable it is.
Paul devoted his life for this gospel. He endured persecution and eventually
martyrdom for this gospel. Paul saw
something worth living and dying for.
Saints throughout the ages have given their lives to this protect and
proclaim this gospel. Supremely, Jesus
became a man and died on a cross for this gospel.
And one day when we stand among the saints in glory,
may we stand unashamed that we too have treasured and proclaimed this message. There is something far more important than
popularity or people’s applause.
May the gospel not be a cheap, convenient, boring, and
powerless to us. May we guard it and
treasure it as Paul does here in Galatians.
Do you understand the gospel? Can
you explain it to me? And does it change
how you live? How so? May we all grow in our answers as we go through Galatians.
By way of application, let’s
meditate on this
This sentence [Gospel] begins with grace to us, ends
with glory to God, and its all because of Jesus.
coming to worship today and hearing God’s Word
grace to us (gift, encouragement, warning)
glory to God (focus our hearts and values on God)
because of Jesus (why we even have a church, have a
desire/identity to follow Jesus; we have this day because of the cross of
Jesus)