Living in the Grace of God: The Bad and the Good...News

March 1, 2015

Living in the Grace of God

The Bad and the Good...News

Galatians 1:1-10

(Advance Slide #1)

Introduction

(Advance Slide #2)

I little boy was going door to door selling newspaper subscriptions.

• At one particular home he doing his ‘sales pitch.’
• It didn’t look like the family was going to subscribe, so he pulled out all the stops.
• He told them, “You’re lucky to have a subscription to this paper, they only print the good news.”

(Advance Slide #3)

The ‘good news’ (i.e. the gospel) is good for a reason...it brings salvation to everyone.

• But what if you change the message?
• Can it still be good?
• Some 3,000 years have passed since the letter to the church in Galatia was written...does the ‘good news’ need to change with the times?

The message that we find in the text today hasn’t changed.

• This is the lesson...don’t change the message!

(Advance Slide #4)

As we begin this letter to the church in Galatia we will notice something.

• Paul’s letters usually had customary greetings, thanksgivings, and praise.
• The fact that Paul forgoes this normal practice should not be missed by us.
• It speaks to the urgency that he feels in confronting false teachings.

(Advance Slide #5)

Paul jumps right to the heart of the matter.

• In this short introduction Paul is careful to ascribe everything to the grace and sovereign activity of God.

Text

(Advance Slide #6)

1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Galatians 1:1-3

What gives you the right to speak to us this way?

• Paul begins by explaining who is:

(Advance Slide #7)

His ministry - vs. 1-2

• Is that of an apostle (many disciples, but only a few apostles)
• His apostleship was not from human selection or approval, but from divine appointment.
• He planted the church...he was concerned for their soul.
• He was not content to teach leave, how to live in God’s grace is a part of his commission

(Advance Slide #8)

His message - vs. 3-4

• Paul’s message centered on three things:
• Person - Jesus Christ the only Son of God.
• Price - He gave Himself to die for us on the cross.
• Purpose - To deliver sinners from the slavery of sin.
• The false teachers (Judaizers) wanted to lead the Christians form the liberty of grace into the bondage of law.
• Bondage is not part of God’s grace...Jesus died that we might be FREE!

(Advance Slide #9)

His motivation - vs. 5

• “to whom be the glory forever and ever”
• The false teachers were teaching for their own glory.
• For Paul, his primary motive was pure and godly...he wanted to glorify Jesus Christ!

(Advance Slide #10)

What’s your problem Paul?

• Paul was for a lack of a better words...concerned and disgusted!
• “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him…”

(Advance Slide #11)

• The false teachers were guilty of two things:
• They had deserted God’s grace.
• Salvation is the gift of God’s grace, purchased by Jesus.
• They had perverted the “gospel” of grace and turned back to the law
• “Perverted” - better understood as reversed!
• They had deserted that grace... turned back to bondage.

Now, that he has expressed his disgust, he exposes the ‘bad’

• Paul loved the truth, and because of this he loved those whom he lead to the truth!
• The false teachers were identified by the ‘false message’ that they preached!
• Paul announced them ‘accursed’ (lit. he said they were “dedicated to destruction”)
• HEAR - the warning Paul gives:

(Advance Slide #12)

“If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

• The false teacher’s motives were self serving.
• Paul stood in stark contrast, he was an ambassador not a politician.
• While he might be accused of being a ‘people pleaser’ the truth was far from that.

This letter is a reminder of God’s grace.

• A challenge for them to not be tied to the law but rather to live in the grace that saved them!
• This is the ‘good news.’’

Lesson

Bad news, good news we encounter it every day!

(Advance Slide #13)

Paul often wrote about working on a building.

• But this building is made with people...not bricks and mortars.

(Advance Slide #14)

• Paul builds the foundation of this building by telling the people some ‘good news’ that’s also shocking!
• The one God, show is the creator of the world has revealed a plan to save the world.
• This revealing took place in a Jew by the name of Jesus...the Messiah, a king of kings.
• This is the beginning of the ‘good news’!

But wait...it does get better!

(Advance Slide #15)

• Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection this people building is also a new family.
• It is a ‘single family’ with no divisions, no separate races, no place for the Jews and place for the Gentiles!
• Because of what Jesus did...you don’t have to be a Jew to Join the family.
• GOOD NEWS!

(Advance Slide #16)

In contrast the ‘bad news’ is that others have come it.

• They have tried to build another ‘people-building.’
• Paul didn’t know what he was talking about...he’s not even a real apostle.
• Because of this he’s really muddle up things up and tried to make them too simple.
• In actuality though there are two sections.
• Yes we believe in Jesus, but Jews and gentiles can’t live together.
• The promise was to Abraham...a Jew sooo…
• All men must be circumcised, all must keep the law to keep things separate...that’s the ‘good news’

Conclusion

One of my favorite games was "Capture the Flag."

(Advance Slide #17)

• One objective is to capture the flag of the other team.
• Capturing their flag results in outright victory. The game is over.
• That is the MAIN THING!

(Advance Slide #18)

In the Christian life, we are called upon, on occasion, to engage opposition...to fight individual battles.

• We can get a bill passed to stop partial-birth abortion, remove pornography from some newsstands, or achieve justice in some area of our society.
• But Paul is not writing about skirmishes here in the book of Galatians: he is writing about the flag.
• If the Gospel of grace is lost, it does not matter how many of our opponents are out of commission...the game is over.