Word of Salvation – Vol. 47 No.15 – April 2002

 

Not Man-Made, But from Jesus

 

Sermon by Rev B Vaatstra

on Galatians 1:11–2:14

Scripture Reading: Acts 9:1-19

Suggested Hymns: BoW 457; 191; 301

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What difference does it make to be a Christian?  What difference does the gospel really make?  This message that Jesus died for you, and paid for your sin – how does it really change your life?

The Bible talks about it in the most dramatic way.  It's like coming from darkness into light.  It's a transformation from ugliness to beauty.  It's like the turning of grief into joy.  It's like being rescued from slavery and set free.

The people of Israel were in slavery in Egypt (read it in Exodus).  They were ruthlessly oppressed by the Egyptians; forced to work hard to make bricks for Pharaoh's building projects.  But God rescued them from Egypt and set them free.  He made them into a nation.  They became His precious people, loved and cherished.  That's the Bible's picture of Christian freedom.  That's a huge turnaround.

There's a beautiful picture in Ezekiel 16:4-14.  It describes the rescue of a despised, unwanted and abandoned child; kicking in her own birth blood, and God sees this child and He washes her and cares for her.  She grows up to be a beautiful woman.  He marries her and gives her the best foods – gold and silver and beautiful dresses.  He makes her His queen.  That's how the gospel changes people.

Then there's the story of the demon-possessed man.  He's totally driven and enslaved by these demons called Legion.  He is violent, naked, foaming at the mouth and living amongst the graves.  Jesus sees this man and casts out the demons; and sets him free; and he's transformed, in his right mind and so happy.

These three stories are all pictures of how people are changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we believe in Jesus – trust Him and lean on Him – we have this same freedom.  We have been rescued from slavery to our self-centredness.  We have been loved and cared for with an eternal, incredible love.  We have been set free to live – to live life to the full.

Is that how it is for you?  Are you set free?  No longer a slave, but really free?

The Apostle Paul was set free by the Gospel.  And God gave him the job of bringing the message to the world.  And the way Paul did it showed he believed it and loved it.  But he was constantly being harassed and shadowed by these Judaisers – false teachers – who said that to be a true Christian you must obey the law of Moses.  That meant following very complicated food laws, washing utensils, not mixing foods, no sweet and sour pork and so on.  And it also included circumcision.

These Judaisers opposed Paul and his message.  "Paul isn't a real Apostle", they said.  “He doesn't circumcise new believers; and what's more, he eats pork.”  And they were unsettling the Galatian Christians.

There is a deep truth here which we need to understand well.  True, free Christians will be opposed.  Jesus said in Luke 6:22-26, “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.  Woe to you when all men speak well of you."  When you bring the true gospel message to people, as Paul did – yes, some people will be changed, but others will be hardened.  And they will oppose you and the message.  Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:15!

It's true, isn't it?  And we don't like it, do we?  So we tip-toe around; take the soft option.  We keep quiet about Jesus.  Our one goal is not to offend anyone.  Why doesn't Paul do this?  Why does he stand up and speak so strongly?  Why does he defend himself so vigorously?

Well, of course, it's because he's a bit hard-nosed, isn't he?  He's narrow-minded and lacking in love.  Is that it?  That's what many people think.  Is that the reason?  Of course not!  Paul had a deep compassion for people.  His motivation was God's agenda: To set people free; to introduce them to Jesus; to show them a better way to live; to bring them peace with God.

So when these Judaisers come and oppose him, he sees it as a threat to the gospel.  He sees them dragging people back into bondage to rules and regulations.  And he strongly defends himself.

1.  Paul is Changed by the Gospel

Let's take a look at his defence.  In verses 11-24 of Chapter 1 Paul tells us his own story, how he was changed by the Gospel.  That's our first Point: Paul is Changed by the Gospel.  And what a change it was!  We have a 'before', 'during' and 'after' snapshot of his life with Jesus.

Verse 14: Paul was a great Jew.  He was extremely zealous for the traditions of his fathers.  He followed all the rules to a tee.  And where did it lead him?  To a happy and fulfilled life?  No, it led him to hate the church, persecute it and try to destroy it.  But God changed Paul on the road to Damascus.  Notice how it happens, in verse 15.  God set him apart; God called him by grace; God revealed Jesus to him; God gave him the mandate to preach to the Gentiles (read the last part of verse 16).  “I did not consult any man."  This is Paul's defence against accusations that he wasn't a real apostle.

Like the other apostles, he received the gospel direct from God.  He didn't come to know Jesus by listening to the other apostles, or by reading their writings.  No, he was specially commissioned by Jesus Himself.  Look at verses 11-12, "I want you to know that the gospel I preached to you is not something that man made up.  I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ."  What Paul is saying here is that neither his commission nor his message came from men.  He received it from God himself in a direct revelation.

Then Paul goes on in verses 17-24 to show that he was not shaped in his thinking by the other apostles.  Look at the text.  He didn't go to Jerusalem, but spent three years in Arabia and Damascus.  He had absolutely no contact with the other apostles there.  Then when he did go to Jerusalem for a while, it was only a flying visit - fifteen days with Peter.  And the only other apostle he saw was James, Jesus' brother.  Then he went to Syria and Cilicia.  He was there for a further 11 years.

So, it was fourteen years between his conversion and when he finally did get to Jerusalem.  All this time Paul was independent from the other apostles, and preaching a Gospel given him directly by God.  It was not man-made, but from Jesus.  Paul got his gospel message from Christ Himself, not from the church leaders.  And he has the historical evidence to prove it.

So what, you ask?  Why is this important, for me?  Well, firstly, there are still those in the church today who look down on Paul and his writings.  Jesus is all love and grace, but Paul is narrow-minded, they say.  Well, you can't say that because Paul's Gospel is from Jesus.  Jesus gave it to him and gave him the job to spread it.  It is not a distortion of what Jesus taught.  We can have full confidence in what Paul teaches.

And secondly, this Gospel changed Paul dramatically, turned him inside out and set him free.  He's no longer a slave to Judaism, but free – free to serve His Lord.  And he does it with passion and purpose and joy.  Has the Gospel changed you like that?  It's good to think about that, isn't it?

2.  Paul is Confirmed in the Gospel

Well, Paul continues to defend himself and the gospel.  In Chapter 2 he shows how he was confirmed in the Gospel, and that's our second Point: Paul is Confirmed in the Gospel.

After 14 years Paul does go down to Jerusalem.  And he takes with him Titus, a Greek, and Barnabas, a Jew.  Why does he go to Jerusalem?  Verse 4 tells us: the Judaisers were coming into the church, and they were trying to take away the people's freedom, and imposing the law: circumcision, food restrictions, and so on.

So, Paul goes down to Jerusalem.  He meets with the leaders there and tells them what he was preaching.  What happens?  Well let's take a look...

• Verse 3 – Titus is not compelled to be circumcised;
• Verse 6 – the leaders in Jerusalem added nothing to my gospel;
• Verse 7 – they saw Paul was called to preach to the Gentiles;
• Verse 9 – they gave Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship;
• Verse 10 – they asked him to join with them in helping the poor.

Paul is confirmed in the Gospel he teaches.  The Judaisers are wrong.  If the law is added, the Gospel is a lie.  If we are saved by works, then we are not saved by grace.  If we are slaves to the law, then we are not free.

 here's a story of a lady who married her childhood sweetheart.  Their marriage wasn't perfect, but it was good.  They were happy and faithful to each other.  This continued on for many years, until one day her husband suddenly died of a heart attack.  Not being able to part with him, she decided to have him embalmed, put in a chair and sealed up in a large glass case.  She placed him immediately inside the front door of her home.  Whenever she came into the house, she would smile and say, "Hello John, how are you?"

After a year or two she decided to take a long trip to Europe.  While there she met a man who swept her off her feet.  After a whirlwind romance they married and honeymooned all over Europe.  But, she said nothing about old John back home.  Finally they travelled home.  Picking his bride up, to carry her over the threshold, he bumped the door open with his hip, only to be confronted with John in the glass case.  "What's this?"  "Well, this is John, he's my old man, he's history, he's dead.”  The new husband immediately dug a big hole and buried her former husband, case and all.

Christians are no longer slaves to the past.  The 'old man' of trying to earn our way to heaven is dead.  We are freed of it all by grace.  We can't earn our way into heaven.  The way to God is not to be good, but to be forgiven.  The way to God is through Jesus, who died for our forgiveness.  That's what Paul is fighting for.  And he is confirmed in it by the other apostles.

3.  Paul is compelled by the Gospel

Now, finally, we see in these last few verses that Paul is compelled by the gospel, which is our third Point.

Paul openly opposes Peter.  It's quite tense and dramatic, isn't it?  Now Peter's up in Antioch.  He's having a wonderful time with the new Christians, eating pork pie and drinking gentile beer.  But now some of these Judaisers came up from Jerusalem, and Peter suddenly separates himself.  He doesn't want to be seen eating pork, mixing with Gentiles.

What had happened to Peter?  Well it happens to all of us at times.  It's called peer-pressure.  In verse 12 we see that he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.  The same Peter who denied Jesus three times because he was afraid of being associated with Jesus when he was arrested before His crucifixion now denied Him again for fear of these false teachers.  Peter was being inconsistent.  His actions did not match his belief.

He BELIEVED the gospel — he AGREED with Paul — but he wasn't living it out in practice.  So when you boil it down, he was being a hypocrite.  Someone once said, hypocrisy is like a pin – it’s pointed in one direction, and yet is headed in another.  And it's amazing how it spread!  Verse 13 says that other Jews joined in and even Barnabas was led astray.

So, Paul opposes Peter.  It's no small matter is it?  Peter was a key church leader.  He had the Jews with him, even Barnabas, Paul's colleague.  Paul stood almost as a lone voice against Peter and the rest.  Why does he do it?  Was he just headstrong?  Maybe he just loved an argument.  Some might say so, but not at all.  Paul has better motives than that.  He is compelled by the Gospel; he fights for the truth of the Gospel (vs 14).

Friends, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile; if you are black or white; male or female; rich or poor!  We are all saved simply through faith in Jesus – not by works.  That's the Gospel Jesus taught.  That's the Gospel Paul preached.  That's the Gospel that saved people back then, and now today.

Peter was encouraging the false teachers who were saying that true Christians must obey the laws of Moses.  They don't eat pork, and they must be circumcised.  But Paul is compelled by the Gospel.  So must we be.  The truth is non-negotiable, because it's the truth that sets us free.

Friends, if the apostle Peter can make this mistake, so can I, and so can you.  We need to work hard at being consistent, don't we?  Consistent – first of all in our families.  So how do we live?  Do we live as people who have received the incredible grace of God?  A God who is so patient with us, and forgives and forgives and forgives?

If we really appreciate grace, we will not be legalists – can't be, no works will save us, nor will it save others – but we will be a people who teach and model salvation by grace, and good deeds done as a way of praising God.  When we teach our children we will model grace and forgiveness and reconciliation rather than hide behind the rules.

Friends, let's work hard at being consistent, like Paul, and be people of grace.

Conclusion:

So, there it is!  Paul defends the truth, the Gospel of Jesus and his apostleship, by highlighting his independence from the other apostles.  He was CHANGED by the Gospel of grace when Jesus met him on the road to Damascus.  Fourteen years later he was CONFIRMED in the Gospel of grace by the Jerusalem apostles, and he was COMPELLED by the Gospel of grace to oppose even Peter.

The Gospel makes a huge difference to Paul.  Does it make a difference in your life?  Have you been changed by the Gospel, rescued from slavery, set free, taken out of darkness into the light of grace?  Is that you???

Have you been confirmed in the Gospel by others, by fellow saints?  Do you have that sense of unity with other believers?

No matter where you go, are you compelled by the Gospel, compelled to stand for truth, compelled by the love of Christ, to speak the words, "Jesus loves you, Jesus died for you and Jesus can set you free" – compelled to speak the message of grace into the lives of others?

You see, for Paul, and for every Christian, it's no longer I – but it's Christ!  He is the difference in our lives!

Amen.