Judge not! Really?

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 sole survivor washed ashore on a small island and wasn’t found for years. When rescues discovered him they found he had built three huts. When asked, he pointed to the one and said, “That’s my house.” Then he pointed to a second, and said, “That’s my church”.

After a bit of silence, the rescuers asked about the third hut. Nonchalantly, he said, “Oh that was the church I used to belong to.”

In some towns, the preachers know the families who ‘church hop’. They’re at this place one week and a month later they’re down the street with another group. Someone says something to them or doesn’t say something to them and they’re off looking for the next place where God is calling them.

These are examples of what it means when Jesus tells us “Judge not” as in Matthew 7:1. John Stott describes much of the judgment is along lines of the form of baptism, if the person ordained is properly in line with the apostles, the color of their skin or the from the right social class (Stott).

Matthew 7 ends calling us to make a judgment call as to whether Jesus’ words are worth dedicating our life or not.

 “²⁴Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock…²⁶And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”  

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls for self-judgment in areas of anger and lust. Jesus judges the Pharisees of his day and calls them white-washed tombs. God judges a couple in Acts 5 for lying to the church. Acts 10, as we’ve read, Peter makes a judgment and baptizes a Gentile family on whom the Holy Spirit had fallen.  And in Antioch, the church makes a judgment and separated Paul and Barnabas to a new ministry. Today, in 1 Corinthians 6 Paul expects the church to be able to judge issues that crop up between members without taking it to pagan courts.

So why, do we hear people telling us, “don’t Judge”; “Christians are too judgmental”, or “who are you to judge?” Here’s the answer. First they don’t understand what judgment is and isn’t. Second, they are guilty and don’t want to be held accountable Third, they don’t have any foundation from which to properly exercise judgment. The conflict between Paul and Peter is a great example of these three issues

What is and isn’t judgment?

Do not mistake an opinion for judgment. Opinions can flow from our “fears, pride or ignorance” (Smedes). Dr. Smedes says, “Judgments are opinions that we form only after we have made a serious effort to know the facts, and, for those of us who are Christians, only after we have consulted the moral teachings of Scripture and prayed for Spirit-informed discernment.” Then there is this great summary, “Any lazy or biased fool can have opinions; making judgments is the hard work of responsible and compassionate people.” (Smedes).

When Paul confronts Peter it isn’t based on some opinion of what is and isn’t right behavior. Peter has, up to the time these other guys showed up, been eating and visiting with Gentiles like it was no big deal. This other group shows up and he starts to pull away, to become aloof and distance himself.

It becomes so obvious even Barnabas, who has been Paul’s partner steps away from the very churches he’s helped establish.

Paul doesn’t mince words, Peter “stood condemned”. The word indicates someone “condemned before God” (Kittle TDNT 8:568 n. 51). He’s just not wrong. He didn’t simply make a mistake.

Guilty as charged

Why did this happen? The simple story is one of peer-pressure, of giving into the expectations of others instead of standing for what we know is true or right. It is a story as old as sin itself. Remember Ralphie in A Christmas Story? He’s fine till, “the coup de grace of all dares, the sinister triple-dog-dare” (A Christmas Story). Go ahead, everyone’s doing it, are you chicken… are other such things we have heard in the past.

Peter is pulled away from the expectation of others. There is something nice about knowing that even now, with the church growing, God working and the kingdom expanding that Peter still caves. I love the quote from Dunnam’s commentary.

It is to our spiritual benefit, growth, and maturity, not that we are fickle in our loyalty, wavering in our convictions, but that, like Peter, when our weakness is revealed we acknowledge our betrayal, repent in sorrow, and dedicate ourselves again to be Christ’s representatives and servants. (Dunnam and Ogilvie p 41).

But his failure at this place not only overcame him but caused him to betray the hope of the Gentile believers who thought they had a friend in Peter.

Paul lays it out for Peter in clear, unmistakable terms. Peter may believe the right way but he isn’t living the ‘truth of the Gospel’ (v. 14) which literally means ‘not walking straight’. When he confronts Peter he does so by relating to him by saying “We ourselves…” (v.15). Here’s my paraphrase of the meet of verses 16-17. “Peter, you and I know this truth of the folly of the Law and the power of Jesus. And if we keep trying to do it by our efforts we’re going to go to hell as sinners.”

There is humility in Paul’s confrontation. He includes himself with Peter in the issue.

No foundation for proper judgment

Last week I mentioned, ‘line in the sand’ type of choices we face and how Paul faced this with the issue of circumcision of Gentile believers. Here is another line over the issue of justification.

The basis for any judgment is Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us as Paul writes in v. 20. Paul doesn’t say, “I feel that Jesus would have us…” He goes to the facts of Jesus’ life and death; of the revelation he, Paul, had experienced of Jesus himself and of his call. Today we do the same thing, but we do it by referring to the book in which these are recorded, God’s Word.  

The foundation of Christ and His word give us the facts which takes from mere opinion to a place of judgment. And it is the only vantage point from which one can hope to rightly judge oneself or another. Our ability to stand on this vantage point comes only when we are justified by God through Jesus Christ.

Justification isn’t a common word today. We hear it along with ‘making excuses’ or to explain away something we did or didn’t do. We sometimes use it when we type a document and have to justify margins. Trust me, the Biblical meaning is different.

It takes something that is out of place and moves it into the right place. It refers to something that is ‘straight’ as opposed to bent or crooked. It refers to God taking us from where we are, in sin, and putting us where we should be, in a relationship with Himself. When a person does God’s will, which involves believing Jesus is the Messiah and Savior they are righteous. It is so central to the faith Luther called it the “principle article of all Christian doctrine.” And “So necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually” (Luther). 

Paul underscores for Peter, the Galatians and us just how important it is to know the basis for our justification. If we allow the works we do to make us worthy we fall short. If we allow Jesus to be the one we trust we stand strong.

Turning the corner--Application

The world strives to make ‘opinion’ and ‘judgment’ interchangeable. When opinions rule there is no basis for judgment. Judgment is bad because it includes guilt, restitution, payment, punishment, sorrow and other un-nice feelings. The world wants to keep un-nice things away from us. 

With opinions truth becomes whatever is trending on Twitter, FOX news or the latest trend in news reporting. Look to God’s Word, for God’s judgment and instructions. It’s not easy, it takes work, and it takes time. But it is THE source of God’s judgment and hope for everyone around us including our neighbors and friends.

Remember to judge others with a humility and grace.

Be quick to confess when you have failed, as Peter did. One of the things that I should do with this table is remind us that we aren’t to eat and drink if we don’t know Jesus or we have unconfessed sin. Paul says some of the Corinthians had even died because they took the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner.

Works Cited

A Christmas Story. 2015. DVD.

Dunnam, Maxie D, and Lloyd John Ogilvie. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982. Print.

Kittel, Gerhard, G. W Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964. Print.

Luther, Martin. A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. Cambridge, Eng.: J. Clarke, 1953. Print.

Smedes, Lewis. 'Who Are We To Judge?’ ChristianityToday.com. N. p., 2015. Web. 31 July 2015.

Stott, John R. W. The Message of Galatians. London: Inter-Varsity P., 1968. Print.

Rule Keeping for a Christian Galatians 2:1-11 3rd sermon on Galatians

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aving come to faith just as the “Jesus movement” of the early 70’s took off I have a special place in my soul for the music, teachers and some of the theological teaching that came out of that period of church history. When a group of ‘kids’ like us got around someone usually brought up how the First Century Church was so much better than the church of the 70’s.

It was simpler, purer, and less driven by money. It cared for people more and took God’s Word serious. Now, 40 years later, I see how stupid we were. To quote one blogger, “The church in Acts was immature” (Unger). The church in the first century had people bragging about sleeping with their step-moms and during communion, some got drunk and ate most of the food before others could get off work (1 Cor.). They fell for teachers who claimed Jesus had already come back (1 Thess.). 

In fact what should have been common was held up as a great mark of maturity for the followers of Christ in Berea who “Received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). One more thing the church in Acts had was oversight. No congregation did things on their own. None went their own way and decided to believe what they wanted. The Apostles were in Jerusalem and served as the council of the Church and made the determination as to what God was doing. Structures are important, even in the 1^st Century (Dunnam and Ogilvie p 33). That is proven in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.

Paul, Barnabas, and Titus have come back to Jerusalem with an offering for the poor but also with a story to tell of how God had touched Gentiles with Christ. Standing there, against them were a group of people who had tried to enforce Jewish rules of eating kosher and even circumcision on these Gentiles.

The Galatian account of Acts 15 only affirms what the Apostles told Paul and Barnabas—that there is only one gospel. There is not one gospel for Jews and another gospel for Gentiles. And we do well if we do not forget this truth today because there are many different gospels being proclaimed in our world today.

What we need to know

There is no perfect church

To quote an old saying, “If you joined the perfect church it would no longer be perfect.” Oh, I’ve met people looking for them. They’ve run from multicultural to house churches and eventually into the Greek Orthodox Church.

Because of this fact, we should never be surprised when there are issues such as Paul faced. Last Thursday an article was published about a paper Pope Francis might sign which would declare an end to the rivalry between the Evangelical Christians and the Catholic Church. Problems will still happen from “The most rabid, anti-Catholic, fire-breathing fundamentalists right through to the prosperity gospel televangelists, ‘Evangelical’ Anglo-Catholics, charismatics and modernist Protestants. (Dwight Longenecker in (Coppen)).

In the midst of any concerns, arguments, schisms, disagreements, revolts or whatever word you want to use the key is to discern is they are ‘line in the sand’ issues or ‘something you can live with and work around’.

What Paul was facing was the first type of issue. No compromise could be made with these people who wanted to include Jewish law in the Gospel. The false brothers in vv. 3-4 are described as traitors or spies who infiltrate an enemy camp. Not only were they spies but their spying intruded into the ministry Paul was attempting to carry out (Logenecker p 51).

There is ONE Gospel

Today there are those who want to make Paul a second-class apostle. They will separate the “Gospel of Jesus” from the “Legalism of Paul”. At their best they are deluded. At their worst they are demonic.

Paul does not stand outside of Christ but smack dab in the center of what Jesus’ gospel was all about. “As strong-willed and independent as Paul was, he gave authority due respect. He may have gone his own way, but he did so in the context of structure and relationship. Even though he differed from the leaders in Jerusalem he went and talked with them, kept communication open, and recognized authority and structure” (Dunnam and Ogilvie p 33). 

Jesus is portrayed by some as a love of everyone, who criticized the 1%, helped the poor and was killed because he was a political threat. These same people see Paul as bipolar, who writes about no male or female only to command women to be silent, who supports slavery be telling slaves to submit (Elliott). John Stott writes how today we are told we “do not need to pay too much attention to his [Paul’s] writings. They forget or deny that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ, uniquely called, commissioned, authorized and inspired to teach in His [Jesus’] name” (Stott p 32). 

Ironically, the Judaizers are the one who claim Paul’s gospel is different than that of Peter’s and the other Apostles. How does Paul confront this sabotage? He brings with him a Jewish leader known to Peter and the others—Barnabas and a Gentile believer who was being trained by Paul—Titus as examples of the Gospel he’s been preaching.

What Jerusalem and these apostles do is offer Paul the right-hand of fellowship. They do not demand Titus be circumcised. They did not place limits on or added anything to Paul. Paul’s letter to the Galatians demonstrates that

The Gospel has to be maintained

There is line to be walked between sisters and brothers who believe the same gospel we do but do things differently or emphasis different aspect of theology and those who are ‘sham-Christians’ as the NEB refers to Paul’s enemies.

Not only did the Apostles in Jerusalem recognize and accept Paul’s ministry there was a division of labor with Paul focusing on the Gentiles and the others on the Jews. Let me go back for a moment to the 1970’s and the Jesus movement. There were those who wanted those who were coming to know Jesus to look like their parents. Tim Wise, who tried to bring about change in the church he had started to attend was told by the pastor, “'Ted, perhaps you're not a Baptist... I should have suspected it; I had hair down to my shoulders, a beard and was the only one in hipster clothes…many of my friends where becoming Christians; some even attended church with us. The pastor, in an effort to keep the peace with his regular congregation, put us in a special category. He called it a ministry; I called it prejudice (Wise).”

What his preacher and others forgot was that THE ONE Gospel confronts people and transforms them, not into clones of what came before but into new creations. At First Presbyterian in Richmond, Lloyd Gaut was freaked out not by our clothes and like, but by the fact we brought our bibles, sat in the first three pews in front of the pulpit, and wrote notes in them as he preached. We were doing things our parents would have never considered.

In the years to come those who want to maintain this one gospel are going to be pressured to accept a sham-gospel from sham-preachers. We’re going to hear ‘God is all about Love’ when what is being taught is sentimentality. We’re going to hear ‘God is accepting’ and verses where people walk away from Jesus will be ignored. We’re going to hear we shouldn’t make people feel bad, guilty, uneasy, or sad. We need to remind people such experiences are what leads to repentance and the chance to start over.

How do you tell the fake Gospel from the real Gospel? It’s like a diet. Any diet that says you don’t have to change what you eat or exercise is a lie. Likewise, any Gospel that claims you can keep on doing what you’ve always done and never read the Bible or pray is a lie. Let’s strive for the truth. Let us pray.

Works Cited

Coppen, Luke. "The Pope's great Evangelical gamble"." 23 Thursday 2015. Cahtolic Hearld UK. .

Dunnam, Maxie D. and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon. Vol. 31. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982. Print.

Elliott, Neil. "The Apostle Paul on Sexuality." n.d. thewitness.org. .

Logenecker, Richard N. Galatians. Volume 41:. Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 41. Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998. Print.

Stott, John. Only One Way. Inter-Varsity Press, 1973. Print.

Unger, Lyndon. "Should we strive to be like the church in Acts?" 19 September 2014. The Cripplegate: for a new generation of non-conformists. .

Wise, Tim. "Jason Questions a Jesus Freak." 13 September 1997. pbc.org. .

Turncoats, Loyalists and Traitors Galatians 1:6-10 July 19, 2015 2nd Sermon in Galatians

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ost 9/11 has demonstrated a need to monitor things we have taken for granted such as electrical grids and water systems. In a couple of major cities, the U.S. Army has come up with an unusual way to test thee  water. They use bluegills. They are able to respond quickly to materials like cyanide, solvents and pesticides (Mott). If and when such things are found the trick becomes how to limit their spread and stop those who are responsible.

Someone had told Paul what was happening among those churches he and Barnabas had planted. They were aware of the problem and Paul was not about to shy away from exposing it so that these churches might be repaired and others warned.

The issue in Galatia was pretty specific. A group of Jewish Christians were not happy with the Jewish Law being put aside by the Jerusalem Council (cf. Acts 15). They thought all followers of Jesus should still obey dietary laws and other such things including circumcision. It seemed, in their thinking, one was a Jew first and a follower of Christ second. These are the people Paul has in his sights as he writes

But, there are other issues we face today, some similar and not so similar that, like that of Paul’s day, threaten God’s people and faithful living out our trust in Jesus. Among these threats are:

1.     It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you trust Jesus

2.    We can become spiritually special by gaining the right knowledge

3.    Jesus is one of the ways God has given humans to gain heaven

4.    God expects us to live like Jesus. If we’re kind, nice and love everyone God will accept us into His Kingdom

5.    Christianity is one of the great religions and all of them are really the same deep down.

In fact, these are all lies. None of them is really new and all of them have been addressed by God’s Word and dealt with by God’s people at some time or another. Needless to say, we’re not going to even make a dent in all of this, but my goal is to help us see just how serious God takes such beliefs and what we can do to face them in our own lives.

The Serious Nature of the Problem

You can see how serious the issue in Galatia is by the various words Paul uses. Paul is astonished at the speed at which these churches have embraced a lie. In his paraphrase, J. B. Phillips has Paul’s reference to “my dear idiots” in Galatians 3:1. The term demonstrates “the irritation and irony as well as the surprise” (George p 90).

 The Galatians are in the act of deserting, abandoning, and becoming a traitor to Christ. This word indicates the “transfer of one’s allegiance. It is used of soldiers in the army who revolt or desert, and of men who change sides in politics or philosophy” (Stott p 37). And although one may blame the heretics, the verb demonstrates the Galatians were willing participants (Utley) and (Lenski). In the words of Dr. Dan Fuller, the people who had accepted what Paul said now declared “I vote no confidence in your promises God” (Fuller).

A second grouping of words is aimed directly at those who have brought this non-gospel to the Galatians. Paul says they trouble the church (ESV) the gospel of Christ. To ‘trouble’ (ESV), ‘throw into confusion’, (NIV) or ‘disturbing’ (NASB) means to shake and “to excite to the point of perplexity and fear” (George p. 94).

The word that Paul links with this is stronger. They distort or pervert the Gospel. It means they take God’s gracious word and try ‘to reverse’ it. They deliberately twist it into something that it is not. John Stott says they are “turning it back to front and upside down.” And as he so rightly notes, “You cannot modify or supplement the gospel without radically changing its character” (Stott p 18).

What is being changed?

What is meant by ‘the gospel’? Have you ever been to Shari’s at Delta Park? A waitress might come up to you and ask if you’d like another cup of coffee. That’s a pretty normal thing to say. You may push yourself away from the table after a piece of pie and have the waitress ask if you’d like to try another piece of pie, a different type? Here is the difference in the Greek in verse 6-7 “…are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one.”

Although these words are often used interchangeably the context here clearly shows that something qualitatively different is being taught. What is being taught by these Jewish Christians is that the Law has to be kept if you want to be a ‘real’ believer. And, apparently those in the church were falling for it.

What it lost in this heresy is the gospel of grace and, therefore, the Gospel that comes from and is based in Jesus’ death and resurrection. To say NO to the Mosaic Law, which these Judaizers were preaching is pretty easy. I like shellfish and enjoy a fabric with cotton and polyester. The issue becomes which laws, rules, prohibitions still stand? To go further, what rules for living is expected among God’s people that may not have been thought of in the First Century but are appropriate for us today?

The liberation which the Gospel brings because if its grace does not lead to sinning so we can reap the forgiveness of God. That is an ancient heresy called Autonomism. It teaches the only thing that matters is believing in Jesus. What you do afterward doesn’t figure into your spiritual life. What God’s gracious gospel does do, is set us free from a life of self and reliance on our ability. Tim Keller notes, “Paul shows the young believers in Galatia that their spiritual problem is not only caused by failing to live in obedience to God but also by relying on obedience to him” quoted in (Novenson).

The legalism was wrong because it supplanted Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit (McKnight pp 52-53). It makes something other than Jesus the source of our salvation.

So what do we do?

First, we recognize signs that we are hearing or seeing another gospel when something is added onto the message of Jesus. It happens when we assume our rules, ways of doing things, form of government, even the emphasis in our theology is the only truth. Dr. Maxie Dunnam wrote, “I visit churches in whose worship I would never dare lift my hands in praise, and others where I would feel condemned if I prayed a written prayer. In one, the congregation is a slave to form; in the other, they are slaves to formlessness” (Dunnam and Ogilvie pp 21-22). And therein lies the danger.

Secondly we see that something is removed from Christ’s gospel and we are left in the grasp of something less. Today, this is the most prevalent form of such distortion. I had a very telling conversation with someone concerning their faith. I simply asked what they placed their faith in. They had been active in a church in the past. He said his faith was in Jesus, but he didn’t have to believe in a book written by a bunch of old guys. His god told him what to do. Can you imagine how I felt when I read?

“Paul would make no pretension at being religiously tolerant if being tolerant means that it doesn’t really matter what persons believe so long as they believe. How naive and glib we often are: “What persons believe is their business—a private matter. We don’t need to be too concerned about theology or doctrine. Being brotherly is what matters, living by the Golden Rule, doing good, refraining from harmful activity—that’s what counts. And if you are sincere, you’ll be led to the right truth and in the right path.” (Dunnam and Ogilvie p 22).

In the choir room at Savage Memorial Presbyterian is a sign that reads, “You become what you practice”. What we believe, rely on, and trust in will work its way out in our behavior. And our behavior is the barometer of our faith. Jesus told us, “If you love me you will keep my commandments”.

Third we need to determine if the gospel we are following has been constructed by people in order to please people or if they remain chaffing enough to still move us toward Jesus? What do we do when we are tempted with deserting? Paul tells us we are to remember who we are in Christ and in 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 we read:

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. ESV

Works Cited

Dunnam, Maxie D. and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon. Vol. 31. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982. Print.

Fuller, Dan. 1978-1980. quotation.

George, Timothy. Galatians. Vol. 30. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994. Print.

Lenski, R. C. H. The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians adn to the Philippians. Columbus: Lutheran Book Concer, 1937. Print.

McKnight, Scot. Galatians. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995. Print.

Mott, Maryann. "Bluegill FIsh Monitor Water Supplies for Terrorist Attacks." 28 September 2006. National Geographic News. .

Novenson, Joe. "Galatians: Fighting for the Gospel." 14 November 2013. Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church. .

Stott, John. Only One Way. Inter-Varsity Press, 1973. Print.

Utley, Robert James. Paul's First Letter: Galatians and 1 7 2 Thessalonians. Marshall : Bible Lessons International, 1997. Print.

Who do you believe? Galatians 1:1-5; 10-24 July 12, 2015 First Sermon in Galatians Series

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alatians is a letter written to a group of churches located in what we know as Turkey. Most likely the letter is written about 48 A.D. which puts it about 15 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Unlike most of Paul’s letters, he does not begin with this with a praise or prayer. Instead, we get a hint in verse 1 of the trouble that was going on in this area, “an apostle—not from men nor through men but through Jesus Christ…”

Those in Galatia were doubting and even rebelling against the authority of Paul, as an apostle. Why is this significant? It’s because today the world, and especially our culture is in rebellion against authority.

David Slagel, a teaching pastor at Veritas Church in Atlanta, told the story of his eight-year-old.

My eight-year-old embraces some interesting sources of truth. We were coming home from the grocery store recently when he asked, "Dad, do you believe in the Bermuda Triangle?"

"Jack," I replied, "if you're asking me if I believe that this place exists, my answer is yes. If you're asking me if I believe all the mysterious stories about ships and planes disappearing, no: I think that's all baloney."
"Well, Dad," Jack said with a note of defensiveness, "I believe in it. And I bet you want to know why."
"Yes, Jack. I do."
"Well, I was watching Scooby Doo… (Slagle).

Now we might laugh at that but I’ve read posts on Facebook from sources much more dodgy than Scooby Doo. So, who do we believe? Do we rely on CNN or FOX; the Democratic or Republican party for our marching orders? Do we rely on our logical ability to reason things out or listen to that inner voice as to what is and isn’t true?

Unfortunately, we do all of this more and it leaves us looking like buffoons. It weakens our witness for Jesus to a lost world. And it demonstrates our lack of relying on God’s work and planning for our world and nation.

These churches were being taught to disbelieve Paul’s message of Jesus in favor of a more Jewish version. They claimed Paul was out for money, ambition and power. But these naysayers were only the first of many who decried the authority of Paul. Thomas Jefferson wrote that “Paul was the first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of his doctrines led me to try to sift them apart”. In a 2003 sermon, Keith Bunch writes that we too are “confronted with the same group of false apostles today: Those who seek to dispute the…Holy Scripture and, therefore, seek to lead us away from the Truth” (Bunch).

Paul makes it clear in these first verses that his calling and thus his authority came from God, not from other apostles or human wisdom. Let’s jump down to verse 10 which makes up the summation of next week’s passage. The contrast between pleasing God and man is such that to win the approval of others takes one out of the arena of serving Jesus. Then Paul writes, “I would have you know”. Pay attention when Paul says this. He uses it seven times. Twice in Acts where he is preaching.  Five more times in his letters. It is as if someone turned off the TV to get your attention.

No apostle taught Paul this message or gave him this calling. His Jewish law-keeping and heritage didn’t enable him to understand Jesus or have his life changed. It was God alone who did this. Notice verse 15 “but” God had set him apart before he was born and he was called by God’s grace.

Application

Know who it is that seeks your trust and belief. Doctors, teachers, specialists all have very good reasons to expect your unquestioned belief, but it doesn’t mean you give it. As we recognize these people and groups we can give it when wise. The Supreme Court decision concerning gay marriage has created three types of religious response each trying to get us to believe their scenario.

There are those who believe this is the beginning of the end for freedom of Christians who hold Scripture to be God’s word and believe in traditional heterosexual marriage. They argue about being taxed and arrested and not being able to get insurance.

There are those on the opposite who are celebrating with the gay community and saying, “See we told you we’d win”. Etc. They want us to believe that it is inevitable that everyone will believe this way so the rest of us had better get on the bandwagon.

The third group, in which I place myself, simply says so what? If we’re persecuted it won’t be the first time for God’s people, just the first time for us. If we lose benefits from the government so what, it means we find other ways to do what needs to be done to share Jesus. If the rest of the world falls in line with this heretical belief we’ll be the odd ones, like those who believed in one God in a culture that worshipped a pantheon of gods like Galatia and Rome.

What allows me to take this view is two things. First I’m old and have seen a lot. Second, I’m more convinced than ever that this decision didn’t surprise God or move God off His plans for his Body here in Portland.

Remember our purpose surpasses mere existence. We have been given life by Christ and that life comes with a direction. In the 2011 movie Hugo, there is a discussion between Hugo and Isabelle in which Hugo describes another character as one who ‘has real purpose’. He explains to Isabelle that everything has a purpose, and when they break they can’t fulfill their purpose. Then he says, “Maybe it’s the same with people. If you lose your purpose, it’s like you’re broken.” Hugo’s purpose was carrying on what his father did, fixing things. Then Isabelle says, “Maybe if I’d known my parents I would know my purpose”(Scorsese).

If we know our Father in Heaven we know our purpose. Oh, we may get sidetracked or mired down in details but the truth is “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Phil. 2:10).  This isn’t easy because we are facing a world in which there is a lack of respect and honor for most people and God’s people in particular. Why? It is because Satan wants to destroy us and our credibility.

Decide to stand for Christ and accept his authority and fulfill the purpose he has set forth for you and you paint a target on your back. They are painted there by those who don’t like us and what we stand for because it judges them. How do we face this? We remember our calling. We rehearse our calling. We express our calling with God’s people and the world with humility and the assurance of God’s Word.

God is still bringing about His Kingdom. The year after I got to Portland, 1992, a container of rubber ducks and bath toys fell into the North Pacific. Since then they have washed up on “the shores of Hawai’i, Alaska, Australia and the Pacific Northwest; others have been found frozen in Arctic ice. Still others have somehow made their way as far as Scotland and Newfoundland, in the Atlantic (Hohn)."

In 2011 some 2,000 of these floated around the North Pacific Gyre, a massive island of junk, mostly plastics in the Pacific. Surprising, every now and then one finds itself freed on the open ocean again and bound for some far off shore.

They don’t do this on their own. They are pushed there by wave and wind. They are set free by other forces that move them from where they’ve become comfortable out into a different world. Like those ducks, caught in a sea of trash we should be aware and welcoming of God’s work to move us out into the world again so that we might share His love and the work of His kingdom.  Take heart because no court case, act of congress, or common sense will undo the work of God in our nation or in our world. It didn’t happen when the church fell victim to Nazi Germany. It didn’t happen when God’s people were exiled into Assyria and it won’t happen now. Just keep your eyes on Jesus, who is the final authority. Let us pray.

Works Cited

Bunch, Keith. "The Argument of Authenticity." March 2003. Sermon Central.com. .

Hohn, Donovan. Moby Duck: When 28,800 Bath Toys Are Lost at Sea. with Terry Gross. PBS-Fresh Air. 29 March 2011.

Hugo. Dir. Martin Scorsese. 2011. Film.

Jefferson, Thomas. Extract from Thomas Jefferson to William Short. 3 April 1820. .

Slagle, Davie. "Sources of Truth." December 2007. preachingtoday.com. .

Galatians: twenty-one centuries new

My summer series is Paul's Letter to the Galatians. Since 1984 when I first became a solo pastor I have never preached through this letter. Since it is summer and I've had people ask me about past sermons I've decided to revive this blog with the series.

Hopefully, I'll be able to continue blogging after it's over. Blogs seem so 1990's, but there are some things that can't be said in 144 characters.

So, here are the sermons for your edification...

Alan