6/2/24 Galatians 1:1-10 “Don’t Ever Give Up!”

30 May 6/2/24 Galatians 1:1-10 “Don’t Ever Give Up!”

6/2/24    Galatians 1:1-10          “Don’t Ever Give Up!”

Last Sunday, I gave you three riddles to solve.  The first one was what 4 prices can you add together and multiply together and get $7.11.  The next was ‘what is the minimum # of children in the family where each child had at least 3 brothers and 3 sisters?’  The last one was a little tricky because it was a logic problem and what I read to you was faulty logic.  Sometimes things aren’t as they seem.  Anyway, you can look the answers up on the internet.  I remember when I was in high school, we had a science teacher that loved to stump the class with things that didn’t make sense.  I don’t remember any of the examples now but I do remember that we sure did get into some lively debates.  I would guess that is what he wanted from us.  We also had a math teacher who taught us the laws of math and geometry.  These laws were a little different because there was no arguing about them.  They were always true no matter what.  These types of laws help us to know that no matter what we do, 1 + 1=2.  There are many laws like this in science and in math.  There are also laws like this in religion.  One of them that I always tell you about is that whatever you read in the Bible is the truth.  I think that is pretty easy and it should help us to live good lives.  However, we are a broken people living in a broken world so we often struggle with this simple law.  And we aren’t the only ones.  Today, we are going to read from Paul and how the Galatians struggled with this also.  Let’s see if we can ease our struggle a little.

This is supposedly a true story.  However, I got it from the internet with no credits so I do a have my doubts.  But it is a good story so I think I will use it.  One day a man was working in his garage.  I would say that he wasn’t a very nice or patient man because he didn’t like to be interrupted while he was working on a project for any reason.  His wife knew this as she walked into the garage and stood quietly at his side for several minutes, waiting for the proper time to talk.       Personally, I can’t even imagine living like this but on with the story.  Finally, her husband looked up and that was the signal that she was free to say what was on her mind.  Very calmly, and without a trace of panic, she said, “The house is on fire.”  I can’t imagine someone as controlling as this man and I can’t imagine this situation happening.  With that aside, we need to be alert when there is a fire and immediately tell others in danger.  This is what Paul is doing for the Galatians.  He is telling them that their spiritual house is on fire.

I want to spend a moment on the introduction of this letter.  As with most of the letters of Paul, this is a letter that is meant for the community of believers at Galatia.  Also, with most of his letters, Paul begins with a very nice greeting, identifying himself as a person who has been sent by Jesus Christ.  However, if you read the various greetings in Paul’s letters, you will find that this one has a little more tension to it.  It sounds good but there is an under lying current to it.  Paul is going to have to chastise these people and he tips his hand right away.

How well do we keep it together when we have to do something that we have to do but don’t really want to do?  It has been my experience that most of the time when this happens, people begin with hostility.  They begin by being upset or angry.  This is especially true in, of all places, churches.  People decide for themselves if things are right or wrong.  There is no praying for discernment.  We just go forward with our agenda, not God’s, and we try to enlist others to share our view.  By the time we confront someone about whatever, there is so much animosity that the person on the receiving end doesn’t have a chance.  I have seen pastors run out of town in these situations.  I have known others to be run out of church because we don’t dress right or talk reverently enough or heaven forbid, we try to share a new idea about something.

We can learn a lot from Paul in this opening.  Paul is so kind, so full of love that we can hardly tell that something is wrong.  He is coming by the authority of Jesus Christ.  He begins with a little prayer where he mentions the problem and solution in as mild a way as possible.  We have to understand that Paul is quite upset.  He might even be angry.

One version of the Bible tells us that he was shocked.  But he remains very cool and organized.  He doesn’t come by his authority but by the authority of Jesus Christ.  He doesn’t rebuke them in his name for his purposes.  He uses Scripture to do the rebuking.  This is something that we should all learn.  Instead of judging someone, let the Scriptures rebuke them.  If we could only handle strife the way Paul shows us, we would have a much calmer, gentler society.  Even in these types of situations we are to be proclaiming the Good News.  Jesus has been raised from the dead for us.

This great news cannot detract from what must be done.  The Galatians had a problem.  They were falling away from the Gospel and they were following other so-called gods.  Paul calls what they were doing, no gospel at all.  Paul will have none of this blasphemy.  One of the first things that pop into my mind when I’m reading this is that the Gospel needs no additions and it needs no subtractions.  We just talked about this a couple of weeks ago and here it is again.  The Galatians were twisting what had been said so that it fit into their lifestyle.  They were reinventing God for their own purposes.  This is exactly what is happening today!

We talked a little about the big picture of us changing the Bible last time I addressed this.  But we also have to look at the personal picture.  What do you do to twist the Bible?  What do you support that you want changed in the Bible?  One of the greatest fallacies of today is that we hear that the Bible really doesn’t mean what it says.  It means something else.  Heretics might even offer some sort of false proof of this.  I have done a little checking on this and these guys are out in left field.  In one case a pastor acquaintance of mine told me that the original language means something else entirely.  I checked it out and he is way off.  Someone else has told me that our society is so different today that we need to revise the Bible to reflect modern times.  Once again this is wrong! Just because the world jumps on the bandwagon for some atrocious sin, does not mean that it is right.  If it goes against the Bible, then it is wrong!  End of discussion.

This is because the Bible doesn’t need revision.  We need revision!  The Bible says what it says and it is up to us to accept it.  It is just like Jesus.  You are either for Him or against Him.  There is no in between.  People don’t realize that the Bible has worked wonderfully well for nearly 2000 years.  Our society would be just fine if we could ever quit thinking about ourselves and start to apply Biblical principles to everything, not just some things, everything!  Things named as virtues are virtues and sins named as sin are sins.  This is not rocket-science.  The Bible is right 100% of the time which means that the Holy Spirit is right, Jesus is right and God is right.  I feel bad for those who think they are smarter than God because there are or will be serious consequences.

This is where we have to be careful because the warning is very overt.  Remember that I have always said that if something is repeated in the Bible, we should be ready to pay special attention.  Here we have Paul repeating the message in two consecutive sentences.  If you are preaching something other than the Gospel message, if you change it in any way, you will be eternally condemned, eternally condemned!  It doesn’t get much clearer than that.  The Galatians were taking the message and changing it so that it fit their culture.  Personally, I think that this message of changing the Bible is very important and should be repeated.  However, as I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, our lectionary left it out of the message from Revelation 22.   The people who made the lectionary must think that it is ok to change the Bible.  Well, they are wrong.

Because of these warnings, being a pastor is an extremely dangerous occupation.  Many people think that I only work a couple hours a week and half of that is singing and that’s ok.  Anyway, I have to be very careful when I preach the message of God.  I try to make sure that I’m preaching from the Bible so that I won’t be subject to eternal damnation.  This has to weigh on a pastor’s mind when they prepare for each Sunday.  You all know that there are many areas of the Bible where I preach where the main line preachers won’t go because it might go against what society says.  Many preachers preach what they think the audience wants to hear instead of what they need to hear.  They preach from society and not the Bible.  I won’t do that if I can help it and if I do, let me know about it.

You folks also have a responsibility in this also.  If you decide that you don’t want to hear this anymore, you could be in trouble.  If you decide you want the feel-good gospel, there could be eternal consequences.  The same can be said about if you want your preacher to get in line with society.  You have to be careful because I’m not the only one on the line here.  Let this be your guide.  If you distort the Bible or the message, there will be consequences.  This is a warning for all of us.

Paul tells us that we are not to try to win the approval of our colleagues or even of God.  That is not our mission.  The approval of our fellow humans is a ridiculous notion.  This will get us nowhere fast.  We aren’t even to try to win approval of God because when we do, our hearts are not in the right place.  Plus, you already have the approval of God.  Therefore, you are to do the good works of God just because that is what you are supposed to do.  Don’t worry about a reward.  Don’t worry about looking good.  Just follow and let Jesus take care of the rest.

This concept is important because it is only the Gospel and Jesus who save us.  Our friends and neighbors have nothing to do with it.  We cannot save ourselves and our neighbors can do even less for us.  Jesus Christ has done all the work for us when He came to the world, died on the cross and was raised up again on the third day.  There is nothing in this world that we can do that will be anywhere equal to what Jesus did for us.

This is why I would like everyone in our churches (viewing this) to pick up one of those read the Bible in a year Bibles.  It is such an easy way to read this great book.  I have read the Bible at least a dozen and a half times by this method.  Then someone might see you doing this or you might be the one who needs this message.  If you start to read your Bible every day, things will happen.  You will find the drudgery of day-to-day living being lifted.  You will find that you have a closer walk with Jesus Christ.  Others may find a closer walk with Him also just because of what you are doing.  Reading our Good Book is something we all need to do because it is only through this book and Jesus Christ that people are saved.

And the question becomes ‘what are you saved from?’  The basic answer to this is from the devil and an eternity in the wrong place.  Paul even talks about this in our reading.  I think the more meaningful answer for us is that we are saved from ourselves.  You see, Satan is the ruler of this world as we all know.  You are born into sin.  Therefore, you have learned all the bad ways of the world and these evil ways have become your second nature.  The Gospel message is the only thing in the world that causes real change.  All other change is superficial and means nothing in the long run.

We live in a lost world where this message is very important.  I think we can all think of people who have tried to change the message to fit their lives.  Pray for these people.  Show them the real Gospel by action or words.  There are many more people who have never heard the message and really don’t care.  Today, there are only a slim majority at best who bother to go to their baccalaureate service, if their school even has one.  There is work to do in your community.  Pray for these young people and their families.  Show them what it is to be a Christian.  There are broken families and broken lives where ever you look.  There is so much work to do that Satan gives us this feeling of being overwhelmed.  Don’t fall for this.  Jesus is the answer every time and all the time.  Minister to the person in front of you and you will get to the rest of them.  This battle against Satan won’t be won by helping thousands or hundreds or even tens of people at one time.  It is done one person at a time.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus and the message we can, we will win this battle.  Jesus has already won the war.  We are just helping Him save as many as possible.

I ran across this quick story this week as I was studying for this.  It seems that an employment manager for a company was talking to a woman who was trying to persuade him to hire her husband.  After reviewing his resume he said, “It looks to me like your husband has been fired from every job he ever had.”  The loyal wife was quick to reply, “Yes, but it does prove one thing.  He is no quitter.”

This is a lot like us when we get stuck on the bad news in the newspapers or worse yet when we watch those mentally empty news talk shows.  It is all bad news according to them.  But don’t give up.  Jesus won the war.  It is all over, done, finito!  Jesus Christ loves you like you have never been loved before.  He will help you in every way.  He will help you show others what it is like to be a Christian.  And the great news is that this love will never stop, ever!  Go to Him any time and all the time.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.