Of Man or Of God
Of Man or Of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Prayer:
Good Morning,
I have titled this series Of Man or Of God. As I prayerfully considered, what it was that God would have me preach on, especially as we begin our relationship with me as pastor of this local body of believers, God kept bringing me back to the book of Galatians.
Why Galatians?
It is the job of both the Marc, Doug, as well as myself, as elders who have been called to teach, to equip you the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up the body of Christ. The reason I kept coming back to Galatians is it is one of the best books for laying the foundation of what it is that actually saves us. It guards us, if we apply it to the Church, from trying to add to the Gospel. It also guards us from false teaching and gives us the authority to correct it.
Setting and Themes of Galatians
Setting and Themes of Galatians
Who was this to and when?
Paul is writing this letter to a group of churches in the southern part of the Roman province of Galatia. The dating of this letter is somewhere between the late 40s A.D. to as late as 58 A.D. He was writing this letter to a group of believers who had let Judaizers come in and begin to obscure the Gospel. These false teachers were adding works to the Gospel in order to be saved. They wanted believers here to go back to keeping OT law. It is in light of this that we have the overall tone of the letter, unlike many of his other letters, Paul does not give thanks for them. Instead, very quickly we will see Paul’s frustration with them.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
If you ask many outside the church what one must do to get into heaven, if they believe in one, the stereotypical answer is be a good person. While, this is usually a subjective measure, we can see a law at work, it is whatever this person has deemed right and good versus what they have deemed bad and evil. In many churches the same thing happens. What must one do to be saved? We would start with believe in Jesus, but often we add things to this, like attend church regularly, not listen to or watch certain things, don’t drink alcohol, don’t smoke, read your bible everyday.
Now don’t hear me wrong none of those are bad principles, but often we turn them into laws that must be followed. We must be careful not to set up laws that one must do in order to be saved and we must allow for the spiritual freedom that is given in Christ. Again please do not hear me say something that I am not saying, there are acts and behaviors that should seriously make you consider whether or not you have placed your faith in Christ, but we will look at that later in Galatians.
The book of Galatians is likely Paul’s first letter and it is in many ways the precursor to the book of Romans. Paul does a few times where you have a reactionary letter to a particular sin or problem, then you have the theological letter where Paul addresses doctrine more thoroughly. If you compare just the opening of both books you see some parallels
Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
We see in just the opening lines of the two books a near identical statement with very different purpose. In both, Paul identifies himself as an apostle, but one we see a call to his authority, in the other we see what it means to be an apostle.
I tell you this because we will likely spend a fair amount of time in Romans due to the parallels and the way Romans expounds of several of the ideas and themes found in Galatians.
Here are a few of the key verses of the whole book are:
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
One of the main themes we see in the book of Galatians is justification by faith alone in Christ and his work. Which is, oddly enough, one of the main reasons Martin Luther spoke out against the Catholic Church. He believed that, “Justification by faith alone is the article on which the Church stands or falls.”
Parallel to this theme is the true Gospel versus man’s Gospel. In the first two chapters, we see the word gospel used 11 times, eluded to multiple and the true Gospel given in the greeting that we will be covering today. The Gospel and what you believe it is, is not only a main theme to this book, but also a key to your eternal life. Are we believing the gospel of man or are we believing the Gospel of Christ? It is a question that I hope each one of us can adequately answer by the end of this series.
Another theme of the book is the freedom we find in Christ verse the yoke of slavery we are under when we try to submit to the Law.
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
And finally, what that freedom should look like, walking by the Spirit rather than the flesh.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
He shows that the freedom we have is not there to live however we want in sin but should display the fruit of the Spirit. This is probably the most well known verse in the book
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Now with all that said, and our context and themes laid out. Open your Bibles to today’s passage. Our passage is Galatians 1:1-5. If you are using a pew Bible it will be found on page 1074.
Galatians 1:1-5 “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Who gave him the authority and why should anyone care?
Who gave him the authority and why should anyone care?
Paul opens this letter with a great deal of authority. He opens it with first his title, an apostle or one sent out. He then points out that this sending was not by men or through their appointment, but it was through Jesus Christ himself and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. Paul retells this story multiple times throughout the book of Acts and I would encourage you to go and read them this week. The first is in Acts 9, the second time we hear Paul’s conversion story is in Acts 22 after his arrest, and the third time is in Acts 26 as Paul gives his defense before king Agrippa. He will again tells the story though a condensed version a little later in this chapter. This is very different than Matthias’ appointment.
In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
If you could turn to Acts 1:15-16 “In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.” We need to look at the context of this passage and it comes before the Holy Spirit does in Acts 2, so it appears that Peter is still doing the Peter thing where he seems to say the first thing that comes to mind and not necessarily what is in step with God. He is correct that the Scripture had to be fulfilled, and they put forward two guys.
Matthias was nominated along with another individual Joseph called Barsabbas and then lots were cast and the lot fell on Matthias. If you interpret the appointment of Matthias as an apostle in terms of one sent to share the Gospel than yes, I would agree with that interpretation of the text.
Acts 9:3-6 “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.””
Paul however, was stopped by Jesus on the way to Damascus for his conversion and appointed by Jesus to take his Name to the Gentiles. This is not that Matthias didn’t have the authority to share the Gospel, but we do see a different level of Authority in Paul’s appointment. Paul was equal in calling with Peter and all the other apostles. He was sent by Jesus in person and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.
Acts 9:10-15 “Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”
Paul is an Apostle appointed by Jesus Christ
That appointment comes with all the authority and power of God the Father behind it.
He continues to show the authority with which he writes in verse two with, “and all the brothers who are with me.” We see he was not writing this letter to them by himself, where he could say whatever he wanted without correction. At the time of this writing, he was likely with the believers in Antioch. Giving the letter the full weight of Paul, the church with him, and most importantly God.
The brothers Paul is with had the opportunity to stop this letter or make alterations to the message within. We do not see that happen here though. What we see is that this letter was written with the confidence that the brothers with Paul agreed with him.
3. The brothers whom Paul is with put their support behind this letter.
And what is it that is so important so vital that anyone should care? It is the same answer to how can I find Grace and Peace.
How can I find Grace and Peace?
How can I find Grace and Peace?
Paul, here, gives a fairly typical Pauline greeting. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. He combines a Greek and Jewish greeting, but what is interesting about the greeting is the order. It is always “Grace to you and peace” never the other way around. Why is that? I am glad you asked. It is only in the grace of God that we can ever hope to find peace.
The definition of Grace is unmerited favor. This is something both best demonstrated and accomplished at the cross.
As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
Christ the creator and sustainer of the universe was beaten and whipped, Isaiah tells us that his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance. He was barely recognizable as a man. He was then made to carry the cross that he was nailed to. We see in our passage that this was not something forced upon him.
who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
It says who gave himself up. This was by his own volition according to the will of God the Father. He gave himself up for our sins. if we go back to verse one we get the other key of the Gospel. He was raised from the dead. Paul gives the Gospel in this opening and the Gospel is God’s unmerited favor on mankind. He made a way to bring us back into communion with him.
Why?
To deliver us from the present evil age. If you have placed your faith in Christ, your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. You will spend eternity in his presences
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
You have been given the Holy Spirit who resides inside each one of us as the seal of our inheritance.
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
The work has been completed and you have nothing left to do to add your deliverance. It is because of his grace and all the favor that God has lavished on us, who did not deserve any of it, that we can have peace. εἰρήνη (eirēnē) n. fem. peace. The state of well-being and concord. This is not the worlds version of peace, where if only i can get to this point or attain this thing, I can be happy. This is a peace that over flows from us because of what God has done for us.
David writes in Psalm 23:5-6 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
If our faith is in Christ, he has given us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. That is one person of the eternal, infinite, triune God. There could never be a big enough cup to hold God, and yet he comes to reside in each one of us. Everything beyond that is even more over-the-top extra. If everything we have is taken away and all we are left with is God, we have all we will ever need and can have peace.
Jonathon Lookadoo, “Peace,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
Conclusion
Conclusion
First and foremost if you are here and have not trusted or placed your faith in Christ and His Death, Burial, and Resurrection, I implore you to do so. If you have questions, please come talk to Doug, Marc or Myself
If you have, you have been delivered from this evil age. I understand that it doesn’t always feel like it, especially in today’s social climate. No matter what happens whether we get to die of old age, or the world again turns on Christianity completely and we are persecuted, we will be in His presence for eternity.
You can find peace in God’s grace. He has given to us far more abundantly than we deserve. He said come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Benediction
Benediction
Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”