Day Thirty

Galatians 1:6-10

6.) 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--

7.) not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

8.) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

9.) As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

10.) For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

         A bit of background. Paul, the writer of the Book of Galatians, spent his missionary life traveling throughout the European portion of the Roman Empire sharing the Gospel of Christ and starting churches all along the way. His longest stay at any one place, except maybe Rome where he was under house arrest, was the city of Ephesus, where he spent two years. Mostly it was six months to a year in a single location. Lost souls would come to Christ and a church would be established and then Paul would move on. The churches were not like what we have today. They didn’t have church buildings. They met in homes, usually no more than fifteen to twenty people. As that group grew, it would split. Often, Paul would leave one of his traveling companions behind to administer to the various churches. This person was the overseer, or ‘bishop’ as it was in Greek. (I bet you didn’t know that you knew so much Greek, did you? A lot of the words, like baptize, come straight from the Greek language.) Each small church would have a pastor, or elder, who, when help was needed, would go to the bishop and get direction. This was how the churches in the first century were created. With the advent of Catholicism, church buildings began to be used.

         Paul had established the church at Galatia pretty quickly. When he left, he chose one of the people who already lived there to be the bishop. Things began to fall apart not long after Paul left.

         There was a group of Jews sent out from Jerusalem who followed Paul as he went from place to place. After he left, these Jews, known as Judizers, would go into the churches and begin to try and lead these new Christians into Judaism. If there was a strong bishop in place, these Judizers would be forced out. But with a weaker bishop they could gain a foothold. Most scholars believe that this is what happened in Galatia.

         Paul finds out about this and sends a letter, which we have as the Book of Galatians. And that brings us up to speed.

         In verses six and seven, Paul says; 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--

not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

         We see that some group had come in and had distorted the Gospel. But before that, Paul says he is astonished that they let this happen. He thought he had left a healthy church and then they were led astray.

         Verses eight and nine say this; But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

         Paul says that no matter what you hear, or who you hear it from, if it disagrees with what you were first taught by Paul, it is wrong.

         And then verse ten; For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

         Any changes in the original Gospel are there to please man, or lift them up. All different gospels have, at their heart, the goal to take away from God and give to man, who is being led by Satan.

         So how does this affect us now? Don’t we adhere to the Scripture? In the Great Commission that Christ left for His followers, He says to go into the world and preach the Gospel. The word ‘preach’ means to ‘divinely speak.’ Preaching from the pulpit is only one aspect. Any time we share the Gospel, we divinely speak. We are all too divinely speak. It means we are to tell others about Jesus. That is the most important job we have. Is that something we do? Our church has multiple committees. But we do not have an Evangelism committee. Why? Evangelism is the sharing of the Gospel. We have worship, personnel, program, outreach, budget and nominating, benevolence and Christian education committees, but no Evangelism. Jesus said to let the children come to Him, but we have no children. We say that most churches are like that, but we are not responsible for other churches. Our mission is our church. Hebrews 10:25 says; Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Do you gather with other Christians in a worshiping place? Or do other things draw you away.

         Have we followed another gospel? A gospel that takes away the urgency? A gospel that changes the importance of things? A gospel that is willing to let a church die? Our church is headed that way.

         Our prayer today is to ask for revival, beginning with our own selves. I need revival. You need revival. Not a series of meetings where a speaker comes in and preaches. But a revival of our souls that brings us all the way back to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.