No Other Gospel - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Galatians 1:1-10, Paul exhorts the Galatians to stay true to the gospel that they were preached. They were falling prey to other, false gospels and this warning is still relevant in today’s world.
Transcript:
This is from Galatians, chapter 1, verses 6 through 10. I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
But even if we are an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we have preached to you Let them be under god's curse As we have already said, so now I say again if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than that which you accepted, let them be under God's curse. Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God?
Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
We need to talk. Isn't that a line that just sends a shiver down your spine? It certainly does if you're a person who dislikes confrontation. You don't want to confront anyone, and you don't want to be confronted. Now, very often, a person with that kind of sense is said to be a people pleaser. Someone who wants to try to keep everyone happy.
Now, I think I would be right in saying that a church like ours, that has a spirit of friendliness, being flexible, one that seeks peace with one another, can sometimes run the risk of being tempted towards being people pleasers. I say tempted because pleasing others becomes problematic and sinful when it takes priority over pleasing God.
Sometimes pleasing God means you will displease others.
Paul's letter to the Galatians is a we need to talk kind of address. It is confrontational. And if you were a Galatian, you'd probably find it uncomfortable. However, it is necessary for maintaining the integrity of the gospel. And so, Paul writes this letter to the Galatians, and he first begins in Galatians 1, verse 1, by introducing himself, saying, Paul, an apostle, sent not from men, nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers and sisters with me, to the churches in Galatia, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen. First thing, before we get into some of the finer details of Paul's introduction here, is we should know the audience to whom Paul is writing. He's writing to Christians living in Galatia.
Perhaps you're wondering, well, where is Galatia. Well, Galatia is located in the area of Asia Minor, otherwise known as Turkey in the present day, and kind of towards the southern part of Turkey, and you can see it actually up here. It says Pisidia, Laconia, and Galatia up there. This was an area that Paul traveled through during his first missionary travels.
And the area of Galatia got its name from a tribe of Gauls that actually, came into the land and settled themselves there. So, you have Gauls in Asia Minor, you have Gauls in France. The Gauls got around, and this is how we got to the name of Galatia. So, it seems as though that Paul is primarily writing to Christians in Southern Galatia.
Those who are Gauls tended to be more from the northern portion. There's a little bit of debate, whether it's between the North or the south that Paul's addressing, but we have reason to believe that it could have been sort of a mixed population of Christians. Here you have Christians from all different backgrounds.
You have Phrygians, Galls, Greeks, Jews, Romans, a bunch of different people that are coming together here in Asia Minor. And this would have been a letter that Paul probably wrote around like 48, 49 A. D., so fairly early on in his ministry. Now Paul says that he is an apostle. And the word apostle is taken from the Greek.
Meaning Apostolos, which equals sent, basically, one who has been sent. And he says specifically that he's one who has not been sent from men or by a man. Now that's kind of interesting because then he goes on to say that he's been sent by Jesus. And so, is Paul saying that Jesus was not a man? Well, if we examine the rest of the New Testament, we can clearly see that this is not the case.
Because Jesus was truly and fully human. We go to Hebrews 2, verses 14 through 15, and we see it affirmed there, saying that since the children have flesh and blood, Jesus too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
So Jesus shared in everything that we are. He took on our flesh and blood in order that he might deliver us by the power, from the powers from the sin that is holding us. Okay, so we understand that Jesus is fully human. So why, we might ask, would Paul say that he's not sent by a man? It may be that he's trying to tip the hand towards the reality that Jesus is more than just a mere man.
That he is also fully God. He is the Son of God. And we see probably the clearest testimony of this in scripture in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. And I've selected a few verses from there. In John 1 verses 1- 3 and 14- 18, it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God, and is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known.
So it's very clear there that the Word, and John's talking about Jesus here, He was from the beginning, He was with God, the Word was God, and at the very end there, it's clearly that He is Himself God. Now this is probably a little bit difficult for us to wrap our minds around, because what's being revealed here is the triune reality of God.
That God is not a singular person, but that in fact he is one in being, but three in person. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I'm not going to explicate that fully this morning, but that's the reality. That's who God is. And we also see Paul hinting at the fact that he had a direct commission from Christ himself, even by the order that he, describes his commissioning in.
Usually when he, we see discussions about Jesus and the Father, it usually goes the Father and the Son. But here, Paul begins with Jesus, and then he says the Father. And that makes sense, actually, when we're thinking about Paul's commission. He was confronted by Jesus personally on the road to Damascus, and this is what turned his whole life around from being a persecutor of Christians to an apostle, one who's been sent.
And to the point that by in Acts 20: 24, when Paul is talking to the Ephesian elders, he tells them this about his mission. And he says, however, my, I consider my life worth nothing to me. My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. The task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.
Now I just had mentioned kind of this triune reality that's at play here in this description of God. And we see it come to fore, when Paul says in verse one, that it was God, the father who raised Jesus from the dead. Now, on the basis of that verse alone, you might think that, okay, so it's only the father that raised Jesus from the dead.
But we see across scripture elsewhere that, in fact, this is a cooperative work of the Trinity. We see in John 2: 19, it says, Jesus says that destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days. So Jesus is saying that I will raise myself from the dead. But then we see in Romans 8: 11, it says, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you.
So clearly the Holy Spirit has a part in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and kind of in sum, you know, just talking about God completely, in Acts 2: 24 says, but God raised him from the dead. So Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all cooperatively present in the work of Christ Resurrection. And this is the reality of all of God's works, that even while you know it was only the son who died on the cross, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always at work cooperatively in God's redemptive mission.
Moving on to verses three and four, Paul offers a tidings of grace and peace essentially in the name of the gospel. And he describes the gospel in these terms, that Jesus gave himself for our sins, so that we might be delivered from this evil age. And looking across the New Testament, we find testimony to this gospel.
Jesus himself says in Matthew 20:28b, he says, The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And Paul says in Ephesians 2 that of our, of our condition as human beings is that we were dead in our transgressions and sins. So we did need a savior.
We needed Jesus to come and give his life for our ransom so that we might be delivered. And we also see Paul, well not Paul, the apostle John in 1 John 5 :19 observed the condition of this world, that it is truly an evil age. He says, we know that we are children of God and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. So these are the foundations that Paul is setting. He is an apostle sent by Jesus Christ, commissioned by him. And in fact, he also mentions others and brothers and sisters with him. So this isn't just from Paul, it's from a company of Christians here, but he's one who's been sent by Jesus Christ.
And Jesus is the son of God, God himself, who was sent for our salvation. So after such a salutation as this, Paul would often follow it up with a word of praise or thanksgiving for the audience receiving his letter. But not here. Instead, Paul firmly shifts his address to his concern for the Galatians. So turning again to verses 6- 10 that Dennis read.
It says, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we have preached to you, let them be under God's curse.
As we have already said, so now I say again, if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse. Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God, or am I trying to please people? If I was still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul expresses astonishment here because of how quickly the Galatians have apparently abandoned the gospel.
He's like, I just taught you this. You had embraced this teaching, and now you're exchanging it for something different. A different gospel. Now as the letter goes on, we'll come to understand the specifics of that, what it, what they're actually embracing instead of the gospel. But the point is, is that, what they're doing is abandoning the true word that was given to them. This is a good starting point for us because what Paul has to say here really applies to any departure from the gospel.
It's not just relevant to the departure that's particular to the Galatians. Paul is always concerned about fidelity to the gospel. Later on in his life, he urges Timothy in 1 Timothy 1: 3. It says, I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus, so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer.
Paul believes that if the Christians abandon the gospel, they are welcoming peril into their life. Eternity is literally at stake. They need to hold firm to the gospel that he gave to them. This is a gospel that's not just of his own devising, but a word that he received from Jesus Christ, and a word that was common to the apostles.
We see in Acts 4, verses 11 through 12, Peter say this, he says, Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind, by which we must be saved. That, in a nutshell, is the gospel. In Christ alone, we are saved.
In no one else, by nothing else, can we be saved.
In 1 Corinthians 3, verses 10- 11 Paul emphasizes how the one and only foundation that we can have is Jesus Christ and we must only build upon Him and nothing else. He says, By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Paul is concerned because the Galatians are beginning to seek out other foundations than Christ. And they're vulnerable to these false Gospels because they can have the appearance of righteousness. We see how Paul in verse 8 tells them that even if an angel comes to you and tries to teach you another gospel.
Even if one of us, he says, even if one of us apostles comes to you and starts teaching you something different, you should reject it. Ignore appearances. Look at the content. What is actually being said? Does it line up with the truth of the gospel? Paul offers a similar warning in 2 Corinthians 11. He says, but I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. And he's criticizing the Corinthians here, that they're tolerating these false gospels.
But about these people preaching these false gospels, he says this, for such people are false apostles, deceitful workers masquerading as apostles of Christ, and no wonder for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
What Paul is saying here is that we have to really be on the lookout because these false teachers, these false apostles are so sneaky. Because they look good. They look alright. They don't come with a sign saying we're bad guys. Instead, they seem really nice. They seem like people of God. But they're not.
Because they're preaching a different gospel. They're teaching in a different way of salvation other than Jesus Christ. And what Paul is really pointing us to here, also, apart from just saying, okay, be on the lookout for those who would lead you away from Christ, is he's pointing us to the foundations of truth.
How, you know, what is the measure of the true gospel? The measure is the teaching of Christ and his apostles. He says in Ephesians two, that this is in fact what the church is built upon. And where do we find the teaching of Christ and his apostles? Anyone want to volunteer an answer? Where do we find that teaching?
In the Bible. The Bible is the measure of all truth, but others want to depart from that. In fact, this very weekend, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons, are holding their general conference in which they have people who pretend to be prophets. They believe they're present as a prophet who can bring new revelation and add upon the scriptures.
This is relevant today. There's people who think that they can add to the scriptures and bring a new word from God that could be at odds with the word that's already been received.
False Gospels isn't a thing of the first century. It's something that persists to this very day. I'd like to identify several forms in which we find it today. So the first that we find is, I call it the Gospel of material and bodily prosperity and to identify, to kind of name some names, some people that preach this sort of gospel.
You can think of people like Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn. And just to kind of offer some explanation here is to exactly what's wrong about this teaching is that it's preaching a hope for salvation, which is bound up in our material bodily welfare. Living the good life now. And it basically makes Jesus, it makes God, just a means to the ends of us having that good life.
And it can be very deceptive, because the words sound very nice, but you have to pay close attention to what's being said. So, for instance, this comes from, I, I haven't read this book, I have to admit, I haven't read this book, but this is a quote taken from his book, so if you've read it, I'd be interested in talking to you about it.
But this is a quote taken from Joel Osteen's book, Your Best Life Now, Seven Steps to Living at Your Full Potential. And he says this, God is a good God. And he gives good things to his children. That sounds, that sounds good enough. No matter who has denigrated you or how much pain you've experienced in life, no matter how many setbacks you have suffered, you cannot allow yourself to accept that as the way life is supposed to be.
No. God has better things in store for you. You must reprogram your mind with God's word. Change that negative, defeated self image, and start seeing yourself as winning. Coming out on top. Start seeing that marriage is restored. See your business is flourishing. See your children as enjoying the good things of God.
You must see it through your eyes of faith. And then it will begin to happen. What's so deceptive here is that there's good things that he's mentioning here. But he's making promises here that God does not make. We should all desire that, yes, marriages would be restored, that our businesses would flourish, that our children would enjoy the good things of God.
But those things don't necessarily follow upon our faith. And it's important to say that because some people are really weighed down and tormented by this idea of like, I just don't have enough faith. If I had enough faith, then my marriage would be restored. Would be working. Well, guess what? It takes two to tango.
It takes two to tango. And sometimes you're married to someone that's a non believer. So, you know, how does that work? Some people feel like, Oh, if I just had enough faith, then I would have, my job would be working out. My business would be successful. Not, not necessarily. Sometimes we just go through hard times.
Or if I just had enough faith, my kids would be following Jesus. I mean, what a burden to put on people. I know there's some of you here who have been faithful to the Church, and did your best in raising your kids, and they don't necessarily follow Christ now. That's not fair. God does not condemn us for that.
Each person has to take responsibility for themselves in terms of whether they will follow Jesus Christ or not. And what he's preaching here is that no, you know, you can say that life is not supposed to be this way. And we can all agree life is not supposed to be this way, but we are not guaranteed we're going to get heaven on earth right here, right now as in the age to come. And so this is a false gospel. It's especially terrible because often these, what these preachers do, Joel Osteen lives a very wealthy life, and what they do is they, they offer these promises, people surround them, and so, if anyone lives the good life, it's them. Because their pockets get filled.
We must be on the lookout for this teaching, especially for those in our lives who become exposed to it, lest they be led astray. This isn't the only false gospel. The other false gospel that we have is salvation by works, and of course you could say that this is true of basically every other religion except Christianity, so I want to specify here.
The false gospel that Jesus came so that we could perform good works and get into heaven. Now, I have been studying Mormonism, that's how I knew about the general conference. I'm going to be offering a seminar on this, I'll give you a little preview. Basically, their understanding of the gospel is that Jesus came in order that we could perform good works to get into heaven.
There's many Catholics who have that sort of understanding. It's like, yes, Jesus came to give me grace, and now I gotta do my darndest to get into heaven by doing all the right things. That's not the gospel. The gospel is that we receive salvation by grace through faith. It is a gift. On the other end of the spectrum, so, on the other end of the spectrum of Jesus plus works, we have what I call selective grace.
Other people might call it easy believism. This idea that you just pray a prayer, and you're delivered from punishment from hell, so you can live like hell. So you can do whatever you want to do. And people don't say that in so many words, but there's many people who believe that, and there's people who preach that.
Kind of a half gospel that amounts to that. And I can especially remember as a kid growing up, seeing a lot of my friends, yeah they went forward, they prayed the prayer, nothing changed in their life. Because they hadn't actually put their faith in Christ. They hadn't actually been joined to Him. They just wanted a get outta hell free card.
That's not the gospel. The grace of Jesus Christ delivers us from hell, but his grace is effective so much that it also delivers us from the power of sin. It's not just about our guilt, it's about the power of sin and sin's control on us. In Jesus Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin and the devil We are free to become the people that God made us to be.
That's a gift! It's not, on the other end, it's not us trying to earn our way into heaven, it's that we've been now liberated. And we get to just walk forward in that liberty, knowing that when Christ returns, we will be made completely whole, even if today we're not quite there yet. Lastly, I would identify what I call the gospel of affirmation, which would say, you are wonderful just the way you are.
And Jesus came to make you feel great about yourself and say two thumbs up. It's kind of like the amazing you instead of the amazing grace. And there's a lot of this around where we have this kind of culture of like, we just need more positivity and get push against that toxic negativity. And it spreads its branches far and wide in terms of just not addressing any, any sin in a person's life, just saying like, don't let anyone judge you.
Because Jesus, that, Jesus points out our sins. He says, here's my grace, you're forgiven, now go forward and sin no more. That's what he says to the woman caught in adultery. He points out that the other guys don't have anything to hold, throw at her, because they themselves are sinners, but then he says, go and sin no more.
That's the full gospel.
But there's a lot of people that want to just say, no, Jesus just came to confirm what we're already doing. And we see that in the area of ethics, it's ramifications for sexuality, gender, all that.
Paul's emphatic that those who are preaching these sorts of false gospels are under God's curse. He, he repeats himself twice so that by verse nine, he says, if anybody's preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse. Now, Paul's willing to take a firm stand here because his motive isn't to please the Galatians, to just tell them what they want to hear.
I'm sure, you know, it would have been very easy for him to just write a letter saying, you guys are doing great. Just keep on keeping on. That would have pleased them. But he's not interested in pleasing them. He's not interested in pleasing any other humans. Ultimately, what he's only interested in is pleasing God.
In 1 Thessalonians, 2, verses 3 through 4 it says, For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak of those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people, but God who tests our hearts. Paul's not concerned about the judgment of others.
He's only concerned about the judgment of God and doing what God wants him to do. In, in verse 10 Paul says, if I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. And I love that line because there's kind of, there's two sides to it. I think factually speaking, like obviously, like, if I'm serving Christ, then I'm just not going to be serving people.
I'm not going to be pleasing them. But It's almost the sense of, like, if I was really interested in pleasing people, I wouldn't be a Christian, because that's not the way to go if you're going to be a people pleaser. And inevitably at some point or another, you're going to have to take a stand in a way that might offend somebody.
But taking that stand can be a trial. It comes with temptation. Because we do want to be liked. We do want to make people happy. But what we need to understand is that this hatred, this displeasure, is not something that's particular to us. It simply stems from the gospel itself. It stems from who Jesus Christ is and what he says about himself and the claims that he makes.
John tells his disciples this in John 15 verses 18 through 19. He says, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, they would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
You see, the reality is, is you're not going to win over everyone. It's good for us to try to be winsome, we should certainly be kind and gentle and loving, but included in love is speaking the truth. Jesus spoke the truth, and they crucified Jesus. So if they crucified Jesus, you can expect that there might be some people in this world ready to crucify you, metaphorically or literally.
Your concern isn't to be liked by others. To be like Jesus Christ, that's going to create a tension. You will live in tension in this world. And so I want to say, especially to those of you that are young, coming up, entering into adulthood, the tension is normal.
Christians are always going to be at odds, are always gonna be going against the grain in this world. If you wanna just get yourself in a position where you're kind of going with the flow, everything's easy peasy, you're gonna find yourself on a path to abandoning the gospel, abandoning Christ. If you follow Christ, you have to expect to carry the cross.
And what this really requires of us is to live trusting God and not fearing man. We have this excellent word in Proverbs, Proverbs 29: 25. Solomon tells us this, Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. You see, people pleasing is really a form of fear.
I'm afraid of whether they'll accept me or not, whether they'll be happy or not. And so you might give in and say, yeah, that's okay what you're doing. Or, you know, that can work for you. That's fine. Maybe your way is a little different, but it'll lead to Jesus. But the thing is, all of that is a snare. It's going to lead to your destruction, it will lead to their destruction.
Ultimately, we must vest our trust in the Lord. Knowing that He will hold us safe. Now that doesn't mean, again, that we're going to be delivered from all difficulties. Christ went to a cross. That means, ultimately, we will be delivered because He was resurrected from the dead and we will be resurrected like Him.
And so we can have that certain and final assurance that he will keep us safe.
Because we no longer live under the fear of death. It's imperative for us to remember this. Because there are many pressures around us to adjust the gospel. To update the gospel. To bend the gospel to our times. But make no mistake. This gospel is for our time. There is no salvation for humanity outside of Jesus Christ.
He is the only way. The only one who can free us from our captivity to sin. The only one who can deliver us from God's judgment. If we confess we are sinners and cast ourselves upon Jesus Christ, trusting him for salvation, he will do just that. You can add nothing to it. He has done the work and you will reap the results both today and in the age to come.
You're liberated from sin's power and you will be resurrected from the dead. You're not promised worldly prosperity. You are promised treasure that neither moth nor rust can eat up and destroy, an inheritance that is durable unto eternity. God sent his son to give you this and bring you to himself.
He didn't give us Jesus to echo back the sweet lies we already tell ourselves. We are slaves to those lies. Christ offers himself as our new master. If you hold fast to him, you will be truly free. As he tells us in John 8, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Let's pray.
Dear Father, we thank you for the gospel. We thank you for this good news that in Jesus Christ we can be saved from our sins and delivered from this evil age. That simply by accepting him in faith we can be forgiven and be given a new life in him with you. Father, we pray that you would help us, by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, to hold fast to the truth of the Gospel.
That we would not be people pleasers. That we would not turn to false Gospels, Father. That we wouldn't make light of false gospels Father. But that we would be those who speak the truth. Not only being faithful ourselves, but calling others to the true gospel that is available in Jesus Christ. We ask this in His holy name. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series through the letter to the Galatians. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)