Don't Turn Away

Good Morning,

We will be continuing our study of Galatians today and our passage is Galatians 1:6-10 “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. 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. 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.”

Paul’s Anger

Why is it that unlike most of the other letters Paul writes he opens with this amazement? Paul does not give thanks for the Churches of Galatia. Paul in our opening verse today 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-” We need a little bit of context to answer this, but

if we look at Paul’s missionary journey here, hopefully you can see this. Paul starts his first missionary journey somewhere between 44-46 A.D. Unlike now this was a slow process, so it takes him a while to complete this whole journey.

He starts over in Antioch traveling by sea to Cyprus then around to Pamphylia, ultimately going north into Galatia and ending in Derbe, sharing the Gospel along the way. He then turns around following the same route through Galatia until he returns to Antioch. If you could turn with me to Acts 14:20-23. So this is right after Paul was stoned and left for dead in Lystra.

Acts 14:20-23 “But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

What I want to point out is on the return journey, Paul stops at each one of the places and strengthens them, encourages them, he appointed elders to lead them, and with prayer and fasting committed them to the Lord. Paul knew their faith and he had been there to strengthen their faith.

Now, Paul is back in Antioch sometime around 49 A.D. and he begins to get messages about what is going on in the churches of Galatia. Remember the dating of this letter is likely during the year 49 A.D., the disappointment that Paul had was almost immediate. He is like a father who is heartbroken over the poor choices of a child. As a parent, you invest time and energy into you child, loving them, educating them, training them to be adults and without fail they will do something that you tried to help them avoid. They so easily forget what you taught them, and just like children, we so easily forget what God has done. The Galatians are not the first people to forget what God has done, neither are the Israelites, but they in someways best illustrate this point. If you could turn with me to Exodus 32:1-6

We So Easily Forget

For context Israel is at Mount Sinai and Moses is on the mountain with God. Israel had just been delivered from Egypt by the hand of God. They watched the plagues, they saw the Red Sea split so they could walk through on dry land, had undrinkable water made drinkable, and were given manna or bread from heaven. They saw God’s hand. Now read this with me we will just read 1-6.

“When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

I don’t know how many times I have read this passage and said to myself, “How dense can you be? You saw the very hand of God at work and you are turning from Him.” The problem is that I have seen the very hand of God at work.

God did the work so we could be saved.

We are no longer the people we were before

Yet, we forget

And as we forget

We are turning from Him

In the ESV and the NASB it says deserting him, but I like the way the New King James says this part of the verse best. It says they are turning away, in the Greek it is like transferring from one teacher to another. They are not fully apostate yet; they are in the process of turning to a different gospel. It is much like we see today in so many Christians deconstructing their faith. They start by incorporating worldly teachers or philosophies and begin to put aside the authority of God and His message. This continues until, if they believe in Jesus at all he was just a good teacher.

Every worldview has its own gospel.

There is only one Gospel

John 14:6

In John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Paul understands there is only one Gospel and that is why he is so angry and frustrated with them. Lets keep reading.

Galatians 1:7 ESV

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

Look what he says, not that there is another one. Everything else is a distortion of the Gospel of Christ.

Gospel means: good news, message of God’s salvation. In the NT, refers specifically to the good news about Jesus.

Chris Kugler, “Gospel,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

Gospel literally means good news, and the Gospel of Christ is one of Grace. We do not have to work for it, it is a free gift. That however does not appeal to us as fallen humans. We feel this desperate need to earn it, to work for it. The difference between true Christianity and all other religions and worldviews is exactly that. Every other worldview is about works. If I do enough I can earn heaven, if my good outweighs my bad, I will achieve heaven. But anyone who is honest with themselves understands that we are not good enough.

So if you take a stroll into any library or book store, you will find a huge section of books. This section is called self help. The reason this section exists is that as fallen men and women, we really feel we are enough. The problem with that is that if we were this book section wouldn’t even exist. The general thought of man it that we are basically good. However even just a short glance into history should dispel that notion. Look at the atrocities that mankind has committed and continue to commit. We can just look at our current culture and how society has deceived itself into believing that a baby inside its mothers womb is some how not a person and therefore murdering it is OK. And yet the social thought is we are basically good.

Look at what the book of Jeremiah tells us, Jeremiah 17:9-10

Jeremiah 17:9–10 ESV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

We are not good nor can we ever be good enough. We cannot now or ever work our way into heaven. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

This is why he gives this hypothetical in verses 8-9

Galatians 1:8–9 ESV

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 gives this strange hypothetical and says if we, he is referring to himself and the other apostles, or and angel from heaven. This shows how serious he is about distorting the Gospel, but if even they would preach a contrary gospel, he says let them be accursed. These are men who have been led by the Holy Spirit and gave us the Word of God, or the angels who stand in the very presence of God. Lets look at a verse in Romans because it gives a great definition for the word he uses here.

English Standard Version Chapter 9

3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Here Paul is willing to have himself cut off from Christ if it would bring his Jewish brethren to salvation. This is what is is to be accursed he is calling down God’s judgement on any who preach a contrary gospel. This is not like in church discipline where someone is cut out of fellowship so they might come to repentance. This is eternal separation from God. Why? Because it is a difference of Masters.

Who is Paul trying to please?

Who is it that Paul is serving is essentially the question he asks in verse 10

Galatian 1:10 “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.”

He will answer this question more directly in verse 11 next week, but right now I want to look at the question itself. He asks who’s approval is he seeking? I do not know about you but I never question Paul’s commitment to God, even when he was persecuting the Church he was doing so thinking he was trying to please God, he just misunderstood God. Paul asks this rhetorical question because all of the people he is writing to understand what he went through when he brought the Gospel to them. He then states if he was trying to please man, he would not be a servant of Christ.

What is a Bond-Servant or δοῦλος (Doulos)?

I want to focus in on the word here for servant, some of your translations say bond-servant. The word used here in Greek is Doulos. It is something that is in many ways lost to us due to the connotations of our English word. So we see the word translated, servant or bond-servant, but what the Greek word really means is slave. Paul says, “If i were still trying to please man, I would not be a slave of Christ.” That is an important distinction to make, because it clarifies a lot of the New Testament and Paul’s willingness to go through such hardship. A servant can serve two masters. You can work a day job and a night job and most of the time you won’t have any problems with the employers. However, a slave can only have one master.

It was something that had always confused me about some of the verses in Scripture, but I loved what John McArthur said in His sermon titled “Servant or Slave?”

“The word is doulos. Have you heard that word? The word is doulos. In the Greek, that word means “slave,” never means anything but “slave.” It doesn’t mean “servant,” it doesn’t mean “worker,” it doesn’t mean “hired hand,” it doesn’t mean “helper.” There are six or seven Greek words that mean “servant” in some form. Doulos never means “servant.” A servant is someone hired to do something. The slave is someone owned. Big difference, huge difference, and yet all through the New Testament the word “slave” is masked by the word “servant,” or some form of the word “servant.” Truly a remarkable thing.”

Romans 6:16–18 ESV

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Scripture here only gives us the choice of two masters. Either we can be slaves to sin or we can be slaves of righteousness, which means we are slaves of Christ. One is a hard and cruel task master, promising us so many things and then giving them or giving us a mangled version of it that leads to disappointment and ultimately death. The other is gracious, forgiving, offering us both Grace and Peace and rebirth. He adopts us as children and makes us coheirs.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV)

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

But look, you are here today, and your faith is in Christ. Look what that verse says, You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So you are to Glorify God in your body

So What?

If you are here today and have placed your faith in Christ, I want to offer you a few of things before we close. Scripture and the world is full of examples of people who turned away who lost sight of the truth. You must spend time with God and in His word in order to avoid this.

Psalm 119:11 “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Study His Word and spend time in prayer with God.

We have a distinct advantage over Israel, in that, when we put our faith in Christ, we are given the Holy Spirit to guide us in truth, but we must be reading that truth, getting to know God and his word so we can hear the Holy Spirit and differentiate from falsehood.

2. Be on guard.

Colossians 2:8-11 “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,”

3. Remember to whom you belong.

If you belong to Christ, remember He has paid for you, You belong to Him. Therefore, live for Him.

We spent the evening with a family last night and I am not going to read the passage that one of them shared, but I do encourage you to go read it. It is found in Luke 19:11-27, it is the Parable of the Minas. In this passage a nobleman gives his servants, remember the word is Doulos or slave, 10 minas and tells them to do business with it until he returns. One goes out and gets 10 minas, another gets 5 minas more, and the last takes it home and hides it in a handkerchief and returns exactly what was given to him. To one of them the nobleman says, “Well done, good servant.” We have been given a gift to use for God. We are to share the Gospel with those around us, that one day He might say to each of us, “Well done, good servant.” It is an excellent reminder what it is to live for Christ, we are to be out in the world, sharing His message of salvation to our friends and neighbors. What happened to the one who hid his away? He is called a wicked servant and what he had was taken from him.

Let us close in prayer.