Galatians 1:6-24

Opening

Grace and Peace to you

Have you ever worked a job where you have had more than one boss? In my younger days I was really good at being a weak mind and a strong back. So I was leased out to do all sorts of odd jobs from spliting wood to cleaning out grain bins, to spending a month and a half repairing a family cabin.

One Summer when I was in college I went to go and do yard work and be a mateinance man for my Great Aunt Wilma in the suburbs of Washington D.C. My grandmother took me out with her. When I got there I was handed a list of jobs that my great aunt wanted accomplised. It was a long list especially for summer in the swamp lands of DC. What became clear, however, was that my Grandmother also had a list in her head of what she wanted done. To make things even more complicated, my entire life my great aunt has had a roommate that has lived with her, Mary anne, She also had a list. And all three of these women are strong willed.

So I had to make a decision of what to focus on and accomplish. Seeing as how my great aunt was a Brigader General in the Air Force I decided it was in my best intrest to do what she said.

Transition

The reality is that it is hard to be in those situations — trying to serve or please more than one person is a nightmare. You're constantly second-guessing yourself, wondering whose expectations you’re supposed to meet, feeling pulled in different directions, and never really sure if you’re doing the right thing.

“Its like walking a tight rope on a razor’s edge” Bret Dennan

It is even more dangerous when you are playing that game with God, but is something we so easily find ourselves doing. This seems to be the struggle the Galatians found themselves in. It was like they were being drawn and quarted spiritually.

One spiritual limb being pulled toward hellinistic thinking,

another pulled by Jewish Tradition,

another being pulled by the Gospel,

and another being pulled by the status quo.

Which meant there were believers in these churches that were fragmented and confused what way to go. Paul goes right at this and against the people pulling the disciples in the wrong direction.

Galatians 1:6–10 NIV

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we 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 were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Text

In this passage Paul is putting forth an argument of Man Given vs God Revealed. This is a continuation from the introduction Paul makes in the first verse of Galatians 1:1 “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—”

Not by men nor by a man. Paul is arguing against human tradition and the imitation gospel that was being presented to these churches.

Here is what was going on. Paul had planted and started these churches and like I said last week they were young believers and young churches. Paul would preach the Gospel in 1 Cor Paul would say he did nothing but preach Christ and Him Crucified.

Paul would get run out of town, and then Hebraic Christians would come to town afterwards and would tell the disicples there that Paul left out some of the gospel. See to them if you wanted to be God’s People it means that you need to enter into the Abrahamic Covenant, the Laws of Moses, and the Prophets.

This is the point where most of us start to roll our eyes like, “these dumbies, why can’t you see that you are wrong!? Arguing with Paul!? COME ON!!!”

Don’t be so hasty in judgement. For these people it had been the same way for upwards of 4,000 years. God’s people did have to follow the Torah, the law. God’s chosen nation adhered to the edicts of their father’s and their father’s father and his father. Generation after generation had to do certian things to be “in.”

Their entire yearly calendar hinged around religious festivals, events, and moments. Passover, Feast of the Tables, Pentacost, Shaovot (when moses was given the 10 commandments), Sukkot the harvest celebration and symbolized God's provision and dwelling among His people.

So when they were told about Jesus and how he is the fulfilment of the law, that Jesus is the final sacrafice, that he is the lamb that was slain, that the kingdom of God is at hand and it is for all people this is quite the shock for them.

Of course their whole world and universe is shaken and shifted.

To make sense of what they were hearing, these early Hebraic Christians began to synthesize their traditions, laws, and rituals into the message of Jesus. They weren’t trying to be difficult — they were trying to hold on to what had shaped their entire worldview. For generations, their identity, their calendar, their sense of righteousness had been rooted in the Torah and covenantal practices. So naturally, they tried to graft Jesus onto that framework, instead of letting him redefine it.

But that’s exactly why Paul responds so sharply. Jesus doesn’t just revise the old system — he fulfills it. And to add anything to the gospel is to undo it. That’s why Paul uses such weighty language. When he says those who distort the gospel should be anathema — accursed — he’s not being petty. He’s being pastoral. Because when we tamper with the gospel, we’re not just tweaking theology — we’re removing the power that saves.

This is not just a first-century problem. We’re just as susceptible today. When we take the parts of Jesus’ message we like and quietly ignore the parts that challenge us, we’re not worshipping Christ—we’re worshipping a custom-built version of ourselves. As Augustine once put it:

"If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself." — Augustine of Hippo

That’s why the gospel can’t be treated casually. It’s not a lifestyle brand or an optional add-on to our already comfortable lives. Spurgeon once warned:

“Nothing hardens like the gospel when it is long trifled with.” — Charles Spurgeon

Paul understood that the gospel isn’t just a message about inner peace or personal salvation—it’s a message that dethrones every rival kingdom, including our own self-made thrones. And when it’s truly received, it brings power, not just philosophy. As A. W. Tozer wrote:

“The God who by the word of the gospel proclaims men free, by the power of the gospel actually makes them free.” — A. W. Tozer

This is what Paul is fighting for. This is what’s at stake. The gospel is not a human invention—it’s a divine revelation. It’s not ours to edit. It’s ours to receive, to live, and to proclaim.

Transition to Second part

Think of it like trying to navigate with an old map. Imagine someone hiking through unfamiliar terrain with a beautifully hand-drawn, centuries-old map — a map that generations before them have trusted and passed down. It’s filled with markings, trails, even notes in the margins from respected explorers of the past. But what if the landscape has shifted? What if rivers have dried up, forests have grown in, and entire paths have disappeared?

At some point, relying on the old map doesn’t just slow you down — it can actually lead you the wrong way.

That’s what Paul is describing. He had the old map — the most detailed, disciplined, respected version of it. As a Pharisee, he was following the best traditions and the most revered voices. But it was still leading him in the wrong direction — not toward God, but toward pursectuing the church and therefore away from Jesus.

Only when God revealed something new — when Paul encountered the risen Christ — did he realize that the map had served its purpose, but couldn’t take him where he ultimately needed to go. Revelation had to replace tradition. Grace had to rewrite the directions.

Jesus spoke in this kind of way during the sermon on the mount. 6 times he says you have heard it said, but I say to you. Jesus was revealing something that all the Scribes and Pharisees (the most righteous of their time) couldn’t understand.

The way that mankind had taken the law up to the time Jesus speaks was very much an outter legalistic within man’s control and man’s wisdom. Jesus teaches another way to take the law, he preaches a gospel that says the law should lead to heart change and to a new way of life. He becomes the compass to better see the law and know how to traverse it.

To be clear or rather nuanced: Both Jesus and Paul don’t t say the Law or the tradition was wrong — rather, it was incomplete apart from Christ. He critiques the misuse of tradition when it replaces or distorts the gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), not the Law as God's good gift in its proper context.

Notice how Paul teases this idea out in the rest of the chapter.

Galatians 1:11–24 NIV

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me.

The book of Galatians is a defense of a gospel of freedom. Paul recokognizes that there are things that pull us too and fro and that we have to be wise and careful not to be pursuaded by the wrong things. Paul is telling us that only when he released the old way, the tradition, the wisdom of man, was he on the right path.

Main Point

When we live by tradition, we inherit a map. When we live by revelation, we’re given a compass.

When we live by tradition, we inherit a map — something drawn by those who came before us, with clear paths, boundaries, and expectations. It provides comfort because it feels certain and familiar, but it can also become rigid, outdated, or misleading if it no longer aligns with where God is actually leading. But when we live by revelation — when we listen to the voice of the Spirit and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus — we’re given a compass. It doesn’t always show us the whole path in advance, but it always points us in the right direction. A map can show where others have gone; a compass helps us follow where Christ is going now.

Application

Christ can become your north star, Christ is true north. He is the compass. Therefore what are we aiming at? What are we tethering ourselves to?

If we have become too tethered to our traditions, to tethered to our assumptions and leave our faith unexamined we can be led down very odd and strange paths.

I was home and talking with Allison at lunch. I was telling her about this sermon trying to explain these concepts and trying to figure out how to preach this in a way that makes sense.

Then bursting into the conversation is Peter. Peter goes, “JESUS? You talkin about JESUS?” we haven’t learned our inside voices yet. We tell him yes. Peter then says, “I like Jesus.” I ask him what do you like about him.

Peter replies, “I don’t know, I just like Jesus.” With Peter being only 3 years old his attention shifted slightly to the matter at hand, a fruit snack. He looked down at it, then looked at me and said, “Jesus likes fruit snacks.”

What Peter did is often what we are tempted to do. When we start to apply our inherited traditions without analysis or thought we can begin to create a Jesus who likes what we like, thinks like we think, approves what we approve. That how the pharisees ended up with an understanding of “God” that made them miss the messiah, and even kill him. That’s how Paul being a Pharisee a Pharisees was led astray, and he really really does not want you to be led astray.

We must be careful and studious to not be led astray by our own wants wishes and desires. We have an account of who Jesus is, what he taught, what he likes, what he loves, what he wants for us, how he wants us to live, and how he wants us not to live. We also have the past 2000 years of men and women trying to figure out how to love like Jesus how to follow Jesus. They haven’t always got it right they two I’ve been led astray. But we can still learn and grow together because we are the church in Christ is the head.

Finish the illustration + transition:

But so often we are like Peter. I like fruit snacks, Jesus will like fruit snacks. Then the gospel hardens because we have changed the good news to you have to like, think, act, treat others how I do (because that is also how Jesus likes, thinks, acts, treats others).

Paul is trying to tell us that we have a freedom to get away from those kinds of lies, and live in the grace and peace that Jesus brings. Paul doesn’t want us shackeled by added things onto a gospel that is no real gospel at all. Which is like working for two bosses. Paul is teaching us to see that Jesus is the real boss. Paul longs for us to know the compass and begin walking in that freedom. Jesus longs for us to know the compass and begin walking in that freedom.

Spiritual practice:

So here’s a practice to help you begin walking — or maybe even running — in the direction of freedom: This week, identify one “old map” you’ve been clinging to.

Maybe it’s a belief that you have to earn your worth.

Maybe it’s a religious rule that’s more about control than Christ.

Maybe it’s guilt you’ve carried for too long.

Write it down. And then, prayerfully surrender it to Jesus — literally. Place it on the table, burn it, tear it up, or lay it at the foot of a cross.

But don’t stop there.

Ask God for the compass of His Spirit to guide you. Open the Gospels. Ask, “Jesus, what are you inviting me into today?” Let His voice — not the voice of tradition or shame or guilt— become your True North.

Final call/closing:

Grace is not a one-time gift; it is the way we travel the entire journey. Peace isn’t just the absence of conflict; it’s the wholeness only Christ can restore. So what are you tethered to? Are you living by maps someone else drew, or by the compass of Christ? May we be a people who stop crawling in fear and start walking in grace — eyes fixed on Jesus, steps guided by the Spirit, hearts set on the gospel that sets us free.