Intro to Galatians

INTRO

Good morning and welcome to LRC, if you have a Bible you can turn to the book of Galatians where we are starting a new study on this incredible book this morning. If you don’t have a Bible, feel free to use one around you, or you can follow along on the screen.

Something that I always think is important to do when we start a new book of the Bible is to get you really excited and amped up about this study is to tell you about the background information of the book of the Bible! And the reason I tell you this is because the Bible was written for you, but it was not written to you. It doesn’t say, Paul, an apostle, written to Josh. Stop being an idiot. So it is important to hear it the way the person writing the letter and the people receiving the letter would have understood it. Don’t worry, it will still apply to your life and I think you will be surprised, pleasantly surprised, how practical today’s text will be for us.

Before we talk about that exciting stuff, I want to engage the room this morning by asking a question. You will have 7 seconds to think about this. But if you had to describe the Gospel in one word what would you say. And, yes this is a question where I’m asking for your response. You can talk in church, no we will not kick you out.

Today, Paul, the great theologian and the teacher is going to give us a one word answer to this question that will probably surprise you, but the reason he gives this one word answer is because of what is going on in the church of Galatia. So, as I promised, here is some exciting background information for you.

Background to Galatians

Who wrote it? Apostle Paul

From the very first verse, we see that Paul the apostle (which is important in this book) is the one who wrote this letter. If you are unfamiliar with Paul, this is a great book besides the book of Acts to learn more about him and his journey of being a devout religious jew to encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus, to being a powerful leader and apostle of the believers.

Written to: The churches in Galatia

Paul went on three missionary trips in his life and in the first one, which you can read about in Acts 13-14 he goes to the area of Galatia and establishes some house churches. Picture multiple churches in the area, not just one church that Paul was pastoring from a far and all were dealing with the same problem. Which, the date of this book (I know, really exciting stuff) is important to show here too.

When was it written: A.D. 48/49

This is important for a couple reasons. First, Jesus died around 33 a.d, Paul is converted shortly after that. His first missionary journey is around 46-47 A.D, then he writes this book, as I said, only a few years later. So this is one of Paul’s first letters. But it shows an interesting point for the why behind Paul writing this letter.

Why Paul wrote this letter: Christians forgot the Gospel

It only took two years for this church to start straying.That is a simplified version of it, but Jewish leaders caught wind of what Paul was doing and they came and started spreading lies about Paul. Saying he was not really an apostle, that his message (the Gospel) was not the real Gospel and that they needed to follow rules and laws of the law, specifically circumscision, in order to be a true believer. Think about this for a second, the apostle Paul shares the gospel with you, and not ever two years later you start believing something different. Why? Fear, shame, guilt and condemnation from these jewish religious leaders.

Why we are reading the book of Galatians: Because we forget the Gospel.

Believing the Gospel is not a one time event. It is an everyday belief in who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he says about you. We can be forgetful and start believing false Gospels give to us by the world, religious people who want to control us, the enemy, or even our flesh wanting to grow in pride and ego and self righteousness. Yes, praise God for this book, this letter, to the Galatians where we reminded of the Gospel. So let’s read the first 5 verses where Paul gives us his simple definition of the Gospel. It is foundational for the rest of the book.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

A couple things to note before we get to the focus word that Paul has for the Gospel. First, if you were to look at all of Paul’s letters in the New Testament, you will see there is a consistent order where he has a greeting, a blessing, and then usually a prayer. After that he then starts writing his letter. Here, we have a greeting, a quick blessing, and then he just gets into it.

The quick intro in Galatians shows the importance and frustration Paul has regarding what is happening.

Paul has not time for small talk or even to pretend that he is in a good mood about what is happening. The fact that these believers, these Christians are forgetting the Gospel is important and frustrating to Paul because he knows what it is like to follow the bondage of what they are being told by these Jewish leaders. He promoted it and believed it himself and he has not time for any of that. So he jumps write into what is needing to talk about, which we will discuss more next week. But as I promised, Paul lays a foundational word here in the introduction for the rest of the book to understand the book and that word is in verse 4.

The foundation word for the Gospel in Galatians is: Deliver/rescue

This word deliver/rescue is the same word to describe how God delivered Israel out of Egypt, out of bondage, into freedom. It is a picture of someone grabbing another person and pulling them out of something. And what does Paul say that God has rescued or delivered us from? This present evil age.

Now before you get pictures of evil people who practice witchcraft and sorcery, or whatever comes to mind when you read, this present evil age, remember we need to read this from Paul’s perspective and how the Galatians would have heard it. They were not thinking horror movies and sorcery books. They knew the Gospel, they knew that Jesus had come and brought about a new kingdom. And he says that we live in this age, and then there is an age to come, when he returns. And in this present evil age we have been rescued. But we are still here? How come we are not delivered out of the evil age, the brokenness and the craziness that surrounds us? Because he has given us a new way out. You now can be salt and light instead of join in with darkness and bitterness. You have a new and living way that Jesus has rescued, delivered you into.

The jews that came and started sharing a different Gospel, as we will read next week, were putting this evil age of fear, guilt, condemnation and control on these believers again. Jesus brought none of those things! He brought freedom, liberty, grace, forgiveness, and life. He set us free from the slavery of our own sin, of trying to be in control, of living legalistically, and living judgmentally.

The Gospel brings freedom from sin, from the way “things have always been” and from fear and condemnation.

Evidence that you have forgotten the Gospel

1.You live with constant condemnation

The Jews that were coming and giving another Gospel were telling these believers that believing was not enough. They had to be circumsized, they had to follow all these rules. Why? Because human beings are weird in that we want control. We either want control or to be controlled. But the Gospel sets you free from needing to do more because Christ has done it all. Look at what it says in verse 3 again.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins

Grace, the empowerment to live a different life, and peace, wholeness from God are found in Jesus Christ. Not in your religious actions, not in how good of a catholic you have been, how good of a lutheran, baptist, you name it. Your actions, good and bad are not enough to be saved, it is only Jesus. And when we don’t believe that, we live this constant condemnation. Did I follow all the rules? Did I do all the right steps. And you are walking on eggshells with God because you think he is just waiting to lash out at you for doing something wrong. NO! Paul tells us in Romans 8:1 that there is now therefore NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus. How do I get to be in Christ? Believe. If you are living in constant condemnation today here the GOOD news, you are free and you don’t have to live up to some standard. He did it all.

2. You still live in this present evil age.

When our excuse to sin is because it has always been that way, then we have forgotten what we have been delivered from. It is a victim mentality. Well, my mom was this way so I will be this way. Well I grew up on a farm so this is just what we do. Well I was told to be a good catholic boy so that’s why I think that way. Listen, God is not wanting you to throw out your upbringing that is a part of your personality. But if part of your upbringing is causing you to sin or not walk in the freedom that Christ purchased, then you are forgetting the Gospel.

This church in Galatia started to believe that they needed to follow certain Jewish customs in order to actually be apart of God’s family. Paul has some strong words for these guys in this letter, strong enough to make some of us blush. But the way that we talk, think, and believe all needs to change when we are delivered. You are no longer in Egypt anymore, you are in the promise land. You are born again, a new creation, old has gone and the new has come. It doesn’t mean you are perfect, it means you have power to change though.

3. You have forgotten the Gospel is a gift.

The gospel, the freedom, rescue, deliverance, forgiveness of sins, was all because of the glory of God. It was in his wisdom, love, and power that he sent Jesus as a gift to us to recieve, not to control and create more rules around. Gifts are hard to receive for some of us, even to the point of resisting gifts. God has freely given his son so that we could have forgiveness of our sins, rescue from our old way of life, and freedom in Christ.

What a great way to end this message today by taking communion this morning together as the body of Christ.

Communion invitation.