Formed by the Gospel
Notes
Transcript
Prayer
Introduction
Last week we began this journey through Galatians by watching Paul do something remarkable.
We went back into Acts 14 and watched Paul and Barnabas enter the city of Lystra.
God used Paul to heal a man who had never been able to walk.
And the crowd went crazy.
They began calling Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes.
The priest of Zeus showed up with bulls and wreaths because the people wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
And Paul wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.
He tore his clothes.
He ran into the crowd.
He essentially cried out, "We're just men! Don't worship us!"
And then, almost unbelievably, before that story is finished, the crowd turns.
The same people who were ready to worship Paul are persuaded to stone Paul.
One moment they're treating him like a god.
The next they're leaving him for dead.
And we connected that story to Paul's words in Galatians 1:10 “10 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.” .
Paul asks whether he is trying to please people or please God, because if his life were still about pleasing people, he couldn't be a servant of Christ.
Paul knew who he was.
He didn't need their worship.
And he wasn't destroyed by their rejection.
His identity was anchored somewhere deeper.
His identity was in Christ.
But here's the question I want us to consider this morning:
How do we become that kind of person? How do we become someone like Paul who is able to
Because the Paul we meet in Acts 14 didn't just wake up one morning with that kind of spiritual maturity.
The man who could handle the applause and the criticism had been formed.
There were years between Paul's conversion and Lystra.
Years that the Bible barely talks about.
Years without missionary journeys.
Years before churches all across the Roman world knew his name.
Years before Galatians.
Years before Romans.
Years before Philippians.
Years before Paul became the Paul we know.
And that's what Paul begins telling us about at the end of Galatians 1.
Read Galatians 1:11–24 “11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. 13 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. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 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. 17 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. 18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. 21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me.” .
What Paul gives us here is part testimony, part defense of his apostleship.
He's trying to make something very clear.
The gospel he preached wasn't something Peter taught him.
James didn't teach it to him.
The Jerusalem church didn't create it.
Paul says:
"I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ."
But as Paul defends where his gospel came from, he also gives us a window into something else.
He gives us a window into how God formed the man who would carry that gospel.
And I think there's something here that many of us desperately need to hear.
Because we tend to notice the visible seasons of people's lives.
We notice the accomplishments.
The promotions.
The ministry.
The success.
We notice when somebody finally arrives somewhere.
But God sees all the years that came before it.
And sometimes...
The years that seem insignificant to us are often indispensable to God.
I. The Gospel Confronts Us
Galatians 1:11–16 “11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. 13 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. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 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.”
Paul begins by reminding them who he used to be.
He says, "You've heard about my former way of life in Judaism."
And what was that former life?
Paul persecuted the church of God.
Violently.
He tried to destroy it.
And Paul wasn't casually religious.
He tells us he was advancing in Judaism beyond many people his own age.
He was zealous.
Driven.
Educated.
Disciplined.
Certain.
Paul knew exactly where his life was headed.
Until Jesus stepped into the road.
Acts 9 tells us what happened.
Paul is traveling toward Damascus carrying authorization to arrest Christians.
He's going there convinced he's doing God's work.
And suddenly the risen Christ confronts him.
Everything Paul thought he understood gets turned upside down.
The man Paul believed was a false Messiah...
was Lord.
The people Paul believed were enemies of God...
were God's people.
And the man who believed he could see...
was struck blind.
That's what the gospel does.
The gospel confronts us.
Before the gospel comforts us, it confronts us.
It confronts our sin.
It confronts our pride.
It confronts our self-righteousness.
It confronts the places where we've convinced ourselves that we're right when God says we're wrong.
And sometimes it confronts the entire direction of our lives.
That's what happened to Paul.
But listen to how Paul describes it in Galatians.
He doesn't say:
"I finally figured things out."
He doesn't say:
"I decided I needed to change my life."
Look at the subject of the sentence.
God.
God set me apart.
God called me by His grace.
God was pleased to reveal His Son to me.
Grace came looking for Paul.
That's the gospel.
And that's where formation begins.
It begins when Jesus confronts us with who He is and, in His grace, calls us to Himself.
But here's where I think we sometimes misunderstand salvation.
We can treat that moment of conversion as though God's work is finished.
Saved.
Forgiven.
Done.
But Damascus wasn't the end of God's work in Paul.
It was the beginning.
Because Jesus didn't merely intend to change Paul's eternal destination.
Jesus intended to change Paul.
And that takes us into one of the least talked-about parts of Paul's life.
II. The Gospel Forms Us
Galatians 1:16–22 “16 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. 17 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. 18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. 21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.”
Listen carefully to Paul's words.
He says that after Christ was revealed to him, he did not immediately go to Jerusalem.
Instead:
"I went away to Arabia and returned again to Damascus."
And then Paul says:
"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem."
Three years.
You don't really notice those years when you're reading Acts.
Acts 9 tells us about Paul's conversion.
Then Paul starts preaching in Damascus.
And eventually Luke simply says:
"After many days had passed..."
Those few words cover a remarkable amount of time.
Galatians tells us:
Years.
Paul goes into Arabia.
Returns to Damascus.
Three years pass before he goes to Jerusalem.
Then he spends only fifteen days with Peter.
He sees James.
And then Paul says:
"I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia."
Acts tells us that Paul eventually returns to Tarsus.
And then...
Paul almost disappears from the story.
Years go by before Barnabas eventually travels to Tarsus looking for him and brings him to Antioch.
Think about that.
We meet Paul and immediately know what he's going to become.
Paul doesn't.
We know about the missionary journeys.
Paul doesn't.
We know about Philippi and Corinth and Ephesus.
Paul doesn't.
We know about Romans and Galatians and Ephesians.
Paul doesn't.
Paul just knows that Jesus has called him.
And now there are years where very little seems to be happening.
Except something is happening.
God is forming Paul.
We have to be careful here because Scripture doesn't tell us exactly what happened in Arabia. We shouldn't pretend that we know.
But we know the man who entered those years.
And we know the man who eventually emerged.
Paul had spent his entire life learning the Scriptures through one particular lens.
Now he knows Jesus is the Messiah.
Imagine having to rethink everything.
Abraham, The covenant, The law, The prophets, The sacrifices, The promises.
Everything Paul knew now had to be understood through Christ.
And God gave him time.
Time to learn, grow, preach, suffer, be corrected, mature, time to become.
Because God doesn't just prepare a ministry for a person. God prepares the person for the ministry.
And God isn't in nearly as much of a hurry as we are.
Look throughout Scripture.
Moses spends forty years in Pharaoh's household...
and then forty years in Midian before God sends him back to Egypt.
David is anointed king...
and goes back to tending sheep.
Joseph receives dreams...
and then finds himself in slavery and eventually prison.
Even Jesus spends roughly thirty years in relative obscurity before beginning His public ministry.
There is a pattern here.
Calling.
Formation.
Mission.
And we love the calling.
We love the mission.
But we struggle with the middle.
We struggle with formation.
Because formation can feel insignificant.
Formation can feel slow.
Formation can feel like nothing is happening.
And yet...
The years that seem insignificant to us are often indispensable to God.
Maybe that's where some of you are right now.
Maybe you're in a season that doesn't feel particularly important.
You're raising kids.
You're working the same job you've worked for years.
You're caring for someone.
You're recovering from something.
You're serving faithfully and nobody seems to notice.
Maybe you're older and you look back at the things you once did and wonder whether your most useful years are behind you.
Maybe you've been asking God:
"When are You going to do something?"
And perhaps God would answer:
"I am."
You just can't see all of it yet.
Because formation isn't inactivity.
Paul wasn't sitting around doing nothing. The hidden season wasn't a wasted season…It was God's workshop.
And church, that's discipleship. The gospel doesn't merely save us from something, The gospel forms us into someone.
Paul will eventually say later in Galatians that Christ is to be formed in us.
That's what God is doing.
He's making us increasingly like Jesus.
Sometimes He does that publicly.
But some of His deepest work happens privately.
Where nobody applauds.
Nobody notices.
Nobody congratulates you.
It's just you...
and Jesus...
and another day of faithfulness.
Don't despise those days.
III. The Gospel Sends Us
Galatians 1:22–24 “22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me.”
Then Paul says something fascinating.
He says:
"I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ."
Unknown.
Think about that… Paul. Unknown. Today we know his name around the world. Two thousand years later we're sitting in Karthaus, Pennsylvania, studying a letter he wrote. But there was a season when Christians in Judea wouldn't have recognized him walking down the road. They didn't know his face. They knew his story. Paul says they kept hearing:
"The one who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy."
And then comes verse 24.
"And they glorified God because of me."
There it is.
That's where formation is headed.
Not toward Paul's fame.
Toward God's glory.
And suddenly last week's message comes back into view.
Years later Paul walks into Lystra.
A miracle happens.
People start worshiping him.
And Paul tears his clothes.
"No!"
"Don't worship us!"
Why?
Because somewhere along the journey Paul learned:
This isn't about me.
Then the crowd turns on him.
They stone him.
They drag him outside the city.
They leave him for dead.
And Paul doesn't quit.
Why?
Because somewhere along the journey Paul learned:
This isn't about them either.
Their praise didn't define him.
Their criticism didn't define him.
Christ did.
And I have to wonder how much those hidden years had to do with that.
Years when Paul learned to serve without applause.
Years when Paul learned that he didn't need everybody to know his name.
Years when the gospel wasn't simply something he preached.
It was something that was forming him.
God was preparing a man who could survive both applause and rejection because his life was no longer built around either one.
His life belonged to Christ.
That's formation.
Conclusion
Church, maybe we need to stop asking only:
"God, what are You going to do through me?"
And start asking:
"God, what are You doing in me?"
Because sometimes we're so focused on the destination that we miss what God is doing along the road.
We want Antioch.
God may have us in Arabia.
We want the missionary journey.
God may have us in Tarsus.
We want to know what's next.
And God is concerned with who we're becoming now.
Don't despise that season.
Don't rush it.
Don't assume that because nobody sees what God is doing, nothing is happening.
Some of God's greatest work in your life may happen in seasons nobody else will ever know about.
Because...
The years that seem insignificant to us are often indispensable to God.
The gospel confronts us.
The gospel forms us.
And the gospel sends us.
And wherever He has you today...
visible or hidden...
celebrated or unnoticed...
begin with this prayer:
"Jesus, use this season to make me more like You."
Because ultimately that's what Christian formation is.
Not becoming impressive.
Not becoming important.
Not becoming known.
Becoming like Christ.
And when that happens, the ending of our story should look like Paul's:
They glorified God because of me.
