Posers - Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Opening Story/Illustration: One of my favorite TV shows as a kid was Gilligan’s Island. If you’ve never seen it, you’re missing out. It’s about this group of people who go on a lunch cruise/tour and end up in a storm and get stranded on this island in the middle of the Pacific. There’s no way for them to get help, so they live on this island for about 3 seasons of TV and a made for TV movie or two. They are always trying to get off the island, but never able to do so. There’s a particular episode of the show that uses a probably overused plot - But it’s an episode where this Russian Spy accidently ends up on the island. And this spy happens to look exactly like Gilligan. He finds Gilligan and ties him up and then spends the entire episode secretly posing as Gilligan. In the end, when it all comes out, it’s very confusing to his friends - here are two guys who look exactly alike. One is Gillian, one is a poser. Which one is the real Gillian?
This is what I want to talk about this morning and tonight
There are many ideas that enter into our lives and our culture and try to “pose” as the gospel. They try to “pose” as the way to salvation. Or they are ideas that take the good news of Jesus and twist it. This morning and tonight I want to look at these “posers” and contrast them with the real gospel. These are ideas that many in our culture believe and hold onto. To begin though, I want to look at a Church that struggled with a “poser” gospel.
Transition to text: In the book of Galatians Paul warns the Church not to give into ideas that try to “pose” as the good news or gospel. There were, in this church, evidently some people who were trying to offer a counterfeit version of the good news of Jesus. Paul writes to deal with this issue and remind the Galatians to stand firm in the true gospel.
Text: Galatians 1:6-10
6 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— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 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. 9 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. 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.
Transition to Points: Let’s take a look at this passage this morning.
Points
Points
Paul reminds the Galatians not to accept a false or distorted version of the good news.
Paul writes here to the Churches in Galatia. These are Churches that would be in modern day central Turkey.
Galatia was a province of Rome. Paul had probably helped to plant some of these Churches. You can sense his outrage over what’s happening.
What exactly is Paul so upset about?
Christianity started off as a Jewish sect. Jesus is Jewish, all the apostles are Jewish. So it begins as a sect of Judaism.
But, eventually, we can see in the Book of Acts, the good news about Jesus begins to spread to non-jewish or Gentile people.
This leaves us with a question - Do these new non-Jewish Christians have to convert to Judaism in order to be part of God’s family? Do they have to be circumcised and follow all the Jewish laws and rituals?
This was a real issue for the early Church. We get our answer in Acts 15. They come together at what is known as the “Jerusalem Council” and they discuss the matter. They come to the conclusion that these non-Jewish Christians don’t have to follow all the mosaic law in order to be part of God’s family. That salvation is through faith in Christ and that alone. Acts 15:11
11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
1 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. 3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” 6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” 12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 “ ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, 17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’ 19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.” 22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, 23 with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25 it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” 30 So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. 32 And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. 33 And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them. 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. 36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Some people, known as Judizers, showed up in the Galatian Churches and began trying to teach and preach that in order to be in God’s family, you had to follow the Laws and rituals and customs of Moses. To be clear, when we say “laws” here, we aren’t talking about the 10 commandments. We are talking about Jewish dietary laws, Jewish custom, and rituals. There was a group that got into these Churches and started teaching that Jesus was great, BUT you needed Jesus AND to follow these rules and customs in order to be part of God’s family.
Why are they doing this? Why would people be willing to listen?
In the Roman Empire, everyone was required to pay honor and worship to Caesar. Caesar was to be revered as Lord. Only one religious group had an exemption to this. Anyone wanna guess who had the exemption? The Jews.
This poses an issue - if the Christians aren’t Jewish they don’t get an exemption. They will either have to worship Caesar OR possibly be persecuted.
This is also an issue for the Jews IF these Christians keep trying to claim a Jewish exemption WITHOUT fully being Jewish. It might make Rome think they were trying to pull one over on them.
So you can see - it would have been more politically beneficially for everyone if they just towed the line.
But these people coming in and teaching this idea that you have to follow the laws of Moses in order to be in God’s Family are angering Paul. He’s furious.
He says - This isn’t the Good news of Jesus! In fact it’s no gospel at all!
He says - This group is troubling you and they want to distort the gospel of Christ.
They are presenting you with a poser. They are giving you something that is false that is trying to pose as the real Gospel.
The entire book of Galatians is about this idea - Are we a part of God’s family because of Jesus and Him alone or is there something more we have to do? Paul is going to argue - It’s through Jesus and Him alone!
And this is the question I want to ask - For most of us, we aren’t struggling with whether or not to obey the law of Moses. But what are the ideas that try to pose as the gospel in our Culture? What are the ideas that trouble us? What are the ideas that distort the gospel of Christ?
We must not accept a false or distorted gospel that tries to pose as the real one
Poser 1 - What Matters is that I am a Good Person
You’ll hear this one a lot. People will say, “Well, I’m a good person. God knows I do my best to be a good person.”
The idea is that somehow there is a score card and your standing with God is somehow based on your score. On the one side you have your good deeds and on the other side you have your bad deeds. As long as your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds at the end of your life, you’re in the clear.
There’s a serious problem with this line of thinking. First of all, it’s not Biblical.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:9-20
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Secondly, how do you know what’s good enough?
Illustration: I recently returned to school and the last term I was in an Ethics class. And part of the work assigned to me was to watch a TV show called “The Good Place.” I’m no endorsing the show, but just using it as an illustration. The show begins with this girl who has died and she’s gone to the “The Good Place.” And she arrives there only to find out, there’s been a mistake. She’s a horrible person. She’s not good at all. There was a paperwork mistake and she should have been in the bad place, but she ended up in the Good place. Rather than tell on herself and get sent to the Bad place, she decides she’s going to work on herself and try to be good enough so that she can stay. The show goes on to really grapple with this question - how good is good enough? Do you need to just be better than say, Hitler? Or do we all have to be Mother Theresa to make it?
Here’s what we normally do though - We compare ourselves to someone who’s just a little bit worse than we are and we say - “See I’m not like them..”
The Gospel message that frees us is this: You and I will never be good enough on our own. We can stop thinking that it’s somehow up to us to be “Good enough.”
The Good News is - Jesus came and gave himself for you. The Bible says in Isaiah that our Righteousness is as filthy rags, but it tells us several times in the New Testament that Jesus IS OUR Righteousness.
On your own you cannot be good enough, but it’s not about you! When you come into Christ you are enough!
So, if you’re here this morning and you’ve bought into the cultural lie that it’s really about being a good person - I hate to break it to you - You will never be good enough. But I’ve also got good news - There is one who was good enough and if you’ll accept him and come under him, and follow him, he’ll give you what you need!
Paul Says in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Poser 2 - I can do what I want because God has forgiven me
Some of us think if we can just be good enough, then we’ll make it.
Other of us use God’s grace as an excuse to do what we want.
Paul cautions against this though. In Galatians 5:13-15
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Paul tells us here - We aren’t free to do as we want. We are free to serve one another. Jesus didn’t die and forgive you so that you could go sin more.
Here’s the way we often preach and receive Jesus’ forgiveness: Have you ever played monopoly? You know the “Get out of Jail Free” cards? We think of Jesus as a “get out of hell free” card. Once I’m clear of Hell, I can do what I want.
But notice what Paul Says - There’s a list of things we aren’t supposed to participate in. Galatians 5:18-21
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul says, If you do these things, you’re not going to inherit the Kingdom of God.
Illustration: When my kids were born, people try and figure out who they look like. My little girl looks like her mother. My son, some people say he looks like me. I don’t know. But my children will grow up and, like it or not, they will pick up features, characteristics, habits, etc. from me and my wife and from their other family members. Some of this is just going to be nature - it’s in their DNA and some of it will be nurture - Because of the environment they are in.
When you and I are born again - There ought to be habits and things that begin to grow in our life simply because we have been born of God. His spirit lives in us. He’s changing and transforming us. We shouldn’t feel comfortable in the same places doing the same things with the same people. There ought to be a change in us because we are born of him. There also ought to be a change in us because of a change in environment. We should be at church around God’s people. we should be in the word of God. These things ought to begin to transform us from the inside out until we are different than we used to be!
If this is not happening - We need to check ourselves.
THE GRACE OF GOD IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO SIN, IT IS THE POWER TO CHANGE!
Jesus does not make you free to do as you please
Jesus makes you free to serve others
People look at Christianity and say it’s narrow minded. But here’s the truth - everyone else is telling you that’s just who you are. Accept it. Get comfortable with it. Don’t change. The Gospel says - No. You’re better than that. You’re so much more than that. You don’t have to do those things anymore. You don’t have to be an addict anymore. You don’t have to give in to those habits any longer. You don’t have to make those decisions any longer.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Main Idea: Don’t fall for the “poser” who tells you you can live anyway you want or who tells you you just have to be a good person.
So what? Which one will you listen to this week?
Now What? If you’re here and you don’t know Jesus, I want to invite you to accept him this morning.
Prayer