Galatians

Greetings to the saints of Hillcrest! My name is Paul, and I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. Your pastor tells me that you are starting a new study through a book of the Bible today called Galatians. Well, I just happen to be the guy who wrote that letter. Pastor Daniel said that perhaps we could have a book signing at the end of the service, but I told him I already signed that book once; with really big letter so that the Galatian churches would know it was me!

Well, let me just begin today by telling you a little about myself. I was born into a Jewish family in Tarsus, Cilicia. (That’s on the North East boarder of the Mediterranean Sea.) I was also born as a Roman citizen. Some suspect my father was a fairly wealthy guy because Roman citizenship was hard to come by for Jews in that day. That citizenship has come in handy to get me out of a few scrapes now and then, but my supreme heritage has always been as a Jew. As a matter of fact, I was circumcised on the 8th day of my life like every good Jewish boy. My original name given by my parents was Saul. I born through the family tree of Benjamin, which is a pretty big deal among Jewish families. I grew up a Hebrew of Hebrews. I went of to school in Jerusalem and trained under the expert teacher, Gamaliel. Even as a young man I was proving to be the most zealous of all the Pharisees. We were a group of Jewish elites who had the repetition for being experts of the Law. I searched the Scriptures with fervency, because I thought that in them I would have eternal life.

Eventually, my zeal lead to action. There was this new sect that formed called the Way. There ring leader was Jesus. I was still fairly young when He arrived in Jerusalem, but He certainly caused a stir. His followers… called disciples..testified that they were witnesses of His resurrection after He had been executed on a cross. Well, I just couldn’t go for that, so when one of His followers named Stephen was been executed I heartily approved of the whole thing and even held the coats for those who threw stones at him and caused his death. Stephen’s death excited a spirit of persecution in me. I started arresting men and women who were following this Jesus character, and persecuted them to death. I beat them harshly. I even went to the High Priest and asked him for a letter to travel to Damascus so that I could arrest those who belonged to the Way in that city as well. That’s when everything changed!

I was on the road traveling to Damascus, when a bright light struck me down. A voice, who identified Himself as Jesus spoke to me and told me I was actually persecuting Him. I was blinded in that moment, but he told me to go on to Damascus and there He would reveal what I should do. (By the way, if you want to read the historical account of all this I commend to you my good friend Dr. Luke’s inspired writing in the book of Acts. You may want to pick up my story around chapter 9) At any rate, I was lead into Damascus and fasted from food and water for three days. Then a devout and Godly man named Ananias came to visit me. Jesus had sent him to deliver a message to me. He healed my sight and immediately I was filled with the Holy Spirit and went out to be baptized. I stayed in Damascus for awhile after that. Funny thing... I went there to bring charges against the followers of Jesus and ended up being changed into a follower of Jesus. I went there to persecute Jesus and ended up preaching Jesus. I actually made such a turn around in the city that they were going to kill me and I narrowly escaped when the brothers let me down the city wall in a basket to escape!

You see, along with saving me from my sin, Jesus gave me very clear orders. I was going to preach His gospel to Gentiles, and I was going to suffer greatly for His name sake. And so I have. I have been imprisoned multiple times, five times I received the lashes of beating with 40 stripes, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned and left for dead, three times I experienced ship wrecks and was adrift at sea. I've gone without food, water, and shelter. But in all my weaknesses, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus is blessed forever!

Now, it was Jesus’ command that I preach the gospel to the Gentiles that lead me to Galatia. After about 14 years of ministry in and around Tarsus, I made another visit to Jerusalem to seek some counsel with the apostles there. They affirmed the gospel I was preaching and when the church in Antioch prayed and fasted, the Holy Spirit separated myself and Barnabas to begin our first mission journey. (Good ole Barnabas. What an encourager! We haven't always agreed on everything but that brother stood up for me in Jerusalem not long after my conversion. He is a faithful brother and great servant of Jesus.) That first journey eventually took us to the region of Galatia. (You can pick up that account starting in Acts chapter 13., and I think there might be a little map of that journey on the screen.)

After John Mark left us in the city of Perga, we visited Antioch in Pisidia. We preached the gospel of Jesus there and had quite a response. So much so, that the Jews became jealous of the crowds and drove us out of the city. From there we visited other cities and surrounding areas in southern Galatia like; Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. In all these places we had those who believed the gospel and others who wanted to kill us. However, after we traveled back through these cities and and appointed elders in these new churches we went back to Antioch to offer a report on what God had done!

This takes us to this letter that I wrote to those churches. You see, it wasn’t long after we left that Judaisers came into those churches and started trying to add to the gospel by forcing these Gentile Christians to become Jewish before they could be Christians. Your going to hear my tone when you study the letter, but when I heard the news I was filled with righteous indignation. Quite frankly I was surprised at how quickly these church members were deserting the gospel of grace. So I wrote them a passionate letter to try to correct the falsehood that was running like a virus through the churches.

Now, as I’m standing before you today I cannot help but notice that you all are a bunch of Gentiles too! You might remember that Jesus made it clear to me that I am supposed to share His gospel with you. So… please .. people of HiIlcrest I persevere that you are very religious. As a matter of fact on my travels here today I couldn't help but notice that your country is full of objects that you worship. I even saw an alter inscribed to the unknown god. Give me just a few minutes of your time now to inform you about this God that you do not know. You see, He is the creator of all things. He made the world and everything in it. Nothing has made Him and frankly He doesn't need anything from the hands of those He has created. Rather, He has already given life and breath to every living thing. As a matter of fact He made all the nations of the earth come from one man. The Lord is the one who has determined all the times and set the boundaries of these people groups around the world. This is why we should all seek Him and perhaps reach out and find Him. However, He is not far from us. Just like it says in the book of Job, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Even one of your own poets have said, “We are indeed His offspring.”

Since we all come from God, we cannot think He is like gold or silver. He cannot be be made out of stone or formed by an artist’ imagination. In the past God has been patient and merciful to this kind of ignorance. However, now He commands us all to repent. Why do you ask? Because He has appointed a day when the world will be judged righteously by One whom He appoints as judge. The confidence we have that He will do this is because the One whom He appointed as Judge was raised from the dead.

His name is Jesus Christ. And He has come seeking to save you from your sin. Do not delay. Trust in Him now and be saved. No doubt there are some of you who already have. Even some who think the resurrection from the dead is something to be scoffed at. However, there are some of you still who Jesus is calling to be His true Child. Will you trust Him? Even as you prepare to study this letter to the Galatians, let me be the first to inform you. There is no other way to be in a right relationship with God except through faith in Jesus Christ. As we close, ask yourself this question…

Am I trusting Christ alone for salvation?