Called To Reveal His Son
Time: Sunday am, 25th March 2007, Drouin Baptist Church
Title: Called To Reveal His Son
Text: Galatians 1:13-24
Catch Point
Before vs. After:
We've seen the photos - advertising for everything from weight loss programs, to hair care products - all sorts of things to make a smaller, better, more beautiful you! The photos of others who have used these products or programs appear to confirm the claims. See photo # 1 - George is 120 kg. See photo #2, taken one week later on the program, and George's clothes now appear 20 sizes to big. Amazingly, George is not only slimmer, he's tanner, more muscled, he's more confident and happier, and his teeth are whiter. Truly amazing. But not quite so amazing as the number of people who will believe that they can achieve exactly the same results, without spending much time or effort - just a whole lot of money.
Are dramatic conversions like that realistic? Do they come without much cost?
Introduction
In this next passage from Galatians, we will see the apostle Paul giving us another glimpse into his own life. This is an abbreviated testimony of how God took hold of him and brought about a truly dramatic conversion in him.
First Paul reminds us of the background to this conversion:
A zealously religious Jew
A persecutor of the church of God
Teaching
Power Point 1: The Process of God’s Grace
It Begins with God
Paul thought that his murderous treatment of the followers of Christ was justified by the Law, since he believed that they were blasphemers in calling Jesus the Son of God. But his zealous pursuit of the Christians was only placing him in the dangerous position of being at enmity with God.
Was the Law wrong? NO! It was Paul's understanding of the Law that was at fault. As he would later discover, Christ is the fulfillment of the Law, and the Law proves our need of him.
Was Paul's zeal wrong? It was wrongly directed against the Christians and against Christ himself, but it was not wrong for Paul to be zealous about his faith in God. What Paul needed was to see that knowledge of God he so eagerly desired could only be found in and through Christ. But Paul could not recognise that until it had be revealed to him by an act of God's grace.
At what point was God's grace made known to Paul? Most notably, it was when Christ was revealed to him through his vision on the road to Damascus. But Paul also came to recognise that God had been at work in his life from the moment of his birth (Gal. 1:15). He had been set apart for a purpose. Not only so, but from that earliest time in his life, God had been calling Paul by His grace.
As Paul was zealously pursuing a knowledge of God, albeit through his disgraceful human attempts of obedience to the Law, God was calling Paul to himself. So, Paul's zealousness, though misdirected, was his response to God's calling on his life.
What this proves to us is that it is paramount that we receive not only God's grace in some general sense, not only be seeking to respond to that general grace of God, but that we receive a revelation who Jesus Christ is. It is only a knowledge of Christ as the Grace of God which unlocks the power of God's calling upon our lives. Otherwise, our best attempts at doing good, if not initiated and directed by God, will lead us only in enmity against God. (See Romans 8:5-8)
Power Point 2: The Purpose of God’s Grace
If God should so desire to reveal His son in us, then we aught to respond to such grace with deep and sincere gratitude. Paul did - he gave up his zealous life of Judaism in service to Jesus Christ, the very one whose name he had hoped to exterminate. Paul understood that God's grace towards him - God's calling upon his life and the revelation of the glorified Jesus Christ given to him - was not so that he might boast in his zealous pursuit of Judaism, but so that he might be used to preach Christ among the Gentiles.
The Grace of God is always given for a purpose. If Christ is revealed in us, it is not in order that we might boast, as if we had somehow earned the right for such a privilege. If Christ is revealed in us, it is in order that others may come to know him also.
This highlights a deep yet paradoxical truth about God's grace: We cannot know God's grace unless we sow His grace. Put another way: we cannot keep it unless we are giving it away.
Illustration:
When I was in year 12 secondary school, I learnt how to scuba dive. Part of the training involved learning how to breath properly from an air supply. I learnt how to do that in a water tank that was about 20 meters deep. I discovered that once I had learnt to relax, I could float around weightlessly with my eyes closed and become totally oblivious to the water surrounding me.
A couple of years later, at a youth camp, I had a very different experience with water, kayaking down the upper part of Yarra River. Paddling furiously to keep the kayak afloat and heading in the right direction, as we gunned through a series of rapids, I was very much aware of the presence and the power of the water around me.
The grace of God is very much like the water in those two scenarios. If we are only seeking to 'float around' in it for our own enjoyment, it wont take long before we become oblivious to it. Soon we will start to wonder if God has indeed withheld his grace from us. But if we allow ourselves to be used as channels of His grace towards others, as it moves through us, we cannot help but be moved in our hearts by the power of it - not only to carry us along, but also to change the course of other peoples lives.
Let me express this another way. It is only when reach out in demonstrations of God's loving kindness towards others that we learn to fully appreciate His love for us. It is only in giving His love away that we discover we cannot lose it.
Match Point-
God's grace is not given just so we can live 'blessed', comfortable, good, 'Christian' lives. His Grace is given to us so that Christ may be revealed in us to others. It remains for us, then, to be willing to be made Christ-like. Paul was willing, by God's grace, to be made into the image of Christ. The result was that those who heard the report of his conversion, from a persecutor to a servant of Jesus Christ, 'praised God, because of him' (v.24).
Is this what the report of your life will bring?