Galatians 1:11-24
Notes
Transcript
Opening Statement: The Big Idea that catches the attention.
Hey Y’all, how are y’all doing? Who stayed up and watched the braves game last night? How about them braves, if you did’t stay up to watch the game, you missed out. Any predictions on the Series? Who is winning in how many games? Cool
Introduction Story: A story that invites the listener into that topic, creating credibility and connection immediately.
Okay cool, so question for you, does the name George Wallace ring a bell to anyone? He died in the 90’s so unless you just really like History, and especially Southern history you probably wouldn’t know who he is. Adults in the room are probably wondering where I’m going with this because y’all probably remember some of this.
So George Wallace was a politician in Alabama in the late 50’s on in to the 80’s. He was an opponent to the civil rights movement, he was pro-segregation. He was governor of Alabama in 1963 and this was a quote from his inaugural address in 1963, “Segregation today, Segregation tomorrow, and Segregation forever.” Dude was a straight up racist, he didn’t like black people, and didn’t think white people and black people should exist together.
Now, what if I told you that In the early 80’s George Wallace ran again for governor and won 90% of the black vote, 90%percent of black people in Alabama voted for George Wallace to be governor. Would you believe me? You might but you’d have some serious questions. But that is actually true, he ran for governor in the 80’s and won, and he recieved 90% of the Black vote. To me that’s crazy, it would be unheard of today if someone had said what they said 20 years earlier.
So what happened? Because that kinda stuff doesn’t just go away, that stuff remains, it exists. So, if you have ever seen the movie forest Gump, you know that pretty much everyone forest meets get shot, he meets JFK after becoming an all American, then you hear forest say, somebody shot that man, he is on TV with John Lennon, Somebody shot that man, there is a scene where he is meeting a politician in Alabama, and that’s George Wallace, then you hear forest say, somebody shot that man. That’s real, somebody shot him in the 70’s, he didn’t die though, he was paralyzed from the waste down in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. and through him being shot he actually came to know the Lord, he became a follow of Christ, he was transformed, he recanted his views on race, and actually did a lot of work in the black community in his later life.
Segue: How this message will tie into the introduction story.
So why did I tell you this story? Cause tonight we are going to look at the transformative work of the Gospel. We are going to look at what it means for the gospel to transform our lives.
The Gospel is transformative, following Christ transforms us in to the likeness of Christ.
So we are going to be in Galatians again tonight where we will be for the next few weeks.
Text:
So with that, lets read this whole passage together and look at what is going on here. But before we do that, let’s pray for our time in the word tonight. f
pray
Alright let’s read this whole passage Galatians 1:11-24
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
Alright so whats going on here? Paul is writing to the Galatians because they were preaching something that was not the Gospel, like we looked at last week they were preaching basically Christ plus something, Christ in addition to following the law. This was an early form of legalism.
Paul is also explaining to them where his authority comes from. Paul met Christ and received the Gospel from Christ, not from any one else but from Christ himself.
So Paul is trying to appeal to both his authority as an apostle and ultimately to the authority of Christ himself that the Gospel he has received and is now preaching is the same Gospel given to Him by Christ.
Then we get a small version of Paul’s conversion story and this is really the part I want to focus on tonight, is Paul lays out how the Gospel transformed his life.
The crux of this passage is right here in verse 13, Gal. 1:13
13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
There is a life before Christ, Paul’s former life is probably what is making the Galatians a little bit suspicious of him, Paul used to kill Christians, Paul arrested Christians and was trying to stamp out belief in Christ.
Build: How does this story answer the question, solve the problem or relieve the tension that the Introduction Story began with? JUST ONE POINT, PEOPLE.
So what is the problem here? Sometimes we feel that there are people who cannot be redeemed, or even more often we think we cannot be redeemed. We think that either there is a person so bad they cannot be redeem or we think we have done something so bad that we cannot be redeemed, but the truth of the Gospel is that it transforms us in to something new, we are made a new creation and the former is no more. So if you remember anything from tonight, remember that when we meet Christ, we are no longer the same, the Gospel does not let you stay the same.
I want us to look at this through how Paul’s life is changed and how God’s glory is put on display.
So pre-conversion where is Paul at? He is going after Christians and arresting them, having them killed, one of the historians of the day Josephus writes in his history that Paul would actually burn whole towns down that would be harboring christians or made up of Christians.
We have a word for what Paul was doing, and how we would classify Paul at that time. We would call him a terrorist.
Paul was trying to stamp out Christianity by any means necessary if he couldn’t physically get to you he would psychologically get to you, he used fear as a weapon. Fear was a tool that Paul used to persecute christians, creating constant anxiety for a follower of Christ.
Paul used terror as a means to come against Christianity.
Paul was violent, extreme, and destructive. Paul had people murdered, arrested, and beaten for being a Christian.
verse 14 basically says this was his life’s work.
Then look at verse 15 and 16, Gal. 1:15-16
15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;
This is where the change happens. This is the conversion of Paul, this is the transformation of Paul, this is where he met Christ.
and there are four things I want us to see here in just these two verses
The first one is, - Transformation involves God’s intervention.
Paul like we said was a terrorist, persecuting Christians. but an even better word to describe Paul is sinner. Paul, like all of us, is a sinner in need of the grace and mercy of Christ.
The first word in verse 15 ‘But’ is the hinge word, the whole thing changes afterwards. One moment it is one way, the next it is completely different.
I know I have used this illustration before, but diet coke and mentos, once you put the mentos in the awful terrible, diet coke, the mentos change it, it becomes something else, the diet coke is no longer there, it is something else.
The truth of the gospel is that, God’s intervention is the rescue mission, the but changes everything.
Think of this, look how the word but changes these statements,
- The other team scored but there was a flag on the play.
- He twisted his knee around, but nothing broken
- You have cancer, but we can treat it
- I wanted to die, but God pulled me near and kept me alive.
The commentary i used in study said it this way, transformation and conversion is the act in which our stories rescue receive the holy conjunction “but”
The second thing I want us to see here is -transformation involves God’s eternal planning.
Verse 15 say, God, who from my birth set me apart.” God is the one in control, God is the one who has this planned out. God is the one who knows all that we have done and still loves us and wants to call us his own. This is God’s plan the entire time.
The third thing I want us to see here is - transformation involves God’s gracious calling.
Paul is called by God for his plan and purpose. Paul says he was called by His grace. We cannot run from God’s calling, once God call us, we are going to come after him, we cannot run from his call. Once God say it is done.
Here is a thing that I want you to understand, God’s words are action, they are not suggestions.
Think about it like this, when your mom tells you to clean your room, you probably don’t immediately jump up and get after it, you might sit there for another 10 mins, or get to it the next day, or your mom has to get on you again. But think about the words of God, they take effect immediately
- Let there be light, God said it and it was light.
-God tells the storms to stop, they stop right then and there
-Jesus Tells Lazarus to come out of the grave, Lazarus come stumbling out. Jesus didn’t have to go in there and try to wake him up, Jesus just says it and it is so.
The Lord calls and we are his.
When Paul basically answers the question later in Galatians as to how he became Christian, the only answer he can give is he was called by the grace of God. Even he can’t really explain it apart from God.
The church is built on the call by the grace of God, we are all sinners who have been saved by grace.
The Fourth thing i want us to see is - transformation involves seeing the glory of Christ.
Paul came to see Christ for who He is. Paul had known the teaching of Christianity, he knew what the claim was, he had studied the OT backwards and forwards, he knew the messiah was on the way, he knew who christ was in his head, but he did not accept Christ for who he was. Christ opened Pauls eyes. Paul came to see Christ as Lord, as King.
Who wears glasses? do any of you remember the first time you tried on your glasses? Your eyes were blurry, then all the sudden crystal clear. Seeing the glory of Christ takes the blinders of our eyes, we were blind to christ until he opened our eyes.
Statement: Same as opening statement. Some may refer to The Big Idea or Bottom Line. I don’t use those terms because I think they’re tacky.
The Gospel transforms us, once you come to live under the grace of the gospel you are transformed by the gospel.
So let’s look at what happens after the transformation and conversion of Paul. let me read this again really quickly, Gal. 1:16-24
16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
Crescendo: How does The Gospel ultimately solve this problem? Preaching is about pointing to Christ & the Gospel, not good works, trying harder or moralism.
So now what, what can we take from this?
We can see that after Paul comes to Christ his life is turned upside down, as scripture says, it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Once you have been transformed by the Gospel you are not the same. Your life will not be the same. Your identity changes, you become something new. once you are transformed by Christ and the Gospel you are no longer living under your own power. You now live under the grace of Christ. Not that you can do anything you want but that you are now no longer living under your own power, you are not the one calling the shots. You live in submission to Christ.
The second thing we can take from this if you have been transformed by the gospel is, that we now share in the responsibility of making Christ known to the world. One of the main purposes of Paul’s calling is to take the gospel to the gentiles, to the non jewish world. This is why Galatia had a church at all, Paul planted it.
His life plans have changed because of this call of Christ. The rest of the verse show how Paul prepared to go to the gentiles. Look at verse 23 and 24, Gal. 1:23-24
23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
God was glorified even in Paul’s past, they knew who Paul was and now they know who this new Paul is, he was one way, now he is another way. God was able to use even bad things for His glory.
We are all called to take the gospel that has transformed out lives to others.
The easiest way to share the gospel is to share how your life was before christ, and then after christ. “I was this way, now I am not.”
So why are we talking about this tonight? why does this matter, what does this have to do with anything?
This story Paul is telling us should give us a new way to look at the grace of God.
Look at Paul, before being transformed by Christ, he is this fanatical terrorist killing and burning his way in to the minds of the 1st century church.then we see his transformation. We see that God’s grace can overcome all things, and that God’s grace was there from beginning to end. God’s grace is eternal. Then after his transformation, he is proclaiming the good news of Christ to the very people he was persecuting. He was carrying out the work of building the kingdom.
So for us, this story shows us that God is in the business of saving people, he can save a murdering terrorist named Paul. no one is out side the reach of Christ and his grace. This is what the good news is. The gospel is not a guide to live or advice from a man, but the the Gospel is the Good news from God. It is in christ that we are going to find the hope we never had, in christ we are going to see the joy that only he can bring. In Christ we are going to have the only live that bring truth satisfaction in this world and in the next.
If you are a follower of Christ, this text is calling you live under the grace of Christ. See this passage as hope that there is grace and forgiveness for sins. This text is calling you to rest in the mercy of God. We cannot live the christian life in our own power, that is what makes the Gospel good news, christ did it for us. Christ lived the life we could not live and died the death we should have died. We are able to rest in the fact the Christ is king and we are his heirs, we are His sons and daughters. This text should bring us joy to see Christ on the throne.
If you are not a follower of christ or you don’t know what you believe, this text should bring hope to you as well, there is nothing that you could have done in this life that would be bad enough to put you out of God’s reach. no one is beyond redemption. The good news of the gospel is that you can come as you are, you can come to God as you are, you do not have to have it together before you can come to God, you just come and ask the lord to save you. God and his grace is transformative, you come as you are, but God will not let you stay as you are, the grace of God transforms you in to the likeness of Christ. Christ is the agent of change in your life not your own power but the power of Christ living in you.
So if you have no idea what it means to follow christ come talk to me, talk to one of the adults in here, talk to a friend who knows christ. Do not wait to come to christ, come be transformed by his grace, and see Christ for who he is.
Y’all pray with me
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