The Gospel--God's Idea

The Gospel is God’s idea.

The result—a transformed life

Religion—man’s effort to please God

Gospel—God’s plan to unite man to Him

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Religion

When you hear this word, what is the first thing that pops into your head?

How do you feel when you hear this word?

Is it something that makes you want to turn and run?

Is it a word that makes you feel defensive?

What is religion anyway?

Whatever it is,

Chances are that it is not a word that makes us feel warm and fuzzy. Generally, it seems like the word has negative connotations for us

Now, religion really isn’t a bad word. In fact, the apostle James uses this word and describes for us what pure religion is.

James 1:26-27 “26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Good religion is:

Restraining your tongue (watching how you talk)

Visiting those in need (widows and orphans)

Keeping yourself unstained by the world

So, even though Scripture defines for us what good religion is

There is still often a reaction to this word—religion

Many people, when presented with the Gospel message, reject it saying, “I don’t go in for that all that religion stuff”.

Many people have left the Church saying, “I’m done with religion. I’ve had enough.”

Or maybe you’ve gotten the question as I have: “So…you go to church. Are you religious?” How do you answer?

Maybe we aren’t sure how to even define what religion is. Many people have tried

Karl Marx tried to explain religion:

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opiate of the people

An opiate is something that you take to dull the senses. If you are in pain, it helps dull the pain.

If your life is in turmoil, it helps dull you to what is going on around you.

Karl Marx thought that religion was something that people took part in to help shut out the pain of the world around them.

or to make sense of the pain in the world around them

As you hear people express their thoughts about religion, there is a consistent theme that comes through:

Religion has to do with what I can do for God to win His approval, or to earn brownie points with him.

OR. Religion is something that I do to make me feel good.

So religion, even good religion, is about things that we do.

Which as Believers isn’t altogether bad

There certainly is a standard or way of life that is required of us.

The problem is that we as people have a tendency to think this way:

“Well, if God gave us things to do, and those things are good, I’ll bet I can make his list even better if I add to it.

I’ll bet God will be even more pleased with me if I make the list longer, and I bet I can win even more of His favor if I do an even better job of following that list.”

So religion becomes Jesus + my standard

And religion also allows us to compare ourselves with each other.

“Hey, at least I’m doing better than that guy over there.”

“Oh, you didn’t read your bible at all this week? I read mine every day.”

“Yep, I showed up for church Sunday night, and that guy didn’t.”

And then we are in trouble, because that is when religion becomes man’s idea, and not God’s idea.

Paul knew all about being religious.

I heard one guy say, If there was a pro team of being religious, Paul would have been the quarterback.

He’s not shy about admitting this, here in this passage, and also in Philippians 3.

Hey, I was a better Jew, I was more religious than any of you!

And people knew this about Paul. His reputation had preceded him.

They knew that he was one of the top Pharisees

They knew that when it came to the law, Paul could out-debate, and out-persuade anyone.

And they knew how the Pharisees loved to invent ways of being religious…ways which put increasing burdens on the people.

But they also knew that there was not much they could do about it if they wanted to keep going to the synagogue and not get into trouble with the religious leaders.

And I have to wonder, if this was something that the Judaizers were using to their advantage.

I wonder if they were saying something to the effect of

“Hey, this new teaching that you received from Paul. It’s just a new thing that he thought up to keep you under his thumb. We know how he was trained as a Pharisee. This is what the Pharisees do…come up with new and different ways of saying this is what you need to do to please God.”

So Paul today is going to set the record straight.

Galatians 1:10–24 (ESV)

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.

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.

Here’s the overall point of what Paul is saying:

THE GOSPEL IS GOD’S IDEA, NOT MINE!

Paul says, “Look you can say all you want. You can say that the other apostles got together with me and said, ‘Here’s what you are going to say.”

“You can say this whole thing was a big elaborate plan cooked up by me and the others down in Jerusalem.

“But that’s not it at all”

Paul says, I’m talking about the Gospel here, and I want to show you how the Gospel is different than manmade religion.

The Gospel is about Jesus, not about man.

Paul says, “I am not trying to earn brownie points with man! (verse 10)

Remember I said that part of what religion allows us to do is compare ourselves with each other

Paul is saying, “Look, if the Gospel had been my invention or the invention of one of my friends, I would be trying to work things so that I remain in good standing with mankind

I would be trying hard not to ruffle too many feathers

I would be worried about my appearance and how I’m coming across

And this is what we have to know about the Gospel

If we are more concerned about what people think of us, if our main goal is to have people think well of us,

Then we have to wonder if we have gotten the Gospel right.

Paul says, “That’s not what I’m trying to do at all.”

Someone who “gets” the Gospel cares less and less what people think about him and instead says, “I’m a servant of Jesus Christ, and my desire is to see the Gospel message proclaimed in its purest form”

If you can say from the bottom of your heart, “My goal, my aim, my heart’s desire, is to be known as a servant of Jesus Christ, no matter what folks around me say

if you can say, I want the Gospel to be proclaimed in it’s purest form so it is Jesus who is proclaimed and not a system of religion

Then I would have to say that you are “getting the gospel”

The Gospel is revealed by Jesus (vs12. Again in vs 16)

Religion is taught by man

Rules, guidelines, proper ways of having church, the right way to act, all these things are taught by man.

The Gospel is revealed by Jesus Christ.

Galatians 1:12 “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.”

And this is something that possibly puzzles his readers.

The Gospel was revealed to you? What do you mean?

and so Paul explains

Paul says, “Look, here is the kind of Jew that i was. I was the best of the best”

I was a persecutor of the church

I persecuted the church violently.

I tried to destroy the church

But I wasn’t a wicked man, according to the Jews.

On the contrary, was a very religious man!

I was advancing in Judaism beyond many people my own age

In other words, I was the cream of the crop when it came to being religious

I was zealous for the traditions of my fathers

My greatest passion was to make sure that what I was taught by my ancestors was preserved

That is why I was a Pharisee

That is why I persecuted the church. It’s because religion was the most important thing to me

But, he says, something happened to me to change me

The Gospel was revealed to me.

Galatians 1:16 “16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,

The Gospel was revealed to him

Oh, say his readers. So you had this experience on the road to Damascus and then you went and consulted those Christians and they taught you about the Gospel

No, says Paul. That’s not what happened.

I did not immediately consult with anyone;” I didn’t go to Jerusalem right away, and I didn’t speak with the apostles

I went away into Arabia and to Damascus

Then after 3 years I did go to Jerusalem and spent a little time with Peter, and I saw James as well

And then I went away again back into Syria.

What was he doing all that time?

Was he learning the traditions of men? No, he was preaching

And while he was preaching, the Gospel was being revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.

I just recently listened to the testimony of a man who grew up in a conservative Mennonite home in Alberta and who as a young man walked away from the Lord

And how one day in in desperation for things to be different in his life, he downloaded the YouVersion bible app, and began to just read the verse of the day

And suddenly, the Scripture that he had heard as a young man began to come alive in his heart

And he became hungry for more of it

And his heart began to change and become soft

And he and his wife who had grown up completely outside of church, having never read the bible in her life, gave their hearts to the LORD.

This is not religion, or the traditions of man being taught.

This is the Gospel being revealed to hearts that were seeking!

We like to have preachers in our church who can teach the Word to us on Sunday morning, or at least fill a time slot.

And guys like us can talk all we want, but unless the Gospel is revealed to us by the Spirit of the Lord, then what we teach is just words

Anyway, there is a lot that we could say about this.

The Gospel is missional

Meaning that the Gospel demands a response from us, not just in a change of belief, but in a change of mission

Look at what the Gospel did in Paul’s life: vs 15-16

Galatians 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;”

Set apart before he was born

Called him by God’s grace

Sent with the message of the Gospel to the Gentiles

Have you ever stopped to consider that before you were born, God had already set you apart for a special work, a special purpose

He had already looked into the future and said, “There is going to be a man named ________, and I’ve got something special for him

And then one day he calls your name

It might be down the road a bit

With Paul, God called his name well into adulthood

With this man I listened to, God called his name well into adulthood

So God sets you apart, and he calls you you into his service

Some people may never answer that call

Some people get the call very early in life

And then He sends you.

For Paul, it was to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles

And what Paul says at the end of verse 16 really strikes me.

He says, “When Jesus was revealed to me, and my mission was made clear to me, I didn’t immediately consult anyone about it.”

Jesus was revealed to Paul, his mission was made clear, and he simply went and obeyed.

The reason this strikes me is that I don’t know if we tend to think this way.

We put a lot of stock into thinking that before anyone makes a radical change in their lives, they should probably talk to someone about it first

And if someone does think this way, it makes us scratch out heads and think, “Man, does he really know what he’s doing? Kind of a loose cannon there”

When we were preparing to go overseas, there were a lot of people who spoke into our lives, and I don’t remember anyone who said we shouldn’t go.

We had a lot of support.

But we had colleagues who had very little support from their family and friends, yet were so convinced by the Gospel message that they went anyway.

When we were preparing to come back to the states, again, we sought council from people, and this time

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t seek council from people, but could there be a time or times in our lives when the message of the Gospel is so compelling in our lives, that we simply GO

This is what Paul did. After all, who was he going to consult?

The Apostles would have said, “What are you crazy? You’ve been trying to kill us and now you want to join us and go preach to the Gentiles?

And the Jews would have probably just killed him.

And so Paul did not consult with anyone but went and did what the Gospel demanded of him

What is it that the Gospel message is demanding of you? or of us?

The Gospel changes lives for the glory of God

The believers heard that “he who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he used to destroy.” And they glorified God because of Paul

Again, this can be a convicting thing for us because of our tendency to hold people at arm’s length who used to reject the Gospel message or who used to be antagonistic toward believers

Do we trust that God uses the Gospel to change lives and do we glorify God because of it?

Do we willingly and eagerly give people a second chance when we see the Gospel changing them?

I trust that we do