A Model Disciple: Paul (Part 2)

There was a certain young woman who always tried to live her life in consideration of others. She wanted to be a good person, so throughout her childhood, she did what was asked of her by her parents and teachers, she tried to befriend those classmates everyone else seem to ignore, and she was careful not to fall in with the wrong crowd. Her friends would frequently tell her, “you are so nice”. Had someone asked her why she was the way she was – she would have probably pointed to her grandmother – Nana. Nana was the sweetest woman in the world and everyone in town loved her – and so the young girl wanted to be like her Nana.

She went to church with Nana almost every Sunday as a child, smiling when Nana would occasionally respond “Amen” to whatever the pastor was saying. During her teen years, she participated in youth group and enjoyed hearing stories about Jesus caring for people, especially the poor, and she felt she was the kind of person Jesus would be proud of. She even went on a mission trip once to help rebuild homes in a poor, depressed area. When she shared her experience with the church the following week, everyone told her afterwards what a good job she did and that she was such a nice girl.

College proved to be a challenge. Being nice didn’t seem to get you very far. But she pushed through, studied rigorously, and tried to find a balanced social life. Without Nana there to take her, there just didn’t seem to be time for church. She reasoned that it was ok, Jesus knew she was a nice person.

Adult life proved to be difficult. Things don’t always work out as planned. People can’t always be trusted and to get ahead – you sometimes have to look out for yourself. Some of her relationships were not healthy ones and there were times when she felt very much alone. She felt like somewhere along the way, she had taken a wrong turn.

So she decided to talk to the one person who may be able to help her – her Nana. Sitting on Nana’s porch, she poured out through tears everything that had happened and the person she feared she had become. “Nana, I don’t like who I am.” Nana listened and comforted her. “Sweet child, have you prayed?”

She replied, “I don’t think Jesus would want to hear from me right now. I’ve not been a very good person, I’ve said some pretty awful things, and I’ve not been very nice.”

Nana held her tight, “Honey, it is not about whether you have been good or whether you have been bad – it is about who holds your heart. Jesus loves you and he wants you to take away all your disappointment, your shame, your bitterness, and your loneliness and fill you with His very presence – but you must call out and invite Him in. Let him nail your sin and shame on the cross where it belongs and in exchange – receive the love and peace that only He can provide.”

And so the young woman listened to her Nana and they prayed there on the porch and on that day it was like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She was finally free.

But our story does not end there. You see, the certain young woman returned home from her Nana’s and began to attend a local church in her community. She was so excited and wanted to learn more about how to faithfully follow and serve her Lord and to be a part of His church.

She joined a group Bible study and noticed that the other people did not seem very joyful, but they were quite serious. Much of the study seemed to be focused on what “Thou Shalt Not Do” in order to be a real Christian and be saved. And the list seemed quite long. Thou Shall Not do this…Thou Shall Not do that. She recognized quite a few of her old behaviors in the list – so she reasoned that they must know what they are talking about.

One concerned person in the group pulled her aside after class one night and told her “you seem like a nice person, but I noticed your bumper sticker on your car. You know that God doesn’t approve of those people, right?”

She wasn’t sure which sticker the concerned Christian was referring to, was it her the political candidate she supported, or the cause she supported, or was it the band she loved? Either way, she was mortified! She thought “There are so many rules to following Jesus, I don’t know if I can do this”, and she felt that old familiar weight increasing on her shoulders.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all” - Paul’s opening words to the church of Galatia.

For those of you visiting this morning, we are close to wrapping up a sermon series where we have looked closely at the lives of several real-life disciples found in the Bible and asked “what can I learn from them and apply in my own life.” We are currently looking at the Apostle Paul – a man who is attributed to authoring 13 books of the New Testament and was instrumental in spreading the gospel message to Jews and Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire.

I don’t think I appreciated how often Paul had to defend the gospel from false teachers in his letters until I began working through this sermon series. Last week was the Corinthian church, where Paul had to boast of his weakness to counter the prideful boasting of those false teachers who were undermining his authority and teaching another gospel. The week before, we examined Paul’s letter to the Colossian church, and how Satan was using false teachers to nullify the gospel – and how the servant Epaphras interceded in prayer for the Church so that the true gospel would take root.

And today we are in Galatia, and once again Paul is calling people back to the true gospel he preached because false teachers were requiring new believers to follow Jewish customs and laws – including circumcision – in order to be part of God’s family.

The main premise of Paul’s letter to the Galatians is this: Salvation is a gift of grace given by God through Jesus Christ and this gift is accepted by faith alone. There is nothing we have to do first in order to earn it.

And if Paul had to constantly fight to keep the gospel of Jesus Christ pure and undefiled back then – we can be certain that we need to be diligent in doing the same today.

In some ways, our enemy has been quite successful with his tactics of spreading false teachings. Consider for instance:

Do most people today view the church as a place where lives are transformed or a place of rules and restrictions?

How many church members think their salvation is tied to their good works or their church attendance?

There is a common belief among some people that you have do something before you can be saved – that there is some ritual or some change that you must do –so you can go to heaven. For instance, over the years, I have received quite a few calls from people wanting to baptize their babies but who have no intention of following Jesus Christ themselves or raising their child in the faith – thinking that it is the act of baptism itself that saves their child.

So let’s make it clear. No amount of rule following, no special rituals, no amount of good deeds, no matter how good you live your life, or how well you know the Bible, or how faithful your mother or father were – none of that is going to justify you with the One, Perfect, All powerful, All knowing, Ever present Creator God. Only Jesus can do that.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary states it this way:

“As Paul preached it, salvation is never to be achieved by any amount of conformity to rules and regulations, even God-given regulations. The Law condemns. (in other words – all the places in the Bible where the Law says “Thou shall not” only shows us where we have consistently fallen short of God’s glorious standard. No one has ever kept every single law throughout their whole life.) Consequently, if there is to be salvation for sinful men (and women), it must come in another way entirely. God has offered this other way through Jesus Christ. Jesus died for sins. Now God offers righteousness freely to all who put their trust in Him.”

Jesus Christ paid the penalty of sin, the debt for all the times we broke the law, on the cross so that we could be made righteous with God. When we put our faith in Jesus, it is like we are crucified with Christ, our old sinful self dies on that cross, and just as Jesus rose again and walked out of the grave, we to receive new life, we become a new creation with Christ living within us – His power enabling us to live as God intended.

This is what Paul said to the Galatians:

Galatians 2:20–21 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Where Satan messes things up for us is by selling us a false gospel. This is usually found in one of the two false teachings.

First false teaching is this: because of God’s grace, I now have license to do whatever I want. Since I am no longer under the law – I can disregard the clear teachings of the Bible. I don’t need to change, I’m saved.

This is wrong on many levels. Through Christ, we died to sin, why would we want to go back to living a way that leads to death and not life?

Paul addresses this very thing in Romans, Chapter 6 and I like Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of it in his book the Message.

Romans 6:8-11 (the Message)

When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.”

We follow God’s Word because it leads to life and life in the fullest. That requires change in behavior – and the Spirit of God gives us the power to change.

The second false teaching is this: that we have to live in fear of breaking God’s laws or losing our salvation.

The choice is yours - do you want to be covered by grace or live under the law?

I choose grace. Because I believe by faith in Jesus Christ and put my whole trust in Him, and since I recognize what he has done for me, my response to this gift is to live a life that brings God glory.

I believe that Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to reside in me and the Spirit will guide the way I live my life. When I do wrong, He let’s me know it. I repent and continue moving forward – no condemnation, because I am not under the law. Because I desire to live a life of thankfulness – I gladly worship him, not out of duty, but out of love. Because I know that Jesus knows what is best for my life, I study his Word and aim to follow his teachings everyday. Not out of fear, but out of love.

That is a life in grace – and it is beautiful. It truly is Good News.

The enemy hates it when we live this way – which to me is a bonus!

How about you?

Are you living in grace? Which gospel have you listened to? There is only one offered by Jesus and is available to you today. The other one is no gospel at all.