It’s late August in 2001.
The school summer holidays have been hot and long and fun if you’re a teenaged boy called Joe Whittaker.
I’m 14 years old at the time and it’s about 10am on Saturday.
I wake up to 5 words from my mum:
“Joseph David Whittaker – wake up”
With those 5 words I already know 3 things for certain:
- I know I’m in BIG trouble.
- I know mum is angrier with me than she’s ever been before.
- I know my weekend is over before it has started.
This wasn’t the first time my mum had called up to me to wake up. So why was I so sure something was seriously wrong?
It was mum’s tone.
Her tone and the way she used my full name told me everything I needed to know.
You might be keen to know exactly what had happened.
Well, it’s not Eastenders and I’m not going to regale you with a tale of teenage hijinks.
But I will tell you this…
The story ended with me being indefinitely grounded.
The story ended with me, a 14-year-old boy, being chaperoned by mum as I walked to school while my friends arrived independent of their parents.
The story ended with a CCTV picture of me pinned to every checkout at Syston Wilkinson’s with the words: banned for life scrawled underneath.
Tone changes everything.
Ok, Now to the Point(s)…
Of the 13 Books written by Paul in the New Testament, there are lots of overlapping features.
There’s a noticeable difference with the tone of Galatians though.
See for yourself…
Just below are 4 different intros to New Testament letters written by Paul. Then there’s the intro to Galatians.
See if you can spot something that gives away how different the tone of Galatians is.
- 1 Corinthians 1:1-5
- Romans 1:1-8
- Philippians 1:15
- Colossians 1:1-4
- Galatians 1:1-10
Notice anything?
Paul’s introduction to the Galatians does not feature a section of thanksgiving.
That indicates a problem SO BIG it needs dealing with urgently – there’s no time to be pleasant.
If you’ve ever read a Pauline epistle, you’ll know that Paul doesn’t avoid addressing issues in the churches he writes to.
For example the church in Corinth had problems with:
- People showing up to church drunk
- Church members casually joining in with cult sex parties (yes- actually)
- Church members picking their favourite leaders and fighting over them
Big issues right? Yet – Paul still found time to include a thanksgiving in his letter to these guys.
Not the Galatians though!
It’s a matter of urgency to Paul to address the biggest issue facing the Galatians.
Paul’s Obsession in Galatians
Paul’s obsession in this opening passage of Galatians is on the Gospel.
I think there are three things we can consider in relation to the Gospel as we look at the first 10 verses of Galatians:
- The Gospel is under attack
- There’s only ONE Gospel
- Don’t depart from it
The Gospel is Under Attack
Paul really works hard to establish where his apostolic authority comes from in Galatians. Did you notice that?
Here, compare the opening lines of a few other epistles:
- 1 Corinthians 1:1
- Colossians 1:1
- Romans 1:1
Now take a look at Galatians 1:1.
Why does Paul seem to belabour the point of his Apostolic authority?
Why did Paul thus assert and defend his apostleship?
Was he just a braggart, inflated with personal vanity?
No […] It was because the gospel that he preached was at stake. If Paul were not an apostle of Jesus Christ, then men could, and no doubt would, reject his gospel. This he could not bear.
For what Paul spoke was Christ’s message on Christ’s authority. So he defended his apostolic authority in order to defend his message.
~John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way.), The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 14–15.
That’s why Paul is so stern with the Galatians, he’s defending the most precious thing: the Gospel.
In the case of the Galatians, the attack came from a group of people you’ll hear referred to as the Judaizers.
Today, the gospel isn’t always attacked exactly like that (although it can be).
When my friend James and I opened a fruit and veg shop in Honiton we employed someone who literally thought she’d go to hell if she was late home (post Sabbath) on a Friday and died en-route.
The enemies of the gospel are everywhere.
The goal is the age old goal: if people doubt God they’ll rely on themselves.
It’s no wonder Paul was cross – me too.
There’s Only One Gospel
Take a look at Galatians 1:6-7.
Why is Paul so harsh?
Because abandoning the gospel isn’t trivial.
Abandoning the gospel = abandoning Jesus.
Don’t depart from the Gospel
Read the following carefully: Galatians 1:8-9
Paul would gladly consider himself anathema.
Paul isn’t speaking in hyperbole when he refers to it being an angel either.
Read the following testimony:
“While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.
“He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. His hands were naked, and his arms also, a little above the wrist; so, also, were his feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His head and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open, so that I could see into his bosom.
“Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me.
“He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.
“He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;
How did you feel reading this? This is the testimony of Joseph Smith. He went on to create an organisation called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
He went on to teach of how salvation comes from what you do as much as it comes from anything God does.
To this very day, people are being led away by this counterfeit Gospel.
Less than a year ago, when one of our sermons was published on Facebook, someone commented underneath something like, “I’m new to the area but if anyone is struggling with some of the issues in this message, I’d love to chat with you”.
I struck up a conversation with that person.
Anyone seeing that sermon posted on Facebook and the comments section could also have had a conversation like this.
There are counterfeit gospels everywhere. If we fail to spot them then we’re in danger.
A counterfeit is really easy to spot though when you know the real thing.
Remind yourself of it often.
Here’s a quick reminder:
- The good news isn’t a book that tells us what we can do to earn our salvation
- The good news comes from a book that tells us about what God did to earn our salvation
- God sent Jesus to do for us something we can never do for ourselves: He paid for the things we had done wrong in His body on the cross
- God made us in the first place to rule alongside him in his perfect creation
- We chose not to do that. We chose to go our own way
- We naturally rebel against the god who made us
- We lie
- We hurt people
- We make selfish choices
- Even at our best, deep down we know we fall short
When we do this…
- We forfeit our right to all the good blessings God promised us when he created us.
- We don’t get to live forever ruling and reigning over his endlessly beautiful creation forever.
- We don’t get to enjoy his smile over us.
- We don’t get the warmth of being held in the palm of our God’s hand.
We give it all up.
But Jesus came and never rebelled. As a man, he perfectly obeyed God. As the God man, he took our debt and our shame onto himself and it killed him. He buried our guilt in a cold, rocky tomb.
Then he burst out of it, making a way for us to once and for all enjoy God’s blessing.
We can’t get right with God.
We can’t earn God’s blessing.
We don’t deserve heaven.
But Jesus says, “that’s ok, I’ve made a way, jump into my arms and I’ll cary you where you can’t take yourself”.
We do nothing but trust or reject. Jesus does everything.
Let’s never depart from that. Nothing else will do.
No other gospel will save.
I’ll leave you with some more words of Charles Spurgeon.
