DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What is the true gospel?
Turn to Act 15:1. What are these false teachers teaching? Why is this teaching so dangerous?
Why should understanding the true gospel lead to anger toward false gospels?
SERMON MANUSCRIPT:
The most expensive painting ever sold was Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi." Back in 2017, it sold for $450.3M to a man named Mohammed bin Salman.
Although this 500-year-old painting underwent numerous conservation and cleaning efforts, the lure and beauty of this authentic piece of art was just too much to resist for our friend Mohammed.
Now, I would consider myself to be quite the artist, as well. As a kid, I specialized in drawing surfers, skateboarders, and snowboarders.
So, let me ask you, "What would happen to the value of the authentic painting of 'Salvator Mundi' were I to add my own artistic abilities to it?"
Would my contributions lead to an increase in value? Would the value stay the same? Or would my contributions lead to this multimillion-dollar painting losing every cent of value it once possessed?
The second my paintbrush touched Leonardo's canvas would be when this painting lost every cent of its value. The moment I made my contribution would be the moment this authentic piece would lose its worth.
Here's what we will see ring true in our passage today: there is nothing more precious and nothing more valuable than the authentic and exclusive gospel of Jesus Christ. No amount of money on the planet could equal the worth of the gospel of grace. And any attempt to add to this gospel will only destroy the gospel.
What is the gospel, you might ask?
Well, the word "gospel" means good news. And this good news is that God extends eternal life to you through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All you have to do is believe and trust in Jesus, and you will have life.
Where you have sinned, Jesus lived righteously. Where you deserve God's wrath, Jesus (on the cross) took upon himself the condemnation we deserve.
As we saw last week in verse 4, Jesus gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age. And this act of deliverance on our behalf was undeserved. It was entirely an act of grace.
As Christians, we, therefore, place all of our hope in the fact that God is gracious. It is God's grace alone that is the ticket into right standing with God.
But, what we will find today is false teachers were creeping into the church who were seeking to take a paintbrush to this authentic gospel of Christ.
They were communicating the idea that, "Yes, Jesus died for our sins. But, for you to be saved, you also have to be circumcised (Acts 15:1)."
These teachers are essentially saying that your salvation depends upon the blood of Jesus and your actions. They're saying that the root of your salvation is Jesus + your works.
And Paul here is saying, "No! Either the blood of Jesus covers everything, or it covers nothing."
In the words of Tim Keller, “Gospel revision = gospel reversal." Meaning: if you seek to revise or add to the gospel message, you've at that point reversed the gospel message and made it null and void.
In our verses today, Paul is screaming, "Get your paintbrushes off the gospel!" To make any contribution to the gospel is to destroy the gospel.
A DIFFERENT BEGINNING
When you look at Paul's letters to different churches (Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, etc.), Galatians is the only letter Paul doesn't begin by giving a prayer or praise or thanksgiving to the church. In this letter, Paul jumps right into addressing the issue at hand.
Even in his letter to the church in Corinth (who were full of all sorts of issues), Paul starts by saying, "I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus…."
Yet, here in Galatians, we find no such greeting. Paul considers that there is no time to waste in this letter, which communicates the seriousness of the issue at hand. These are pressing verses that carry a lot of weight. The hearts of the first-century readers would be racing after reading these words.
Paul's quick response reminds us of the truth that there is not a more significant danger presented to humanity than the danger that comes from rejecting or abandoning the gospel. If the blood of Jesus is our only hope for life, then trusting in anything other than Jesus leads to death.
In adding to the gospel, we will see in our passage today that the church in Galatia was deserting the gospel. And in abandoning the gospel, they were walking away from God.
To Paul, there is no time for wasted words when dealing with brothers and sisters who are walking away from Jesus.
The verses that we're going to be looking at today could be divided into two sections:
Section 1: verses 6-7. Here Paul is addressing the state of the church and the fact that they are deserting the one who called them.
Section 2: verses 8-9. Here Paul is giving a warning to the church by speaking about those who have deceived the church.
In this first section, I feel like Paul is sad and heartbroken because the church is so quickly turning from the gospel. And in this second section, we find Paul's sadness shift to frustration, anger, and judgment toward those distorting the gospel.
So, my prayer is that we feel the weight of these four verses. I pray that these 101 words demonstrate to us the seriousness and beauty of the gospel. I ultimately want us to see two things: (1) the beauty and exclusivity of the gospel and (2) the tremendous danger of forsaking the gospel.
So, let's dive in.
"6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed."
DESERTING THE GOSPEL = DESERTING GOD
Alright, let's look at verse 6.
Paul starts here by saying that he's astonished. So, like a celebrity hanging out with David Blaine, Paul's jaw has hit the floor in amazement. And he's astonished because the church is so quickly deserting the one who called them in grace.
Their act of abandonment has been swift. It didn't take the church long to begin latching onto a new message contrary to the gospel of grace.
They were so quickly "deserting the one who called them" in grace.
Now, as you're looking in your Bible, I want you to underline the word "deserting." There are a couple of things I want us to take note of here regarding that word.
First and foremost, to desert is to turn and transfer your allegiance from one to another. It's the act of turning your back on someone or something and leaving them on the outside.
This word was initially used in reference to soldiers revolting or deserting their unit in battle. And it later began to be used in reference to the act of changing a political party.
But, the act of desertion here isn't merely intellectual. It's not a transfer of beliefs. It's not like Donald Trump deserting the Democratic Party to become a Republican President in 2017.
The desertion we see here is personal, not intellectual. This is a relational abandonment. Paul says that they are "quickly deserting him who called" them.
So, to desert the doctrine of the gospel is to desert the author of the gospel.
The church wasn't moving onto a better philosophical idea or a better doctrine. They were walking away from the God who called them in grace. As John Stott puts it, "To turn from the gospel of grace is to turn from the God of grace… It's impossible to forsake the gospel without forsaking God."
God and the gospel are so intertwined that you cannot have one without the other. You cannot have God without embracing the message of the cross. And if you add to the cross, you lose the cross.
This is both the beauty and exclusivity of the Christian faith. At the heart of the gospel is a personal encounter with God. And this encounter is birthed out of grace.
The church at this moment was deserting the God who personally called them to himself.
Now, that word deserting is a word that implies current action, not past action. The church is in the act of desertion. But, their abandonment is not complete.
That's extremely important for us as we work our way through this book.
Paul, in Philippians, teaches us that the work that God begins in his people, he will bring to completion. So, if someone has truly experienced the grace and mercy of God, God will draw them back to himself. God will complete the work that he began.
In this instance, the way that God was doing that was through the rebuke of Paul. While the church was walking away from God, God, through Paul, was in the process of drawing them back to himself.
Their desertion was not complete. There was still hope for their return. So, although there was nothing but clouds of abandonment in Galatia at this moment in time, there was hope that the sun of belief would one day shine again in their hearts. Their story was not over. There was hope for their return, and there was still an invitation to return.
Why is that important?
That's important because maybe you feel like you're drifting. Perhaps you feel like you're in the act of deserting the one who called you in grace. Or perhaps you know someone who is in the act of abandoning the faith.
Take heart. Your story, their story, is not over.
God is rich in grace, and he lavishes grace on his people. Grace isn't a ticket that God gives you one time so you can get into the Kingdom of God. Grace is something that God continually extends to his people every second of every day.
God is rich in grace, and it is by his grace that God keeps you in the fold. It's by God's grace that he chases after you to bring you back into the fold whenever you wander. The God of grace welcomes our wandering hearts back to himself with open arms.
The gospel's beauty (and even scandal) is God's constant extension of a gift we do not deserve.
The church, at this moment, is deserting the one who called them in grace. But, their desertion is not complete. So, God, through Paul, is seeking to bring them back to himself.
THE ONE WHO CALLED
Now, what does it mean that God called you in the grace of Christ?
Well, the word "called" can mean several different things. It can imply the act of "crying out" or "calling aloud." It can mean to "designate" or "give one a name." It can imply extending an "invitation" or "to summon" someone.
So, what I think Paul is saying here is that God is the instigator of salvation. If "to call" means to invite or summon, then that means man doesn't summon God. God summons man.
As we saw in verse 4, all of humanity belongs to this evil age. We are all inherently "children of wrath (Eph. 2:2)." But, God being rich in mercy extended to sinners a gift that we do not deserve. And that gift is an invitation to a reconciled relationship with himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
God is not sitting in heaven playing his Xbox with headphones in while we're jumping up and down trying to get his attention, saying, "Please save me!" God is pursuing sinners, calling out to them through his church, inviting sinners into a relationship with himself through His Son. God is active, not passive, when it comes to salvation. He is the one who calls, not man.
So, Christian brothers and sisters, God personally called you out of darkness into light. God personally breathed life into your dry bones. Where you were once an enemy of God, God personally plucked you out of hostility and transformed you into his child. The beauty of the gospel is God's gracious pursuit of sinners.
THE EXCLUSIVE GOSPEL
Eternal life is an undeserved gift that is freely extended to his people. He is the one who called. And like Leonardo da Vinci's painting, you cannot find this message anywhere else in this world.
There is only one good news! And this exclusivity is what makes this message so beautiful.
As Paul puts it, the church was turning to a "different gospel," but there's not another gospel! Nowhere else in this world will you find the hope of God's grace. Every other religion speaks on how you can pursue God with a set of rules.
Apart from the cross, you will only find a list of rules with the expectation that "if you do these things well, then you can one day have a relationship with God."
And apart from the cross, you will only find exhaustion and disappointment! Trying to obtain eternal life through your efforts is like running on a treadmill. You will exhaust yourself only to discover that you've gone nowhere.
The only good news for sinners is the message of God's grace. There is no other gospel!
And the church had both heard this message and embraced this message.
If you look down to verses 8-9, you will see that the gospel of grace was "preached to them," and they "received it."
That word "received" in verse 9 implies taking to and joining one's self to something. So this is a people who had heard God's gospel and joined themselves to Jesus in faith.
Yet, now they are loosening their grip and turning from the very one they had received. They are deserting the gospel for a different gospel.
What a great tragedy.
Our eight-month-old has been going through a sleep regression, and there's nothing worse than a sleep regression.
For all my non-parents in the room, a sleep regression is a time where your child (who was once sleeping well) is no longer sleeping well.
And what makes sleep regression so bad is the fact that you've tasted sleep. You know your child can sleep through the night, but now they are choosing not to. Experiencing sleep and returning to sleeplessness is one of the greatest tragedies in parenthood.
Church, is there anything more tragic than abandoning grace when you've already experienced it? When you've tasted freedom, how can you return to slavery?
When it comes to our relationship with God, we are bent to live transactionally. We view our relationship with God like a transaction. We think, "If I do X for God, God will do Y for me."
For the churches in Galatia, they began to think, "If I get circumcised, God will give me salvation."
For us, we think, "If I get baptized, then I will be saved."
Or, "If I start going to church and start acting like, talking like, and dressing like church people, God will be pleased with me."
Or, "If I pray in the morning and evening, God will give me the job I want."
Folks, listen to me. This is not the gospel. The foundation of your relationship with God is grace. You cannot say that you are saved by grace through faith and go on living like you're on God's payroll.
Yet, you have these teachers distorting the gospel at this time, saying salvation is both a gift and a wage, and the church believing it.
If you look in verse 7, the word "distort" means to pervert or reverse something. To revise the gospel or add to the gospel is to change the gospel altogether. This is why Timothy Keller says, "Gospel revision = gospel reversal."
ANATHEMA
We see here that one of the greatest dangers presented to the church at this time wasn't those outside the church who were trying to oppose, ridicule, or persecute the church. The greatest danger came from those inside the church who were trying to add to the gospel.
As one commentator puts it, "The church's greatest danger is not the anti-gospel outside the church; it is the counterfeit gospel inside the church." And, because of this danger, Paul then goes on to say that "even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."
That word for accursed is "anathema." This is a harsh word that implies a divine ban and punishment. It means to be unredeemable and doomed for destruction. It is one devoted to the direst of woes, eternal damnation.
So, this is a weighty statement made by Paul. And he says it twice, which means it wasn't a slip-up. Like a dad snapping his fingers and repeating himself multiple times, Paul communicates this warning twice. He meant it.
And he even says, "May I be cursed if I preach a message other than the grace of Jesus Christ. Heck! If an angel comes down from heaven and preaches a gospel contrary to the gospel of grace, may he be cursed, too!"
Paul wants us to understand the seriousness of the issue at hand. The most dangerous thing I could do as a pastor is add to grace. The most damning thing I could do is say that the hope of your salvation depends upon anything other than grace. So, may we never add to the message of grace.
To add to grace is to spit in the face of our Savior. It's a slap in the face of the work of God. To add to the cross is to say that "the work of the cross wasn't enough." To add to the cross is to lessen the glory of Christ and heighten the glory of man. And there is nothing more detrimental than to add to or look past the message of the cross.
Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life. And no one can make it to the Father except through him." So, if trusting in Jesus is the only way to life, then trusting in anything else leads to death.
FRUIT, NOT ROOT
There are a lot of good things that we do as a church. There are a lot of good disciplines that we have as Christians.
As a church, we baptize those that profess their faith in Jesus. As a church, we practice church membership. As a church, we gather together with other believers to worship, study, and pray together. As a church, we serve our community together.
As Christians, we personally study the Bible. As Christians, we personally pray. As Christians, we personally put sin to death. As Christians, we personally disciple others. As Christians, we personally love and serve others. As Christians, we personally evangelize.
But! We do these things as a response to grace. Out of the grace we receive in Christ, we live in obedience to him. Good works are the fruit of our salvation, not the root of our salvation. And the churches in Galatia had begun to misunderstand this.
Church, the gospel is a message of grace. And grace leads to rest, joy, worship, and obedience.
So, Holy Spirit, convict us of where we have missed the gospel!