No Other Gospel

Galatians 5: 1

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5: 1 will be our theme verse over the next few weeks as we consider the Gospel as presented by Paul to the churches of Galatia. It was Christ and Christ alone who set us free to live in (what else) FREEDOM. This is not just some kind of abstract idea or concept. Today, in Christ, we can live in freedom from our past life of sin, freedom from our failures and experience freedom to live a life wholeheartedly pursuing the one who freed us.

What keeps us from a life of Freedom in Christ? In his first epistle John warns about the threat from outside the church referring to the love of the world. But for the churches in Galatia, the challenge to the Gospel was altogether different. The Galatians had been led away by perverted teaching within the church.

We face the same type of challenge today with at least three different methods of “Jesus Plus” types of teachings.

In the next post, we’ll begin with the first chapter of Galatians. We’ll consider what makes the Gospel the Gospel and how to spot the difference and we’ll consider the life of a person whose life was literally transformed by the power of Christ.

No Clever Schemes

Skeptics are everywhere. From the early days of the church some have questioned the authority of God’s Word.  Not much is different today.

In his second epistle Peter wrote:

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty… knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:16, 20-21

How would the disciples described themselves in the narrative of the Gospels if they were attempting to build a “cleverly devised myth”?

Without a doubt Peter would have edited out some of the more embarrassing moments in his life had the New Testament been a cleverly devised myth.  To the contrary Peter writes that man’s contribution to Scripture was one of obedience as “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Have you chosen to make the Bible your authority?

If you believe that the Bible contains the very words of God to mankind how should you respond?  Will it change the direction of my heart? How will it affect the way I think about the world I live in?  Will it change the direction of my feet as I make choices in my life?

Think Different

So now we’ve made a decision to surrender completely to God. What does it mean in my daily life?

Years ago, Apple computer ran an advertising campaign built around the idea that it is okay to “Think Different.”

While the people at Apple and the world in general would be pleased to applaud for the “outside of the box” thinking of someone like Gandhi, what would they say about you if you decide to refuse to be molded by the culture and experience true spirituality according to Jesus?

Take a look at the scripture in the sidebar. 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11 reminds us that many of us have made a decision to surrender that puts us at odds with the old way of doing things.

Now we have been ” washed…sanctified.. and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Again, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

How does this relate to Romans 12? Verse two begins by encouraging us to “not be conformed to this world.” We need to “think different” and, more importantly, be different.