Has anyone ever astounded you by their actions, either good or bad? If you live long enough, this will happen to you. Of course, when it is a pleasant surprise, all is roses and bon-bons. But, when you get a nasty surprise, due to another's wrong choices, that is a different story.
I heard an astonishing story yesterday about a man who got angry at another driver. He had done something on the roadway that was very dangerous, and a woman with her children in her van had tried to follow him and get his license plate number. As soon as the man realized what she was doing, he pulled over (and whether he ran her off the road or not, I don't recall....but somehow she was pulled over too), got a chainsaw out of his car and began threatening the woman and her children with it! Someone in the van thought to video the man at that point, and the video has "gone viral". Certainly, the man's behavior was not what the woman driver expected! No doubt she was appalled, in addition to being horrified.
I think about this as I read Galatians 1:6-10.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called(M) you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel(N)— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion(O) and are trying to pervert(P) the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you,(Q) let them be under God’s curse!(R) 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted,(S) let them be under God’s curse!
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people?(T) If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
The apostle Paul is similarly astonished and appalled that the church he started in Galatia has been so easily led into heresy by well-meaning folks called Judaizers. Who were these people? Most likely they were Jewish Christians from Jerusalem, who were determined to hold these new Gentile Christians to all of the dictates of Jewish law, including circumcision, laws concerning eating only certain foods, etc. Devout Jews who became Christ-followers had a hard time understanding grace. Until encountering the true gospel, they had been so bound up in their laws and traditions that it was hard to stop trusting in their own good deeds for their salvation. This type of situation that we see here in Galatians 1 was pretty commonplace as the gospel began to be spread to Gentile communities. We see similar situations in Acts 15:1, 20:21-22 and Philemon 3:2-3, for example.
It appears that highly-credentialed Jewish Christians had led the Galatians into legalism, a belief system that says a person must perform a set of actions in order to earn righteous standing with God. Because of the Judaizers' reputation and influence, the Galatians listened to them. This is why Paul said that, even if an angel from heaven came down and preached a false gospel, that angel would be, like these Judaizers were, under God's curse (Greek: "anathema"). That's a pretty heavy indictment, is it not?
The Greek word "anathema" is also found in Romans 9:3. It means "something that is abominable and detestable, doomed for destruction." Someone who makes him or herself "anathema" by his or her choices, has become an enemy of God.
I find these words to be quite sobering. After all, the intentions of the Judaizers could have been good. They may have found Paul's message of extreme grace to be a bit "over the top" and felt that they should come in and add some "holiness" or "balance" to the equation. After all, with all grace lavished all over those heathen Galatians, wouldn't they just use grace as permission to sin? Wouldn't these new believers return to their old ways of living?
The Judaizers were sincere, but they were sincerely wrong, totally misunderstanding the concept of amazing grace. Their belief was that salvation was achieved by the grace of God and faith in Christ Jesus PLUS ______ (fill in the blank with) this work, that deed, that rule, that action. Paul's gospel message was that salvation was not achieved at all. Rather, it is the gift of God, by His grace, through a person's faith in Christ Jesus PLUS NOTHING.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God,
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast...
Ephesians 2:8-9
I have a friend who has Jewish heritage and is also a believing Christian. She knows that she is saved by nothing but the grace of Jesus Christ and there her hope is secure. However, she loves to keep the Jewish feasts and to worship Christ Jesus in some of the Old Testament worship traditions. The critical difference is that she does not believe that keeping those feasts of practicing that ancient style of worship is what makes her righteous before God. She is merely practicing her faith according to her convictions that her choices are the closest to a perfect blend of the Old and New Testaments.
On the other hand, do you know that this heresy of the Judaizers is still at work today? Eternal salvation through Jesus Christ is dangled over the heads of believers like the enticing carrot-on-a-stick was used to get the donkey to follow the orders of his master. Those poor souls find themselves constantly being told that if they don't follow this rule or that rule of their church that they will "lose their salvation". This is a false gospel! And, one of the reasons that it is so popular with church leaders is because it causes power and influence to accrue to them, instead of to God.
Here's another manifestation of Judaizing, and make no mistake, the world sees it! We Christians, under the guise of "standing firm for our convictions" try to "fix" people in order to see them saved. While we should certainly proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ and not shirk from that commission, it is the Holy Spirit who transforms people, not us, nor our particular church or pastor or teacher. It is the transforming power of God, His Holy Spirit, who gives every person "saving faith" if he/she will only accept the Son, but who THEN, after salvation, begins to transform each believer more and more into the image of the Son.
So, wow....as a Christians, let's share the love of Jesus Christ with those the Spirit leads to us, the pure, unadulterated gospel of our Savior. It's "Jesus, plus nothing."
Where, then, does discipleship come in? Should we not disciple Christians, in order to help them grow in their faith? Of course! To do otherwise would be analogous to leaving a newborn baby to fend for him or herself! But, discipleship should never be forced or coerced under the threat of being "excommunicated" or cut off from salvation. It is saving faith in, and love for Jesus Christ which produces devotion and holiness, not the other way around.
Father, you tell us in Ephesians 2:8-9 that it is by grace we are saved and through faith, not of works, so that no person can boast that his or her good deeds brought about his or her own righteousness. Thank you that I don't have to depend on my own "goodness" to please you, because my form of righteousness most surely falls short of your standard. I can REST in the assurance that Jesus Christ's righteousness has been credited to my ledger account. And, the love that this certainty produces in me continues to work in me the transformation You desire to see. In Jesus' name, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment