Galatians 1:1-2:10: A message made in heaven

APC: 11 February, 2024

One of the first things we do when we go shopping these days is to CHECK THE LABEL. Where’s it MADE? Is it Australian made, or not? Who’s being employed? Where are the profits going? Is the toothpaste made in Australia, or Vietnam? Are those kiwi fruits from Queensland, or California?

But sometimes it’s not so easy. When Vegemite’s owned by an American company. And XXXX is owned by New Zealand! And is that orange juice Australian-made from Australian oranges, or just bottled here from imported orange concentrate? Is that washing machine Australian-made, or just ASSEMBLED here, from parts made SOMEWHERE ELSE. I even saw a toy koala with a big Australian flag in a souvenir shop. And the tag said DESIGNED in Australia. Which is deceptive, isn’t it? Could have been made ANYWHERE!

Sometimes you’ve got to look carefully to avoid being TRICKED. (Tricked into buying something you THOUGHT came from ONE place/ when it REALLY came from somewhere else.)

Which is exactly the point the Apostle Paul wants to make about HIS MESSAGE. His GOSPEL. (How you can be made right with God). In the face of a team of FALSE TEACHERS who spreading a DIFFERENT MESSAGE, Paul wants to say, “DON'T BUY IT. Unless you check where it comes from.” Which he emphasises right from his very first words. See it there in v1?

Paul, an apostle-sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead-

He’s AN APOSTLE, (as an Ambassador of Jesus). He's come from Jesus Christ himself. With a message MADE IN HEAVEN. A message MADE by God. And OWNED by God. It’s not man-made, at all. Paul’s holding out HIS label for everyone to see. Check the label, he says. APOSTLE – which means commissioned by Jesus himself.

It’s a point he keeps coming back to, again and again. Like down in verse 11 and 12 of chapter 1.

11 I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is NOT SOMETHING THAT MAN MADE UP. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it BY REVELATION FROM JESUS CHRIST.

Which is EVEN BETTER than just being APPOINTED by Jesus. He’s even been given THE MESSAGE TO PRESENT / by Jesus. Check the label says Paul. Designed and made by God. Chosen by God. Owned by God, distributed by God. The copyright’s all GOD’S.

And you can see what that message IS back up in v4. (The good news Paul’s declaring.)

the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

It’s not just the MESSAGE from God. The WHOLE RESCUE is from God. We were helpless. We were headed down a long, slippery slope to judgment and death. We were trapped by SIN. But the good news from God himself is that HE PROVIDED A RESCUER. His son Jesus. Who threw himself in the path of God’s just wrath, and CARRIED it. And saved anyone who accepts his rescue offer. And so, even though we keep living in this world. We’ve been SAVED from it. We’re citizens of ANOTHER world. Another AGE. With whole new priorities. And new directions.

And down in v13, Paul describes how that worked for him. And all the way through to the end of the chapter it’s got a point. Paul gives us his biography, not because he likes talking about himself. But because his life is LIVING PROOF that his message, and his commission to preach it, COME STRAIGHT FROM JESUS HIMSELF. There’s no other explanation. What else could explain such a complete transformation! He was headed in the completely opposite direction. Arresting and punishing anyone who followed Jesus. Ruthlessly hunting them down. On the fast-track to the top of his career path. But then Jesus hunted HIM down. Listen to Paul as he takes up the story. V15.

15 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

He didn’t get his message from the other apostles. He didn’t head off to study for his introductory degree in Christian studies. He was off in another country, preaching the message Jesus had ALREADY GIVEN HIM. Doing what he’d been TOLD – telling the Gentiles (the non-Jews) the good news about Jesus. In fact, v18, it wasn’t until the THIRD YEAR after his conversion that he went to Jerusalem, and met the Apostle Peter, and James.

Obviously some people DIDN’T BELIEVE HIM. Seems they preferred the false teachers. Which is why he’s writing the letter. To defend himself. Answering the accusation that his message isn’t GENUINE. That it’s only a SECOND-HAND MESSAGE he’d learned from the REAL Apostles. That he wasn’t the real deal. See how Paul has to defend his position in v20?

20 I assure you before God that WHAT I AM WRITING YOU IS NO LIE.

Grace plus (1:6-10)

Why is this so important? Why does Paul go to such trouble to explain where HIS message came from? Because there’s ANOTHER message being preached. A counterfeit. A cheap import. And the Galatians are being TORN BETWEEN TWO GOSPELS. Pulled in two directions by TWO CONFLICTING MESSAGES. About how to get right with God. And live a life that pleases him.

How do you decide which message is RIGHT? Paul says, CHECK THE LABEL. Check where it CAME FROM. If someone tells you ONE thing about how to be right with God. And someone else tells you SOMETHING ELSE. Ask the question. Where's the message coming from? CHECK THE LABEL.

How does it compare to the message that came from JESUS HIMSELF? The made-in-heaven gospel - that says, v4, The Lord Jesus Christ GAVE HIMSELF FOR OUR SINS to RESCUE US? There's no list of rules to keep. There's no set of entrance requirements. Pure GRACE. Not grace PLUS”. All by GOD, and not by US.

And yet the Galatians are deserting it. Turning away from it. Look at verse 6, and you can see the problem. The problem that underlies the whole letter. Verse 6 and 7 here in Galatians 1 sum up what the letter's all about.

I am ASTONISHED that YOU ARE SO QUICKLY DESERTING THE ONE WHO CALLED YOU by the GRACE OF CHRIST and are turning to a DIFFERENT GOSPEL - which is really NO GOSPEL AT ALL. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion, and are TRYING TO PERVERT THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST."

Paul's been to their towns. The Galatian cities of Iconium, Derbe and Lystra – you can read about it in Acts 14. They've heard his GOSPEL, his message about THE GRACE OF CHRIST, his generous mercy in taking God's CURSE on the cross. They’ve become Christians, and churches have been planted.

But now some OTHER people have come along saying something new. A DIFFERENT GOSPEL. It SEEMS like it’s a slightly reworked Gospel. It doesn’t SEEM to be CONTRADICTING what Paul said. Just ADDING a little. A few finishing touches. A sprinkle here. An extra garnish there. Which Paul says means it's really NO GOSPEL AT ALL.

It’s dangerous to think that adding a few extras to your salvation can IMPROVE IT. It’s deadly to think it’s like your CAR. Add a big stereo, or mag wheels, or some fluffy dice on the mirror. And that will make it BETTER. Adding stuff to how you’re saved is more like adding stuff to PETROL. It’s DANGEROUS.

Paul’s point is that adding ANYTHING to the simple message of the gospel, and you’re not preaching a gospel AT ALL. Because news that says you’ve got to DO something to EARN your salvation/ well, that’s not GOOD news at all. You can’t grab hold of SOMETHING ELSE unless you LET GO OF Christ TO DO IT.

And Paul goes on to say, v8, it doesn’t matter WHO tells you otherwise. I want you to imagine for a moment. Something EXTRAORDINARY happens at church this morning. Just imagine a huge hole opens in the roof. And an angel floats down. All wings, and pure white gown, gleaming white halo. And just imagine. The angel says, “Wait a minute. You're not really saved only by the WORK OF JESUS AT ALL. You'll need to do some EXTRA STUFF AS WELL. You'll need to observe some special Days. Once a month. And girls can only wear dresses. And guys have to grow beards. And only read the King James translation of the Bible. Add this. Do that. You can only be saved if you DO THOSE THINGS. What would you DO? It would be TEMPTING TO BELIEVE IT, wouldn’t it? To believe that God's revealed himself in a NEW WAY.

But NO. Look at what Paul says, v7. There are people who are trying to throw you into confusion about the gospel of Christ. But verse 8, he says, even if WE... or AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN... should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, LET HIM BE ETERNALLY CONDEMNED." hich is the slightly more polite way of saying, if ANYONE comes with a different message, you can say "GO TO HELL" - let him be eternally condemned.

You DON’T GET ANYTHING MORE SERIOUS than changing the message of salvation as we’ve got it from God himself in the Bible. Because people’s ETERNITY depends on it. Tell them to GO TO HELL. Because God’s TOLD us how to be saved. And when people try to CHANGE that/ they’re calling GOD, A LIAR.

V10, Paul says, that may not make me very popular. But I don’t care what PEOPLE think about me. I’m Christ’s servant – he’s the only one I want to please. So I’m proclaiming his message. And PROTECTING his message.

Grace alone (2:1-10)

If you pick it up into ch 2, Paul continues describing his relationship with the Jerusalem church, and the apostles. In chapter 1 his point was to show that his message DIDN’T COME FROM the other apostles in Jerusalem, but direct from Jesus. (That’s v12). In chapter 2 he describes a SECOND visit to Jerusalem. And his point is to show that the Jerusalem apostles AGREE with HIS gospel. V1, he goes with Barnabas and Titus. Fourteen years after his conversion. (Eleven years after his FIRST visit. And probably a few years before the letter was written.) V2. It was IN RESPONSE TO A REVELATION – God TOLD him to go. And his purpose was to “set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles.”

Why? Jump down to v4. Even back then, there were people trying to ADD things to Paul’s message. Extra burdens before you could be saved.

4[This matter arose] because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and TO MAKE US SLAVES.

(Jewish Christians who think that the new Gentile Christians need to keep the Jewish law to be REAL Christians.) And Paul wants to stop that rubbish. He doesn’t want that message UNDERMINING his work. Working AGAINST it, so that Gentile Christians give up on Jesus.

That’s what it means in v2. (Paul sets before them the gospel he preaches to the Gentiles)

But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.

He wants the leaders to AGREE with him. STOP the false teaching. So that his Gentile Christian converts are PROTECTED. And look at the result of the meeting. V3

3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek

They AGREE with Paul. He’s taken along Titus who’s NOT a Jew. There’s no command that Titus should get circumcised. And that’s the “extra” the false teachers want to add. (The addition that Paul’s fighting against). They say, “Yes, it’s great Jesus died for our sins. Great that he’s even died for GENTILES. As long as Gentiles do all the things that JEWS do. (Keep the Sabbath, get circumcised, don’t eat pork. And so on).” Or as Paul says in v4, they’re FALSE brothers who want to make the Gentile Christians / SLAVES. (Locked up by the law just like THE JEWS are.)

But Paul’s gospel says, No, we’re not SLAVES. We’re FREE. Jesus has done it all. “There are no extras required. Everything has been DONE ALREADY!” Grace alone. Nothing you need to add to what Christ’s done, or CAN add. Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone.

And James, Peter and John AGREED. (end of v6). “These men ADDED NOTHING TO MY MESSAGE.” The good news of the gospel is that it’s GRACE PLUS NOTHING.

The message that’s made in heaven is that the work of Jesus BEGINS the job, and FINISHES it. And that means we’ve been SET FREE. Evangelical Christians keep celebrating and talking about THE GOSPEL because it’s so easy to FORGET this. (To let go of Christ and reach out for EXTRAS TO ADD). It’s the natural human way. And it’s the way every HUMAN religion works.

But it’s just as easy for it to happen with CHRISTIANITY, TOO. Let me tell you two ways we forget it. (Forget that’s it’s only about what Jesus has done.) Opposite really. But two sides of the same coin. One looks like CONFIDENCE, and the OTHER looks like ANXIETY. But BOTH of them are focussing on what WE do, rather than trusting what Jesus has done.

First, you’re having a GOOD day. You remember to read your Bible and pray before work. The traffic’s clear, you get to work on time. Even get to listen to 103.2 on the way. Over coffee you get to tell your workmate about the Christian conference you went to, and how good it is being a Christian. He asks some encouraging questions. You get home that night, and before you go to bed you pray, FULL OF CONFIDENCE, “Praise God, how GOOD it is to be chosen by you and saved by grace!” You know it’s all about JESUS, but you can’t help thinking that God’s just that little bit EXTRA pleased with us, and our salvation’s that little bit more SECURE/ because of how GOOD you’ve been today. That’s wanting to add things to Jesus.

Or think about THIS day INSTEAD. The garbage truck wakes you up early, the kids are cranky, there’s no milk for breakfast. You miss your quiet time, trip over the cat, and reverse into the letter box. The traffic’s terrible, you forget your notes for the presentation, the boss blames you, you make a mess of it. Your workmate, the one who asked the encouraging questions, says, “I thought Christians weren’t supposed to act like that!” You bury your head in your hands, and wish you were back in bed. That night you lie in bed and try to pray. But you can hardly string two words together, and feel too worried and anxious to even BEGIN. THAT’S forgetting you’re saved by Christ alone. And that you DON’T add anything. That’s thinking that when you fail, that your salvation is somehow at risk, or that God will give up on you.

Christ has FREED us from that CONSTANT PERFORMANCE REVIEW. DAY after DAY. Always being about our performance. That’s the FREEDOM we have. That’s the message that’s come from God himself. Through the messenger of Paul.

The fact of your salvation is FIXED in what JESUS has done. That’s where our ASSURANCE comes from. Cling to it. Don’t let go of it. Whatever the temptation might be. When you DO let go of it, then assurance goes out the window TOO. BE CAREFUL you don’t ADD anything to the work of Jesus. (Whether it’s SOMEONE ELSE whispering in your ear. Or just your own heart.)

And CHURCH helps us to remember that. One part of church I really appreciate is our PRAYER OF ADORATION AND CONFESSION. We don’t JUST praise God for who he is. If we did THAT, we’d be tempted to forget that we NEEDED saving. (That we had a sin problem that needed FIXING.) And we don’t just CONFESS OUR SINS. Do THAT, and we risk focussing on our performance. And how far short we fall from God. And we’d DESPAIR that we were GOOD ENOUGH. But WE DO BOTH. We humbly recognise that we CAN’T saved ourselves. We NEED God’s forgiveness and help. AND/ we rejoice in the free forgiveness he offers. Signed, sealed and delivered. Based on Jesus’ PERFECT obedience. Not our FLAWED obedience.

ANOTHER part of church that helps us remember is the Lord’s Supper. Which we’ll celebrate in a few minutes. Because it reminds us what JESUS HAS DONE. And it reminds us we’re sinful, and NEED SAVING.

Humbled, joyful and hopeful. That’s the freedom of the gospel of GRACE ALONE. Not Grace PLUS. Which is why REAL CHRISTIANITY doesn't look like OTHER religions at all. Because it isn't about what you have to DO... it's about what's already been DONE. It LOOKS different because its ORIGIN is different. It’s the ONLY RELIGION THAT’S MADE IN HEAVEN.

1