The Bible is a collection of 66 different books. They are written by about 40 different authors over a period of time spanning about 1500 years. These 66 books are of different styles, or genres. You will read historical books that narrate historical events like Genesis, Exodus and Judges in the OT, or the Gospels and Acts in the NT. Then there are poetic-wisdom books like Psalms and Proverbs in the OT. Then you will read letters, which are letters from one of God’s apostles to a particular church or person, like Romans or Ephesians or Titus or 1 Peter. Then you will read apocalyptic books that are heavy on prophecy, such as Daniel in the OT or Revelation in the NT.
It is amazing to take into account how diverse the styles are that God chose to give us His revelation. God used each of these authors for each of these writings to communicate exactly what He wanted to man. Then He ensured they would be collected into the one volume we call the Bible.
The purpose of the Bible is to know the God who is behind all of its writings – to know His identity, His plans, His purposes, His track record, what He is like, what He expects of us. In short, the Bible comes from Him because He intends through it that we would know Him and know how to live for Him.
The letter to the Galatians is one of those 66 books in the Bible. It is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote – but not only the Apostle Paul. What Paul wrote is what God intended him to write and God ensured this by “carrying along” Paul while he wrote it (2 Pet 1:20-21). In other words, Paul spoke just like every other prophet who ever came before him – which is to say he spoke by the Holy Spirit.” Jesus said of King David’s writings in the OT, “David himself spoke by the Holy Spirit…” (Mk 12:36).
The overarching purpose of Galatians is the same as every other one of the 65 books: to know God in His glory and to know how to live for Him so as to glorify Him. The more local and specific reason this book was written is because of freedom. Freedom from the law of Moses. People who did not know God were telling new Christians that they had to submit to the law of Moses. Paul wrote to tell them “No – no you do not.” In fact, Paul wrote this letter quite passionately, with just about the most personal and biographical information of himself that he wrote in any of his letters. He wrote with “everything he had” you might say to prevent these new Christians from turning to the law of Moses. But we are not getting into Galatians per se today, we are again this week laying the background that gave rise to the need for this powerful letter.
So let us pull together some important points to put more of the picture together.
REVIEW
Paul’s first missionary journey established churches there in Galatia. What I mean by “establishing churches” is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was preached and people believed and those believers began to gather as believers to worship in the name of Jesus. Turn to Acts 13:38-39 with me and follow along. Now turn to Galatians 1:1-9 with me and watch how Paul recounts how he had preached the Gospel to them….READ…. If you think that’s tough, look at 3:1-5….READ….
Paul preached the Gospel to them – loud and clear. They became “the Church” in Galatia when they believed the Gospel. There is no Church without the Gospel. There is no Church where God’s Word and the Gospel and the name of Jesus are not “established” and believed. That’s what Paul did in Galatia: he established churches in Jesus’ name.
APPLICATION: EFC – let the Gospel now and forever always be established HERE in faith as we all believe it and refuse to be moved from it.
Now he did this with literal sweat and literal blood was spent to bring them the Gospel. Paul was nearly murdered, nearly stoned, actually stoned – so bad they thought he was dead and dragged his lifeless body outside the city to rot. We read this in Acts 13 and 14.
But Paul reminds the Galatians of this bloody price he paid to bring them eternal life.
- Look with me at 6:12, “The only reason they want you to be circumcised is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.” Paul is pointing out that people are wanting to avoid persecution for faith in Jesus by trying to get new believers circumcised, and in pointing out their fear of persecution Paul is essentially saying, “I’m not afraid of persecution! I’ll condemn circumcision for the cross of Christ all day long and take whatever suffering I get for it!” He was willing to suffer personally so that the pure and true Gospel could be established in those Galatian believers’ hearts.
- But then look at 6:17 where he is more explicit, “From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” Those scars on his body were the receipts of how much he has gone through to get the Gospel to them in Galatia.
How jealous would you feel if you spent a year traveling, enduring material hardship, fatigue, not knowing where your next meal would come from, but praying all day and night while you preached and explained the Gospel all night, and came within an inch of death each time you opened your mouth for Jesus, and people believed and your heart was instantly and eternally bound up with those precious new believers, and then wolves came in after you to mess them all up and not only confuse their faith but also erode their confidence in you as a true teacher of the truth?
If you want to know why Paul is so stern, so intense, and rebukes the Galatians so strongly, it is out of a jealous love for them and pastoral desire to protect them. Which is what led him to revisit those believers repeatedly over the upcoming years. Which brings us to Acts 16:1-5
There are two things I want to bring out of this passage today. These are two things that lay more background for Galatians before we get into the actual letter next week. I want us to see the need to strengthen the believers, and the fruit that comes from it.
BELIEVERS NEED STRENGTHENING
Believers need strengthening. Turn with me to Acts 14:22; 15:36, 41; 16:1-5; 18:23
Paul’s first missionary journey was to preach Jesus to people who had never heard the Gospel before at all. His second missionary journey was to go back to those cities where people believed and strengthen them.
NOTE: Paul revisited them. Paul revisited whenever he could. One thing you see is Paul’s desire to be WITH the believers. He said in his letter to them, “How I wish I could be with you now!” In person fellowship! Being together
APPLICATION: In person fellowship is critical to being a strong believer. No one is a strong believer who is not fellowshipping regularly in person with the body of believers. Become strong by making it your commitment to being with believers – in church, in prayer meetings, in outreaches and acts of service (Hopes Outlet and raking party for a church widow yesterday!)
We see him strengthening them in two ways:
- the first way was to address false teachings they were getting confused by.
- The second way was to prepare them for persecution.
First he refuted false teachers. This was a constant activity for his entire ministry. Read Acts and all of his letters – it is ALL the time. Here’s the thing: it is a constant activity in any ministry. If a pastor is not addressing false teachings with the truth he is flat out negligent. One of the qualifications Titus 1 gives for someone to be a pastor is that they are able to “encourage people with sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” He has to know sound doctrine and be skilled enough to put that doctrine into practice in how he counsels people through life situations, and he also has to be able to take on people who teach false doctrines by skillfully using the truth he has mastered.
APPLICATION: You must be aware that there are false teachers who want you to be led away from the truth. You must be committed to standing in the truth.
APPLICATION to the APPLICATION: New believers: you must be made aware that there are teachers and people who will want to lead you astray. Stand firm in Jesus and in the Gospel and do not turn away.
APPLICATION: Find yourself a pastor who will preach the truth to you and who will also spend the required energy refuting false teachings. BONUS: find yourself a pastor who loves you and is jealous for you, like Paul was for the Galatian believers, and who will similarly be protective of you and work to keep you from getting led down the path of false teachers.
The second way to strengthen believers is to make sure they know persecution is part of the Christian life. Paul informed the Galatian believers that persecution was real and to expect it – it was the “normal” for the Christian life. Turn with me to Acts 14:21-22 and follow along…READ….
The brand new believers he left behind in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe would have faced similar pressure from the same people who persecuted Paul. A division would have happened in those communities – which reminds us again of our Lord’s words, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” This is why Paul told the Galatians in chapter 5:1, “Stand firm!”
APPLICATION: Believers today must stand firm because there will be pressure from everywhere to depart from the teachings of Christ. Issue after issue will flood over us to try and move us away from our godly convictions and firm stance on Christ. Let us show our worthiness of Christ Jesus by our readiness to suffer anything for His sake.
TIMOTHY – GALATIA’S FINEST
Here in Acts 16:1-5 we see Paul adds a young man to his team. READ…
The reason I love this part is because Timothy becomes Paul’s most beloved disciple. He told the Philippians, “I have no one else like him.” He saw Timothy doing everything he did in the ministry the same way and with the same devotion as he did. “Timothy has proved himself” he said to the Philippians, “and served with me in the gospel the way a son works alongside his father.” He told the Corinthians, “Timothy is carrying on the work of the LORD, just as I am.” Two books in the NT are actually letters Paul wrote to his beloved mentee. Paul told Timothy, “You are my true son in the faith” and then in the second letter, “You are my dear son, and I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.”
The Galatians were the churches that vexed Paul the most, yet out of those worrisome Galatian churches came one man who would become quite simply the man that Paul would be most attached to and have the most affection for. I guess what I’m saying is something I’ve learned early on in pastoral ministry – and that ministry is always bittersweet. There are always things going on that hurt, disappoint, vex, sadden, worry and so forth. You see Paul that way all the time. But there are also always the sweet things – new believers, people growing stronger in the faith, lives being transformed, people standing firm in very hard trials, people responding to the word of God and changing their lives to be more obedient to the Lord, joyful encouragement and love and on and on. It is always bitter and it is always sweet.
And for Paul, here is something very sweet growing right up out of something very bitter.
APPLICATION: Accept the bitter things in life and let them amplify how much you appreciate the sweet things
APPLICATION: Trust God that even out of the bitter things can come very sweet things
(NOTE? Paul circumcised Timothy because he was half Jewish and going into ministry. Circumcision was removing obstacles to Jews believing and becoming all things to all men, not attempting to be justified before God)
CONCLUSION:
Paul preached the Gospel to the Galatians and some believed. EFC preaches the Gospel to you today in Spring Lake. Will you believe it? Believe. If you want to receive the Gospel and you want to come talk to me about it then come up front right after the service. I will be right here in front. The Church will respect that and not come to me for the first 5 minutes after the service to give anyone here the freedom to come up and talk to me.