WATCH SERMON PART 1 and PART 2
Expressing his love and singular attachment to the book of Galatians, the famous instigator of the Protestant Reformation Martin Luther famously said, “The letter to the Galatians and I are married. It is my wife.” Galatians would become known as “the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation” because it so forcefully teaches that a man is NOT justified before God by any works of the law or self-merit, BUT by faith in Jesus Christ and only faith. Galatians and Romans stand out in the NT for how emphatic they are on this doctrine, and it is one reason why Galatians has been called “a short Romans.” Galatians explains that through the Gospel anyone can be set free from the law, from sin, and from divine condemnation. That is why the letter has become known also as “The Magna Charta of Christian Liberty.” Powerfully set forth is that one single condition for salvation – and yet it is equally powerful in its rebuke of any other Gospel claiming to save.
Our sermon series going verse by verse through this letter (sometimes word-by-word!) is thus fittingly called, “Set Free.” Because Galatians teaches us how the one and only Gospel of Jesus Christ sets us free to live in His grace.
The situation in the Galatian churches was urgent. Since Paul had left the new believers behind a stream of false teachers came around. They were of a particular kind: they were Judaizers. They were not like the ones in Jude who said that God’s grace was a license for immorality (Jude 3-4). They were not like the ones in 1 John 4:2-3 who denied that Jesus was incarnate. The Galatians were facing a different species of false teacher: Judaizers. What that means is that as Judaizers they tried to compel the new Christians to follow the Law of Moses.
- They were pressuring these believers to be circumcised in obedience to the Mosaic Law (5:2; 6:12).
- They were pressuring these believers to follow the Mosaic calendar (4:10).
- They were pressured to fully submit to the law of Moses (2:3-5). Paul went to war over this.
If you remember the last two weeks, we saw in Acts 13 and 14 that Paul’s first time going through Galatia with the Gospel he preached in synagogues that had lots of Gentile “God-fearers” and “converts to Judaism.” The result of Pual’s preaching was that Jews and Gentiles in these synagogues were believing the Gospel. They came to faith in a very Jewish setting, with lots of exposure to the Mosaic law.
Paul is vehemently warning his readers NOT to get circumcised, which would indicate that his readers were the Gentile Christians he converted. If they were Jewish they would already be circumcised and his warning would be irrelevant. The problem being worked out in the early church was what to do with Gentile believers coming into the faith when it was nearly all Jews at the time. “Should the Gentiles who believe in Jesus be required to follow the Law of Moses? Does faith in Jesus get them started but from that first step on must they follow Moses?” Paul said No! This was a big issue within the early days because the Jews were so …. JEWISH! But those Jewish Christians were being slowly taught by God that Gentile Christians did not need to become Jewish.
While trying to compel them, they were also aggressively trying to discredit Paul as an apostle in the eyes of these new believers. Turn to 4:17 with me…..READ…..This is why Paul asserts his equality with the 12 Primary Apostles in Jerusalem, read 2:6-9….READ…..And this is why Paul begins the letter the way he does – immediately asserting his apostolic authority 1:1…then verse 11-12…
So what we find in Galatians is Paul forcefully responding to these two issues: the Gospel and his apostleship. Both he and his opponents knew that those two things go together: if Paul was legitimately an apostle then the message he preached was legitimate. His apostleship was not an end in itself – it served the Gospel. Firmly establishing his apostolic authority in the minds and hearts of his followers was critical for establishing them in the Gospel. His apostleship served the Gospel. So, following those two thoughts we will form our sermon. The first half will focus on The Apostle Set Apart, and the second half focused on The Apostle Sent
THE APOSTLE SET APART(v1)
The letter begins with “Paul….” And its right there that we’re going to start. Who is Paul? Paul is the man who went from being Christianity’s Chief Persecutor to its Chief Preacher.
- Paul was chosen by God before he was even born. Look at Galatians 1:15…
- Paul’s background is found in Acts 22:3a….named Saul, born in Tarsus, in Cilicia.
- Paul was born into and grew up in a family of Pharisees. Turn to Acts 22:3a….23:6….26:4
- Paul received the highest level of education and training as a Pharisee. Turn to Acts 22:3….26:4-5…Philippians 3:4-6
- Paul was the official giving approval to Stephen’s martyrdom in Acts 7:58 and 60 and 22:20…. He was a “young man” it says, putting him between 24 and 40 years old.
- Paul was the Punisher of Christianity – he was the most energetic and dedicated persecutor of believers. Turn to Acts 8:3…9:1…22:4-5…26:9-11…Gal. 1:13
- But then in the most wild of plot twists Paul converts and becomes a Christian. Turn to Acts 9:1-6…22:6-21…26:12-18…
APPLICATION: It is possible to be very religious and also very wrong. Paul thought he was serving God by persecuting the Church. Paul was better at his religion than all of his peers and many of those older than him. But he was wrong – utterly wrong – about Jesus Christ. A man can be very religious and also very wrong.
APPLICATION: Pray for the enemies of the Gospel. How many were praying for the man who was the greatest enemy of Christ to come to faith? Who are the enemies of the Gospel right now that are “set apart” by God and in His time will confess Jesus Christ? (1 Timothy 1:12-17). Who are the “Saul’s” in your life you’re hoping and praying turn to Christ? Who are the enemies of Christ you hope become followers of Christ?
So Saul becomes a believer.
THE APOSTLE SENT
The second half of our sermon focuses on the next word, “apostle.” Paul begins his letter by identifying himself as “Paul, an apostle…” As a matter of fact, Paul wrote 13 letters in the NT and 9 of them he begins with identifying himself as an apostle.
What is an apostle? How is it significant that Paul is an apostle? In short – it is enormous. The word apostle means very simply and generally, “someone who is sent.” It can refer to everything from a state ambassador to someone sent to the grocery store on someone’s behalf. But in the NT the word is used in a very specific way – it refers to someone who was called by Jesus Christ personally to preach the Gospel, be a witness of His resurrection, to plant churches and go henceforth with the full authority to represent and speak for Jesus Christ. They were empowered to do miracles, wonders and powerful signs (2 Cor 12:12; Heb 2:3-4; Acts 2:22, 43).
The office of Apostle actually finds its source in Jesus – who is the Apostle of Apostles. Like he is the King of kings and Lord of lords and Priest of priests and Prophet of prophets – he is also the Apostle of apostles. In other words, He is the fount and fullness of all these offices that humans have held. “Fix your thoughts on Jesus, who is our apostle…” says Hebrews 3:1. The 12 Apostles were chosen by Jesus and given to Him by the Father (Jn 15, 17). Just like Jesus came doing powerful miracles, so too did His apostles go forth marked by His power to also do miracles like Him. Read Acts 2:22 (Jesus) and then verse 43 (Apostles…see also 2 Cor 12:12 and Heb 2:3-4).
Now are there any apostles today? No. The answer is categorically No. Let me explain to you. Neither I nor this church hold this position simply because of tradition. Let me explain from the Scriptures why anyone today who would ever claim to be an apostle is either ignorant or a liar. And you shouldn’t follow them if they are either of those.
If you’ve read the Gospels and Acts then you know that because Judas died the remaining 11 Apostles needed to replace him with a 12th. Turn to Acts 1:21-22 to see this moment where they choose Matthias as his replacement. READ…. What we learn here is that there are certain qualifications to be one of those 12 Apostles. The fact that there were at least 2 men who met those qualifications tells us that there were more than 12 men who met the qualifications to be an Apostle. That is why in addition to “The Twelve” you also see other people called apostles in the book of Acts. As a matter of fact, 1 Corinthians 15:7 says after appearing to the 12 apostles Jesus then appeared to James and the other apostles.
BUT, here is where people go wrong today: just because there were other apostles in THAT day does not mean that apostles continued to exist afterward and throughout church history all the way up to today. What I’m saying is this: if you ever hear of anyone claiming to be an apostle today write them off immediately. They do not know what they are talking about, or worse, they are liars. Look again at Acts 1:21-22. The requirement to be an apostle was NOT that you saw Jesus resurrected (1 Cor 9:1; 15:5-8). It WAS that – but NOT ONLY that. Did you see the specific detail? You had to have been with Jesus FROM the time of John the Baptist’s ministry, then followed Jesus throughout His 3 year ministry, hearing all His teachings and seeing all his miracles, and then you had to have seen him dead, and THEN you had to see Him alive again, resurrected from the dead. But not only that, you had to be on the mount of Olives in Acts 1:9-11 watching Jesus leave the earth to go back into heaven. An apostle is someone who has been sent by Jesus to be a witness and testify that they saw Jesus alive, dead, and alive again.
This is why in Acts and other places in the NT you have people who are also called apostles, but they are not one of the 12 Primary Apostles. Because they meet those qualifications. But since every one of them died not a single other person can ever qualify from that moment on to be an apostle – neither as one of the 12 or as one of the other lesser apostles.
Why? Because the purpose of the Apostles was to be the FOUNDATION of the Church – something that is done at the BEGINNING of a project. Ephesians 2:20 says we are members of God’s household, “Built on the FOUNDATION of the APOSTLES and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone.” A foundation is the first thing you start with when you construct a building. The Apostles were the foundation of the whole Church that when their foundational ministry was complete the whole Church would come after them and be built on top of their ministry. The actual architecture of the Church was built on top of them. We are part of that architecture today! (Eph 2:21-22!!!)
You see this sort of in a microcosm in Galatia. Paul the Apostle, sent by Jesus to go to the Gentiles in Galatia, arrives and he is the first voice in all of history in that area to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the beginning of the church in Galatia is Paul – he is the foundation of the subsequent building that would be built on top of his ministry after him. He said this in 1 Corinthians 3:10, “By God’s grace I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it.”
Now knowing all this we can start to understand why Paul was beginning the way he did to the Galatians in his letter, “Paul, an apostle. Not sent by any man- but sent by Jesus Christ and God the Father.” Now a sidenote: did you see Paul treating Jesus as God right there? Sit down Jehovah’s witnesses. Sit down Jewish deniers. Sit down anyone who says “Jesus was a great man but not God.”
APPLICATION: Defend Apostolic authority. We have the written word. We will uphold Paul and Peter, and James and John as zealously as they did themselves. The same fervency they fought with to maintain their apostolic credibility is the same zeal we will defend their apostolic credibility. So people who talk about their “words from the Lord” and their “prophetic messages” can be silent. God speaks to me all the time right here in His word – which is living and active. If you want to uphold the written word with us, then stay and do away with all your supposed mystical experiences and messages. And people who are zealously devoted to “traditions” and “this is the way we have always done it” and “this is how every other church does things” can also repent and turn to the written word. Neither supposed revelations from God nor traditions are going to trump apostolic teaching. Period. Nothing is going to stand in the way of God’s word at EFC.
APPLICATION to the APPLICATION: Do not submit to anyone who is not clearly teaching the bible. Don’t look for a church because of the “music” or the “technology” or the “youth program” or whatever. Look for the pastors to be clearly teaching the word of God with conviction. If you find a man like that – and I mean “man” – then get in there and submit to that church leadership. You want to be under the spiritual authority of men who are truly spiritual – in a true biblical sense.
APPLICATION: Not only defend apostolic authority, but submit to it! Show you truly defend the Bible by actually submitting to it.
CONCLUSION:
Believe the Gospel! Do not rely on your religion. Do not rely on being a “good” person. Do not rely on the delusion that God is as forgetful or cavalier over your sins as you are. Do not rely on being able to point to someone worse than you.
Rely on one thing and one thing only: Jesus Christ. Rely on Jesus Christ going to the cross for you to pay the full penalty for your sins. Rely on Him today by trusting in Him. The Apostle Paul preached this. Galatians was all about this. We preach this. We are all about this. The Galatians believed it. Today, you must believe it. Come up front at the end of the service and I’ll be there.
SILENT REFLECTION