Galatians 1:11-24, For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached
by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any
man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus
Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how
I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And
I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so
extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But
when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,
16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might
preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor
did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away
into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to
visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw
none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In
what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I
went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still
unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They
only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the
faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God
because of me.
Paul’s concern for the Galatian Christians was so great that he went to
great lengths to convince them that he was truly an apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He wanted them to know, first of all, that he was amazed at their so
quickly deserting the gospel and returning to pagan works. Next, he wanted them
to know that he did not learn the gospel from another man. He received “his
gospel” through a revelation of Jesus Christ. He reminded his Galatian friends
that he had been a persecutor of the church and had violently tried to destroy
it. He was extremely zealous for the Jewish traditions before he came to
understand the truth about Jesus Christ.
The truth that he now saw led him to understand that God had chosen him
before the foundation of the world. As a persecutor of the church he knew that
he was not saved because of his good works. It was God’s grace that gave him
eternal life. He knew that God had a plan for his life that he could not see
for himself. Satan had blinded his eyes just as he blinds the eyes of everyone
before they come to faith. In the case of Paul, God had to go to an extreme
measure to stop him and put him on the right path.
God set Paul apart. Many preachers and teachers mistakenly call for an individual to choose
Christ. They fail to see that…
God does the choosing. Listen while I read from, Ephesians
2:1-2, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in
which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
disobedience—
Before Paul met Jesus on the
Damascus Road he was unable to make a spiritual decision. He was dead in
trespasses and sins and dead people can’t make decisions. Paul, or Saul of
Tarsus as he was then known, could not have decided to follow Jesus until God
imparted spiritual life to him.
Every salvation experience is a
miracle of God and Paul’s was especially so. He had been an opponent of the
gospel. He had stood by while Stephen was martyred. He led the persecution of
the church in the early days and was on his way to Damascus to arrest
Christians and take them back to Jerusalem for trial and execution. However,
God had a different plan for Paul.
Those who come to faith in Christ
were chosen by God…
Before we were born. Listen while I read Ephesians
1:4-6, …even as he chose us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he
predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the
purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace,
with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Isaiah, the prophet, knew that he was chosen by God and
named by God before he was born. God told Jeremiah that he was chosen and
called to be a prophet to the nations before being formed in the womb. John the
Baptist leapt in his mother’s womb when Mary came into her presence.
Immediately Elizabeth knew that Mary was the mother of her Lord! Clearly, John
was chosen at or before his conception. This passage goes further. Here the
Bible says that he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. I never
cease to be amazed at our God! He knew us before we were born! He knew our
names before we were born! Still, after knowing all about us — and in spite of
that, he chose us! He chose us for his own reasons and…
Not because of our good qualities. We are saved by grace through
faith that is a gift of God and not because of works. In fact, God doesn’t
measure us by human standards. Listen while I read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according
to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But
God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is
weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low
and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things
that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence
of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who
became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so
that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
We can see in this passage of Scripture that if you look at any
particular group of Christians you will find, as Paul did, that there are not
many wise, powerful or noble by the world’s standards. If we were doing the
choosing we would often choose the rich and powerful or the famous. Certainly,
we would not choose the down and out or the despised people of the world to fill
the ranks of the Church of God. God particularly chose all of those classes of
people so that we could understand that our choosing is by God’s purpose not
ours. Verse thirty is especially important. “And because OF HIM you are in
Christ Jesus”. All of the qualities that we look for are bypassed by God and
then, IN HIM, we’re given the things that we really need: wisdom from God,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
This is so that we can boast in the Lord and not in ourselves. It is
very clear that…
God called Paul (and us) by his grace. Grace, and grace alone, is the source of our
relationship with God. And…
Grace came through Jesus Christ. Look at what John had to say about grace in John 1:14-17, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Grace came through Jesus Christ. Look at what John had to say about grace in John 1:14-17, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The law was given through Moses and served a purpose in God’s plan. God
knew that no one would ever be able to keep the entire law. Instead, the law
was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. No one, apart from Jesus, ever kept
the entire law without breaking one commandment. The Bible tells us that Jesus
was tempted in all ways as we are and yet without sin. He fulfilled the law’s
demands on our behalf.
The glory of the only Son from the Father was full of grace and truth and
that’s what he brought into our life. Grace can best be described in the
acrostic: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense! Jesus brought grace into the world…
And reflects the
kindness of God. Look at what Paul wrote in Romans 2:4, Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and
patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
Grace is nothing less than the kindness of God expressed through Jesus
Christ. Often, people mistakenly think that it is the wrath of God that causes
people to come to repentance. God does have wrath at the sin of mankind. But
his wrath does not call people to repentance. It is his love and mercy, his
forbearance and patience that calls us to himself. We do not serve a God that
we live in cringing fear of. We serve a God who is kind and at the same time —
just. Jesus brought grace into the world reflecting the kindness of God and…
It is God who calls. In many times and in many ways God has called his people to himself. Paul
knew that God had called us by his grace with a special purpose in mind. Listen
while I read what he wrote in Romans 8:29-30, For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the
image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And
those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also
justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
This is one of many
passages in the New Testament that teaches us that there is a process in
salvation. God knew in advance who would be saved and he predestined them to be
conformed to the image of his son. Those he predestined he also called, those
he called he also justified. And ultimately, in the world to come, he glorifies
those whom he has justified.
Grace came through
Jesus Christ and reflects the kindness of God. Part of God’s kindness is that
he calls his people to salvation. In the case of the apostle…
God awakened Paul. Satan had blinded Paul’s spiritual eyes so that he could not see. It
became necessary for God to show him what his condition was. On the Damascus
Road Paul met Jesus and his…
Spiritual
blindness led to physical blindness. As he went along the road planning his attack on
the Christian community in Damascus he was struck to the ground. Let’s look at
Luke’s account. Acts 9:8-9, Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw
nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And
for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
He had been so sure he was right that he was willing
to take the lives of those who disagreed with him. And now he found himself on
the ground in the presence of the living Lord Jesus whom he knew to have been
crucified years before. He had been able to see his path clear up until that
time. Now suddenly, he not only saw the risen Lord Jesus but he heard him
speak. Jesus called him by name and gave him specific instructions as to what
to do. He needed time to think and I can think of no better way to meditate
than to suddenly be blind. No distractions could bother him! He opened his eyes
but he could not see. He had been hit right between the eyes with truth that he
could hardly believe. This Jesus, whom he persecuted, was now talking to him
with love and compassion. This Jesus, in love, had blinded him…
So that he could open others’ eyes. Several years later
Paul remembered the experience again and tells of some of the things that were
not recounted in the earlier account. When he gives this account Paul is standing
before King Agrippa. He’s had years to think over his past experience. Now he
fleshes out the earlier account by adding the words that he heard from Jesus
that he had not told earlier. Listen while I read Paul’s account in Acts 26:15-18, And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord
said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and
stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint
you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to
those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from
your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to
open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the
power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place
among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Jesus gives him specific instructions. First, he had
stopped him from fulfilling his evil intention in order to appoint him as a
servant and a witness to Jesus Christ. Second, he would be sent to the Gentiles
to open their eyes. He would be sent to lead many nations out of darkness into
light and away from the power of Satan to the power of God. As result of his
work many Gentiles would receive forgiveness of sins and a place among the
people of God.
It is amazing that God would choose a blasphemer, a
persecutor and an insolent opponent of God to become his ambassador to the
Gentile world. Years later, Paul would write to the Philippian church and
describe himself in the following manner: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a
Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the
law, blameless. (Philippians 3:5-6)
Not only did God choose the weak things of the world
he chose an arrogant opponent of the gospel to become its greatest defender.
Nothing in Paul’s background could have prepared him to be the ambassador of
Christ to the Gentile nations. In fact he would even be more likely than Peter
to despise all non-Jews. God awakened Paul penetrating his spiritual blindness
so that he could open others’ eyes and…
So that
he could preach Christ to the Gentiles. Remember that Paul was a Pharisee and as such
would have had a great dislike for all non-Jews. It was not so much a matter of
hating Gentiles as it was a matter of despising them. And yet, he was singled
out for the very purpose of preaching Christ to the very people he would’ve
despised. I suppose this is a reflection of God’s sense of humor. Let’s look at
Paul’s own account of his call in Ephesians 3:7-10, Of this gospel I was made a minister according
to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To
me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to
preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and
to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages
in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church
the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and
authorities in the heavenly places.
Paul could see that his being made a minister of the gospel was a gift
of God’s grace. It was not something he chose to do or had been trained for. It
was the miraculous work of God in his life by the power of the Holy Spirit that
did this work in him.
The proud, insolent blasphemer had now become a humble man who saw
himself as the least of all the saints. Being able to preach to the Gentiles was
seen by him as a gift of God’s grace rather than being an obligation that he
would resent. He was gifted with a knowledge of the mystery of the gospel. The mystery
was simple and therefore had been overlooked for generations. The “mystery” was
that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of
the promise in Christ Jesus. When this ministry came to light it revealed God’s
eternal plan to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places.
The prophets of old did not understand what they were sharing nor did
the angels understand what God’s plan was. None of the rulers of the age, human
or demon, understood what was happening. If they had understood they would’ve
never allowed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ because his crucifixion fulfilled
the law’s demands and his resurrection destroyed the power of death for those
who believe in him.
God set Paul apart before he was born. God called him by his grace that
comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s calling in grace reflect his
kindnesses that draw people to repentance. It is God who chooses and God who
calls. Paul was not seeking the truth he was convinced he already had it. He
was spiritually blind. In order for him to be brought to the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ God first physically blinded Paul and then, after he
had time to reflect on his blindness, God opened his eyes physically and
spiritually. Before the creation of the world God had chosen Paul, at the right
time, to carry the gospel to the nations of the world. With such a calling in
his life Paul became the human author of much of the New Testament. Mankind
without Christ is blind and with him is able to see.
Have you trusted him with your life? If not yet — don’t put it off!
Come to him now!
All scripture quotes are
from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard
Bible Society.
No comments:
Post a Comment