Paul and The Gospel

So, I went off the radar with the sermon today.

Again, and probably for the next six weeks because there are six chapters in The Book of Galatians and I love the book of Galatians. So I do a lot of digital books, but I decided to put out my commentary on Galatians because I have a physical copy of a book about Galatians because I got my academic career, in my Ministry career now it has continued to be one of my favorite books of the Bible. It shorter than the rest of the week for the Bible and Paul's letters. It's not as short as Philemon. So this morning there's Bibles in your pews. But I invite you to open those Bibles for the first chapter of Galatians because this is sorta going to be a sermon. It started Tour de going to be a large group bible study this morning. We're going to read some more scripture together. Occasionally, I'm going to go back to my notes here but I want us to look at Galatians because you know oftentimes are we here in the church live Church world that we want to be a first-century church. That we want to be in the church that was Xanax and there's all this beauty and Glory around the 1st Century Church. But do you know? During the time of Paul that there was conflict in the church that they had problems in the church and Paul had to address these problems and he did. So in this letter here, to the Galatians. And so basically, we're going to we're going to go through this and basically looked at the first chapter through chapter two this morning. but Paul up Paul and the first century church was persecuted by Jewish leaders by pagans of that time in

Every time a polygon established church, he would have to address problems because they were just getting started. They were, they were trying to understand what it was like to be a Christian. Now, we know in Galatians here, as well, read and understand together, that there were these, this group of people called the judaizers, write the judaizers said that one had to be a Jew before, they could be a person of Faith before. They can be a Christian. They had to go through all the Jewish customs and rituals in order to get to that point. And so we're going to talk about that. So the first point here is in chapter one and we're going to look at verses 6 through 10 together and it says I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by grace of Christ, the follow enough. Gospel. It's not really another gospel but certain people are confusing you and they want to change the gospel of Christ. However, if in ourselves our Heavenly Angel should ever preached anything different from what is preached to you, they should be under a curse. And some translations say a curse of God. And I repeated what you said before, if anyone preaches, something different from what you received, they should be under a curse. And hear these words brothers and sisters. Am I trying to win over human? Beings are God? Or am I trying to please people? And if I were still trying to please people, I wouldn't be crisis slave. In the earliest days of Christianity, false teaching was very apparent. Paul did not look old Overlook it. He didn't pretend it didn't exist. Neither did he minimize it? He confronted the issue head-on. So, I just want to share this past week. Now I hate I hate the bathing anything over social media. Okay, I normally don't engage normally don't engage, so I'm just going to be blunt. All right, so there's a whole lot of my colleagues. The bathing this whole it's a, it's a current event the Catholic Church a voting to not let Biden communion, right? So, we're not going to talk about Democrats and Republicans this morning and I have my own opinion on the Catholic church, right? But my concern was is taking communion unworthily, right? That when we go before the bread, right before the blood of Christ, we go before the body of Christ, that we are taking and sincerity, that it's not just a thing that we do on Sunday morning. It's not just like a religious activity, but rather something that we understand and grass right? That we have gone before the Lord. I can faster since most importantly that we don't go and Perpetual non repentance in not saying that about the person that the article was about. But what I'm saying here is a list of the congregation when we go before the table. The scripture is very clear that we need to do. So we need to confess our sins to God and we do that every Sunday. Why we do spend some special time and silence, because all of us have individual sense that I hope we are. Honestly trying to change our lives because repentance is a change of life. So we're doing something about it, some of my colleagues. Who I've known for years now. Have said, you know, it's a free-for-all basically that you don't have to really repent, change your life because we're all Sinners, wanderson. I get it. We're all Sinners. We have to change our life. We have to be making an honest effort. Not to save ourselves. I get that Christ saves this, but we can't just go out on Saturday night, every Saturday night and do whatever we want. Then come to church on Sunday morning and just a little Lord. I'm sorry. And then do it again next week, right? We have to be able to build that relationship with Jesus and so I was part of cancel culture this past weekend, right? I literally got just like turned off from 10 friends. That I thought we're friends Seminary professors. Right? And I didn't say anything crazy. I just said you need to repent of your sins and earnestly. Try to live in unity with God. And communion. At its core is think about who Jesus shared that table with his disciples, right? And so there's a two-fold thing here is that were Disciples of Jesus, we believe in Jesus. I mean, that's what I believe an Open Table is is that we all are Disciples of Christ. We are in unity with one another, right? That we love each other. That you think the disciples love Jesus. Absolutely, even Judas, love Jesus. He made us in, right. He, he portrayed Jesus. He hadn't killed himself. So, I think there was some remorse are for what he did. Did he ask for forgiveness? I sure hope so. I don't know if he's in heaven or hell. I know there's a, there's a whole story there. But the point is, I believe at the core, the disciples love Jesus. And the point is that we love Jesus and we love each other. So I can be added this. There is sin in the world, there is a changing landscape of what bialigy teaches. Its really sad to me that we have begun as a as a generation as a society to dismiss. The teachings of the church. I have been here over two thousand years because it doesn't fit right with us. Brothers and sisters. I mean we have to look at that. We have to look at the Bible at its entirety and not taking juice and I know I'm going to sit box because I've said this before But it's really bothering me that I didn't realize till this weekend. Just how far people have taken it really. These are people that went to conservative theological seminaries trained with me next to me in class every single day. We had debates and and wrote papers together, right? And they have just shifted with the world. And I think it goes well with Galatians here, because we talked about other gospel, chapter 1, the other gospel, what is that? The other gospel, is the gospel of the world, brothers and sisters, the gospel, the world, and the world wants you to believe in rather than believing what the Bible says. So, can we have these? These judaizers that believed that one has to convert to Judaism. So if you're a gentile, we're all Gentiles unless you're Jewish on your mother's side were all Gentiles. We would have to convert to Judaism and that includes men, that are uncircumcised, would have to be circumcised right in order to convert to the faith. And Paul says, are you crazy, right? And I want to thank if, if you told grown men that's they would just say, forget about it. I'm not going to be Jewish and I'm not going to be Christian. Praise the Lord, right? And Paul says, right it is safe. It is faith. That saves, you has nothing to do with what you do. And it's a really fine balance, right? Cuz we were just talking about communion in the need of confession, but in the same, since I'm telling you, it's faith that saves you. So you got to wrestle with that. What does that mean for you and your walk with Jesus? The scripture is clear that God will know us by our fruits. The real will know us by the fruits that we bear,

and when I look at this, I really think of

The situation that we as a church are Christians first, right? Everybody agree. We're Christians first. Now, I'll never forget when I was growing up, you would ask somebody, you know, what religion are you. And they usually say, again, I'm from Southeast Louisiana, right? So they say I'm Catholic. That was usually the number one response and so, but are you a Christian? And I asked the same question here? We might have a lot of lutherans, but are we Christians? Because the truth is right, we don't have that special condo in heaven, like, I want it, right? I want to first like Disney has fast passes for you get in first the line, I want the fast. Pass the Jesus, because I'm a Lutheran right like, but it's not going to happen, right? I'm a Christian. And I'm at the wait, just like everybody else to ask, Jesus. All of my questions when I die and Paul and everyone else that I want to ask questions up, but, Are we Christians? I happen to be Lutheran's. Yes, right. Just like every other church and this community doesn't make us better than anybody else. I don't believe so. And that's my biggest struggle. Is this kind of like a logical elitism. So, basically, I'm putting my nose in the air and everybody else. I can't stand it. Driving me, crazy! That's what happened to me this weekend. So the second Point versus extra 10, the perversion of the Gospel changing, the gospel to say, whatever you wanted to say, That's what the church in galatia is doing this morning and don't worry. There's only three is presenting the gospel verses 11 through 2 chapter 10. Now you got to hear me read. All right, so let me go over here to my Bible and I am reading. This is the common English Bible. The back of your bulletins are an IV. So it's a little different. Don't get too scared here, I'm not preaching. Another gospel, brothers and sisters. I want you to know that the gospel that I preached isn't of human origin. I didn't receive it or learn it from a human being. It came to Revelation from Jesus Christ and you heard about my previous life and Judaism has severely. I harass got church and try to destroy it. And I advance in Judaism beyond my peers because I was much more militant about the traditions of my ancestors. The guy that set me apart from birth and called me through his grace and he was pleased to reveal his son to me so that I might preach about him to the Gentiles. And I didn't immediately consult with any human being. I didn't go up to Jerusalem to see the men who were the apostles before me either. But I went away to Arabia and I returned again to Damascus. And then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit, caifas and staying with him 15 days, but other of the Apostles, accept the brother of our Lord. And before God, I am not lying about the things and I'm writing to you. And then I went to the region of Syria and Sophia, but I wasn't known personally by the Christian churches in Judea. And they only heard a report about me the man who used to harass us now preaches, the faith that he once tried to destroy. Today, we're glorifying God because of me. And then about 14 years, I went up to Jerusalem again to Barnabas and I took piphus Titus along also and I went there because of a revelation, and I laid out the gospel that I preach to the Gentiles for them. But I did it privately with the influential leaders to make sure I wouldn't be working, or that me and my eyes are here. I didn't, I hadn't worked for nothing. However, not even type Titus who was with me, and who was a Greek, was required to be circumcised, but a false brothers and sisters, who were brought and secretly slipped into spy on our freedom, which we have in Christ Jesus. And to make us slaves, we didn't get in and submit to them for a single moment. So that the truth of the Gospel we continue to be with you. The infant influential leaders that add anything to what I was preaching, and whatever they were make makes no difference to me because God doesn't show favoritism. But on the contrary they saw that, I have been given the responsibility to preach the gospel. To the people who aren't circumcised just as Peter had to be circumsised. The one who was in power by Peter to become an apostle to the circumcised and power. Me also to be the one to the Gentiles James syphus and John who are also considered to be key leaders. Took hands with me and Barnabas as equals and when they recognize the grace and give it to me. So it was agreed that we would go to the Gentiles while they continue to go to the people who are circumcised. And they asked only that, we would remember the poor, which was certainly something I'm willing to do. So again, we are presenting the gospel this morning. We see that Paul Presenting the gospel to the Gentiles. They his authority was recognized by the apostles. And we know that that Paul had that come to Jesus moment on the masses Road, right? Where his eyes he was blinded he fell off his horse and Jesus spoke to him, right? And told him you're going to go do that. So imagine he's a murderer of of Christians and all of a sudden. Tell Sam he's going to go preach to the Gentiles. He's going to preach to Christians and he's thinking of all these people are going to run away from me. I used to murder them and it was really cool when I when I got one over to Israel I got to go to that place where or Paul spent those 15 days that talks about But it talks about how Paul spoke with authority, not given to him by man, but given to him by God, right? So when we go out into the world, And we say to ourselves. Well, I'm not a preacher. I don't have any theological training, whatever. That's the kind of excuse things I've heard from people, right? I heard from parents, when I was a youth pastor that they didn't want to really talk about face with their children because, you know, that's why they send them to church, right. And I've heard that many many times, it's the same thing at school, right? When we send him to school to be educated. So we're not we're just going to rely on the job as parents, grandparents Etc. that we are to decide for children children of the faith and we are to get our words not from mankind, but from God, And that's the problem in the church today, right? Is that we sometimes will gravitate towards something that feels good. Something that makes us I'll have pep in her step, so we can come to church and get our fill for the week so we can be ready for the week ahead. But the point that is not the point of Church Brothers ancestors. The point of churches, that hear the word of God, and sometimes it up, obviously, there's more moments and scripture that beat me up, then make me feel good. There's moments that make me say, you know, I'm a messed up person and I'm just somehow being used by Jesus and I'm grateful for that. So we have to get our words or commentary from God. Now hear this, if God tells you something that doesn't agree with the church, right? Two thousand years of the church, it's completely different. You probably need to check yourself. Go to your accountability partner, your Bible study partner, and say this is what the Holy Spirit told me. And they might tell you what, that sounds completely crazy. Let me give you an example. There are many new churches. New Christian groups, right my my family grew up in one. Right. And with my grandpa used to call him religious cults, right? And that they come up with new teachings that better than selves rather than the kingdom of God. That's a number one indicator. We got another gospel. So, I guess I'll just put it out there. So when my, my mother was growing up for a time, a time. They were in the Mormon church, right? They were, they were Mormons and I still have family that are Mormons, and my grandmother tells a story that God came to her in a dream. And told her that it was a call and she needed to leave. That's exactly what they did. And I'm not trying to down anyone, they're good people, right? They give a lot of money to the poor, and they get a lot of money to food. Insecurity, in fact, I have like boxes of Mormon food in my basement at the parsonage cuz I got a bunch of where I left Florida, that I'm still working on. They're good people. That's not the point. We're talking about the Bible, right? And there are parts of that faith that are just not online with scripture at all. And we have to be aware just because, you know, they're evangelizing Us, open our doors and I seen him at Walmart, and I usually strike up a conversation and tell him that Jesus loves them. That's what I do. And I'm praying for him. But we have to be careful. We have to know the word of God and I my grandpa Harold who never went to church, but his grandpa was a Baptist minister so he would set them in next to the rocking chair. That's the story. I'm told and he would make him recite Bible scripture, so they'd read Genesis chapter 1 and then my Grandpa would have to recite it. So he knew his Bible and he never joined, praise God. He was the The Light Of Hope and he got my family out of that situation. And so there are those people that need people like us. There's a whole web site devoted to it to these people that leave religious groups like that, they need a Christian home. And so, who knows, maybe we can be at Sono, the word of God know the word of God for yourself. Don't rely just on the preacher, which I know you don't cuz I get challenged by people. That's okay. We have to know God's word. So next chapter 2 11 through 21. I'm going to try to read it quickly for you, but once I first came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he was wrong and he had been eating with the Gentiles before certain people came to James, but when they came, he began to back out of back out and separate himself because he was afraid and the people who promoted circumcision. And the rest of the Jews who had joined him in apocracy. So the even Barnabas got carried away with them and their hypocrisy. But when I saw that, they were acting consistently with the truth of the Gospel. I said the Cypress in front of everyone if, you know, you're a Jew live like a gentile and not like a Jew, how can you require the Gentiles to live, like a Jew? We are born. We're not Gentile centers. However, we know the person isn't made righteous by works of the law. But rather through faithfulness of Jesus Christ, we ourselves believe in Christ Jesus that we would be made righteous by the faithfulness of Christ and not by The Works of the law because no one will be able to be made righteous by The Works of the law. But if it is discovered That our souls are centers. While we are trying to be made righteousness in Christ, then Christ, then it is Christ. A servant of sin, absolutely not. If I rebuild the very things that I tore down, I show that I myself and breaking the law and I threw the law so that I can live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I'm no longer alive, but Christ lives in me in the life that I now live in my body. I live by faith and Dean by the faithfulness of God son who loved me and gave himself for me. So we have to protect the gospel in these vs. We have to protect the word of God to the world. We have to live by faith. We have to defend the church. So, there's that famous quote from Luther, right? He's being questioned and he's been asked multiple times, you know? So we can't repent of his sin, right? And Luther says here, I stand right here. I stand. So, and he was willing to die for standing for the word of God. The sand for it to die for it. So we got to ask ourselves this morning. Are we willing to die for the word of God? It's hard. If someone were to knock on your door and our faith, right? Or faith, all overnight became something that was illegal in this country. And who knows? It could happen one day. Maybe, maybe not in some of your lifetimes, maybe not of mind, but maybe it could. Become illegal. Am I willing to die for it? And that's, that's really intense, I know. But it's the truth. We have to protect the gospel. I guess that's why we recite our faith together in unity as the body of Christ. We don't have time. The church globally does not have the time to fight amongst each other anymore. Like the whole church globally is declining, we know this, right? It isn't what it was in the 50s and 60s right now. Go back to my youth ministry days and I remember going to the church and I'm saying, you know, we had two school, buses, full of kids that will come to youth group this little Country Church. We're lucky to have 10 now and this was the ongoing complaint. Well, parents used to send their kids to church for youth group. Right? That's becoming rare these days. People were in church on Sunday morning, cuz that's what you did. You went to church on Sunday morning and when I was growing up, that's what I did. Get I'm in the South so we're like 20 years behind the progressive movements, right? We went to church on Sunday, I don't care what was going on in your life. You were in that to you on Sunday morning and like I said went when I would go home and if I try to play hooky from church, the older ladies from the congregation would call me on my phone and asked me why I wasn't there and they would be sure to pick me up the next Sunday. I was in church. But we're not there anymore is the society, the gospel hasn't been protected. The gospel is, it's almost like for some people stay safe has become dead. No, I said I'm doing a Bible study. Probably the book that we're going to be studying is a book called the Christian atheist. Nobody read that looking for a really good book. The Christian atheist and you can Google Christian a Pious and watch what, there's actually a whole definition of what it is. Now, Right? It's it being a member of a church or saying you're a Christian but not living. Like Jesus is alive, right? Living whatever way you want to. Christian atheism. We have to in this Society, do something different. We have to, I don't know, I don't have the answer, you know, there's a lot of churches that they call pastors the young ones like me, right. And they think we're going to just young, people are going to flock, because you got a young Pastor, doesn't work like it just doesn't work. It is, it's not how it happens. It happens by The Community of Christ coming together and I don't care. If it's all, we get a bunch of young people. I would love that if all of your friends that are retired, right? If we have my friend calls them, owls older wiser leaders. If we have a congregation full of our house on Sunday morning, Great glory. Be to God, right? Glory be to God. It's not about age. It's not even about socio-economics. It's not about any of that. It's about the whole Community knowing Jesus. And we know as I've reached before there, so many lost people, and this community that need Christ, I can't, we drive downtown, we tried so hard. Yesterday we wanted. We've lived here and we don't know anything about Baltimore city and I understand like it's, you know, and I just wanted to go. So we looked up on our phone, all the diner Drive-In and Dives restaurants, there's like 17, love them. Be cool. Let's go through all 17 and then next year, so we try, we went to this. Try to go to the store. Pizza place in downtown Baltimore And of course, as soon as we try to drive to the street, it's 6. So they shut the street down, I guess and we couldn't get through and I was really upset and I went around like waited a half an hour in traffic and of course while I'm driving down there, It's like every corner it feels like there's some church that has been shut down like nothing and these they're beautiful historic buildings and I'm like okay so where did all these where do all these people go to church? Do they go to church? You know, I don't know. But all I know is there's a bunch of churches, shut down. And there's more people there than there are churches versus like Dundalk where I feel like we have a lot of churches, right? And a lot of small churches and I worry about that City and it almost feels overwhelming. Because I remember coming here for the call, like, 2 to look at the area and thinking, man, I would love to do some inner-city Ministry and try to make change the world type thing. And it's almost overwhelming to be like, okay, what can First Lutheran of Dundalk do for inner-city Baltimore? I mean where, where the closest nalc church to downtown Baltimore? I mean in some ways we are, we are the outlet that we have to minister to that Community, but I mean there's so much work. I mean, from the dirtiness of the city trash everywhere, right? Up to the shutdown, churches to the homeless population. I just really wonder to be the church to Baltimore City. Cuz again, we are the closest one How do we do that? I don't know it. It's nothing that Pastor could come up with by himself like I'm literally overwhelmed by it. So it's like when the body of Christ has to come together the church to figure out something. So I mean this is our community first. I get it like, we're going to minister to Dundalk and we're going to love on these people. But I think it's some point like we need to do something. So I want you to think maybe six months out and I'm at the write myself a note. So I remember this 6 months out from here, what is some type of ministry project we could do downtown? And I'm going to tell you, if we have to drive down there, I'm going to have to take a ride with someone other than myself cuz I'm no longer attempting to drive down there by myself. Like I just can't do it. So please I'll ride with somebody and we love to do something. They're so this next six weeks and you know, each week is indeed something a little different different format, different way. I look at it, my goal is not to make you super late to Sunday school. But, you know, in chapter 3, as you begin to look at galatian. So feel free when you go home to read chapter 2 and 3, you don't have to but you can't. And he starts off my favorite. One of my favorite verses to quote, you foolish Galatians who put a spell on you write who has Bewitched you and he's going to church. So I want you to think of a pastor dinner just coming in on Sunday morning saying you foolish people That's what Paul did. Paul called the church that he started foolish. We're going to talk about next week. How to be foolish and the right way, right? How do we be foolish for Jesus? Right? How do we make a difference? How do we change the world? I mean, that's what this is all about. This is what Sunday mornings about for me. Maybe, maybe not for everybody. But for me, it is about changing my thinking to be, as glaciers chapter 2000s, a slave for Jesus, and we know as slaves for Jesus, that we have no say-so. That means that we have surrendered, Our lives, our body, our souls, the Jesus, to a point that when Jesus speaks, we do. That's right. That's what I thought. That's where I'm trying to go. That's that's where I as a disciple of Jesus, as Richard first right to understand and and wrap my brain around, how do I become a slave for Jesus? As Paul was. So let us pray and will continue to worship almighty. God, we thank you for your holy word in the book of Galatians. God, we may be foolish at times, we may not surrender Our Lives as Paul did as a slave of Jesus. Like we should God, I hurt I hurt for the inner city not too far from here. God with with churches that are shut down almost on every corner to the people of God, to illnesses and poverty. I don't know where to begin. I don't know how we, as a body of Faith here at first can make the best impact. To those people that got, I know, deep down in my heart and I'm sure for many of us in this room today. God, you have you have place in our heart. I care for those people.

That we pray for their government. That which we know is challenged, we we do. God that you put Godly leaders and places of authority and Power. Got that you call pastors to. Maybe those churches have closed down, got plant some new congregation Scott that are supported by Churches like us. Help us be a unified in mission for you. I got, we pray for Dundalk, got to. I actually saw one new church plant that opened up this week. God, I pray for a fruitful beginnings of their Ministry. God that that you bless them, that you help them, serve, whatever their niches got and we, we pray for this church to do the same. Got to help us find our Pact. The Help us find that Niche, that people group God, you called us uniquely to serve.

Got it. Help us be a church. That is Unified for you and your call, and we pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.