Last Sunday we began our study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The gospel message Paul had proclaimed to the churches of Galatia was under attack by groups of people who believed in the law of God rather than the grace of God; that preaching to the Gentiles was a waste of time. Paul’s response is that we are saved by the grace of God alone. We can’t earn it or buy it. We only have to trust in Him and accept it.
Today we continue with the rest of Galatians 1. Paul offers us a brief autobiography of his life and the events that led him to convert from Judaism to becoming an apostle of Christ. That’s what the gospel can do! It revives your heart, mind and spirit with the blessings of God. It picks you up, turns you around and sets you on a new course; a course that leads to true freedom and wholeness.
God intercedes in Paul’s life to overturn it; to turn it upside down; to move him from what would have been a comfortable, predictable life within the familiar traditions of his ancestors to one that will lead him down an unfamiliar road filled with hazards and hardships; a road that is anything but comfortable.
We are reminded over and over that God never promised us a perfect, easy life. When we accepted Jesus’ invitation to be his disciples, we knew that this decision would not always supply us with the pleasant fulfillments of our needs; sometimes they lead us where we would be happier not to go. That’s what the Gospel can do!
Paul refers to his own experience as an example of what the Gospel can do in our lives. It’s not a Gospel of human origin or from a human source, but through “a revelation of Jesus Christ”.
You get the sense from the text that Paul is on the defensive. Paul finds himself backed into a corner with guns blazin’: his credentials, his gifts, his experience, his calling as an apostle of Christ are under attack.
In verses 13-14, we see an abrupt shift when Paul provides details of his life before the gospel made a home in his heart. His was a life in Judaism, that is to say he was one with loyalty, zeal and fervor for the ways of Israel; for the traditions and for what he had always believed was right and true.
This fervor took the form of “persecuting the church of God” and “trying to destroy it”. Paul maintained allegiances to all things Jewish. He lived in a time that treasured customs and traditions. He played by the expected rules. Truly Paul lived the good, easy life!
Suddenly in verses 14-15 the good life for Paul abruptly ends. God acts and changes Paul’s spirit. God acts. God acts when revealing himself to us in Jesus Christ and after that, things are never the same again.
In order to show his listeners he’s the real deal, Paul confirms in verse 16 that he is truly responding to God’s initial action. He describes it through the prophetic call to reinforce his claim that his calling as an apostle is God’s idea and a part of a much larger plan God has for the world. “The one who formerly was persecuting us”, the Bible says, “is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.”
Paul is a great example of what the gospel can do: a complete transformation of one’s life. It is a change that embodies the earth-shaking power of the gospel by which all other priorities that clamor for our attention, good, bad or indifferent, are simply eclipsed.
All believers, when we welcome the living Christ into our lives have our priorities, our allegiances, our whole lives turned upside down. We are given the free gift of new freedom in Christ. To be free in Christ is like a kite soaring in the sky. The string that ties it to the ground is the very thing that enables it to fly. Were it not for the string, the kite would fall. It can fly because it is bound to the earth. That’s what the gospel can do. You will soar to new heights on the wings of eagles, you will run and not be weary.
We have a freedom in Christ that empowers us to live each day for Him, living as if it were our last. This freedom releases us to go into the world to serve one another and give life away in service to others. I believe our Christian values and beliefs still hold the ability to transform the world and turn the world upside down.
We live in a world that tells us more is more. Individuals who are wealthy, who own large homes, fancy luxury cars, and have vast material possessions are seen by the world as valuable, successful and worthy of our admiration. If you are not one of these wealthy individuals, the opposite is true: you are not as important and not as valuable. It is the idea that, “When money talks, people listen.” When I watch TV or listen to the radio, there are hundreds of ads encouraging me to buy a certain product or service.
Our Christian values teach us that we have value no matter what we buy and no matter what services we use. Each of us is loved unconditionally by God just as we are. We don’t need lots of cars, computers, brand name clothes, or the latest smartphone to be important and valued by God or by anybody else. It reminds me of the story of Allen and Violet Large of Nova Scotia, Canada. In July, 2010, Allen and Violet won 11.3 million dollars in the Canadian Lottery and gave all their winnings away to local churches, charities, hospitals and even the local fire station. After taking care of family and friends, the couple set out to give away the remainder of the money. To them the money meant nothing. It was much more important that they still had their health and each other. Their generosity begs the question, “What is really important in life?”
I believe Allen and Violet Large witnessed what the gospel can do! And THIS is the gospel we need to tell the world. THIS is the gospel the world needs to know. We need to turn the world upside down.
“At the core of the Christian experience a powerful force pushes us – sometimes successfully, sometimes not – beyond the temptation to linger forever in our own problems or preoccupied with Christ’s benefits, so that we may join God’s work in convincing the world of his amazing love.”[1]
Let us consider for a moment our societies understanding of what retirement is. The world says that after a certain age an individual is no longer able to work. They are given their farewell from their company and they are left to do as they please.
The lives for many retirees change dramatically. For many there is no longer a reason to get up in the morning. Their career had given them value and purpose. Today too many retired Americans are shut off from the rest of the world in retirement communities and nursing homes and convalescent homes or just plain forgotten in the home they have lived in for so many years.
As Christians, we believe that each one of us is a child of God and we all have something to offer others. There is no retirement age for a Christian. We all have experiences, knowledge, and wisdom to be shared with all people. So regardless of our age, we need to turn the world upside down demonstrating what the gospel can do!
This is a revolutionary reality which reorients life and puts people like Paul going in the opposite direction. It has to do with how God sets persons and things right in the world, not through an observant keeping of the law, but in Christ who can be related to only on the grounds of faith. To be grasped by Christ is to discover a whole new world where standards of success once dearly held no longer matter, where criteria for decisions are radically altered, where people are viewed in a different light.
That’s what the gospel can do! Will you let it happen to you?
[1] Galatians. By Charles B. Cousar. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for
Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1982) p.35.
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