Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture:  Galatians 1: 1-7   Jan. 5, 2025

Message: “What Happened?”                        

by Pastor George Gnade

Courtesy Map : https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/

Intro.: 1. Today we are beginning a new series of messages on the Book of Galatians. It was written by the Apostle Paul soon after he finished his first missionary journey.  

2. To understand this book, you must learn more about the Galatians and more about Paul.

A. Today let us begin with the Galatians.

1. In Acts 14, we learn how Paul and Barnabas visited the cities of Iconium, Lystra, and Derby. If you looked at a map of that day, you would discover that this whole region was called Galatia.  

a. Think of Galatia as a county that included many cities. The cities mentioned in Acts 14, were all in this county.

b. That is why this letter in vs. 2 was addressed to “the churches in Galatia.” 

2. Paul went through some difficult times in these cities. In fact, in Lystra, he was stoned to death and thrown out of the city. But God raised him up. 

a. If that was me, I would have been too scared to go back. But Paul went back into the city to encourage the new Christians before continuing on to visit Derby.

b. How long he stayed in Derby, I do not know. But that was the last church Paul and Barnabas visited before reversing themselves and revisiting the very same churches on their way back to Antioch where they had been anointed and chosen to go forth (Acts 13: 1-3).

3. On their way back, they prayed with all the new Christians and warned them of the hardships they may face; then they set up elders in every city to guarantee the continuation of  their work (Acts 14: 21-23). They praised the Lord for such a successful journey

B. But something happened that they did not expect.

1. In Gal. 1:6, Paul wrote: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which really is no gospel at all.”

a. Paul was shocked! He couldn’t help ask the question: What happened? How could this happen so soon? 

b. In vs. 7, he adds: “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

2. Consider who these people were.  In the O.T., the Jews had received the law given on Mt. Sinai to Moses. 

a. Of course, it included the ten commandments to explain how they ought to live.

b. It also included the law for all males to be circum-cised. This showed they belonged to God, and if they deliberately disobeyed God’s laws, they deserved to die. 

3. They were also told how to build a tabernacle (later on the temple) where they could worship God and offer all kinds of sacrifices that God required them to make to atone for their sins and restore their relationship. There were over 600 laws altogether. It was a heavy burden for the people.

4. By Paul’s day, there were faithful Jews who believed and practiced their faith. There were also Gentiles who came to believe in the true God. But they were asked to get circum-cised and begin following all the other Jewish laws. Finally there were Jews and Gentiles who didn’t believe or practice the Jewish faith.

a. But that is when Jesus came.  Jesus called people to believe in Him and follow Him. Many Jewish people like the disciples did that. And God used Paul and others to reach the Gentiles too.

b. Jesus called this the good news of the gospel. In-stead of offering sacrifices in the temple, Jesus died on the cross in our place. He became our sacrifice for sin. This way we can be saved apart from the Law, receiving a right-eousness that comes by faith in Christ (Rom. 3: 21-24).

5. But there were Jewish leaders who insisted that these new Gentile Christians also had to be circumcised and keep all the O.T. laws. That is what happened in Galatia. 

a. No sooner did Paul leave these new converts when Jewish leaders arrived and insisted they also had to live like good Jews.

b. If in the O.T., converted Gentiles had to get circumcised and live like good Jews, these teachers said new Christians had to do the same thing, placing them right back under the whole O.T. system.

C. Paul lost his cool!

1. Paul said they were perverting the true Gospel of Christ. Jesus came to set us free from all those laws while these Judaizers were putting all Christians back under them.

2. In vs. 8, Paul wrote: “Even if an angel from heaven should preach a gospel different than the one we preached, let him be eternally condemned!”  

3. Sometimes there are passages of scripture where Christians can agree to disagree. This is not one of them! Christianity was just beginning to be preached to the Gentiles as well as the Jews and Paul could not afford to let people think they were partially saved by grace and partially saved by keeping all those laws.

In conclusion:

1. In Eph. 2:8-10, Paul wrote: “For by grace are you saved through faith, and this is not from your-selves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared for us in advance, that we should walk that way.” 

2. To make this a little clearer, many teachers divide the Laws of the O.T. into the ceremonial laws and the moral laws. 

a. Circumcision and all the O.T. sacrifices along with the feasts and special days were all fulfilled by Christ by dying on the cross for us. In so doing, He fulfilled the old covenant God had made with His people. Now He has given us a new covenant instead. In Heb.8, the author clearly teaches us that Jesus made all of those old laws obsolete, and they were meant to pass away. 

b. Meanwhile, God’s moral law has been written on our hearts.  Jesus died so we can be forgiven from disobeying those laws too.

3. But that is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in the hearts of those who come to believe in Him. 

a. While we cannot obey those laws either in our own strength, we can obey them by listening to the Holy Spirit. As we pray and take our faith seriously, He empowers us do what we could not do before.

b. That is why we sing songs like: “Things are different now. Something happened to me since I gave my life to Jesus.”

4. In the coming weeks, we will study the first part of this book, explaining our new freedom in Christ. Then in the second part, we will learn more about living under the power of the Holy Spirit. That is enough for today.