[0.00 --> 6.78]  I appreciate you praying for all the churches in our city, Brad.
[7.42 --> 11.62]  It reminds me, too, that we're part of a much bigger community, a body of faith,
[11.78 --> 15.68]  and we are in it together with them for the sake of the city, for the sake of the gospel.
[16.78 --> 21.30]  Well, it's a new season, new year, and we're going to start a new sermon series on the book of Galatians.
[21.30 --> 32.52]  And I'm just going to say personally that Galatians is, like, way deeper and more intense and challenging than I grew up thinking it was.
[33.06 --> 35.02]  And I want you to discover that, too.
[35.08 --> 41.22]  And so we encourage you, as we begin the sermon series, as we start our small group questions, to read through Galatians with us.
[41.34 --> 43.18]  We're going to do six weeks on Galatians.
[43.28 --> 48.76]  There's six chapters, so you can do it one chapter a week slowly, or you can do the whole book every week.
[48.76 --> 51.70]  I know a few of us do it by audio book so we can sort of hear it spoken.
[52.36 --> 56.80]  But allow that to deepen and enrich what we're preaching on as you read through it in your own homes.
[59.46 --> 64.92]  Can you think of a time, this is a bit of a personal question, but can you think of the last time that you got really fired up,
[65.82 --> 67.72]  like you were genuinely mad?
[69.32 --> 73.44]  Perhaps it was a comment made by that unnamed family member at Christmas dinner.
[74.68 --> 75.52]  Maybe that was too soon.
[75.52 --> 82.74]  Maybe it was an email you got from a colleague that twisted your words and misrepresented you.
[83.00 --> 86.68]  And when this happened, that last time you got fired up, you just had to do something.
[87.26 --> 88.28]  You had to say something.
[89.02 --> 93.52]  And perhaps you being, you know, a 21st century person living in the digital age,
[93.62 --> 98.68]  your way of responding to that frustration, that moment you got upset, was to send an email.
[99.44 --> 99.70]  Right?
[99.74 --> 100.58]  That's what we do now.
[100.58 --> 103.30]  And there are different kind of emails we send, right?
[103.36 --> 105.66]  There's the email you send with lots of pleasantries.
[105.80 --> 107.70]  You ask about family, about work, about the weather.
[108.04 --> 109.30]  And then you get into the topic.
[109.44 --> 113.82]  And then there are the emails where when you're triggered and upset, you get right to the point.
[115.08 --> 117.28]  I describe these as fireball emails.
[117.98 --> 120.32]  I've gotten a few of them and I've sent a few of them too.
[120.32 --> 126.02]  And I want you to know that Galatians is Paul's fireball letter.
[126.68 --> 134.72]  It is by far the most intense, emotionally charged, and pointed of all his letters by a long shot.
[135.56 --> 139.34]  Paul is upset in this letter because so much is at stake.
[139.34 --> 145.08]  One of the interesting things I read this week, maybe my favorite quote about the book of Galatians this week,
[145.22 --> 146.94]  comes from a guy named E.P. Sanders.
[147.10 --> 151.36]  And I'm going to read this quote and then I'm going to invite someone to do a reading of Galatians for us.
[151.50 --> 152.38]  This is what he says.
[152.94 --> 161.02]  The best way to comprehend Galatians is to read it out loud, shouting in an angry voice at the appropriate points.
[161.68 --> 164.22]  Because I'm not very good at that and I know someone else who is,
[164.34 --> 167.12]  I've invited Jerry Hanlon to read our scripture passage this morning.
[167.12 --> 171.22]  Jerry is going to read Galatians 1, 1 to 10.
[171.42 --> 173.34]  It will be on the screen for you.
[184.52 --> 188.88]  Paul, an apostle sent not with a human commission nor by human authority,
[189.02 --> 195.56]  but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brothers and sisters with me.
[195.56 --> 203.26]  To the churches in Galatia, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
[203.26 --> 209.76]  who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age,
[209.80 --> 216.42]  according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
[216.42 --> 228.00]  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ
[228.00 --> 233.08]  and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all.
[233.08 --> 240.82]  Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
[240.98 --> 249.54]  And even if we, or an angel of heaven, should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you,
[249.74 --> 254.10]  let that person be cursed under God.
[254.10 --> 259.24]  As we have already said, so now I say again,
[259.82 --> 263.46]  if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted,
[264.12 --> 267.46]  let that person be under God's curse.
[269.66 --> 274.74]  Am I now trying to win human approval or God's approval?
[274.74 --> 279.86]  Or am I trying to please people?
[281.06 --> 286.62]  If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
[294.62 --> 303.16]  Now I'm worried that that backfired because I want you to feel the anger of it.
[304.74 --> 310.78]  But I think we can all agree that Jerry's better at reading the scriptures in an intense voice than I am.
[312.46 --> 314.96]  You should know that in the structure of all Paul's letters,
[315.14 --> 317.52]  there's a standard form that he goes through.
[317.62 --> 319.76]  There's the greeting, words of grace.
[319.88 --> 321.14]  There's thanksgiving for the church.
[321.22 --> 322.66]  And then Paul gets into the stuff.
[322.72 --> 323.46]  What is the gospel?
[323.54 --> 324.38]  How to follow Jesus.
[324.92 --> 329.20]  Galatians is the only letter that Paul writes where there's no thanksgiving for the church.
[329.58 --> 330.54]  He goes from saying,
[330.54 --> 334.62]  I speak on behalf of Christ who is full of grace, who rose from the dead,
[334.74 --> 337.32]  how foolishly have you departed from that?
[337.92 --> 339.34]  That's Paul's letter in Galatians.
[340.08 --> 345.52]  And what we're going to do this morning is we're going to try to understand why Paul is so upset.
[345.78 --> 348.82]  And I'm hoping that this sermon will help us understand the rest of the series.
[348.94 --> 350.30]  I'm going to preach on Galatians 1,
[350.58 --> 354.86]  but in some sense try to give us the background to listen well,
[354.92 --> 357.30]  to hear well what Paul is trying to say,
[357.30 --> 359.96]  why this is such an urgent letter for him.
[359.96 --> 364.94]  And I want to say to you at the outset that we need to be patient with this book.
[365.34 --> 366.44]  Galatians is a deep book.
[366.98 --> 369.30]  It's heavy teaching and it moves quickly.
[369.82 --> 372.28]  And sometimes, maybe this is not you, but I'll just say it,
[372.32 --> 374.98]  we can be impatient as modern readers of the Bible.
[375.52 --> 379.52]  We sort of read the book trying to find out what's the practical takeaway for me right away.
[379.78 --> 381.68]  And Galatians is not that kind of book.
[381.68 --> 386.38]  It requires you to sort of put aside some of the questions you might have about your own life
[386.38 --> 390.12]  and be patient to listen well to what's going on there.
[391.56 --> 395.80]  A Bible scholar once said, you know, the way we have good relationship with one another
[395.80 --> 399.50]  is to love someone is to listen really well to them.
[399.70 --> 403.46]  Not to cut in, not to sort of bring up what you have in mind, but to listen really well.
[403.46 --> 407.22]  And I want to suggest that a way we can love our ancient neighbors,
[407.76 --> 411.14]  including Paul who wrote this book, is to listen well.
[411.68 --> 414.96]  And to get into their shoes a little bit, what's going on.
[415.12 --> 418.60]  To figure out what's the challenges, because it's very different challenges in our day.
[418.82 --> 422.06]  And then we can start to say, okay, now how does this speak to our day?
[423.24 --> 425.40]  So let's look at what's going on in Galatians.
[426.26 --> 428.00]  Some important background details.
[428.74 --> 432.30]  Galatians is Paul's first letter, at least that's what most people say.
[432.30 --> 434.60]  And there's some jokes around how Paul got nicer.
[435.14 --> 439.14]  Maybe he figured out how to write more compelling letters that were a little less upset as he went.
[439.14 --> 444.34]  But this is written in 49 AD to a cluster of churches in the province of Galatia.
[444.84 --> 446.60]  The province of Galatia is now present-day Turkey.
[446.66 --> 447.96]  And I'll put a map on the screen.
[449.02 --> 452.86]  The red, sorry, the blue arrow is his first missionary journey.
[452.98 --> 455.06]  He goes up into Galatia, which is the green zone.
[456.02 --> 459.60]  He goes first to Antioch and then Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.
[459.72 --> 462.44]  And those three churches there are sort of the churches of Galatia.
[462.44 --> 465.74]  And you get a sense of the roller coaster of church planning.
[466.58 --> 470.44]  You know, Paul and Barnabas receive great opposition from the Jewish people.
[470.84 --> 472.92]  Then Paul and Barnabas flee to avoid being killed.
[473.22 --> 475.34]  And then Paul and Barnabas are mistaken for gods.
[475.54 --> 478.24]  And then Paul, people throw stones at him and try to take his life.
[478.72 --> 480.82]  The joys of church planning in the first century.
[481.74 --> 484.90]  You can read about these, by the way, and we encourage you to do so in your small groups
[484.90 --> 487.24]  by reading Acts 13 and 14 and 15.
[487.24 --> 491.18]  That will really help you situate a bit of the tensions going on in the church then.
[492.80 --> 497.10]  The structure of Galatians and how we're going to preach on them in the upcoming weeks
[497.10 --> 499.18]  is very wonderfully simple.
[499.76 --> 503.66]  The first two chapters are asking the question, what is the gospel?
[503.92 --> 506.40]  And I would add, and what is not the gospel?
[506.48 --> 508.30]  That's really what Paul is getting at in our passage.
[508.90 --> 512.30]  Chapter 3 and 4, Paul is saying, who are God's people anyway?
[512.38 --> 514.36]  Like, what defines the church?
[514.36 --> 517.68]  What sets the church apart from the rest of the world?
[518.32 --> 522.98]  And then chapter 5 and 6, Paul is asking the very important question, well, how then should
[522.98 --> 523.82]  believers live?
[524.48 --> 528.60]  What's the way that we should be living our lives out in the short lives that we have
[528.60 --> 529.84]  in the world around us?
[529.94 --> 532.14]  So that's the structure of Galatians.
[533.54 --> 538.22]  What I want to spend some time on now is helping us get a picture of the reality he's
[538.22 --> 538.78]  speaking into.
[539.70 --> 541.60]  Paul's not speaking directly to our day.
[541.68 --> 542.64]  He's speaking to a very different day.
[542.64 --> 545.68]  And I want us to sort of feel the context, the historical situation.
[546.40 --> 547.20]  Here's what's happening.
[547.98 --> 553.06]  Paul and his missionary partner, Barnabas, are going into new places to preach the gospel.
[553.64 --> 556.08]  For the very first time, think about this.
[556.66 --> 561.18]  Paul is preaching about Jesus in a non-Jewish place to non-Jewish people.
[561.96 --> 564.62]  Now, for us, that's like no big deal, more information.
[564.92 --> 568.26]  But this is like groundbreaking stuff then.
[568.26 --> 573.04]  All the converts up until that point, Jesus' disciples, to add to that, they were all people
[573.04 --> 574.48]  who'd come out of Judaism.
[575.02 --> 578.42]  They sort of had this understanding of the Old Testament story, and Jesus was the fulfillment
[578.42 --> 579.08]  of that.
[579.54 --> 584.70]  Now Paul's preaching to everyday Gentiles, which, by the way, is us, non-Jewish people.
[585.40 --> 590.50]  And much to everybody's surprise, Gentiles hear the good news about what Jesus did.
[590.50 --> 595.00]  They show curiosity and then say, I want to follow this Jesus.
[595.76 --> 597.66]  I want to be part of Jesus' family.
[597.82 --> 601.46]  I want to understand more and grow as a follower of Jesus.
[601.98 --> 604.68]  And so this new community, I mean, this is so groundbreaking.
[605.20 --> 609.86]  This new community came together of converts from Judaism and converts from Gentile world,
[610.02 --> 612.20]  and they became the church.
[612.88 --> 613.72]  It was beautiful.
[613.72 --> 619.48]  It's a beautiful reality that all of a sudden, it's not just an ethnicity that follows Jesus.
[619.84 --> 624.82]  It's people from wherever who has faith in Jesus that becomes part of the church.
[626.36 --> 627.80]  Here's where it gets complicated.
[628.90 --> 633.96]  Jewish people who were converting to Christianity looked at these non-Jewish people, the Gentiles,
[634.22 --> 638.14]  and just had their questions like, are they really legit?
[638.94 --> 641.62]  They're just not quite Jewish enough.
[641.62 --> 643.74]  They don't do the things that we do.
[643.82 --> 645.46]  They don't know the Old Testament like we do.
[645.56 --> 650.50]  And it just seems a little bit disjointed, the Gentile way of being and the Jewish way
[650.50 --> 651.60]  of being in the church.
[652.16 --> 653.26]  And so they had questions.
[653.42 --> 654.92]  And then this started to happen.
[655.84 --> 659.28]  There are people, they're often called the Judaizers.
[659.88 --> 663.28]  They're zealous for the law, people who believe in Jesus but are zealous for the Old Testament
[663.28 --> 663.64]  law.
[664.10 --> 665.86]  Paul calls them the agitators.
[666.46 --> 670.58]  These people are going into the churches in Galatia, and they're saying to the people there,
[670.58 --> 672.44]  this Paul guy.
[673.44 --> 677.74]  He's got lots of big ideas about Jesus and the gospel and what it means to follow him,
[677.84 --> 678.90]  but he's a bit confused.
[679.04 --> 681.28]  He's a bit muddled on what it's all about.
[681.60 --> 684.50]  What you now need to do, you've taken on Jesus, you follow Jesus.
[684.62 --> 691.02]  Now you need to take that final step of embracing the Old Testament law, its ceremonial practices,
[691.38 --> 692.90]  and all the things that we do.
[692.90 --> 695.00]  That's the big next step for you.
[696.70 --> 700.74]  And that includes, you should know, the word law has lots of layers to it.
[700.78 --> 704.26]  There's like the teachings, like Old Testament commandments, and then there's the ceremonial
[704.26 --> 706.02]  practices, and then there's a lifestyle.
[706.40 --> 711.18]  The three specific things that show up a lot that Paul's referencing in Galatians are they
[711.18 --> 716.20]  have to observe the food laws, certain kosher foods you can eat and other things you can't,
[716.92 --> 720.54]  the Sabbath laws, like what you can do and what you cannot do on the Sabbath.
[721.02 --> 725.28]  And the third one, perhaps the most involved, is circumcision for the men.
[726.14 --> 730.38]  And I mean, I wasn't around at the time, but I imagine the Gentile Christians who are new
[730.38 --> 734.16]  to the Christian faith, like, all right, there's food, things, there's things we can't do on
[734.16 --> 737.10]  certain days, and do we have to be circumcised?
[737.10 --> 738.76]  Like, can we talk about this one?
[740.14 --> 743.14]  If you don't know what circumcision is, you can talk about it at home, you can Google it.
[743.22 --> 744.06]  Maybe don't Google it.
[744.56 --> 745.46]  Talk to somebody.
[746.06 --> 747.10]  It's a terrible idea.
[749.16 --> 753.06]  And maybe to you, you're like, wow, this doesn't sound that controversial, this is not that
[753.06 --> 756.16]  big a deal, but for Paul, this is infuriating.
[756.68 --> 758.04]  And we'll say why in just a moment.
[758.12 --> 760.56]  He is so upset by this that he writes Galatians.
[761.68 --> 762.88]  Here's another layer.
[762.98 --> 767.06]  So you've got people telling the Christians who are new to the faith, you've got to go beyond
[767.06 --> 770.14]  Jesus and take hold of the law, and that's the thing that sets us apart.
[770.22 --> 771.84]  That's the most important thing.
[772.38 --> 774.90]  But then there's this, and this is new to me, by the way.
[774.92 --> 776.78]  I did not grow up hearing about this.
[777.36 --> 784.42]  At this time, the Caesar of Rome is increasingly demanding that people worship him as a god,
[784.54 --> 784.74]  right?
[784.76 --> 786.06]  We talked about this at Christmas Eve.
[786.48 --> 788.20]  The Caesar saw themselves as a deity.
[788.20 --> 790.90]  They saw themselves as saviors who were bringing peace to the world.
[791.26 --> 795.64]  And increasingly, they were implementing feasts and sacrifices and ways of people throughout
[795.64 --> 797.96]  the city to honor them as a god and worship them.
[798.54 --> 801.80]  But the Jewish people had a religious exemption.
[802.60 --> 805.26]  They sort of claimed, hey, we're people who follow these laws.
[805.48 --> 808.50]  We don't want to be part of these practices, these feasts, these celebrations.
[808.72 --> 809.88]  And they got an exemption.
[810.68 --> 812.48]  But here's where it got really complicated.
[813.60 --> 817.38]  Gentile believers were now saying, hey, we're part of God's people too.
[817.50 --> 820.92]  We want to be part of that exemption so we don't have to worship the Caesar.
[821.04 --> 822.66]  We don't have to be part of these feasts in the city.
[822.66 --> 828.40]  And the Jewish people were thinking, oh man, if these Gentiles come in and they're not living
[828.40 --> 833.74]  like we do and they're claiming the same exemption, we could lose the exemption and as a result
[833.74 --> 835.02]  be persecuted.
[836.10 --> 840.16]  And so part of why they were wanting all these Old Testament laws and imposing them on these
[840.16 --> 844.76]  new believers is because they were worried if we get like outed for what we believe or
[844.76 --> 847.04]  if we lose our exemption, we could be persecuted.
[847.04 --> 852.14]  We're going to come back to this in this series, but let me just read for you a very poignant
[852.14 --> 855.50]  passage in Galatians 6 on this very topic.
[855.88 --> 857.28]  This is Galatians 6 verse 12.
[858.18 --> 864.44]  Paul writes, those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel them
[864.44 --> 865.56]  to be circumcised.
[866.02 --> 866.66]  Listen to this.
[867.04 --> 873.94]  The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.
[873.94 --> 880.18]  Now, to put it a different way, some Jews were probably very zealous for the law.
[880.32 --> 882.34]  Some Jewish Christians were very zealous for the law.
[882.52 --> 886.62]  But there is a very pragmatic sense of like, hey people, if you get on board with the law,
[886.70 --> 889.68]  there's not two groups of us, then you won't be persecuted.
[890.12 --> 895.68]  But the problem is people are going under the law and they're not even speaking about Jesus
[895.68 --> 896.44]  Christ as Lord.
[897.08 --> 900.30]  And Paul says to them actually in Galatians 5, he says, you know why you're not being persecuted
[900.30 --> 901.96]  and why I am being persecuted?
[902.40 --> 907.14]  Because I'm speaking about Jesus Christ as Lord over and against Caesar and you're saying
[907.14 --> 908.90]  let's hide under the safety of the law.
[909.80 --> 914.20]  And Paul says, if you want to follow Jesus, you declare him as Jesus Christ as Lord and
[914.20 --> 916.30]  Caesar is not and see what happens.
[917.46 --> 920.06]  I told you already that Galatians is a challenging book.
[920.14 --> 921.24]  I hope you're starting to feel that.
[921.24 --> 929.18]  Now I want to move specifically through three ways that Paul is upset or three things that
[929.18 --> 931.70]  is upsetting Paul that drives the writing of this letter.
[932.72 --> 938.18]  First is this, Paul is upset because the gospel of Jesus Christ is at stake.
[938.88 --> 941.46]  So much is at stake in what's going on in Galatians.
[941.58 --> 946.44]  I want to read for us what he says in the passage that Jerry read for us in verse 6 and then verse
[946.44 --> 946.78]  9.
[947.62 --> 952.66]  Paul says to them, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called
[952.66 --> 956.50]  you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.
[957.38 --> 962.60]  So this emphasis of going beyond Jesus to the Old Testament law for Paul is a different gospel,
[963.02 --> 964.76]  which is really no gospel at all.
[965.14 --> 970.60]  And then down to verse 9, he says, as we have already said, so I now say again, if anybody
[970.60 --> 977.38]  is preaching to you a gospel other than what you have accepted, let that person be under
[977.38 --> 978.38]  God's curse.
[980.20 --> 981.78]  Just take that in for a minute.
[982.96 --> 987.38]  Paul is saying to those who preach something other than Jesus Christ, death and resurrection,
[987.64 --> 991.90]  ruling over the world, if there's something else being preached, let the person preaching
[991.90 --> 994.44]  it and accepting it be cursed.
[994.44 --> 994.52]  Christ.
[995.32 --> 998.34]  This is strong language.
[1000.44 --> 1001.48]  And here's why.
[1002.32 --> 1005.62]  Paul knows at the core of his being, the guy grew up Jewish.
[1005.90 --> 1007.40]  He was a very zealous Jew himself.
[1007.72 --> 1009.00]  He knew the function of the law.
[1009.12 --> 1010.30]  He knew how important it was.
[1010.38 --> 1011.20]  He knew why it mattered.
[1011.42 --> 1013.86]  But his question is, can the law save you?
[1014.80 --> 1020.42]  Can the law liberate you from the power of sin, the enticing temptation of Satan, and from
[1020.42 --> 1021.44]  the finality of death?
[1021.48 --> 1022.34]  Can the law do that?
[1022.34 --> 1024.46]  No, it cannot.
[1025.36 --> 1029.92]  There is only one Savior, one liberator, one King, and that is Jesus Christ.
[1030.12 --> 1035.66]  And he is the only one who has dealt with the problems of sin and death and Satan.
[1035.92 --> 1038.00]  And we cannot go back to some other Savior.
[1038.22 --> 1040.42]  We cannot put something alongside the Savior.
[1040.56 --> 1042.56]  It is Jesus or it is not Jesus.
[1042.68 --> 1045.04]  It's the gospel or it is a false gospel.
[1045.62 --> 1050.76]  And going beyond Jesus to accepting the law as sort of the big thing is a false gospel.
[1050.76 --> 1054.48]  That's the first thing that's got Paul all fired up.
[1054.98 --> 1059.94]  The second thing that got Paul really upset is the identity of the church.
[1060.88 --> 1062.66]  And this is very related to the first one.
[1063.28 --> 1067.78]  There are people in the church saying what makes us distinct in the world is the law,
[1068.06 --> 1071.86]  the Old Testament teachings, the Old Testament practices, the Old Testament Jewish ceremonies.
[1071.86 --> 1074.86]  That's what separates us from the outside world.
[1075.30 --> 1077.96]  And Paul's saying, no, it isn't.
[1078.54 --> 1081.94]  There was a day when that was true and that has now changed.
[1082.34 --> 1087.62]  What distinguishes everyone in the church from the rest of the world is Jesus.
[1087.62 --> 1095.24]  It is Jesus who breaks down the social boundaries and brings Jewish people and Gentile people into the same family.
[1095.50 --> 1098.20]  It's Jesus who binds together the slave and the free.
[1098.52 --> 1100.76]  It's Jesus who sets the church apart.
[1101.12 --> 1101.94]  Nothing else.
[1102.82 --> 1106.42]  Let me read for you probably one of the most famous passages from Galatians.
[1106.68 --> 1109.24]  This is Galatians 3.28 and he just nails this point.
[1109.24 --> 1113.50]  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free.
[1113.82 --> 1117.60]  There is male and female for you are all one in the law.
[1117.84 --> 1120.54]  No, for you are all one in Jesus Christ.
[1121.12 --> 1122.94]  He is the one who binds the church together.
[1123.08 --> 1125.30]  He is the one who marks you as separate from the world.
[1125.50 --> 1129.20]  And he is the only thing that holds the church together.
[1129.26 --> 1130.12]  He's the head of the body.
[1132.44 --> 1137.00]  And now we get to the third thing that had Paul all upset at why he wrote this letter.
[1137.00 --> 1147.18]  And that is because the Jewish believers and the Gentile converts were choosing the safety of the law rather than boldly declaring that Jesus is Lord.
[1147.68 --> 1147.84]  Right?
[1148.10 --> 1159.40]  Paul is saying, you're not being persecuted and I am because I have the guts to say to friends, neighbors, people in the streets, people in the public square, Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.
[1159.40 --> 1168.78]  And that Caesar that you go on a weekly basis to worship and pay homage to, the feasts that all celebrate his accomplishments for the world, that is a false Messiah.
[1169.26 --> 1171.00]  There is only one king and that is King Jesus.
[1171.56 --> 1173.16]  And Paul got persecuted for it.
[1173.16 --> 1177.24]  I've shared this before, but I want to repeat it.
[1177.84 --> 1181.38]  When early believers had to decide what to call themselves.
[1181.58 --> 1186.94]  Remember, they were just this ragtag group of people who were converting from Jewish faith and from the Gentile world.
[1187.14 --> 1188.92]  And they said, okay, what do we call ourselves?
[1189.06 --> 1191.96]  Initially, they were called followers of the way, the way of Jesus.
[1192.38 --> 1194.18]  And then there were categories they had to choose.
[1194.30 --> 1200.24]  And two options on the table were theosos, Greek word, and heranos, also a Greek word.
[1200.24 --> 1202.00]  They both basically mean the same thing.
[1202.06 --> 1202.68]  You know what it is?
[1203.76 --> 1205.94]  Private religious community.
[1207.40 --> 1208.68]  And that was a common option.
[1208.78 --> 1211.84]  There were lots of private religious communities at the time.
[1212.48 --> 1215.80]  And Caesar was not particularly threatened by them because people had their, like, temples.
[1216.00 --> 1216.90]  They would do their feasts.
[1217.08 --> 1219.42]  And then they would also pay homage to Caesar and worship him.
[1219.52 --> 1220.28]  It all worked fine.
[1220.34 --> 1222.26]  There was no risk in that.
[1222.88 --> 1225.86]  But the churches, the early believers said, is this what we are?
[1225.92 --> 1227.54]  Are we a private religious community?
[1228.76 --> 1229.76]  No, we are not.
[1229.76 --> 1231.84]  And you know what word they chose to describe themselves?
[1233.02 --> 1233.50]  Ecclesia.
[1234.26 --> 1235.86]  Which brings together a few things.
[1235.96 --> 1242.20]  But it's basically saying, we are the ecclesia, which means we have been called out by God into the public sphere
[1242.20 --> 1247.22]  to make a public declaration that Jesus Christ is the Lord of the world.
[1247.84 --> 1249.84]  Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.
[1249.94 --> 1251.64]  And we are being renewed in Him.
[1251.86 --> 1255.82]  And we invite the whole world into His renewal and His salvation.
[1255.82 --> 1260.24]  Caesar all the way down to the person being born in the corner of the city.
[1260.24 --> 1263.76]  Everyone must acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.
[1264.72 --> 1269.40]  And I tell you what, by choosing the word ecclesia, the church suffered.
[1269.40 --> 1275.94]  By choosing to be the called out ones in the public sphere, the church chose to be persecuted.
[1276.50 --> 1282.12]  And many gave up their lives because they refused to say, we're just a private religious community.
[1282.26 --> 1284.98]  Doing a private religious thing over here on the side.
[1285.44 --> 1287.84]  We are the ecclesia.
[1287.84 --> 1293.26]  Ecclesia, and we believe that He's in Caesar himself, has to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.
[1294.86 --> 1296.44]  You're starting to feel the challenge of Galatians?
[1297.84 --> 1300.92]  You've got these people who are saying, oh, let's just stay safely under the law.
[1301.06 --> 1304.18]  Let's have this religious exemption to sort of keep to ourselves.
[1304.28 --> 1305.38]  And Paul's like, no way.
[1306.42 --> 1308.04]  If Jesus is Lord, He's Lord of all.
[1308.70 --> 1311.34]  If Jesus defines the church, we can't go back to the law.
[1311.34 --> 1317.18]  And we cannot hide under its safety when the world needs to know that the tomb is empty and salvation has come.
[1319.36 --> 1323.04]  Now, we're going to tease out these three reasons Paul was upset over the next number of weeks.
[1323.12 --> 1326.24]  But I want to focus for just a few minutes on that first one.
[1327.18 --> 1330.04]  Paul is upset because the gospel is at stake.
[1330.76 --> 1336.10]  I mean, he speaks so strongly about the centrality of Jesus.
[1337.14 --> 1340.40]  And I want to suggest that we live in a very different time, as you know.
[1340.40 --> 1349.18]  And we don't have people who are coming into our church saying, hey, Dave, Greg, Cindy, you've got to embrace the law as the final piece of your coming to Jesus.
[1349.30 --> 1351.42]  That's the most important piece of our Christian faith.
[1351.56 --> 1352.46]  People aren't doing that.
[1353.42 --> 1361.16]  But in every single church, there is a profound temptation to have some other thing be more important than Jesus.
[1361.98 --> 1368.20]  There are some things we add to the gospel that actually distort and then become another gospel, just like Paul says.
[1368.20 --> 1371.68]  It's Jesus plus something else.
[1373.28 --> 1374.40]  And there's a lot of options.
[1374.48 --> 1377.34]  Let me just put a few out before you and see how they fit.
[1378.52 --> 1381.06]  One is Jesus plus religious experience.
[1382.74 --> 1386.04]  Especially this, I think this one is more in tune with the younger generation.
[1386.22 --> 1393.36]  But it's like the most important thing is not just what you believe or your relationship with Jesus, but it's that you have a feeling of believing that thing.
[1393.36 --> 1401.94]  And someone I know named Dave Fairchild, he's now a pastor, but he grew up in a very unchristian home, did not know very much about the gospel.
[1402.08 --> 1403.84]  He was invited to a Christian conference.
[1404.84 --> 1408.18]  And at this conference, there were speakers on the stage saying, come up for prayer.
[1408.26 --> 1409.00]  We're going to pray for you.
[1409.08 --> 1413.26]  And you're going to have a religious manifestation that proves you're a Christian.
[1413.26 --> 1418.40]  And so he goes up and they pray for him and he's standing there and nothing happens.
[1419.16 --> 1420.30]  There's other things happening.
[1420.44 --> 1421.58]  There's people speaking in tongues.
[1421.72 --> 1422.86]  There's a lot of things going on.
[1422.92 --> 1423.72]  He's just standing there.
[1424.18 --> 1428.20]  And he said, at that time, he says, I thought to myself, I guess I'm not part of it.
[1428.72 --> 1430.74]  I guess this Christianity thing is not for me.
[1431.12 --> 1432.70]  I didn't have the experience.
[1434.02 --> 1437.58]  Jesus plus religious experience, it's real.
[1437.58 --> 1444.28]  And I should also add, before I say some more, very few churches go out and say, hey, we're a Jesus plus community.
[1444.38 --> 1449.14]  It's kind of built into the community and you sort of bump up against it and feel it more than you'll hear it.
[1449.68 --> 1456.28]  Another one could be Jesus plus a certain political ideology or Jesus plus a certain political party.
[1457.20 --> 1461.28]  And it's really what matters is the church lands this way on these political issues.
[1461.32 --> 1462.94]  And if they don't, well, what are you doing here in church?
[1463.00 --> 1464.34]  Like, this is what it's for.
[1464.42 --> 1466.70]  And if you don't line up with this party, you're missing the point.
[1466.70 --> 1468.62]  And that becomes the most important thing.
[1470.30 --> 1471.22]  Or how about this?
[1471.34 --> 1476.94]  Jesus plus a certain cultural way of doing worship on Sunday morning.
[1477.82 --> 1483.06]  I mean, after the 9 a.m. service, I had several conversations with people about this one because I think it's close to home.
[1483.48 --> 1485.66]  There is a way that you grew up, if you grew up in the church.
[1485.72 --> 1489.46]  There's a way you grew up worshiping and singing and praying and the instruments you grew up with.
[1489.68 --> 1492.14]  And it's those or it's wrong.
[1492.98 --> 1493.28]  Right?
[1493.28 --> 1498.02]  And there are some weird debates that people were sharing with me about things like the organ.
[1499.12 --> 1501.64]  And if you didn't grow up in the Dutch community, you won't even know about this.
[1501.78 --> 1505.28]  But, like, there are certain churches where it's like, if you don't sing with the organ, it's not even worship.
[1505.36 --> 1506.24]  Like, what are you doing here?
[1507.12 --> 1510.34]  And you can insert your own religious worship idol.
[1510.34 --> 1519.12]  But, like, there's ways in which the way we practice our faith culturally becomes more important than the gospel itself, such that people will leave the church if they don't get their way.
[1519.80 --> 1520.52]  It's painful.
[1521.96 --> 1523.64]  All right, let's go after some more hard ones.
[1523.84 --> 1526.04]  Jesus plus material prosperity.
[1526.04 --> 1533.10]  This idea that, you know, if we follow Jesus, it's going to produce some kind of wealth.
[1533.18 --> 1535.32]  It's going to produce some kind of benefit for me.
[1535.42 --> 1541.22]  And if it doesn't produce that benefit, that material prosperity, well, why would I get involved in this community anyway?
[1541.88 --> 1544.74]  And, again, no one's ever going to say this explicitly like I am now.
[1544.92 --> 1547.50]  But there's assumptions like, okay, I'm in the church.
[1547.56 --> 1548.24]  I'm doing my thing.
[1548.30 --> 1549.88]  I better get blessed with some finances.
[1550.38 --> 1553.02]  And if I don't, like, there's no reason to be here.
[1553.02 --> 1553.74]  There's no reason to be here.
[1553.74 --> 1555.52]  Jesus plus material prosperity.
[1557.04 --> 1559.80]  And here's the ones that I find most personally challenged by.
[1560.58 --> 1562.60]  Jesus plus safety and comfort.
[1564.22 --> 1569.08]  It's hard for me to overstate how big those idols are in our city and in the church.
[1569.26 --> 1571.24]  And I feel personally tempted by them.
[1571.62 --> 1575.68]  And this is a related point, but I'm just going to say it as a sort of a confession.
[1575.68 --> 1591.16]  It is so tempting for Canadian pastors and North American pastors in general to find ways to make the gospel and the teaching of the Bible palatable and pleasant to people who have the idols of comfort and safety.
[1591.76 --> 1591.98]  Right?
[1592.00 --> 1593.84]  You're not going to preach on the passages about suffering.
[1594.28 --> 1596.40]  You're not going to preach on the cost of discipleship.
[1596.66 --> 1602.02]  You don't want to talk about what you have to give up for following Jesus because, like, who's going to get involved in the church then?
[1602.34 --> 1602.54]  Right?
[1602.54 --> 1605.62]  Who's going to want to follow Jesus if this is what we have to give up?
[1605.68 --> 1613.24]  And so we sort of repackage or renegotiate how we speak about the Christian faith to please people whose idol is comfort.
[1614.80 --> 1615.34]  I know.
[1615.42 --> 1616.24]  It's tempting for me.
[1617.00 --> 1618.02]  I'm just being honest with you.
[1618.06 --> 1621.66]  I remember David Platt, American pastor, he asked the question.
[1621.76 --> 1623.20]  I felt the resonance right away.
[1623.28 --> 1628.02]  He said, you know, if we didn't have comfortable chairs on Sunday morning, although I don't think Hope has that struggle.
[1628.08 --> 1629.18]  We don't have the most comfortable chairs.
[1629.18 --> 1636.90]  If we didn't have comfortable chairs and air conditioning and nice lighting and good sound systems and all this stuff, would people still even come for worship?
[1637.82 --> 1642.00]  Like, if all the amenities of the Western church were taken away, and they're good things.
[1642.08 --> 1643.06]  I'm not slamming these things.
[1643.10 --> 1644.20]  I'm thankful for the microphone.
[1644.84 --> 1647.32]  If there were no amenities, would we still gather for worship?
[1647.32 --> 1653.08]  And this question really at the heart was, is Jesus enough?
[1654.28 --> 1661.80]  Or do we feel this unhealthy way of saying it's got to be Jesus plus something else?
[1661.90 --> 1662.68]  Insert your thing.
[1664.92 --> 1670.02]  And to those who feel tempted like myself, Paul has one of the strongest warnings.
[1670.02 --> 1686.48]  I mean, I just can't preach on Galatians 1 without Paul saying, just be aware that if you're preaching something beyond the gospel, the death and resurrection of Jesus, if you're trying to move beyond that as the final step of coming into the church, you aren't following Jesus.
[1686.48 --> 1691.34]  You're not his church.
[1692.00 --> 1700.70]  Or to put it exactly how Paul says it, if that's what you're teaching, if it's not what we've been teaching, let that person be under God's curse.
[1702.04 --> 1708.70]  And if you want to hear some other hard words to churches that thought they were doing just fine when they weren't, read the letters in Revelation to the different churches.
[1708.70 --> 1715.12]  And some of Paul's strongest words are to the wealthy, comfortable churches.
[1718.32 --> 1720.34]  I told you Galatians was challenging.
[1722.68 --> 1724.46]  But let me finish with the good news.
[1725.08 --> 1729.64]  And this is what Paul wants to tell them over and over and over in the book of Galatians.
[1730.40 --> 1731.48]  You ready for it?
[1732.14 --> 1732.96]  It's simple.
[1732.96 --> 1737.84]  The gospel of Jesus Christ is enough.
[1738.90 --> 1740.82]  It's the final revelation of God.
[1740.92 --> 1743.70]  It's the full forgiveness of sin.
[1743.82 --> 1745.36]  It's all we need.
[1745.80 --> 1749.78]  We don't need to add anything to it because it's all we will ever need.
[1750.28 --> 1752.12]  Jesus is sufficient.
[1752.80 --> 1756.90]  His work on the cross has accomplished what needs to be accomplished.
[1757.40 --> 1761.42]  He has come for you and he has brought salvation and the work is done.
[1761.42 --> 1763.50]  Again, Jesus is enough.
[1764.52 --> 1767.54]  And I know we're not Pentecostal, but this is the point at which you can say amen.
[1768.14 --> 1770.38]  Or to quote Nana from last week, they're free.
[1770.64 --> 1771.94]  You don't have to pay for the amens.
[1773.32 --> 1777.50]  When you encounter Jesus, you encounter the light of the world.
[1778.80 --> 1783.66]  When you encounter Jesus, you encounter the source of life itself.
[1784.94 --> 1786.40]  I mean, just let this blow your mind.
[1786.40 --> 1791.36]  When we pray to Jesus, when we listen to Christ speak to us by His Word, we're praying to the
[1791.36 --> 1795.88]  one who is there with the Father before the creation of the world, one with the Spirit,
[1796.28 --> 1804.74]  one with the Father, sent into human history to liberate the world, to rescue us from the
[1804.74 --> 1812.96]  insidious temptation of Satan, from the enslaving power of sin, and from the grave itself that
[1812.96 --> 1814.76]  claims life when it comes to its end.
[1816.70 --> 1821.08]  What Paul is on again, over and over in Galatians, and when you read it you'll see this, what he
[1821.08 --> 1823.36]  wants for the church is freedom.
[1824.32 --> 1830.28]  And the reason he's so upset is because all these false avenues, these false gospels do
[1830.28 --> 1831.14]  not lead to freedom.
[1831.14 --> 1833.84]  The law will not produce freedom.
[1834.78 --> 1835.90]  Let me add some more.
[1835.98 --> 1838.16]  Material prosperity will not produce freedom.
[1838.58 --> 1841.14]  Our religious experiences will not produce freedom.
[1841.14 --> 1845.06]  It's Jesus Christ, death and resurrection, reigning on high.
[1845.16 --> 1846.66]  It is Jesus who produces freedom.
[1847.36 --> 1851.50]  And Paul says to the church then and the church now, I want you to be free.
[1852.54 --> 1856.14]  And the only way you do that is through the gospel.
[1857.12 --> 1858.32]  There's no other doors.
[1858.82 --> 1859.92]  There's no other avenues.
[1860.34 --> 1862.32]  There's lots of false options on the table.
[1862.44 --> 1865.12]  There's lots of shiny objects that claim to bring salvation.
[1865.54 --> 1866.66]  But it is only Jesus.
[1866.66 --> 1871.70]  It is the gift of grace that has come to us through the finished work of his death and
[1871.70 --> 1872.34]  his resurrection.
[1873.76 --> 1875.74]  And that will be true for the rest of your life.
[1876.58 --> 1878.76]  That will be true for the rest of your kid's life.
[1878.96 --> 1881.26]  That will be true until Jesus comes again.
[1882.28 --> 1883.70]  And church, maybe I'll say it this way.
[1884.64 --> 1887.42]  We can never deviate from that.
[1887.42 --> 1892.26]  And if you feel like hope is trying to add some pluses, Jesus plus this, Jesus plus that,
[1892.38 --> 1896.04]  or in our preaching we're unwilling to talk about the hard bits of the scripture, come
[1896.04 --> 1896.86]  and warn us.
[1897.10 --> 1901.98]  Because I want this church to be one where the generations of believers after us are nourished
[1901.98 --> 1904.66]  by nothing other than the gospel.
[1905.68 --> 1907.04]  Because Jesus is enough.
[1907.84 --> 1908.84]  He's enough for you.
[1909.44 --> 1910.36]  He's enough for me.
[1910.44 --> 1912.56]  And he's enough for his world.
[1912.56 --> 1920.62]  And our freedom is found nowhere else than in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
[1920.86 --> 1922.42]  To him be the honor and the glory.
[1924.62 --> 1925.24]  Let's pray.
[1933.88 --> 1938.76]  Father, we thank you for your word, even when it's a hard word.
[1938.76 --> 1943.06]  Lord, and we thank you that you by your spirit compelled Paul to write this letter.
[1943.42 --> 1945.56]  And we pray that we'd have ears to hear.
[1946.96 --> 1950.14]  Our day is so different than the day of the Galatians.
[1950.32 --> 1953.14]  We don't have people imposing Jewish laws on us.
[1953.18 --> 1957.52]  But Lord, the temptations are real to add something to the gospel.
[1958.48 --> 1959.68]  To add safety.
[1960.80 --> 1961.90]  To add comfort.
[1962.76 --> 1967.28]  To add material prosperity or religious experience or certain political assumptions.
[1967.28 --> 1970.08]  Lord, we confess that we are led astray.
[1971.36 --> 1972.58]  That we buy it.
[1973.80 --> 1979.10]  And we pray that you would bring us back to the center of the Christian faith.
[1979.56 --> 1981.80]  And that is your son, Jesus Christ.
[1982.56 --> 1984.38]  We thank you that the tomb is empty.
[1985.36 --> 1988.62]  That Jesus rules over the world at your right hand.
[1989.42 --> 1992.60]  And that our security and our salvation is found in him.
[1992.82 --> 1994.02]  We praise you for him.
[1994.86 --> 1996.58]  We praise you that he's coming again.
[1997.50 --> 2001.68]  And we praise you that because Jesus has finished the work, we have hope.
[2003.14 --> 2005.46]  So Lord, teach us to live in the freedom of the gospel.
[2005.78 --> 2010.44]  Even this week, allow us to see that we are free in you.
[2011.26 --> 2012.96]  We pray in the mighty name of Christ.
[2013.60 --> 2013.84]  Amen.
[2013.84 --> 2020.86]  I invite you to stand and sing with me of the freedom we have in Christ by singing together Man of Sorrows.
[2020.86 --> 2022.90]  And I ask you that if you have faith in her body and the Almighty in the end of the gospel.
[2022.90 --> 2023.94]  You are on the earth.
[2024.10 --> 2024.96]  And I ask you that if you are not.
[2025.04 --> 2025.70]  But that's the only one.
[2025.72 --> 2025.76]  When he understand besideseez, you are able to stay to take the war.
[2025.92 --> 2026.34]  Thank you that you are.
[2026.42 --> 2026.60]  And I ask you to listen and ask others.
[2026.64 --> 2027.88]  Let's stand and know With that to help.