Galatians 1 sermon by the Revd Karl Przywala In our preaching since February we’ve been working through books of the Bible in six week batches. So far we’ve covered Genesis chapters 1 to 12 and Mark 1 to 6. I hope you’re finding this approach helpful – I certainly am as a preacher and the preparation I do feeds me, as I hope the output feeds you! Part of the idea is to help us grasp the flow of the Bible – how it sits together as a whole, not just isolated bits and pieces. A friend of mine relates how he became a Christian by reading the Bible – it just made sense, it spoke to him. I hope that may be true for you as well. Today, we’re starting a six week series looking at Paul’s letter to the Galatians, a chapter at a time. People are often most familiar with the four Gospel accounts. The Acts of the Apostles tells what the apostles did after Jesus’ Ascension, establishing the early church. The letters that follow, tell us more about these churches – what they got right and what they got wrong. And they lay the ground rules of the church’s belief and practice to this day. It’s part of the richness of the English language and testimony of the cultural richness of the background of the English speaking world, that we garner our words from different cultural backgrounds and languages. The words ‘apostle’ and ‘mission’ are an example of this. They basically mean the same thing or have the same root meaning, derived from two different languages. Apostle comes from Greek and means one who is sent. Mission comes from Latin and means to be sent. Paul starts his letter to the church in Galatia – his letter to the Galatians – by asserting his status as an apostle – one who is sent. If we think about someone or something being sent, this leads me to ask, who is doing the sending and to where is the whatever being sent. Paul answers the first question straight off. Verse 1, “Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father.” So, in fact Paul starts by tells us who he is not sent by: “sent not from men nor by man.” Why does he do so? On the course I attended the week before last, I was introduced to the term ‘popcorning’. I want you to ‘popcorn’ now! If you’re unsure what this involves, it’s also known as brainstorming. There are lots of reasons people send letters. What ones can you think of? These reasons are probably all part of the reasons the New Testament letters were written, including that to the Galatians. But a primary reason Paul writes on this occasion is summed up in those immortal words, “Houston, we have a problem.” An indication of this is that Paul has no words of commendation for the Galatians. When writing to the Colossians he starts, “To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse...we always thank God...because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.” But here he just plunges straight in: ‘Galatians, we have a problem’. What was the problem? Verse 7, “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” These people were preaching, verse 8, “a gospel other than the one we preached to you.” Bear in mind that the church in Galatia had been founded by Paul. A primary way in which confidence in Paul’s teaching was being undermined, was by questioning his authority; to use a soccer analogy – we are still in the wake of the World Cup after all! – to play the man and not the ball. Was Paul a pukka apostle? Yes, I am, asserts Paul. And his basis for saying this involves contrasting himself with those who were opposing him. ‘I’m sent not from men nor by man – as they were – but by Jesus Christ and God the Father.’ The way we use language can be very important. Sometimes we say things in a way that unintentionally undermines what we believe. An example is the use of the word church. This means a gathering – a drawing together of Christians. It’s therefore incongruous to call a building a church; it’s the building where the church meets – the church building. Likewise, it can be misleading to talk about Matthew’s Gospel or Mark’s Gospel or Paul’s Gospel. There is only one gospel and its provenance is of and from God. Better therefore to talk about the Gospel according to – whoever is relaying it to us. In our Bible study last Thursday, I referred to Peter’s injunction that we should “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” 1st Peter 3:15. I followed this with a thumbnail sketch of the reason for the hope that I have – my understanding of the gospel. And that’s what Paul also provides. He starts with the Resurrection – which is at the core of Christianity; verse 1, “who raised him from the dead” – God raised Christ from the dead. Then he refers to the reality of evil in general terms, “the present evil age” and specifically as it expresses itself in terms of “our sins”, verse 4. The gospel provides the remedy for this through the death of Jesus Christ, “who gave himself...to rescue us.” This is brought about “according to [indeed, through] the will of our God and Father.” And the outcome is to God’s glory. There you have it! My recollection of ordination training is of being told of the need to be ‘taken out of my comfort zone’ in order to be ‘broadened’ and/or ‘stretched’. It’s remarkable that I’m still in one piece! Things get a little easier when you reach incumbent status and part of the appeal of Holy Trinity for me was the prospect of being surrounded by others who share of my view of the gospel. But to be an evangelical in denominations such as today’s Anglican Church of Canada or the Church of England is to be in a minority. There’s a sort of sneer, sometimes articulated, sometimes in the background, of ‘you don’t really believe that do you?’ or ‘that isn’t very sophisticated’ or ‘haven’t you moved on?’. We may take heart in the fact that these same sneers had been addressed toward Paul and his teaching, by people who thought they had more to offer. But you can’t tinker with the gospel that Paul articulates. It’s all or nothing. Its stark simplicity, of our sin and the need for God’s rescue, is at its core. Take heart also that by standing with Paul and his message, we’re standing with what the church has believed and taught throughout the ages – this is what is meant by being ‘traditional’ in our approach to Christianity. And although evangelicalism may be marginalised within western ‘mainline’ denominations’ it’s in the majority in the worldwide Anglican Communion, owing mainly to the growing Global South. I believe that some can regard me as outspoken. Indeed, sometimes it feels like I’m regarded as such even when I don’t say anything! But I don’t think I’ve ever expressed myself quite as forthrightly as Paul does. Verse 8, “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” One of the things we do well in Anglicanism, and seemingly aspire to, is niceness: we’re all nice people, or at least wish to be seen as such, and hope that this may attract other nice people. Indeed, sometimes it feels as if this is all we have in our evangelistic toolbox. Against this view, how about putting this message on our notice board: we’re all sinners here – come and join us! How do we judge others? I know that the Bible tells us not to judge others, but inevitably we do it. Is our first thought whether I like the person? And we sometimes let our opinion be swayed by that factor alone. There was an article in yesterday’s Globe and Mail about people who had taken ‘selfies’ with Toronto mayor Rob Ford: “‘I like his personality’ said Mary...after taking a selfie with the mayor...‘I think he’s going to win.’” Paul tries to ram home his point: “even if an angel from heaven” – and clearly Rob Ford’s no angel. Verse 10, “Am I trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” My background in the commercial world is in marketing. The guiding principle is to be ‘market led’. You discern your market and you follow it, adjusting your product accordingly. But even in the commercial world, there’s only so much you can do. If your product is newspapers, as was the case for me, at the end of the day that’s what you’ve got to offer: a newspaper. And there’s been an interesting development in the UK political scene. Seemingly, the three main political parties have allowed themselves to be so shaped by marketing that they’re becoming indistinguishable replicas of each other. The rise of the UK Independence Party – sometimes compared with the Reform Party – may be attributed to people seeking a ‘genuine’ alternative. The gospel is not something ‘man made’. No focus group would ever come up with it. It is God-given. Lord Reith, first chairman of the BBC, when asked whether he was going to give the people what they wanted, replied, “No. Something better than that.” Verse 11, “I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it: rather I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” Paul writes, verse 14, of having been “extremely zealous” for Judaism, making his conversion to Christianity perhaps all the more remarkable. How do we regard zealousness? Again, it may not sit that well with us. It may call to mind young westerners, including Canadians such as Andre Poulin from Ontario, who converted to Islam and died fighting with jihadists in Syria. But the antidote to misdirected passion is not insipid, passionless greyness. Perhaps it is this perception of Christianity as portrayed by the church that leads people like Poulin to turn their back. I recall a parishioner in one of my former parishes – by which I mean someone living in the parish rather than someone who came to church – he challenged me after he had had Jehovah’s Witnesses on his doorstep. What do you think he said to me? ‘Why isn’t the church doing this?’ You see, he admired the JWs and the passion that led them to evangelise. If you need justification for the imperative to evangelise, remember that none of us would be Christian if it weren’t for evangelism. All of the first Christians were Jewish. It was Paul who took the lead in spreading Christianity amongst Gentiles – non-Jews. And the Gentile-based church at Galatia came about as a result of his evangelistic efforts. We’ve already addressed the question of who sent Paul on his mission: he was sent by God not by man. And also where his message – that of the gospel – came from: it was from God not from man. To whom was he sent? The answer to that may be summed up as ‘without borders’ – Gospel Sans Frontières: to Arabia, to Damascus, to Syria and Cilicia. And ultimately to us, as Gentile recipients and stewards of the Gospel message he preached. What should be our response? What is expected of us? First, to ensure we have heard the gospel – as expounded by Paul – and responded to it. As the Galatian church Paul established had done. Then, to ensure that we stick with the gospel – as expounded by Paul – not allowing ourselves to be confused by other versions of it – as was the case for the Galatians. If we have heard the gospel and are following it, we are then in a position to do what Peter expects of us: “always...prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” We do this ‘without borders’, inside and outside the church, remembering that Paul was writing to Christians who had been led astray. And do so with a attitude that reflects that the gospel is of God and from God, “to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” [v5].
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 20:48:28 +0000
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