Wednesday, September
05, 2012, 4:10 a.m. – the Lord woke me this morning with the song “I’m Not Ashamed” playing in my mind.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Galatians 1 (quoting vv. 1-17 NIV 1984):
Paul, an apostle—sent
not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him
from the dead— and all the brothers with me,
To the churches in
Galatia:
Grace and peace to you
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to
rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and
Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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 is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into
confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But 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! As we have already said, so now I say again: If
anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be
eternally condemned!
Am I now 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.
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.
For you have heard of
my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of
God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my
own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when
God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to
reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not
consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles
before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to
Damascus.
Legalism
and Liberalism
Legalism and liberalism have one main thing
in common. They are both gospels of men. In other words, they are both something
men made up, and they are both perversions of the true gospel. Many of today’s
churches and church leaders have gone the way of liberalism in order to combat
legalism, but in both cases it is still man-made religion, just on opposite
ends of the spectrum.
One is loaded down with all kinds of rules of
men restricting its adherents’ freedoms in Christ, while often times not
restraining true sinful behavior. The rules, thus, are often Pharisaical in
nature in that they focus on externals while ignoring true heart (sin) issues.
On the flip side of that, the other focuses so much on freedom in Christ, that
it is often absent of any kind of rules and regulations, even those expressly
taught in scripture for the life of the believer. Yet, in reality, they are
really much the same for they both have rules, traditions or teachings of men
they follow, they both have the potential to restrict true God-ordained freedom
in Christ, they both focus much on externals (outward appearance), they both have
a tendency to center their religious practices and meetings on pleasing man, and
they both lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (see Col. 2:23).
The one teaches a list of externals one must
abide by in addition to grace and thus teaches a works-based salvation, i.e.
the earning of one’s salvation through adherence to a set of man-made rules.
The other teaches, on the other end of the spectrum, an all-grace philosophy
that completely removes the follower’s need to do anything to secure his
eternal inheritance. True, it is by grace we are saved, and it is not of
ourselves or our own works, so that none of us can boast, but it is also by a
conscious choice of our will to have faith in Christ and what he did for us in
dying on the cross for our sins that we are saved, yet even the faith to
believe is a gift from God – a gift we must receive and appropriate to our
lives.
Man-made
Religion
Man-made religion, whether legalistic in
nature or liberal (libertine) in nature, has several common characteristics,
some of which Paul touched on in his letter to the Galatian church. Man-made
religion:
·
Perverts (distorts; misrepresents)
the true gospel of Jesus Christ
·
Presents only half the truth of the
gospel; purposefully removes essential parts
·
Has its origin in mankind (man-made)
·
Is not based in the whole counsel (the
whole will and purpose) of God
·
Tries to gain the acceptance of men;
tries to please men
·
Based in traditions or religious
practices of men
·
Blends in with present culture in
order to be “relevant”
·
Primary teaching comes out of books
written by men (not Scripture)
This is essential that we get this! Whether
we are in what some would term a legalistic church or we are in an all-grace
church that teaches God does it all and nothing is required of us, we are still
sitting underneath, are listening to, and are buying into a false gospel of
men. Does your pastor teach the word? I mean, does he teach chapter-by-chapter
and verse-by-verse and try to teach what the word is teaching, or does he teach
more topically using multiple scriptures to illustrate his points? There is
nothing wrong with topical studies, mind you, but there is a danger inherent in
taking scriptures out of context to make them say what we want them to say. So,
we have to watch for that and check out what we hear against Scripture (comparing
scripture with scripture) and look up the passages in context to see what they
are really saying. It is easier to distort the word (and the gospel) when we
use scripture to illustrate or support our points rather than teaching them in
context.
Are your “Bible” studies based out of books
written by men, or do you study the Bible straight out of the Bible? There is
nothing wrong with reading Christian authors, commentaries, etc. to help us to
better understand God’s word, but we must be so careful that we don’t just
accept man’s interpretation of scripture without checking out what the
scriptures really say. So many people take the easy way out and just accept
whatever they hear from the pastor, Bible study leader or book being studied in
their “Bible” study class as though it is the word of God or the gospel when it
may or may not be. So much is being passed off as truth that is not truth in
our churches (legalistic and all-grace alike). Our pastors, Bible study leaders
or books we study written by men (not God-breathed) are not God and they are
not the very words of God, so we must be discerning and be diligent in
examining what we hear against the word of God to make sure what we are hearing
is true.
Do our times together as the church in
corporate worship, Bible study, prayer, praise, fellowship, etc. reflect the
character and nature of what God originally designed his church to be? Do we
understand that the church is the people of God, not the building, not the
incorporation, not the organization, not the programs and not the forms of
religion or worship we follow? The true church can meet in a parking lot, a
garage, a store or a restaurant, etc. And, the only forms set out for us to
follow are the ones laid down for us in scripture. The church met daily, from
house to house, and in the temple courts. They met for the purpose of the
teaching of the word, prayer, the breaking of bread (communion), and fellowship
(true spiritual fellowship in the Lord). The church is a body and we are made
up of various parts and we each have a God-ordained (not man-ordained) function
to fill within the body (not within the organization or incorporation). And, it
is God who chooses what gifts we have, how they are to be used and what part in
the body we are to serve.
If we want to know the truth of the gospel
(the truth of God’s word) so that we are obeying what God’s will and purpose is
for our lives individually and corporately as the body of Christ, then we need
to stop listening just to men, and we need to spend time each and every day in
God’s word, seeking his face, and asking for understanding of what his word
teaches us with regard to our salvation, our lives in Christ on this earth, our
eternal security in heaven, and the life of the church here on this earth. We
need to not accept everything man says, but we need to check it out against the
word of God so we know what is true.
The
True Gospel
In contrast to this “different gospel” of men
(both legalistic and libertine in nature) is the true gospel of Jesus Christ
which Jesus and the apostles taught. Paul only touched a little in this chapter
on the nature of the true gospel, but what he said is profound. The true gospel
is not based in the acceptance of man nor is it concerned with pleasing man
(making it pleasing or acceptable to the listener), for the true gospel is
supposed to be an offense to those outside of Christ and the fragrance of death
to those who are perishing. If Paul, in preaching the gospel, was trying to
please or gain acceptance from man, then he would not be a true servant of
Christ and of the true gospel.
The true gospel does not find its origins in
men nor are the ministers of the gospel called of men. Instead, the true gospel
has its origins in God and His Spirit as spiritually revealed to the writers of
the New Testament who wrote God’s God-breathed and living words.
The true gospel is concerned with the heart
of man, not with externals of religion or with entertaining people into
acceptance of the “gospel.” It is not about just getting people “saved” so they
can go to heaven one day, without giving any kind of guidance or instruction in
how, in all practicality, this salvation works in our lives on a day-to-day
basis. Paul said here that Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins (on the
cross) “to rescue us from the present evil age.” This is essential that we get
this! Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins so that we would no longer be
under the control of (or slavery to) sin while we still live on the face of
this earth. We aren’t supposed to be like the world.
The true gospel requires repentance (a
complete transformation of heart and mind away from sin) and obedience to
Christ (and toward following Christ in full obedience and surrender to his will
for our lives). Don’t believe me? Look it up! If someone is telling you that you
don’t have to repent, that you don’t have to obey Christ and that God is
pleased with you no matter what you do, know that you are listening to a gospel
of men (a different gospel other than what Christ and the apostles taught). What
you are hearing is a “carte blanche” approach to the gospel that is not of God!
When we accept Christ as Savior and Lord, we die to our old lives of sin, we
are transformed in heart and mind, and we live new lives in Christ in purity,
holiness, and in Christ’s righteousness (see Eph. 4:17-24). We are no longer
slaves of sin, but we are now slaves of righteousness to do the will of God.
Amen!
I’m
Not Ashamed / An Original Work / February 15, 2012
Based off Matt.
28:19-20; Acts 1:8; Rom. 1:16-17
Go
into all the world,
And
tell them the Good News,
Making
disciples of all the nations,
Baptizing
them in the name of the Father
And
of the Holy Spirit,
And
of the Son,
Teaching
them to obey
Ev’rything
I have commanded you,
And
surely I am with you,
E’en
to the end of the age.
You
will receive power
When
the Holy Spirit
Comes
on you;
My
witnesses you will be
In Samaria,
Judea, and Jerusalem,
And
to the ends of the earth, amen!
You
will receive power
When
the Holy Spirit comes on you,
My
witnesses you will be
Unto
the ends of the earth.
I’m
not ashamed of the
Gospel
of my Jesus.
For
salvation, it’s the power of God.
For
in the gospel a righteousness
From
God is made known,
A
righteousness that is by faith.
I’m
not ashamed of the
Gospel
of my Jesus.
For
salvation, it’s the power of God.
The
righteous will live by faith.
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