SERIES: Galatians — The Gospel for Everyday Life
TEXT: Galatians 1:1-12
MESSAGE — “The Gospel: A Better Message”
“Of course, most people won’t actually recall seeing 4,000 to 10,000 messages each day. This is because, to keep our sanity, we’ve developed a screening process to ignore most advertising messages…Less than 100 of them make it past our “attention wall” each day. It’s simply a matter of self-preservation…” — Ron Marshall
“Galatians is a book that was written specifically to counter legalism and to address the centrality of grace in the church…The very idea of God’s unmerited favor is unique, revolutionary, and life transforming. In reality, every human being struggles to grasp the biblical truth of God’s grace. Everyone is born with a nature that insists that we can make our own way to God. Even after we are saved—saved by grace—there are still traces of a performance mentality that we all struggle with. We think we can earn God’s favor by what we do…” — David Platt and Tony Merida
“We need the gospel. We need it more than books. More than studies. More than groups. We need the life-giving, identity-establishing, purpose-defining gospel of Jesus Christ.” ― Eric Mason
Our Mission: To equip people with the gospel for everyday life.
TEXT: Galatians 1:1-12
Q: How is the gospel a better message for our lives? We can see it in three ways. It gives us a new…(1. Approach, 2. Foundation, 3. Acceptance)
1. Approach (v. 3-4a)
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age…”
“Other founders of religions came to teach, not to rescue. Jesus was a great teacher, but when Paul gives us this nutshell version of Jesus’ ministry, he makes no mention of that at all…Jesus is not so much a teacher as he is a rescuer.” — Timothy Keller
2. Foundation (v. 4b-6)
“…according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel…”
3. Acceptance (v. 10-12)
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
“I heard recently about a man who was awarded a prestigious employee-recognition award for his contributions to his company; by all accounts, the award was clear affirmation of his dignity. Yet when asked how he felt about receiving the award, he said that he still felt like a number, that he wasn’t really seen or recognized for who he was. Without an internalized belief in his own worthiness, unless his wounds from the early imprints to his dignity were cleansed and healed, he would not be able to appreciate any validation of his worth from the outside, no matter how much recognition he was accorded.” — Donna Hicks
“Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion that you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up.” — CS Lewis (Mere Christianity)
TAKEAWAYS: What are the implications of the gospel? It gives us…
1. A renewed perspective
2. A renewed motivation
“To say to temptation ‘I must not do this’ is legalism. To say ‘I need not do this because God is bigger and better’ is good news.” — Tim Chester
3. A renewed horizon
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” — Philippians 1:6