Well, have you ever heard it said that the Bible is just stuff made up by men, it's just human ideas written down.
! Have you ever heard someone say that? Or have you ever heard people say, it doesn't matter what you believe, provided you're sincere about it.
If you follow a religion, that's fine, you just need to be sincere about it, and if you are, that's all that really matters.
I know I've heard those things quite a lot, but in these words here, Paul attacks both of those ideas.
He shows us they are false. He shows us, first of all, that what he writes is not merely man's ideas, but it's from God.
And he shows us that being sincere about something is no great help.
You can be sincere about being able to fly and jump out a window and crash land and kill yourself.
Sincerity makes no difference. What is important is what you believe in.
I've heard a couple of things that Paul is going to show us in these words.
Let me just put a bit of context here. Paul is writing to this young church because he is very worried that they are trying to add to the good news message of Jesus.
And in doing so, they're destroying the good news and are potentially making a shipwreck of their lives.
But there was an accusation that the false teachers were using.
They were saying, don't listen to this guy Paul. What does he know? He's just trying to be popular with people.
He's just teaching other human ideas. He's just passing on ideas he's already heard.
And people today say that kind of thing, don't they?
It's, you know, the Bible, that's just some guy's ideas.
Some men wrote it down. It has no authority.
Well, look at what Paul says, first of all, and why the reason the message he is preaching is God's message, not his message.
We'll look at his argument there first, why this is God's message, not a man's message or his message.
And then secondly, we'll see how this gospel, how meeting Jesus Christ, completely transformed Saul's life.
And as we meet Jesus Christ, he will completely transform our lives too.
So let's look at that. First of all, you can see Paul's main point if you look at verse 11.
I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel, the good news message that was preached by me is not man's gospel.
This isn't a human idea.
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
In other words, this came straight to me from the Lord Jesus himself.
God revealed this message to me.
Now what's his evidence for that? That's quite a bold claim, isn't it?
Muhammad made a similar claim.
God spoke to him up the mountain.
He wrote down the Koran.
Does Paul have any better evidence?
Well, yes, he does.
He says the evidence is the change God has brought about in me.
You see his old way of life.
Look at verse 13.
You've heard about my former way of life.
How I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
We call it a snapshot of that in the reading from Acts.
The word there for try to destroy it is a word also used in the original language for burning down villages.
It means destroy.
It's like an act of war.
And that was Paul's aim.
Why?
Because he was zealous, he says, for the traditions of his fathers.
In other words, for the religious traditions passed down to him.
He thought he was doing God's job.
Persecuting this church.
Trying to destroy this church.
He thought it was heresy.
He thought anyone who called Jesus Lord and God was a heretic who deserved death.
So as Paul headed to Damascus, he thought he was on God's side.
He thought he was doing God's work.
He didn't think he needed forgiveness.
He thought he was in the right.
So he had this attitude towards Christ, this attitude towards the church.
You see his attitude towards himself as well.
Verse 14.
I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age, among my own people.
He was a man on a stellar career path.
Well respected, well admired, great authority.
So what changed?
Well, God grabbed him, didn't he?
Look at how God grabbed him.
Verse 15.
When he, that is God, who had set me apart before I was born,
and he called me by his grace,
was pleased to reveal his son to me,
in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.
So God changed Paul's life around completely.
He revealed Jesus to him.
At that point, on the road to Damascus,
Saul made a wonderful discovery and a terrible discovery.
The terrible discovery was that this Jesus,
whom he had been trying to obliterate,
this Jesus who he stopped people worshipping,
that this Jesus was actually alive and kicking,
and was God's own son.
That was a terrible discovery.
But the wonderful discovery,
was that Saul, like Paul,
like Jeremiah the prophet in the Old Testament,
had been set apart by God from before his birth even.
God had a purpose for him.
And Paul, for the sake of showing the Galatians,
and showing us,
that this is all,
is God's message he's preaching,
underlines it straight away.
Verse 16.
I did not immediately consult with anyone,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem,
for those who were apostles before me.
In other words, Saul's saying,
I got this message,
God revealed Jesus to me.
He revealed the truth to me.
And I got it straight from God.
I didn't need to go and consult with the leaders in Jerusalem.
I didn't need to get it verified by somebody else.
Rather, I went off to do what God had told me to do.
You see what Paul is arguing here.
He wants us to know,
that the message he preached,
is not something he made up.
It's not something other people told him,
or a rumour that was going around at the time.
It's not something he had to check out with other people.
Rather, it was a message God gave him,
to preach to others.
Now that's important,
because in the days Paul wrote this letter,
there were people saying,
he wasn't really teaching the truth,
it was just his own ideas.
People today love to dismiss,
love the Bible,
particularly love to dismiss the Apostle Paul,
don't they?
Oh, he's a male chauvinist.
Oh, he's too fundamentalist.
He's not inclusive enough.
His attitude to sexuality is all wrong.
He's not enlightened enough.
We've grown up,
we've grown past his ideas.
And yet Paul claims,
the message he had,
came straight from God.
What's the evidence?
Well, why else would he turn his back on a promising career?
Why else would he forego,
the status and privilege he had,
in Judaism of the day?
To become an outlaw,
who was hounded by the Jews,
wherever he went.
The answer surely is that God changed his life around.
As Paul was going to Damascus,
he had no felt need of Jesus.
He had no felt need of forgiveness.
But he was shocked,
and transformed by what God did.
We'll see in a moment exactly how he was transformed.
I hope we can see first of all,
that Paul's main point here,
the message he received,
the message he preaches,
the message he writes down here,
the message we have in our Bible,
is not man-made.
It's not a human idea.
It comes from God.
And one little element of the evidence we have for that,
is how Paul's life was turned around.
But let's look more closely at how Paul's life was turned around.
In what ways was it changed?
We'll see how encountering the true Jesus changed him,
and can change us.
It really changed in three different ways particularly.
It changed Paul's view of himself.
It changed the goal of Paul's life.
It changed the motivation for Paul's actions.
So first of all,
it changed Paul's view of himself.
See, Paul thought he was a really good guy.
Look at verse 14.
I was advancing Judaism beyond many of my own age,
among my people.
So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
He's on this great career path.
Philippians chapter 3, verse 6,
talking about his former life.
He says,
As for righteousness under the law,
I was blameless.
People looked at me,
and I was perfect,
according to the religious rules of the day.
See, he thought all his efforts
put him in God's good book.
He thought he was a really nice guy.
He thought he was doing God a massive favour.
And yet he was then shocked, wasn't he?
What did God do?
He revealed Jesus Christ to him.
You see that?
Verse 12.
I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Verse 16.
God was pleased to reveal his son to me.
Now why did God do it?
It was by grace, wasn't it?
Verse 15.
When he set me apart from before I was born,
he called me by his grace.
God didn't do it, in other words,
because Paul was good,
because Paul was nice,
because Paul was religious.
God did it entirely
out of his own generous kindness,
extravagant kindness,
to an undeserving man.
So why God did it?
What did God do?
He revealed his son Jesus.
He wanted Paul to have a right view of Jesus,
and having a right view of Jesus,
he had a right view of himself.
Now what did Paul understand?
What did Paul grasp
as God revealed his son to him?
Has he got that revelation of Jesus
on the road to Damascus?
Well we can say lots of things.
Let's just say two things, first of all.
First of all,
Paul saw at last
that Jesus is the eternal son of God
in human flesh.
That Jesus is the eternal son of God
in human flesh.
He was not a heretic
claiming to be God.
He was in fact
the second person of the Trinity.
God on earth.
Now raised new life again.
That's important.
That's important for Paul,
because
as a Jew
he'd always been brought up
to believe that God is just one
and there is only one God.
And he's suddenly
confronted with Jesus
as the son of God.
It's revealed to him
that God is three persons in one.
Yes, God is a unity,
is one Godhead,
yet there's Father, Son and Spirit
in the one Godhead.
And Saul
finds Jesus revealed to him.
So he realises
Jesus is not some creation,
not some mere mortal,
he's not some being
somewhere between God and man
as some different sects
and cults teach.
He is God eternal himself.
And secondly,
Saul found out
that Jesus is God's promised king.
So in the Old Testament,
for example,
in 2 Samuel chapter 7,
the son of God
is a title
for God's chosen king
for his people.
So Saul found that
Jesus is God himself,
but also Jesus is
God's ruler and king.
So the very one
Saul would be trying
to put an end to
was in fact the one
whom God was using
to fulfil his purposes.
So in that moment
that Saul sees
Jesus revealed to him,
he completely changes
his view of himself.
He's no longer a good guy
doing God's work.
He now sees
he is God's enemy.
He is God's enemy.
He thought his religious zeal
and niceness was good.
Actually,
it was a way of rebelling
against God.
And that's actually
a warning to all of us,
isn't it?
We can think we're good people,
we can think we're very religious,
we're doing nice things
for God,
and yet actually
if we don't grasp
who Jesus is,
however zealous we are,
however enthusiastic we are,
we can be running
headlong against God's program
and God's ways.
And we can be
God's enemies.
So that's the first thing
that was transformed
in Saul.
His view of himself
that was all caught up
with his view of Jesus.
The second thing
that was transformed
was his whole goal
of his life.
The goal of his life
was turned upside down.
See,
formerly
his goal was to
persecute and destroy
the church,
wasn't it?
But now
the persecutor
has turned preacher.
Verse 16,
God called on him.
God is pleased
to reveal his son to me
in order that I may
preach him among the Gentiles.
As a good Jew,
it must have been
an absolutely horrendous idea
for Saul
to go to the Gentiles.
But now
his life is so transformed
that instead of trying
to put an end
to the church,
he's preaching
so the church is built up.
Not only that,
he's going to the Gentiles,
his very enemies,
to preach that.
The persecutor
turns into the preacher.
He has a new goal
in his life
because that is the purpose
which God saved him.
Now,
you and I
are not called to be
the apostles to the Gentiles.
That only happened
to Saul.
But we all live life
with some goal,
don't we?
And as I read this,
I have to ask myself,
truly,
what is my goal?
Am I just interested
in my own career?
As Saul also was,
part of his persecuting
the church,
was to build his own
career in Judaism.
Am I interested
in my own reputation
as Saul was?
Or am I primarily,
is my goal primarily
to preach Jesus Christ
to let others know
this glorious news
that we can be forgiven
and made whole again
by the grace of God
in the Lord Jesus
and not by our own
religious works?
What's your goal?
What do you desire in life?
What is the longing
of your heart?
And how does that line up
with God's great program?
Well, Saul had a new view
of himself and of Jesus.
He completely transformed
the goal in his life.
And thirdly,
he had a completely
transformed motivation.
Look at verse 10.
See what his old motivation was
and what his new motivation is.
Verse 10.
For am I seeking
the approval of man
or of God?
Or am I trying
to please man?
If I was still
trying to please man,
I would not be
a servant of Christ.
Literally,
a slave of Christ.
See what Paul is saying
about his old way of life?
Actually,
he was a people pleaser.
Actually,
he was a people pleaser.
That's what he wanted to do.
And for Paul,
for Saul as he was then,
being deeply religious
was a great way
of being a people pleaser.
We please people
for all sorts of reasons,
don't we?
And being religious
can be a great way
of pleasing other people,
can't they?
It might be
we can please our parents
when we're younger
because they take us
along to church
or to the mosque
or to the temple
or whatever.
Sometimes we can
please other people
by our devotion
because they're impressed
with us.
So we go up in their views
because we're serving
so hard in church
or we are so involved
in so many things.
Sometimes we just want
to please other people
because we want them
to like us,
don't we?
And whenever people pleasing
is our real motive,
we just end up being
a slave to someone
else's desires,
don't we?
Whether that's
our parents
or our family
or our friends
or to the fashions
and customs of the age.
And Paul is confessing here
he was a people pleaser.
That got him promoted.
He's advancing beyond others
in his age
in Judaism.
There are people
following him
helping him
going to Damascus.
And yet,
his motives
have now changed.
His motives
have now changed.
He's now
trying to please God.
If I was still
trying to please man,
I would not be
a servant of Christ.
You can see that
if you look down
at the end of the story.
Verses 18 to 24.
We won't read it
all again now.
But as soon as God
has got hold of his life,
what does he do?
He doesn't go out
to Jerusalem
to get in
with the people
in power in that day
in the church.
He goes out
into Arabia.
Presumably to preach
the gospel for three years
is when he then
comes back to Damascus.
If we read on
in Acts chapter 9
we find he had to
lower it out of the basket.
Rumor must have
got back to the king
in Damascus.
But this man
is a troublemaker.
Get rid of him.
So Saul immediately
goes to preach
the gospel
because that's
what he's been
called to do.
He immediately
doesn't go
to become popular
unsuccessful.
He isn't even
known in person
we read in verses 23
to the people
the Christians
in Judea.
Because none of that
mattered.
But what did matter?
Look at verse 24.
They heard that Saul
was now preaching
the gospel.
Preaching the faith
he once tried to destroy.
And they glorified
God because of me.
See how Paul's
motivation has changed
around?
He's no longer
pleasing men
but he's pleasing God.
He wants God
to be glorified.
He wants Christ
to be made known.
Now what about me?
What about you?
Are we people pleasers?
Or are we God pleasers?
If I look at my own heart
what lies at the bottom
of all my desire
to please other people?
Well it's actually
fear isn't it?
Fear of rejection.
Fear of missing out.
Fear of not being popular.
Fear of offending.
But what Saul found
is that having been
accepted by God's grace
having been set apart
having been loved
and chosen by the
living God for a purpose
there's no fear left
is there?
See the gospel
deals with our insecurity.
If we know
we're accepted by God
not because of what
we do but because
of what Christ has done
then it matters
a whole lot less
if other people
do not accept us.
And so pleasing
other people
can become a whole lot
less important
than pleasing the God
who loved us
and called us
and saved us.
Why should we need
the praise and
affirmation of people
when in Christ
God calls us
his beloved children?
You see how this
worked out in Saul's life
he was happy to lose
his status
in Judaism.
Happy to lose
the reputation he had.
Happy to be hounded
and persecuted
as we see if you read
on through his life story.
Because what he really
wanted was to
please God
and not please people.
There's a song
we sometimes sang
at my old church
which has this great verse
Take all my cravings
for vain recognition
fleshly indulgence
and worldly ambition
I want so much
Lord to make you
the focus
to serve you
in secret
and never be noticed.
And I think
Saul could say that
because he'd been
transformed by
meeting Jesus Christ.
He had a new view
of himself
that he was a rebel
who desperately
needed God's grace.
He had a new
change of the goal
of his life.
His goal came
to preach Christ
instead of to
kill off the church.
It changed his
motivation in life.
His motivation
was now the glory
of God
rather than
pleasing other people.
If we meet Jesus
day by day
he will change us too.
Let's pray shall we?