Well, Happy New Year. It's good to see you all here. Glad that you have joined us this morning for worship.
! It's good to gather together in God's house.
You know, I've been reflecting as we move to the new year on the fact that it's now been 23 years that I've been able to be a part of Trinity as a church.
And it's been pretty amazing to see what God has done in the last 20 years as we've seen God renew and revitalize this new season that's been going on in this last year.
If you don't know, Trinity started in 1973, but there was a turning point after a decline in the 90s and in the last 20 years.
It's been a beautiful thing to see what God has done in our church.
And I've been blessed to be part of the leadership, the servant leadership for that church for most of it.
And we have, as the leaders, wrestled.
Because young churches have lots of things to think about.
We think about leadership structure. We think about programming decisions.
We think about caring for children and families and seniors.
Service planning, ministry priorities, building and physical plant, and so on and so forth.
And it's been a blessing to see how God has worked in the midst of all those things.
And my prayer is that God would continue to do this in our church.
But, you know, as you wrestled through, as you think through that list, as we have wrestled through, there's always been a danger.
That the pressures and the urgency and the challenges of those decisions could cause us to lose sight of what is central to the church.
What is central to what God has called us to, and to allow these other things to become, in fact, our practical center.
We make these decisions under the aegis of what our church needs.
We wrestle and even fight over what we need to do.
We fall into the trap of thinking, if only we had X program or XY personnel or Z priority, then we would finally be the church that we think we should be.
I don't know about you, but this isn't a problem only in our church, isn't it?
It also can be a problem in our own spiritual lives, isn't it?
It's a new year.
It's a great time to review and think, how do I want to grow this year?
Maybe you're a spiritual seeker and you're thinking, I don't know whether God exists.
What do I want to do to pursue that this year?
Maybe you've been a Christian for a while and you're thinking, what am I going to do this year?
New devotional practices or spiritual disciplines that are going to get me to the next step or the next level.
Maybe there are new patterns of obedience that I need to lean into in tithing or fasting or giving or evangelism or serving the poor or whatever it is.
Maybe you have new reading lists and strategies of growing in theology and biblical knowledge.
New curricula are things to do.
Now look, just like with the church, in our own personal lives, these are good things for us to think about.
These are not unimportant things.
These are not meaningless things.
They are good for us to think about, both our personal lives and in our church.
But they are not the center.
And this brings us to our passage this morning.
We are going to begin a series in the book of Galatians.
And we're going to start today in Galatians and do it through most of the spring.
And we're going to be introducing the book over the next couple of weeks.
Because if you read ahead, you will see that the context and the reality of what's going on in the church of Galatia
is the content of the first two chapters of the book in many ways.
So I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the background today.
I will simply say this, the Galatians was probably one of the first letters that Paul wrote.
And he was writing to a church that he had planted, that he was involved in starting as he preached the gospel
in the region of Galatia in what is now modern Turkey.
And this early church had been navigating questions.
What do we believe and how do we practice it and how do we live it out?
And it seems that in the midst of it, they had lost their center.
And so Paul reminds them.
He writes to remind them and to teach them what the center must be.
So this morning, we're just going to look at the greeting.
Verses 1 through 5 of chapter 1 in Galatians 1.
In many ways, it's a normal greeting that could be summarized.
Paul and the brothers with him to the church in Galatia, grace and peace to you.
But you'll see as we read it that he fills that out with a few other comments along the way.
And in fact, in those comments, we will see his opening salvo of teaching
about what is meant to be at the center of the church.
So, page 913, if you're looking at it in a few Bibles,
we're going to read Galatians chapter 1, verses 1 through 5.
Let's read along together.
Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man,
but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead
and all the brothers who are with me.
To the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins
to deliver us from the present evil age
according to the will of our God and Father
to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Please pray with me as we look at God's Word.
Lord, we thank you for this new year.
We thank you for this new series.
Lord, we thank you for your Word,
which is not new at all,
but in fact has stood for years and centuries,
Lord, as your revelation to us.
And Lord, I pray for your help this morning.
I pray that you would help me to speak clearly your Word.
I pray that your Spirit would enable me.
Lord, I pray for all of us,
that our hearts would be willing to receive your Word.
Lord, that our minds would be enabled to understand it.
And Lord, that you would move our will,
Lord, to respond in obedience.
Lord, to love what you love
and to do what you have called us to do.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So friends, this is not rocket science.
The center of the church is the gospel of God.
The gospel originates with God.
The gospel centers on God's saving work in Jesus.
And the gospel's goal is the glory of God.
So if you're taking notes, there's your outline.
We'll look at the gospel originates with God.
The gospel centers on God's saving work in Jesus.
And the gospel goal is God's glory.
And the gospel of God, that is,
this is the good news that we proclaim.
This is the very core.
This is what we say we are all about.
When we say we're about a gospel,
it is some kind of good news.
But we need to make sure we get that good news
properly oriented, right?
And as you've seen from this,
part of what we will see is that the good news
that Paul exhorts us to embrace
focuses on God.
So let's look at it through that lens.
So first, in chapter, in verses one and two,
the gospel originates with God.
Paul, in his greeting, calls himself an apostle.
This is common.
It's in most of his letters.
An apostle at one level simply means someone who is sent.
So the Evangelical Dictionary of the New Testament
says that an apostle is some authorized as a messenger
and representative of the crucified and risen Lord
to bring the gospel to the churches.
This is the particular role that Paul had,
that the 12 had,
the 12 who were the followers of Jesus during his life.
They are a unique group in history.
But this is what Paul has.
He identifies himself and says,
this is who I am, right?
Now, we might read today the New Testament
and think Paul is an organizational leader.
He's an innovator.
He's a church planter.
He's someone who built and shaped the work
with strategies and plans.
And he did all of those things, true.
But for Paul, when he talks about what he did,
he said, this is the most important thing
I want you to know.
I am not an apostle by my own choice.
I'm not an apostle because other people told me
that I should be an apostle.
I am an apostle because of God, right?
Not from man, not through man,
but through Jesus Christ and God the Father.
Paul wants us to know that his ministry
is all about God, God's call and God's will
who sent him.
It wasn't because Barnabas took him under his wing.
It wasn't because James and Peter
gave their seal of approval.
But it was because God had done it.
Do you remember how Paul describes
his experience of God's call on his life?
This is from Acts chapter 26, verses 15 through 18,
as Paul is explaining where he comes from.
He says this.
He had this encounter with Jesus
as he was going to persecute the Christians.
And I'm going to shorten the passage
and just pick up here.
And he says, and I, that is Paul.
And I said, who are you, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom you are persecuting.
But rise and stand on your feet,
for I have appeared to you for this purpose,
to appoint you as a servant and witness
to the things in which you have seen me
and to those in which I will appear to you,
delivering you from your people
and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you,
to open their eyes so that they may turn
from darkness to light and from the power
of Satan to God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and a place among those who are sanctified
by faith in me.
See, Paul had this amazing experience.
If you don't know the story,
Paul was a persecutor of the church
and God appeared to him miraculously.
Jesus appeared to him and struck him blind.
And there's a whole story,
and I couldn't expand the whole thing
because we'd be here all day
just talking about that part.
But God intervened in his life to say,
I am calling you in this unique and special role
to take the gospel to people who haven't heard it.
And what Paul wants to remind the Galatians
and us this morning
is that the origin of his gospel
was not his best ideas or his plans,
but it was God.
It was God who gave him that message,
and it was God who gave him that commission
to proclaim it.
And it's interesting, too,
if you notice at the end of verse 1,
that he goes on to say,
it's not just any God,
but it's a particular God.
It's an amazing God, right?
It's a God who raised Jesus from the dead.
Right?
Why is this important?
Because Paul is saying
that the message that I'm preaching
is about a God who intervened
in space-time history.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
actually happened.
If there had been movie cameras in that day,
or security cameras,
or whatever it would have been,
they could have actually filmed
the resurrection of Jesus Christ
because it actually happened.
It's not just an idea.
It's not just a metaphor
for some hopeful new thing,
but it actually physically happened
in space-time history.
And Paul says,
my ministry of the gospel
originated from a God
who interceded and acted
in real life today.
Now, this is important in our culture,
is it not?
We live in a relativistic,
pluralistic culture
where religion is generally viewed
as one truth among many.
Religion has been relegated
to private and experiential beliefs.
That's good for you.
I'm glad you hold…
I'm glad you've had that experience.
I'm glad you think those things
because I'm glad it's helpful for you.
And religion has been really brought down
to a level of psychological help
of some sort,
that it's somehow useful for us
regardless of whether it's true.
But Paul reminds us,
even in this very beginning salvo,
that the Bible,
the gospel of the Bible
challenges that worldview.
It says that this is a historically verifiable God
who acted in time-space history,
right?
That the God of the Bible
has revealed Himself
in a person who you could touch,
who you could talk to
if you were alive in the first century,
and whom we have a historical account,
not merely a mythological tale,
to tell about who He is
when we talk about Jesus.
And as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15,
if Christ wasn't raised from the dead,
if this is all just a great myth,
then we are the most to be pitied
because we are fools,
because we have staked our hope
on something that is not actually true.
But Paul says,
no, it is true.
And the gospel that I preach
did not come from me
or from any other human being.
It came from God.
But he says more, does he not,
as he goes on in verses 3 and 4.
It doesn't only originate with God,
but it focuses on God and God's work.
The gospel centers on Jesus' saving work.
So this is verses 3 and 4,
and we see this normal greeting,
grace and peace,
which would be a common greeting in Greek
in that time.
So it doesn't necessarily
have great meaning,
but Paul fills it with great meaning
by expanding on
what those terms mean
in light of the Christian gospel.
Right?
Grace, that is,
the true meaning of it is
undeserved favor,
and peace with God
is a result of God's work
in Jesus Christ
who gave himself for our sins
and to deliver us
from this present evil age.
Do you see how this greeting
that could have just been,
hey, grace and peace to you,
I wish you well,
and moving on,
he says, no, no, no.
Grace and peace to you
because God has worked
in this world.
This is the very core
of the gospel,
that Jesus came to give his life
for the sins of human beings,
of your sin and my sin.
He came as a substitute
to take our place
in dying for our sin.
He came as a sacrifice,
dying to pay the penalty of death,
the wages of sin
that we deserved.
He bore our sins
so that Jesus,
or so that God the Father
could forgive our sin.
This is the great exchange
that Jesus gave himself for us.
He gave his righteousness,
he gave his life
to us
and took upon himself
our sin,
our death,
our judgment
that we deserve.
And so grace and peace
is not just a formality here,
but an incredibly rich greeting.
God has worked
so that you might know
the grace of God
because of what Jesus did.
God has worked
so that you might have
peace with God
because the enmity,
the broken relationship
that you have broken
because of your sin,
God has dealt with
at the cross
finally
and fully
and completely.
He doesn't just do this
so that we can be forgiven
of our sin
and restored to a relationship
with God,
but also,
as it says,
to deliver us
from this present evil age.
Now again,
we could preach
a whole sermon
on what the New Testament
is talking about
in terms of the ages,
but let me give you
a brief summary,
right?
The Bible
and particularly
the New Testament
talks about
the gospel is coming
to bring a transfer
of ages.
We live now
in this present evil age
and we all know
that we live in it
because you open the news
every day
and we see
we live in a terrible age.
All sorts of terrible things happen
and when we go home,
when we go to bed at night
and in the stillness
of our hearts,
we look into our own hearts
and we realize
this present evil age
isn't just out there,
but it's in my own heart.
I too am full
of all sorts of sin
and darkness,
of pride
and pettiness
and anger
and frustration
and envy.
Where sin and death
still reign in humanity,
this is the present evil age
and our hearts
are in captivity
to these dark powers.
But Jesus came
and died on the cross
and rose from the dead
to defeat sin and death,
to defeat those things
so that He might transfer us
from the kingdom
of this present age
to the age
of His beloved Son,
to the coming age
that is the kingdom of God.
Right?
And here's the amazing thing
about it.
When Jesus came into the world,
He inaugurated that.
Right?
He said,
the kingdom of God
is among you.
And the beginning,
the in-breaking
of this new age
is still happening now
through the church,
through the preaching
of the gospel,
as human hearts
are transformed
by the message
of good news
that in Jesus
we can be forgiven
of our sin,
that through repentance
and faith
we can be transformed
and begin to live
not as slaves
to this present evil age anymore,
but in a new life
that we have with God
that will stretch
to all eternity.
Right?
And we know
that we're still waiting
for the fullness of this.
Right?
We know
that this deliverance
is still a future thing
in its fullness,
but the core of it
and the kernel of it
has already happened.
And for those
who have placed
their faith in Christ,
for those who have known
the renewing,
the spiritual rebirth
that comes,
we are already
a part of this age to come
that is no longer
dominated by sin and death,
but instead
by joy
and by eternal life
with God.
This is the good news
of the gospel.
This is what God
has done for us.
And when Paul says,
grace and peace to you,
and I want to remind you
what that's about.
It's about what God
has done for us
in Jesus Christ.
Now,
it's worth us thinking
for a few minutes
how easily we might
get the gospel wrong.
because we see that
as we keep reading
Galatians,
the Galatians are getting
their gospel wrong,
right?
In that context,
right,
in the early,
in the first century
where Christianity
was coming out of Judaism
in a significant way,
there was a huge discussion
in the early church
about how does
the work of Jesus
relate to the Old Testament
and the Old Testament law.
And there were some
who were saying,
yeah,
Jesus is great,
but we still need
to keep the law.
We still need to be
doing this thing.
So circumcision,
dietary laws,
and ritual separation
from those who are unclean,
we have to keep doing
those things in order
to be saved,
in order to be God's people.
Now,
I'm just going to put
a pause there
because that's what
the next two chapters
are about in Galatians.
So come back next week
and you'll hear
all the answers
to why that's not
the gospel.
But know that Paul
is saying
that is not the gospel.
It's unlikely
that many of us
here today
are thinking,
oh, yeah,
I need to keep
my dietary laws.
I don't know
if I should have
had that lobster
last weekend
or whatever.
It's unlikely
that that would be
our version
of misunderstanding
the gospel.
But here are two ways
that I think
maybe are a lot closer
to home
that we might
misunderstand the gospel.
The first one
is that
I think
in our context
many would say
that
in order to be
right with God
we just need
to be a good person.
If we're good enough
God will accept us.
If we're generally
better than the people
around us
who are,
you know,
if we think
we're meeting
some general standard
of goodness
isn't that enough?
And even
in the church
where we acknowledge
God
we just think
God wants me
to be a good person
and that's what
it means
to know Him
and to follow Him.
But friends,
do you see
why this is not
the gospel of God?
First,
because it denies
the reality
of human sinfulness
that our hearts
are
inescapably
wicked
and rebellious
against God
and have broken
our relationship
with God
and are unable
to restore it
on our own.
We do not have
the righteousness
in and of ourselves
or goodness
enough to overcome
our sinfulness
in order to have
fellowship
with a holy God.
But secondly,
because it places
the weight
of our salvation
on us.
I have to be good.
I have to be good enough.
And the most crushing thing
is when you think
you're a good person
and then you do
something bad.
You know those NBA players
who get tossed
out of a game
because they do
something terribly egregious?
They like haul off
and punch someone
and then after the game
what do they say?
I'm really sorry,
that wasn't me.
No,
it was you.
It was you
at your worst.
And that's true
for all of us.
We will never
buy our
good enough.
Attempts to be
good enough people
be able to save
ourselves from sin.
Only in Christ
can we do it.
So that's one version
that I think is common
in our culture broadly
is that we think
the gospel is
if you're a good enough person
God will think
okay, you're okay.
There can be
an even more
and I'll use this word
carefully
evangelical.
By that I mean
the part of the
Protestant church
generally that holds
to the Bible
as authoritative
that holds to
salvation by grace alone.
Even in churches
that would say
yes, Jesus died
on the cross
for my sins.
We often can fall
into believing
that the gospel
is that when we
believe in Jesus
enough
that will save us.
Right?
If
if I wake up
one day
and I'm like
oh my faith
is really weak
I don't know
if I'm really saved.
I'm struggling today.
My devotions
were really bad.
My belief
I don't know.
I'm really
I'm just feeling
weak today.
And there's some
of us
who would
who have heard
the message
saying well
you just need
to believe more.
You need to
really believe.
Come on
muster up
that energy
and that faith
to have more
devotion
and more
commitment
and we might
follow this through
with a burst
of new
spiritual disciplines
and new
obedience
and new
things.
And again
none of those
things are bad
in and of themselves
but if we think
that this
new
new fervor
is going to say
oh now I know
that I'm saved
we need to be
very very careful
about this
because it is not
the strength
of our faith
that saves us
but the object
of our faith
that saves us.
This is what
Paul is reminding
us of
in this passage.
It is about
what God
has done
and Jesus
Christ
has done
everything
that is sufficient
for our salvation.
Jesus has done
everything
through his
death and
resurrection
and we
merely
receive this
by faith.
And even
this friends
is a gift.
Right?
Ephesians 2
8 and 9
For by grace
you have been
saved through
faith
and this is not
your own doing.
It is the gift
of God
not a result
of works
so that no one
may boast.
Do you see
how God
centered
Paul's
understanding
of the gospel
is?
It's about
what God
has done
in Jesus Christ
and even
we can only
believe it
because God
is at work
in us
giving us
faith
to believe
these things.
Paul's focus
and ours
must be
on God
in the midst
of it.
And this
leads to
the very end
of our passage
does it not?
Our very last
point
which is
the gospel
goal
is the glory
of God.
Paul ends
his greetings
in verse 5
with
to whom
be glory
forever
and ever.
Amen.
Now this
is religious
speak
at the highest
level.
This is stuff
that we
can throw
around.
If you've
grown up
in church
or read
scripture
you throw
this around
like it's
popcorn.
It's cheap
but for Paul
it's unique.
This is the
only greeting
in which
he pointed
to the
glory of
God
in this
way
in his
very
greeting
and he
wants us
as he
wanted the
Galatian
church
to turn
their hearts
and their
eyes
to put
God
in the
center.
God
is the
goal of
the gospel
that his
glory
would be
seen.
His glory
being the
manifold
expressions
of his
beauty
and majesty
and greatness
that these
would be
displayed
and they
would be
seen by
us
and responded
to by
worship
by praise
by obedience
by all the
things that we
are called
to do
to live out
our lives
as God's
people
but we
do this
in response
to and
in order
to bring
glory to
him
so that
he may
be the
center
of it.
Right?
In Paul's
mind
God is
always
the lead
character
in the
story
God
is always
the sun
around which
the planets
orbit
in their
paths
God
is always
the monarch
who reigns
and who is
the center
of the
kingdom
and whose
name is
praised
in his
realm
God
is the
one
for
whom
it is
worth
counting
all things
as loss
for the
sake
of knowing
him
and being
found
in him
not having
a righteousness
of our
own
but having
that which
comes
through faith
in Jesus
as Paul
says in
Philippians
3
and friends
we need
to be
aware
of how
much
our
heart
resists
this
the human
heart
always
wants
to put
us
in the
center
it is
the very
core
of what
happened
in the
garden
of Eden
when Adam
and Eve
were tempted
with the
thought
you could
be like
God
you could
de-center
God
from the
center
from the
middle
of everything
and put
yourself
there
instead
and they
succumbed
to it
and friends
we do
this every
day
I'm sure
you've heard
this example
before
but you know
those conversations
you have
in your
mind
where you
are having
an argument
with someone
you always
win
right
you always
win
you always
say the
right thing
that's our
human heart
putting ourselves
in the
center
if you've
ever had
a roommate
or a spouse
or a child
you know
that someone
else
invading
your
universe
challenges
your
centeredness
and so
we fight
over
whatever
how the
dishwasher
is loaded
or how
late
we get
to stay
up
or whatever
it is
why do
we do
this
because
we
are so
prone
to be
the
center
of our
worlds
Paul
reminds us
that we
were created
in a world
where God
was the
center
where God
is the
center
and we
were created
to find
our place
as his
creation
to glorify
him
to see
his beauty
and the beauty
of his
creation
and to reflect
back to him
through praise
and worship
the glory
that he
deserves
and most
of all
in the
storyline
of the
Bible
through the
gospel
because this
is the
place where
we see
his glory
most fully
presented
not in
creation
but in
redemption
where Jesus
Christ
the son
of God
took on
human form
walked on
this earth
to be
our savior
who went
to the
cross
to die
for us
who was
then raised
from the
dead
this is
where the
glory of
God
is most
fully seen
and it's
not about
us at
all
it is
for us
but it's
not about
us
it's about
God
and his
love
and his
action
in Jesus
Christ
for us
and friends
in light
of this
then
a truly
gospel
centered
church
is a
God
centered
church
that sees
everything
like John
the Baptist
we must
decrease
so that
God
would
increase
in
our
hearts
in our
relationships
in our
church
life
in our
witness to
the community
and to
our world
oh
Trinity
may we
be such
a church
that the
gospel
may be
our
center
and that
God
would be
glorified
in us
let's
pray
Lord we
are thankful
to you
this morning
that you
have not
left us
that you
have not
left us
in the
small
and
pitiful
place
of putting
ourselves
in the
center
Lord for
it is
an
unbearable
weight
but Lord
you have
called
us
and Lord
you have
worked
for us
and you
have revealed
yourself
so that
we might
be restored
to you
oh Lord
we pray
that we
might be
truly
a gospel
centered
church
that you
would be
glorified
in our
midst
we pray
this in
Jesus name
amen