'One True Gospel ' sermon

Sermon preached at Bedok Church of Christ, Singapore on 7th June 2010

The One True Gospel
Gal 1:1-12

1. Intro:

Before we plunge into the text, let's get a sense of the letter's tone and tenor.

Here there is an absence of any endearing/affectionate terms for the churches he writes to - no 'to my beloved brethren', 'saints' or 'holy and faithful brothers' - just a terse, formal address 'to the churches in Galatia'.

There too is an absence of thanksgiving/commendation section in the salutations: no 'i thank my God everytime i remember you', ' i thank God because of your growing faith and love..'

Rather, 'I am astonished at you... that you are turning to another gospel..'

'if any preach a different gospel to you let him be anathema!'

and he says it again 'let him be anathema!'

When the apostle Paul writes in this manner, with such sharp and uncompromising words, from the opening of the letter, you know all is not well with the church he's writing to. In fact, that it is the churches (plural) -not one congregation but several that is affected/infected - makes it all the more grave and sorrowful.

2. Background/exposition:

What is happening?

Paul in his first missionary journey had won converts and planted churches in Lystra, Derbe, Iconium, Pisidian Antioch - an account you can read about in Acts 13-14. These are likely the churches referred to as 'the churches in Galatia'. Soon after Paul had left these churches, false teachers (the Judaizers) had crept in claiming to come from the mother church of Jerusalem. They told them that what Paul preached to them was not adequate. One has to be circumcised and obey the Torah, besides faith in Jesus, to be a full-fledged Christian. Until then, the Gentile converts have no place to sit at the same table (of communion) with the circumcised.

What is wrong with this 'gospel' preached by the Judaizers?

It is wrong both in its origin and contents.

Origin - the issue of apostolic authority

'apostolos' means 'messenger' - , one who is sent. In the NT, Twelve were first designated as 'apostles' in Luke 6:13. Paul on the other hand was on an independent basis/occasion during/after his Damascus' encounter of the Risen Christ been called to be an apostle too and his apostleship was confirmed by the leadership of the Jeriusalem church, including Peter, James (the Lord's bro) and John, pillars of the Jerusalem church. The task of the apostles is to give the authoritative eyewitness account of Jesus - who he is, what he taught and deed. They were personally chosen by Christ, taught by Christ and had seen the Risen Christ and were marked by extraordinary signs and wonders (2 Cor 12:12) as well as extraordinary sufferings for the faith (2 Cor 11:23ff). In short, Paul's apostleship is a bona fide one as is the gospel that he preached.

Contents - the issue of orthodoxy.

the 'gospel' that the false teachers preached is squarely incompatible to the gospel preached by Paul and the Twelve in 3 ways:

- it calls people back to the old law of Sinai - this implies that the new age/kingdom has not come. as if Jesus had not died, resurrected and the Spirit given.

- it calls people back to salvation by works rather than by grace through faith.

- it erects old walls that have been torn down by the cross: between Jews/Gentiles, slaves/free, man/woman.

How is the passage relevant to our time?

Are we in danger of losing the one gospel of Christ as the early church? No more and no less. Though we have the NT with us, we are 2000 years removed from when the gospel was first preached. It is easy for distortions to creep in and destroy the church if we are not vigilant.

3. Application:

Dangers we face toay:

A. Truth Decay - today's mood of postmodernism/relativism tends to deny the notion of absolute truth. 'My truth is my truth, your truth is your truth, let's just keep it that way since there is no absolute truth to judge bet right and wrong, good and evil.'

B. Many 'Jesus' and 'gospels' promulgated in the religious marketplace. - health and wealth gospel by Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, gnostic gospel of Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code), New Age gospel of Shirley MacLaine, Gospel of Positive Thinking by Robert Schuller, Norman Vincent Peal, Gospel of Judas/Thomas/Mary and many such 'gospels' that have long been rejected as non-canonical, even heretical by the church for very good reasons. 'Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - stick to them and you won't go wrong.' says NT scholar/historian Ben Witherington.

C. Decline of Biblical Literacy. Recent survey in America: '80% cannot name 3 out of the 10 commandments, 60% think the oft-quoted verse in the bible is 'God helps those who help themselves'.
It is a shame that many Christians today are not reading and studying the bible with the depth that it deserves.

Exhortation to devote ourselves to the study of God's word.

'Heaven and earth will pass away but my Word will not pass away.' All scriptured is inspired by God and has no expiry date.

The gospel is not of human but divine origin. God has chosen to reveal his truths to us through Christ/apostles.

We were reborn by the word of truth, we need to feed on it to grow our faith and order our lives around the gospel.

let's be devoted to the apostles' teaching on a daily basis both privately and corporately. if we do so, the other gospels simply do not have a leg to stand on.