The Gospel Nugget - Galatians 1:1-5

In August 1896, Skookum Jim, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discovered gold in the Yukon.  Their find set off what would become known as the Klondike Gold Rush which drew thousands of men into the Yukon and Alaskan territories in a few short years.  This small find caused teachers, doctors, lawyers, even the mayor of Seattle to abandon their professions and head for gold, in the hopes of making a new life.  After making their way to Alaska, most had to hike over the White Pass or the Chilkoot trail (100 miles) and then build a raft to float the next 500 miles before they reached the gold fields. Most arrived penniless and having spent their entire life’s savings.  Such was the lure of the gold nugget: gold seekers fought each other, killed one another, cheated and lied in an effort to protect their claim, or take another’s.  All for a gold nugget.

But there is a different kind of nugget in the Scriptures.
The gospel nugget has caused men and women to die, to trek equally difficult trails in the hopes, not of hoarding, but of sharing these nuggets with others.  Where the gold nugget breeds a kind of selfish protectionism and an incessant fear and distrust of others, the gospel nugget brings great joy and hope, relief and concern for everyone.  The gospel nugget impelled men like David Livingstone to trek into the depths of Africa in order to tell others about what he had found.  The gospel nugget burned in George Muller’s heart calling him to care for thousands of orphans in order to tell them about what he had found.  It called William Carey to India, George Whitefield and Jonathan Edward to preach in North America, Hudson Taylor and Gladys Aylward followed its leading to China, while Mary Slessor went to Nigeria.  The gospel nugget caused Indonesian Christians in the late 80’s to feed their enemies while these enemies burned down their churches.  Such is just the tip of the iceberg, for the gospel nugget has impelled millions of people to go forth and share its beauty with the world.  And it is calling to us today.

What kind of nugget does the Scripture contain which turns killers into saints, enemies into brothers, thieves into compassionate givers, slave traders into clergy?  Let’s turn to Galatians 1 where one such murdering enemy relates his story:

“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.”  (Galatians 1:1–5 NIV)

To understand the full force of Paul’s opening statement we must recall Paul’s history.  In Acts 7:58, 8:1,3 we are told that Paul was present at the stoning of Stephen even giving approval to his death.  Furthermore, after this murderous affair, Saul, who later becomes Paul, began to destroy the church.  Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.  This is his history, of course he wasn’t sent from men, or by man to preach the good news.  He had already been there, he knew what it was to be sent by men – he had been sent to destroy these Jews who had found a nugget, a nugget that impelled them to missionary activity, a nugget that proclaimed that God had heard the cries of the people and had answered them.  Saul had been sent by men to extinguish this nugget from the face of Judaism for it was a heretical nugget, a blasphemous nugget according to the wisdom of the wise.

Paul wasn’t sent from men, or by man; no, Jesus Christ appointed him an apostle. [Display Gal 1:1 here]  He had been on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus, appointed an apostle by men, when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to this murdering maniac and confronted him with the truth that Jesus was alive.  Jesus appointed Saul to be my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel (Acts 9:15).

Paul was God’s apostle, God’s messenger sent to carry forth the gospel nugget.  There were many kinds of apostles in the world during the days of the early church.  There were men like Titus who bear the same title, apostle, who were sent by the churches to help the churches. “As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives (apostles) of the churches and an honor to Christ” (2 Corinthians 8:23).  There were men who went out on behalf of others to proclaim and/or affirm a truth.  Their ministry was valid and true, but there were also men who were “false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13) by preaching a Christ that was inferior in every respect to the Christ who had revealed himself to Paul. 

Paul wants to make sure that his hearers understand that his message comes not from himself, nor from others, but directly from Jesus Christ.  If you are a parent, or if you have ever been a child, you know what kind of force the words of a sibling carry to their brother or sister.  No much.  I have heard my kids try and tell each other to do something.  Generally, their luck at getting obedience is pretty poor.  But add the words, “Dad wants you to…” and there is instant obedience.  So it is in the gospel.

This is imperative for us to understand, for when a man, a woman or a child has been touched by God, when the Lord has ripped back the sheet blinding them from the truth and when the risen Christ appears to them, the message they carry is God’s message.  That is why it burns so deeply in them, but when a person has simply heard the message from men, and the Lord hasn’t quickened their heart, but the message just makes sense to their human mind, or fills a need in their human heart, then the power of the message is lost.  The imperative of the message for humanity is lost.  I fear for many in our churches, I fear that the missionary enterprise is waning in the west because we have forgotten who sends us out.  We are losing the impetus to be kingdom messengers.  We are not driven anymore to preach the message of the Savior.  We don’t even have the urgency of the Klondikers to stake a claim, much less the inward spurring of the Holy Spirit to go forth. 

I fear we have forgotten who sends the messengers and whose message it is we proclaim.  All true believers are believers because of Jesus Christ, and all true believers have a message to preach because God the Father raised [Jesus Christ] from the dead.   The nugget of the gospel begins right here in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  It is the resurrection that authenticates the sacrifice.  It is the resurrection that validates our new life.  It is the resurrection that confirms God’s good pleasure with Jesus of Nazareth. We hold God’s message in our hearts, in our hands, in our mouths.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:13–14).  Without the resurrection, the gospel nugget looses its beauty.  Without the resurrection the messenger, like the miner, looses any impetus to continue in his service to the King.  The resurrection is part of the nugget of Salvation, for not only has God the Father, raised Jesus from the dead, but he has also raised all the brothers from the dead, just as he raised Paul from the dead. 

We have been raised! If we have been baptized into Christ, if his spirit has come upon us, then we too have been raised from death and sin, to life and godliness.  Such is the testimony of Romans 6 “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:3–7).

We are raised with Christ.  Such is the victory we have over sin and death.  It need not control us.  It need not master us.  It need not be our dictator.  There is hope.  Hope in the resurrection of Jesus.  Why?  Because Jesus gave himself for our sins.  He gave himself as a sacrifice of propitiation, by that I mean he died to bring peace between God and man. 

Our sin is heinous.  It is monstrous, terrific and horrible.  It causes us to deny God.  It makes us look for peace in the created instead of the creator.  It tells us that human reason is equally as valid as divine dictate and so it is ok to reinterpret Jesus’ teachings on the poor, violence, money, stewardship, sin, marriage, women, men, and anything else that we just don’t like, or isn’t practical.  But worst of all, our sin makes us feel smug and complacent without any burning desire to preach repentance to the nations.  It causes us to sit quietly and wait for others to talk about God, to proclaim his mysteries, and to shout about his pinnacle dealings with humanity in Christ 2000 years ago.  Such is our sin, and God hates it.  To the Israelites he said, “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies” (Amos 5:21 NIV).  Through Jeremiah he cries out concerning idolatry, “Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!’” (Jeremiah 44:4 NIV).

Any sin and offense requires an offering to restore peace.  Doesn’t even life’s experience teach us this?  When we offend another we come with an offering – maybe flowers for a wronged spouse, or words of apology for a friend we have sinned against.  Well, God requires blood in order for peace and forgiveness to be extended.  Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin (Heb 9:22).  Jesus gave his blood for the forgiveness of our sins.  He gave his life so that we could live.  But he did it not only to bring about our forgiveness, but he gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age.  He died for you and for me, his blood spilled from his hands and feet and the thorns in his brow in order to rescue us from the present evil age. 

Those who argue that this age is getting better.  Those who argue for the progressive view of history that humanity is marching steadily onward and upward are flatly denying the truth of Scripture.  This age, this present age is evil.  It is fallen, it is broken, and it is deteriorating and destructing.  It exists to draw us further from God not closer to God.  The liberal notions of human progress are lies and they are opposed to the Gospel.  There is only one who can rescue us from the decay, the death, the destruction, the idolatry, the sin, and his name is Jesus – not Donkey Democrat or, Elephantine Republican.  Not technology or tolerance.  Not medical advancement, universal healthcare, greater foreign policy, freer economic theory, or anything else that is being touted as the solution to rescue us from the present evil age will work.  They will all fail, and will only push us farther into the abyss of hell.  Their is only one who can rescue us, and his name is Jesus. And he comes from above like a hand plucking a caterpillar from a ring of fire.  And he did it with his own body and his own blood and it took place on Calvary. 

This Jesus rescues us from the evil age where we seek to be people pleasers.  This Jesus and none other, rescues us from the need to do more to please God. Jesus rescues me from fear of others. Jesus rescues you from partiality and judging. Jesus rescues us from elitism and sinful living.  Jesus, the Son of God rescues us from doing our acts of righteousness to be seen by men, and he does it so that we can be raised with him in order to live for God.  Jesus Christ’s past sacrifice has present value, for it rescues us from our sin today, from our present evil age, from our destructive lifestyles and it places us into eternity, empowered by the Spirit for a life of godliness, and holiness and righteousness.  And only Jesus does it, there is no other.

This is the gospel nugget. This is the message that countless numbers have preached, sent by God, not by man, sent by Christ, not by mission boards, sent by the Father, for it is the will of God our Father that such redemption came to you and to me.  That’s what the text says, “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.” 

So the next time you look at a dollar bill, the gold nuggets of today, remember the story of the Klondikers, who gave everything in search of more of the wealth of the world, and then recall the life of Christ, which was given for you to rescue you from such foolish pursuits.  And recall that God desired you to know such a reality and a salvation, and he desires many more to know.  And say with me now,

“Jesus Christ gave himself for my sins, to rescue me from this present evil age according to the will of my God and Father.  And my Father raised Jesus Christ, His Son, from the dead, and He has raised me, too.  And together, they have sent me, [Insert your name], as an apostle to Bellingham and the World, to proclaim the God to whom belongs all glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Family of God, you have affirmed God’s word, the gospel nugget, to you with your own mouths.  You are apostles, messengers sent by God with a message of redemption and deliverance for a dying, evil world.  Go out and proclaim the message with bold words, speak it loudly so that the world may believe in the one God has sent!