For the past few weeks, we have been talking about the gospel – The life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. Those are the words Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 15 to describe the Gospel, but here in Galatians, he has used these words – (Gal. 1:3-5) “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 forever and ever. Amen.”
The gospel is about forgiveness and salvation from the evil of this world, including and especially from the evil that is within each and every one of us. It is about a deliverance that is ultimately pictured in a new birth, a resurrection from the dead. But is this gospel powerful? Is this gospel message able to accomplish that which it claims, namely, to change people?
I want to unequivocally answer this question in the affirmative. YES – the gospel changes men, women and children. I speak of it, having personally experienced it. But since my life isn’t authoritative, we won’t examine my autobiography to convince you. Rather we will look to the Holy Scriptures, which are the very words of God given (2Tim. 3:15-17) “to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” If you recall from earlier in the letter, Paul has gone to great length to point out that there is only one gospel and it originates in God. It isn’t a human invention, it doesn’t gain credence and believers because men commission one another to go forth and speak it. No, that is the motivational speakers circuit. On the contrary, men have been persecuting the gospel-bearers; they have been arresting them, imprisoning them, excluding them from the synagogues. And Paul wants to be sure his recipients and all believers after him understand that the Good News, for that is what gospel means, the Good News begins in God and God gives it to humans.
Using some of our colloquial speech concerning learning, “The gospel is caught, more than taught.” I could stand here all day long and teach about the gospel. I could stand on the street corner all day long and teach about the gospel, but that isn’t going to make it good news to people. Quite the opposite, to most people that will be annoying and probably maddening as well. And that is because the gospel isn’t taught; God gives it to the human heart. People can learn about the gospel, but until it is revealed to their heart, they know nothing about its power. The revelation of the gospel is like a great work of art uncovered for the very first time in a gallery by the artist.
Until that time, those in the audience can listen to all the opening words the speaker gives, they can hear all the wonderful word pictures and may or may not like what it sounds like is under the sheet, they may even be able to parrot some of it back, but not until the sheet is removed can they truly speak about the work of art. Not until it is revealed can they describe the effects it has on them.
Or maybe a better analogy is the Indian analogy of a bunch of blind men brought in to speak about and determine what an object in the room is. To one it is hairy and coarse, to another it is heavy and immovable, and to third it is pliable and wet. None of them will agree that the object is an elephant until their eyesight is restored and they can see it clearly. So it is with the gospel. Until God opens your eyes, you are unable to recognize its brilliance and its gift.
Paul is writing to people whose eyes had been opened, who had been present when God’s work of art was uncovered. He is reminding them of the brilliance of the picture of Christ crucified, and salvation by faith apart from works. He is describing the joy that such a gospel brings and the changes that it affected in his own life. But lest you consider his experience his and not the normal Christian experience, I would like you to consider with me the two phases of Paul’s life that he describes: The Old Man and the New Man.
Before the veil was lifted from his eyes, Paul and each of us lives the life of the Old Man. The old man:
- Persecutes God’s people –
- Not part of the church –
- Comparing himself to others – based on personal achievement.
- Jealous for human traditions
Any or all of these in the life of a person is evidence that the Old Man is still alive and in need of good news.
Those who are still veiled, or living out of human teaching and not God’s revelation persecute God’s people. Persecution is a military term - for pursuing one’s enemies in order to subdue them and triumph over them. That’s what Paul did, if you recall he threw believers in prison, and even got letters to do the same in Damascus. But it is also the history of world. Diocletian’s persecution of the Christians, the Roman games, the murder of 3 Turkish Christians in Malatya, Turkey in 2007; it’s the history of the Janjaweed militia in Sudan to kill Christians, in first 5 years after Bolshevik revolution of 1917, 28 bishops and 1200 priests were killed, and anti-Christian violence in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and the middle east all serve to illustrate the truth that people whose eyes and heart have been veiled to the gospel persecute Jesus’ followers.
Sometimes its overt persecution like what I’ve discussed, sometimes its more covert like disapproval of or criticism of Christians, sometimes it’s a statement like “Christians are stupid, naïve.” At other times, persecution comes from simply refusing to stand up for another Christian and be identified with Christ’s body. Failing to testify is a form of persecuting God’s believers, for Jesus said, (Luke 11:23) “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.”
But in addition to persecuting God’s people, the Old Man is not part of the church of God. I find it fascinating that as Paul is discussing his old life before revelation, he says, “I persecuted the church of God…” That very statement when applied to him says, "I was not part of the church of God before being given revelation by God." I was outside the church of God. Judaism, isn’t part of God’s church, and for that matter, neither is Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Daoism, Confucism, Atheism, Marxism, or any other –ISM or religio-politcal belief. None of these are part of God’s church, for there is only ONE TRUE CHURCH, Just like there is only ONE TRUE GOSPEL. The OLD MAN is not a part of the church. However, the converse is not necessarily true either. While all those outside the church are not redeemed, everyone inside the church is not guaranteed redemption either. Membership in a physical body, called a “church” doesn’t save, any more than being sprinkled with water, or eating bread and drinking wine. These are simply acts done in the flesh. To be taken from the old man to the new man, God must do something.
Furthermore, the Old Man is constantly comparing himself or herself to others; their value is based on their personal achievement. For Paul, this is brought out in his statements about “advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and being extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers”. The Old Man must find his value in comparison, for there must be a standard, and those in the flesh can only feel good about themselves when they can put others lower then themselves. Their sin, which is always on their minds, is only relieved when they can see another as more sinful than they. Statements like, “I told a little lie, but he told a really big one.” “She took way more time off than I did on the company.” “I worked harder and put in more hours than he did, I deserve the promotion or recognition.” “I was advancing in … beyond many...of my own age…” I compared to they. Do you see it? The Old Man!
These are legalistic, relativistic kinds of value statements. That is the problem, the greatest problem that relativism faces, the standards don’t just get skewed, they disappear entirely and value and morality is based on comparing one group to another. We see it all over our world: Christians are viewed as intolerant, because they won’t accept other religions as equal paths to God while Hinduism and New Age will. Everything in the Old Man is based on comparison instead of truth.
Finally, the Old Man is zealous for human traditions. The Jews had a saying, “The tradition is a fence around the Law” (Aboth 3:14). The Jewish traditions Paul is talking about are briefly outlined in Mark 7 where Jesus comments on washing hands and cups and pitchers and kettles. It is elaborated in vows of Corban and the laws concerning tithes. And to all of it Jesus says, (Mark 7:13) “Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
That is unregenerate human nature, to nullify God’s word and to appeal more to human wisdom, human tradition and human custom than to submit to the direction of God. And it is alive and well in our own lives too. When we complain about changes in communion and get upset because we must walk forward, we are zealous for a tradition begun in the 1800’s without any biblical warrant. When we claim that following Jesus’ teaching in the sermon on the mount regarding the treatment of our enemies is impractical, we are elevating human wisdom above God’s revelation. When we are dogmatic about celebrating December 25 as a Christian holiday and refuse to admit that the day is grounded in pagan ritual and practice, as is Easter, we are holding fast to the traditions of the fathers instead of to God’s revelation. These are all signs of the Old Man.
But there is another way, a New Man. You can’t get there yourself, but God has promised that all who call on his name will be saved (Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21). All who seek him will find him. This is the gospel promise and when that happens, God makes a new man out of the old. He makes a new woman out of the old. For the New believer, is fundamentally different in character and makeup than the old person. Where the old believer is marked by…the new believer is marked by…
| Old Man | New Believer |
| Persecutes the Church of God | Preaches the Son of God |
| Not part of the Church | Has the Son in them |
| Compares self to others/value is achievement based | Secure in God alone |
| Zeal for traditions | Zeal for God |
| | Prays for persecutors Changed beliefs |
Where the old man wasn’t part of the church, the new man has the Son of God revealed in them. God was pleased to reveal his Son in me. Not to reveal his Son to me, but in me. That is AMAZING! To have something revealed to you is merely external, but to have it revealed in you is internal and interior. The internal has a greater effect, it is transformative. Paul is saying that he, and all believers have Christ in them. (Gal. 2:20) “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” I in Christ, Christ in me. These are the words of a great Celtic hymn:
Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right..
But what does that me? What does it mean that Christ is in me, and I am in him? Certainly it isn’t a spatial reference, as in “I am in the car” or “The car is in me.” Quite the opposite, this is a statement about union with God. (John 15:4-5) “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” This is about having a living, growing relationship with God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The New man is in relationship with God, where the old man was in antagonism to God. The new man relates to God like a branch to a tree, or a limb to the body, or a husband to his wife, or a Father to his Son. The new man is bound to God and God is bound to him, there is covenant and concern, relationship and intimacy. Hear Jesus’ words, (John 15:15) “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
There is intimacy with God in the new creation. This is by definition what a Christian is, one who is united with Christ in intimacy. Throughout history there have been numerous definitions of what a Christian is: in the Catholic and Orthodox schools a “Christian” is one who is a baptized member of the Church, in protestant circles “Christians” are ones with belief, to the Pentecostal a “Christian is one filled with the Holy Spirit” in modern Liberal theology “Christians” are social justice advocates, and to many being a “Christian” is a culture you are born into. These are all important, there is a place for each of them, but they are now what a “Christian is”, a Christian is one who is united to Christ in intimate union. This is the new creation, the old is gone the new is come. A new standing, a new relationship, a new intimacy, a new acceptance, and therefore a new way of life, a new kind of love, a new way of living, a new desire.
It is personal and unique, and no other religion offers such an intimacy and union with their founder. The Buddhist isn’t promised union with Buddha, or the Confucist with Confucius, the Moslem with Mohammed. But Christianity promises union not only with its founder, Jesus Christ, but also with the very God of Creation, the Lord Almighty. The Christian is promised relationship with the Triune God.[1]
And after this union and revelation has occurred, where the old man persecuted the church, the new man preaches for the church. Every believer who is truly renewed is an evangelist giving testimony to God in the world, proclaiming his mercies to a thousand generations. Speaking the words of God to a dying world. This is what believers do. It is the story of the apostles, the deacons, the martyrs, the reformers, etc. Throughout church history, men and women who are united to Christ are called to testify to the power of God in their life. It is what happened to St. Paul, but it is also what happened St. Augustine, John Newton, Mitsuo Fuchida and many others.
Augustine was a Hedonist before Christ revealed in him, and then he became a staunch defender of the faith. John Newton was a hellfire of a man onboard the ships, he was insolent, disobedient, refused to submit to authority, and one of his captains said his language exceeded the limits o verbal debauchery, but then Christ caught him and he composed Amazing Grace. Mitsuo Fuchida was the mastermind of the Pearl Harbor attack, he led the first wave of air strike and coordinated the entire attack, but then in 1952 Christ revealed himself in Mitsuo and this man who took many lives, became an evangelist of Christ, proclaiming the Gospel. These are grand stories, but they serve a point, when Christ unites himself to a person, they are inexplicable changed forever. They are not the same. They proclaim is grace and love to the world, and it is no different for you or I. WE are called to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. That is our call if we are in Christ and Christ is in us.
Furthermore, the new man prays for his persecutors. (Rom. 12:14) Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Matt. 5:44) But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. The new creature wants to see all people united to Christ, even their enemies and so they pray instead of persecute, they preach instead of demean, they love instead of hate because those are the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of one united to Christ in intimate relationship.
The New man is secure in God alone, where the old man compares himself to others and needs their approval or something, the new man is secure in Christ and needs nothing from the world in order to be assured of his faith and his call. The new man is taught by God alone and needn’t compare himself to others. The new man is zealous for God not for human tradition. He or she will stand fast against all the schemes of the world and the wisdom of the wise. The new man will set himself firmly on the word of god and will not be shaken. The new man is planted strong, his roots go deep and he is like a pine in the Colorado mountains with a taproot that goes through all the stony ground…That is very different than a NW firm that needs to compare itself to other trees in order to be secure or else be blown down since its roots are all on the surface.
And the results of this are staggering, the body of Christ praises God for the conversion he works when he changes the old man into the new creature. The Gospel has changed countless people before you. Is it changing you?
If it is changing you or you would like it to change you and you are tired of the Old Man and you want more of the new Creation. If you desire deeper intimacy with Christ, to be united with him in heart, soul, mind and strength then Christ invites you to the table he has prepared. A table of communion, a time of Rejoicing and praising God for what he has accomplished in Christ. The remission of our sin, the cleansing of our hearts and the giving of new life to his people.
This is the meaning of the table.
Father: Consecrate us, renew us moment by moment. Let this bread and wine be a life-giving assurance to us of your intention to make us a new creation, united with your Son, preaching the good news of forgiveness and redemption from a broken world, secure in you alone and zealous for your glory and honor. Come Lord Jesus, Come Holy Spirit, have your way in us. This we pray. Amen.
1Cor. 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
1Cor. 11:24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
1Cor. 11:25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
1Cor. 11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Who wants to proclaim the Lord’s death, but more importantly, His RETURN this morning? Testify to one another to the change Christ has wrought in you.
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