By Rev. Thomas B. Shepherd
Stuart United Methodist Church
This message is based on Galatians 1: 1-12. I encourage you to read it first.
There are so many different religions in the world and new ones popping up all the time. Some of these new religions are modifications of old ones while others are based more on feelings and emotions than they are on any real gospel. Then, in the Christian church, there are many that are diluting the message of the cross and sacrifice to a message of convenience. These types of messages are misleading people from the one and only truth that can save someone from sin.
Allow me to refresh in your mind the gospel message; so here goes. Jesus Christ (who is God) became human (God in the flesh) and offered himself as the atoning sacrifice on the cross for your sin and mine. The punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23). He resurrected from the dead on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God the Father and intercedes on our behalf. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus and what he has done for us.
At the very heart of this letter to Galatia is the message that the people have been lead away from the truth of the gospel. In verse six, Paul says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (NRSV). The Greek word translated as “astonished” in the NRSV and as “marvel” in the KJV, means “to be astounded or bewildered” (6). Paul is not astonished that there are false teachers, he knew that, for in Acts 20:28-30 he had warned the church in Ephesus that false teachers would come. His astonishment is that the church was following them, and he is disappointed and shocked that they are being so easily misled.
Paul invokes a curse on anyone, himself and angels included, who distorts the gospel in verse 8 & 9 saying, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!” Paul means business. He is saying “Don’t mess with the gospel.” Those who distort the gospel message are rejecting the authority of Christ and are therefore cursed and will stand in judgment before God.
One such modern distortion of the gospel is known as the prosperity Gospel. It is a message of luxury and ease. It is a message formed to align with a materialistic society. The problem with this gospel is that it ignores the fact even in the Christian life there is sorrow, suffering, and death. The gospel of Jesus doesn’t teach the absence of suffering, pain and hardship, but it does provide the source of strength to overcome them – faith in Jesus.
We in our nation defend the right of each individual to worship as they choose. And I agree. But this does not mean that all religions are “truth.” For me, Christ is the way, not one way or one of many ways, but the only way. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (NRSV). The writer of Acts wrote, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NRSV). Only Jesus saves!
Probably the strongest argument for the Gospel of Christ is the personal testimony of someone whose life has been changed by it. The message of the gospel of Christ is for the purpose of transformation. The message of the gospel of Christ has the power to change lives. When we give up the gospel of Christ for any other “gospel,” we lose the only message that has the power to heal and transform. When we give up the gospel of Christ to follow after some other way, we lose the power to change lives. When we give up the truth of the gospel of Christ to fit in with the ways of the world in order to make it pleasing for people, we lose the truth of it. In verse ten Paul states, “Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant” (NLT). Paul says that he is not saying these things because everyone will be happy but because there is only one truth and really only one gospel message. Jesus Christ dying for our sins and being resurrected is the only real truth.
The world may be changing around us, but the gospel message of Christ never changes! It needs no additions, and it should never be distorted, because only the truth of the gospel can save people from their sins and only the gospel can change lives for the better. Are you living a new and changed life today? Only Jesus saves! I encourage you to place your trust in Jesus and in what he has done for you.
