Imaginary Trevor is a
typical Irishman. He likes to believe he
is tolerant. Christianity, Islam,
Buddhism and atheism are all legitimate viewpoints, according to Trevor. He believes no-one should claim that what
they believe is uniquely true. However,
Trevor is not really that tolerant. If a
Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or atheist claims that their belief-system is
right, and all others are wrong, then Trevor writes them off as a dangerous
narrow-minded fundamentalist. He is
intolerant of those he judges to be intolerant!
Trevor’s understanding of religious tolerance is not only intolerant,
it’s illogical.
Can you imagine if
Trevor applied his understanding of tolerance to other areas of his life?
So, Trevor is a
pharmacist. One day an elderly man with
a heart condition comes in asking for his advice. Trevor recommends the best heart medication
on the market. However, the old man
thinks that Trevor is mistaken. This old
man explains that his uncle lived off a diet of Mars bars, and never had a
heart problem. ‘Mars bars must be the
key to a healthy heart’, the old man proclaims.
According to Trevor’s understanding of tolerance it would be arrogant to
disagree. ‘Surely it doesn’t matter what
you believe so long as you are sincere’, doesn’t actually make sense in matters
of life and death!
As Trevor walks home
through the village he comes across a tourist.
He greets this stranger, ‘Good evening, I hope you are enjoying your
holiday.’
‘Oh yes,’ replies the
tourist, ‘I am off to see the beautiful castle.’ Trevor knows that the castle is in the other
direction. Trevor considers pointing
this out, but if he is consistent with his understanding of tolerance it would
be unloving to suggest that the tourist was on the wrong path? ‘All paths lead to the same place’ doesn’t
actually make any sense in the real world! (Illustration adapted from Melvin
Tinker).
Many people have
accused the Apostle Paul of intolerance, but I want to show that what he
teaches about Jesus is very logical.
1. What right has the Apostle Paul to
define the gospel?
It is obvious that not
every opinion carries equal authority.
The pharmacist has a better idea about what drugs to use than the
customer. The doctor knows more about
treating illness than the patient. The
mechanic will do a better job fixing your car than you will. But what makes the Apostle Paul’s opinions
about God’s gospel so special? There
were people in Galatia asking just that sort of question. So, Paul begins by asserting his authority as
a teacher of Christian truth.
Paul,
an apostle…
This word ‘apostle’ means ‘someone sent’. It was used of an ordinary massager, but also
of an ambassador or envoy. In the
Christian church it was applied to the twelve whom Jesus had called to be his
close associates. The early church
devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.
The message of the apostles focused on the beautiful life and
sacrificial death of Christ. The
apostles laid down the foundation of the church. The important thing about these apostles was
their divine appointment. Paul’s divine
appointment was wrapped up in his personal story. The people in Galatia knew Paul’s story. They knew how this persecutor of the church
became a missionary and church planter.
They knew that encountering the risen Jesus had turned his world
upside-down. Not long after his
conversion Paul claims that Jesus commissioned him as an apostle. He is an apostle, not from men or through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father
who raised him from the dead. The
other apostles recognised Paul’s apostleship.
The apostle Peter refers to Paul’s teaching as Scripture.
It is pretty hard to
argue with Paul’s qualifications to define the Christian gospel. A friend of mine exclaimed that she didn’t
really care what the apostle Paul taught on a certain issue; that is not a
healthy thing for a person who calls themselves a Christian to think.
2. What was the Apostle Paul’s message?
Apostles were sent with
a message. But what was the Apostle
Paul’s message? What did Jesus tell him
to go and proclaim? Paul opens all his letters
by mentioning grace and peace. Paul’s
gospel is the gospel of the grace of Christ that leads to peace.
Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is God’s free, unmerited and undeserved
favour. In fact grace and merit are
opposites. If you do a week’s work for
me and I pay you at the end of the week that is not grace—that is a wage that
you deserve and have earned. But if you
come to my house, break my windows and let the air out of my car tyres, yet I
respond by going to you with a delicious apple tart that’s grace—you have done
nothing to deserve it, in fact you have done everything not to deserve. In a song entitled ‘Grace’ U2 sing, Grace ‘she
takes the blame, she covers the shame, removes the stain … Grace makes beauty
out of ugly things.’
Jesus took the blame,
covers our shame, removes the stain and makes beauty out of ugly things. For this grace comes through the life and
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for our sins, in order to deliver us from the present evil age
according to the will of our God the Father, to whom be glory for ever and
ever, amen. This gospel leads to
peace, as we come to terms with the beautiful truth that, in Christ, God has
done everything to deal with our guilt and accept us as his dearly loved
children.
3. Why was Apostle Paul angry?
Normally at this stage
in his letters the apostle commends his hearers in some way. He writes something like ‘I thank my God
every time I remember you because of you faith which demonstrates itself in a
love for God’s people.’ But in his
letter to the Galatians he heads straight into rebuke. I
cannot believe that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you in
Christ’s grace to a different gospel which is not a gospel at all.
Let’s step back in time
to somewhere between fifteen and eighteen years after the death of Jesus. We are in the Roman province of Galatia,
which is now in modern Turkey. The
apostle Paul had been in that part of the world, and his missionary efforts had
resulted in the establishment of a number of churches. These churches meet in people’s homes, and
these church members are sharing the good news of Jesus with their neighbours,
work colleagues and friends. The message
had been beautifully clear: ‘Jesus lived the perfect life and died for our
sins, so that we could be forgiven and treated by God as if we had always
obeyed him.’
But then a group of
Jewish leaders, who claimed to be Christians, infiltrated those churches and
insisted that in addition to believing in Jesus you needed to obey the Jewish
laws and be circumcised if you were to be saved. In other words they were teaching a gospel of
faith plus rituals and effort. Such
religion dishonours God because it says that the life and death of Jesus was
not sufficient to deal with my guilt.
Such religion cannot save people, so the apostle Paul says that even if
he or an angel preaches a distorted gospel they deserve to be accursed.
4. Why would anyone oppose the Apostle Paul’s
gospel?
Finally, notice that
sharing this gospel won’t make you popular.
Am I now trying to appeal to men,
or to God? Or am I seeking to please
men? The implication is that the
apostle’s message will be opposed by people.
Why would anyone want
to oppose the gospel of grace? People
oppose the gospel of grace because of pride.
As one writer explains, ‘there is a natural (and sinful) inclination
within us which resists the notion that there is nothing we can bring or
contribute … The message of the cross is not only that there is nothing you can
do to oblige God to accept you, but nothing you need to do. It’s all been done. But we have to have the humility to accept
it, and luxuriate in it.’
People want to take
some credit for a right standing before God.
I remember a woman visiting the last church I was in—this respectable
woman was offended by the suggestion that our goodness is not good enough for
God. The apostle Paul says that even the
faith that puts out an empty hand to accept grace is itself a gift from God.
I started by telling
you about Trevor. Trevor says that it
doesn’t matter what you believe so long as you are sincere. Trevor likes to talk about his neighbour, who
is an atheist, ‘a finer person you will not meet.’ ‘How could God send him to hell?’ Trevor thinks it is arrogant to claim that
what you believe is truer than what other people believe. Trevor is a typical Irishman. Typical Irishmen don’t like the gospel. But we are to prayerfully share the gospel of
grace with people like Trevor. We are to
ask God to show Trevor that he is worse than he ever imagined, and yet more
loved than he ever dreamed. We long for
Trevor to stop saying that is not such a bad lad, and delight that God offers
to save a wretch like me. We long to see
that God’s grace abounds to the worst of sinners, and that it is only those who
see themselves as the worst of sinners who abound in grace. We want Trevor to see that, ‘nothing in my
hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.’
No comments:
Post a Comment