Tag: prosperity

CAN YOU BE RICH AND BE A JESUS FOLLOWER?

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, Sermon1 Comment

RG

We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

 

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Matthew Part 68

 

Matthew #68 Matthew 19:23-26

As always, I want to remind you that we deeply appreciate your prayers for us!

23Then Jesus said to His disciples, “I assure you: It will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven!24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

25When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved? ”

26But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt 19:23-26, HCSB)

These words come right after the rich young ruler leaves, sadly choosing to keep his wealth rather than follow Jesus. Verse 25 says that the disciples were utterly astonished at the words of Jesus about wealthy people. To be honest, I’m tempted to be utterly astonished at the disciples. It’s not like this is the first time Jesus has talked about money. Earlier, he said:

“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money. This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Matt 6:24-25, HCSB)

If this is the case, it shouldn’t be so surprising that the wealthy have a difficult time entering the kingdom of God. Most wealthy people, whether they admit it or not, are serving money. Since they can’t do that while also serving God, it stands to reason that it would be hard for them to enter the kingdom.

In the parable of the Sower, Jesus warns that wealth is a great spiritual danger:

22Now the one sown among the thorns — this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Matt 13:22, HCSB)

All in all, Jesus’ words, and the subsequent teachings of the apostles, leave us with the clear understanding that wealth is a significant obstacle to being a disciple of Jesus. I think it’s possible, perhaps even likely, that some of you reading this might be surprised and a little bothered that I put it so bluntly. But I think it really is as simple and blunt as that. I’ve already shared three different places where Jesus warns about this. Rather than argue the point myself, I ask you to also prayerfully consider the following scriptures:

But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But you, man of God, run from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. (1Tim 6:9-11, HCSB)

5Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.6Therefore, we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Heb 13:5-6, HCSB)

9The brother of humble circumstances should boast in his exaltation,10but the one who is rich should boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field.11For the sun rises with its scorching heat and dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will wither away while pursuing his activities. (Jas 1:9-11, HCSB)

Come now, you rich people! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. Your wealth is ruined and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your silver and gold are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You stored up treasure in the last days! (Jas 5:1-3,

HCSB)

16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.17Because you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.19As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent. (Rev 3:16-19, HCSB)

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real. (1Tim 6:17-19, HCSB)

All of this appears to be quite clear: the pursuit of wealth and the guarding of it are generally very negative things for Christians. We need to understand how terribly counter-cultural this is. Money is THE idol in Western culture, and in fact, in much of the world. We deeply want to cherish the belief that we can pursue wealth and Jesus at the same time. We desperately do not want to believe that wealth is an obstacle to entering the kingdom of God, because frankly, we want wealth, and we want eternal life insurance too.

I think the reasons we want wealth are precisely the reasons it is a problem. We want wealth in order to make a better life for ourselves here on earth. That keeps us focusing not on eternal things, but on temporary, trivial things. When we pursue wealth, we become very serious about things that are more or less meaningless in the light of eternity, and we do not have time for what really matters. We want money as a way to make our lives a little more like heaven, and in doing so, we reduce our desire for the real thing. As C.S. Lewis puts it,

We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

I would add that another of the things we “fool about with” is the acquisition of wealth.

We also want wealth as a form of security. We think that if we have enough money, we will have fewer worries. In other words, we want wealth because we think it is a better way to peace of mind than trusting God.

I know a number of people who are much wealthier than me (which, to be fair, isn’t hard to be). I know some who make several hundred thousand dollars each year. I know others who could liquidate their assets and have a million dollars cash within a few weeks. One thing that surprised me the first few times I met such people, is that they are very concerned about money. I tend to think that if I had that much, I wouldn’t be worried. But as a matter of fact, these people appear to worry about money even more than I do. Can I say it this way? Money will not often bring you peace, and even in those rare times it does, it is a false peace that leads you away from trust in God.

Now, I am sure that some few people get wealthy as they follow Jesus. If you just happen to become wealthy while you live your life as Jesus’ disciple, committing yourself fully to Him and His purposes, it’s probably not a problem. If your goal is never money, but always Jesus, then you might be able to handle wealth in a spiritually appropriate way.

Notice that in our text today (Matthew 19:23-30) Jesus does not eliminate all hope for the wealthy – he says all things are possible with God. In fact, we know of three wealthy people who, unlike the rich young ruler, did follow Jesus. The first is Matthew, who gave up the source of his wealth (his tax collection business) to follow Jesus. The second is Zacchaeus, also a tax collector, who also gave away a great portion of his wealth after meeting Jesus. The third is Joseph of Arimathea. We don’t know whether or not he remained wealthy after becoming the disciple of Jesus.

But I have to be honest with you. Most people don’t get wealthy by following Jesus, and it is not because they are “doing it wrong.” It could happen, but following Jesus is not a reliable means to financial prosperity. Jesus himself was never wealthy. It didn’t work out for wealth for Peter, Andrew, James, John, Nathaniel, Simon, Philip, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, or Thaddaeus – the eleven faithful apostles. The other close disciples of Jesus who failed to become wealthy include: Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Silas, James (the half-brother of Jesus). In fact, we know for sure that there were very few wealthy Christians during the time of the New Testament. Even throughout history since that time, when you think of the “great” Christians through the ages, the ones who really made a difference, they were usually not wealthy. You might argue that Saint Francis of Assisi became great precisely because he gave up his wealth. Augustine, Martin Luther, Wycliffe, Thomas a Kempis, and many, many more either gave up wealth to follow Jesus, or never had it.

If what you really want is wealth, or even really good financial security, I think you need to make a choice between that and Jesus. Decide which one it is, and if it is money, you might as well stop pretending it is God. It’s not like He doesn’t know. Now, I’m not saying that this can never be a struggle. Of course it is a struggle. Jesus isn’t saying that it is easy. But you will wear yourself out, and never win any part of the struggle if you go on deceiving yourself by thinking that you can have both the ambition to follow Jesus, and also the ambition to be wealthy. Am I wrong about this? Re-read Jesus’ words yourself, and the other New Testament verses I’ve shared, and see if there’s any other way to interpret them without twisting them around.

Please don’t misunderstand me: I am not saying that wealth is inherently sinful. But these verses do show us that wealth is inherently spiritually dangerous. From a spiritual perspective, wealth is like high explosives. Most of the time, most people have no need to have them. However, in certain, limited situations, it could be very useful to have high explosives around. But if you do have them, you must handle them very, very carefully, or they will blow up and destroy you. I think this is kind of like the picture we have of wealth from the bible.

I want to cover one more thing. There is nothing in the bible that says poverty is a virtue, like faith, or love or patience. Jesus isn’t saying “part of being righteous is being poor.” The point is not that we must be poor, but rather, that wealth should mean nothing to us. If wealth means nothing to us, and we focus on following Jesus, we might end up wealthy with the temporary riches of this world. We might also end up impoverished, at least in the eyes of the world. We might also be somewhere in between. The point is, it shouldn’t matter to us, one way or another.

I think the writer of the following proverb has a pretty good insight:

8Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need.9Otherwise, I might have too much and deny You, saying, “Who is the LORD? ” or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God. (Prov 30:8-9, HCSB)

Paul makes a similar case:

But godliness with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. (1 Timothy 6:6-8)

Let me make this practical by sharing some things from my own life. By the way, I don’t share what follows as some sort of covert attempt to get you to send me money – I’m just trying to make all of this real and practical to my own life, because I want to live with integrity to the scripture, and I’m sharing it here because I hope that it may help you get real and practical with the scripture in your own life.

I believe the Lord has called me to write and preach these messages, to serve the small churches I am serving, and to write mystery novels, and to perform music with my wife. Following Jesus, for me, practically, means doing these things. The thing is, sometimes this means we live on the edge financially. This past week we incurred more bills fixing a single vehicle than we made for the entire month. It’s not that the repair was outrageous, but our income was even lower. I don’t know where the money will come from, but I know that Jesus says, “trust me.” I am absolutely open to doing some things that make more money, if Jesus leads me to them, but I want to follow Jesus, not the money. Our way of life right now might eventually become unsustainable, but frankly, I’ve expected that to happen for several years now, and it hasn’t yet come to that.

I sometimes daydream about what it would be like to not worry about money. I think of what I would do if I had a big pile of cash. If I am honest, in my daydreams I do give a lot of my money away, but I also enjoy a lot of it by traveling, upgrading to a car made in the current decade, and so on.

But my daydreams are interrupted by the knowledge that Jesus tells me I don’t have to worry about money right now. Having more or less has nothing to do with it; not worrying about money comes down to trusting Jesus in my real, everyday life. He also tells me I can be generous with what I have right now, and that He looks at the heart and proportion of the gift, not the dollar amount.

In the end, Jesus wants us to make decisions based on what it means for how we relate to him. The rich young ruler made his decision based upon what would happen financially. That is the heart of the matter.

WHAT SORT OF SOIL IS IN YOUR SOUL?

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, Sermon1 Comment

SoilInHandsGeneric_large

In America at least, there are a growing number of churches and preachers who are saying that faith is a means to get the riches and pleasures of this world. But Jesus calls those things a threat to the fruitfulness of God’s word in your life.You cannot pursue wealth without great spiritual danger.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Matthew Part 42

Matthew #42 . Matthew 13:18-23

This week, we will look at the parable of the sower, primarily using Jesus’ explanation of it. I want to begin, however, with a few more words about parables. A parable is a story told to illustrate one or more basic points. A parable says “the truth I am telling you is like this…” The point is not usually the face-value of the story, but in explaining a different truth. For instance, in the parable of the sower, Jesus is not saying that the word of God is literally seeds, and people are actually soil. He is saying, “the concept is similar, in these particular ways, to what happens when a farmer plants seeds.”

In addition, it is important not to over-analyze parables. Not every little thing in a parable means something important. For instance, in the parable of the sowers, the birds come down and eat the seeds off the path. Jesus says this is an illustration of how the evil one snatches the word of God away from some people. But it would be wrong to say, “this means that birds are evil. They are agents of the devil.” That is putting too much on the parable. With this in mind, let’s look at how Jesus explains the parable of the sower:

“You, then, listen to the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. And the one sown on rocky ground — this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now the one sown among the thorns — this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But the one sown on the good ground — this is one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yields: some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown.” (Matt 13:18-23, HCSB)

Remember, the ongoing theme of this section of Matthew is spiritual receptivity. That is what this parable is all about. Jesus describes four kinds of people, four different responses when people hear the word of God. I have struggled a little bit with this parable, because I’m not sure if this is just the way it is, or if Jesus tells it because we may be able to change our level of spiritual receptivity. Jesus doesn’t really make that clear in this text. However, I think as we look at the entire Bible, it does become clear that when we encounter the word of God, the Holy Spirit enables us to say yes, and to receive it, and we have within us also the choice to reject it. In other words, I think our own choices do have a say in how spiritually receptive we are. I think the Holy Spirit gives us an opportunity to become “good soil.” The Lord also allows us freely to choose to reject him, because without that choice our love for him could never be real.

So first, it appears that the word “bounces off” some people. They don’t even really get it in the first place, and the devil snatches it away. You might say that their choice in this situation is to be basically uninterested. This allows the devil an opportunity to simply snatch it away.

Another group of people receives the word with joy, but develops no “roots.” As Bible commentator Matthew Henry writes:

They receive it with joy. Note, There are many that are very glad to hear a good sermon, that yet do not profit by it; they may be pleased with the word, and yet not changed and ruled by it; the heart may melt under the word, and yet not be melted down by the word, much less into it, as into a mould

We may find many people like this in various churches. They are happy enough to go along with Christianity as long as they are not challenged in their lifestyle or priorities, or as long as no sacrifice is required on their part. But when it gets hard to follow Jesus, when difficult choices have to be made, there is no real spiritual substance in them to stick to the word of God. These are the Christians who change their beliefs in order to fit in with the culture, even abandoning Christianity altogether if necessary. It may be helpful to remember that for a time at least, these people are actually calling themselves Christians. Many of them presumably go to church. Perhaps this is one reason the world gets so disillusioned with the church.

Next, Jesus describes a third group. These are people who also appeared to receive the word with joy. They may not bow to cultural pressures like the group that came before them, but other types of strains get in the way of truly receiving the word of God and letting it rule their lives. They find they’re too busy dealing with the stresses and cares of life. They don’t have time to let God’s word rule their lives. It isn’t practical. In addition, Jesus notes not only cares, but “the delight in riches” often chokes out the word. Luke’s version names the “cares, riches and pleasures” of this life as things that choke out the word of God.

I want to dwell on this one for just a minute, because I think these things are some of the biggest threats to true faith for those who live in developed countries around the world. In America at least, there are a growing number of churches and preachers who are even saying that faith is a means to get the riches and pleasures of this world. But Jesus calls those things a threat to the fruitfulness of God’s word in your life. Let’s look at some other bible passages about wealth and pleasures:

From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain.

But godliness with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

But you, man of God, run from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life that you were called to and have made a good confession about in the presence of many witnesses. (1Tim 6:4-12, HCSB)

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (1Tim 6:17-19, ESV2011)

Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; stop giving your attention to it. As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky. (Prov 23:4-5, HCSB)

Two things I ask of You; don’t deny them to me before I die: Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need. Otherwise, I might have too much and deny You, saying, “Who is the LORD? ” or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God. (Prov 30:7-9, HCSB)

Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure with turmoil. (Prov 15:16, HCSB)

Clear enough for you? Obviously, the scripture shows balance. While trusting God for everything, we should also work to support ourselves, if possible (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12). However, the desire for, and pursuit of, wealth beyond what we need is a great spiritual danger. It chokes out the word of God. That doesn’t mean that a wealthy person cannot be a Christian. But it does mean that we should not pursue wealth as a goal, and that if we are wealthy, we should use that wealth to share generously, do good works and to support the work of spreading God’s word. You cannot pursue wealth without great spiritual danger.

I want to also talk about cares. Jesus says that not only wealth, but “the cares of this life” choke out the word of God. In this context, I think he means anything that you give priority to above God. You get caught up in worries and stresses and trying to deal with them. But the Lord invites us to unload our cares upon him:

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt 11:28-30, HCSB)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you. (1Pet 5:6-7, HCSB)

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7, HCSB)

When we try to handle our burdens and cares own our own, it gets in the way of the work God wants to do in and through us. Instead, we are to give it all to him, trusting him with our cares, as we let his word become more important in our lives than dealing with burdens or the pursuit of riches.

There is an interesting thing I notice here. In this parable, three out of four types of people end up turning away from God. Now, again, we can’t take too much detail out of a parable, but there is something comforting for me in that. I get disappointed so often when non-Christians persist in rejecting Jesus. I am saddened by those who call themselves Christians but who compromise and go along with the culture, or choose their own sins over the painful path of repentance. I am disheartened by those who become distracted by wealth, the cares of this life, or both. I don’t know if we can say that three out of four people will do such things, but in any case, Jesus knew, thousands of years ago, that at least some people would reject his word in those ways. I am not happy about that, and I don’t imagine he is either, but it brings me comfort in two ways. First, when I feel all alone, as if no one else is following Jesus the way I am, I can see that such a feeling should probably be expected from time to time. Second, when I feel like my efforts to show the truth and love of Jesus to others are failing, it helps to remember that Jesus expected that; not everyone chooses to receive the word and let it take root.

There is a final group that Jesus names: those who receive the word of God, allow it to take root and grow, and produce fruit. This is what Jesus wants from his disciples – from us.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. (John 15:1-5, HCSB)

Producing fruit isn’t the result of our striving or goodness, but of Jesus’ work and goodness, flowing through us. All we have to do is continue to trust him, continue to receive his word and submit to what he says. His word will be powerfully effective in and through our lives, if we let it.

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NOW THAT’S GOOD NEWS!

On By Pastor TomIn Christianity, Faith, Galatians, Jesus, Religion, UncategorizedLeave a comment

good-news

There is no gap for you to make up. There is no fruitless striving for you to do. There are no blessings that you could ever deserve or earn. The good news is, there is nothing we can do, and so Jesus has already done it all for us.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

 
To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer:
Download Galatians Part 2
 

GALATIANS #2; GALATIANS 1:3-11

This is as good a time as any to talk about the word “gospel.” When Paul writes “gospel,” he is not really talking about the books written by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John (John’s gospel was probably written after Paul died). The Greek meaning is basically, “message of good news.” As we see it used in the New Testament, it is not just any good news about anything, but rather a specific, established, consistent message: that is, the message about Jesus Christ, who he is and what he has done.

Jews in the time of Paul used to talk about “the Law.” “The Law” was a specific, established message given by God through Moses, who wrote and spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Technically, what Jews call “the Law” (the Torah) is made up of the first five books of the bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). We will talk more later about different ways that the word “law” is used, but for now, it’s helpful to know this.

All of the other books of the Old Testament – those that come after the first five – are called by Jews “the Prophets.” First and Second Samuel, which we have just finished studying, are part of “the prophets.” They too represent a specific, established message given by God through people who wrote and spoke by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

By the time of Jesus, no one would think of changing the Law or the Prophets. The message was already established. Paul sees “The Gospel” as the third and final piece of God’s special revelation to human beings. It is the fulfillment of “the Law,” and “the Prophets.” It is the specific, established message given by God through people who wrote and spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In the case of the gospel, the message completes the law and prophets, and is very good news for human beings.

The point is, in the eyes of the New Testament writers, you cannot change the Gospel. It is as established as the Law and the Prophets. It goes with the Law and the Prophets. If a Jew would be shocked if someone changed the message of Moses, so a Christian should be equally shocked at someone trying to change the message of Jesus Christ.

Paul gives the Galatians the gospel message in a nutshell in his greeting:

3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord2 Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

That’s it: grace and peace are available to us only in Jesus, because he gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins, attaining forgiveness for us, and a restored relationship with God, rescuing us from the devil. We have some additional clues to the kinds of things that Paul preached to the Galatian Christians. In Pisidian Antioch, he said this:

Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed to you, and everyone who believes in Him is justified from everything that you could not be justified from through the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38-39, HCSB)

In Iconium, this is what happened:

So they stayed there for some time and spoke boldly in reliance on the Lord, who testified to the message of His grace by granting that signs and wonders be performed through them. (Acts 14:2-3, HCSB)

The gospel is a message of grace. It is good news. Jesus has done for us what we cannot do. Jesus lived a perfect life on our behalf; and Jesus accepted the punishment for sin, on our behalf. Whatever was required from us has been provided by Jesus.

In Lystra the Lord did a miracle through Paul, and healed a lame man. The crowds wanted to make sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, thinking they were pagan gods. Paul said this:

“Men! Why are you doing these things? We are men also, with the same nature as you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. In past generations He allowed all the nations to go their own way, although He did not leave Himself without a witness, since He did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and satisfying your hearts with food and happiness.” (Acts 14:15-17, HCSB)

His message: turn from these worthless things to the living God. What worthless things? Certainly, their pagan gods. But also this: the idea of offering sacrifices, as if you could actually please God. Paul is saying, “turn from trying to do what has already been done for you. Turn away from the worthless activity of trying to earn something from God. Jesus has already earned everything for you.”

Paul goes on to explain that God gives good things – even to pagans – to show them that he was both real and full of love and grace. You don’t get good things by being good. Instead, you get good things when God chooses to be gracious to you. You cannot earn grace. If you could, it would not be grace. It is God’s free gift, given by His choice, not in response to something you do or don’t do.

So, when Paul writes to these Christians, he is deeply distressed, because he is heard that they are already turning away from this message of grace. Apparently, certain Jewish leaders in the churches were saying something like this: “Yes, Jesus is the messiah. We need to believe that. But of course, we still need to keep the Jewish law. You can’t expect to please God if you don’t follow Jewish rules like circumcision and kosher eating. You can’t have God’s favor unless you are one of God’s chosen people – that is a Jew.”

We don’t have any writings from the Galatians themselves, so we don’t know exactly what they were saying. But it seems that the basic message was what I just shared. Now, as I mentioned before, today, you don’t hear many Christians saying that. But we do have many churches and individuals who seem to preach “a different gospel.”

What are those “different gospels” that we might hear today?

Here’s one: Jesus has done what you cannot do. But he won’t do what you can do. Suppose God is a thousand yards away from you. You, flawed human being that you are, can only move one yard in his direction. So Jesus comes 999 yards to meet you. But if you don’t move that one yard in his direction, you’re screwed, because Jesus won’t do that extra three feet when you are capable of doing that yourself. A lot of churches teach this, without putting it so obviously. I have many friends who were raised Roman Catholic, and many of them experienced something like this. The problem is this: we are always left wondering, “Did I move my full three feet? What if I’m a few inches short?” Practically speaking, you are left still trying to work your way to God. There is still a separation between you and God – and you are responsible to close that gap yourself. You always feel a little guilty, a little unsettled, because maybe you haven’t done quite enough. It doesn’t really matter if the gap is one mile or one yard – if it is up to you to close it, this isn’t good news.

Brothers and sisters, this is not the message of the gospel. Jesus came all the way to get you. You can’t move an inch to meet him, and you don’t have to. There is no part of the gap between you and God that you are expected to close. Jesus has done it ALL. Do not listen to a false gospel. The good news is truly and completely good.

Here’s another false one. Jesus has done it all. Now you are set free to try and live a good life. You’ll fail, of course, but God forgives you because of Jesus, and so you have an infinite number of opportunities to keep trying to get it right.

I read something on Facebook just the other day that captures this idea. Someone mentioned Ephesians 4:17-32 and said:

While it is impossible for us to do we are to work at it daily. When we fail we shouldn’t beat ourselves up nor should we make excuses, just pick ourselves up again and keep trying.

Does that sound like good news to you? It sounds sadistic to me – to have to keep trying to do what both God and I know I will never be able to do. To try and fail infinitely: that sounds discouraging, exhausting and frankly, pointless. It almost sounds like punishment, not forgiveness.

Thankfully, that is not the real gospel either. The real gospel tells me I can’t do a single thing to measure up. Jesus has done all the measuring up for me. I can’t add to what he’s done. I am free from pointless striving. In Jesus I have never sinned. In Jesus I have already done every good, and never failed to do what I should.

Now, in our small-group last week, the question came up: If that’s so, then why are there so many passages in the New Testament that tell to do certain things (like use our money and talents for God) and to not do other things (like getting drunk or committing adultery)?

We will get into that more deeply as we go through the book of Galatians. The short answer is this: if we truly believe the good news and trust Jesus, he lives in us, and our lives will naturally begin to look more and more like Jesus as time goes on. It won’t be us striving – it will be the life of Jesus increasing in power in our lives as we surrender to him and trust him more. If that doesn’t happen, if we never show any improvement, the appropriate response is not to try harder to do the right thing, but to examine whether we really trust Jesus. Those commands in the New Testament are there to help us see if we are really trusting Jesus or not. For instance, in Ephesians 4:17-32, which led to the quote above, people always miss the first part

But that is not how you learned about the Messiah, assuming you heard about Him and were taught by Him, because the truth is in Jesus. You took off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. (Eph 4:20-24, HCSB)

You don’t keep trying to do what you can’t. Instead, through faith, you “put on Jesus.” As you trust him, your spirit and your mind are renewed, and as a result, your behavior begins to change. You don’t change your behavior – the Holy Spirit changes it as you trust Jesus and daily.

There’s a final “other gospel” that I want to point out, one that is becoming more and more common in America. That false gospel is something like this: Jesus has forgiven our sins. Because of that, now if we do good works, God will give us blessings in this life. This particular false gospel has two errors. The first is that it puts the focus of our faith on getting blessings in this life. I know far too many people who have been sucked into this. They are focused on getting good finances, good health and good relationships through God. God is just a means to their goal, and their goal is a good life here and now. Paul says this about such people:

If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. (1 Corinthians 15:19)

These folks usually do believe in heaven and are happy enough to think they’ll go there someday. But for now, what they’re really after is good stuff here and now. Faith isn’t about being reunited with God. Instead, it treats God like Santa Claus. If the boys and girls are only good, they’ll get lots of presents. By the way, I think these folks do more to turn other people off Christianity than all the atheist clubs in the world.

The second error is that those blessings are based upon what we do. We earn them. They are not given by God’s grace. This false gospel says if you just believe right, behave right, and speak “in faith,” that means that God has to do what you want him to do. God is a vending machine: you put in good works, and get blessings in return. If you want to gain a lot of followers, that is what you should preach. A lot people do. But Paul says he is not preaching to please people. That isn’t the gospel. The gospel is about our eternal relationship with God. Sometimes he blesses us here and now – certainly more than we deserve. Sometimes he doesn’t.

The real gospel is the message that we are completely and totally dependent on God’s grace, and he has given us that grace fully through Jesus Christ. There is no gap for you to make up. There is no fruitless striving for you to do. There are no blessings that you could ever deserve or earn. As we trust him, he changes us (we don’t change ourselves). And the hope of eternity outshines and dominates the struggles and disappointments we encounter in this life.

I encourage you to receive this message more and more fully each day. And let no one lead you astray to any “false gospel.”