Dan Herold | Galatians 1:1-10 | May 29, 2016
(Sermon begins at 21:18)
Have you ever looked closely at a $1 bill? There are a lot of interesting things on that little piece of paper. There’s a serial number to identify it, there’s a marking to indicate where it was printed, there’s some strange symbols like the pyramid with the eye at the top of it, and many other things too. In fact, it’s a beautiful piece of art. But, why is a $1 bill valuable? It’s been decades since United States currency was backed by the gold standard. Sure, our money has some nice pictures on it, but it isn’t valuable because it is art. The materials that it is made out of are not particularly valuable. So what makes money valuable? It is the promise of our government, and our mutual trust in that promise, that gives it value. When it comes down to it a $1 bill is worth $1 because our government says it is. Our government has promised something and we trust that promise.
In the portion of Galatians chapter 1 that we read this morning Paul isn’t talking about money, but he’s talking about something else that is very valuable. Paul is talking about our souls. Paul wrote to the Galatians, and speaks to us still today, about where we find our worth. We all would agree that our own lives, and the lives of others are valuable, but what gives our lives value and meaning? That’s the question that Paul is going to answer—What makes you valuable?
The first five verses we read this morning in Galatians chapter 1 contain the standard greeting Paul uses in many of his letters. He identifies who he is—that he is Paul, an apostle. He also makes it clear that he was sent by God and not by a man or for a man’s purpose. Next, Paul tells us who he is writing to—the churches in Galatia. Galatia wasn’t a city, but it was a province in the Roman Empire where the country of Turkey is today. Lastly, Paul ends his greeting by wishing God’s blessings on the people of the churches that he is writing to. That’ s the basic way that Paul begins his letters. The verses that we want to look at this morning are verses 6-10. That is where Paul addresses this question of what makes us valuable.
In verse 6 Paul begins to address this question. He says,
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all.”
So, he tells us that these churches in Galatia had heard the true Gospel message—that Jesus died and rose for them, their sins were forgiven, and that they had a place in heaven being prepared for them…but, they were turning away from that message. Paul goes on to explain that it seems like someone had thrown them into confusion and that they were corrupting the message of the Gospel.
The thing that threw the Galatians into confusion was the very same question that we are asking this morning—what makes us valuable? There are two basic answers to that question. One answer corrupts the gospel, the other is the gospel. One place to find your worth is in the things you do, the other is to find your worth in what God has done for you.
Think of it this way—if you found yourself in a difficult situation and you needed help how would you try to convince a stranger to help you. If it was me I’d probably start talking about all the reasons I thought that I deserved that person’s help. I might tell them that I’m a pastor, that I am a good person, that I would try to help someone else if they were in my situation, and so on.
That’s just what the group of people who were sent by the centurion did in our gospel reading this morning from Luke 7. A Roman centurion had a servant who was very sick—sick beyond any medical help—but the centurion knew about Jesus so he sent some of the Jewish leaders to talk to Jesus for him. When those leaders got to Jesus they immediately started telling Jesus what a great guy this centurion was. They said that the centurion loved the Jewish nation and he even built them a synagogue. They said that the centurion deserved Jesus’ help because he had done so many great things.
Well, all those great things that the centurion did weren’t enough to convince Jesus to come to his house and heal his servant. The fact that this centurion was a kind and generous man didn’t earn him anything in Jesus eyes. But even though the centurion hadn’t earned Jesus’ help, Jesus still healed his servant. Jesus never went to the centurion’s house. He never acknowledged what a nice upstanding guy the centurion was. But, Jesus still healed the servant.
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It’s obvious that Jesus did that for some reason other than those that the Jewish leaders had offered. Jesus wasn’t motivated to help this man because he did good things. Jesus helped the centurion because it’s just what the Son of God does…he helps his brothers and sisters. We know that the centurion was a brother of Christ, and our brother as well, because after Jesus hears again from the centurion, Jesus turns to the crowd and says to them that he had not seen faith as great as the faith of the centurion in all of Israel.
So, what made the centurion worthy of Jesus’ help? If it wasn’t the things he had done, what was it? It was the gospel! It was the simple fact that this centurion was one of God’s children who loved and trusted God. He could have built a hundred synagogues and it never would have been enough to earn Jesus’ help. This centurion was valuable in Jesus’ eyes because he was one of the many souls that Jesus would die for. The centurion was a man, like any other, who needed a Savior and trusted in Jesus to be the one who could save.
Where do you fall in that story from Luke chapter 7? Are you more like the centurion or the group of Jewish leaders. When you find yourself in need where do you look for help? Do you think about all the things you do for everyone else? All the things you’ve done to deserve a little help? Or do you simply trust that even against all earthly odds God is going to find a way to provide? If I’m being honest with myself I probably sound more like the Jewish leaders than the centurion when I have a problem.
The reason it’s such a big deal if we sound like the Jewish leaders in Luke 7 is that when we do we are doing the very thing that Paul warns us about in Galatians 1. When we try to find value in ourselves we are corrupting the gospel which says that we are valuable in God’s eyes simply because he created and loves us and not because of anything we ever have done or could do. If we rely on ourselves we are always going to be let down because there’s nothing we could ever do to earn forgiveness that Jesus gives.
The message of the gospel is this. All of us are sinful. We always have been and always will be. Nothing we can do can change that. However, God loved us so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus, to suffer the punishment we deserved and die in our place to pay for our sins. By his life, death, and resurrection Jesus washed away the sins of the entire world and won salvation for us. We receive that salvation simply by trusting in God—by putting our faith in him. There’s nothing we have to do or can do to earn it. That is the simple Gospel message of scripture—the very same message that Paul, along with others, preached to the Galatians.
Anything or anyone that tells us to look for help, forgiveness, or salvation to come from anywhere other than God is proclaiming a false or corrupt gospel. Paul says in Galatians 1:8-9,
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”
Even if it comes from the most reputable source, if the message is different from that simple gospel message that you heard first, then stay away from it!
What is all comes down to is faith and trust. It’s easy to try to find our worth in the things we do because they are right there in front of us. We don’t need to trust that we are good people if we can see the proof of it in our actions. It’s harder to find our value in God because it requires faith, but that’s what God says makes us valuable. We are valuable because he says we are. In fact, God says that we are so valuable that he was willing to send Jesus to die for us.
Each and every one of us is valuable to our Heavenly Father because we were bought with the blood of Jesus. It might seem difficult to put that much trust in God—so much that we depend on him alone to fill our need to feel valuable. But, if we are willing to trust that a green piece of paper is valuable simply because someone says it is, we should be willing to trust the promises of the Creator of the universe as well. So, when you have those days that make you wonder if you’re worth anything at all or when you find yourself in hard times and you need some help remember that you have a Lord who is eager to help you. He doesn’t even need you to earn it. He just needs you to be who he has made you—a redeemed child of God worth more than any amount of money you could imagine.
To him alone be all honor, praise, and glory! AMEN.