Galatians Chapter 1:16-24
Sermon #8 ~ Cheeseburger, Hold the Cheese
Introduction
- How
many of you have heard the old joke where you pull into the drive through
lane at McDonalds and when the person comes on the intercom to take your
order you order a cheeseburger, hold the cheese?
- I
have never tried this because I am fairly confident all McDonalds
employees have heard this so many times it isn’t even funny
- But
the way the joke is supposed to work (and perhaps did a generation or two
ago) is you ask for a cheeseburger, hold the cheese
- The
McDonald’s employee taking your order would then say “Sir, that would be
just a hamburger”
- To
keep the joke going you would correct them and explain again that you
would like a cheeseburger but hold the cheese
- After
this back and forth a few times the McDonald’s employee grows agitated
with you, you then explain you just want a hamburger but you like the
yellow paper that the cheeseburger is wrapped in
- Now
while this prank may seem childish it may illustrate something of what the
apostle Paul is dealing with as he addresses the churches of Galatia
- You
see Paul was saved as a result of a revelation of Jesus Christ, keep in
mind the earliest converts were saved as a result of the earthly ministry
of Jesus, later converts were converted because of the preaching of the
apostles
- Peter’s
sermon on the day of Pentecost recorded for us in Acts chapter 2 where
4,000 people are converted is an example of apostolic preaching being the
means by which the gospel was presented
- Later
in Acts 8 we see the preaching of 2nd in the list of 7 chosen
to serve, Phillip by name, preaching in Samaria and people coming to
Christ and later Phillip preaches to the Ethiopian Eunuch
- So
the norm for the early church was you were saved because you walked with
Christ, you were led to Christ by one of his followers, or at least you
were led to Christ by someone who had been in the presence of Christ
- Paul
has broken all these norms with his Damascus road conversion which we
looked at two weeks ago when I was last in the pulpit
- Now
today we are going to look out how he continue to break the norms of how
people are trained in the gospel ministry
- Paul’s
audience may be tempted to think how can you be a Christian, let alone a
Christian leader, without the influence of Christ or the apostles in your
life?
- But
this is similar to the McDonalds employee that assumes that if you hold
the cheese on the cheeseburger it is just a hamburger and that is mostly
true but the prankster is correct that a true cheeseburger minus the
cheese would still have the yellow paper
- Paul
endeavors to do the same thing here, of course he is still a Christian,
still set apart from before birth, still called to the Gospel ministry as
a preacher but without the formal training while Christ was alive or more
recently from the apostles in Jerusalem
- He
has said he is all these things but he lacks the exposure to the other
apostle’s doctrine; the audience is ready to conclude that he is something
entirely different but Paul just like the cheeseburger prankster has a
point to make
- So
let’s look at how Paul makes his point today by reading Galatians 1:16
through the end of the chapter, actually I will start reading midway
through verse 16
- I did
not immediately consult with anyone; 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned
again to Damascus.
- 18Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19But I saw none
of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. 20(In
what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21Then I
went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22And I was still
unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23They
only were hearing it said, "He who used to persecute us is now
preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." 24And they
glorified God because of me.
No consultation
- Paul ends verse 16 by stating “I did not immediately consult with anyone”
- The question is sure to be
asked by those that know this story from Acts chapter 9 well what about time
spent with Ananias?
- What about the phrase after
many days found in verse 23 of Acts 9?
- The first thing we need to
understand about the narrative Paul is giving here in Galatians is his
purpose is to establish that the Gospel he preaches was not taught to him
by men as he has already stated in verse 12
- What Paul is establishing
with his audience is that he was not trained by men, least of all the
apostles or those who had been close to Christ during his earthly ministry
- When he says he did not
immediately consult with anyone he is stating that he did not immediately
seek anyone out to explain to him the Scriptures
- Remember Paul has just
stated that he was set apart from before birth to be a preacher and at
God’s appointed time the Son was revealed to him
- Now he is stating that in
spite of the fact that there is a call on his life to preach he didn’t
immediately seek out a degree in Theology from the Baptist Seminary of
Jerusalem
- His point is not to debate
whether he remained in Damascus for 3 days or for two weeks what he is
trying to get across is 1) he didn’t meat with anyone of importance who it
could now be said conferred his apostleship on him & 2) he wasn’t
there long enough to be trained to maturity in any form of theology
I didn’t seek out the
leadership
- Paul continues in verse 17
the same line of reasoning his started in 16, listen to his words from vs.
17
- nor
did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went
away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
- He states emphatically that
he did not travel to Jerusalem; why does he make this point?
- Because if he were in Jerusalem the natural assumption would be is that he took counsel with the others that is
the remaining 11 apostles of Christ
- He says this in verse 17 as
well, that he did not go to meet with them and this was deliberate
- Rather where does it say he
did go? He went away into Arabia and then returned again to Damascus
- If you are trying to
reconcile this account with what we read in Acts chapter 9 then you should
know that almost all commentators agree that the time spent in Arabia did not seem important to Luke in telling the story in Acts so it is skipped over
- Once you have the data from
Galatians it fits very nicely between verses 22 and 23 of Acts 9
- What Paul did in Arabia is
unknown, whether he was preaching this entire time or whether God was
personally training him is unknown and anything more than this would be
conjecture on our part
- It is however safe to say that
Paul was trained directly by the Holy Spirit
- Now this was not the norm
back the first century just as it is not the normal thing today either
however it should be noted if we are being accurate and thorough that all
of us must be trained by God if we are to have any impact in any ministry
we undertake
- Keep in mind verses such as
Matthew 16:17 where Jesus praised Peter for his confession of Jesus as the
Christ but Jesus quickly adds that flesh and blood, meaning no mere man,
taught Peter this but specifically it was the Father in heaven who was
pleased to reveal this truth to Peter
- It is equally so in our
lives, give thanks right now that God has chosen to reveal to you the
truth of his word because many are those who though hearing never hear to
understand the truth and although they can see they never see the beauty
of the truth
- No one hears or sees except
that the Father gives them the gift of hearing and of sight
- But this was especially
true for Paul, he didn’t have a mentor in the faith that led him through
the word and imparted knowledge to him for God himself took on this task
because it was important to Paul’s apostleship and ministry
Eventually I made it to Jerusalem
- Verses 18 & 19 tell us
that after 3 years Paul made it up to Jerusalem; again listen to Paul’s
own words
- Then
after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with
him fifteen days. 19But I saw none of
the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.
- Clearly there was no rush
to make it to Jerusalem or he would have been there much sooner but as we
saw a verse before it was God’s intention and therefore Paul’s intention
as well to go into Arabia vs. going up to see the apostles in Jerusalem
- The reference to 3 years
would be an approximation of 3 years vs. a literal 1095 days
- Paul or course is counting
from the most important date in this narrative and that would be the date
of his conversion; so three years after he is converted and after he has
been preaching in Damascus he goes to Jerusalem
- In a twist of irony Paul is
re-living his past life in an opposite universe; if you recall he
persecuted the Church in Jerusalem and then went to Damascus to persecute
it there to
- Now once saved he returns
from Arabia to Damascus to preach there and now goes back to Jerusalem for the first time in 3 years in order that he might continue to preach Christ
to the Jews
- Now that Paul goes to
Jerusalem it appears to be his intention to see Peter for the text tells
us that he saw no one but Peter, from the account we have in Acts the Church
was still afraid of Paul but Barnabas brought Paul to Peter and vouched
for him
- Again remember Paul’s
purpose is to establish that he didn’t receive his training from man so he
calls our attention to the length of his stay in Jerusalem
- As we can see he was only
there 15 days and he didn’t even meet with all of the overseers in Jerusalem. just Peter and briefly with James the Lord’s brother
I swear before God
- Paul now takes an oath in
verse 20 to stress the importance of this message to his audience
- In
what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!
- What Paul does here may not
seem like an oath to you and me but to his audience it was clearly an oath
that bound him to his words
- For those of you who have
done some reading in the New Testament you may be aware of a couple of key
passages that deal with oaths so I am going to segue into a discussion of
oaths for just a moment before returning to Galatians because I feel that
if I don’t some of you may become confused on this point
- For those of you who have
never looked into what the Bible says about oaths I apologize in advance
if this discussion seems a bit odd but I assure you there is a lot of
misinformation floating around on the subject of oaths so let me try and
set the record straight
- Any time I endeavor to set
a record strait I have a tendency to confuse some that weren’t confused
before and clear it up for some that were previously confused
- So let me say if I confuse
you today come see me afterwards and hopefully I can clear it up and we
can all walk in understanding
- So on the subject of oaths
the two verses that are often cited as proof texts against the swearing of
oaths are Matthew 5:34 and James 5:12
- Both verses read almost
identically in content although James is a bit more condensed so I will
quote the more complete thought from Matthew 5:33-37
- 33"Again you have heard that it was said to
those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord
what you have sworn.' 34But I say to
you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of
God, 35or by the earth, for it is his
footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36And do not take an oath by your head, for
you cannot make one hair white or black. 37Let
what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from
evil.
- Jesus command on the
surface appears to command against all oaths but that is because we lack
the context of what he was addressing here
- The Pharisees had an
elaborate system of what you could swear by and it would be binding and
what if you swore by it it would not be binding
- The short answer is here
Jesus is saying I don’t want clever tricks like a Philadelphia attorney, I
want honesty not tricks and treachery
- Jesus has commanded here
that we be known as truthful people, people who when we say yes or no
other automatically know it will be done as we said. We don’t have to
preface what we say with oaths
- On the contrary and here is
where the difference lies, the oath Paul swears is a type of oath we are
not familiar with today
- Let me give you another
definition of oath that you may not be familiar with
- An oath is an appeal to God
for the truth of an assertion
- If you think about this
definition it makes sense because we see oaths all over the Bible; in fact
Moses sanctioned oaths in the law and God is unchangeable in his being so
it would be inconsistent with God’s character for that to change
- Even look at God himself
what is recorded of him in Hebrews 6:13
- or
when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to
swear, he swore by himself,
- Surely God would not forbid
oaths and then himself violate his law
- Look also at Jesus when he
was on trial before the high priest he would not speak a word until the
high priest swore an oath
- Let’s examine the behavior
of Jesus in Matthew 26:62-64
- 62And the high priest stood up and said, "Have
you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against
you?" 63But Jesus remained silent.
And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell
us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." 64Jesus
said to him, "You have said so.
- Let’s look again at the
definition of an oath, it is an appeal to God for the truth of an
asserction
- The high priest is
questioning Jesus and he remains silent but when he appeals to God for the
truth of a statement Jesus responds affirming his fully deity as God
incarnate which is in fact a truthful statement
- Even though the high priest
had malice in his heart we see here the oath he swore was responded to
with 100% truth
- So to conclude this little
discussion of oaths it is imperative that we train our hearts and lips to
be truthful so that those around us can trust our words and we don’t need
to swear false oaths to convince people we are telling the truth
- On the other hand asking
God to prove to the heart of the listener that something is true by
swearing an oath before God as Paul does here is quite a different matter
- Paul is not violating the
commandment to do what he does here but instead he entreats God to plead
his case for him and on his behalf
- Now the Word of God also
teaches us not to be rash with our mouth when we make vows before God;
consider the words of Ecclesiastes 5:2
- Be
not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word
before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your
words be few.
- Keep in mind that a vow is
addressed to God and God has told us he searches the heart so there is no
need to prove to him our sincerity; again that is not the purpose of an
oath
- Did that make it clear? If
not come see me afterwards so we can discuss it further
- So back to Galatians the
reason for Paul’s little insert here is to ask God to plead his case and
vindicate the words he has spoken so his listeners will not continue to be
led astray by false teachers
I went away again
- Paul only staid 15 days in Jerusalem and this was off again; let’s look at verses 21-23 together
- Then
I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22And
I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.
23They only were hearing it said, "He who used
to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."
- I notice something here,
when Paul left Jerusalem he left in some haste, he didn’t stop along the
way to preach, minister, share or otherwise with the brothers and sisters
in Judea
- Why is that do you think?
- I will tell you why, it is
in part why he wasn’t in Jerusalem earlier
- Paul was called as the
apostle to the Gentiles not the Jews
- It seems strange that the
apostle with the most training in Judaism would have been the one chosen
for the task of taking the Gospel to the Jews but in point of fact it was
Paul he was chosen to take it to the Gentiles
- Again God had sanctified
Paul’s gifts but to ensure that history didn’t record that Paul had done
this and Paul had done that God sent Paul to where he couldn’t rely on his
own strength but he had to rely on God’s strength
God was glorified
- I love how this chapter
ends
- And
they glorified God because of me.
- As we have taught the
children, man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever
- Paul states here that as a
result of his conversion (which clearly was the Lord’s doing) people were
naturally drawn to glorify God
- As we looked at last week
had something happened to Paul back when he was Saul, something that took
him out of commission the Christians would have praised God that their
great persecutor was gone but how much more did they praise when God chose
to save his soul and he became a minister of the gospel
Conclusion
- So let me ask you a
question; Is God getting glory today from your life?
- Are you doing everything
that he has asked you to do?
- Is God trying to teach you
something, something directly much like he taught Paul but instead you are
looking for a Christian book or a Christian friend, maybe even a pastor or
church leader to clarify for you what God has already taught you
- Or perhaps your
relationship with God is such that you don’t spend much time or perhaps
none at all in the Word of God, perhaps you have no interest in praying
and thanking God for all the things in your life
- Perhaps you have tried to
shut down the communication between you and God because of sin in your
life that goes on unconfessed
- We talked a few weeks back
about how God has a plan for each and every one of us each and every day;
can you say with the same certainty as Paul that you are living in the
center of God’s will and carrying out his plan each and every day?
- If you answered no to one
or more of those questions then maybe you need your own Arabia just like
Paul right now, perhaps this alter during the time of commitment can your
private Arabia