Thank you for joining us for another week in Pauls letter to the church ay Galatia. Last week we touched on Pauls life and his conversion. This week we will continue with chapter one, picking up in verse 18 and finishing this chapter out. I want to remind everyone reading of the theme we want to focus on while going through this book. Truth, Truth is absolute, Truth is unchanging, Truth is consistent, and it is timeless. God is Truth, and as a result he is absolute and unchanging. We do not adapt Gods word, the Truth to fit our lifestyles or justify our actions. Instead we change who were are and mirror our lives as a reflection of that Truth.
Galatians 1: 18 - 24 “18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But 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!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.”
We left off with Paul departing the Christian church in Damascus to study under a Christian Mentor by the name of Barnabas. Paul is now fast-forwarding 3 years to his first visit to the Church in Jerusalem. This is interesting to note, the last time Paul was in Jerusalem he was a Pharisee, he was famous, wealthy, and held significant military power. He was the chief persecutor of the Christians, and left Jerusalem 3 years prior to hunt down and capture Christians. Now he is returning a new man, a man who carries a new reputation. He is no longer seeking to destroy the Church, but seeking to build it up. He is no longer an enemy of the Church, but instead being discipled to become one of the greatest leaders of the Church.
While in Jerusalem, Paul met with the younger brother of Jesus, James. James became a very significant figure in the First Church, as we can see here he was raised to the position of apostle. An apostle refers to one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus. After Jesus returned to Heaven, and the apostles where hunted down and killed, the Church would raise up new apostles to stand as their leadership. It is unclear if James has replaced a former apostle, or was added to the apostleship, or simple had gained so much authority that he was revered as an apostle. What is important here is that James was a very significant leader in the Church, and the only leader to meet with Paul on his visit.
It is speculated that the other apostles either where in hiding, away, or stayed away from Paul out of protection. I personally believe they were just busy administrating their church duties elsewhere at the time of Pauls visit, as you read other church encounters, I do not find reason to believe that their was still a fear of Paul at this point. However, many at this point in Pauls young ministry still remembered the pain Paul had caused, through his systematical hunting down of the Christians. James seems to look past this, showing that the Church had forgiven Paul, and did not fear Paul. James believed that Christ had chosen Paul to carry his Gospel to the gentiles, and wished to aid in support. I also personally belief that Paul harps on this point of meeting James so strongly to add credibility to who he is and his authority to share the Gospel. James as we mentioned was a very noteworthy individual among the Christian population, and his recommendation would carry a tremendous amount of credibility.
Paul now leaves Jerusalem heading towards Judea and the surrounding areas. Syria boarders the North of Judea, and Cilicia was to West. When he arrived he found Christians who had only heard the faintest rumors of Pauls new ministry. They heard that the man who once hated Christians was now truly a Christian, and spreading the Gospel. The Church here rejoiced and praised God. I believe they rejoiced for two reason, first the great persecutor of the Church is no longer hunting them down. Second, the saving power of the Gospel is so strong that it overcame even the horrendous sins of Paul, changing his life, to reflect Christ.
Now you might be wondering what does all this have to do with the anything? Well I see a couple incredible stories here. First I see the story of Gods redemptive power. As we talked about last week, God is just and able to save us from whatever sins we have committed, Hebrews 7:25. I won’t go into this further, but feel free to check out last weeks devotion to read up on it.
Secondly, the power of forgiveness, is the second message that speaks to me when I read this passage. Forgiveness is given to us. It has been given to us already by Jesus,\ when he died on the cross as a blood sacrifice for our sins, Romans 5: 8-9. The last words Jesus spoke before he died, was a prayer of forgiveness for us, Luke 23:34. Forgiveness is probably the hardest part of being a Christian, and what is sad is, its the only free thing we will ever receive in our lives, we just have to accept it. See forgiveness is not something you can take from someone, but is something that has to be given away.
We did not deserve Gods forgiveness, but he gave it to us anyway. It’s hard to accept when we have done something wrong, special when we have done something that hurts another person. Our guilt will often drags us down into a depression letting the hurt we cause reshape us into a gnarled shaped creature. Before Christ and his forgiveness that is what we are, we are a gnarled, broken representation of the Creature God made us to be. When we accept Gods forgiveness, God takes away the guilt, takes away the penalty of sin, and holds no grudges against us. 1 John 1:9, tells us that if we confess our sins to Him he will forgive us. It does not matter how many times we sin, or what our sin is, or how overwhelming our sin feels to us, God has forgiven them all, Psalms 65:3. The more we hurt, is just the more Jesus can heal when we seek his forgiveness, and the more we can appreciate his love for us, Luke 7:47.
So, if God is willing to forgive us, then we must be willing to forgive those who sin against us. This story in Galatians directly speaks to this point. Paul had committed great atrocities towards God and the Church. God first forgave Paul, and then we see the Church does the same. Instead of banishing Paul, seeking revenge they cheered, and celebrated his testimony. They rejoiced that Gods power to forgive is so great that even someone like Paul was not outside of Gods power.
I want to mention this because, forgiveness is something I struggled to find in my own life, and in the various churches I come across I find it lacking among the congregations. It is very easy to become jaded. We forget that we are all sinners who God has saved, and as a result we should be forgiving those around us. In the age of Facebook and social media, we are ready to attack a person who harms us, but it is rare to find a person who turns the other cheek and forgives, Colossians 3:13.
God tells us to first seek forgiveness of others before seeking our own, Mark 11:25. This is a requirement to receive Gods forgiveness, Matthew 6:14-15. How can we possible seek and understand the forgiveness God has given to us if we have not ourselves forgiven those who have harmed us? We are called to be a new creation, with hatred harbored in our hearts we cannot be the reflection of Christ that we are meant to be, Ephesians 4:31-32. With forgiveness comes compassion, and love that breaks down all walls and borders. We must forgive each other, and we must allow ourselves to be forgiven.
It has taken me years to understand what it means to allow myself to be forgiven. You would think this would be the most natural thing, since we are selfish in nature. I found it much easier to give forgiveness to others, to pray for their forgiveness. I even could ask God for his forgiveness over my own sins, but I was not forgiving myself, nor letting God forgive me. Even though God did not hold my sins against me, I held my sins against myself. It took me years to surrender the burden of my sins to God, to let him forgive me, and for me to forgive myself. We have to trust in God, we have to put our past behind us, not letting it holds us down. This does not mean we will not have earthly consequences for our past sins, but it does mean that God will not hold them against us. If God does not hold our sins against us then we should not hold them against ourselves either. I spent years seeking out those who I had wronged in my past, seeking their forgiveness, and from most I believe I have found it, but I still seek, and I pray that even if I do not find them that God will lay it upon their hearts to forgive me. I cast my guilt away, and trust in God to heal me, and once I surrendered he healed me truly. My anxieties, my stress, my mental weariness was relieved, and was able to begin the process of being reshaped into a new creature. I am still not perfect, but I continue on my journey to become more like Christ.
I want you to take a couple of things away from this weeks devotion. First, nothing you have done is so bad that it cannot be forgiven. Secondly, ask God to change your heart so that you might forgive those who have sinned against you. Thirdly, seek Gods forgiveness for your own sins. Fifth, once you forgive someone, let it be dropped, let their sins never come up again in your life, never throw them back in their face. This is to including your own sins, do not let them burden you and hold you down. God has forgiven you, so cast your guilt away. Pray that God changes your heart seeking to be a mirror reflection of him.
Below are our reflection questions. Thank you for joining us again this week. I pray this message of forgiveness helps to change your life as it changed mine. It’s amazing how much stress, anxiety, worry and just mental gunk left me when I found true forgiveness, and I want the same for each of you.
Who have you sinned against?
Who has sinned against you?
Have you forgiven those who have sinned against you?
Have you sought the forgiveness of those who you sinned against?
Have you sought Gods forgiveness?
Do you have sin in your life that holds guilt upon you, causing stress, anxiety and mental gunk?
Have you sought out Gods help in surrendering this?
Have you sought out counseling, from Christian mentors, spiritual counselors, or church leaders?
Comments