When It Pleased God

In one paragraph

This message was the second installment in the pastor's walk through Galatians, covering Paul's autobiography in chapters one and two. The focus was on how Paul got his gospel, how he verified it, and why the congregation at First B can still trust it today. Along the way, the pastor addressed a current movement that would set the words of Jesus against the rest of the New Testament. Paul opens...

Read together

1. Galatians 1:1-5 Paul's God-given authority, not from man but through Jesus Christ
2. Galatians 1:6-10 Paul's rebuke of the Galatians for turning from the free grace gospel
3. Galatians 1:11-12 the gospel Paul preached was not from man but through the revelation of Jesus Christ
4. Galatians 1:13-14 Paul's former conduct persecuting the church and his zeal for Judaism
5. Galatians 1:15-16 God separated Paul from his mother's womb and called him by grace to reveal His Son
6. Galatians 1:17 Paul did not go to Jerusalem but went to Arabia and returned to Damascus
7. Galatians 1:18-19 after three years Paul went to Jerusalem and stayed fifteen days with Peter, seeing also James
8. Galatians 1:20 Paul's legal oath that he does not lie in what he writes
9. Galatians 1:21-23 Paul went to Syria and Cilicia, unknown to the churches of Judea except by report
10. Galatians 1:24 the churches glorified God in Paul
11. Galatians 2:1 after fourteen years Paul went again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus
12. Galatians 2:2 Paul communicated his gospel privately to those of reputation, lest he run in vain
13. Galatians 2:3 Titus, a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised
14. Galatians 2:4-5 false brethren came by stealth to spy out the liberty in Christ and bring believers into bondage
15. Galatians 2:6 those of reputation added nothing to Paul's gospel; God shows no personal favoritism
16. Galatians 2:7-8 the gospel for the uncircumcised was committed to Paul as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter
17. Galatians 2:9 James, Peter, and John gave Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship
18. Galatians 2:10 they asked only that Paul remember the poor, which he was eager to do
19. Isaiah 49:1 the Lord called Isaiah from the womb, used to parallel Paul's call from birth
20. Jeremiah 1:5 God knew and ordained Jeremiah as a prophet before he was born, paralleling Paul's call
21. Acts 15 the Jerusalem Council, where the apostles agreed there is one gospel for Jew and Gentile alike

Talk about it

1. The pastor talked about Paul skipping his usual thanksgiving and going straight into a rebuke, because the Galatians had so quickly turned away from the gospel they had accepted. Where have you seen that kind of fickle drift happen, either in your own life or in people around you?
2. Before his conversion, Paul listed everything in terms of what he had done: I persecuted, I advanced, I was zealous. After his conversion, he shifted to what God had done. Have you noticed that same kind of shift in the way you talk about your own faith story?
3. Paul went privately to the apostles in Jerusalem, partly to make sure he had not been running in vain. The preacher described this as a statement of utter humility from someone who was otherwise very confident in his message. How do you hold those two things together, confidence in the gospel and genuine openness to being corrected?
4. The false brothers in this passage came in quietly to spy out the liberty believers have in Christ, hoping to bring them back into bondage to the law. The preacher said religiosity always tries to sneak in. What does that look like in your own experience, the pressure to add something to simple faith in Christ?
5. Ryan addressed the Red Letter Movement and the idea that you can set Jesus's words above Paul's, or above any other part of Scripture, to avoid confronting certain issues. How do you respond when someone tells you that Jesus never talked about a particular sin, so the church should not either?