Devotion in Motion
Midweek Inspiration
04/28/2021
Galatians 1:10
“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
Galatians has been called the defense of the Gospel of grace.
Remember grace is God’s unmerited favor. Grace is receiving something we don’t deserve and not receiving what we do deserve and that is God’s Judgement. All due to what Jesus Christ did on the Cross on Calvary. Grace is God’s riches at Christ’s expense. Ephesians 2:8-9 put it this way “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” It is believing in the work of God through Christs work on the cross through faith. Notice that there is not a but or an and after this verse, its because there is nothing else that you or I can do to receive the grace of God in us except by faith in Jesus Christ.
You see there were these guys that really hated Paul because he was preaching a gospel of Grace and they believed that you had to also the 3 R’s,
You are saved through faith and Religion, ritual, regulations. They believed that it just couldn’t be that easy to receive the grace of God in your life, so they had to add stuff to it. You’re saved by grace but you have to wear holy underwear, you’re saved by grace but every sat you have to go into neighborhoods and pass out our literature, you’re saved by grace but you have to be baptized and belong to our church. your saved by grace but you cant approach God on your own you have to If anyone comes up to you and to have someone praying for you like Mary. There was never an and or but in this verse because there is nothing left to do. there are no more sacrifices, no more work. Everything was taken care of by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. “For by grace you have been saved through faith” Is faith in Christ alone through faith alone, period.
The guys who were coming in and trying to pervert the gospel of grace were called judaizers, and they were probably rabbi’s or pharrisee’s that had infiltrated the church and were teaching them, that sure we are saved through faith in Jesus christ but you got to do this also. Paul says no way, Jose. Verse 10 says “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
Paul’s stoning in Lystra was proof his goal was to obey God, not please men. Paul lived what he believed, and Paul was willing to sacrifice everything meaning his life for Christ. You see Living the Christian life requires making choices that are not always popular. If my goal is to be well-liked, and fashionable, and accepted-at-all-costs it’s only a matter of time before I’ll compromise.
I need to settle the issue in my heart before it comes up in my life. Do I Obey God regardless of the consequences, or do I want to be liked and fashionable to get along. One author puts it this way, “It is a great freedom to know who owns you. If you do not know to whom you belong, you are apt to be the pawn of anyone whose identity is strong enough to overwhelm your own sense of inadequacy.” And This is so true! The question is “Who owns you?
Is it a particular group at school, the in crowd?
Is a set of snotty friends that really only like you for what they can get out of you?
Is it the management of the company that you will compromise with to keep your job?
Or the girls in the office? Do you change your attitude to be more attracted to them.The men in the lunchroom. Do you change the way you speak to be considered one of them.
Or is it clear to everyone around you that God calls the shots in your life? These are questions that each one of us has to answer in our lives. Amen
Francois Fenelon was the court preacher for King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. One Sunday when the king and his attendants arrived at the chapel for the regular service, no one else was there but the preacher. King Louis demanded, “What does this mean?” Fenelon replied, “I had published that you would not come to church today, in order that your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the king.”
Victor Tafoya
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