{"id":492,"date":"2013-06-15T17:08:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-15T22:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/?p=492"},"modified":"2014-11-25T10:17:58","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T16:17:58","slug":"gospel-centered-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/15\/gospel-centered-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Gospel Centered Change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio Version<\/a><\/p>\n

Galatians 1:11-17<\/p>\n

11\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man\u2019s gospel. 12\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>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.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s reading from Galatians, Paul finds himself on the defense.\u00a0 This is a far cry from being on the offense when he was persecuting the followers of Christ, before his own conversion.\u00a0 Paul had established the church in Galatia on his first missionary trip but now Paul\u2019s authority is being questioned.\u00a0 The people have begun to follow a conditional grace theology.\u00a0 To be Christian, you must first be Jewish and follow all the Jewish requirements.\u00a0 This was in total contrast to what Paul taught.\u00a0 To top this all off, people were beginning to question where Paul had been taught the gospel of Christ.<\/p>\n

In the scripture, Paul asserts that the gospel he proclaims does not come by any human source, such as other followers or the other Apostles.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s proclamation comes directly from Christ.\u00a0 Paul received the gospel from Christ Jesus, while heading to Damascus.\u00a0 Paul does not confer with the other Apostles before proclaiming the gospel of Jesus the Christ.\u00a0 This is a story Christians are familiar with.<\/p>\n

It is easy to overlook something here, since this story is in the Bible, it is well known, taken as fact by Christians not even given another glace for any doubt.\u00a0 What if tomorrow there was another person, who makes this same type of claim, to be appointed an Apostle by Christ to proclaim this gospel to another group of people?\u00a0 Maybe they decide to use the television to spread the message. \u00a0They make claims to have spoken with the Son of God and tell us this \u201cNew Message\u201d of salvation.\u00a0 What would you do with that message?\u00a0 Maybe even they have a couple of friends back them up and say, \u201cYea dude, I saw this flash of light and heard some noise\u2026..our friend says he spoke with Jesus.\u00a0 We know and trust them and so if they say so, it must be\u2026right?\u00a0 Both Paul and this other person have received a call from God to be a Apostle and proclaim the gospel.\u00a0 Not that we have ever heard of others making a claim of this magnitude, right\u2026..?<\/p>\n

All ELCA seminary students seeking a rostered position would have received a call by God.\u00a0 This call is evaluated by the entrance committee to determine that the call is beyond an internal call but can also be verified through external sources as well.\u00a0 There needs to be confirmation of what the potential student claims to have happened.<\/p>\n

While preparing for a sermon one week, I had a dream where the Spirit spoke to me and even chided me for the way I was going about my interpretation of a passage of scripture.\u00a0 During the dream I was given a new sermon to write and upon waking up, I wrote what I was given.\u00a0 I can even say one time that I heard a voice to tell me the topic of an upcoming sermon.\u00a0 My daughter had been with me in the car at the time and she did not hear the voice.\u00a0 However the topic I was given was the next in line of a sermon series for where I was doing supply preaching at. I had not been aware of the series and could not have therefore been aware of the next topic.<\/p>\n

Several years ago I would have poo pooed the idea of the Spirit coming to someone in a dream.\u00a0 Even though I had read about it in the Bible.\u00a0 I surly did not understand hearing the Spirit speak to someone either.\u00a0 However, now that I have experienced both for myself, how can I question someone else\u2019s claims?\u00a0 These claims always need to be evaluated.\u00a0 We need to make sure that what we are being told, keeps to what the gospel of Christ is about and that the message is inclusive in nature, not selective, elusive or exclusionary.<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s claim and message were\u2026.. radical!\u00a0 So would be someone else\u2019s claim today!\u00a0 Paul does not seek approval by anyone to go spread the Good news to the gentiles.\u00a0 Prior to this, the gospel was being given primarily to the Jews.\u00a0 Paul is specifically called to proclaim, as Jew, to proclaim the gospel to the gentiles.\u00a0 His message is centered upon the grace of God in Christ. \u00a0It is not through our own works that that grace is given, but instead it is freely given by God. Simply in God\u2019s benevolence God has chosen\u2026. because of Christ Jesus, to see us in a new light.\u00a0 Even though we are still sinful people, you me all of us, God chooses to see the followers of Christ, the ones to believe in God\u2019s Son, to see past our sin and see as a righteous and justified because of our faith in Christ in what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s proclamation is what, we as Lutherans now have come to be known as, Grace by Faith.\u00a0 What makes this correct?\u00a0 During Luther\u2019s time, the Roman Catholic Church did not take the stance of grace through faith alone.\u00a0 Luther broke with the traditional interpretations. Grace is not something we can earn but is something that is imparted upon us because of God\u2019s work alone in becoming incarnate in the form of a man called Jesus, taking upon the sins of all of humanity dying on a cross and being raised from death.<\/p>\n

Luther broke from tradition, Paul broke with tradition and so do others.\u00a0 Can we quantify these breaks as being what God wants for God\u2019s people? \u00a0Paul comes off arrogant and maybe even defensive in our text today.\u00a0 Later he confers with others about the gospel he has been preaching.\u00a0 It is determined that Paul truly had a call from God, in Jesus Christ to be an Apostle; an Apostle to the gentiles and his proclamation of Grace is true.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul\u2019s message is the same as the other Apostles essentially.\u00a0 The other Apostles agree with Paul in that Paul\u2019s gospel does not make additional requirements of those that follow Christ, that the message is one of Grace, one that seeks to provide justice for the poor, the disadvantaged, the widows and the marginalized of society.\u00a0 Nothing in Paul\u2019s gospel of Christ takes away from what the other apostles were teaching.<\/p>\n

Breaking from tradition is a tricky thing.\u00a0 It means that sometimes we are going to have rogue people out there that believe they are doing the right thing in the name of the gospel.\u00a0 It also means that some my simply take advantage and intentionally corrupt the gospel.\u00a0 However at the same time, tradition, how we always have done it, it not necessarily correct either. \u00a0\u00a0God is active all the time in our lives.\u00a0 God is continually creating and in that, we must also be willing to change, question and confirm that if what we have been doing is still the will of God.\u00a0 Is what we want to do, the will of God?\u00a0 Just because someone says they were told to do something by the Spirit of God, does not mean we should always just go with it, without evaluation. \u00a0\u00a0Tradition is not the end all of evaluation.\u00a0 We must be willing to change and be active in adapting the gospel message today without compromise to what the gospel is.\u00a0 When we can do this, we can be inclusive, doing God\u2019s work with our hands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Audio Version Galatians 1:11-17 11\u00a0For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man\u2019s gospel. 12\u00a0For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13\u00a0For you have heard of my former life … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,26,83,4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-492","6":"format-standard","7":"category-grace","8":"category-seminary","9":"category-sermon","10":"category-spirit","11":"category-works"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-7W","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1236,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/02\/09\/the-greatest-story-ever-told\/","url_meta":{"origin":492,"position":0},"title":"The Greatest Story Ever Told","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"February 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio Version http:\/\/youtu.be\/Lxi8t13SXD8 1 Corinthians 9:16\u201323 Mark 1:29\u201339 Sickness, not being whole, comes in all forms. 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