Galatians
1:1-9
I
first met the Gauls through the humorous, engaging stories of Asterix and
Obelix as they held out against the Roman invaders of their homeland: Gaul
(present-day France). This interest was further whetted by National Geographic.
The Gauls were a proud, warlike, yet creative people who resisted assimilation.
Around 250BC, an eastern migration took these people to central Turkey where
they were referred to as Galatae and their land as Galatia. So, Paul
writes his letter to these Galatians. Even 300 years after Paul, St. Jerome
describes these people as tall, blonde, and warlike…still speaking their
Gaulish tongue.
The
Gospel – At some point,
Paul proclaimed the gospel in Galatia, and it freed the Galatae, the Galatians,
from their superstitious religion. Paul proclaims the life-giving freedom that
we find in Jesus Christ. Gospel? From the old English “gōdspel’” which
meant “Good News.” The gospel is good news about God’s love expressed in Jesus.
The
Gospel Plus – 1st Century Galatia – Some people just wouldn’t or couldn’t
believe that gospel was so simple—yes, belief and trust were the first steps,
but really it would be necessary to do some of the Jewish things if you really
wanted the gifts of life, love, salvation, hope, and peace. They presented a
“Gospel Plus” – a Gospel plus dietary practices, plus circumcision, plus other
externals. Paul was having nothing of it. He has some strong words for those
“Gospel Plus” people: “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what
you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” Paul preaches always and only the
sufficiency of God in Jesus Christ.
Gospel
Plus – 21st Century – Unfortunately,
this “Gospel Plus” stuff didn’t end with the Galatians in the 1st
Century. People today continue to try to add to the Gospel, and the Good News
becomes burdensome news as probably ‘well-meaning’ Christians insist that to
really be a Christian, you need to do this and that and more.
In my youth the Gospel Plus meant that we had to destroy all of our “secular” music if we wanted to be real Christians, we had to dress a certain way to be admitted to Sunday worship, we had to have our hair cut a certain way (as boys). Today, Gospel Plus demands we be anti-this or pro-that…but none of this is what Jesus says, Paul says, and not what we’re going to say at McAllen First UMC! We proclaim the gospel…not a “gospel plus”:
God—the Creator of heaven and earth, Maker of all things—loves and values
you and wants to forgive your sins, mend your brokenness, save you from a dead
life…wants you to have life, abundant and unending life. This life, this
healing, this salvation is available to all—to all who simply trust in who
Jesus was and is, what he said, and in what he did for us on the cross. Do you
trust in God’s love and in Jesus’ word? Do you see how you’ve gone wrong and
will you let God forgive you and make it right? Will you say “yes!” to this
Good News? If you do, then you now have life—welcome to the family!
You
see, the gospel has nothing to do with the music or the hair or the dress or
the lip-service we pay to this or that issue. The gospel becomes evident in our
lives not through externals but by the change within—love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness.
If
you have been suffering under a “Gospel Plus,” if you have been duped into
thinking that you have to earn God’s love and grace and forgiveness through
externals, I am so sorry. This gospel of Jesus is to set us free—not tie us
down and wrap us up in knots. The gospel: We trust in God, and God works in our
lives. This is the everlasting, unchanging good news for us today! Have you
said “yes” yet? Let today be the day….
Sunday, May 31,
2026
Galatians – Paul
Takes On the Gauls!
Watch/Listen: HERE
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