TODAY'S STEPS
READ: Galatians 1:3-10REFLECT: Why is it a serious offense to distort the gospel?
RESPOND: Identify 3 key words in this passage that demonstrate the power of the gospel.
*Share your thoughts on Comments.
"We have Americanized the gospel or spiritualized the American dream. Take your pick. But neither one comes close to the true gospel. When you try to add something to the gospel, you aren't enhancing it. Any addition is really a subtraction. The gospel, in its purest form, is as good as it gets." (Mark Batterson, All In)
The present "evil age" is relative to our culture today, just as it has always been through the ages. The POWER of the gospel will always triumph over the evil of the ages.
ReplyDeleteLiving outside of the "grace of Christ" leaves us to live on our power alone, which is never enough (and essentially powerless).
"God's curse" is about the most powerful consequence as I can think of for perverting the gospel ... and it really sets this act apart from other sins and transgressions.
Denny
This is a tough one cause i feel like its a constant battle for myself. When i get in the way i forget when we distort scripture God becomes man's word not God's word. The word transitions from pure, true and love to meaninglessness. We change/distort the word of God typically because we don't agree with it or like it because it's asking or telling us to do different. By doing this we prevent people/ourselves from knowing who God truly is, how much he loves them/us, and all the things he has for them/us. We end up driving ourself and everyone around us away from God instead of what Paul says to Timothy "watch you life and doctrine closely, to save yourself and your hearers".
ReplyDeleteI saw this quote from A.W. Tozer: "...the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men, the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it."
ReplyDeleteIn this present "evil age", we as Christians must be careful not to desert the clear teachings of God's Word, and buckle under to the gospel of "tolerance" and the mis-applied "do not judge" crowd. As it says in verse 10 of Galatians 1, we are not servants of Christ if we seek to win the approval of human beings rather than of God. The power of the gospel is shown in that, if you step outside of it, you fall under God's curse. So "curse" to me is one of the key words demonstrating the power of the gospel. Others are "grace", because it is through the gospel that God has informed us of His provision of grace,which has the power to "rescue" us from sin and the present evil age.
The key words in this passage are Christ, grace and rescue. Christ, through God's grace, gave up his life for our sins in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. That is the power of the gospel.
ReplyDeleteVerse 6 the gospel calls us, Verse 9 the emphasis on the gospel being the truth, Verse 10 salvation is found in the gospel...distort the gospel brings the condemnatoin of God in Verse 9...Trust and Obey by J. H. Sammis in 1877
ReplyDelete