Staying true to the good news: "Living within the New Kingdom"
Galatians 1:6 “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be Good News.”
Obviously Paul is really concerned about the Galatians. He has heard something that leads him to believe that they are wandering from the faith. He writes them and states this concern early in the letter which probably is a good clue of how important this issue is for Paul. Why does Paul care? As long as the Galatians are talking about Jesus does it matter if they change it up a little? How does Paul know that he is right and what the Galatians are doing is wrong? Did Paul always think they would turn away but not so soon? How could something that involves the name of Jesus pretend to be good news? What is Paul really getting at? What’s the big deal if the Galatians change it up a little? See, Paul is a good Jew and he knows the old testament. Paul knows that God says in Deuteronomy that if the Jews decide to change things up, incorporate worship of local gods with the worship of YHWH that God says that/those person/persons must be put to death. Paul realizes and claims that to follow a slightly different way is serious business and seeing Jesus’ gospel rightly is of utmost importance for the good of the Church. For Paul, the only Good News is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; this Good News is lived out in a community that is separate from the world and lives as a witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Any other witness is to follow a way that pretends to be good news.
This is such a relevant verse for the world I live in today. My world lives by this idea that its ok to manipulate and change an idea to meet our own personal desires. Its ok and expected to allow certain ideas to evolve into newer ideas that help to lift myself up within the world; its called enlightenment. We see this kind of thing all the time; especially now in the midst of a Political campaign. Our candidates (on all sides) are seeking to speak ideas that will convince the “voter” to vote for them. These candidates will change, twist, skew, and turn the information and the stances to say words that are pleasing to their audience’s ear hoping that will convince them for their vote. Its no wonder that we have this mindset that we can make Jesus into anything we want. We live in free America right; we can do what we want. If we want our Jesus to be a God that gives us the freedom to justify killing then we make Jesus into that God. If we want our Jesus to be a God that gives us wealth so we can justify pursuing money then we can make Jesus into that God. If want our Jesus to be a God that hates the left wing and loves the right (or vice versa) then we can make Jesus into that God. And we can go on and on with this perverted thinking. But yet, Paul calls us out and says to us, “I’m surprised that this is happening so soon!” Maybe what Paul wants us to realize is that Jesus calls us out of the world and into a new Kingdom that does not live by the same old rules. Maybe Paul wants us to know that when we view following Jesus as a practice that remains consistent with the values of the world (wealth, position, power, honor, prestige) that we have distorted the Good News. The Good news is precisely that because it is a call to live in a new Kingdom by a new set of Values that are defined on the cross that delivers us from enslavement in this world. May I hear this call today and may God give me the grace to live in this new Kingdom that comes through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, thank you for rescuing me from my enslavement to sin that is present in the old age. Thank you for showing us that the Good News is not some idea or thought that we can manipulate into our own agenda but thank you for showing us that the good news is the deliverance from sin and the birth into a new age. May you inspire me today to be a citizen of this new Kingdom and may you use me as a tool to expose the lies of the old age and lead others to this new Kingdom that is the Church. May you forgive the Church today for resembling the old age and not living into her call to be your Kingdom on earth. Inspire Crossroads to be the kind of Church that doesn’t manipulate the Good News into her own way of achieving position and status in this old world but may Crossroads be the kind of Church that bears witness of the good news; give Crossroads the grace to live into her call to be your new Kingdom and to live by the different values that expose the sin of the world and call the world to different way of living and being that is found through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Good News is the constant, unchanging testimony that is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
