Last night I was listening to one of the All Souls podcasts, and Rico Tice was preaching from Galatians 1. He pointed out that in the gospel, the subject of our life changes.
Paul is writing to these Galatian Christians who have so quickly turned aside from the gospel Paul preached, and have listened to a false gospel that is no gospel - that of legal observance. So Paul points to the way the gospel changed him:
For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 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. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me... (Galatians 1:13-16)
Paul was very religious, extremely so - but it was all about himself. Paul was the subject - 'I... I... I...' The good news about Jesus isn't about our achievements, it's simply about what God has done for us and in us:
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me
Do you see the subject change? No longer I, Paul; now it is he, God. God had set Paul apart before birth to be the apostle to the Gentiles. God had called Paul by his grace. God revealed his Son to Paul.
When we are converted, there's a change of subjects in our life. God is now the subject of our life, our assurance, our peace. Do you need to change subjects?
No comments:
Post a Comment