Gripped by Grace
Galatians 1:11-24, esp. 15-16

(This text is incomplete)

We're studying the book of Galatians and we have been moving steadily BACKWARD. But moving backwards is sometimes useful. Today we finally come to Galatians ch. 1. Let's review. Here's the situation the Galatians were in. The Galatians were Gentiles-- Greek speakers -- who had become believers in Jesus through Paul's ministry. But sometime after he left they came under the influence of Jewish Christians who told them that to be truly holy they would need to conform to Jewish law -- and that meant being circumcised.

So the big practical issue facing the Galatians was a rather painful one -- at least for the men in the group. Did they need to be circumcised to be right with God? Some of the Christians who came through said YES, Paul said NO. Who was right? And did it really matter.

Paul writes to them to say that it matters immensely. And at one level the whole point of the book of Galatians is to persuade the Galatians that it would be disastrous for them to be circumcised. And the reason that it would be disastrous is that circumcision symbolized working your way to God by obedience to the law -- by your own efforts. And trusting in your own efforts to make it to God is fundamentally incompatible with trusting in Jesus. A couple of weeks ago I gave you an image to help to explain that incompatibility. I asked you to imagine yourself rock climbing, painfully making your way up the side of an immense rock face, one toe hold, one hand-hold at a time. Then suddenly a rope dangles down beside you out of nowhere -- just far enough away that if you want to grab the rope, you have to let go of your hold on the cliff. You can't do both. You can't hold onto Jesus by faith (grab hold of the rope) and at the same time keep trying to get to God by working your way up the cliff by your own efforts.

The Galatian Christians had trusted in Jesus. They had grabbed hold of the rope. Now they were being tempted to get back on the cliff.

This is an important issue -- and one that I face just about every moment of every day. Who will I trust. Will I rely on myself, or will I let go, throw myself on the Grace of God, and trust in Jesus alone.
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With that as background let's read Galatians 1:11-24

What is Paul up to here? In a casual reading, he comes across as rather arrogant. If I were to come up here and say, "I want you to know that what I am preaching today is entirely from God" how would you respond. Many of you would be eyeing the exits looking for an escape. But this is precisely Paul's main point. Is this arrogance? Is he boasting?

Exactly the opposite. (And this is where going backwards through the book turns out to be useful.) What Paul is establishing in this passage is that his life and ministry and message is purely and entirely a work of God.

He can claim no credit for who he has become. (He was an enemy of God, a persecutor of the people of God.) And other people had nothing to do with it.

Everything he is and does and has is from God alone. He is not a self-made man. He is not Peter's man. He was not trained by the other Apostles. He is purely and entirely a God made man. Everything he is and has and does is a product of God's undeserved goodness and favor.

Paul, the follower of Jesus, is a walking illustration of a person Gripped by God's Grace. For Paul, God's grace is not just something that he knows in the abstract or observes from a distance in the Cross of Jesus. To be sure, God's Grace was demonstrated in its fullness on the Cross, but for Paul the Grace of God is something to be lived -- something to be experienced every day.

We can know all about grace, without being gripped by Grace. The Gospel is not primarily meant to be a set of facts to be mastered and understood -- the devil can do that. No, the Gospel is meant to be lived. God's grace is meant to be experienced every day.

So what does it mean to be gripped by grace?

1. When I am in the grip of grace God becomes the subject of my life story.

Let's do a simple grammar lesson here. Indulge me. I just came off a week of homeschooling while Carol was away. What is the subject of this sentence? "Dan walked the dog." Dan, of course. And what is the object? The dog. Dan is in control. Dan is doing the walking.

Now try reversing the subject and object. Does it make a difference. You bet. It makes the sentence much more realistic: "The dog walked Dan." Here the dog is very much in control.

Look at again Paul's account here. Verse 13: "For you have heard of previous way of life in Judaism, how intesely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many jews of my age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers." Here Paul is the subject and God is the object.

But then in verse 14, the subject suddenly changes: But When God . . . From this point on, God is the subject and Paul is the object.

In my normal human state, like Paul, I am the subject and God is the object. I am the one acting and I see God as the passive party. I am trying to reach God, perhaps trying very hard. I am out on that cliff. And I see myself as the center of the universe.

But when I am gripped by God's grace, The subject and object reverse. Suddenly God is the initiator, and I am the passive party. All that I am and do and have is the work of God.

So a very simple question will tell you whether you are in living in the grip of God's grace: Who is the subject of your life story? Is it you, or is it God?

2. When I am in the grip of grace, I have a completely new identity.

My natural identity as a human being is based on three things: what I have, what I do, and what people think about me.

When I have things that the world judges valuable then I feel good about myself. I have a Ph.D. I have a house. I have health. I have a wonderful wife and three brilliant, healthy children. What if my house burns down? Then I don't feel so good about myself anymore.

When I do things that seem valuable, then I feel good about myself. That's why it can be so traumatic to lose a job -- or even to retire. Who am I if I no longer have anything meaningful to do?

My sense of identity also fluctuates enormously with how I think people feel about me. If other people like me and want to be with me, I feel good about myself. When people reject me, I get angry, because it threatens my sense of identity.

What I have, what I do, what people think of me. We human beings build our sense of identity around these things. And based on these things, Paul had reason to feel good about himself. He was a classic over achiever, on the express lane for his culture.

vs. 14 "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews my own age, and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers."
Paul had every reason to feel good about himself:

Look at Phil. 3: 4-6 -- If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

Then he was gripped by grace:

"Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more I consider everything a loss compared with the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes form the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

When I am in the grip of Grace, the only thing that matters is what I have in God, and what God thinks of me. This is so much better a place to be. Everything you have right now you will lose -- but the treasures you have in Jesus you will never lose. People's opinions of you will fluctuate -- but God sees you as you really are and says, "I love you. I will always love you. Through eternity I will love you."

3. When I am in the grip of grace, my purpose in life is radically reoriented.

For Paul this meant something very specific: Being gripped by grace meant becoming a missionary to the Gentiles.



God calls us today to a radical dependence on his grace -- not just for salvation, but every moment of every day. Every moment of every day I can either live out the reality of God's Grace -- trust him for my identity and make him the center of my life story -- or I can place myself at the center.

I suggest this simple application, a simple question to ask repeatedly throughout your day and week: Who is the subject of my life story right now? Who is in charge at this moment. Is God the iniator, and am I depending on him. Or have I shoved him aside to grab control. Is God the source of my identity, or am I trusting in what I have, or what I can do?