Because of Me
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Galatians 1:11-24
11. For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not man's gospel. 12. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; 14. and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, 16. was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, 17. nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. 18. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. 19. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. 20. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21. Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22. And I was still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea; 23. they only heard it said, "He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." 24. And they glorified God because of me.
Verse 24 is actually what caught my eye this morning. “And they glorified God because of me.” Wow! There is no arrogance in this statement; no conceit; no pride or self-importance. Rather a deep, reverent humility. And gratitude. And a message that cannot be ignored: God uses the least, the lost, the sinners, the broken and the wounded to do his amazing work on earth! God even uses those who formerly persecuted his beloved! And he makes them eloquent and he fills their belly with a fire. And he turns them loose, into a sin-filled fallen world.
I don’t know about you, but I have some skeletons in my closet. Certainly, thankfully, none compare to those that Paul has put on display and recounted! Paul’s point though, is that it doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter how you lived in the past. It doesn’t matter who you used to be. What matter is how God, through his magnificent grace, because of the sacrifice of his Precious Son, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, transforms us. We become new creatures. We become his “ambassador in chains.” We turn from our former lives and take up a new mantle.
We are now God’s beloved--actually--we always have been! That’s the message. We ARE God’s beloved. And he will take us as we are, where we are and love us, and mold us, and change us to be more like Him. That is the mystery, that is the miracle, that is the Glory of God!
Paul didn’t seek the counsel of others. He didn’t ask if they thought it was a good idea to preach to the Gentiles. He didn’t seek the approval of man -- even of the renown apostles. He just did what God instructed as divinely revealed. He just couldn’t help himself, because God’s love so surprised him, so amazed him, caught him so off-guard, that he just couldn’t help but tell everyone about their own opportunity for a new life in Christ.
I hope today you glorify God through your actions, your thoughts and your words. And that you rejoice with me in God’s ability and willingness to use such as me for his glory.
Mary
