Abide – Galatians 1
Hello and welcome to Abide.
Abide is a podcast that was created from the inspiration of Matthew 6:6, which reads, “But when you pray, go into your room. Close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
And so that's what this time is about. We're going to find our quiet space where we can go and close the door, as it were, and this might look different for everyone. Maybe you like to sit and have your Bible out and your journal. Maybe you like to have a cup of tea and gaze out the window while we spend time together. Maybe you just like to lie down and allow these words to wash over you. Perhaps you like to take a walk through the forest. Or maybe you're on a commute to and from school or work. Whatever your place or space may be, now is the time to come on in, to close the door and to become aware of God with us.
My hope for our time here is that we would practice quieting our body, our mind and our soul. This doesn't come naturally, we're not naturally quiet and peaceful and relaxed beings. So it has to be practiced. I also hope that this space we would learn to be still and to reflect on what's going on inside in the hidden places of ourselves. I pray that this space we'd be able to recognize God's tangible graces in our everyday lives. And we’ll use words of gratitude, thanks, and praise to God for these tangible ways He reveals himself to us.
This is also a place where we will read God's word and meditate on it. We'll eat it, digest it, and allow it to nourish ourselves, to inspire ourselves. And lastly, I pray that we would just become more familiar with our truest self in this room, in this secret place. And we'd also become more sensitized, and familiar with Jesus and his deep, loving presence.
And so with that said, let's begin by taking a nice gentle inhale, and exhale. How about again? Maybe lengthen our breath this time a bit more? Inhale and exhale. And as we begin to notice our breath, maybe we can begin to soften the muscles of the face. We can begin to relax the shoulders and rolling the shoulders back and down. Soften the muscles of the back and relaxing the hips. And just beginning to notice where our feet land.
Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am. Be still and know. Be still.
Our gratitude practice today is going to focus on this time of transition or change that we many of us are feeling right now at the start of a new semester. Many of us have had to leave very comfortable people and spaces. We've had to leave safe, supportive places and people and some of us have stayed in the same spot, but others have left. Family members we love are no longer in our daily lives. These are times of change and transition. And in these times, there is room for gratitude. And so, I invite us now just to spend time thinking about the people and the places that have meant so much to us. Those people that we've had to leave or those people that have left our daily life in this new semester. Let's spend some time with Jesus talking about these sacred spaces and people that we have had to let go of for a season.
Jesus often uses the words “Come and follow me,” move forward with me which requires a letting go, doesn't it? I'd love for us to now spend some time in gratitude for the people and the places that are new to us in the last few days and weeks. Maybe there's been a new friend that has been created. Maybe you've discovered a new space where you can study or play. Maybe you've heard encouragement from a professor, from a staff member. Let's spend some time for all the new people and places that God is providing for us.
As we get more comfortable in this closed-door sacred space, it's OK if your mind and your thoughts go off into other places and you get distracted, so you can always come back to that nice deep breath. You can always return to the loving space that Jesus is here with you now. Distractions are OK.
We're going to turn our attention to the Scriptures now. And we're going to be meditating on the book of Galatians this semester. And Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians and it's intended to be read and taken seriously. I don't know about you, but letters are really special. You know, when you get a letter that has your name on it, you want to open it and you want to read it. And especially if it's a word of encouragement, or someone who knows you well. You want to read it maybe many times over. Sometimes we save these letters. But letters don't really have any power unless they're opened and read. And so that's what we're doing this semester in the book of Galatians. We're going to open this letter that is meant for us to read, and it has something for us. And so we're going to read Galatians 1:1-24. And just allow the words to wash over you, just getting a sense of what Paul is saying. What the spirit might be saying.
Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead – and all the brothers with me. To the churches in Galatia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our Father, and to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let him be eternally condemned. As we have already said, so now I say it again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not consult any man, and nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter; I stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles, only James the Lord's brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. Later I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praise God because of me.
Hear the word of the Lord and may it rest on you in silence now.
Paul, an apostle sent not from men, not more by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father. Paul, an apostle sent. I wonder if we believe if we are sent people, that we have a purpose in the community that we're in right now today. I wonder if you could take a moment as Paul writes these words. That he is sent by God f or a purpose. And I ask you, are you willing to be a sent one? One that goes out into new places, or maybe familiar ones. But that there's a sending, there is a movement forward, there is a trusting, there is a purpose. So take this moment now to speak to Jesus about where you have been sent and maybe the purpose and the beauty in that space.
We read further in the chapter, verse 11: “I want you to know brothers that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it. Rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” A revelation. A personal revelation. Paul is talking about his testimony that he had a personal experience with Jesus, it wasn't just his traditions and what he has studied and what he knows, but it has evolved and deepened into a very personal thing. And I wonder if we are aware of the personal revelation of Christ in our own lives.
Paul has a big story. It has fireworks and he's blind and then he sees and that happens, but it often is quite subtle, the revelations of Christ. You often have to stop and pause and think about that word that was said to you or that encouragement that you felt or the peace that you experienced. So I want to give you a moment to speak with Jesus about how he has revealed himself to you in the past, but also how he might be revealing himself to you right now in a personal way. And if this is something that you're unaware of, you can talk to Jesus now about wanting to experience personal revelation that would be specific for you. So take this time now to become more aware of your own journey and your personal revelation of Christ in your life.
Remember how I spoke to you earlier about distractions or drifting off into thought. Remember that Jesus gently takes us by the hand and allows our thoughts to return to him at any moment of our prayer. We read in verse 1, sorry we read in verse 6 and 7: “I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. I'm astonished that you are quickly deserting the one who called you by grace, the one who has sent to you, the one that has revealed himself to you.”
This happens so often, we lose sight of Jesus. We often think salvation is something we earn and work for. We often think there are people that are in and out and we are making lists and groups. And we get lost in confusion and quickly desert what Jesus is all about. That salvation is a gift that is received and it's not one that's earned. It's not what we're doing for God, but is what is God doing for us? Providing for us? This original gospel is freedom, is love, is mercy flowing, unending. And I wonder if you or me or all of us have gotten lost in what it means to follow Jesus? Maybe it be rules or traditions. Maybe it be anxieties and fears and wanting to do everything just right or to be in control.
This is a wonderful place to remember the Gospel and what it truly is, what it truly means. So, take this time with Jesus to talk about if you've lost sight of the pure and true gospel that he intended for you to know.
This letter from Paul, it has a lot of theological words and concerns and he's a poet and he's a historian and he's a theologian. And his brain and his mind are so vast and many of us can get overwhelmed and confused in it all. But I hope and pray that you'll ultimately get to know Paul, and that his deepest desire is that people would experience the freedom and the love of Jesus. That is what he has experienced, and he has so many words about it and so many thoughts around it. But it's all for the ultimate desire that we would know the freedom we have in Jesus and the love that we are invited into with Christ.
Let's all take a deep breath together. All these words and thoughts and pauses. Just allow them to be incorporated into our being now. And as we prepare to open our doors again from this secret place. I pray that this time that you've spent with Jesus would be like a hinge of a door. You know, a swinging door can swing one way and back and forth, but it's held by a hinge, held by some, an anchor of some sort. And I pray that this time, this connection with Jesus, would hold you. And so, as you had opened the door to go back out into life and your day, your door is going to swing and sway right to left from concerns and conditions and circumstances. And this time you've spent with Jesus is a gift that you can return back to, to hold you, and to ground you. And so I'll close with the words of Paul and our passage today, verse 3-5: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Go in peace, my friends.
