As He Followed Jesus Christ, He Experienced Excitement, Adventure and Persecution

Do not mess with the message, and do not mess with the messenger. This is what Paul is dealing with in these opening words of his profoundly challenging and deeply comforting letter to the Galatian disciples, and it is a cause for thanksgiving that we continue to have and read and study this letter today. There were those who were seeking to undermine the basis of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and as they did this they were having a real go at Paul the preacher and apostle, and committed servant of the risen and living Son of God, The Messiah. Paul was no people pleaser and he says so here, and then he makes this salutary statement, "If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." You cannot do both. It is impossible. A choice has to be made, and the earlier it is made the better. Jesus said, you cannot serve God and mammon! We are called to serve Jesus Christ - and live for Jesus Christ - and witness to Jesus Christ - and as we do so there will be some people who will not be pleased. We need to make this very clear. Perhaps in earlier years we disguised this, and covered up this unavoidable truth, simply because it can be so painful. I want you to know, he writes in verse 11 of the opening Chapter, of the letter to the Galatians, and he still calls them brothers, that I did not make all this up, and I did not receive it from man. I wasn't taught it in a theological college. Jesus Christ revealed it to me. The Gospel is not man-made. The Gospel can offend man's pride. It does not flatter man, and it does not affirm in him any goodness. Man can live in Compassion Crescent - Sophistication Street - Accomplishment Avenue - a bully of a business leader in Dominant Drive - but we have to come to live in Christ. There has to come that point where we are able to say something similar. Jesus Christ revealed His truth to me - in a service - in a prayer time - from the Word - as I was walking and thinking - but it has to become this personal. This happened to Peter and we read of it in Matthew Chapter 16. No man told you this, and you did not work this out for yourself. This was revealed to you by my Father in heaven. This is what we each need - to have the truth revealed to us - by Jesus Christ, the Son of God - by God the Father - or by the Holy Spirit. Then, we will not be easily swayed or tossed around or who is Jesus Christ by those who come seeking to persuade us of another way. What was at stake here was the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the authority of Paul, and the authority of God the Father, and the work of Jesus in rescuing us from our sins, and rescuing us from this present evil age. From the very beginning the Church of Jesus Christ has had to face up to the appearing of false preachers and the dangers therein. Just in case they had heard something about Paul's past, which was true, he mentions this. Paul goes on to describe how he had not always been a man of God. He had been a religious rogue. He used to be a men-pleaser - a crawler - as he crawled or climbed up the religious ladder because he had wanted to advance further than others. Paul had been a nasty man - but Jesus Christ had changed all that following that confrontation just outside the city of Damascus, and we have the thrilling details three times in the book of Acts. It is just as thrilling and exciting today to meet the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ and what an adventure life is when one seeks to follow Him wherever He leads and guides. If you want excitement and adventure and persecution, then become a disciple and obey Him and follow Him as best as you can. Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.