Day 4
Lisa Sheffler, author
Don’t you love a good redemption story? Arrogant doctor is humbled by a medical mistake and devotes his life to a clinic for the uninsured. Unfaithful wife is caught in her adultery, but seeks forgiveness, repents, and is reconciled to her husband. Drug addict steals money from everyone, including his parents, but when he’s arrested they are the ones who bail him out, and he finally goes to rehab to get clean.
We love to see sinners turn their lives around, but it’s even better when God gets the glory. Why? Because then more and more people will hear of the amazing goodness and grace of God and turn to him.
As we’ve seen, Paul is emphasizing elements of his story that help him make his case to the churches in Galatia. He wants them to trust in the credibility of his message by insisting that it comes from God. That it’s through Jesus Christ that all people can find redemption .
Before we get there, we’re going to review 1:15–16.
Read
Galatians 1:15-16
15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.
Galatians 1:21-24
21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
24 And they praised God because of me.
Why did people praise God because of Paul?
Reflect
God revealed himself to Paul, and the persecutor of Christians became one of the most important Christian leaders the church has ever known. That’s quite a redemption story!
Yet as dramatic and significant as Paul’s story is, it is one of many redemption stories that Paul witnessed and was a part of during his ministry, and they all had the same source. We saw yesterday that in 1:15, Paul says that God “called me by his grace.” This echoes what he says in 1:6, that the believers in Galatia were “deserting the one who called you to live in God’s grace.” A Pharisees turned Apostle and ordinary believers of every ethnicity are all called by God’s grace. Impeccable keepers of the law and pagan Gentiles all need the grace found in Jesus Christ to be redeemed. The law saves no one.
Grace is one of those fuzzy, churchy words that people use without necessarily being able to define. The Greek word charis means grace, but it also means gift. In Paul’s day, gifts were regularly given to create and strengthen bonds of loyalty between people. When a wealthy person of high status gave a gift to someone of lower status, each knew the gift could never be reciprocated in kind. So, a certain amount of loyalty and allegiance to the giver was assumed.
No one is higher or more generous than God. We can never repay his gift, and he doesn’t expect us to try. Grace is the generous gift of God’s abundant, redemptive favor to human beings who are not worthy, creating a relationship of love and loyalty between God and his people. His grace is sufficient and can turn the worst sinner into a beloved child.
Paul used to persecute the people he later joined in fellowship. His transformation was hard to believe and even harder to explain, unless you understood the grace of the Father, the revelation of the Son, and the transforming power of the Spirit.
Paul preached faith in Jesus Christ, the only one who can save. Paul’s story caused people to praise God. Our stories will as well.
Respond
Jesus showed up in Paul’s life, and he was never the same. People praised God because no one could deny the transformation. As you think through some of your own “God stories,” is there one that comes to mind that reminds you of God’s transforming power? Share that with someone you know so they can praise God with you!