David Bahn - Reflections

I once expressed my view about the mission of God by saying, "When it comes to the Mission of God, I'd rather have chaos than gridlock any day." Chaos that leads to the salvation of more people, and the successful pursuit of God's mission may not be pretty. But in a fallen world it is inevitable. And God has a way of working through fallen people to accomplish great things.

Rather than focusing on the people who detract, dismiss, or despise us, we can take Paul's example to heart - insofar as we represent Christ to others. In other words insofar as we reflect the grace and truth of Jesus and people see Jesus through us, we must pray that God gets the glory. And if people dismiss us because we are faithful witnesses to Jesus, we let that fall on Jesus. It may make us sad. But we need never own the hatred of others because of our Christian witness to God's grace and truth. 

Next time someone smiles at you because of an act of mercy or a word of grace, let that be credited to God. May his name be praised. Rejoice in the glory to God on account of your faithfulness, love, and witness. 

We may yearn for times of rest and peace. Those times are blessings for which we rightly thank God. But when times are challenging we can also thank God, for he is shaping us and forming us and refining our faith. And God is glorified when we look to him, seek his strength, rejoice in his goodness, faithfulness, and love.

God was the one who called Paul into service. At his conversion Jesus spoke to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Then at the church in Antioch, the Holy Spirit said, "Set aside Barnabas and Saul for the work I have for them." That said the human factor remains, and having the endorsement of Peter and James would serve him well - some years later as he writes to the Galatians. This will become evident in Galatians 2 when Paul recounts his confrontation of Peter "to his face." Sometimes even within the church and among those who respect each other there needs to be challenging conversation and clarifying discussion. Paul will speak about that also in Galatians 6 where he urges we handle even the erring in gentleness and as we bear one another's burdens.

Paul testifies to the grace of God in regard to his election. He had been set apart before he was born, and called by God's grace to serve Christ. He is writing to the church in Galatia to bring them back to the freedom we have in Christ. And he needed to establish his bonafides as a legitimate servant of God. He needed to pull rank over the people who had come into their church and caused confusion, even leading them away from faith in Jesus. 

But he doesn't do this apart from testifying to God's grace. That's the beauty of a true Christian witness. We don't have to prove ourselves to be better than anyone else. We can point to God's grace to us: his undeserved kindness, love and goodness toward us - in spite of the sinful, silly, dumb, hair-brained, and dangerous things we have done. 

We might be tempted to wish we had such a dramatic conversion story. We might think that our witness would be more powerful if we could brag about of sinful ways before coming to know Christ. We might imagine we could be more effective in our sharing of the gospel if we could point to a dramatic before and after witness.

But God uses people who are willing to share their faith however they can. For the power of the Holy Spirit depends not on the person sharing the gospel, but on the gospel message we share. Paul himself says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). He also confesses that when he is weak then he is strong. That's because the power of God to change hearts and lives is God’s power.

Of course God did not consult us when he "designed" his religion. In fact God didn't design his religion at all. In fact some would say ours is not a religion. A religion is that which man does to manipulate God and get him to do what we want him to do. Ours is a faith in the God who created the world and everything in it. He has revealed himself to be gracious, loving, merciful, just, and holy. He invites our faith and our worship and promises that whoever believes in him will live forever.

That's no design. That's no religion. That is the faith which Paul believed and proclaimed. That's not man's gospel. That is the God's honest truth. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a precious truth, never to be abandoned or distorted. This is why I keep studying and proclaiming this Good News.

Paul spoke of his refusal to seek the approval of man but also said that a pastor should be well thought of by those outside the church (cf. 1 Timothy 3:7). We must remain faithful to the truth of God's word without fear of what man might think of it. We must at the same time do all we can to give a winsome witness to the grace of God in Jesus.

This is no easy task. But the Savior we serve and whose message we share took on an even greater task to redeem us - fully pleasing God and securing our salvation. 

Paul had a striking word for those who perverted the truth of the gospel: "let them be accursed." The Greek word, "ἀνάθεμα" has sometimes been transliterated in English versions of the Bible. The word anathema means that one is completely separated from God's favor and grace. That is a place of outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and the gnashing of teeth. And he doesn't settle for saying it once. He has to say it again. It weighed heavy on his heart.