ANOTHER GOSPEL?

LET HIM BE ACCURSED!

Galatians 1:3-9

“Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As I have said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

The meaning of the word “Gospel” is simply “Good News,” and the source of this good news in the New Testament, is augmented by the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. For example, there are many prophecies of the Messiah to come in the Old Testament and these are fulfilled in the New Testament many years later. The book of Matthew was written with the Jewish nation particularly, in mind. It begins with the genealogy of Jesus. This is vital for Jewish readers. The Birth of Christ, the virgin birth, and many activities of Christ, which had been prophesied many years before, are carefully recorded in Matthew. These weave into the account many facts of vital importance to them, and lead up to his sacrificial death, his burial, and his resurrection in payment for the sins of mankind. The good news is that God sent His own Son who died for our sins, and who showed his divinity by raising from the dead on the third day. These points are brought out in the teaching of the Apostles.

Early in church history, there began to rise up men who were preaching “another Gospel.” This began to take place even while the Apostles were still living and preaching. Paul struggled with these false doctrines in many of his letters to the churches. Since he was evangelist to the Gentiles, he was deeply concerned by pressures from certain Jewish Christians who felt that it was necessary for any convert to the gospel, to first become a Jew, then accept the Christ. In effect this would mean that Christianity would be a branch of Judaism. Such believers were called “Judaisers.” We should praise the Lord that Paul wrote those letters, which make up a large portion of the New Testament. In dealing with problems, he sets the example for doing the same in the church of today. He dealt with moral problems, in excessive use of alcohol, in lying, in tongues, gossip, and many other basic problems of humanity.

Not all false prophets are charlatans, preaching godly morality, but personally blatant womanizers, alcoholics, or liars. Others preach a “God wants you to be rich” or “a name it and claim it” message, when the very opposite is often the emphasis of scripture The message is that we can not serve both “mammon,” wealth and God. Jesus pointed out that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter heaven. What he meant is that we have to make a decision. Do we want to be rich in this world? or do we want to be Christians and rich in heaven’s blessings eternally?. Wealth can not be the goal of our lives. We can not seek wealth at the expense of honesty and truth. Read the “get rich schemes” on the web. They all promise great wealth, but always at the sacrifice of truth and honesty. If God blesses us, we have greater responsibility, for our true riches are revealed by where our heart is. In Christianity there is always the temptation to manipulate our worship services, as I have observed in Africa where even in the pre-service prayers which begin quietly but gradually increased in tempo and volume until they filled the building by what sounded much like a “Gregorian chant.” In the meantime, the band was doing the same, starting modestly, but building in tempo guaranteeing a throbbing headache at its peak. The apparent center of those services comes with the healing service and the altar calls near the end.

In contrast, the heart and center of Christian worship is prayer and the observance of the Lord’s memorial table. Leave Christ out of worship, and it is false. We pray through a living Lord and remember his death burial and resurrection at our weekly assembly in the body of Christ, the church.